Obfuscate Freely
01-30-2008, 08:21 PM
For this year's Running GAGG (and what may be the last (http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=203070&postcount=86), apparently), my brother and I decided to play Threshold, tweaked to handle the expected New York metagame of Landstill, Survival, and other random control decks.
Our answer was this:
UGr Moon Thresh
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
3x Predict
3x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Portent
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
3x Counterbalance
2x Blood Moon
4x Nimble Mongoose
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Fledgling Dragon
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
3x Volcanic Island
2x Tropical Island
3x Island
1x Forest
(sideboard)
4x Pyroclasm
3x Red Elemental Blast
2x Krosan Grip
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Blood Moon
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Counterbalance
Testing showed this list to be strong against Landstill, especially after boarding. You can still threaten with solid creatures, but the games revolve around Blood Moon, which is a much more favorable fight for Threshold.
This list isn't particularly apt to beating Survival, but we looked at the Winter Wonderland results and decided that Landstill would be the more important matchup. As it turned out, Landstill was all but absent, but the three of us who played this list (Mad Zur, Calosso, and myself) still did reasonably well. We placed 10th, 9th, and 1st/2nd, respectively.
I would say that Blood Moon definitely pulled its weight, but you can decide for yourself if you read on.
Round 1: Allen (URABAHN) with UBGW Tarmo-Still
Game 1: As we sit down to play, Allen informs me that Calosso tested our list against him the night before. This pisses me off, since my Blood Moons won't come as a surprise to him. As it turns out, he plays a pre-emptive Engineered Explosives with three counters on it, which savagely locks me out of my best way to win the game. So, I don't.
Game 2: This game, I find out that Allen actually went so far as to play a basic Island to fight Moon effects. This means that he has Blue Elemental Blasts to take out Moons even after they resolve. That's not enough, though, as I stick a Moon and protect it long enough to win.
Game 3: We go to time, unsurprisingly, but I end up in a winning position. With Allen at six life, and me swinging in with a 6/7 Tarmogoyf, he activates a Mishra's Factory to chump. I have an Ancient Grudge, but Allen is able to counter it twice, and survive another turn. My mistake here is in not remembering that I have a Krosan Grip on top of my deck, and in not activating Top (to see the Grip staring at my stupid face) until I have tapped below three mana. The next turn, Allen rips Tarmogoyf off the top, and draws the match.
Round 2: Jim (jim) with Trainwreck
Game 1: Upset by how my first round ended, and unexcited at the prospect of playing against Jim's trademark deck, I'm ready to lose this match before I start it. Jim does his part by having multiple discard spells and a Haunting Echoes on turn five.
Game 2: I think I just lose to a Helldozer. It's a good thing that this match went relatively quickly, since it gives me time to cool off, and refocus. I'm not sure how many times I have to tell myself that 0-1-1 is not the same as 0-2, but it finally sinks in sometime before the third round starts.
Round 3: Chris (rsaunder) with Fetchland Tendrils/Grim Iggy
Game 1: I've never met Chris before, so we exchange some pleasantries before the match. I ask him if he's playing Deadguy Ale, to which he answers with some coy bullshit, but I know from an earlier round that he's playing Fetchland Tendrils. I mulligan into a six-card hand with both Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top in it. My first two turns consist of playing those two cards. Chris loses several spells to Counterbalance before eventually hitting it with a Wipe Away at the end of one of my turns. He then untaps, and plays an Orim's Chant, which I Force (pitching the Counterbalance). I am relieved when he then passes the turn, because it lets me draw another Force of Will (how lucky), and play a second Counterbalance. The next turn, Chris tries going off, but can't get through my disruption. His fetchlands, Street Wraiths, and Grim Tutors have put him to five life at this point, so a single Mongoose puts away the game.
Game 2: I think I have to mulligan again, but am once again rewarded with CounterTop in my opening hand. Things play out similarly to last game, and eventually Chris is forced to commit to an Empty the Warrens. Pyroclasm deals with the Pokemon cards, and some green monsters deal with Chris.
