phazonmutant
03-22-2016, 05:29 AM
I took top 4 in the Card Kingdom 1k quarterly tournament last weekend with TinFins. Deck felt strong still, and I had some very interesting games. Even better, you can see some of them streamed online!
Round 4: https://www.twitch.tv/cardkingdom/v/55402734 (03: 10:00)
Semifinal: https://www.twitch.tv/cardkingdom/v/55476664 (00:30:28)
(I'll edit with youtube links once / if they get uploaded since CardKingdom's videos expire after a couple weeks)
List:
// 15 Lands
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
2 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Children of Korlis
4 Dark Ritual
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Entomb
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Goryo's Vengeance
2 Griselbrand
4 Lotus Petal
4 Ponder
2 Reanimate
2 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Shallow Grave
2 Thoughtseize
// Sideboard:
3 Dark Confidant
1 Dread of Night
2 Flusterstorm
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Serenity
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Teferi's Realm
The list is the same maindeck and mostly same board as what I posted from the last 1k on the TinFins thread. Thanks to those that tried it out and had success :smile: It certainly treated me well. I think I won all of my preboard games this tournament.
Sideboard difference is -2 Chain of Vapor, +1 Dread of Night, +1 Teferi's Realm. I was continually finding myself not boarding in Chain and being unimpressed when I did draw it. It's so bad with Mentor since they can sac a land to bounce it, and it still gets Chaliced. So I wanted something good against D&T and decks with mass permanents of various sorts (D&T, 4c Loam, Miracles, etc). More words on the decklist going forward after my match results (Ctrl+F "Decklist going forwards").
Also check this out: Teferi's Realm + Serenity = all artifacts destroyed, all enchantments phased out every upkeep. I wanted that to happen sooooo badly...
R1 Percy - BUG Delver
He had an interesting turn 2 on the play deciding whether to play Lili (that I knew from probe) or Goyf (unknown) with a hand of Lili, Decay, Waste, Goyf; Sea, DRS, Bayou in play and having seen Petal, Probe, Brainstorm, Delta, Swamp (untapped). He chose Goyf which I think is correct given information he had, but I had the Entomb, Griselbrand, and Shallow Grave in hand, easily lethal.
-3 Goryo's Vengeance, -1 Shallow Grave, -2 Entomb, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children, -1 Emrakul; +2 Swords to Plowshares, +4 Mentor, +3 Bob
Game 2 a turn 1 Deathrite did work while I spun my wheels drawing reanimation effects and no dude. I finally found a Mentor to start chump blocking Goyf, but it was too late.
Game 3 we had dueling Bobs and I again drew several reanimation spells. This time I got to use them as cantrips or removal by blocking or EOT Shallow Grave to upkeep draw. I ended up not finding Mentor for a while again, and then flipped a Griselbrand to Bob (although with lethal on board). Not an auspicious start...
In retrospect I don't think I should have brought in Bob, and also think that I should have cut an additional Shallow Grave over an Entomb - I was flooded with reanimation more than ins. I did that for the rest of the tournament.
0-1
R2 - Burn
Pretty typical 0-1 bracket matchup: new legacy player playing burn. He had a Lotus Petal, Mountain, and Eidolon in hand but inexplicably passed without casting a spell. I killed him. Game 2 he Bolted me, then Bolted me twice instead of playing Eidolon. I killed him. Nice plays. He even generously allowed me to hardcast Emrakul game 2.
-2 Thoughtseize, -2 Sensei's Divining Top; +2 Swords to Plowshares, +2 Flusterstorm
1-1
R3 Thomas - Grixis Delver
Game 1 I probed and saw he had a bunch of nonsense, including Young Pyromancer, Gurmag Angler, and Chain Lightning. Not your stock list. Then he died on turn 1.
-3 Goryo's Vengeance, -1 Thoughtseize, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children of Korlis; +4 Monastery Mentor, +2 Swords to Plowshares
This board plan was probably a mistake, but I thought it might be helpful to misdirect him for game 3. He had a quick clock, disruption, and self-inflicted damage from Probe and fetches didn't help.
