12th place with NO RUG in Iserlohn, Germany on July 3rd

This report begins the night before the tournament. I knew I was going to run NO RUG, the deck I've been tuning and testing ever since Reid Duke first Top 8'ed a SCG Open with it. The deck was pretty strong and I had positive results against Maverick, Merfolk and most control variants. My list was also tuned to beat the mirror (albeit only with slight modifications). This was my old list:

//Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Island
2 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island

//Creatures
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Progenitus
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Vendilion Clique

//Other Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Force Of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mental Misstep
4 Natural Order
2 Ponder

//Sideboard
1 Relic Of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Terastodon
2 Energy Flux
2 Krosan Grip
1 Pyroblast
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Spell Pierce
1 Submerge

Grim Lavamancer was a beast in a lot of matchups but before we went to bed I asked my girlfriend what she thought about cutting them for Fire // Ice. We agreed Fire // Ice was a better option to deal with Stoneforge Mystic and in testing I also found that I was often unable to cast Force Of Will. The potential for two-for-one's was also still there plus it could tap down pesky creatures to race with Progenitus. I knew I still wanted to run Grim Lavamancer somewhere in the 75 so I cut the Jittes for it, which I didn't like that much in testing anyway. They were only really good with Tarmogoyf which I didn't always have. I also decided it was good to run Surgical Extraction and Scavenging Ooze as my graveyard hate and finally I cut the Spell Pierce for a Flusterstorm. This was my new board:

2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Terastodon
2 Energy Flux
1 Flusterstorm
2 Krosan Grip
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Submerge
2 Surgical Extraction

I was missing some cards though and at the day of the event I asked some friends if they had the stuff I needed, but none of them had anything. I decided to run my old graveyard hate and Spell Pierce again, but my girlfriend managed to get two Surgical Extractions and a Flusterstorm before the event started (I'm telling you, she's awesome). So I only had to run Relic Of Progenitus instead of Scavenging Ooze. This was the 75 I registered:

//Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Island
2 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island

//Creatures
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Progenitus
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Vendilion Clique

//Other Spells
4 Brainstorm
2 Fire // Ice
4 Force Of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mental Misstep
4 Natural Order
2 Ponder

//Sideboard
1 Relic Of Progenitus
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Terastodon
2 Energy Flux
1 Flusterstorm
2 Krosan Grip
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Submerge
2 Surgical Extraction

Now, on to the actual report.


Round one against Christian (GoboLord) with Goblins

I looked at the pairings and saw that I was going to play against a friend just in the first round. I know him for a while and obviously put him on Goblins. When we were sitting down I jokingly said to my girlfriend that he is definitely playing Goblins because he's never playing anything else (although I have seen him play High Tide and Dragon Stompy as well). When he was checking his sideboard I see an Æther Vial and I'm pretty sure he actually is playing Goblins (as a side note, if you're reading this, this was before you actually handed me your deck, after that I only checked your sleeves). By the way, it's always worth watching what your opponent is doing before the match, you can often see at least one of their cards. I won the roll and decided to play.

Game one he mulled to four and I felt kind of bad for it. I didn't get much business though, only a Noble Hierarch, a Tarmogoyf and Green Sun's Zenith for another Goyf and he stabilised on three life with a good amount of Goblins on the battlefield. I proceeded to Brainstorm into Lightning Bolt and win.

-1 Vendilion Clique
-1 Green Sun's Zenith
+2 Grim Lavamancer

I'm not sure if I mulled in game two, but the hand I kept was rather weak; I shouldn't have kept it. I didn't deal a single point of damage to him in this one and it was quickly over.

Game three I had a decent hand and won with Tarmogoyf (or two of them? I'm not sure). I don't remember what happened in this game, but at one point he attacked with Goblin Lackey; I cast Brainstorm with two lands and a Noble Hierarch on the board, he Mental Misstepped and I cast Fire // Ice on his attacking Goblin Lackey and him.

1-0


Round two against Sebastian with U/R Kiki-Jiki Combo

No big story here, he seemed to be a nice guy and we just played some games.

I won the roll and cast Zenith for Dryad Arbor. He led with Gitaxian Probe for two life. I had a Force and a Mental Misstep in hand and considered countering it but figured he couldn't win through that too easily. I also had Vendilion Clique to disrupt him. I dropped a land and passed. In his turn I cast Vendilion Clique and saw Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker in his hand. In my turn I attacked with Clique and cast Natural Order. Easy game; I wish I could have drawn like this in my other matches as well.

-2 Fire // Ice
-4 Lightning Bolt
+2 Grim Lavamancer
+1 Flusterstorm
+1 Pyroblast
+2 Red Elemental Blast

I don't remember exactly what happened in game two, but I think a team of Vendilion Clique and Tarmogoyf killed him while Grim Lavamancer prevented him from going off with Kiki-Jiki.

