Undomian
03-15-2015, 09:52 PM
Let's get one thing out of the way first - I am not a Spike. I play Legacy mostly because, well, it's probably the best format for playing with sweet cards. It's not that I'm opposed to playing with stuff in the DtB forum, but I'd rather just play something like Tezzeret or TinFins and enjoy myself in the process. So, after missing out on Eternal Weekend and the first Eternal Extravaganza last year, I decided that there was no way I was missing this one. I was going to be there, and I was going to be casting Chalices.
I've been tuning the three color Mox Diamond Tezzeret variant since around the time that True-Name Nemesis was spoiled. I needed a way to kill it, and Engineered Explosives on 3 was the easiest way to accomplish that. I'd already been playing Mox Diamond in a straight UB version to add some explosiveness to the deck, so it wasn't that much of a leap to add some Tropical Islands to my manabase and some Golgari Charm to the sideboard. The biggest problem with the deck, though, was that Mox Diamond sucked to draw outside of your opening hand. Jace helped some with that, but this deck's manabase construction doesn't allow for many fetchlands. I'd put them back on top of my deck, then I'd draw them again the next turn.
Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked Dack Fayden was spoiled.
I had often thought that I would play a 3 mana enchantment that allowed me to loot on my upkeep, and Dack was so much more than that. He dumped bad cards out of my hand the turn he came into play, he put Sword of the Meek into my graveyard for that sweet Baleful Strix value, and best of all, he had other abilities too. Given a few months of testing and reasonable finishes at GP:NJ, SCG events, and local tournaments, I arrived at this for EE2:
UBr Tezzeret (affectionately called Dack in Black)
http://i.imgur.com/rMaH8dV.jpg?1
4 Baleful Strix
3 Dack Fayden
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Force of Will
2 Transmute Artifact
1 Dig Through Time
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Mox Diamond
2 Dimir Signet
1 Academy Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
2 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
3 Wasteland
60 cards
SB:
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 The Abyss
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Whipflare
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Misdirection
1 Helm of Obedience
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Lodestone Golem
R1
Erik with Infect (2-0)
Record: 1-0
Game 1:
Erik wins the die roll, and leads off with Tropical Island into Glistener Elf to let me know what he's on. I take a few unpumped swings from it until I establish Thopter/Sword, which ran away with the game over the course of a few turns. His only infect creatures this game were Elf and Inkmoth Nexus, and my Wastelands and Thopter army were able to handle those.
Game 2:
This game was a bit of a blowout. He didn't have an answer to my turn 1 Chalice, and though he did resolve a turn 2 Blighted Agent, that didn't match up very well against my turn 2 play of The Abyss. The Abyss and my Wastelands ended any hopes he had of ever sticking a creature, and a few Strixes and a 5/5 were able to take him down.
http://i.imgur.com/BxV7cVP.jpg?1
R2
Eddie with MUD (2-1)
Record: 2-0
Game 1:
Once again, I lose the die roll, but this game starts off a bit better for me when my opponent immediately mulligans to 5 cards. Even those hopes are dashed pretty quickly though when he leads off on a sol land into Grim Monolith, and I'm stuck looking at a Chalice hand. He plays a Kuldotha Forgemaster that I didn't have an answer to, and though I counter the next thing he played with the FoW I drew immediately after he cast the Forgemaster, he eventually plays another artifact and kills me with a Blightsteel Colossus.
Game 2:
With my Chalices now out of my deck, I open on a hand with mana and a Dack Fayden, and smile when my opponent casts Steel Hellkite as his first spell of the game after playing a few Cloudposts. Dack convinced the dragon to work for me in short order. He cast Ugin on the following turn and was forced to -3 it to kill Dack and my Baleful Strix, but after my new dragon friend took care of Ugin I had enough mana to use it's X ability to take care of everything else he played.