-2 Sensei's Divining Top, +2 Swords to Plowshares (combo configuration. He boarded in 3 cards)
I masterfully sniffed out a Brainstorm when he tanked for about a second on responding to my Cabal Therapy with 4 cards in hand, Island + fetch up. That left him Chain and Lightning Bolt, Pyroblast, Sulfur Elemental. Good thing I boarded out Mentor! He used both Bolts and Blasted my Brainstorm next turn, but neither one of us drew lands for a couple turns. Then I found my second mana source to Shallow Grave Griselbrand the turn after he drew his third land and passed. I was at 13, so I had a choice of going to 5 and losing to his two unknowns being another Bolt + Fireblast or double Bolt. Too risky - what else could he have that would cause him to pass for 2 turns with no land or play? So I swung in, drew 7, and flashed back Therapy with Griselbrand. He responded by playing the Sulfur Elemental I knew about and a Fireblast I didn't, so I named the Lightning Bolt I was afraid of and...hit! Good thing I didn't draw to 5. His 1 card wasn't enough to beat a Griselbrand into cast Emrakul the next turn. Sweet game, and really shows that you need to not always go for it.
2-1
R4 Scott - Reanimator
The video is linked above, so I won't do a play by play. Very interesting couple of games. I had a tough choice between cantripping to find the combo or playing the control role game 1, and the result of the game would indicate I chose correctly :cool: Game 2 he blinked first.
-1 Island, -2 Sensei's Divining Top, -1 Probe; +2 Flusterstorm, +2 Swords to Plowshares
3-1
R5 James - RUG Delver
James and I trade off matches with combo and RUG, but I think he was a little tired at this point in the tournament. He kept a sketchy hand of 2 Bolts, Fire/Ice, Daze, Brainstorm, 2 fetches. I got Bolted a couple of times, but he didn't find hard permission before I found the mana to play through Daze and Pierce.
In previous playtesting in this matchup, I've found their clock is too fast and mana denial too strong for Mentor to be realistic. James sometimes brings in Eidolon though so I wanted Plows. -2 Sensei's Divining Top, +2 Swords to Plowshares
Game 2 he had plenty of soft permission but no quick clock. He was holding back a Goose in hand to leave up Pierce (and Daze) while cantripping. Eventually he dropped Goose and left up two mana which I discovered to be for another Pierce and a Snare. I worked my way through his permission with Cabal Therapy and liberally using fast mana to pay the tax. Then I was able to go off uncontested the next turn and he also allowed me to generate 18 mana, go up to 111 life, draw over 80 cards, and eventually cast Emrakul the fun way. Now to be fair, I'm not just slow rolling when I do this - usually it's because I can't find a way to Shallow Grave / Vengeance an Emrakul before attacking and then have to try to kill on that turn.
4-1
R6 Allion - Miracles
I knew the matchup and also that he had to play because he was already X-1-1 with an unintentional draw. Given that the rest of the top tables drew or played according to the math, it was a clean cut.
Game 1 he kept Force, Counterspell, Jace, Terminus x2, Tundra, and Plains on the draw, so I baited his Force with an Entomb and he bit - by the numbers the correct play. I had a second Entomb in hand along with a Reanimate, but no second mana source. He drew, played Tundra, and passed. I bricked on a land and simply main-phased an Entomb to play around a topdeck Island enabling Counterspell. On his turn he tanked for a bit and again had an interesting decision - he drew Island, Counterbalance. We both agree he made the correct play of running out the Counterbalance instead of leaving up Counterspell, but his top of library was a Terminus. So I had to go for the win that turn, usually risky off of Reanimate with only 1 draw, but with Children in hand already, the math was in my favor. I was able to produce an attacking Emrakul which he scooped to.
