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Citrus-God
09-09-2007, 03:42 AM
I woke up at around 10 am. I walked upstairs to ask him Dad for like $20, and sat on the computer for like 1.5 hours listening to Metric and surfing on forums.

I changed my deck a bit, with Threshold heavily put into consideration. An obvious step that I was mildly thinking of was maindeck Counterbalance. I asked Mad Zur for advice via PM a while ago, and he said that maindeck Counterbalance would be the way to go as well.

I was also wondering about Engineered Explosives for the SB as well, and Mad Zur was obviously biased against it (even with little testing, but EtW, however, can easily be dealt with outside of Turn 1 if played right). I took some time sitting on AIM and chatting away and gossiping with various friends until I got the perfect deck built, I MDed my Counterbalances (which the 4th copy of Counterbalance was the 61st card, swapped EE out of the board for Krosan Grips and a place for the 3rd Needle. Here is my list as followed.


// Combat Baby
// Lands 17
4 Flooded Strand
3 Windswept Heath
4 Tundra
4 Tropical Island
1 Forest
1 Island


// Creatures 10
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Mystic Enforcer


// Spells 34
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
2 Serum Visions
3 Predict
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Counterbalance
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Pithing Needle


// Sideboard 15
1 Pithing Needle
2 Krosan Grip
2 Control Magic
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Stifle
3 Hydroblast


Luke called later and offered me a ride. I called Alec later to tell him Luke is going to pick me up, and I went downstairs to the basement to take a quick shower. I got back up, Luke calls, and we talk while he was on his way here. I drank a can of Canada Dry Ginger Ale as, I am at the moment, very addicted. He came, and I started rushing and packed my stuff up (which included 4 cans of Ginger Ale).

Luke comes by, and we get to the Den. When we got there, we met up with Alec and Lenny. Me and Luke sat down to talk to them about what decks to play. I was thinking EPIC Landstill or TES, but ended up by my awful default choice, known as Hatfield Gro.

Wesley walks by to say hi, and said I was crazy for applying so much hate towards Graveyard decks like 43 Land and Ichorid, and that I actually considered playing Meekstone Fish... He's awesome though, as, I never wanted to play against the guy or his playtest partner, Jeremy Zwirn.

I asked Lenny if I should Leyline of the Voids in my sideboard before pairings were up, and he said yes. As I made room, I accidentally threw 61 cards in my maindeck. Opps!

Round 1 pairings were up, and my first match was against a guy with Goblin Sligh from Monomonie, Wisconsin.

Game 1:

It was awful. I really lost touch in 1.5, and I made mistakes everywhere. I ended up dying with 2 Goyfs and a Flinged Piledriver into my face.

Game 2:

Goyf and Counterbalance bashed him down. All I can remember is that, I do retarded things.

Game 3:

Read above...



In between rounds, I walked around and talked about stuff. I never shut up, so if you see me, dont talk to me. If I do talk to you, please shoot yourself before it's too late.


Round 2: A guy who plays at Misty Mountain with Burn


Game 1:

Locked him with Counterbalance

Game 2:

Read above


Round 3: A guy with 3c 16 LD card and Terravores.

Game 1: I beat him because of my supperior cantripping goodness and Goyf beatz. He doesnt stabilize when Enforcer hit.

Game 2: I sided two copies of Swords to Plowshares out because he only uses Werebears to win and stuff, or so I thought. I made an assumption that he ran Terravores when we started drawing our hands.

Because of this, he bashes me down with a Terravore. I Swords'd the first one, but the 2nd one came down harder.

Game 3: I sided in 4 LEYLINES OF THE VOID AND MY SWORDS THAT WERE SIDED OUT!!! Yes, because time was running low, I had to make a quick decision and go beatdown, thus, I did. I won with 2 Goyfs and a 3 Geese.


Later, Lenny decided to play T1 with me. He brought out his classic Control Slaver, as I converted from Meandeck Gifts to T1T. The games looked bad Game 1, but Games 2 and 3 were retarded. I drew cards like crazy.
Game 2, I Cunning Wished for Fire // Ice to kill his Welders that were slowly killing me, which allowed me to buy time to set up my hand and win. I was sure that he Mystical Tutored for Ancestral Recall and sat on that for awhile, I Demonic Tutored for Mis-D and stole it, which chained me into casting AKs 2-4, and a lethel Will + Time Walk.
Game 3, I played a first turn Recall, and a Yawg's Will for my fetchland and to replay Recall, which was considered a bad play for some reason. I play this deck aggressively, so that rewarded my play for forcing myself to get ahead of Saver.

