phazonmutant
10-02-2014, 05:12 AM
I took 3rd in a local tournament with pretty insane prize support with Deathblade. I don't think the success is particularly notable, but I wanted to give a case study for the ups and downs of Treasure Cruise. Shoutouts to Haganbmj for the excellent tournament report formatting example.
http://mythicspoiler.com/ktk/cards/treasurecruise1.jpg
The tournament was super high EV: 4 Seas for 1st, 2 Volcs for 2nd, 1 Trop 3/4, 1 Bayou 5/6, 1 Plateau 7/8, with 26 people entering. The field may have been small, but the competition was high - most of the field were local legacy ringers that knew their decks and the field well. I had been testing a bunch of decks with the new delve spells - Team America, Deathblade, OmniTell, Miracles a little, UR Painter a little. I felt like Deathblade made excellent use of Treasure Cruise - it wants to get to the midgame every time, plays a bunch of interactive spells and Liliana, isn't incredibly graveyard-dependent, and plays a bunch of lands to be able to cast it with small delves if necessary. I didn't like Deathblade at all beforehand - it had a negligible clock with no real trumps and a fragile manabase. With Cruise, Deathblade gains a huge amount of inevitability (its own form of clock), and if they spend time Wastelanding you, Cruise allows you to delve away the dead lands and reestablish your manabase. Here's my list:
Creatures (12)Non-Creatures (4+21=25)Lands (23)Sideboard (15)
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
4 Brainstorm
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Thoughtseize
1 Council's Judgment
4 Force of Will
3 Treasure Cruise
4 Flooded Strand
3 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
1 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Wasteland
1 Path to Exile
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Flusterstorm
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Thoughtseize
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Meddling Mage
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Cuts from the stock list are Jace, Karakas, Ponders, a Snapcaster, and some slight tweaking of the board. Deathblade is pretty bad at defending Jace; I'm not sure it should have been playing it at all before Cruise came out. Now, Cruise is a better card-advantage engine. It's a much better Liliana deck. Many people think Ponder is necessary to just cast Cruise, but really playing interactive spells is sufficient. I think that the miser's Karakas is pretty sketchy - the deck doesn't really want a basic Plains, and my meta has a ton of Miracles, a matchup that Tar Pit excels in.
Matchups
R1 v BURG Delver
R2 v ANT
R3 v Death & Taxes
R4 ID
R5 ID
Quarters v Aluren
Semis v Miracles
Round 1 v Solomon (2-1)
BURG Delver
Solomon has been playing various Delver decks for a while. Lately he's been on UR, so that's what I gear up for. He starts off strong with a mulligan to 5 on the play. His first play is Ponder into Trop, so UR is out, I'm on Stifle watch. I play an uncontested Deathrite, he passes, I Thoughtseize for a potential Stifle, take his one spell, and cast Stoneforge for Batterskull. He didn't draw a Bolt, and the game ended.
Sideboard:
+2 Abrupt Decay
+2 Zealous Persecution
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Flusterstorm
-4 Force of Will
-1 Council's Judgment
-1 Thoughtseize
I think that he doesn't have any spells I really want to Force, although I consider them for the draw. I suspect Pyromancer or True-Name, so Zealous Persecution should be good.
This game was also quite miserable. I mulligan to 6, keep a 1-lander with 2 Deathrites, Stoneforge, Swords, and Cruise - quite good. Unfortunatly, he Bolted my Deathrite and Wasted my Sea. I ripped another land off the top, played my second Deathrite right into Daze. He Wasted again. He didn't play a threat for a while, and I eventually found a land, but he resolved Cruise and Stifled a fetch before I got to resolve Cruise the next turn. He Wasted me twice more and I never played a relevant spell before Pyromancer and True-Name killed me. Next game he mulliganed to 5 again. My Deathrite into a Wasteland on his only land sealed the deal.
1-0
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/lg/15.jpg
Round 2 v Marcel (2-1)
ANT
Very grindy, interesting game one. I led on Throughtseize with a hand of Force, Cruise, Swords, and lands, and took LED from a hand of Underground Sea, 2 Therapy, 2 Duress, Past in Flames. He proceeded to strip every spell I drew over the next 4 turns until I started topdecking creatures. I had lethal on board with a True-Name and active Deathrite when he decided to go for it. Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Lotus Petal, Past in Flames with BBB floating, 1 land and Petal up, and 1 unknown in hand. I tanked and came out with him not having enough mana if I took Cabal Ritual, even if the last spell is Infernal Tutor, and I had Plow in hand to stymie a tutor chain. Turns out I was wrong - he flashbacked Ritual, it was Tutor getting Cabal Ritual, flashbacked Past in Flames, and killed me from there. Looks like I miscounted and should have left up Deathrite.
