[Deck] Nic Fit (GBx Explorer Zenith Control)

@GtF,

I agree with you that I come across, and am, arrogant at times. Unlike popular belief, I believe there is such a thing as a wrong choice, wrong morals, and wrong notions when faced with evidence. You can't know how much someone else knows for certain about a particular subject so you have to assume and suggest more often than you'd like. I guess that's where I fall short in my explanations.

I can see where you understood that I was against Brainstorm when I was talking about Junk vs. BUG. I must have changed perspective from a Junk standpoint to a BUG standpoint somewhere with a poor transition.

I understand Merfolk and why it doesn't play Brainstorm and Fetches. I also know that Merfolk is not comparable to BUG Pod, and is in fact not even in the same category. Merfolk is highly specialized and highly un-flexible. Its success depends on the dominance of Island-based decks in the format. The problem with Merfolk and Brainstorm/fetches, is that once you start including them, the deck becomes more consistent, and consistency means very little to a one-trick pony if it opens you to vulnerabilities that you otherwise don't have (Stifle on fetches and the loss of tempo of taping U).

But think about this for a moment. Why wasn't Brainstorm your 61st card? Let me mention how I think this deck is far from being as space-restricted as people mention it to be, and that playing 61 cards in a deck is a lack of discipline in almost every realistic scenarios. It is quite clear that the 61st card in a deck is wrong for consistency reasons alone. However, if you look at the statistical numbers of a 61st card and a 4th Brainstorm (which I don't feel like digging up right now, but have seen in the past), it is very clear how the 4th Brainstorm augments your consistency above and beyond the loss incurred by the 61st card. If we can agree on that, I am fairly certain that, given the right amount of reflection, you will come to my understanding that brainstorm is almost always a 0 or 4 question, and that BUG Pod is not a fit subject for the exception in-between.

EDIT: I'd like to point out how I don't perceive our conversations as of late as bickering although it may appear hostile to some. I find it refreshing to have a meaningful discussion for a change even if it's about something so rudimentary. I respect thoughtful ideas and criticism much more than feelings and the regular sessions of Show and Tell that we see so frequently.

Beat ur landstill and jund. 3-1

4-1. Beat a bye. Aka rug

@UseLess:

Have you tried Venser? I thought he was great in my BUG list, which was closer to yours than anyone else. He controls the stack and the board, exactly what U Nic Fit wants.

5-1. Beat grixis delver in a nailbiter. Wouldnt have won g2 without carpet of flowers.

Beat chas hinkle with sneak and show. Double games game 1. Now 6-1.

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Originally Posted by Arianrhod

Beat chas hinkle with sneak and show. Double games game 1. Now 6-1.

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Sweet. Keep it up!

Lost to shardless after six visions in to games....still ran him out of cards in g2, but ue had JUST enough to stop me. Should still be so lidly top 32/16 with a win or 64 with a loss.

Ended up drawing into top 32 in the last round. Wouldve been vs dredge and probably would have lost....especially without the reanimate. Whatever. $100 and a goyf mat is perfectly acce ptable

I've been messing around with combo finishes that can be done as a single Pod chain. In part due to general Timmy-ness but also as it changes the dynamics of some of the more problematic matchups (12 post, Miracles) and last but not least as Pod lists have a tendency to durdle to the point of going to time against slow opponents. Right now this is just an exploration of options available, comments and ideas very much appreciated.

1. Spiked Feeder + Archangel of Thune (+ Entomber Exarch/Mistmoon Griffin for single chain)
pros:
* Both Feeder and angel have synergy with persist creatures
* Angel puts the game away pretty fast on its own
* Part of the combo is zenithable
* In a Pod deck Exarch does a decent Witness impersonation and discard is relevant against most decks you want to combo off.
cons:
* while infinite life usually suffices, the kill itself uses the combat phase

2. Rector + Recurring Nightmare + Yosei (+ Corpse Connoisseur)
pros:
* in a pinch Yosei can timewalk the opponent
* provided you already play Rector + Nightmare, it's the smallest package
* least susceptible to removal
* shortest chain
* Corpse Connoisseur + Recurring Nightmare is an obscene combo in it's own right
cons:
* reliant on the graveyard
* does not outright kill
* Yosei targets

3. Pestermite/Deceiver Exarch + Kiki-Jiki (+ Entomber Exarch)
cons:
* Kiki has an awkward mana cost and is only borderline useful outside combo.
* uses the combat phase

Kiki-Jiki is clearly out, while between the other two it's not so clear. Not sure I would want either main, but it seems a decent semi-transformational SB.