Game 3:
On the play, he starts off with a (normally) strong play of a turn 2 Coercive Portal. Unfortunately, Dack arrived when I untapped with the help of a Mox Diamond, and I coerced his portal into drawing me some cards instead. He had a few threats come down over the course of the game, but the overwhelming card advantage found me more copies of Dack to convince his army to fight against him.
http://i.imgur.com/IDOpigY.jpg?1
R3
Anuraag with Miracles (2-1)
Record: 3-0
Game 1:
After having a nice discussion with Anuraag about The Source, I win my first die roll of the tournament. He leads off with a few typical Miracles plays, but I'm able to resolve an early Thopter Foundry. I eventually find the other half of my combo, and my token army is able to kill him over the course of two turns without much resistance.
Game 2:
I keep a reasonable hand with some lands and spells in this game, but I don't have any fast mana. Unfortunately for me, he is able to assemble CounterTop with a two on top with hard countermagic for anything else, and eventually casts a Jace to lock me out of the game.
Game 3:
The hand I keep in this game has a sol land and a Diamond, and I lead off with a turn 1 Sword of the Meek followed by a Tezzeret on turn 2. I immediately turn it into a 5/5 creature and begin to attack him, and though he does manage to resolve a Jace to bounce it eventually, my Tezzeret ultimate is able to finish him off.
http://i.imgur.com/HS5UXn8.jpg?1
R4
Eric with Miracles (2-1)
Record: 4-0
Game 1:
I'm on the play again, and we both start the game off with a mulligan leading into one of the strangest games against Miracles I've ever played. We both play our first land, then... Well, then we moved to our discard steps for awhile. Neither of us managed to draw any lands or anything to actually do for a few turns. I eventually draw another land, and manage to resolve a Thopter Foundry. I eventually assemble my combo, and my tokens take it down.
Game 2:
This game was extremely long and very grindy, which is a situation that usually favors Miracles. With both of our boards mostly empty, he casts a hardcast Entreat the Angels for 2 which I have no answer for. Two attack steps later, my life total hit zero.
Game 3:
I play out some Baleful Strixes fairly early in this game, and have them get to work on Eric's life total. I resolve a Tezzeret and tick it up, and pass the turn with a hand full of artifacts. My opponent decides not to attack his Vendilion Clique into my Thopter Foundry with mana untapped, so when my Strixes bring his life total to 14 the next turn, I'm able to unload my hand of mana rocks and such to Tezzeret ultimate him for lethal.
http://i.imgur.com/zmvZ0hx.jpg?1
R5
Sam with Miracles (2-0)
Record: 5-0
Game 1:
The hand I keep this game is very threat dense, so I'm able to chuck spells into his countermagic until I'm eventually able to land a Thopter Foundry to go with the Sword of the Meek I'd played earlier in the game. Unable to really interact with my plan, my tokens take down the game a few turns later.
Game 2:
Once again, I open on a very threat-dense hand - this time with both copies of Lodestone Golem. He struggled to find an answer other than Jace to my Golems, and they end up beating him to death in tandem with my Tezzeret 5/5s.
http://i.imgur.com/xMdyl5i.jpg?1
R6
Jon with Ad Nauseam Tendrils (2-1)
Record: 6-0
Game 1:
I open on a reasonable hand with Strix, Tezzeret, and a Force alongside some lands, so I'm less than excited when my opponent's first play is a Duress to take my Force of Will. I play out the Strix and put it into the red zone, and draw into another Force of Will and some more land during that time. On turn 3, I take a gamble and play out Tezzeret and activate it's plus ability. I looked at the top of my deck trying to find one of ten cards (either a Chalice or another blue artifact), but end up failing to find anything and die after I pass the turn.
Game 2:
I keep a sick hand with a some lands, a Chalice, and a Lodestone Golem, and my opponent immediately concedes after I lead on turn 1 Chalice at 1 followed by the Golem on turn 2.