-3 Goryo's Vengeance, -2 Shallow Grave, -2 Entomb, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children of Korlis, -1 Emrakul, -2 Dark Ritual; +4 Monastery Mentor, +3 Bob, +2 Serenity, +2 Flusterstorm, +1 Teferi's Realm
We had a long, interesting game 2. He countered my Mentor, and I declined to burn a Ritual to both Therapy then Reanimating his Containment Priest with Top in play and no gas to his board of 2 tapped lands, 2 Tops in hand, and Priest. He of course played Rest in Peace and then neither of us did anything for like 6 turns. I idiotically did not try to play my Serenity to "merely" kill his Rest in Peace with a couple of reanimate effects in hand, and then he locked me out with Counterbalance the turn after I drew the Entomb. Then he got Jace in play so I looked at the clock. Between both of us topping and tanking, we were at 20 minutes. Interesting - if I merely didn't concede this game while continuing to play at a normal (quick) pace, I could potentially draw the match which would result in me getting the 8th slot. He apparently pushed Entreat the Angels twice while bringing Jace to 12, at which point I scooped.
Game 3 I had a reasonable opener with Top and Bob. He countered a Bob, Plowed it when I Reanimated it, and then I durdled around finding infinite reanimation spells with Top and no shuffles. However, I did get to resolve Teferi's Realm after he dropped Rest in Peace and Counterbalance! That was awesome - people are always so confused how it works. 1) If I name Enchantment, he does not get to name a card on his upkeep because it's phased out. 2) Rest in Peace does not re-trigger on phasing in. So anyway, he got a Jace which bounced my drawn Mentor, then plowed it next turn. With me at 15, Clique in play, and Jace at 12, he asked if I would concede at the end of turns and I gleefully no-sirred him. Playing to my outs!
5-1
Quarterfinals ESG - Enchantress
Jeremy (ESG) was not happy about this matchup at all - he said that literally the 2 TinFins players were the only people in the entire field he didn't want to play. Rough beats me sneaking in at 8th after he had to win his match to get 1st. Game 1 I attacked with Emrakul because Griselbrand is black. Racist. He didn't recover from getting all but an Enchantress's Presence annihilated on turn 2.
-2 Sensei's Divining Top, -1 Thoughtseize; +2 Serenity; +1 Teferi's Realm
His Needle on Griselbrand required more annihilation. My cantrips found the combo again before he found a land.
6-1
Semifinals Ben - BURg Delver
This match is also linked above so I won't go over the play by play. I was shocked to win the first game and literally laughed at him when he let my Cabal Therapy resolve instead of Bolting me. Oops. The game 3 was such a fascinating, insane play on his part. Seriously go watch that video before continuing on.
Alright. So he had knowledge of my 2x Cabal Therapy, Shallow Grave, Lotus Petal, Land, with 1 unknown. He had apparently Force, Delver, Brainstorm, Waste, Waste, Fetch with Delver in play. So he just wanted to buy a turn by bluffing strength, and the best way to do that is the absolutely weird play of Forcing Lotus Petal. If he Forces Therapy off of Petal, that's better value, but usually a sign of desperation so I would more likely go for it. Brilliant.
On the other side of the table, I was putting him on Daze, which is what I named with my first (blind) Therapy. At the time, that's the only card that made the Force make sense to me. In retrospect, I saw that he Probed twice after playing Delver last turn, which means he kept the hand on the merits of land, Delver, Force, Probe, and a blue card, and that the first Probe didn't find protection. I should have used that information to call his bluff because chances are he didn't draw the Daze, but didn't take it into account. So that turn is definitely props to him for finding the out and slops to me for falling into his trap. I still think it's correct to trade my land for his Brainstorm and a Wasteland, but he savagely top decked the cantrip into Daze - literally the only sequence besides Surgical that kills me. Hard to be mad about him playing to his outs though.
Game 2 boarding: -3 Goryo's Vengeance, -2 Shallow Grave, -1 Entomb, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children of Korlis, -1 Emrakul; +4 Monastery Mentor, +3 Bob, +2 Swords to Plowshares. This boarding is 100% wrong, I should have left in Emrakul, 1 Shallow Grave, and 1 Entomb over the Bobs. Confidant is just really bad in the Delver matchups. Flusterstorm is not usually effective because I care about permanents like Deathrite, and getting mana constrained with Daze.
