hi folks! The report is based on limited memory. I couldn't sleep much before the tournament.
round 1: ANT 2-0
game 1: I have just enough consistent hand interaction to pressure him to make 12 goblins T4 or so. I race him with troll & deathrite blocks, while feeder attacks. It wasn't a tough race, and I thoughtseize him to safeguard against additional funny business.
game 2: I mulligan to 6 and T-1 therapy an infernal tutor. He knows I have teeg & choke in hand and concedes when teeg resolves (he didn't board in decays).
round 2: eldrazi 2-1
game 1: I identify his deck from small talk we make, so I mulligan for an OK maindeck hand. I grind him out with discard and lilli, building my offense until it kills.
game 2: I try to buy time with bitterblossom, but chalice on 1 trounces my hand and draw steps.
game 3: I remember enjoying how easily diabolic edicts level a playing field.
round 3: miracles 2-0
game 1: He accidentally resolves brainstorm T1 like a sensei's top activation (ouch)! An early guile helps me throw 2 lilli's at him and ultimate both. The first ultimate may've been best as jace, top versus lands, cb. This game takes twenty minutes.
game 2: He keeps a land heavy hand without top, so i thoughtseize a threat or removal spell. Basically I end up getting chains on an otherwise empty board, then jitte and start throwing creatures at him as they show up. Eventually I get a confidant to trigger, getting bitterblossom and teeg from it, lol.
round 4: bug delver 2-0
game 1: the only creature his deck provided him is one or two deathrites, so I just had to navigate his disruption to seal the game with higher value cards than his threats can match.
game 2: again he doesn't see a creature besides a deathrite. I sort of just sit with chains in play waiting to be able to cast the blood moon in my hand. I finally draw the red source for blood moon, and he concedes.
rounds 5 & 6: intentional draw
top 8: lands 1-2
game 1: I actually have a great hand which made me try to eek out a maindeck win. This is one of my worst pre-board matchups.
for the rest, see:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...608#post944608
sorry I can't add anything. My memory was getting weak for this long round. I will say that game 3 I expected guile to find me blood moon or a surgical after all those shuffles. Sounds like the moon wouldn't have stuck but a surgical on life from the loam may've had potential. Congrats on some tough playing and your success, Emrakul.
Post-tournament remarks:
I'm always slowly refining corners of the deck. It probably needs more against lands post-board. I'm focusing on Lands, Miracles, Painter at the moment.
Cutting choke for second blood moon seems good. To mitigate a detriment to Miracles, I'll try cutting the kolaghan's command for bitterblossom maindeck. I now have a 14-card sideboard to work with.
@Fox: other advantages of 12 fetches are bloodghast triggers for bombardment, shuffles for guile/top, and land thinning. Why do you feel that it has too many fetches?
@rampart: i don't follow your disagreeing that there aren't functional differences between some cards, saying the list deviates the status quo, which seems unrelated.
I play lotleth troll because I like protecting liliana. I haven't found him especially awkward.
I don't run sylvan library because I've other spells turn 2, and guile/top gives me 8 optimal plays turn 1 on the play. Additionally, I play chains. Top only competes with crawler if you're trying to bombard, in which case the silver bullet for that matchup is online.
Regarding goyf: that a card works better in some other deck doesn't answer, "Is this card better than another card in this slot?"