Game 3:
I mulligan to a 6 card hand with a Chalice, a Tezzeret, and some other cards, but with only a Volcanic Island as a mana source. I'm on the draw, so I take the gamble and keep the hand. He Probes me and cantrips on his first turn, and like a master, I rip Ancient Tomb, Lodestone Golem, and another two lands over the next few turns. My Golem and a 5/5 Chalice of the Void quickly drop his life total to zero.
http://i.imgur.com/q3lT3XO.jpg?1
R7
Kevin with Lands (2-0)
Record: 7-0
Game 1:
My opponent knows what I'm on as we've been sitting around the same area for the last few rounds, and he gives away what he's on as well when he casts Gamble off a Grove on his first turn on the play. I land Tezzeret, find Thopter/Sword, and ultimate him for lethal the turn after I untap with it.
Game 2:
I manage to live the dream in this game by mana screwing the lands player. He leads on a turn 1 Mox Diamond into Gamble, but when he discards his only land to that spell, he's left passing the turn. Though he does find another land 2 turns later, I untap and cast Dack Fayden off my own Diamond, take his Mox, and Wasteland his only remaining mana source. I eventually hardcast a Leyline of the Void and Transmute for Helm to kill him.
http://i.imgur.com/NcqQXWw.jpg?1
R8
ID
Record: 7-0-1
R9
ID
Record: 7-0-2 (2nd seed overall)
T16
Joe with Sneak and Show (2-1)
Record: 8-0-2
First, I'm really sorry for forgetting your name. I can't access my PWP page right now either apparently, so I can't even look it up. If WOTC decides to bring their password reset page back up, I'll edit it in. Thanks, guy from Reddit!
Game 1:
I have a reasonable idea of what most of the people in the top 16 are playing, so when I sit down across from the only matchup that I didn't want, I started to think that my run was over. I keep a hand with a turn 1 Chalice followed by a turn 3 Tezzeret, but with no Force of Will. The Chalice keeps my opponent from doing anything but passing after playing an Island on turn 1, but that doesn't stop him from playing another Island, a Lotus Petal, and a Show and Tell for Emrakul on turn 2. My draw step doesn't show me a Bridge or Transmute, so I scoop it up.
Game 2:
I open on Leyline, Signet, Transmute, Force, Strix, and some lands, and decide to keep it. He once again has a turn 2 Show and Tell, and he has the Force of Will to back it up. Fortunately, he shows me an Emrakul to match up against my Signet, and concedes when I resolve Transmute for Bridge after I untap. I don't have access to the decklists as I write this, so I'm not sure if he didn't have anything to remove the Bridge at all or if he just forgot to board it in.
Game 3:
Excited after winning game 2, I open on a hand with Leyline, Transmute, Force of Will, and a turn 2 Lodestone Golem. My Golem resolves, and puts on the beatdown over the next few turns. His mana is very restricted by LSG and some Wastelands, and he is eventually forced to tap out to Ice the Golem at 7 life. I move to my postcombat main phase, and LSG prevents him from responding to my Transmute for Helm of Obedience.
http://i.imgur.com/fCO4erE.jpg?1
T8
Ryan with UW Stoneblade (2-0)
Record: 9-0-2
Game 1:
We fight a bit over some of our early plays, but I'm able to assemble Crucible/Wasteland to keep him off of his mana. Eventually, he manages to resolve a True-Name Nemesis on a mostly empty board. Over the next few turns, another TNN and a Sword of Fire and Ice join the party, but I'm eventually able to resolve a Transmute for Ensnaring Bridge to stop his guys from attacking me. Tezzeret arrives a few turns later, and, ultimates for his life total after I untap.
Game 2:
He takes a mulligan on the play, and once again I begin the game with a few copies of Wasteland. I play out Chains of Mephistopheles to constrict his ability to filter through his deck, but he immediately draws into Stoneforge Mystic finding Batterskull and passes the turn with 2 cards in hand. Unfortunately for him, I have other plans for his equipment. I untap, cast Dack, and activate his plus ability targeting my opponent for a makeshift Mind Rot. A few turns of milling him later, Thopter/Sword comes down to end the game.
http://i.imgur.com/kEkG7FN.jpg?1
T4
Kellen with Death and Taxes (0-2)
Record: 9-1-2
I was exhausted by this point, so I didn't bother to write up any game summaries after the match. This is just what I remember.