Game 3 boarding: -3 Goryo's Vengeance, -1 Shallow Grave, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children of Korlis; +4 Monastery Mentor, +2 Swords to Plowshares
Decklist going forwards
TinFins has gotten amazingly more competitive with the most recent build. Adding in basics, trimming the combo fat like Chrome Mox, extra Griselbrands, Tendrils, and Children of Korlis, and adding Tops make the deck incredibly resilient and consistent pre-board similar to ANT but faster. The Mentor and Swords plan postboard are great and when I get to play a Mentor by turn 3 I usually win. However Bob has *really* not been pulling its weight. I can't bring it in against Delver with Deathrite Shamans because they put too much pressure on my life and he doesn't attack or block well. He's ok against Miracles, but now that they know to leave in removal he tends to simply eat a Plow and do nothing. So he's best in matchups where Mentor by itself is enough like Shardless or Stoneblade. Mentor really still wants a card advantage engine, so I see three choices that are played in other decks:
1. Painful Truths. This is the typical complement with Esper Mentor, but it has the problems of being 3 mana (already clogged with Mentor), vulnerable to the spell hate people tend to bring in (Flusterstorm, Daze etc), and still ahem painful.
2. Stoneforge Mystic + Batterskull. Stoneforge is ETB card advantage, and BUG decks have a real tough time beating a Batterskull in play. Miracles also has trouble with a recurring 4/4 if the game gets to that point. It's great against creature / tribal decks where Mentor isn't necessarily. Equipment helps the token plan. Very promising, but most likely needs a third white source.
3. Counterbalance. Yes. It's a huge bomb against Miracles especially since I can power it out turn 1 with Lotus Petal and doesn't get hit by either removal or Flusterstorm. It also allows me to cut Flusterstorms for my anti-combo slots, leaving more room for other matchups. It isn't great against Delver though. I think this is better in the right metagames, but overall weaker.
Potential sideboards:
4 Monastery Mentor, 2 Stoneforge Mystic, 1 Batterskull, 3 Swords to Plowshares, 1 Dread of Night, 2 Flusterstorm, 2 Serenity (and -1 Sea, +1 Tundra maindeck)
4 Monastery Mentor, 3 Counterbalance, 1 Sensei's Divining Top, 4 Swords to Plowshares, 2 Disenchant, 1 Serenity
Round 4: https://www.twitch.tv/cardkingdom/v/55402734 (03: 10:00)
Semifinal: https://www.twitch.tv/cardkingdom/v/55476664 (00:30:28)
(I'll edit with youtube links once / if they get uploaded since CardKingdom's videos expire after a couple weeks)
List:
// 15 Lands
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
2 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Children of Korlis
4 Dark Ritual
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Entomb
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Goryo's Vengeance
2 Griselbrand
4 Lotus Petal
4 Ponder
2 Reanimate
2 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Shallow Grave
2 Thoughtseize
// Sideboard:
3 Dark Confidant
1 Dread of Night
2 Flusterstorm
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Serenity
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Teferi's Realm
The list is the same maindeck and mostly same board as what I posted from the last 1k on the TinFins thread. Thanks to those that tried it out and had success :smile: It certainly treated me well. I think I won all of my preboard games this tournament.
Sideboard difference is -2 Chain of Vapor, +1 Dread of Night, +1 Teferi's Realm. I was continually finding myself not boarding in Chain and being unimpressed when I did draw it. It's so bad with Mentor since they can sac a land to bounce it, and it still gets Chaliced. So I wanted something good against D&T and decks with mass permanents of various sorts (D&T, 4c Loam, Miracles, etc). More words on the decklist going forward after my match results (Ctrl+F "Decklist going forwards").
Also check this out: Teferi's Realm + Serenity = all artifacts destroyed, all enchantments phased out every upkeep. I wanted that to happen sooooo badly...
R1 Percy - BUG Delver
He had an interesting turn 2 on the play deciding whether to play Lili (that I knew from probe) or Goyf (unknown) with a hand of Lili, Decay, Waste, Goyf; Sea, DRS, Bayou in play and having seen Petal, Probe, Brainstorm, Delta, Swamp (untapped). He chose Goyf which I think is correct given information he had, but I had the Entomb, Griselbrand, and Shallow Grave in hand, easily lethal.
