Silverdragon
02-18-2008, 09:01 AM
Is it Rifter? Is it Stax? No! It's the return of Haufen.dec!
This is the story of how I got 3rd out of 38 players with a deck most of you would (and should :wink:) call a pile (or more accurately a steaming pile of sh*t). In the beginning I didn't take many notes as I planned to just have some fun and later forget about my performance so I might mix some things up and forget other things. I hope it is entertaining to read anyway.
Note: 6 rounds of swiss were played. No Top 8 playoffs. Placing was determined using the final standings after the swiss.
After months of developing and countless hours of playtesting (meaning I threw the list together 12 hours before the tournament started) I arrived at the following decklist that I took to the monthly tournament in Hassloch:
Haufen.dec
4 Plateau
8 Plains
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Mox Diamond
4 Eternal Dragon
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Humility
2 Decree of Justice
(Makes sense so far? Now watch this!)
4 Powder Keg
4 Pyroclasm
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Exalted Angel
sb
4 Blood Moon
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Boil
4 Trinisphere
1 Sphere of Resistance
Basically I had a plan against almost everything. Against Thresh I had Chalice and Humility. Against Goblins I had Pyroclasm and a boatload of other removal spells. Against 4c Landstill I had Blood Moons in the board. Against Survival Humility was the hoser of choice again. Against Stormcombo I had Chalice (plus Spheres post board) and ways to deal with EtW. I even found space in the board for Crypts against Ichorid.
The whole deck is just some strong lategame cards with infinite removal to survive until I can play them.
So enough about the deck, let's get to the matches I played.
Round 1 vs Fabian (Ugw Threshold with Hoofprints and CounterTop)
We played some games in the past and I have to say even though he's still very young he's a really solid player who knows what he's doing.
Fabian wins the die roll.
Game 1 I have to mulligan but I am able to resolve Humility. After Humility hits he gets me down to 8 with some 1/1's and his Hoofprints tokens threaten to overwhelm me but I soon draw double Factory to stop his attacks and when I cycle Decree he reaches for his sideboard.
Game 2 I don't find a Humility and two large Goyfs beat me down before I can get anywhere.
Game 3 I have double Factory again while he can't find a creature so I go beatdown. When he's down to ten a Tarmogoyf enters play but gets plowed immediately. After that a Hoofprints comes down but I have Exalted Angel to match it temporarily. Fabian starts to accumulate counters on his Enchantment and churns out some tokens before I cycle Decree and go all in bringing him down to 1 life. His next drawstep is of no help and so I take the match.
After the match Fabian comments on how bad he thinks his matchup is against my deck which makes me feel very good about my chances for the rest of the tournament.
Round 2 vs Alex (Ubw control homebrew)
His deck is the result of months of tinkering and he clearly knows how to play it (does he? :tongue:). We know each other because he was the TO in Speyer and he's a really cool guy so the whole match was quite relaxed and funny.
Now here are some funny facts:
1.Lunchbreak is after this round
2.We are both playing controldecks
3.We have a judge
So of course we get deckchecked before we can start and get 6 Minutes extratime. Maybe I can get the judge to fetch me a sandwich or something so I don't starve...
Oh Alex also won against my cousin in round 1 so I guess it's kinda revenge time.
I win the die roll.
Game 1 is over quick. I know he's playing control so I keep a hand with six lands and Eternal Dragon. Alex has to mulligan so I'm thinking I made the correct choice. However some carddraw and fetching allow Alex to play a very early Tombstalker and I can do nothing but watch as I can't find an answer in time.
Game 2 I mulligan down to 5 and my mind is not really in the game anymore. However maybe because he thinks he has this game in the bag Alex isn't on top of his game too. He makes a severe mistake when he taps out for Meddling Mage naming Exalted Angel (?!) and I resolve Blood Moon during my turn. Now Alex goes hunting for basic lands off the top while beating with his Mage and I just sit there going down to ten before I realize that I can play the Exalted Angel I'm holding as a morph despite a chanting Pikula. So I play a Morph. As my life never goes up during this game I assume I traded the morph with his Mage (!?). A Pyroclasm also might've been involved (?!).
Anyway after a long time of doing stupid stuff I finally get an Eternal Dragon on the table and Alex' life total goes down in five point chunks until he's dead.