Round 4: Jon (thebirdman) with Combo Survival
Game 1: Jon's Enlightened Tutor leads into a second-turn Survival, which I answer with Force of Will. Jon's following plays are Goblin Sharpshooter, Anger, and Genesis. Fortunately, I avoid being pummelled by Incarnations by Dazing the Genesis. Unfortunately, Jon's next play is Spore Frog, which threatens to give him plenty of time to recover from the poor draw. I have CounterTop, though, to keep the Spore Frog from ever resolving, and I bash in for the win.
Game 2: After a mulligan, Jon once again plays Tutor-into-Survival, and this time I can punish it with Daze. However, he plays a second Survival on turn three, which I have to Force. At this point, I am able to play two Tarmogoyfs and a Counterbalance before Jon topdecks and resolves a third Survival. Fearing Krosan Grip, he taps out to activate Survival on his turn, putting Akroma, Kiki Jiki, and Squee into his yard, and a Witness into his hand. The next turn, I attack Jon down to eight life with two 4/5 'goyfs, and then play Blood Moon. When Jon untaps his four duals and two Forests, he immediately activates Survival, looking for his best option. Remembering that he sided out the Spore Frog, Jon eventually settles on Anger, which he hardcasts with his Mountains, and passes the turn back to me, with a Forest untapped. On my turn, I decide not to attack, since Anger in the yard gives Jon access to any color of mana off of a hasty Birds of Paradise. Instead, I play a Fledgling Dragon, and pass the turn. Jon activates Survival at my end of turn, finding a Birds of Paradise, but the blind Counterbalance trigger reveals a Mongoose, and he scoops up his cards.
Round 5: Nat (Brushwagg) with The Epic Control
Game 1: I win the Counterbalance war, and lock him out of most of his spells. He still resolves a Shackles, which takes my Tarmogoyf, but I have two Mongooses and a Bolt to maintain board advantage and go the distance.
Game 2: Once again, I land a Counterbalance and a Top before he can. I also resolve a Blood Moon, which helps put the game away.
Round 6: Anwar (AnwarA101) with Eva Green
Game 1: I Daze his second-turn Tarmogoyf, and Bolt three Hypnotic Specters in a row. I also play a Blood Moon, which protects my lands from Wasteland and cuts him off of his green spells. Anwar never draws a Tombstalker, so I win.
Game 2: This game was similar to the first, only he mulliganed to five cards, and I had Pyroclasms to back up my Bolts.
Quarterfinals: Nick (nickrit2000) with Goblins
Game 1: I get a spectacular draw, with a Force of Will for his Vial, and two Tarmogoyfs and a Mongoose to play by turn three. The 'goyfs go on the offensive, while Nick stalls on land.
Game 2: My opening hand has both Force of Will and Ancient Grudge in it, which looks promising against Nick's first-turn Vial. On his second turn, Nick plays another Vial, and Wastes my land. I play another, and say go, with Bolt handy for Lackey. Instead, Nick has an instant-speed Fanatic, so things are still looking good. He does nothing to add pressure on the next turn, after which I play another land and pass. On my end step, Nick puts a Piledriver into play, and I take the opportunity to Ancient Grudge the Vial before it can reach three counters. Unfortunately, Nick has a second Wasteland for my Tropical Island, so I am without flashback mana to Grudge the other Vial. He attacks for four, and passes back. Now, I'm not particularly worried, because I have a Brainstorm to dig for land, but after I draw for my turn and play it, I fail to find anything but another Brainstorm. I play two more Brainstorms over the course of the next three turns without hitting more land, and I lose to an uncounterable Ringleader, followed by a Siege-Gang Commander. Nick was stuck on two land for most of this game, and my Force of Will sat in my hand the entire time. Hindsight is always 20:20, but I guess I should have Forced the second Vial.
Game 3: Nick mulligans this game, and gets a slow draw that is no match for my Tarmogoyfs. He is unable to even resolve blockers until the turn before he dies, which he certainly does thanks to Pyroclasm.
Semifinals: Eli (T_ORGANIZER) with Loam-Aluren
Game 1: I am feeling a little fried at this point, and I play sloppily. When I decide to commit to a Fledgling Dragon in the hopes of ending the game quickly, Eli answers it with a Man-o-War, and then a Cavern Harpy. Fighting through that proves impossible before Aluren shows up and Eli wins the game with a jumping Ghitu Slinger.