-3 Goryo's Vengeance, -1 Shallow Grave, -2 Entomb, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children, -1 Emrakul; +2 Swords to Plowshares, +4 Mentor, +3 Bob
Game 2 a turn 1 Deathrite did work while I spun my wheels drawing reanimation effects and no dude. I finally found a Mentor to start chump blocking Goyf, but it was too late.
Game 3 we had dueling Bobs and I again drew several reanimation spells. This time I got to use them as cantrips or removal by blocking or EOT Shallow Grave to upkeep draw. I ended up not finding Mentor for a while again, and then flipped a Griselbrand to Bob (although with lethal on board). Not an auspicious start...
In retrospect I don't think I should have brought in Bob, and also think that I should have cut an additional Shallow Grave over an Entomb - I was flooded with reanimation more than ins. I did that for the rest of the tournament.
0-1
R2 - Burn
Pretty typical 0-1 bracket matchup: new legacy player playing burn. He had a Lotus Petal, Mountain, and Eidolon in hand but inexplicably passed without casting a spell. I killed him. Game 2 he Bolted me, then Bolted me twice instead of playing Eidolon. I killed him. Nice plays. He even generously allowed me to hardcast Emrakul game 2.
-2 Thoughtseize, -2 Sensei's Divining Top; +2 Swords to Plowshares, +2 Flusterstorm
1-1
R3 Thomas - Grixis Delver
Game 1 I probed and saw he had a bunch of nonsense, including Young Pyromancer, Gurmag Angler, and Chain Lightning. Not your stock list. Then he died on turn 1.
-3 Goryo's Vengeance, -1 Thoughtseize, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children of Korlis; +4 Monastery Mentor, +2 Swords to Plowshares
This board plan was probably a mistake, but I thought it might be helpful to misdirect him for game 3. He had a quick clock, disruption, and self-inflicted damage from Probe and fetches didn't help.
-2 Sensei's Divining Top, +2 Swords to Plowshares (combo configuration. He boarded in 3 cards)
I masterfully sniffed out a Brainstorm when he tanked for about a second on responding to my Cabal Therapy with 4 cards in hand, Island + fetch up. That left him Chain and Lightning Bolt, Pyroblast, Sulfur Elemental. Good thing I boarded out Mentor! He used both Bolts and Blasted my Brainstorm next turn, but neither one of us drew lands for a couple turns. Then I found my second mana source to Shallow Grave Griselbrand the turn after he drew his third land and passed. I was at 13, so I had a choice of going to 5 and losing to his two unknowns being another Bolt + Fireblast or double Bolt. Too risky - what else could he have that would cause him to pass for 2 turns with no land or play? So I swung in, drew 7, and flashed back Therapy with Griselbrand. He responded by playing the Sulfur Elemental I knew about and a Fireblast I didn't, so I named the Lightning Bolt I was afraid of and...hit! Good thing I didn't draw to 5. His 1 card wasn't enough to beat a Griselbrand into cast Emrakul the next turn. Sweet game, and really shows that you need to not always go for it.
2-1
R4 Scott - Reanimator
The video is linked above, so I won't do a play by play. Very interesting couple of games. I had a tough choice between cantripping to find the combo or playing the control role game 1, and the result of the game would indicate I chose correctly :cool: Game 2 he blinked first.
-1 Island, -2 Sensei's Divining Top, -1 Probe; +2 Flusterstorm, +2 Swords to Plowshares
3-1
R5 James - RUG Delver
James and I trade off matches with combo and RUG, but I think he was a little tired at this point in the tournament. He kept a sketchy hand of 2 Bolts, Fire/Ice, Daze, Brainstorm, 2 fetches. I got Bolted a couple of times, but he didn't find hard permission before I found the mana to play through Daze and Pierce.