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Originally Posted by Arianrhod

Ended up drawing into top 32 in the last round. Wouldve been vs dredge and probably would have lost....especially without the reanimate. Whatever. $100 and a goyf mat is perfectly acce ptable

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Congratulations, sucks to have such a good run cut short by a good matchup getting lucky, but as you say, top 32 is more than fine. Nice job!

Thoughts on thune fit:

-Melira is bad, I should've known that already but whatever
-Going down to 1 spike feeder is a good idea, especially in my build with 3 green sun's. However, I want to stick with 2 archangels since you can't gsz into them.
-We should run 1 wall of blossoms. It's nice to have something other than sylvan ranger at 2 to pod out of, and wall blocks really well on top of that.

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Originally Posted by Arianrhod

Ended up drawing into top 32 in the last round. Wouldve been vs dredge and probably would have lost....especially without the reanimate. Whatever. $100 and a goyf mat is perfectly acceptable

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Congrats on the great finish. Hoping for a report if you have time to spare and/or notes to share

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Originally Posted by MrIggins

I feel like we're the only ones still talking about this build anymore. But that's fine because the Pod decks are sweet too.

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Please keep talking. I just started playing the deck, and all input is appriciated.



I played a BoM Trial a few weeks back with ScapeFit, had a blast, and ended 3rd after the 5 round swiss. Was 4-0 before the last round, but lost to OmniTell. I didn’t play the top 8 as i wasn’t going to BoM. I played Arianrhod’s list with minor changes (played ‘Two Towers’) and Thoughtseizes in the flex slot.

Random thoughts and plays:
Played vs. Death and Taxes: Cataclysm is a beating, and Aven Mindsencor is rough.
Played vs. WB Deadguy Ale: 11 Mountains was JUST enough,. At one point he was at 18, with counters on a Jitte. I played ScapeWish with 7 land, hoping he would miss the lifegain. He did, but played a StP on a Batterskull-equipped Spirit. I then used Scapeshift to get 4 mountains (had Valakut and 2 mountains left) for value to 4-for-1 him, and I could then kill him later with Scapeshift for 24. (He wasted 1 Taiga)
Played vs. UWR Standstill and Elves: Deed and Huntmaster are awesome
Played vs. OmniTell: 1st Slaughter Games should always name Cunning Wish, as they often have no other win-con before board. I took Enter the Infinite, and lost.

Also played a small tournament.
I didn’t like the Thoughtseizes main, so I tried Scavenging Ooze and Acidic Slime
I ended up 3-2. Ooze was irrelevant, and Slime okay, but most often didn’t matter

Won vs. UG Infect. Game 1 he had no creatures, and I had Wish for Pyroclasm with Deed backup game 2.
Lost vs. EsperBlade. It was a really weird, long game 1, that ended with me topping for 5 turn, seeing only land with no way to shuffle. Game 2 had angry mountains. Game 3 he had a turn 4 Jace after i therapied one already. I didn’t got to do much else, and lost after time was called.
Lost vs. merfolk, playing 4 Stifle and 2 Jitte main. Game 1 I died to Mutavaults and equipment. Game 2 my Deeds did nothing, and the game was quick and brutal as I drew no creatures.
Won vs. UR Delver/Burn. He didn’t have the nut draw games 1 and 3.
Won vs. UB Tezzeret. Chalice for 1 and 4, and Ensnaring Bridge slowed me down. But PrimeTime for Two Towers, and then Valakut+mountains won game 1, and Scapeshift after 2x Slaughter games won game 2

Final notes:
I am for sure trying Slaughter Games over Thoughtseize main in the future.
Never missed Tragtusk number 2. I played 1 Deathrite Shaman over it, and like it a lot in almost all matches.
I need to get a hold of Toxic Deluge. And test From the Ashes.
Rakdos’s Return will be leaving my list, as it always feel like win more.
Reanimate will NOT leave my list, as it feels solid in multiple matchups.
I also need Carpet of Flowers.