Game 3 Alex has two Mages. One naming Blood Moon and one naming Explosives. I have double Factory to keep them on defense so I'm not too worried. During the midgame I'm facing down a Tombstalker again but I have Exalted Angel. Alex shortly considers attacking but he does the math and realizes that I will win the damagerace.
This was the first of several Tombstalker vs Exalted Angel stand offs and it always ended the same way. I'm able to get to seven mana before my opponent finds removal and Eternal Dragon > Tombstalker because Dragon comes back, Stalker does not.
It still got pretty close when Alex drew a second Tombstalker and I only had eight or nine lands but drawing a second Dragon and playing carefully pulled me through.
*Aside* After this round we had lunch. Because the location is a restaurant we got our food right there and it was cheap too. For some meals you have the option to get as much french fries as you want. It's basically „Schnitzel with infinite french fries“ as some call it.
So after finally eating it was time for round 3. *End Aside*
Round 3 vs Marcel (Bw Sui)
He was asking for Somber Hoverguards before the tourney so I put him on either traditional Affinity or Affownity.
Marcel won the die roll.
Game 1 he kept a risky opener with Swamp, Ritual, Confindant but no second land for several turns. I had to mulligan but find a solution to Bob soon so Marcel has to wait even longer for his second land. By the time he finds it I already have Chalice at two and I'm beating down with several guys so he can't do much anymore and goes down shortly thereafter.
Game 2 Marcel plays a first turn Duress and has to decide between Chalice and Oblivion Ring as the two obvious targets (I think he should have taken my Mox Diamond because I had no other white source in hand at that time but I couldn't see his hand so I don't know). He agonizes really long about taking the Chalice and in the end he rolls a die to decide. After seeing the result of the die he flinches a bit then takes the Chalice. During his second turn he plays Bob and I Sword him immediately. Marcel follows up with a Hypnotic Specter that gets put under Oblivion Ring and tops it off with a Tombstalker that I don't have an answer for yet.
The answer though arrived soon when I play a morph at eleven life. Stalker takes me down to six and unmorphed Angel gets me back up to ten. Like Alex, Marcel does the math and realizes he needs a removal because I will win the damage race.
I even manage to get another Oblivion Ring to temporarily hide his Stalker until he draws Seal of Cleansing to get it back.
Meanwhile I find an Eternal Dragon and go on the offense up to the point where he has to activate a Tomb of Urami to block and stay alive. As he now has no more lands in play I'll overwhelm him eventually. He says that he now just wants to rescue this game into a draw and with extraturns approaching it looks very possible that he'll be able to do it. I tell him that I'll win the match anyway because I lead 1-0 but he replies that he's fine with that and really just wants to get a draw in this game. So I prepare to do some dreamcrushing, cycle Decree of Justice and the last token kills him just in time.
Round 4 vs Christian (ArmageddonStax)
Yay Stax at the top tables again. There was another Stax right next to us playing against Goblins. Welcome back to 2007 :tongue:
Luckily I won the die roll.
Game 1 was rather bizarre. During the first two turns I play Chalice at one and Powder Keg and he only uses two Wastelands to destroy the two Ancient Tombs I used to play my artifacts. Right here I put him on Goblins so I started adding counters to my Keg. The following turns looked like this:
Me: Plains, pass.
Him: Plains, pass.
Me: Factory, pass.
Him: Factory, pass
Me: Plains, morph, pass.
Him: Plains, morph, pass.
Me: WTF?! Plains, unmorph, swing, pass.
Him: OLOL!? Plains, unmorph, swing, pass.
Lucky for me Christians deck refuses to give him any removal or Armageddons while my deck showes me some love and after 3 turns of swinging back and forth I draw Oblivion Ring to remove his Angel and ride mine to victory.
Game 2 Christian starts with Ancient Tomb, Mox (pitching Tabernacle) and Crucible of Worlds. When he only returns the Tabernacle to play and passes back to me during his second turn I decide to use a Seal of Cleansing on his Mox Diamond hoping to colorscrew or even manascrew him. As it turns out my read was correct and he is indeed manascrewed for a few turns. The turn he finally hits more mana to play Ghostly Prisons, Magus of the Tabernacle and Smokestack I already have Exalted Angel (yes again) and I fearlessly play out more mana to pay for Tabernacle effects and get through his double Ghostly Prison. I do the math and realize that even if he ramps up his Smokestack every turn it still comes down to him drawing Armageddon and winning or not drawing it and losing. As a long time Staxplayer I know Armageddon is a bitch so of course he doesn't draw it and I win.
