b4r0n
10-22-2007, 03:04 PM
The story of how I came to play this deck started about a week prior to the tournament. My brother Jared (Jaynel) and I met up with Evn (Lego Army Man) to check out a local Legacy tournament in Abington, at Battlegrounds. I was playing Goblins, tweaked a little to handle Thresh (read: Tarmogoyf), my brother was playing Survival, and Evn was playing Breakfast. We 1-2-3'd the 8 man tournament, and went back to Evn's place to hang out. The following weekend was the Hadley Volc tournament, so my brother and I were trying to decide what to play; Goblins didn't feel as ridiculous as it used to be, and I was planning on sticking with my deck of choice, Thresh. However, we were missing Goyfs. We had bought a playset, but it hadn't arrived yet, so my brother and I were crossing our fingers that it would come during the week. Evn gave us his Breakfast list (which only had 2 Goyfs), just in case our cards didn't come.
Well, our cards didn't come. So I played Breakfast. This was the list.
Lands:
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
Creatures:
4 Nomads en-Kor
1 Shaman en-Kor
4 Cephalid Illusionist
2 Tarmogoyf
2 Jotun Grunt
3 Narcomoeba
1 Sutured Ghoul
1 Stern Proctor
Spells:
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Worldly Tutor
2 Eladamri's Call
4 Aether Vial
4 Force of Will
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return
1 Dragon Breath
Sideboard:
4 Abeyance
4 Duress
3 Dark Confidant
2 Echoing Truth
1 Crippling Fatigue
1 Jotun Grunt
This is basically the same list that Evn T8'd the last Hadley tournament, but with Proctor in the maindeck over a Ponder (in order to have a maindeck out against troublesome permanents), which we decided at the last minute. Looking back, it's probably unnecessary, but I didn't want to have to rely on Goyf beatdown with only 2 in the deck. Also, regarding Grunts, they're definitely sub-optimal, but they're decent enough at chumping attackers and taking damage away from a Nomad. I never boarded the last one, so that slot could have been anything.
Anyways, my brother and I met up with Ben (from Cairo) at around 10 o'clock the morning of the tournament, and drove out to Hadley. We got there about an hour before the tournament started, so we were able to chill for a while and talk with people. It was pretty cool to finally be able to connect faces with names, and meet Sourcers in person. Everyone was really nice.
The tournament started at 1 o'clock. 28 people, 5 rounds of Swiss, cut to top 8. Sounds good.
Round 1: Stephen (Cephalid Breakfast)
G1: I win the roll, and lead with Vial. He does the same. Mirror? What? A couple turns later, I have Nomads, Goyf and Grunt on the table, but I'm missing the Illusionist in order to win. However, I do have Stern Proctor in hand. He combos out, putting his entire deck in the yard, but Stern Proctor on Dragon Breath stops his Ghoul from swinging, so he loses by decking. Tech.
G2: I drop the first Vial, then he drops Vial, I play Nomad, then he plays Nomad, but I drop Illusionist and combo out (turn 3-4? Busted.).
1-0 (2-0 in games)
This match ends pretty quickly, so I walk around and see what people are playing. Apparently a lot of Threshold. Hmm...
Round 2: Matt (Ugrw Thresh)
G1: Tarmogoyf beats + Counterbalance = gg
G2: Gaddock Teeg + Tarmogoyf + Counterbalance = gg
1-1 (2-2 in games)
I'm pretty bummed after this loss. There's a lot of Thresh running around, and I don't feel very confident with this matchup after getting smashed in these games. I know I have to win out in order to make top 8, so I hope that I don't get paired against any more Thresh.
Round 3: Noah (Affinity)
G1: He plays artifact land into Chromatic Star. Vial. I play a land. He pops Star, plays Vial. I Worldly Tutor for Nomads, which he has to read. Such a bad card, right? I play it on my turn and pass. He drops Ornithopter on my turn, then plays a couple artifacts and Cranial Plating on his turn, swings in to bring me to 9. I combo out and win on turn 3.
G2: He plays Disciple. I play Nomads. He plays something irrelevant, and I drop Illusionists and win.
2-1 (4-2 in games)
Round 4: Craig (StifleNought)
G1: I drop Tarmogoyfs and beat him down. I think he tried for Dreadnought, vialing in Dreadnought in response, but I had the Force.
G2: He gets Nought and Trickbind. He swings in, and I have to vial in Grunt to stay alive. I have an Illusionist in hand, but draw into nothing and lose to Nought + Trinket beats.
G3: At one point during this game, I Brainstorm into the nuts, and my hands start to shake a little. I know I have the game. He plays Trinket for Dreadnought on his turn, I combo out the next turn with Force backup.
3-1 (6-3 in games)
Round 5: Don't Know Name (Aluren?)
ID
3-1-1
I should be able to make top 8 with that record. I have solid breakers, so chances are pretty high that I get in. I do.
Top 8: Jay (Goyf Sligh)
G1: He drops Fanatics and Seals, which make it harder to go off, since I'd need Goyf or Grunt in play for Nomads to stick. Eventually, Price of Progress does me in. PoP > entirely nonbasic manabase.