I am so far 11-4 total with the deck, and still feel like I can do better.
I’ll get to play 5 rounds again this week, so looking forward to blowing up people with mountains

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Originally Posted by dannemann

Congrats on the great finish. Hoping for a report if you have time to spare and/or notes to share


Please keep talking. I just started playing the deck, and all input is appriciated.

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:)

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Random thoughts and plays:
Played vs. Death and Taxes: Cataclysm is a beating, and Aven Mindsencor is rough.
Played vs. WB Deadguy Ale: 11 Mountains was JUST enough,. At one point he was at 18, with counters on a Jitte. I played ScapeWish with 7 land, hoping he would miss the lifegain. He did, but played a StP on a Batterskull-equipped Spirit. I then used Scapeshift to get 4 mountains (had Valakut and 2 mountains left) for value to 4-for-1 him, and I could then kill him later with Scapeshift for 24. (He wasted 1 Taiga)
Played vs. UWR Standstill and Elves: Deed and Huntmaster are awesome
Played vs. OmniTell: 1st Slaughter Games should always name Cunning Wish, as they often have no other win-con before board. I took Enter the Infinite, and lost.

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Agreed on all of those, though Cataclysm IS beatable- obviously it's tough, but it's happened. Mirran Crusader is much more threatening if you ask me. Blind Therapies usually name Revoker for me, but once they have 3 mana or I want to go for a kill, I always try to Therapy for a Mindcensor first. Either they're smart and they cast the spell with Therapy on the stack, at which point we have Deed, Pyroclasm, or Deluge to kill it, or they don't yet know what we're on and we get it.
I've felt squeezed on Mountains before against D&T, particularly because that is the deck that I find myself Scapeshifting to wrath them the most often. Batterskull is hard to beat sometimes.
Against Omni; would your opponent have been able to kill you if you had taken his Omnisciences? I think in the dark against them, that is the better kill. Even if you take their Wishes, they can cast Emrakul and kill you that way; taking Omni forces them to kill you by Showing in an Emrakul, which we can answer by Wishing for Innocent Blood/Deluge- unless they're on the Laboratory Maniac kill, but most are not. I think in general taking Omni is safer unless you learn that they are on the Lab Man kill, at which point I'd switch to Enter the Infinite.

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Final notes:
I am for sure trying Slaughter Games over Thoughtseize main in the future.
Never missed Tragtusk number 2. I played 1 Deathrite Shaman over it, and like it a lot in almost all matches.
I need to get a hold of Toxic Deluge. And test From the Ashes.
Rakdos’s Return will be leaving my list, as it always feel like win more.
Reanimate will NOT leave my list, as it feels solid in multiple matchups.
I also need Carpet of Flowers.

I am so far 11-4 total with the deck, and still feel like I can do better.
I’ll get to play 5 rounds again this week, so looking forward to blowing up people with mountains

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I don't hate the 1-of Deathrite, in fact I really liked it as a 2-of when i was playing BG Fit, but I've often been glad to have the 2nd Thragtusk. Keep an eye on the number of times you needed it. Your mileage may vary, of course.

In minimal testing, I'm definitely convinced about maindeck Slaughter Games. I've been mulling over playing an additional copy in my sideboard, because it's such a powerful card that I might try going up to 2 SB 2 main to go up to a virtual 7 copies in sideboarded games- but the 3rd Carpet might just be better. This would be over my second copy of Pyroclasm, since Toxic Deluge allows us to always have access to 2 board wipes against creature decks.

Seeing so much Death and Taxes being successful in tournaments recently makes me think. It's a favorable matchup, I think, but it's pretty tight. The games are often close, and are always a grind. I wonder if anyone has insights about the matchup, since I find myself feeling behind pretty often against them, and games are always pretty difficult.