Game 1:
He does his thing with creatures and a Sword of Fire and Ice, and puts me to 4 life before I can assemble both halves of Thopter/Sword. With a lot of mana at my disposal, my opponent sees the writing on the wall and concedes the game.
Game 2:
This was an extremely interactive game of magic, and also one that I happened to play extremely poorly. At one point in the game, he has a board of two Mother of Runes, two Phyrexian Revoker, and a SFM equipped with Sword of Fire and Ice, all of which have beat me down to 8 life. I do have Thopter/Sword on board (rendered useless by the Revokers), so I'm pretty excited when I topdeck Toxic Deluge. Unfortunately, I decide for some reason that it's better to only Deluge for 1 rather than for 4 because I could untap and cast The Abyss to kill his Stoneforge Mystic and get back into the game, but another Revoker and the usual mana disruption suite prevents that from happening.
Game 3:
This one was not so interactive. I keep a sketchy hand with only one colored mana source and lead off with a Sol Land plus Mox Diamond into Bridge, emptying my hand a bit to allow the Dack in my hand to live after I would cast it. My first draw step doesn't yield another colored mana though, and his Revoker on my Diamond followed by Wasteland, Thalia, and Aven Mindcensor for the Polluted Delta I did eventually draw put the game away in short order.
http://i.imgur.com/VKfgdTb.jpg?1
I had a great run with the deck, and looking back, I'm not sure that I would have changed anything about it. I feel as though the 75 I played was pretty close to the perfect 75 for this tournament, and the deck performed wonderfully. Dack Fayden was (and continues to be) an all-star in this deck, casually turning excess Mox Diamonds into gas and creating random blowouts when my opponents decide to cast artifacts of their own. It is entirely possible that I want a spell in the deck to give me the ability to target something, as Dack gets to ultimate range more often than you might expect. Likely, though, it's just better to continue to activate his plus ability like I have been doing to find a way to kill my opponent on my own terms.
This event was very well run and the prizes were great. I look forward to attending the next one!
I've been tuning the three color Mox Diamond Tezzeret variant since around the time that True-Name Nemesis was spoiled. I needed a way to kill it, and Engineered Explosives on 3 was the easiest way to accomplish that. I'd already been playing Mox Diamond in a straight UB version to add some explosiveness to the deck, so it wasn't that much of a leap to add some Tropical Islands to my manabase and some Golgari Charm to the sideboard. The biggest problem with the deck, though, was that Mox Diamond sucked to draw outside of your opening hand. Jace helped some with that, but this deck's manabase construction doesn't allow for many fetchlands. I'd put them back on top of my deck, then I'd draw them again the next turn.
Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked Dack Fayden was spoiled.
I had often thought that I would play a 3 mana enchantment that allowed me to loot on my upkeep, and Dack was so much more than that. He dumped bad cards out of my hand the turn he came into play, he put Sword of the Meek into my graveyard for that sweet Baleful Strix value, and best of all, he had other abilities too. Given a few months of testing and reasonable finishes at GP:NJ, SCG events, and local tournaments, I arrived at this for EE2:
UBr Tezzeret (affectionately called Dack in Black)
http://i.imgur.com/rMaH8dV.jpg?1
4 Baleful Strix
3 Dack Fayden
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Force of Will
2 Transmute Artifact
1 Dig Through Time
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Mox Diamond
2 Dimir Signet
1 Academy Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
2 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
3 Wasteland
60 cards
SB:
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 The Abyss
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Whipflare
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Misdirection
1 Helm of Obedience
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Lodestone Golem
R1
Erik with Infect (2-0)
Record: 1-0
Game 1:
Erik wins the die roll, and leads off with Tropical Island into Glistener Elf to let me know what he's on. I take a few unpumped swings from it until I establish Thopter/Sword, which ran away with the game over the course of a few turns. His only infect creatures this game were Elf and Inkmoth Nexus, and my Wastelands and Thopter army were able to handle those.