The T1 Game got me pumped for the next rounds of the tournament which helped me do well, as I got my concentration back.


Round 4:

Before the round started, Lenny said that the decks in the meta were really slow, but the one deck I should expect is a particular guy who ran CRET Belcher. He pointed him out, and he ended up becoming my opponent.


Game 1:

Turn 2, he tries to pass priority with Burning Wish back to me, and when I passed it back to him, he cracked LED. I asked him about it and said it doesn't work, and he looked pissed. I decided to call judge, and he explained it to him. I took the game down as I proceeded to turn that mistake into a Counterbalance lock.

Game 2:

I kept a bad hand without FoW on the draw, and he EtWed for 10 tokens, and proceeded to bash me down. I knew EE would've been good there, but I was also sure that there were better solutions out there as well. I won't lose hope in the deck, as I won that match-up just by watching his mana and storm count Game 3.

Game 3:

Look at Game 1...


I am 4-0 at this point, and I only need two draws.

I got to see Eric Hawkins come in, and he was like, super duper cool. He's playing Magic again, and he built a bankroll on Poker which enabled him to pay off his debts. We talked about Poker and how he cant play like Negreanu. I said just watch how Ivey plays and watch how he steals small pots and stuff. Hawkins said Ivey was obviously the best player in the world, but in my opinion, that isnt the case, but it can be the fact he has very strong pre-flop and post-flop experiences, which enables him do things many players cant do properly.

Unfortunately, my 5th round opponent who played Vial Goblins bashed my face in, which resulted in a 2-0. Luckily, Jeremy Zwirn wants to ID into the Top 8.

Quarter Finals: UGw Mental Note Thresh

Game 1:

He Mental Notes and bashes my face in quickly with generic Thresh guys like Bear and Geese, and 2 Goyfs joined later.

Game 2:

I sided in 2 Control Magic and 4 Leylines. I slowly lock him out of the Game, but didn't see any Leylines in the opening hand.

Game 3:

This game was truly the game that made my day. I opened a hand of

Top, Forest, Island, Goose, Enforcer, Daze, fetchland.

Wasnt impressive. I mulled and luck hit me

I got Portent, Top, 2 Lands, Goyf, and 2 Leyline. I opened with Leyline and set up the Counterbalance lock in the first 4 turns, and he makes a sad attempt to bash me down with Geese and Bears unthreshed, while Enforcers and Goyfs were slowly being answered. The game stand stilled until he was at 23, and I was at 9. It was 1 Goose versus 3 unthreshed ones. I drew the 2nd Geese and proceeded to slowly kill him.

OMG!!!, I Top 4ed! No more crappy packs. Sadly, it ended short, as I lost to Machinus's Geddon Stax in The Top 4, and lost to the same guy who played Vial Goblins who beat me in the swiss who got 3rd place, placing me 3rd.

Alec and I walked around the store, contemplating what to get. We decided we wanted 3 Gemstone Mines, which really isnt much. So we decided to save the rest for later.


I chilled with Alec and his Prospect Park neighborhood friends, and walked over to Pratt. Because a shit band was playing there tonight, we were booted off the Park. But as the lessons go, don't alcohol at shit high school concerts; your not in college, quit trying to be.

We got booted off the Park, since cops suck like that, and we chilled around at Alec's house until everyone left. We played some T1 and watched Scrubs for like 2 and a half hours until I left at around 1:20-ish.


But today was great. I mean, it was like, amazing.... I wasnt playing on tilt, and I was playing my A-game. I was soo happy. Now for zeh Props/Slops.

Props:

Threshold for being awesome.

Counterbalance for being awesome.

Scarlett Johansson for making me have a Jew fettish.

Lenny for saving my ass tons. Against Belcher and telling me to play Leyline of the Void. Leylines = Amazing.

Luke for driving me to the den and letting me burrow his SDTs.

Alec for being an awesome friend and playtest partner.

Mad Zur for helping me with the decklists and recommending MDed Counterbalances.