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Originally Posted by Tao

Huntmaster is good but he alone is not worth splashing a 4th color. He is literally the only red card in your list. Cutting him and the mountain for a better land and an alternative beater seems like a good idea.

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So far he has definitely proven it's worth and since he is at least splashable with Veterans, I decided to throw in 1 mountain. Hasn't really hurt the deck so far. On the other hand, if there is any beater more efficient than Huntmaster I will gladly replace it. The problem is that I can't think of any. The problem with Thragtusk is that he competes with GSZ X=5, which is Always won by Sigarda. Huntmaster's CMC of 4 has just an alternative use.

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Originally Posted by guelahpapyrus

@UseLess:
Have you tried Venser? I thought he was great in my BUG list, which was closer to yours than anyone else. He controls the stack and the board, exactly what U Nic Fit wants.

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Never tried him. While I like the idea of the card, I doubt it will win any of my games once he hits play. The 2/2 body is simply underwhelming compared to other options and I'm really looking for more finishers, as the control aspect of the deck runs very smooth.

What are people's thoughts on a second Consecrated Sphinx? It is an absolute beast and having it in play for 1 or 2 turns basically wins the game. Furthermore it is hard to remove with the majority of removal that is played in legacy. On the downside, it is slow and I wouldn't want it vs RUG or so.

Finally a question about [CARD]Golgari Charm[/CARDS]. I see this card is being used in some SBs and also the Rock uses it. What are the matchups it is boarded in against? Goblins, combo (Empty the Warrens?) and elves or so? And are the alternative modes besides -1/-1 ever used? I like the card, but I'm unsure how to use it.

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Originally Posted by UseLess

So far he has definitely proven it's worth and since he is at least splashable with Veterans, I decided to throw in 1 mountain. Hasn't really hurt the deck so far. On the other hand, if there is any beater more efficient than Huntmaster I will gladly replace it. The problem is that I can't think of any. The problem with Thragtusk is that he competes with GSZ X=5, which is Always won by Sigarda. Huntmaster's CMC of 4 has just an alternative use.

Never tried him. While I like the idea of the card, I doubt it will win any of my games once he hits play. The 2/2 body is simply underwhelming compared to other options and I'm really looking for more finishers, as the control aspect of the deck runs very smooth.

What are people's thoughts on a second Consecrated Sphinx? It is an absolute beast and having it in play for 1 or 2 turns basically wins the game. Furthermore it is hard to remove with the majority of removal that is played in legacy. On the downside, it is slow and I wouldn't want it vs RUG or so.

Finally a question about [CARD]Golgari Charm[/CARDS]. I see this card is being used in some SBs and also the Rock uses it. What are the matchups it is boarded in against? Goblins, combo (Empty the Warrens?) and elves or so? And are the alternative modes besides -1/-1 ever used? I like the card, but I'm unsure how to use it.

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Golgari is nice against tribal & D&T & Mav.
It is also a potential out to omni (destroy enchantment).
And I used it once against a supreme verdict to save my dudes !!!

Well a good catch-all.

I played exactly the list that I posted a page back before the event. I'll copypasta it forward in the interests of expediency for readers.

4 Veteran Explorer
2 Sakura-tribe Elder
2 Wood Elves
1 Eternal Witness
3 Huntmaster Of The Fells
2 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan

3 Pernicious Deed

3 Sensei’s Divining Top

4 Cabal Therapy
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Burning Wish
2 Scapeshift
2 Slaughter Games

3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
3 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Taiga
3 Badlands
2 Bayou
2 Stomping Ground
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

SB:
3 Carpet of Flowers
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Thoughtseize
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Slaughter Games
1 Pyroclasm
1 Scapeshift
1 Reverent Silence
1 Innocent Blood
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Maelstrom Pulse

Here's an expanded report, by round. I don't have my notes with me, so I don't have names, Therapy calls / hands, and such. I don't think these things are really necessary, but I'll try to do better for DC.

R1: Esperblade

My opponent is a stocky fellow with gauges in his ears, who is from southern New Jersey. This tells me that he's playing one of the following decks: Esperblade, Sneak and Show, or Elves. Esperblade was mostly a geographical read because of southern New Jersey, which has a number of players who are very fond of Esperblade and have played it to some success.