Sideboard:
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Flusterstorm
+1 Surgical Extraction
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Meddling Mage
+1 Zealous Persecution
+1 Grafdigger's Cage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
-2 True-Name Nemesis
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Council's Judgment
-1 Savannah
-1 Creeping Tar Pit
Zealous Persecution is for the inevitable X/1 board cards - Empty, Xantid Swarm, Bob, Pyromancer, you name it. ANT loves to catch its opponents unprepared. Game 2 opened on the nut hate - Cage, Surgical, Canonist, Stoneforge, 2 lands, Thoughtseize. Thoughtseize his Thoughtseize. He Duressed Cage, I slammed Canonist and the game basically ended there. Game 3 he boarded a card, and I saw Swarm so boarded in a second Zealous Persecution, not taking out anything. Yolo. I mulliganned, but had Force and Brainstorm. I held Brainstorm for turn 2, drawing into Stoneforge and Thoughtseize. Took a Dark Ritual from a hand that was pretty mana-constrained. Got the Stoneforge down, and had just enough disruption for Fire and Ice to go the distance.
2-0
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/sc/75.jpg
Round 3 v Glenn
D&T
I had done a little scouting and knew the matchup. Unfortunately I didn't know how to actually win it. Game 1 he played not one, not two, but THREE Mother of Runes. We got in a board stall with Moms and Thalias gumming up the ground vs my Stoneforge, Jitte, and Batterskull, and him super mana-constrained (2 plains after I Wasted his second Karkas). I made a mistake by not Forcing a second Stoneforge (the first got Jitte). My plan was to build up to 6 mana and starting swinging with Tar Pit suited up with Jitte. I did manage to get one hit in, but that pesky third Mom allowed his Batterskull (once it finally found its way into play) to pick up a Jitte and not let my Batterskull with Jitte get counters. I never drew a Swords that game, so couldn't break through. To be fair, he never drew a Swords or Wasteland. Strange game, and it left us with a meager 20 minutes on the clock.
Sideboarding:
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Seal of Cleansing
+1 Thoughtseize
+2 Abrupt Decay
+2 Zealous Persecution
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice (game 2. It was bad)
-4 Force of Will
-2 Spell Pierce
-1 Treasure Cruise
-1 Liliana of the Veil (when I brought in SoFI)
My thought with shaving Cruise is that he's likely to bring in Rest in Peace and his gameplan is to prevent me from casting spells, so I don't want to be super graveyard- or velocity-dependent. I'm not sure Lili is great against a deck with a bunch of crappy bodies like Stoneforge, especially now that they're likely to bring in Wilt-Leaf Liege. The others should be obvious.
Game 2 was a blowout, but I don't really remember it. Game 3 was a race eventually between my True-Name + Tar Pit versus some random bear beats, and he lost. We played these games so quickly I don't recall much, and finished with a few minutes on the clock.
3-0
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ul/14.jpg
Round 4 v Michael Swailes
Miracles
ID
3-0-1
Round 5 v Mike Kiesel
Miracles
Second Miracles ID
3-0-2
Quarterfinals v Rob Hunsaker
Aluren
Rob (Starcitygames Standard Open Champion, multiple Legacy Top-8) starts off the match with how he didn't expect to be playing legacy after scrubbing from the Premier IQ main event and missing the Sealed side. He borrowed Aluren from aficionado Martin Goldman-Kirst on a whim and top-8d cold, despite not knowing how the combo worked the first time he was forced to execute it. As always, matches with Rob are always fun.
Game 1 he led Thoguhtseize, then durdled around. I managed to get a Stoneforge with Jitte down, and started swinging with Clique and Swords in hand that he didn't know about, tapped out. He played Therapy hitting a known Pierce, then played Strix, announced the trigger, drew, and immediately flashbacked Therapy for Clique. I had counters on Jitte. Oops. That turned out to be pretty relevant as I misplayed by pumping with Jitte, then he dropped Aluren and next turn Thoughtseized a Swords and cast Intuition. This was a sweet line he found - I had 2 Jitte counters, an active Deathrite with no green source (and a fetch I declined to play in hand...), so he found EWit, Recruiter, Recruiter. If I had not pumped with Jitte, if he had not discarded Swords, or if I had played the land, he wouldn't have been able to win. As it was, he Recruitered for the other 2, and I could only kill 2, and the last one killed me. Shaken, I resolved to play better.