Game 2: Mentally, I'm far too prepared to lose, now. Despite that, I open a decent hand. Part of me is ready to settle for Top 4, but the other part of me sees an easy way to win the game in Blood Moon. However, as Eli's first-turn Therapy reveals, I only have two lands to go with my Blood Moon. My draw for my next turn is Daze, which is lucky, especially since Eli plays his second Therapy before dropping a second land. Now, I come very close to punting the game, here, as I am about to return my Island to my hand to pay for the Daze. Doing so would of course delay the Moon for another turn, giving Eli the chance to play any 3cc creature to flashback a Therapy with. However, as I show Eli the Daze, I realize that I also have a Foothills in play, and I indicate that I would like to activate it and pay retail for the Daze. Eli graciously lets me do so, and even more graciously cuts me to a third land so I can play the Moon the next turn. We play the game out for a while, and I end up resolving another Moon and the Magus of the Moon shortly thereafter (I guess that means I had a chance, even if the first Moon had fallen to Therapy). Eventually, Eli plays a pair of Mox Diamonds, one of which I counter, so he can't play Aluren. I then Krosan Grip the other Mox and we go to game three.
Game 3: I keep a questionable seven-card hand for the third game, but I think I make up for it by playing tighter than in the previous two. The result is a fitting finale for a good match. Early on, Eli resolves a terrifying Intuition for three Therapies, and it's all I can do to stunt his development with an Ancient Grudge on a Mox Diamond. Amazingly, Eli doesn't draw enough creatures to fully realize the handrape, so I manage, with the help of a Top, to counter and Grip a pair of Alurens. At this point, the Blood Moon I have been diligently searching for throughout the game finally shows up. The enchantment is immediately followed up by a Tarmogoyf, and Eli extends his hand.
The Running GAGG Legacy event was a great tournament, overall. It was well-run, and every single one of my opponents were class acts. I hope they would say the same about me.
It's a shame that the future of this event is uncertain, as I'd very much like to go again, next year. We'll see, I suppose.
Our answer was this:
UGr Moon Thresh
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
3x Predict
3x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Portent
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
3x Counterbalance
2x Blood Moon
4x Nimble Mongoose
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Fledgling Dragon
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
3x Volcanic Island
2x Tropical Island
3x Island
1x Forest
(sideboard)
4x Pyroclasm
3x Red Elemental Blast
2x Krosan Grip
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Blood Moon
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Counterbalance
Testing showed this list to be strong against Landstill, especially after boarding. You can still threaten with solid creatures, but the games revolve around Blood Moon, which is a much more favorable fight for Threshold.
This list isn't particularly apt to beating Survival, but we looked at the Winter Wonderland results and decided that Landstill would be the more important matchup. As it turned out, Landstill was all but absent, but the three of us who played this list (Mad Zur, Calosso, and myself) still did reasonably well. We placed 10th, 9th, and 1st/2nd, respectively.
I would say that Blood Moon definitely pulled its weight, but you can decide for yourself if you read on.
Round 1: Allen (URABAHN) with UBGW Tarmo-Still
Game 1: As we sit down to play, Allen informs me that Calosso tested our list against him the night before. This pisses me off, since my Blood Moons won't come as a surprise to him. As it turns out, he plays a pre-emptive Engineered Explosives with three counters on it, which savagely locks me out of my best way to win the game. So, I don't.
Game 2: This game, I find out that Allen actually went so far as to play a basic Island to fight Moon effects. This means that he has Blue Elemental Blasts to take out Moons even after they resolve. That's not enough, though, as I stick a Moon and protect it long enough to win.
Game 3: We go to time, unsurprisingly, but I end up in a winning position. With Allen at six life, and me swinging in with a 6/7 Tarmogoyf, he activates a Mishra's Factory to chump. I have an Ancient Grudge, but Allen is able to counter it twice, and survive another turn. My mistake here is in not remembering that I have a Krosan Grip on top of my deck, and in not activating Top (to see the Grip staring at my stupid face) until I have tapped below three mana. The next turn, Allen rips Tarmogoyf off the top, and draws the match.