G2: I have a ridiculous hand, and combo turn 2 with Force for his removal.
G3: I Ponder, shuffle, Ponder, shuffle, and finally find Abeyance to go off around double Crypt and a Seal on the last possible before I would have died. This was the closest and most exhilarating game I played all day.
4-1-1 (8-4 in games)
Top 4: Ben (Geddon Stax)
G1: I combo out turn 2. On the play. This deck is stupid good.
G2: He plays EE at 1, so I Worldly Tutor for Shaman with Illusionist in hand. Next turn I Brainstorm into Force and shuffle away Narcomoebas. He plays Smokestack, which I let it resolve since I have an extra land to sacrifice. I play Shaman, then he plays Suppression Field, which I Force. On my turn, I sac a land, play Illusionist and win.
5-1-1 (10-4 in games)
Top 2: Don't Know Name (WGB Aggro)
We split instead of playing it out. I really want the Forces and he wants the Volcanic Islands, so that works out nicely. I guess the Volcs are probably worth a little more, but it's not a big deal to me. Looking back, I'm not sure how this match would have played out... I saw him playing Ichorid earlier, and saw Leylines and Extirpates in the board. Those seem good against me.
Jared and Ben are drafting at this point, so I watch them play for a while. They drafted nearly identical U/W decks, which I thought was funny, especially since they were seated right next to each other during the draft. Anyways, once they finished up, we headed out to McDonald's and grabbed some food. Somehow, we managed to get an extra burger. For free. Sweet! All in all, a very good day.
Some final thoughts about the deck: it's kinda ridiculous. I went off on turns 2-4 a lot over the course of the day, which seemed almost unfair. In game 1, unless they have relevant disruption and a fast clock, it's pretty easy to assemble the combo and win. I boarded in Abeyance literally every match for games 2 and 3, and it's absolutely essential in those games. Unfortunately, I don't have any way of fetching it other than digging with Brainstorm and Ponder. I might try switching to the Lim-Dul's Vault version of the deck (like Nightmare's list ( http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=22948)), as this seems to address that issue pretty well, but I'm not sure yet. I do like the draw-smoothing of Ponder and the tutoring power of Eladamri's Call.
Maybe it's just me, but I found Thresh to be one of the hardest matchups for the deck. They Needle or blow up Vials, forcing you to play spells into their Counterbalance, then drop big beats to finish you off. Game 2 and 3 you have to fight an uphill battle, as they're better suited to win the attrition war. Any thoughts on this?
So yeah. That's pretty much it.
Props:
Off The Wall Games, for putting on such great tournaments. Even though it's a bit of a drive for us in eastern Mass, it's well worth it.
Breakfast, for being ridiculously good.
Evn, for convincing me to play such a ridiculously good deck.
Ben, for driving us out there and back, and for being generally awesome.
McDonald's, for free food?
Slops:
Jared, for scrubbing out. Also, for misplacing our Sea Drakes... that was a little worrisome.
Tarmogoyfs, for not arriving in time. And for being in every. single. deck.
Well, our cards didn't come. So I played Breakfast. This was the list.
Lands:
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
Creatures:
4 Nomads en-Kor
1 Shaman en-Kor
4 Cephalid Illusionist
2 Tarmogoyf
2 Jotun Grunt
3 Narcomoeba
1 Sutured Ghoul
1 Stern Proctor
Spells:
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Worldly Tutor
2 Eladamri's Call
4 Aether Vial
4 Force of Will
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return
1 Dragon Breath
Sideboard:
4 Abeyance
4 Duress
3 Dark Confidant
2 Echoing Truth
1 Crippling Fatigue
1 Jotun Grunt
This is basically the same list that Evn T8'd the last Hadley tournament, but with Proctor in the maindeck over a Ponder (in order to have a maindeck out against troublesome permanents), which we decided at the last minute. Looking back, it's probably unnecessary, but I didn't want to have to rely on Goyf beatdown with only 2 in the deck. Also, regarding Grunts, they're definitely sub-optimal, but they're decent enough at chumping attackers and taking damage away from a Nomad. I never boarded the last one, so that slot could have been anything.
Anyways, my brother and I met up with Ben (from Cairo) at around 10 o'clock the morning of the tournament, and drove out to Hadley. We got there about an hour before the tournament started, so we were able to chill for a while and talk with people. It was pretty cool to finally be able to connect faces with names, and meet Sourcers in person. Everyone was really nice.
The tournament started at 1 o'clock. 28 people, 5 rounds of Swiss, cut to top 8. Sounds good.
Round 1: Stephen (Cephalid Breakfast)
G1: I win the roll, and lead with Vial. He does the same. Mirror? What? A couple turns later, I have Nomads, Goyf and Grunt on the table, but I'm missing the Illusionist in order to win. However, I do have Stern Proctor in hand. He combos out, putting his entire deck in the yard, but Stern Proctor on Dragon Breath stops his Ghoul from swinging, so he loses by decking. Tech.
G2: I drop the first Vial, then he drops Vial, I play Nomad, then he plays Nomad, but I drop Illusionist and combo out (turn 3-4? Busted.).