Sideboarding:
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Seal of Cleansing
+1 Surgical Extraction
+1 Thoughtseize
+2 Meddling Mage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
-2 True-Name Nemesis
-2 Liliana of the Veil
-1 Creeping Tar Pit
-1 Savannah
-1 Batterskull
I do like discard against Aluren, but Liliana is pretty miserable against Strix and Shardless Agents. Can't remember the last card. Maybe a Swords?
Game 2 I had an insanely fast clock with Deathrite into Brainstorm + Stoneforge into Clique, into rip 3rd land, suit up Clique with SoFI. Killed turn 5 with Clique and Tar Pit. He was a little mana screwed and didn't really do anything. Game 3 was pretty bizarre. He got into the red zone with early Shardless into Strix, but his hand was poop when I Cliqued him - 3 Aluren, 2 Decay vs. my Meddling Mage on Aluren and onboard Seal of Removal. Took an Aluren (probably wrong?), but he Decayed my Mage and Seal over the course of a couple turns. Seal capped Strix in response, allowing Clique to get in there. He got an Aluren down, but drew nothing but more Alurens and Carpet of Flowers while Clique went the distance.
3-0-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/tp/107.jpg
Semifinals v Michael Swailes
Miracles
Swailes was on the 23-land legends build, similar to Joe Loesett. I knew that he would have some spice though; Swailes is not one to copy a list. He is also a powerful and seasoned mage with a 4-digit DCI number.
Game 1 is very close. I led off by Thoughtseizing a Brainstorm from a weak hand with lands and Plows. I played a Stoneforge fetching Batterskull, he killed it. I played a Deathrite, he killed it. I tried Treasure Cruise, he Vensered it with Karakas in play. We were at an impasse for a while until I found a Waste for the Karakas and a Swords for the activation in response. For a while I was stuck on 4 lands with a Creeping Tar Pit in play, but he had been representing Swords or Red Blast, so I didn't dare get in there. Eventually he drew a Jace leaving up a fetch and I felt compelled to attack. He did in fact have the REB blowout, but that opened the way for Treasure Cruise. I drew into Brainstorm into Stoneforbe, which found the same Batterskull. I foolishly ran my Stoneforge activation into Clique, which bottomed the Batterskull. I Plowed the Clique, but it didn't matter as a flotilla of angels took me down over a couple turn.
Sideboard:
+1 Seal of Cleansing
+1 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Abrupt Decay
+2 Meddling Mage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
-2 Thoughtseize
-1 Spell Pierce
-1 Batterskull
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 land (not sure which)
Discard tends to be bad against Miracles because they play off the top so well, and Spell Pierce is similar because the game goes long and they can play around it. I was criticized after for leaving in Swords, but I feel like there are plenty of creatures in the legends build that I want to kill.
I mulled to 6 but had a decent start with Deathrite, Meddling Mage, and Stoneforge. Meddling Mage named Terminus, but ate a Pyroblast. I dropped a Seal of Removal, and he retorted with a Rest in Peace, stranding my Treasure Cruise. I decided to Decay that one, leaving up Seal for Blood Moon (he ran 2 last Monday, what a monster). Unfazed, he played another, which I decided to leave on board for fear of Counterbalance or Blood Moon. I managed to get him down to 3 with Deathrite and Stoneforge beats, but unfortunately decided to push for lethal with my Tar Pit I had been holding back in case of Terminus. He had it and locked up the game.
4-1-2
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/avr/38.jpg
At the end of the day, I went 4-1-2, good for a Tropical Island. Yeah the prize support for this event was sweet. Unfortunately I couldn't say the same about my deck. I left feeling like it was fine, but the Miracles matchup is tough, and I don't think it has enough of an edge against the rest of the field relative to BUG Delver for me to recommend playing it. It's slow and the mana base can be awkward - I had trouble casting Council's Judgment in a match. BUG Delver just has fewer weak points because its curve is lower and is disruption is more versatile and potent. Swailes split the finals with Mike Kiesel in the Mike Miracles mirror, so having a bad Miracles matchup seems like a bad place to be right now. Treasure Cruise was good, but it's no replacement for Ponder - I would have liked a couple especially against Miracles. That being said, just having the ability to reasonably topdeck land and jam Treasure Cruise is big game. Treasure Cruise was good, but it's probably not maximized in this archetype.