I think Christian made Top8 anyway :smile:
*Aside* During this match I was suprised how much of an advantage it was for me to really know the ins and outs of my opponent's deck while he had almost no idea how to play against me. Of course in my report it sounds like I just lucked my way through this coinflip matchup (I had the O-Ring, he didn't have the Geddon) but first of all I think the matchup is rather onesided against me if he can find a single Armageddon (there's a reason Wombat sometimes boarded Sacred Ground) and there's also a bit more in planning ahead and assuming the correct role at any given time in the game. Because both players don't do much at instant speed it is less of a tactical game and more of a strategic battle. *End Aside*
Round 5 vs Alexander (Baseruption)
We are both 4-0 so a draw would guarantee both of us a spot in Top8. As I just want my pile to be listed in the Top8 I offer a draw but he declines.
I win the die roll.
Game 1 I open a great hand but Alexander has a monsterhand too. He counters every relevant piece of disruption I throw at him and manages to get more creatures than I have removal. I can fight his Tombstalker, Goyf and double Meddling Mage (one naming Humility and the other naming Exalted Angel... [this time I remembered the morph option but I didn't draw an Angel so it was moot]) with Factories, an Angel, an Eternal Dragon and some Decree tokens but as we trade blows left and right I miscalculate on one attack so a surviving Tarmogoyf takes away my last lifepoints while he is at four life. Had I played more conservatively I'm sure I could've won.
Game 2 Alexander plays Meddling Mage again and again names Exalted Angel. I don't know if he just hoped I would misplay like in round two or if he wasn't aware of the morph trick. It didn't matter anyway as he has to spend his counterspells on my disruption again while I simply attack with Factories, clearing the way with Rings, Swords and Kegs.
Game 3 He starts with Thoughtseize taking Chalice, then counters my Trinisphere and Extirpates all the Chalices from my library. As he is searching my hand and library he doesn't look too happy because he sees a Blood Moon and a Humility coming down in short time. Now he asks for a draw because he "doesn't want to go through this presumably long and tedious game". I gladly accept.
So now I'm surefire Top 8 and I avoided screwing myself like in game 1 of this match.
Round 6 vs Stefan (Ichorid)
He's one of the best players in our region (if not THE best). He's also my archnemesis (just kidding). If I remember correctly everytime we faced each other I was playing Humility and he still kicked my ass with stupid dorks.
That being said I think even if I channeled all my luck of that day into this single match I couldn't win.
Anyway it was quite entertaining as always.
He wins the die roll.
Game 1 Stefan plays turn one Putrid Imp and I respond with a morph on my turn. During his second turn he starts to go nuts but can't find any Narcomoebas in like the top 40 cards of his deck. He uses the Imp to Therapy me and sees a hand of Eternal Dragon and some lands. My turn I topdeck Humility and have to decide whether I want to cast it or unmorph the Angel. In hindsight it is pretty obvious that you go for Humility here because you want to stop as much of the broken stuff as possible. After lots of thinking I eventually come to this conclusion and play the enchantment. Lots of thinking I didn't have to do as a drawstep dredge plus Deep Analysis flashback gave Stefan three Narcomoebas that he used to flashback Dread Return on Golgari Grave-Troll, getting 9 Zombies plus a gigantic Troll. I couldn't find a solution for both the tokens and the Troll in two turns so I lost.
I think Stefan gave an appropriate description of this game when he said (word for word) "Yay for broken shit!"
