[Report] SCG Duel for Duals Oct 7th and 8th

Tournament Results

I decided that it was time for the deck to get some tournament results so I spent about $700 building the deck so I could take it to the SCG Duel for Duals on October 7th and 8th, 2006.

For the tournament on both days I ran the exact same deck. Since Serra Avenger was not yet legal for this event, I ran 2 Azorius Guildmage in her place and dropped the lone Scrubland for another Underground Sea.

I couldn't get any sleep the night before Day 1.

DAY 1

ROUND 1
Table 11
Jesse Pinchot
GBr Rec-Sur

Game 1
I play turn 1 Mother of Runes and Daze his turn 2 Survival. He gets Flametongue Kavu out (which doesn't kill anything with its CiP effect) and gets SoFI on him. My opponent can't stop my aggro base of Mother of Runes, Meddling Mage on Survival (and another on Recurring Nightmare I think) and Azorius Guildmage, so I win game 2.

Game 2
I counter two early game Survivals and Meddling Mage on Recurring Nightmare and Survival win it for me again. Jotun Grunt works his magic and I think I get an Azorius Guildmage with a Jitte (not sure about the Jitte) that wins the game.

1-0

ROUND 2
Table 6
Joey Dial
Mantle Affinity

Game 1
He mulligans to 5 and opens with Tree of Tales, Arcbound Worker, Ornithopter, Ornithopter, and Frogmite. He doesn't draw into much else and my 2-3 StP's and Azorius Guildmage finish him off (I think I had Grunt too).

Game 2
We both play land drop go on turn 1. His turn 2 Cranial Plating meets Daze. Azorius Guildmage + Jitte put him too far behind. To top off the overkill, I draw Serenity and wipe away his entire board.

2-0

ROUND 3
Table 5
Kenneth McGlothlin
Mono Red Goblins

Game 1
I basically get a severe land flood and cannot stop his Goblins nuts draw and Mother of Runes and Azorius Guildmage can't hold him off. I scoop on turn 7 I think.

Game 2
I play Wasteland from hand to play a Mother of Runes. He Wastelands my Tundra. I fetch a basic Plains and it's the only land I see for the rest of the game (I drew into cantrips but had no Island to play them, I fetched a basic Plains because I had another Mother of Runes in hand at the time). I manage to get 3 Mother of Runes into play to keep the board locked but he eventually has the ability to push through and I never see land drop # 2.

2-1

ROUND 4
Table 16
Alix Hatfield
UGw Threshold

Game 1
I Duress him early. I play Confidant and I counter 2 StP's in following turns. I draw into Jotun Grunt and Umezawa's Jitte and the match ends pretty quickly.

Game 2
I play turn 1 Mother of Runes and turn 2 Duress and cantrip. Mother of Runes keeps Meddling Mage (naming Nimble Mongoose) protected and my topdeck of Perish to kill his Werebear does him in.

3-1

ROUND 5
Table 4
David Gearhart
Solidarity

Game 1
I play Mother of Runes and 2 Jotun Grunts early so he doesn't combo out (which was 1 misplay that costed me the match) and a severe land flood keeps me from putting on a clock or hitting him with Duress. Mother of Runes gets him down to 11 life by around turn 8 or so and he combo's off on me for the win. I have 3 Force of Wills in hand with 5 untapped lands and I allow his High Tide to resolve, hoping to counter Reset (which was the other misplay that costed me the match). My hardcast FoW on Reset is responded with Reset and my FoW removing FoW is responded with a 3rd Reset ftw.

Game 2
After shuffling my deck and presenting it to my opponent to cut, I notice I forgot to put the RFG Force of Will back in the deck. I tell him, put it back into my deck to reshuffle, and he calls a Judge over. I get a game loss or match loss and a warning that will be reported to the DCI.

3-2

(At this point I can no longer Top 8 and my mind isn't into the game anymore, losing against my decks favorable matchup).

ROUND 6
Table 8
Daniel Signorini
B/r Sui

Game 1
He hits me too hard with Wasteland, Sinkhole, Duress, and Hymns and I can't stabilize. His board of Wretched Anurid and Nantuko Shade does me in.

Game 2
I Daze and FoW his early game Sinkholes and Needle names Wasteland. Jotun Grunt and others finish him after StP's remove his blockers.

Game 3
I play Mother of Runes into Dark Confidant into Meddling Mage (naming Bolt) into Jotun Grunt. I forget to pay Grunts upkeep the following turn (my mind still isn't in the right place from the Solidarity matchup). I swing with Confidant and Mage and he blocks with Negator and Rotting Giant. I give Confidant pro red and Mage dies and he responds by Bolting Mother of Runes. The game goes downhill from here, which is unfortunate because I had such a dominant board position that would have easily won me the game.