Game 2:
This game was a bit of a blowout. He didn't have an answer to my turn 1 Chalice, and though he did resolve a turn 2 Blighted Agent, that didn't match up very well against my turn 2 play of The Abyss. The Abyss and my Wastelands ended any hopes he had of ever sticking a creature, and a few Strixes and a 5/5 were able to take him down.
http://i.imgur.com/BxV7cVP.jpg?1
R2
Eddie with MUD (2-1)
Record: 2-0
Game 1:
Once again, I lose the die roll, but this game starts off a bit better for me when my opponent immediately mulligans to 5 cards. Even those hopes are dashed pretty quickly though when he leads off on a sol land into Grim Monolith, and I'm stuck looking at a Chalice hand. He plays a Kuldotha Forgemaster that I didn't have an answer to, and though I counter the next thing he played with the FoW I drew immediately after he cast the Forgemaster, he eventually plays another artifact and kills me with a Blightsteel Colossus.
Game 2:
With my Chalices now out of my deck, I open on a hand with mana and a Dack Fayden, and smile when my opponent casts Steel Hellkite as his first spell of the game after playing a few Cloudposts. Dack convinced the dragon to work for me in short order. He cast Ugin on the following turn and was forced to -3 it to kill Dack and my Baleful Strix, but after my new dragon friend took care of Ugin I had enough mana to use it's X ability to take care of everything else he played.
Game 3:
On the play, he starts off with a (normally) strong play of a turn 2 Coercive Portal. Unfortunately, Dack arrived when I untapped with the help of a Mox Diamond, and I coerced his portal into drawing me some cards instead. He had a few threats come down over the course of the game, but the overwhelming card advantage found me more copies of Dack to convince his army to fight against him.
http://i.imgur.com/IDOpigY.jpg?1
R3
Anuraag with Miracles (2-1)
Record: 3-0
Game 1:
After having a nice discussion with Anuraag about The Source, I win my first die roll of the tournament. He leads off with a few typical Miracles plays, but I'm able to resolve an early Thopter Foundry. I eventually find the other half of my combo, and my token army is able to kill him over the course of two turns without much resistance.
Game 2:
I keep a reasonable hand with some lands and spells in this game, but I don't have any fast mana. Unfortunately for me, he is able to assemble CounterTop with a two on top with hard countermagic for anything else, and eventually casts a Jace to lock me out of the game.
Game 3:
The hand I keep in this game has a sol land and a Diamond, and I lead off with a turn 1 Sword of the Meek followed by a Tezzeret on turn 2. I immediately turn it into a 5/5 creature and begin to attack him, and though he does manage to resolve a Jace to bounce it eventually, my Tezzeret ultimate is able to finish him off.
http://i.imgur.com/HS5UXn8.jpg?1
R4
Eric with Miracles (2-1)
Record: 4-0
Game 1:
I'm on the play again, and we both start the game off with a mulligan leading into one of the strangest games against Miracles I've ever played. We both play our first land, then... Well, then we moved to our discard steps for awhile. Neither of us managed to draw any lands or anything to actually do for a few turns. I eventually draw another land, and manage to resolve a Thopter Foundry. I eventually assemble my combo, and my tokens take it down.
Game 2:
This game was extremely long and very grindy, which is a situation that usually favors Miracles. With both of our boards mostly empty, he casts a hardcast Entreat the Angels for 2 which I have no answer for. Two attack steps later, my life total hit zero.