Game 2 I'm on the play with a hand that has double Chalice, and the potential for a turn 2 Trinisphere. I immediately go for Chalice at one but hesitate with the second Chalice. Setting it to zero counters his Lion's Eye Diamond but it also counters my Crypts and Explosives. In the end I decide to play it because I don't have Crypt or Explosives yet. I'm thinking that I still have Powder Keg and Explosives can also be played with Factory, Tomb or City of Traitors. Later Stefan tells me that he had the LED so as I didn't see a Crypt this game I think it was ok to play Chalice at zero. So with nothing he can play during his turn Stefan goes for the slow dredge plan, discarding a GGT in his discard step. As planned I play a turn two Trinisphere and Stefan dredges and discards the GGT again. I find Humility on top of my library and it enters play too. Unfazed Stefan dredges again getting some Narcomoebas. I just get more land during my turn and pass back. Now Stefan starts to return Ichorid which thanks to my Humility stays in play but is just a lowly 1/1 without haste. When he tries to flashback Cabal Therapy I remind him of the Trinisphere so he says he has to find another way to get his creatures into the grave for tokens. Looking at my board he sees my Factory and tells me he found an "external sacrifice outlet". So he attacks and because I'm aware of the three Bridges in his graveyard I opt against blocking with my 2/2 Factory so he doesn't get any Zombies. Stefan then makes a sad face and tells everybody around him that "his external sac-outlet has a malfunction". It was quite hilarious. So now I'm sitting there with Humility in play, getting beat up by random 1/1 dorks and even my 2/2 dork can't do anything because if I kill one of his guys there will be three more to deal with. The only chance I have is to draw two massremovals, activate my Factory and play both removals on the same turn to remove his bridges and his tokens. Oh and then I also need a second Factory to stop the recurring Ichorids or I have to hope he decks himself. Of course I didn't draw a single removal until I was at four life so whatever.
I took my loss like a man and prepared to do a joy dance because I made Top 8 :wink:
Final thoughts: The approach I took with this deck seems worthy to be explored some more. As I said I threw the list together one night before so I'll do some more tweaking when I have the time and see how far I'll get with it. Anyway if you couldn't get anything out of this report yet here goes: Exalted Angel is insanely strong and I mean really she's insane! Like omg why am I playing less than four of her?
The tourney was great fun as always and all the people were really nice.
Btw I had 3 judgecalls because of Humility and one because of Eternal Dragon (Yes you can Stifle Plainscycling)
Props
- The judge for running a smooth tournament
- Name Badges
- Maxi Schnitzel with infinite french fries
- Lukas for lending me his Plateaus
- all my opponents
- Stefan (my round 6 opponent) who took the foil Pernicious Deed as prize so I could get a fbb Savannah
Slops
- winter for being damn cold
- Joachim for not showing up
- Tarmogoyf for making lots of decks I'd like to play unviable
This is the story of how I got 3rd out of 38 players with a deck most of you would (and should :wink:) call a pile (or more accurately a steaming pile of sh*t). In the beginning I didn't take many notes as I planned to just have some fun and later forget about my performance so I might mix some things up and forget other things. I hope it is entertaining to read anyway.
Note: 6 rounds of swiss were played. No Top 8 playoffs. Placing was determined using the final standings after the swiss.
After months of developing and countless hours of playtesting (meaning I threw the list together 12 hours before the tournament started) I arrived at the following decklist that I took to the monthly tournament in Hassloch:
Haufen.dec
4 Plateau
8 Plains
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Mox Diamond
4 Eternal Dragon
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Humility
2 Decree of Justice
(Makes sense so far? Now watch this!)
4 Powder Keg
4 Pyroclasm
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Exalted Angel
sb
4 Blood Moon
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Boil
4 Trinisphere
1 Sphere of Resistance
Basically I had a plan against almost everything. Against Thresh I had Chalice and Humility. Against Goblins I had Pyroclasm and a boatload of other removal spells. Against 4c Landstill I had Blood Moons in the board. Against Survival Humility was the hoser of choice again. Against Stormcombo I had Chalice (plus Spheres post board) and ways to deal with EtW. I even found space in the board for Crypts against Ichorid.
The whole deck is just some strong lategame cards with infinite removal to survive until I can play them.
So enough about the deck, let's get to the matches I played.
Round 1 vs Fabian (Ugw Threshold with Hoofprints and CounterTop)
We played some games in the past and I have to say even though he's still very young he's a really solid player who knows what he's doing.
Fabian wins the die roll.
Game 1 I have to mulligan but I am able to resolve Humility. After Humility hits he gets me down to 8 with some 1/1's and his Hoofprints tokens threaten to overwhelm me but I soon draw double Factory to stop his attacks and when I cycle Decree he reaches for his sideboard.
Game 2 I don't find a Humility and two large Goyfs beat me down before I can get anywhere.
