hungryLIKEALION's tournament report collection

[hungryLIKEALION]

Cross posting from the Zoo thread:

4-0'd a small tournament at Cyborg 1 in Doylestown PA today with Zoo, ending in 1st place. It's been like, 4 or 5 months since the last time I played Zoo, so this felt pretty good. It was a lot of fun to play the deck again, and this basically restored my confidence in the archetype so I may take it to more tournaments soon. We'll have to see how I feel, I guess. Anyway, the list. Pretty typical for how they're looking lately.

4 Wild Nacatl (4 Foil!)
3 Grim Lavamancer (1 Foil!)
2 Kird Ape (2 Foil!)
1 Steppe Lynx (Foil!)
1 Figure of Destiny
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage (2 Foil!)
2 Knight Of The Reliquary (1 Russian Foil! :D)

4 Lightning Bolt (4 Textless Foil!)
3 Chain Lightning (3 English!)
2 Lightning Helix (2 Textless!)
3 Price of Progress
2 Fireblast
4 Path to Exile (4 Judge Foil!)

3 Taiga
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
3 Arid Mesa
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy

SB:
2 Krosan Grip
3 Choke
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
3 Tormod's Crypt

The maindeck felt really good. As much as I hate to admit it, Zoo's position in the metagame has changed significantly. Since we no longer have inevitability on most of the blue decks and it's getting pretty likely they're going to be packing more creature hate than before. Anyway, I know I have some really stupid numbers (1 Lynx? I only had 1 foil and didn't wanna run non-foil 1 drops that weren't rares ;p It was actually pretty okay though, surprisingly enough.) Playing no Libraries is a first for me in a long time, but they're pretty impossible to take advantage of in the current metagame, and maindeck jittes are just too slow for what we need them to do. In addition, the maindeck Pops and Fireblasts give us the reach and speed we need right now. In the past I hated fireblast in the deck, but they feel good now. I like them.

Sideboard was pretty good to me, and I think this is the direction Zoo sideboards are going to have to go in this new metagame even though I still feel like it looks like crap on paper. Whatever, it worked.

The tournament started at 6, and I had work until 5:30 at Wegmans, so my friend Matt (Tammit67) came and picked me up with his friend Rob and the three of us headed to the site. I'd decided a few days ago I wanted to play Zoo and not Excalibur, and I threw together a sideboard at like 8 am. We got to the site, bummed around for a few minutes, then the tournament began.

Round 1 Vs. Joe playing UWr Landstill

I didn't know what he was playing, but I won the roll and kept a strong hand with a nacatl, an ape, and a lavamancer + some burn. He FoWd my t1 Nacatl, making me think Reanimator, then fow'd my t2 Lavamancer (Ape resolved) after playing a tundra and brainstorming on my turn. It quickly became apparent he was on Landstill. Ape beat down for several turns while he snared my pridemage before he managed to halt the ape by dropping humility with a Factory in play. I considered trying to force Ape through with burn on the factory, but then he cycled decree of justice making that seem like a bad plan. At this point I had Helix and Fireblast as my last two cards in hand, and 5 lands on the board. He played a standstill, so in response I cast helix and fireblast to put him on 2. I topdecked a chain lightning, then topdecked a second chain, so I played the first to break standstill. He drew three cards, activated his factory and swordsed it to stay at 2. I revealed the second chain and he conceded.

-2 Knight of the Reliquary, -4 Path, -1 Grim Lavamancer +2 Krosan Grip +2 Blasts +3 Choke

I know it kinda sucks to be taking out a 1 drop in a matchup where having one is so important, but lavamancer is by far the least impressive of them all and I feel like it's the best card to cut here since burn is very effective.

Game two I open on Nacatl which resolves, then he swordses it when I attack the next turn. I play another nacatl and a lavamancer. The second nacatl also eats a plow, but the lavamancer sticks around to beat down and throw some fallen cats and fetchlands at him. Unfortunately for him, he gets stuck on two lands... for a long time. Lavamancer beats him down to 10 before he draws a third land (Factory). I EOT Lava him, untap, chain, Price for 4, and then mance him again for victory.

He shows me his hand after the game ends, and I have to admit it was ridiculously stacked. He had Humility, Moat, EE, and Pulse of the Fields all ready to play, if only he could acheive the mana for them. Lucky me, I guess.