He leads with Esperish cards. I do my thing, and we both ramp up. I land a pair of Thragtusks, both of which get hit by Swords and have their beast tokens bounced by Jace. He eventually beats me down with equipment and Clique. I had a Top going for pretty much the whole game (25+ minutes), and kept running into like, Land/Land/Explorer, or Top/Land/Wood Elves on my Tops. Couldn't find Deeds, Zeniths, Wishes, or Scapeshifts to save my life (literally).

Game two is uneventful -- he does some irrelevant things, and angry mountains make quick work of him. He has a Jace at one point, but I Zenith for Witness to regrow REB to kill it.

We start game three with somewhere around 7:30 left on the clock. We're both playing pretty quickly, which leads me to make a few subtle misplays early on in the match. I jammed a Carpet of Flowers way earlier than I had to, out of fear of discard, and it got Pierced. This meant that his future Pierces and SnapPierces were able to actually tempo me instead of me ramping past them, which meant that his turn 4 Jace was able to be protected until it was too late. He started +2ing immediately as Jace landed, and I never hit a way to deal with it.

-3 Explorer, -1 Cabal Therapy, -2 Slaughter Games, +3 Carpet of Flowers, +2 REB, +1 Rakdos's Return

I think that was how I boarded. My board plans are from memory, and might not be exactly what I actually did.

Games comes out because Esperblade isn't a 4x Jace.dec (or, frequently, even 3-of). It's the card that we most struggle with (especially if they can protect it). Slaughtering Batterskull is worse than just Therapying it. You could theoretically name Force of Will, just so that your Scapeshifts are guaranteed kills, but I don't think that that's worth it, and would rather have any of the other cards I boarded in.

R2: Red MUD

He twitches slightly while shuffling and I see what I think is a Stoneforge Mystic. I'm still not sure what I actually saw. I keep a ramp-heavy hand with Top, double Tribe-Elder, and a Wish, while he mulls to 6. While mulling to 6 he flips a City of Traitors out of his deck, and I get concerned and confused. I adjust my mental goals in the matchup to rushing to combo as quickly as possible instead of playing a slow game with a bunch of shuffles and Top activations.

He leads off City of Traitors -> Grim Monolith -> go.

......oh.

I go basic -> Top, and pass back. He uses his City to play a second Monolith and taps both for a Wurmcoil.

Welp.

I spin Top on upkeep, looking for an Explorer, and find one successfully. I could have played a Tribe-Elder here instead and started walling off the Wurmcoil, but I decided that I needed more of a shot in the arm mana-wise if I was going to actually race that Wurmcoil, and that an Explorer was my out for winning the game. Additionally, I still had the Burning Wish in hand, and could get Innocent Blood if it became a problem later. Not ideal, but it was a hazy plan. Anyway, I play my Explorer and pass back. He crunches in, I get some lands, and he goes to 26. From here I wall his Wurmcoil for two turns with Tribe-Elders while ramping up, and shift him out on turn 5, with him having never gained another point of life. All he did other than drop a Wurmcoil was play a Crucible, but he didn't have anything to go with it of consequence.

Game two I die in some fashion. I don't remember the exact details, but I think that it was a very staxish draw from him while I had a couple of nonbasics and a Top. Pretty sure he Wasted me out and my Top showed no lands, while he had a Lodestone.

Game three I led off with a blind Therapy on Grim Monolith, and hit one -- in the process completely ruining his hand. He had a Blood Moon and some other nastiness in hand, but I had a pair of Pernicious Deeds, Therapy/Explorer to rip his hand to shreds, and some other general douchebaggery. I Shifted for the kill on something like turn 6.

R3: U/R Landstill

I know my opponent since he's from a neighboring playgroup, and I know from when we were all hanging out before the event what he's playing.

Game one he chains together 3 standstills, and double Force of Wills a pair of Burning Wishes which I shamelessly ran into his wall of countermagic because I had a 3rd in hand. He plays some irrelevant cards and dies to Scapeshift. I Slaughter naming Jace, and hit one in his hand....which ends up being the only copy in the deck. Awkward. Useful, I guess, but awkward.