Game 3 I have double Factory again while he can't find a creature so I go beatdown. When he's down to ten a Tarmogoyf enters play but gets plowed immediately. After that a Hoofprints comes down but I have Exalted Angel to match it temporarily. Fabian starts to accumulate counters on his Enchantment and churns out some tokens before I cycle Decree and go all in bringing him down to 1 life. His next drawstep is of no help and so I take the match.
After the match Fabian comments on how bad he thinks his matchup is against my deck which makes me feel very good about my chances for the rest of the tournament.
Round 2 vs Alex (Ubw control homebrew)
His deck is the result of months of tinkering and he clearly knows how to play it (does he? :tongue:). We know each other because he was the TO in Speyer and he's a really cool guy so the whole match was quite relaxed and funny.
Now here are some funny facts:
1.Lunchbreak is after this round
2.We are both playing controldecks
3.We have a judge
So of course we get deckchecked before we can start and get 6 Minutes extratime. Maybe I can get the judge to fetch me a sandwich or something so I don't starve...
Oh Alex also won against my cousin in round 1 so I guess it's kinda revenge time.
I win the die roll.
Game 1 is over quick. I know he's playing control so I keep a hand with six lands and Eternal Dragon. Alex has to mulligan so I'm thinking I made the correct choice. However some carddraw and fetching allow Alex to play a very early Tombstalker and I can do nothing but watch as I can't find an answer in time.
Game 2 I mulligan down to 5 and my mind is not really in the game anymore. However maybe because he thinks he has this game in the bag Alex isn't on top of his game too. He makes a severe mistake when he taps out for Meddling Mage naming Exalted Angel (?!) and I resolve Blood Moon during my turn. Now Alex goes hunting for basic lands off the top while beating with his Mage and I just sit there going down to ten before I realize that I can play the Exalted Angel I'm holding as a morph despite a chanting Pikula. So I play a Morph. As my life never goes up during this game I assume I traded the morph with his Mage (!?). A Pyroclasm also might've been involved (?!).
Anyway after a long time of doing stupid stuff I finally get an Eternal Dragon on the table and Alex' life total goes down in five point chunks until he's dead.
Game 3 Alex has two Mages. One naming Blood Moon and one naming Explosives. I have double Factory to keep them on defense so I'm not too worried. During the midgame I'm facing down a Tombstalker again but I have Exalted Angel. Alex shortly considers attacking but he does the math and realizes that I will win the damagerace.
This was the first of several Tombstalker vs Exalted Angel stand offs and it always ended the same way. I'm able to get to seven mana before my opponent finds removal and Eternal Dragon > Tombstalker because Dragon comes back, Stalker does not.
It still got pretty close when Alex drew a second Tombstalker and I only had eight or nine lands but drawing a second Dragon and playing carefully pulled me through.
*Aside* After this round we had lunch. Because the location is a restaurant we got our food right there and it was cheap too. For some meals you have the option to get as much french fries as you want. It's basically „Schnitzel with infinite french fries“ as some call it.
So after finally eating it was time for round 3. *End Aside*
Round 3 vs Marcel (Bw Sui)
He was asking for Somber Hoverguards before the tourney so I put him on either traditional Affinity or Affownity.
Marcel won the die roll.
Game 1 he kept a risky opener with Swamp, Ritual, Confindant but no second land for several turns. I had to mulligan but find a solution to Bob soon so Marcel has to wait even longer for his second land. By the time he finds it I already have Chalice at two and I'm beating down with several guys so he can't do much anymore and goes down shortly thereafter.
Game 2 Marcel plays a first turn Duress and has to decide between Chalice and Oblivion Ring as the two obvious targets (I think he should have taken my Mox Diamond because I had no other white source in hand at that time but I couldn't see his hand so I don't know). He agonizes really long about taking the Chalice and in the end he rolls a die to decide. After seeing the result of the die he flinches a bit then takes the Chalice. During his second turn he plays Bob and I Sword him immediately. Marcel follows up with a Hypnotic Specter that gets put under Oblivion Ring and tops it off with a Tombstalker that I don't have an answer for yet.
The answer though arrived soon when I play a morph at eleven life. Stalker takes me down to six and unmorphed Angel gets me back up to ten. Like Alex, Marcel does the math and realizes he needs a removal because I will win the damage race.
I even manage to get another Oblivion Ring to temporarily hide his Stalker until he draws Seal of Cleansing to get it back.