3-3

ROUND 7
Table 12
Chris Coppola
R/w Goblins

Game 1
I mulligan to 5 from 2 no land hands. I can't answer 1st turn Lackey but all he can Lackey into play is a Mogg Fanatic. His StP's and Incinerator's keep me off my aggro to equip Jitte and I'm eventually overwhelmed.

Game 2
He plays 1st turn Lackey and I let it resolve with Daze and FoW in hand. He attacks with Lackey and puts Siege Gang into play. After he passes, I drop Engineered Plague. He casts Piledriver and I let it resolve (saving the counters for Disenchant on Plague). I get some aggro into play and a topdecked Engineered Plague causes him to scoop.

Game 3
He gets off to a really slow start and I turn 1 Mother of Runes into turn 2 Confidant. Confidant creates too much card advantage that he can't handle (I countered his Ringleader). I win this one without Jitte or Plague.

4-3

DAY 2

ROUND 1
Table 4
Eric Darland
Wub 3c Angel Stompy

Game 1
He mulligans to 5 and his low amount of lands slow him down. I out advantage him with Dark Confidant and cantrip. Mother of Runes gives me board advantage against his Silver Knights and I swing for the win.

Game 2
He mulligans to 6 and keeps another low land hand and my early StP's keep him off aggro. His StP's also keep me off aggro. My Meddling Mage on his SoFI proves lethal mid game because he finally draws into land and 2 SoFI (which he shows me after the match). I don't remember exactly what else I had in play but I swing in for the win.

1-0

ROUND 2
Table 11
Brian Lusk
UG Madness

Game 1
He mulligans down to 5. I Duress him to find out he has 3 lands and 2 Arrogant Wurms. I play Meddling Mage, naming Wild Mongrel. His only played threats were a Rootwalla and 2 Arrogant Wurms, but 2 StP's answer the first 2 and Mother of Runes swings my Grunts in ftw.

Game 2
I rip him a few times with Duress and Meddling Mage names Aquomeoba. He gets Jitte into play but StP and Perish keep him off aggro. I build up a nice horde with Mage, Confidant, Azorius Guildmage, and Mother of Runes. I get him too low in life before he can play Wonder and equip with Jitte, so he attempts to stabilize by gaining life with Jitte. He has active Jitte equipped for around 6-7 turns before I finally finish him off.

2-0

ROUND 3
Table 7
Buckingham, James
R/w Goblins

Game 1
I get a very good start and keep him away from an explosive one. I manage to get him to 4 life with a Grunt in play but his 3 StP's and 2 Incinerator's throughout the matchup keep me off my aggro. He eventually wins.

Game 2
I draw a no land hand and mulligan to 6. I play Tundra into Pithing Needle naming Vial turn 1. He Wastelands my Tundra. I play Underground Sea and spend the next few turns cantripping to find my 3rd land. I finally find it and play Engineered Plague but his nuts draw of Ringleader into Ringleader into Ringleader gives him 3 1/1's that eventually finish me off. I get Jitte into play but I cannot commit a threat to the board against his 2 StP's and 3 Incinerator's.

2-1

ROUND 4
Table 10
Nick DiTizio
UGw Threshold

Game 1
Game 1 he has land issues and his cantripping doesn't dig into enough fast enough. Meddling Mage naming Nimble Mongoose protected by Mother of Runes and Jotun Grunt with Umezawa's Jitte kill him very quickly.

Game 2
We both get solid starts with mine being a bit better. I play Mother of Runes into Meddling Mage but he plays 2 Pithing Needles on Mother of Runes and Jitte. I draw into 2 Jittes, giving me 2 dead cards, and 2 Mother of Runes. I cantrip 1 Jitte and 1 Mother of Runes away and my board position is very favorable with Jotun Grunt. I forgot to pay the upkeep the following turn (the misplay that costed me the win) and my second Jotun Grunt is met by Counterspell. He manages to kill me off with Nimble Mongoose and Werebear.

Game 3
We are getting close to time and the matchup starts off slow. The round goes to time and I manage to survive the turn before he would kill me.

2-1-1

ROUND 5
Table 10
James Peyton
Solidarity

Game 1
Im stuck on 1 land and cantripping multiple times reveals no lands. He combo's off around turn 5 or 6 and I lose. I keep my hand because it has Duress, 2 Meddling Mages, Daze, Serum Visions, and Tundra.

Game 2
I mulligan to 6. Again I'm stuck on 1 land and cantripping multiple times reveals no lands. He combo's off around turn 5 or 6, after I draw into my second land and play Duress, and he fizzles out and scoops.