1-0 (2-0 in games)
This match ends pretty quickly, so I walk around and see what people are playing. Apparently a lot of Threshold. Hmm...
Round 2: Matt (Ugrw Thresh)
G1: Tarmogoyf beats + Counterbalance = gg
G2: Gaddock Teeg + Tarmogoyf + Counterbalance = gg
1-1 (2-2 in games)
I'm pretty bummed after this loss. There's a lot of Thresh running around, and I don't feel very confident with this matchup after getting smashed in these games. I know I have to win out in order to make top 8, so I hope that I don't get paired against any more Thresh.
Round 3: Noah (Affinity)
G1: He plays artifact land into Chromatic Star. Vial. I play a land. He pops Star, plays Vial. I Worldly Tutor for Nomads, which he has to read. Such a bad card, right? I play it on my turn and pass. He drops Ornithopter on my turn, then plays a couple artifacts and Cranial Plating on his turn, swings in to bring me to 9. I combo out and win on turn 3.
G2: He plays Disciple. I play Nomads. He plays something irrelevant, and I drop Illusionists and win.
2-1 (4-2 in games)
Round 4: Craig (StifleNought)
G1: I drop Tarmogoyfs and beat him down. I think he tried for Dreadnought, vialing in Dreadnought in response, but I had the Force.
G2: He gets Nought and Trickbind. He swings in, and I have to vial in Grunt to stay alive. I have an Illusionist in hand, but draw into nothing and lose to Nought + Trinket beats.
G3: At one point during this game, I Brainstorm into the nuts, and my hands start to shake a little. I know I have the game. He plays Trinket for Dreadnought on his turn, I combo out the next turn with Force backup.
3-1 (6-3 in games)
Round 5: Don't Know Name (Aluren?)
ID
3-1-1
I should be able to make top 8 with that record. I have solid breakers, so chances are pretty high that I get in. I do.
Top 8: Jay (Goyf Sligh)
G1: He drops Fanatics and Seals, which make it harder to go off, since I'd need Goyf or Grunt in play for Nomads to stick. Eventually, Price of Progress does me in. PoP > entirely nonbasic manabase.
G2: I have a ridiculous hand, and combo turn 2 with Force for his removal.
G3: I Ponder, shuffle, Ponder, shuffle, and finally find Abeyance to go off around double Crypt and a Seal on the last possible before I would have died. This was the closest and most exhilarating game I played all day.
4-1-1 (8-4 in games)
Top 4: Ben (Geddon Stax)
G1: I combo out turn 2. On the play. This deck is stupid good.
G2: He plays EE at 1, so I Worldly Tutor for Shaman with Illusionist in hand. Next turn I Brainstorm into Force and shuffle away Narcomoebas. He plays Smokestack, which I let it resolve since I have an extra land to sacrifice. I play Shaman, then he plays Suppression Field, which I Force. On my turn, I sac a land, play Illusionist and win.
5-1-1 (10-4 in games)
Top 2: Don't Know Name (WGB Aggro)
We split instead of playing it out. I really want the Forces and he wants the Volcanic Islands, so that works out nicely. I guess the Volcs are probably worth a little more, but it's not a big deal to me. Looking back, I'm not sure how this match would have played out... I saw him playing Ichorid earlier, and saw Leylines and Extirpates in the board. Those seem good against me.
Jared and Ben are drafting at this point, so I watch them play for a while. They drafted nearly identical U/W decks, which I thought was funny, especially since they were seated right next to each other during the draft. Anyways, once they finished up, we headed out to McDonald's and grabbed some food. Somehow, we managed to get an extra burger. For free. Sweet! All in all, a very good day.
Some final thoughts about the deck: it's kinda ridiculous. I went off on turns 2-4 a lot over the course of the day, which seemed almost unfair. In game 1, unless they have relevant disruption and a fast clock, it's pretty easy to assemble the combo and win. I boarded in Abeyance literally every match for games 2 and 3, and it's absolutely essential in those games. Unfortunately, I don't have any way of fetching it other than digging with Brainstorm and Ponder. I might try switching to the Lim-Dul's Vault version of the deck (like Nightmare's list ( http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=22948)), as this seems to address that issue pretty well, but I'm not sure yet. I do like the draw-smoothing of Ponder and the tutoring power of Eladamri's Call.
Maybe it's just me, but I found Thresh to be one of the hardest matchups for the deck. They Needle or blow up Vials, forcing you to play spells into their Counterbalance, then drop big beats to finish you off. Game 2 and 3 you have to fight an uphill battle, as they're better suited to win the attrition war. Any thoughts on this?
So yeah. That's pretty much it.
Props:
Off The Wall Games, for putting on such great tournaments. Even though it's a bit of a drive for us in eastern Mass, it's well worth it.
Breakfast, for being ridiculously good.
Evn, for convincing me to play such a ridiculously good deck.
Ben, for driving us out there and back, and for being generally awesome.
McDonald's, for free food?
Slops:
Jared, for scrubbing out. Also, for misplacing our Sea Drakes... that was a little worrisome.
Tarmogoyfs, for not arriving in time. And for being in every. single. deck.