METRIC!!!! I mean, without them, I wouldnt be entertained.

Tavia for no reason... really, she's always here, and for no reason... ever. what a bitch waste of space...

Ginger Ale for being awesome.

Atwa cuz he's cool like that.

Phil Ivey, for being the coolest role model ever.


Slops:

61 cards in my deck...

Alec for calling T1T the dumb blond that you will not get anywhere with, then later that night, I got a first turn kill on you with the awesome

Academy, Mox, Mox, Mox, Lotus, Intuition, Yawgs Will play. Yea, I went to first base with her.

ICBE forums for being depressing.

Alex and Stu for not showing up.

Derek for taking a hiatus.

ICBE for not pulling in to buy Atwa a ticket to the states.

ICBE for never posting on the forums anymore. It got lonely.

Silverdragon
09-09-2007, 02:52 PM
Grats on Top 4, the deck looks really nice but did you really need 4 Counterbalance? Most people I know who play that deck only have 3 between main and side. Was there a special reason to play 4 aside from "zomg it's bahroken"?


Sadly, it ended short, as I lost to Machinus's Geddon Stax in The Top 4
OMG! Stax made Top 2!

Citrus-God
09-09-2007, 03:45 PM
Grats on Top 4, the deck looks really nice but did you really need 4 Counterbalance? Most people I know who play that deck only have 3 between main and side. Was there a special reason to play 4 aside from "zomg it's bahroken"?

I was in a huge rush to get to the tournament. I didnt know I had 61 cards until the end of the event. Luckily, the deck produced Counterbalance constantly on turn two, which enabled my game plans to be more consistent.


OMG! Stax made Top 2!Yup. He was a very skilled player too. He split with Trinket Goyf at the end.

gustoh
09-09-2007, 07:13 PM
Dummy...

we need results...

who else made it?

and who the hell is Anthony Hawkins... last I heard his name was Eric...

LT...

Citrus-God
09-09-2007, 07:17 PM
Dummy...

we need results...

who else made it?

UGw Thresh
UGw Counterbalance Thresh
UGr Mental Note Thresh
Zwirn's Trinket Counter-Goyf Deck
Vial Goblins
Armageddon Stax
And 2 more decks I didnt see.


and who the hell is Anthony Hawkins... last I heard his name was Eric...

He's asian/german. If might've been Eric, so I might be retarded on that.

KillemallCFH
09-09-2007, 08:49 PM
I drank a can of Canada Dry Ginger Ale as, I am at the moment, very addicted. And I thought I was the only one. Oddly enough, the best ginger ale I've had is Shaw's brand Ginger Ale. (For those who don't live in New England, Shaw's is a supermarket chain situated in New England.)

Oh yeah, and congrats on the finish and whatnot.

lukatron2
09-09-2007, 10:31 PM
Hey Mel-von...I know what you can get with your store credit...YOUR OWN TOPS!!!...hahah..j/k dude...but props on the top 4...I played super shitty that day...shoulda played the other deck...hahah

Citrus-God
09-09-2007, 11:54 PM
Hey Mel-von...I know what you can get with your store credit...YOUR OWN TOPS!!!...hahah..j/k dude...but props on the top 4...I played super shitty that day...shoulda played the other deck...hahah


Dude, you didnt play shitty, you just didnt play Counterbalance.

hi-val
09-10-2007, 12:37 AM
Love the Metric reference. Looks like a good evolution of Threshold too!

Citrus-God
09-10-2007, 01:09 AM
Love the Metric reference. Looks like a good evolution of Threshold too!

Thanks. Metric has been my favorite band for over 4 months now, but I was about to name the thread Golden Skans or As Above So Below.

The Counterbalance list was inspired by Machinus and Volt, as well advice from Mad Zur. I just anticipated the mirror to be everywhere, so MDed Counterbalance was decided for the meta, as well as my little concern for Vial Goblins.
But the list has done me well, but next time, I might switch to Cephalid Breakfast, UBR Fledgling Dragon.Dec, or just revert it back to Counterbalance in the SB.

hi-val
09-10-2007, 08:16 PM
Without diverging too much, I think you would like Thunderbirds Are Now!, they've got the same kind of frenetic drumming and guitars while actually being in tune and harmonizing.