Round 2: Jim (jim) with Trainwreck
Game 1: Upset by how my first round ended, and unexcited at the prospect of playing against Jim's trademark deck, I'm ready to lose this match before I start it. Jim does his part by having multiple discard spells and a Haunting Echoes on turn five.
Game 2: I think I just lose to a Helldozer. It's a good thing that this match went relatively quickly, since it gives me time to cool off, and refocus. I'm not sure how many times I have to tell myself that 0-1-1 is not the same as 0-2, but it finally sinks in sometime before the third round starts.
Round 3: Chris (rsaunder) with Fetchland Tendrils/Grim Iggy
Game 1: I've never met Chris before, so we exchange some pleasantries before the match. I ask him if he's playing Deadguy Ale, to which he answers with some coy bullshit, but I know from an earlier round that he's playing Fetchland Tendrils. I mulligan into a six-card hand with both Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top in it. My first two turns consist of playing those two cards. Chris loses several spells to Counterbalance before eventually hitting it with a Wipe Away at the end of one of my turns. He then untaps, and plays an Orim's Chant, which I Force (pitching the Counterbalance). I am relieved when he then passes the turn, because it lets me draw another Force of Will (how lucky), and play a second Counterbalance. The next turn, Chris tries going off, but can't get through my disruption. His fetchlands, Street Wraiths, and Grim Tutors have put him to five life at this point, so a single Mongoose puts away the game.
Game 2: I think I have to mulligan again, but am once again rewarded with CounterTop in my opening hand. Things play out similarly to last game, and eventually Chris is forced to commit to an Empty the Warrens. Pyroclasm deals with the Pokemon cards, and some green monsters deal with Chris.
Round 4: Jon (thebirdman) with Combo Survival
Game 1: Jon's Enlightened Tutor leads into a second-turn Survival, which I answer with Force of Will. Jon's following plays are Goblin Sharpshooter, Anger, and Genesis. Fortunately, I avoid being pummelled by Incarnations by Dazing the Genesis. Unfortunately, Jon's next play is Spore Frog, which threatens to give him plenty of time to recover from the poor draw. I have CounterTop, though, to keep the Spore Frog from ever resolving, and I bash in for the win.
Game 2: After a mulligan, Jon once again plays Tutor-into-Survival, and this time I can punish it with Daze. However, he plays a second Survival on turn three, which I have to Force. At this point, I am able to play two Tarmogoyfs and a Counterbalance before Jon topdecks and resolves a third Survival. Fearing Krosan Grip, he taps out to activate Survival on his turn, putting Akroma, Kiki Jiki, and Squee into his yard, and a Witness into his hand. The next turn, I attack Jon down to eight life with two 4/5 'goyfs, and then play Blood Moon. When Jon untaps his four duals and two Forests, he immediately activates Survival, looking for his best option. Remembering that he sided out the Spore Frog, Jon eventually settles on Anger, which he hardcasts with his Mountains, and passes the turn back to me, with a Forest untapped. On my turn, I decide not to attack, since Anger in the yard gives Jon access to any color of mana off of a hasty Birds of Paradise. Instead, I play a Fledgling Dragon, and pass the turn. Jon activates Survival at my end of turn, finding a Birds of Paradise, but the blind Counterbalance trigger reveals a Mongoose, and he scoops up his cards.
Round 5: Nat (Brushwagg) with The Epic Control
Game 1: I win the Counterbalance war, and lock him out of most of his spells. He still resolves a Shackles, which takes my Tarmogoyf, but I have two Mongooses and a Bolt to maintain board advantage and go the distance.
Game 2: Once again, I land a Counterbalance and a Top before he can. I also resolve a Blood Moon, which helps put the game away.
Round 6: Anwar (AnwarA101) with Eva Green
Game 1: I Daze his second-turn Tarmogoyf, and Bolt three Hypnotic Specters in a row. I also play a Blood Moon, which protects my lands from Wasteland and cuts him off of his green spells. Anwar never draws a Tombstalker, so I win.