1-0

Round two I played against a guy playing a foiled out standard Jund deck from standard. Game one he mulled to 5 and I had turn 1 nacatl. He had... nothing until turn 3 when he played a sprouting thrinax. I pathed it and then pathed the follow up thrinax, at which point I burned him out.

-2 Grim Lavamancer -2 Lightning Helix -1 Chain +3 Jitte +2 Swords. I'm not sure this is correct, though it's honestly not relevant since it waas against a standard deck...

Game two was pretty quick as he again mulled to 5 and I kept a hand with tarmogoyf, pridemage, jitte, path, and three land. I topdecked a second pridemage which allowed the first to trade with his Putrid Leech, then smashed in with a 5/6 goyf until he was at 5. Both our hands were empty, as were the boards. Nicely though, I was playing this awesome card called Price of Progress... 10 damage for 1R? Yeah, pretty nice.

2-0

Round three I played against Dave with Elves. For a non-combo elf deck it was pretty well tuned. Anyway, game one he hits triple Sylvan Messenger and I draw 5 lands in a row. Triple Kicked Joraga lord guy beats me. :[

-2 Knight of the Reliquary, -3 PoP +2 Swords +3 Jitte

Game two I keep a hand with 3 burn spells, swords, Jitte and two lands. I eventually draw a pridemage to put Jitte on, which tilts the game heavily in my favor. Then he plays Chalice at 1, which seems like an odd choice to me... but I guess it was good since I then drew 4 one drops in a row. I have to make a really awkward fireblast on a lord, but I still have three more lands left over afterwards so it's okay. Eventually Pridemage got him down within burn range, at which point I used it to blow up the chalice and finish him off with some lightning. Hooray!

Game three I keep a one lander on 6 cards with Grim, Ape, and copious removal. I draw two more lands, but he draws two wastelands, making things... really rough. I get a lot of mileage out of lavamancer, but since I'm stuck lavamancing one critter per turn while racing him (Pridemage vs. Wren's Run Vanquisher) it's hard to keep up with his elves. Eventually I get the second land (though I'm forced to double block his vanquisher to avoid death) and put a tarmogoyf in play followed by a new lavamancer. I draw both my lightning helixes which prove to be extremely clutch since they give me the life I need to stabilize, and lavamancer keeps his board clear while goyf finishes him off.

3-0

Round four I play against my friend Matt who brought CountertopThop to the table today. Game one I play t1 Nacatl, t2 Chain+ Swing
(14) t3 Bolt + Goyf (Countered) + Swing (8) t4 Swing + Pridemage (Snared) + Bolt (2) t5 Win. Yaaaaaay.

-2 Knight of the Reliquary, -4 Path to Exile, -1 Grim Lavamancer, +3 Choke +2 Blasts +2 Krosan Grip.

Game two we both keep 1 landers. Mine is full of ridiculous gas including multiple one drops, price, and choke, but I don't draw the second land for far too long while he assembles countertop and thoptersword. I scoop when he starts thopthopthopthopthopping.

Game three my hand is a lot better, though it's like 4 one drops so I run the serious risk of getting blown out. Luckily enough, the 5th card is choke and the other two are lands. Cool! I go hardcore aggro with one drops, and he has to plow my nacatl and figure before trinket maging for EE. I take the opportunity with him tapped out to cast Choke, which resolves. He has a factory and a seat of the synod which untap, but he can't make EE at 1 and crack it in the same turn, giving me enough time to put him down to 9. From there, Chain and PoP for 6 finish the game.

4-0

The deck was great. I'd play this maindeck again in a heartbeat, and it was a lot of fun to return to my old stomping grounds on the taigas and plateaus. I'm not sure what I'll play at the next vestal event, but I'll definitely be considering Zoo pretty heavily.

Thanks for reading.

[Vacrix]

Nice report sir.

Out of curiosity why did you play x3 Choke? Doesn't Zoo already have a great matchup against U.dec?

[hungryLIKEALION]

Zoo has mostly positive matchups against U decks, but it is my prediction that in the post-mystical tutor metagame U decks will be playing more maindeck/sideboard hate for Zoo, making the matchups closer to even. Choke gives the zoo player a compact hoser that makes it almost impossible for the U player to recover in time to win, particularly given the speed of the currently good Zoo lists.