Game 3
I realize my opponent is stuck on 1 land on my turn 2 so I play Pithing Needle naming Flooded Strand. He topdecks Polluted Delta. I Duress his High Tide. I play Jitte. He plays FoW 3 times to keep me off aggro but the card disadvantage that provides to him in combination of the 2 Duresses I rip off the top of my deck kill his hand. I topdeck Meddling Mage and name High Tide, and Meddling Mage with Jitte equipped finishes him off very quickly.

3-1-1

(At this point I'm in 13th place with bad tiebreakers and I have a very slim chance of making Top 8 if I win the next match and a few people lose the next match).

ROUND 6
Table 7
Palmer Smith
Mono White Angel Stompy

Game 1
We both open with turn 1 Mom's. I rip his hand with Duress and Meddling Mage names Parallax Wave. I gain card advantage over him with Duress and card quality with cantrip. My Umezawa's Jitte destroys his Umezawa's Jitte and Azorius Guildmage keeps his Mom from protecting his guys. I eventually win this one.

Game 2
We both open with turn 1 Mom's again. We both toss StP's around and my Jitte destroys his Jitte again. He eventually gets an Exalted Angel in play and his double Parallax Waves secure his victory.

Game 3
We start game 3 with 1 minute left, after I had to mulligan, and we don't get far enough for either of us to win. Instead of drawing, my opponent lets me win since I have a chance to make Top 8 and he doesn't. I commend him for being a very nice guy.

4-1-1

I end up coming in 10th place due to terrible tiebreakers. I think I could have made Top 8 if I wouldn't have misplayed against Threshold for a draw Round 4.

So basically, I'm not sure what I placed Day 1 but I placed 10th Day 2. This was my first tournament and I made a ton of misplays and mistakes. I only played on MWS for testing so my real life game skills were a little unexperienced. I pilot my deck very well but stupid mistakes like forgetting to pay Jotun Grunt's upkeep happened at the most inopportune times. I could have easily made Top 8 both days but unfortunately I did not. 10th place isn't too bad though and I'll redeem myself at the next large Legacy event.

Quote:

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For the tournament on both days I ran the exact same deck.

UWb Fish

Lands (17)
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Plains

Creatures (16)
3 Mother of Runes
3 Jotun Grunt
4 Dark Confidant
4 Meddling Mage
2 Azorius Guildmage

Spells (27)
4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
3 Daze
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Duress
2 Umezawa's Jitte

Sideboard (15)
2 Serenity
4 Engineered Plague
2 Perish
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Pithing Needle
1 Umezawa's Jitte

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Good report Hanni. I think your deck shows once again that Fish is a solid contender in this format.

After your tournament experience, what changes are you considering to the decklist? Perhaps more land to help with mana issues? Or a 4th Mother of Runes? From your report, she seemed to play a crucial role in many matches.

Well, I'm considering dropping 2 Counterspells for 2 Pithing Needle. I seen alot of Threshold players running maindeck Pithing Needle both days of the tournament and it seemed to be really good for them. I don't see why it would be any less good for me.

I'm also dropping 1 Underground Sea and 2 Azorius Guildmage for 1 Scrubland and 2 Serra Avenger. I had done a bit of testing with Avenger before the D4D and she is insanely good in this deck.

I don't think the deck needs more lands, I think I need to learn how to shuffle better. I either was stuck on 1 land all game or I was flooded with 6+ lands (with Serra Avenger instead of Azorius Guildmage, the deck doesn't need 6 lands in play). 17 tested out very well for me in playtesting and it only screwed me a few times during matchups.

A 4th Mother of Runes is not a bad idea but the problem becomes what to remove for it. The problem with Mother of Runes is that she's not very useful by her self, making her situational at times (requiring either Jitte or other aggro in play to be really good). I've been running 3 for a very long time and it's been working well so far. I have enough draw and cantrip to find her often enough and usually 1 Mother of Runes is sufficient enough to gain board control. So basically, fitting 4 could be really good but I just don't see anything I'd like to drop for 1 Mother of Runes.

How well has the Guildmage helped you? I think you should cut them for another Mom and another Grunt. Or even Maindecked Needles would be good for this deck, since you can call Vial and easily keep playing MUC.

Also, congrats for beating a very good Threshold player. I was suprised that you beat a very good Threshold player, that, or he didnt know what to side in against you because your deck was somewhat rogue. I wouldnt know too, but I congradulate you.

Quote:

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I was suprised that you beat a very good Threshold player, that, or he didnt know what to side in against you because your deck was somewhat rogue.

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My deck typically has a favorable matchup against Threshold. Post board I gain Perish and Enginnered Explosives which makes the matchup even better.