http://mythicspoiler.com/ktk/cards/treasurecruise1.jpg
The tournament was super high EV: 4 Seas for 1st, 2 Volcs for 2nd, 1 Trop 3/4, 1 Bayou 5/6, 1 Plateau 7/8, with 26 people entering. The field may have been small, but the competition was high - most of the field were local legacy ringers that knew their decks and the field well. I had been testing a bunch of decks with the new delve spells - Team America, Deathblade, OmniTell, Miracles a little, UR Painter a little. I felt like Deathblade made excellent use of Treasure Cruise - it wants to get to the midgame every time, plays a bunch of interactive spells and Liliana, isn't incredibly graveyard-dependent, and plays a bunch of lands to be able to cast it with small delves if necessary. I didn't like Deathblade at all beforehand - it had a negligible clock with no real trumps and a fragile manabase. With Cruise, Deathblade gains a huge amount of inevitability (its own form of clock), and if they spend time Wastelanding you, Cruise allows you to delve away the dead lands and reestablish your manabase. Here's my list:
Creatures (12)Non-Creatures (4+21=25)Lands (23)Sideboard (15)
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
4 Brainstorm
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Thoughtseize
1 Council's Judgment
4 Force of Will
3 Treasure Cruise
4 Flooded Strand
3 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
1 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Wasteland
1 Path to Exile
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Flusterstorm
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Thoughtseize
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Meddling Mage
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Cuts from the stock list are Jace, Karakas, Ponders, a Snapcaster, and some slight tweaking of the board. Deathblade is pretty bad at defending Jace; I'm not sure it should have been playing it at all before Cruise came out. Now, Cruise is a better card-advantage engine. It's a much better Liliana deck. Many people think Ponder is necessary to just cast Cruise, but really playing interactive spells is sufficient. I think that the miser's Karakas is pretty sketchy - the deck doesn't really want a basic Plains, and my meta has a ton of Miracles, a matchup that Tar Pit excels in.
Matchups
R1 v BURG Delver
R2 v ANT
R3 v Death & Taxes
R4 ID
R5 ID
Quarters v Aluren
Semis v Miracles
Round 1 v Solomon (2-1)
BURG Delver
Solomon has been playing various Delver decks for a while. Lately he's been on UR, so that's what I gear up for. He starts off strong with a mulligan to 5 on the play. His first play is Ponder into Trop, so UR is out, I'm on Stifle watch. I play an uncontested Deathrite, he passes, I Thoughtseize for a potential Stifle, take his one spell, and cast Stoneforge for Batterskull. He didn't draw a Bolt, and the game ended.
Sideboard:
+2 Abrupt Decay
+2 Zealous Persecution
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Flusterstorm
-4 Force of Will
-1 Council's Judgment
-1 Thoughtseize
I think that he doesn't have any spells I really want to Force, although I consider them for the draw. I suspect Pyromancer or True-Name, so Zealous Persecution should be good.
This game was also quite miserable. I mulligan to 6, keep a 1-lander with 2 Deathrites, Stoneforge, Swords, and Cruise - quite good. Unfortunatly, he Bolted my Deathrite and Wasted my Sea. I ripped another land off the top, played my second Deathrite right into Daze. He Wasted again. He didn't play a threat for a while, and I eventually found a land, but he resolved Cruise and Stifled a fetch before I got to resolve Cruise the next turn. He Wasted me twice more and I never played a relevant spell before Pyromancer and True-Name killed me. Next game he mulliganed to 5 again. My Deathrite into a Wasteland on his only land sealed the deal.
1-0
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/lg/15.jpg
Round 2 v Marcel (2-1)
ANT
Very grindy, interesting game one. I led on Throughtseize with a hand of Force, Cruise, Swords, and lands, and took LED from a hand of Underground Sea, 2 Therapy, 2 Duress, Past in Flames. He proceeded to strip every spell I drew over the next 4 turns until I started topdecking creatures. I had lethal on board with a True-Name and active Deathrite when he decided to go for it. Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Lotus Petal, Past in Flames with BBB floating, 1 land and Petal up, and 1 unknown in hand. I tanked and came out with him not having enough mana if I took Cabal Ritual, even if the last spell is Infernal Tutor, and I had Plow in hand to stymie a tutor chain. Turns out I was wrong - he flashbacked Ritual, it was Tutor getting Cabal Ritual, flashbacked Past in Flames, and killed me from there. Looks like I miscounted and should have left up Deathrite.