In previous playtesting in this matchup, I've found their clock is too fast and mana denial too strong for Mentor to be realistic. James sometimes brings in Eidolon though so I wanted Plows. -2 Sensei's Divining Top, +2 Swords to Plowshares
Game 2 he had plenty of soft permission but no quick clock. He was holding back a Goose in hand to leave up Pierce (and Daze) while cantripping. Eventually he dropped Goose and left up two mana which I discovered to be for another Pierce and a Snare. I worked my way through his permission with Cabal Therapy and liberally using fast mana to pay the tax. Then I was able to go off uncontested the next turn and he also allowed me to generate 18 mana, go up to 111 life, draw over 80 cards, and eventually cast Emrakul the fun way. Now to be fair, I'm not just slow rolling when I do this - usually it's because I can't find a way to Shallow Grave / Vengeance an Emrakul before attacking and then have to try to kill on that turn.
4-1
R6 Allion - Miracles
I knew the matchup and also that he had to play because he was already X-1-1 with an unintentional draw. Given that the rest of the top tables drew or played according to the math, it was a clean cut.
Game 1 he kept Force, Counterspell, Jace, Terminus x2, Tundra, and Plains on the draw, so I baited his Force with an Entomb and he bit - by the numbers the correct play. I had a second Entomb in hand along with a Reanimate, but no second mana source. He drew, played Tundra, and passed. I bricked on a land and simply main-phased an Entomb to play around a topdeck Island enabling Counterspell. On his turn he tanked for a bit and again had an interesting decision - he drew Island, Counterbalance. We both agree he made the correct play of running out the Counterbalance instead of leaving up Counterspell, but his top of library was a Terminus. So I had to go for the win that turn, usually risky off of Reanimate with only 1 draw, but with Children in hand already, the math was in my favor. I was able to produce an attacking Emrakul which he scooped to.
-3 Goryo's Vengeance, -2 Shallow Grave, -2 Entomb, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children of Korlis, -1 Emrakul, -2 Dark Ritual; +4 Monastery Mentor, +3 Bob, +2 Serenity, +2 Flusterstorm, +1 Teferi's Realm
We had a long, interesting game 2. He countered my Mentor, and I declined to burn a Ritual to both Therapy then Reanimating his Containment Priest with Top in play and no gas to his board of 2 tapped lands, 2 Tops in hand, and Priest. He of course played Rest in Peace and then neither of us did anything for like 6 turns. I idiotically did not try to play my Serenity to "merely" kill his Rest in Peace with a couple of reanimate effects in hand, and then he locked me out with Counterbalance the turn after I drew the Entomb. Then he got Jace in play so I looked at the clock. Between both of us topping and tanking, we were at 20 minutes. Interesting - if I merely didn't concede this game while continuing to play at a normal (quick) pace, I could potentially draw the match which would result in me getting the 8th slot. He apparently pushed Entreat the Angels twice while bringing Jace to 12, at which point I scooped.
Game 3 I had a reasonable opener with Top and Bob. He countered a Bob, Plowed it when I Reanimated it, and then I durdled around finding infinite reanimation spells with Top and no shuffles. However, I did get to resolve Teferi's Realm after he dropped Rest in Peace and Counterbalance! That was awesome - people are always so confused how it works. 1) If I name Enchantment, he does not get to name a card on his upkeep because it's phased out. 2) Rest in Peace does not re-trigger on phasing in. So anyway, he got a Jace which bounced my drawn Mentor, then plowed it next turn. With me at 15, Clique in play, and Jace at 12, he asked if I would concede at the end of turns and I gleefully no-sirred him. Playing to my outs!
5-1
Quarterfinals ESG - Enchantress
Jeremy (ESG) was not happy about this matchup at all - he said that literally the 2 TinFins players were the only people in the entire field he didn't want to play. Rough beats me sneaking in at 8th after he had to win his match to get 1st. Game 1 I attacked with Emrakul because Griselbrand is black. Racist. He didn't recover from getting all but an Enchantress's Presence annihilated on turn 2.
-2 Sensei's Divining Top, -1 Thoughtseize; +2 Serenity; +1 Teferi's Realm
His Needle on Griselbrand required more annihilation. My cantrips found the combo again before he found a land.
6-1
Semifinals Ben - BURg Delver
This match is also linked above so I won't go over the play by play. I was shocked to win the first game and literally laughed at him when he let my Cabal Therapy resolve instead of Bolting me. Oops. The game 3 was such a fascinating, insane play on his part. Seriously go watch that video before continuing on.