2-0


Round three against Arno with G/W Maverick

Nothing interesting happened before the game, but he seemed like a nice guy.

I won the roll and mulled to six, keeping a hand with Vendilion Clique, Tarmogoyf and four lands. I probably shouldn't have kept it, but I did because it seemed okay. I led with land, go. He cracked Windswept Heath for Savannah I think and cast Noble Hierarch. I drew a Mental Misstep and cast Tarmogoyf. I think he cast Scryb Ranger, bounced a land, replayed it and cast another Noble Hierarch. I proceeded to draw five lands straight and lost to Mirran Crusader with three Exalted-triggers. Whatever.

-1 Vendilion Clique
-4 Force Of Will
+2 Grim Lavamancer
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Submerge

Game two I cast an early Natural Order which he obviously didn't see coming and I won; he stated that his boarding was wrong. The boardstate was quite interesting though; he had Qasali Pridemage, Noble Hierarch and Scryb Ranger with a few lands. When he attacked with Qasali Pridemage I cast a Fire // Ice for his Noble Hierarch and his Scryb Ranger. Fire // Ice resolved, I cracked a Wooded Foothills to activate Lavamancer and he responded with Aven Mindcensor. I cracked my second fetch for Taiga I think and killed his Aven Mindcensor. The second fetch resolved and I got Dryad Arbor. I then took four from Qasali Pridemage, untap, draw, Natural Order.
Before I cast Natural Order he said that people who run Progenitus have small penises. My girlfriend, who was sitting next to me told him he was wrong.

Game three was won on the back of Progenitus as well, casting a total of two creatures throughout the game; Tarmogoyf and Vendilion Clique. The Clique showed me Knight Of The Reliquary and Wing Shards. I figured I could play around the Wing Shards but couldn't race the Knight so I let him put away Knight. Later I had Grim Lavamancer and a Tarmogoyf on the board with four lands and he had Maze Of Ith, Horizon Canopy and two other lands; Savannah and Forest I think. At this time his hand was Batterskull which he fetched up with Stoneforge Mystic, Wing Shards and another card I didn't know. I cast Natural Order, he flashed in Aven Mindcensor. I let it resolve and with Natural Order still on the stack cast Submerge on the Aven Mindcensor. I don't remember exactly what happened next, but he was on three mana with me having almost perfect information. He was on nine life and I had Dryad Arbor, Vendilion Clique and Progenitus. He had Aven Mindcensor with Umezawa's Jitte and two counters and a Batterskull in play. Since he only had three mana he couldn't cast Wing Shards plus another spell so I untapped, cast Krosan Grip on Jitte and attacked with Vendilion Clique and Progenitus. He couldn't block with Batterskull to gain life nor could he do anything with his Maze Of Ith and Wing Shards. He continued to tell me how bad my deck is.

3-0


Round four against Alexander with UWR Stoneforge + Ancestral Vision

I sat next to Alexander the rounds before so we both knew what the other one was playing. This was also my favourite match of the day, despite his ridiculous draws. For the first time I lost the roll that day.

Game one was pretty much straight forward. He did his thing, I did mine. I cast threats, he disrupted me. He dropped a turn two or three Karakas. I looked at the two Vendilion Cliques in my hand. Cool. I had Noble Hierarch and Tarmogoyf though which went all the way. I kept casting Vendilion Clique and the first time I cast it, he Brainstormed in response, showing me Plateau, Tundra and Wasteland. End of turn he bounced my Clique. I predicted Jace, The Mind Sculptor the next turn, he did it. He bounced my Tarmogoyf. I kill Jace with Fire // Ice. I kept casting Clique and attacking with Tarmogoyf. When he was at three from my attacks, I finished him with Lightning Bolt.

-2 Fire // Ice
-4 Lightning Bolt
+1 Flusterstorm
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Pyroblast
+2 Red Elemental Blast

Game two was the strongest draw I faced the whole day, and I almost managed to beat it. Yeah, my deck's bad. He led with suspend Vision, go. I dropped Taiga and cast Noble Hierarch, which he Misstepped I think. On his turn he went Wasteland for my land, suspend Vision. I look at two Red Elemental Blasts. On my turn I go Tropical Island, Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor. Resolves. He drops a land and suspend Ancestral Vision. Seriously? I drop a land a ship the turn. He draws, I cast Vendilion Clique, seeing Elspeth, Knight-Errant, two Jaces, Spell Snare and Day Of Judgment. I let him put away Day Of Judgment I think. I continued to beat him down until the first Vision triggered. I Red Elemental Blasted it. He Forced. I cast Red Elemental Blast. Resolved. The second Vision resolved, so did the third. I beat him down to two but after a Day Of Judgment and some more countermagic he had Jace and I had nothing.