TheGhostofChristmasPast
09-11-2007, 01:14 PM
UGw Thresh
UGw Counterbalance Thresh
UGr Mental Note Thresh
Zwirn's Trinket Counter-Goyf Deck
Vial Goblins
Armageddon Stax
And 2 more decks I didnt see.


I had one of the two other decks; I opted for four color landstill on Saturday. I was actually surprised I top 8ed with the deck as I have not played legacy since GenCon 06. I think it was Lenny's Standstill that gave me the power to defeat mono-red burn... twice! :smile:

zetrix
09-11-2007, 04:59 PM
When will I stop being lazy and just show up to one of these things, haha... Around the time of the tournament wednesday... I think I was bowling instead...

Is there even anywhere to play anymore besides the den? >.>

Citrus-God
09-11-2007, 09:33 PM
Without diverging too much, I think you would like Thunderbirds Are Now!, they've got the same kind of frenetic drumming and guitars while actually being in tune and harmonizing.

I should look into them something. Coming from Doug Linn, I doubt I would be dissapointed. I know for a fact that everyone I've ever met who ever liked Nuetral Milk Hotel (Thats you I think?) should have good taste and understanding in music.

@Ghost:

We've got 7 of the Top 8.

gustoh
09-11-2007, 11:10 PM
I had one of the two other decks; I opted for four color landstill on Saturday. I was actually surprised I top 8ed with the deck as I have not played legacy since GenCon 06. I think it was Lenny's Standstill that gave me the power to defeat mono-red burn... twice! :smile:

Your Meddling Mages > my lone standstill...

LT...

lukatron2
09-12-2007, 12:28 AM
When will I stop being lazy and just show up to one of these things, haha... Around the time of the tournament wednesday... I think I was bowling instead...

Is there even anywhere to play anymore besides the den? >.>

I guess they play at Air Traffic in Maplewood on Tuesdays. I think its at 6pm. I guess they have a super good turnout regularly and its sanctioned too...Imma go there when I'm not working next time.

ohh yea, and SHIT!!!...I could have got Italian Resets for $10 a pop on ebay yesterday but I was like "naw, I'll get them later"...and then someone bought all of them and all the other auctions their going from 15-20 damn it!

Citrus-God
09-12-2007, 12:33 AM
I guess they play at Air Traffic in Maplewood on Tuesdays. I think its at 6pm. I guess they have a super good turnout regularly and its sanctioned too...Imma go there when I'm not working next time.

ohh yea, and SHIT!!!...I could have got Italian Resets for $10 a pop on ebay yesterday but I was like "naw, I'll get them later"...and then someone bought all of them and all the other auctions their going from 15-20 damn it!

I'm not 18... you stil gotsa take me to that show.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=29053291

Also, take me to Air Traffic with you!

zetrix
09-12-2007, 11:51 AM
Anything on thursday or any other days besides MTW, ... school kinda takes up those nights :(

I'm at Unicorn Games on friday, everyone should start coming down there friday and we should get more than 7-8 people for drafting, lol :(

Den is having Type 1 this next saturday right? I'm not too sure, any1 going?

Mohr
09-12-2007, 01:27 PM
I was the other member of the Top 8 on Saturday. I was the Belcher player you squared off with in Round 4. Congratulations again on the win. I certainly wasn't upset with you about my misplay. I noticed your friend told you what I was playing right before you sat down so I expected you to mulligan into a passable hand against Belcher, which you did. As is often the case with Belcher, the dice roll played a big part. You won the roll so I had to play around Daze and Force of Will right off the bat. I won every game I played first the entire tournament. Even in the Top 8 when I lost to Stax, I still was able to win the game I went first. Had I won the roll, I would likely have played you in the Top 4. Oh well, such is the life when playing a glass cannon like Belcher. Congratulations again on your tight play in Round 4.

On a side note, I played last night at Misty Mountains Tuesday legacy event and took 2nd out of 21 people with G/U/R German Thresh.

Citrus-God
09-12-2007, 09:15 PM
I was the other member of the Top 8 on Saturday. I was the Belcher player you squared off with in Round 4. Congratulations again on the win. I certainly wasn't upset with you about my misplay. I noticed your friend told you what I was playing right before you sat down so I expected you to mulligan into a passable hand against Belcher, which you did. As is often the case with Belcher, the dice roll played a big part. You won the roll so I had to play around Daze and Force of Will right off the bat. I won every game I played first the entire tournament.