Alright. So he had knowledge of my 2x Cabal Therapy, Shallow Grave, Lotus Petal, Land, with 1 unknown. He had apparently Force, Delver, Brainstorm, Waste, Waste, Fetch with Delver in play. So he just wanted to buy a turn by bluffing strength, and the best way to do that is the absolutely weird play of Forcing Lotus Petal. If he Forces Therapy off of Petal, that's better value, but usually a sign of desperation so I would more likely go for it. Brilliant.
On the other side of the table, I was putting him on Daze, which is what I named with my first (blind) Therapy. At the time, that's the only card that made the Force make sense to me. In retrospect, I saw that he Probed twice after playing Delver last turn, which means he kept the hand on the merits of land, Delver, Force, Probe, and a blue card, and that the first Probe didn't find protection. I should have used that information to call his bluff because chances are he didn't draw the Daze, but didn't take it into account. So that turn is definitely props to him for finding the out and slops to me for falling into his trap. I still think it's correct to trade my land for his Brainstorm and a Wasteland, but he savagely top decked the cantrip into Daze - literally the only sequence besides Surgical that kills me. Hard to be mad about him playing to his outs though.
Game 2 boarding: -3 Goryo's Vengeance, -2 Shallow Grave, -1 Entomb, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children of Korlis, -1 Emrakul; +4 Monastery Mentor, +3 Bob, +2 Swords to Plowshares. This boarding is 100% wrong, I should have left in Emrakul, 1 Shallow Grave, and 1 Entomb over the Bobs. Confidant is just really bad in the Delver matchups. Flusterstorm is not usually effective because I care about permanents like Deathrite, and getting mana constrained with Daze.
Game 3 boarding: -3 Goryo's Vengeance, -1 Shallow Grave, -1 Griselbrand, -1 Children of Korlis; +4 Monastery Mentor, +2 Swords to Plowshares
Decklist going forwards
TinFins has gotten amazingly more competitive with the most recent build. Adding in basics, trimming the combo fat like Chrome Mox, extra Griselbrands, Tendrils, and Children of Korlis, and adding Tops make the deck incredibly resilient and consistent pre-board similar to ANT but faster. The Mentor and Swords plan postboard are great and when I get to play a Mentor by turn 3 I usually win. However Bob has *really* not been pulling its weight. I can't bring it in against Delver with Deathrite Shamans because they put too much pressure on my life and he doesn't attack or block well. He's ok against Miracles, but now that they know to leave in removal he tends to simply eat a Plow and do nothing. So he's best in matchups where Mentor by itself is enough like Shardless or Stoneblade. Mentor really still wants a card advantage engine, so I see three choices that are played in other decks:
1. Painful Truths. This is the typical complement with Esper Mentor, but it has the problems of being 3 mana (already clogged with Mentor), vulnerable to the spell hate people tend to bring in (Flusterstorm, Daze etc), and still ahem painful.
2. Stoneforge Mystic + Batterskull. Stoneforge is ETB card advantage, and BUG decks have a real tough time beating a Batterskull in play. Miracles also has trouble with a recurring 4/4 if the game gets to that point. It's great against creature / tribal decks where Mentor isn't necessarily. Equipment helps the token plan. Very promising, but most likely needs a third white source.
3. Counterbalance. Yes. It's a huge bomb against Miracles especially since I can power it out turn 1 with Lotus Petal and doesn't get hit by either removal or Flusterstorm. It also allows me to cut Flusterstorms for my anti-combo slots, leaving more room for other matchups. It isn't great against Delver though. I think this is better in the right metagames, but overall weaker.
Potential sideboards:
4 Monastery Mentor, 2 Stoneforge Mystic, 1 Batterskull, 3 Swords to Plowshares, 1 Dread of Night, 2 Flusterstorm, 2 Serenity (and -1 Sea, +1 Tundra maindeck)
4 Monastery Mentor, 3 Counterbalance, 1 Sensei's Divining Top, 4 Swords to Plowshares, 2 Disenchant, 1 Serenity