Game two is basically the same. I ignore his mana denial and casually kill him. No idea how I sided here....I want to say the same as vs Esperblade, but not sure.

R4: Jund (Not Punishing)

My opponent is a Vintage player who doesn't play a lot of legacy. I figure he's going to be on something like RUG or Jund...some fair.dec Deck to Beat. I'm right.

I don't remember these games much, other than that there was a bunch of discard game 1, then I wrathed him with Deed, then I killed him with mountains. Game two I know he had a turn 2 Liliana, which was like...urk. But, I derped and didn't board out my Slaughter Games for some reason, and after drawing both of them they got immediately discarded to Liliana, over more valuable cards in my hand. So.....I guess they were still good? Lol? I eventually Pulsed away the Liliana via Wish, nuked his board, then nuked him.

I boarded out 1 Therapy for the Rakdos's Return, otherwise, no changes.

R5: RUG Delver

My opponent has a PTQ top8 pin on his playmat from 2008. I immediately put him on RUG or UWR Delver. He leads fetch -> Trop -> Mongoose. I love playing a Cabal Therapy deck -- it makes you pay attention to shit like that, and can be very rewarding.

These games go about as we all know how they go. It was even worse for this guy than usual, too, because Carpets came in after board. I will note that I boarded out 1 Explorer here, leaving me with 3 Explorers and 3 Carpets postboard, which seems like enough. I also brought in the REBs in exchange for the Slaughter Games. Pretty sure 2 Therapies came out for the other 2 Carpets.

R6: Grixis Delver

My opponent complains of being tired and asks me to beat him quickly as we sit down. I just laugh and say that I'll see what I can do. Inwardly, I put him on something like Miracles, or some other slow blue deck.

He leads off with I think Tarn for Sea, which immediately sends off warning bells of combo. He passes the turn, and I do something that gets Dazed...I think it was an Explorer. Okay, not Storm, then. We play slow for a couple turns. He drops a Volc after replaying his Sea, and plays a Bob. Mystery solved. He eventually gets a flipped Delver, and has just enough gas thanks to the Bob to keep me locked out. I see a Stifle via Therapy at one point in game 1, so I know to expect that in the future.

He keeps a slow hand game two, and pays for it heavily as I ramp past his disruption and drop a pair of Huntmasters, who completely take over the game by themselves.

Game three is the nailbiter. He comes out FUCKING FAST with double Young Pyromancer and a bunch of cheap spells. I kept a hand without much ramp (my Carpet got Forced), but double Deed. I have a Tribe-Elder and a Top in play against his army. I drop to 2 life on a mighty swing, blocking a Young and cracking Tribe-Elder, which resolves. I then declare yolo, and slam Deed and crack for 2, with a fetch in play to play around Daze (although that would put me to 1). He doesn't have it, and his board dies. We each draw a few blanks. I try to Zenith up a Huntmaster to get some life back, but he Forces. He drops a Bob, I use my other Deed to kill it. He drops a Delver, but I REB it. I Top into another REB and stick it in my hand, then use a Wood Elves to shuffle. My Top shows me a Huntmaster on top of my deck, but I need to survive another draw step. He draws, pauses. Taps Volcanic Island. My heart skips a beat. He lays down Brainstorm. My heart beats once, then skips three more. He puts two back, and passes the turn. I'm alive.

From here, I turn it completely around. A second Huntmaster joins the first in rapid order, and a couple turns later I shift for lethal with REB backup. He had 3 Lightning Bolts and 2 Forked Bolts as outs, with 2-3 Brainstorms left at that point to dig into them, and an unknown number of Ponders. I dodged a fucking bullet.

R7: Chas Hinkle with Sneak and Show

Now, if you've been a part of this thread for a while, you'll remember that Chas ended my run at SCG Baltimore -- after I won game one via a pair of Burning Wished Slaughter Games, and knocked me out of being X-1, and out of contention for top 8. As of Round 7 at Champs, I was X-1 once again. To continue forward, I would have to defeat him. Of course, this time, I had maindeck Slaughter Games.