Game 3:
I play out some Baleful Strixes fairly early in this game, and have them get to work on Eric's life total. I resolve a Tezzeret and tick it up, and pass the turn with a hand full of artifacts. My opponent decides not to attack his Vendilion Clique into my Thopter Foundry with mana untapped, so when my Strixes bring his life total to 14 the next turn, I'm able to unload my hand of mana rocks and such to Tezzeret ultimate him for lethal.
http://i.imgur.com/zmvZ0hx.jpg?1
R5
Sam with Miracles (2-0)
Record: 5-0
Game 1:
The hand I keep this game is very threat dense, so I'm able to chuck spells into his countermagic until I'm eventually able to land a Thopter Foundry to go with the Sword of the Meek I'd played earlier in the game. Unable to really interact with my plan, my tokens take down the game a few turns later.
Game 2:
Once again, I open on a very threat-dense hand - this time with both copies of Lodestone Golem. He struggled to find an answer other than Jace to my Golems, and they end up beating him to death in tandem with my Tezzeret 5/5s.
http://i.imgur.com/xMdyl5i.jpg?1
R6
Jon with Ad Nauseam Tendrils (2-1)
Record: 6-0
Game 1:
I open on a reasonable hand with Strix, Tezzeret, and a Force alongside some lands, so I'm less than excited when my opponent's first play is a Duress to take my Force of Will. I play out the Strix and put it into the red zone, and draw into another Force of Will and some more land during that time. On turn 3, I take a gamble and play out Tezzeret and activate it's plus ability. I looked at the top of my deck trying to find one of ten cards (either a Chalice or another blue artifact), but end up failing to find anything and die after I pass the turn.
Game 2:
I keep a sick hand with a some lands, a Chalice, and a Lodestone Golem, and my opponent immediately concedes after I lead on turn 1 Chalice at 1 followed by the Golem on turn 2.
Game 3:
I mulligan to a 6 card hand with a Chalice, a Tezzeret, and some other cards, but with only a Volcanic Island as a mana source. I'm on the draw, so I take the gamble and keep the hand. He Probes me and cantrips on his first turn, and like a master, I rip Ancient Tomb, Lodestone Golem, and another two lands over the next few turns. My Golem and a 5/5 Chalice of the Void quickly drop his life total to zero.
http://i.imgur.com/q3lT3XO.jpg?1
R7
Kevin with Lands (2-0)
Record: 7-0
Game 1:
My opponent knows what I'm on as we've been sitting around the same area for the last few rounds, and he gives away what he's on as well when he casts Gamble off a Grove on his first turn on the play. I land Tezzeret, find Thopter/Sword, and ultimate him for lethal the turn after I untap with it.
Game 2:
I manage to live the dream in this game by mana screwing the lands player. He leads on a turn 1 Mox Diamond into Gamble, but when he discards his only land to that spell, he's left passing the turn. Though he does find another land 2 turns later, I untap and cast Dack Fayden off my own Diamond, take his Mox, and Wasteland his only remaining mana source. I eventually hardcast a Leyline of the Void and Transmute for Helm to kill him.
http://i.imgur.com/NcqQXWw.jpg?1
R8
ID
Record: 7-0-1
R9
ID
Record: 7-0-2 (2nd seed overall)
T16
Joe with Sneak and Show (2-1)
Record: 8-0-2
First, I'm really sorry for forgetting your name. I can't access my PWP page right now either apparently, so I can't even look it up. If WOTC decides to bring their password reset page back up, I'll edit it in. Thanks, guy from Reddit!
Game 1:
I have a reasonable idea of what most of the people in the top 16 are playing, so when I sit down across from the only matchup that I didn't want, I started to think that my run was over. I keep a hand with a turn 1 Chalice followed by a turn 3 Tezzeret, but with no Force of Will. The Chalice keeps my opponent from doing anything but passing after playing an Island on turn 1, but that doesn't stop him from playing another Island, a Lotus Petal, and a Show and Tell for Emrakul on turn 2. My draw step doesn't show me a Bridge or Transmute, so I scoop it up.