Playing against that deck still strains my thought. I mean, every game I tested against TES was hell for me. CRET Belcher was bound to present the same problem.

As for the opening hands, a lot of them I kept were very trashy. I'm not very tight with good hand selection. I thought I could mise my way out with a Hydroblast and a Daze all post-board games.



Even in the Top 8 when I lost to Stax, I still was able to win the game I went first. Had I won the roll, I would likely have played you in the Top 4. Oh well, such is the life when playing a glass cannon like Belcher. Congratulations again on your tight play in Round 4.It's a gamble that congratulated your tight game play and conservative decisions with opening hands. You really did deserve that Top 8 though.


On a side note, I played last night at Misty Mountains Tuesday legacy event and took 2nd out of 21 people with G/U/R German Thresh.Burning-Tree Shamans are awesome. I hope you bashed Breakfast for me, and Fire // Ice'd the damn Ghoul...

Sometimes I wish I have enough time to attend weekly tournaments though.

@Zentrix: I'm going to be at the Monster Den on SUNDAY. It's not on saturday, it's sunday man.

zetrix
09-12-2007, 09:31 PM
lol, Hey I don't look this info up myself, I just hear word by mouth. I saw luke today at school and talked with him a little bit. I might show up to the type one, but don't count on it, I don't have a deck yet.

You can call me Michael, Melvin ^_^

Citrus-God
09-12-2007, 09:34 PM
lol, Hey I don't look this info up myself, I just hear word by mouth. I saw luke today at school and talked with him a little bit. I might show up to the type one, but don't count on it, I don't have a deck yet.

You can call me Michael, Melvin ^_^

Ok Mike.

Woah? You go to the same school as Luke? I take it now you guys are gonna move in together and go to Hello Goodbye shows until the end of their existence?

Also, building a T1 deck isnt hard. You know that better than most people, especially with 15 card proxies.

gustoh
09-12-2007, 10:41 PM
lol, Hey I don't look this info up myself, I just hear word by mouth. I saw luke today at school and talked with him a little bit. I might show up to the type one, but don't count on it, I don't have a deck yet.

You can call me Michael, Melvin ^_^

Or we can call you NO SHOW...

LT...

zetrix
09-13-2007, 01:31 AM
Yep, you can call me no show, ^_^ I'm usually a big no show, haha

I sorta have a deck together, but I hate playing with proxies. I actually sorta have 3 type 1 decks I could probably put together... I dunno, we'll see what happens this sunday.

Citrus-God
09-13-2007, 04:53 PM
Yep, you can call me no show, ^_^ I'm usually a big no show, haha

I sorta have a deck together, but I hate playing with proxies. I actually sorta have 3 type 1 decks I could probably put together... I dunno, we'll see what happens this sunday.

Ichorid sounds like a fun choice...

Oath is good right now too.

As for me, I always play Drain. I'll be playing T1T for obvious reasons.

Also, I edit my Props/Slops list to reflect the way I feel about ICBE.

gustoh
09-13-2007, 06:09 PM
Ichorid sounds like a fun choice...

Oath is good right now too.

As for me, I always play Drain. I'll be playing T1T for obvious reasons.

Also, I edit my Props/Slops list to reflect the way I feel about ICBE.

Oath? if your last name isn't Carp... don't play Oath...

LT...

Citrus-God
09-13-2007, 06:36 PM
Oath? if your last name isn't Carp... don't play Oath...

LT...

Fine...

But Mike, play something fun... like your beloved Salvagers? You should play Bomberman with Trinket Mages, Aven Mindcensors, and stuffy goodness.

zetrix
09-14-2007, 12:00 AM
I have oath somewhere and I have bomberman, (sorta) missing more than 15 proxies worth lol..

and one secret one that I'm trying to get finished... even though it's the most budget you can get with t1, bahaha.

Citrus-God
09-14-2007, 07:35 PM
and one secret one that I'm trying to get finished... even though it's the most budget you can get with t1, bahaha.

Good luck trying to take down my lastest T1T build.

zetrix
09-15-2007, 05:15 PM
I'll somehow drag pat along with me if I decide to go... so yeah, lol...

don't expect me there tho! I can tend to get real lazy all of a sudden