I kept a hand with one of those maindeck Slaughter Games. I go land, Top, pass. He leads off with a G-Probe, and sees my tech. No comments were made -- Chas is a master of the poker face while playing. He cantrips and ships back. I spin Top on upkeep, looking for a Therapy. I fail to find one, and play an Explorer before passing back. He doesn't kill me, and passes back. I Top on upkeep. Still no Therapy. Swing, play Explorer #2, pass. He knows that next turn I can play Slaughter Games. He EoT Brainstorms. Frowns. Puts two back, untaps, draws. Brainstorms. Frowns. Puts two back. Brainstorms AGAIN, to get that 1 card deeper (and, in restrospect, I suspect to stack his hand because he knew there was a shuffle effect coming). Passes the turn.

I Slaughter Emrakul. He shows me a grip including 2 Show and Tells and 2 Sneak Attacks, but no creatures. I Top on Upkeep of the following turn, and see my 2nd maindeck Games. I play my 5th land and cast Games #2. He scoops.

Game 2 I keep a sort of shaky mull to 6: Badlands, Mountain, Top, REB, Carpet, Burning Wish. He doesn't have Leyline of Sanctity, I sigh with relief. I lead with Top, since I'm not in immediate danger on turn 0. He plays a Show and Tell on turn 3, which I REB (resolves). I top into a Verdant, play it, crack it, play Carpet, move to 2nd main, add 3 red, play Burning Wish, Wish for Therapy, cast Therapy with R floating. Since he played Show, he obviously has something in hand to put out. I name Griselbrand, and I can't remember if I hit or not. I do know that I saw his hand: 1 Through the Breach, 3 Emrakuls. I look at him with my eyebrows raised. Well then.

I pass back. He doesn't draw a Sol Land. I live for another turn. He passes. I use Carpet mana to help cast a Huntmaster, then flashback the Therapy with the Wolf. He Brainstorms in response. I figure that he's putting back 2 Emrakuls because that makes sense -- we both know that I want to name Emrakul. For a moment I think that he might be next-leveling me and putting back Breach on top since I might name it, opting to let him Brainstorm-lock himself for two turns, but I decide that he's probably aware of that possibility, and decide to go with the safe call, which is Emrakul, because he CAN'T put back all of them, which means that I can force a shuffle for his Brainstorm, and if he was trying to out-mindgame me, I actually out-out-mindgame him.

Turns out he went with the simple "fix my hand" line, and put back two Emrakuls. I bin the 3rd, and he shuffles. I see a Force of Will in hand, along with an Ancient Tomb and the Breach, so I'm not out of this yet. He plays Tomb and passes. I Top into Rakdos Return, and cast it for x=3 (aka, his hand). He hardcasts Force, taking two from the Tomb, and I commence Huntmaster beatdown. He passes the turn, leading the Huntmaster to flip. I'm out of disruption at this point, so I opt to ride the Huntmaster to victory. I pop Top on upkeep, so that I draw it for my turn, which gives me a free spell to play. I cast another Top that I drew off of my original Top, swing, pass, flip Huntmaster. He casts Show and Tell on his turn, not putting anything into play (stops the Huntmaster from flipping). I swing with my Huntmaster + wolf, then pass the turn without playing a spell to do the final 2 points of damage on Chas's upkeep. He extends the hand.

For the rest of the day I have people asking me to tell them the story of how I crushed Chas. I'm pretty noncommital about the whole thing, and don't really gloat much outwardly. There's more than enough of that going on inwardly, I don't need to look like an ass to everyone else -- myself will suffice.

BUT GODDAMN IT I GOT REVENGE FOR BALTIMORE.

R8: Shardless BUG

I recognize this guy's dice after he says that we played at SCG Philly last time. He was playing TES. I inwardly grumpycat, and as we cut each others' decks, a judge comes up and says "HEY BTW DECK CHECK." We sit there for 10 minutes and watch Osyp dismantle someone to my right while we wait for our decks. They come back, no problems. We shuffle up and leads Delta -> Sea. I sigh. He taps it, plays Deathrite Shaman.

WOAH NELLY.