Game 2:
I open on Leyline, Signet, Transmute, Force, Strix, and some lands, and decide to keep it. He once again has a turn 2 Show and Tell, and he has the Force of Will to back it up. Fortunately, he shows me an Emrakul to match up against my Signet, and concedes when I resolve Transmute for Bridge after I untap. I don't have access to the decklists as I write this, so I'm not sure if he didn't have anything to remove the Bridge at all or if he just forgot to board it in.
Game 3:
Excited after winning game 2, I open on a hand with Leyline, Transmute, Force of Will, and a turn 2 Lodestone Golem. My Golem resolves, and puts on the beatdown over the next few turns. His mana is very restricted by LSG and some Wastelands, and he is eventually forced to tap out to Ice the Golem at 7 life. I move to my postcombat main phase, and LSG prevents him from responding to my Transmute for Helm of Obedience.
http://i.imgur.com/fCO4erE.jpg?1
T8
Ryan with UW Stoneblade (2-0)
Record: 9-0-2
Game 1:
We fight a bit over some of our early plays, but I'm able to assemble Crucible/Wasteland to keep him off of his mana. Eventually, he manages to resolve a True-Name Nemesis on a mostly empty board. Over the next few turns, another TNN and a Sword of Fire and Ice join the party, but I'm eventually able to resolve a Transmute for Ensnaring Bridge to stop his guys from attacking me. Tezzeret arrives a few turns later, and, ultimates for his life total after I untap.
Game 2:
He takes a mulligan on the play, and once again I begin the game with a few copies of Wasteland. I play out Chains of Mephistopheles to constrict his ability to filter through his deck, but he immediately draws into Stoneforge Mystic finding Batterskull and passes the turn with 2 cards in hand. Unfortunately for him, I have other plans for his equipment. I untap, cast Dack, and activate his plus ability targeting my opponent for a makeshift Mind Rot. A few turns of milling him later, Thopter/Sword comes down to end the game.
http://i.imgur.com/kEkG7FN.jpg?1
T4
Kellen with Death and Taxes (0-2)
Record: 9-1-2
I was exhausted by this point, so I didn't bother to write up any game summaries after the match. This is just what I remember.
Game 1:
He does his thing with creatures and a Sword of Fire and Ice, and puts me to 4 life before I can assemble both halves of Thopter/Sword. With a lot of mana at my disposal, my opponent sees the writing on the wall and concedes the game.
Game 2:
This was an extremely interactive game of magic, and also one that I happened to play extremely poorly. At one point in the game, he has a board of two Mother of Runes, two Phyrexian Revoker, and a SFM equipped with Sword of Fire and Ice, all of which have beat me down to 8 life. I do have Thopter/Sword on board (rendered useless by the Revokers), so I'm pretty excited when I topdeck Toxic Deluge. Unfortunately, I decide for some reason that it's better to only Deluge for 1 rather than for 4 because I could untap and cast The Abyss to kill his Stoneforge Mystic and get back into the game, but another Revoker and the usual mana disruption suite prevents that from happening.
Game 3:
This one was not so interactive. I keep a sketchy hand with only one colored mana source and lead off with a Sol Land plus Mox Diamond into Bridge, emptying my hand a bit to allow the Dack in my hand to live after I would cast it. My first draw step doesn't yield another colored mana though, and his Revoker on my Diamond followed by Wasteland, Thalia, and Aven Mindcensor for the Polluted Delta I did eventually draw put the game away in short order.
http://i.imgur.com/VKfgdTb.jpg?1
I had a great run with the deck, and looking back, I'm not sure that I would have changed anything about it. I feel as though the 75 I played was pretty close to the perfect 75 for this tournament, and the deck performed wonderfully. Dack Fayden was (and continues to be) an all-star in this deck, casually turning excess Mox Diamonds into gas and creating random blowouts when my opponents decide to cast artifacts of their own. It is entirely possible that I want a spell in the deck to give me the ability to target something, as Dack gets to ultimate range more often than you might expect. Likely, though, it's just better to continue to activate his plus ability like I have been doing to find a way to kill my opponent on my own terms.
This event was very well run and the prizes were great. I look forward to attending the next one!