After game two we had nine minutes left. I figured I could kill him in that time, but he couldn't kill me. Turned out I was wrong. I kept a decent hand with Noble Hierarch, Tarmogoyf, Mental Misstep and some lands. His hand was even better though, he had triple Swords To Plowshares and I joked about his cards clumping together (he pileshuffled before game three). He continued to draw Elspeth, Jace, The Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic and killed me in the third extraturn. It was definitely my fault that I hurried a lot; if I hadn't played in turbo-mode he certainly wouldn't have been able to kill me. The match was great though and throughout the rest of the tournament I told him to win all of his matches because of my breakers.

3-1


Round five against Marcel with Dark Thresh

I lost the roll again and quickly got beaten by a Nimble Mongoose and a Tarmogoyf. I cast Tarmogoyf, he had Go For The Throat. I cast Green Sun's Zenith, he had another one. I drew another Tarmogoyf, he had Smother. His two creatures kill me.

-2 Fire // Ice
-4 Lightning Bolt
+1 Relic Of Progenitus
+1 Flusterstorm
+1 Pyroblast
+2 Red Elemental Blast
+1 Submerge


Game two was the shortest of all my games. I drew a lot of lands (seven or more) but he didn't get a threat down. When I had Noble Hierarch with five lands in play and nothing relevant in hand, I went for Natural Order. He scooped it up, apparently he didn't put me on Natural Order after game one since he boarded three cards.

In game three I basically pulled off what my round four opponent did: I drew all of my Mental Missteps and countered some cantrips and a Spell Snare I think. A 4/5 Tarmogoyf went all the distance. I was kind of relieved after this game because my loss in round four bummed me.

4-1


Round six against Markus with Big Zoo

Both games were the same; I got beaten by Basilisk Collar. Maybe I could have won if I had drawn Natural Order, but I didn't so whatever. I also kept a very bad hand in game two and never got beyond two mana.

-1 Vendilion Clique
-4 Force Of Will
+2 Grim Lavamancer
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Submerge

4-2


With my record (and my breakers) I end up in twelfth place which is okay, but I should have been better. I kept sketchy hands all day long but still got there most of the time so that speaks for the deck's power. It's also interesting to see how easily I could win without drawing Natural Order. After the tournament, when I was reflecting my cardchoices and how my matches played out I actually considered cutting Natural Order and running something along the lines of Next Level Thresh. Then I noticed that despite only drawing Natural Order a total of five times in fourteen games I still won most of my games without it but only lost a single game where I drew (and cast) it.

The maindeck was awesome and the only thing I'm going to change is cutting a Vendilion Clique for another Ponder or a Jace, The Mind Sculptor. Running Fire // Ice was a good idea and I'll keep running it. The sideboard will also only be slightly changed as I was happy with almost all of my choices and every single card I boarded in did something when I saw it. The only disappointing sideboard choice was Flusterstorm, despite only losing me one game (an important one though). I had it in hand in round four when my opponent cast Elspeth and couldn't use it to counter her. In round five I countered a removal spell with it I think, but Spell Pierce would've done the job as well.

I'm looking to play some more events with the deck before I'm going to be in Shanghai for about five weeks over the summer where I will mostly be playtesting with my girlfriend. I hope to come back with some sweet new tech and a nicely tuned list. I hope you enjoyed reading this. I didn't write a report in a while but I'm looking forward to write some more (with better results).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jona

He was on nine life and I had Dryad Arbor, Vendilion Clique and Progenitus. He had Aven Mindcensor with Umezawa's Jitte and two counters and a Batterskull in play. Since he only had three mana he couldn't cast Wing Shards plus another spell so I untapped, cast Krosan Grip on Jitte and attacked with Vendilion Clique and Progenitus. He couldn't block with Batterskull to gain life nor could he do anything with his Maze Of Ith and Wing Shards.

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This cannot be quite right. You probably attacked with Dryad Arbor, too, or he would have just Wing Shardsed your Clique and Progenitus (since you cast Grip).

Neverless, interesting report and congrats!

Ah yeah, you're right. I forgot something as this was in two seperate turns. At first he was tapped out with an active Jitte in play and I gripped it so I only needed to attack with Progenitus. The turn after that he had Batterskull in play, had three mana open and Wing Shards in hand. Then I attacked with Clique which he could block with Batterskull to gain life and Progenitus to finish him.

Anyway, I played another event today and I might write another report, despite playing some really bad Magic. Fire // Ice has again proven to be awesome and adding the third Ponder was a good move as well. Jace sucked in testing. Submerge and Krosan Grip are probably the strongest available sideboard cards right now.