He does a bunch of Shardless BUG things. I go beatdown, and put him to (very low) before he stabilizes with a pair of Visions off of suspend/cascade and a Baleful Strix to block my Thrag. I get some solid blind names on Therapy throughout the match, but I never find a Top, and can't keep my card quality up to match his card advantage, as he hits a third Visions. I have a number of turns where a Deed or a Wish/Shift completely wins me the game on the spot, but it never happens.

Game two he suspends 3 Visions in the first 3-4 turns. I make him use every single card in his hand to stop me, but he has just enough non-blanks to get there after 3 Visions, 2-3 Brainstorms, and a couple of Jace activations. He was probably up 15 cards on me this game, and I still almost got there.

I'm pretty tilted about this one, but I try to be as friendly as I can. I'd gotten paired down, as he was X-1-1, and as such was unlikely to Top 8, whereas if I'd won I would have been playing for Top 8 (all of the X-1s had to play...only the X-0s could ID). He finished in 10th. I can't be mad about his desire to finish as high as he could, since he thought he could possibly make top 8 on breakers if he won out -- I would have felt the same way in his shoes, but that didn't change that I had a better shot. Pretty disappointing to lose a good matchup that late in the day, that close to top 8.

R9: Dredge

After conversing with my friend Joey Manner, who was sitting next to me, my opponent and I agreed to ID to lock up top 64, since our breakers were both pretty bad and even if we played, the winner wasn't guaranteed top 32. We played for fun anyway, and he proceeded to jizz all over his playmat with his deck. This was not an ordinary Dredge player -- he knew every trick in the book, including that Grave-Troll counts itself when it comes into play off of Dread Return. I almost get to Shift him out before he kills me, but he takes my Shift with a Therapy, and I die.

Game two, I could have Burning Wish -> Reanimated his Grave-Troll to deny his dredging.....if I had Reanimate in my board. I'll note that this was the ONLY time all day that I actually missed it. As it was, I didn't have that, and I died pretty quickly to Flamekin and friends after never finding a Tribe-Elder, or, really, doing much of relevance.

When the final standings went up, I was surprised to see myself at 32nd place -- certainly not complaining, though! Got $100 credit, which I used to pick up a foil German Chalice of the Void, a foil Ashen Rider, and a foil Phantasmal Image -- not a bad haul.

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Thoughts:

Maindeck Games did exactly what I wanted them to do in the matchup that mattered. They weren't useless the rest of the day, either, although I didn't draw into them that much. Frequently they just got pushed away with Top and shuffled away when I didn't want them.

Toxic Deluge only got cast once on the day, where it proceeded to do what it does. There were a few other times where I wanted to use it, but I ended up drawing something unexpected and just winning instead.

The manabase felt purrrrrrrrrrrfect with the 4 fetches. I only had a few unkeepable hands, and I noticed that my mulligans were down on the day overall. The additional shuffles were always nice, and I always had enough mountains to kill. That being said, there were a few times where I got CLOSE to running out of mountains (I had one or two backups). I never missed Phyrexian Tower.

Carpets were fantastic, as usual.

Rakdos's Return was still weak, and will likely be getting replaced. I think that for that card to actually have impact, it needs to be a 2-of (to be boarded in), and the meta just isn't right for that card to be a 2-of at the moment.

More thoughts in the coming days as I get ready for GP DC. I'm gonna go rest my fingers for a while, lol.

PS I sucked in vintage, but I at least had a ton of fun and can cross off "play in a sanctioned vintage tournament" off of my life goals, lol.

Congrats on the finish, Kevin!

Thanks for the great report- glad to hear you didn't feel like 11 mountains was too few, I have to say I love the idea of 4 fetches.

What do you think you'll be playing in the board over the Rakdos' Return? Going back to Reanimate, From the Ashes, maybe even the 4th Slaughter Games? That's the spot I'm stuck on currently. I like 3 Carpets a lot, and having access to Deluge is making me want my multiple Pyroclasms less, since in any given game we ALWAYS have access to 2 sweepers. I'm currently on the second Clasm over your Rakdos' Return slot, but I don't feel as solidly about it as I have in the past. And I'll be testing the fetch over Tower since you were so pleased with it.