Meanwhile I find an Eternal Dragon and go on the offense up to the point where he has to activate a Tomb of Urami to block and stay alive. As he now has no more lands in play I'll overwhelm him eventually. He says that he now just wants to rescue this game into a draw and with extraturns approaching it looks very possible that he'll be able to do it. I tell him that I'll win the match anyway because I lead 1-0 but he replies that he's fine with that and really just wants to get a draw in this game. So I prepare to do some dreamcrushing, cycle Decree of Justice and the last token kills him just in time.
Round 4 vs Christian (ArmageddonStax)
Yay Stax at the top tables again. There was another Stax right next to us playing against Goblins. Welcome back to 2007 :tongue:
Luckily I won the die roll.
Game 1 was rather bizarre. During the first two turns I play Chalice at one and Powder Keg and he only uses two Wastelands to destroy the two Ancient Tombs I used to play my artifacts. Right here I put him on Goblins so I started adding counters to my Keg. The following turns looked like this:
Me: Plains, pass.
Him: Plains, pass.
Me: Factory, pass.
Him: Factory, pass
Me: Plains, morph, pass.
Him: Plains, morph, pass.
Me: WTF?! Plains, unmorph, swing, pass.
Him: OLOL!? Plains, unmorph, swing, pass.
Lucky for me Christians deck refuses to give him any removal or Armageddons while my deck showes me some love and after 3 turns of swinging back and forth I draw Oblivion Ring to remove his Angel and ride mine to victory.
Game 2 Christian starts with Ancient Tomb, Mox (pitching Tabernacle) and Crucible of Worlds. When he only returns the Tabernacle to play and passes back to me during his second turn I decide to use a Seal of Cleansing on his Mox Diamond hoping to colorscrew or even manascrew him. As it turns out my read was correct and he is indeed manascrewed for a few turns. The turn he finally hits more mana to play Ghostly Prisons, Magus of the Tabernacle and Smokestack I already have Exalted Angel (yes again) and I fearlessly play out more mana to pay for Tabernacle effects and get through his double Ghostly Prison. I do the math and realize that even if he ramps up his Smokestack every turn it still comes down to him drawing Armageddon and winning or not drawing it and losing. As a long time Staxplayer I know Armageddon is a bitch so of course he doesn't draw it and I win.
I think Christian made Top8 anyway :smile:
*Aside* During this match I was suprised how much of an advantage it was for me to really know the ins and outs of my opponent's deck while he had almost no idea how to play against me. Of course in my report it sounds like I just lucked my way through this coinflip matchup (I had the O-Ring, he didn't have the Geddon) but first of all I think the matchup is rather onesided against me if he can find a single Armageddon (there's a reason Wombat sometimes boarded Sacred Ground) and there's also a bit more in planning ahead and assuming the correct role at any given time in the game. Because both players don't do much at instant speed it is less of a tactical game and more of a strategic battle. *End Aside*
Round 5 vs Alexander (Baseruption)
We are both 4-0 so a draw would guarantee both of us a spot in Top8. As I just want my pile to be listed in the Top8 I offer a draw but he declines.
I win the die roll.
Game 1 I open a great hand but Alexander has a monsterhand too. He counters every relevant piece of disruption I throw at him and manages to get more creatures than I have removal. I can fight his Tombstalker, Goyf and double Meddling Mage (one naming Humility and the other naming Exalted Angel... [this time I remembered the morph option but I didn't draw an Angel so it was moot]) with Factories, an Angel, an Eternal Dragon and some Decree tokens but as we trade blows left and right I miscalculate on one attack so a surviving Tarmogoyf takes away my last lifepoints while he is at four life. Had I played more conservatively I'm sure I could've won.
Game 2 Alexander plays Meddling Mage again and again names Exalted Angel. I don't know if he just hoped I would misplay like in round two or if he wasn't aware of the morph trick. It didn't matter anyway as he has to spend his counterspells on my disruption again while I simply attack with Factories, clearing the way with Rings, Swords and Kegs.
Game 3 He starts with Thoughtseize taking Chalice, then counters my Trinisphere and Extirpates all the Chalices from my library. As he is searching my hand and library he doesn't look too happy because he sees a Blood Moon and a Humility coming down in short time. Now he asks for a draw because he "doesn't want to go through this presumably long and tedious game". I gladly accept.