Game 2: This game was similar to the first, only he mulliganed to five cards, and I had Pyroclasms to back up my Bolts.
Quarterfinals: Nick (nickrit2000) with Goblins
Game 1: I get a spectacular draw, with a Force of Will for his Vial, and two Tarmogoyfs and a Mongoose to play by turn three. The 'goyfs go on the offensive, while Nick stalls on land.
Game 2: My opening hand has both Force of Will and Ancient Grudge in it, which looks promising against Nick's first-turn Vial. On his second turn, Nick plays another Vial, and Wastes my land. I play another, and say go, with Bolt handy for Lackey. Instead, Nick has an instant-speed Fanatic, so things are still looking good. He does nothing to add pressure on the next turn, after which I play another land and pass. On my end step, Nick puts a Piledriver into play, and I take the opportunity to Ancient Grudge the Vial before it can reach three counters. Unfortunately, Nick has a second Wasteland for my Tropical Island, so I am without flashback mana to Grudge the other Vial. He attacks for four, and passes back. Now, I'm not particularly worried, because I have a Brainstorm to dig for land, but after I draw for my turn and play it, I fail to find anything but another Brainstorm. I play two more Brainstorms over the course of the next three turns without hitting more land, and I lose to an uncounterable Ringleader, followed by a Siege-Gang Commander. Nick was stuck on two land for most of this game, and my Force of Will sat in my hand the entire time. Hindsight is always 20:20, but I guess I should have Forced the second Vial.
Game 3: Nick mulligans this game, and gets a slow draw that is no match for my Tarmogoyfs. He is unable to even resolve blockers until the turn before he dies, which he certainly does thanks to Pyroclasm.
Semifinals: Eli (T_ORGANIZER) with Loam-Aluren
Game 1: I am feeling a little fried at this point, and I play sloppily. When I decide to commit to a Fledgling Dragon in the hopes of ending the game quickly, Eli answers it with a Man-o-War, and then a Cavern Harpy. Fighting through that proves impossible before Aluren shows up and Eli wins the game with a jumping Ghitu Slinger.
Game 2: Mentally, I'm far too prepared to lose, now. Despite that, I open a decent hand. Part of me is ready to settle for Top 4, but the other part of me sees an easy way to win the game in Blood Moon. However, as Eli's first-turn Therapy reveals, I only have two lands to go with my Blood Moon. My draw for my next turn is Daze, which is lucky, especially since Eli plays his second Therapy before dropping a second land. Now, I come very close to punting the game, here, as I am about to return my Island to my hand to pay for the Daze. Doing so would of course delay the Moon for another turn, giving Eli the chance to play any 3cc creature to flashback a Therapy with. However, as I show Eli the Daze, I realize that I also have a Foothills in play, and I indicate that I would like to activate it and pay retail for the Daze. Eli graciously lets me do so, and even more graciously cuts me to a third land so I can play the Moon the next turn. We play the game out for a while, and I end up resolving another Moon and the Magus of the Moon shortly thereafter (I guess that means I had a chance, even if the first Moon had fallen to Therapy). Eventually, Eli plays a pair of Mox Diamonds, one of which I counter, so he can't play Aluren. I then Krosan Grip the other Mox and we go to game three.
Game 3: I keep a questionable seven-card hand for the third game, but I think I make up for it by playing tighter than in the previous two. The result is a fitting finale for a good match. Early on, Eli resolves a terrifying Intuition for three Therapies, and it's all I can do to stunt his development with an Ancient Grudge on a Mox Diamond. Amazingly, Eli doesn't draw enough creatures to fully realize the handrape, so I manage, with the help of a Top, to counter and Grip a pair of Alurens. At this point, the Blood Moon I have been diligently searching for throughout the game finally shows up. The enchantment is immediately followed up by a Tarmogoyf, and Eli extends his hand.
The Running GAGG Legacy event was a great tournament, overall. It was well-run, and every single one of my opponents were class acts. I hope they would say the same about me.
It's a shame that the future of this event is uncertain, as I'd very much like to go again, next year. We'll see, I suppose.