Sideboard:
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Flusterstorm
+1 Surgical Extraction
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Meddling Mage
+1 Zealous Persecution
+1 Grafdigger's Cage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
-2 True-Name Nemesis
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Council's Judgment
-1 Savannah
-1 Creeping Tar Pit
Zealous Persecution is for the inevitable X/1 board cards - Empty, Xantid Swarm, Bob, Pyromancer, you name it. ANT loves to catch its opponents unprepared. Game 2 opened on the nut hate - Cage, Surgical, Canonist, Stoneforge, 2 lands, Thoughtseize. Thoughtseize his Thoughtseize. He Duressed Cage, I slammed Canonist and the game basically ended there. Game 3 he boarded a card, and I saw Swarm so boarded in a second Zealous Persecution, not taking out anything. Yolo. I mulliganned, but had Force and Brainstorm. I held Brainstorm for turn 2, drawing into Stoneforge and Thoughtseize. Took a Dark Ritual from a hand that was pretty mana-constrained. Got the Stoneforge down, and had just enough disruption for Fire and Ice to go the distance.
2-0
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/sc/75.jpg
Round 3 v Glenn
D&T
I had done a little scouting and knew the matchup. Unfortunately I didn't know how to actually win it. Game 1 he played not one, not two, but THREE Mother of Runes. We got in a board stall with Moms and Thalias gumming up the ground vs my Stoneforge, Jitte, and Batterskull, and him super mana-constrained (2 plains after I Wasted his second Karkas). I made a mistake by not Forcing a second Stoneforge (the first got Jitte). My plan was to build up to 6 mana and starting swinging with Tar Pit suited up with Jitte. I did manage to get one hit in, but that pesky third Mom allowed his Batterskull (once it finally found its way into play) to pick up a Jitte and not let my Batterskull with Jitte get counters. I never drew a Swords that game, so couldn't break through. To be fair, he never drew a Swords or Wasteland. Strange game, and it left us with a meager 20 minutes on the clock.
Sideboarding:
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Seal of Cleansing
+1 Thoughtseize
+2 Abrupt Decay
+2 Zealous Persecution
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice (game 2. It was bad)
-4 Force of Will
-2 Spell Pierce
-1 Treasure Cruise
-1 Liliana of the Veil (when I brought in SoFI)
My thought with shaving Cruise is that he's likely to bring in Rest in Peace and his gameplan is to prevent me from casting spells, so I don't want to be super graveyard- or velocity-dependent. I'm not sure Lili is great against a deck with a bunch of crappy bodies like Stoneforge, especially now that they're likely to bring in Wilt-Leaf Liege. The others should be obvious.
Game 2 was a blowout, but I don't really remember it. Game 3 was a race eventually between my True-Name + Tar Pit versus some random bear beats, and he lost. We played these games so quickly I don't recall much, and finished with a few minutes on the clock.
3-0
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ul/14.jpg
Round 4 v Michael Swailes
Miracles
ID
3-0-1
Round 5 v Mike Kiesel
Miracles
Second Miracles ID
3-0-2
Quarterfinals v Rob Hunsaker
Aluren
Rob (Starcitygames Standard Open Champion, multiple Legacy Top-8) starts off the match with how he didn't expect to be playing legacy after scrubbing from the Premier IQ main event and missing the Sealed side. He borrowed Aluren from aficionado Martin Goldman-Kirst on a whim and top-8d cold, despite not knowing how the combo worked the first time he was forced to execute it. As always, matches with Rob are always fun.
Game 1 he led Thoguhtseize, then durdled around. I managed to get a Stoneforge with Jitte down, and started swinging with Clique and Swords in hand that he didn't know about, tapped out. He played Therapy hitting a known Pierce, then played Strix, announced the trigger, drew, and immediately flashbacked Therapy for Clique. I had counters on Jitte. Oops. That turned out to be pretty relevant as I misplayed by pumping with Jitte, then he dropped Aluren and next turn Thoughtseized a Swords and cast Intuition. This was a sweet line he found - I had 2 Jitte counters, an active Deathrite with no green source (and a fetch I declined to play in hand...), so he found EWit, Recruiter, Recruiter. If I had not pumped with Jitte, if he had not discarded Swords, or if I had played the land, he wouldn't have been able to win. As it was, he Recruitered for the other 2, and I could only kill 2, and the last one killed me. Shaken, I resolved to play better.