So now I'm surefire Top 8 and I avoided screwing myself like in game 1 of this match.
Round 6 vs Stefan (Ichorid)
He's one of the best players in our region (if not THE best). He's also my archnemesis (just kidding). If I remember correctly everytime we faced each other I was playing Humility and he still kicked my ass with stupid dorks.
That being said I think even if I channeled all my luck of that day into this single match I couldn't win.
Anyway it was quite entertaining as always.
He wins the die roll.
Game 1 Stefan plays turn one Putrid Imp and I respond with a morph on my turn. During his second turn he starts to go nuts but can't find any Narcomoebas in like the top 40 cards of his deck. He uses the Imp to Therapy me and sees a hand of Eternal Dragon and some lands. My turn I topdeck Humility and have to decide whether I want to cast it or unmorph the Angel. In hindsight it is pretty obvious that you go for Humility here because you want to stop as much of the broken stuff as possible. After lots of thinking I eventually come to this conclusion and play the enchantment. Lots of thinking I didn't have to do as a drawstep dredge plus Deep Analysis flashback gave Stefan three Narcomoebas that he used to flashback Dread Return on Golgari Grave-Troll, getting 9 Zombies plus a gigantic Troll. I couldn't find a solution for both the tokens and the Troll in two turns so I lost.
I think Stefan gave an appropriate description of this game when he said (word for word) "Yay for broken shit!"
Game 2 I'm on the play with a hand that has double Chalice, and the potential for a turn 2 Trinisphere. I immediately go for Chalice at one but hesitate with the second Chalice. Setting it to zero counters his Lion's Eye Diamond but it also counters my Crypts and Explosives. In the end I decide to play it because I don't have Crypt or Explosives yet. I'm thinking that I still have Powder Keg and Explosives can also be played with Factory, Tomb or City of Traitors. Later Stefan tells me that he had the LED so as I didn't see a Crypt this game I think it was ok to play Chalice at zero. So with nothing he can play during his turn Stefan goes for the slow dredge plan, discarding a GGT in his discard step. As planned I play a turn two Trinisphere and Stefan dredges and discards the GGT again. I find Humility on top of my library and it enters play too. Unfazed Stefan dredges again getting some Narcomoebas. I just get more land during my turn and pass back. Now Stefan starts to return Ichorid which thanks to my Humility stays in play but is just a lowly 1/1 without haste. When he tries to flashback Cabal Therapy I remind him of the Trinisphere so he says he has to find another way to get his creatures into the grave for tokens. Looking at my board he sees my Factory and tells me he found an "external sacrifice outlet". So he attacks and because I'm aware of the three Bridges in his graveyard I opt against blocking with my 2/2 Factory so he doesn't get any Zombies. Stefan then makes a sad face and tells everybody around him that "his external sac-outlet has a malfunction". It was quite hilarious. So now I'm sitting there with Humility in play, getting beat up by random 1/1 dorks and even my 2/2 dork can't do anything because if I kill one of his guys there will be three more to deal with. The only chance I have is to draw two massremovals, activate my Factory and play both removals on the same turn to remove his bridges and his tokens. Oh and then I also need a second Factory to stop the recurring Ichorids or I have to hope he decks himself. Of course I didn't draw a single removal until I was at four life so whatever.
I took my loss like a man and prepared to do a joy dance because I made Top 8 :wink:
Final thoughts: The approach I took with this deck seems worthy to be explored some more. As I said I threw the list together one night before so I'll do some more tweaking when I have the time and see how far I'll get with it. Anyway if you couldn't get anything out of this report yet here goes: Exalted Angel is insanely strong and I mean really she's insane! Like omg why am I playing less than four of her?
The tourney was great fun as always and all the people were really nice.
Btw I had 3 judgecalls because of Humility and one because of Eternal Dragon (Yes you can Stifle Plainscycling)
Props
- The judge for running a smooth tournament
- Name Badges
- Maxi Schnitzel with infinite french fries
- Lukas for lending me his Plateaus
- all my opponents
- Stefan (my round 6 opponent) who took the foil Pernicious Deed as prize so I could get a fbb Savannah
Slops
- winter for being damn cold
- Joachim for not showing up
- Tarmogoyf for making lots of decks I'd like to play unviable