Sideboarding:
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Seal of Cleansing
+1 Surgical Extraction
+1 Thoughtseize
+2 Meddling Mage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
-2 True-Name Nemesis
-2 Liliana of the Veil
-1 Creeping Tar Pit
-1 Savannah
-1 Batterskull
I do like discard against Aluren, but Liliana is pretty miserable against Strix and Shardless Agents. Can't remember the last card. Maybe a Swords?
Game 2 I had an insanely fast clock with Deathrite into Brainstorm + Stoneforge into Clique, into rip 3rd land, suit up Clique with SoFI. Killed turn 5 with Clique and Tar Pit. He was a little mana screwed and didn't really do anything. Game 3 was pretty bizarre. He got into the red zone with early Shardless into Strix, but his hand was poop when I Cliqued him - 3 Aluren, 2 Decay vs. my Meddling Mage on Aluren and onboard Seal of Removal. Took an Aluren (probably wrong?), but he Decayed my Mage and Seal over the course of a couple turns. Seal capped Strix in response, allowing Clique to get in there. He got an Aluren down, but drew nothing but more Alurens and Carpet of Flowers while Clique went the distance.
3-0-1
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/tp/107.jpg
Semifinals v Michael Swailes
Miracles
Swailes was on the 23-land legends build, similar to Joe Loesett. I knew that he would have some spice though; Swailes is not one to copy a list. He is also a powerful and seasoned mage with a 4-digit DCI number.
Game 1 is very close. I led off by Thoughtseizing a Brainstorm from a weak hand with lands and Plows. I played a Stoneforge fetching Batterskull, he killed it. I played a Deathrite, he killed it. I tried Treasure Cruise, he Vensered it with Karakas in play. We were at an impasse for a while until I found a Waste for the Karakas and a Swords for the activation in response. For a while I was stuck on 4 lands with a Creeping Tar Pit in play, but he had been representing Swords or Red Blast, so I didn't dare get in there. Eventually he drew a Jace leaving up a fetch and I felt compelled to attack. He did in fact have the REB blowout, but that opened the way for Treasure Cruise. I drew into Brainstorm into Stoneforbe, which found the same Batterskull. I foolishly ran my Stoneforge activation into Clique, which bottomed the Batterskull. I Plowed the Clique, but it didn't matter as a flotilla of angels took me down over a couple turn.
Sideboard:
+1 Seal of Cleansing
+1 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Abrupt Decay
+2 Meddling Mage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
-2 Thoughtseize
-1 Spell Pierce
-1 Batterskull
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 land (not sure which)
Discard tends to be bad against Miracles because they play off the top so well, and Spell Pierce is similar because the game goes long and they can play around it. I was criticized after for leaving in Swords, but I feel like there are plenty of creatures in the legends build that I want to kill.
I mulled to 6 but had a decent start with Deathrite, Meddling Mage, and Stoneforge. Meddling Mage named Terminus, but ate a Pyroblast. I dropped a Seal of Removal, and he retorted with a Rest in Peace, stranding my Treasure Cruise. I decided to Decay that one, leaving up Seal for Blood Moon (he ran 2 last Monday, what a monster). Unfazed, he played another, which I decided to leave on board for fear of Counterbalance or Blood Moon. I managed to get him down to 3 with Deathrite and Stoneforge beats, but unfortunately decided to push for lethal with my Tar Pit I had been holding back in case of Terminus. He had it and locked up the game.
4-1-2
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/avr/38.jpg
At the end of the day, I went 4-1-2, good for a Tropical Island. Yeah the prize support for this event was sweet. Unfortunately I couldn't say the same about my deck. I left feeling like it was fine, but the Miracles matchup is tough, and I don't think it has enough of an edge against the rest of the field relative to BUG Delver for me to recommend playing it. It's slow and the mana base can be awkward - I had trouble casting Council's Judgment in a match. BUG Delver just has fewer weak points because its curve is lower and is disruption is more versatile and potent. Swailes split the finals with Mike Kiesel in the Mike Miracles mirror, so having a bad Miracles matchup seems like a bad place to be right now. Treasure Cruise was good, but it's no replacement for Ponder - I would have liked a couple especially against Miracles. That being said, just having the ability to reasonably topdeck land and jam Treasure Cruise is big game. Treasure Cruise was good, but it's probably not maximized in this archetype.