It may not be necessary, but since you know going into any legacy tournament that you'll be playing against 50-75% blue decks, it seems worth it to include something that will really tilt those matchups in your favor.

[Tammit67]

Nice report sir.

Out of curiosity why did you play x3 Choke? Doesn't Zoo already have a great matchup against U.dec?

While it does have great blue matchups, it can really hurt the few that aren't so hot, like new horizons, and completely shore up the others. Not sure if it is completely warranted though.
Congrats, and thanks for the credit. I'm willing to spot you whenever you want.

Edit: And by warranted, I mean I hope people dont run it. It's such a pain to play through. I'm convinced that was the difference maker in game 3. Would have been at least closer

[Vacrix]

That was what I suspected. Choke really does lock the opponent out of the game. Even so, I think that moar REB would work too. Not having to pack hate for ANT now is nice eh?

[Tammit67]

It'll be back with a different name. And the REB's dont hurt nearly as much. Choke cuts the problem off at the source, which is hopefully before the lands played anything gamebreaking. I'd run both personally.

[Vacrix]

Then again, Choke costs significantly more mana, which makes it more susceptible to Spell Pierce and Daze, especially when Zoo plays on so few land. I agree though, running both is certainly a better option.

[hungryLIKEALION]

I've never bothered with ANT hate in Zoo. The amount of matches you win compared to how many sideboard slots you waste on it is not a ratio that is worth supporting.

Resolving Choke is typically not that difficult. People don't leave in/side in spell pierce against Zoo because doing so would be profoundly retarded, and it's pretty easy to get to 4 mana. 21 lands is actually pretty many.

[AbelAffinity]

Was a fun game, despite being mana screwed pretty hard in game 2. Would love to play your excalibur, too. I was interested by the siding in of choke, as typically I only see that in Rock/ GB hybrids as an answer for blue.

Hopefully you and Matt and Co. come down from Bethlehem more often, even though the tourneys are small it's always fun to play good players. We'll probably try to come up to The Portal if there's a big tourney as well.

[jrsthethird]

t's pretty easy to get to 4 mana. 21 lands is actually pretty many.

Unless you're playing New Horizons.

We should try to convince Jared to run a $5 or $10 Legacy event with a decent payout in store credit instead of packs, maybe it would be worth it to get more people, since we already get like 25 people every month for free Legacy for packs.

[Fry]

I'm the guy who talked to you out at Jupiter Games with their 2nd year anniversary tourney. I tested with the Kiln fiend you suggested, but sometimes you just get them and they sort of die out or get chumped and kiiled simultaneously. The extra Chain Lightnings help considerably too.


My list is:

Main Deck

2x Bloodstained Mire (1 Onslaught Foil, and 1 Judge Foil)
2x Wooded Foothills (1 Onslaught Foil, and 1 Judge Foil)
4x Scalding Tarn (All Foil)
4x Arid Mesa (All Foil)
3x Plateau
3x Taiga
3x Mountain (All Unhinged Foil)

4x Goblin Guide (All Foil)
4x Grim Lavamancer (2 Torment Foil, 2 GP Foil)
4x Wild Nacatl (All Foil)
4x Steppe Lynx (All Foil)

3x Sylvan Library (1 Alt Art)
4x Rift Bolt (All Foil)
4x Chain Lightning
4x Lightning Bolt (2 textless Foil, 1 M10 Foil, 1 M11 Foil [the Judge Foil is in my Cube])
3x Price of Progress
3x Fireblast (All FNM Foil)
2x Reckless Charge (1 Foil)

Sideboard

2x Faerie Macabre (1 Foil)
1x Price of Progress
3x Krosan Grip (All Foil)
3x Gaddock Teeg (2 Foil)
3x Ensaring Bridge (1 Seveth Ed Foil, 2 Eighth Ed Foil)
1x Relic of Progenitus (Foil)
2x Tormod's Crypt (1 Timeshifted Foil, 1 FNM Foil)

Tarmogyof is just too slow for the average size in this deck and it counter productive with the Grim Lavamancers which act as reusable burn almost every turn.

The Sylvan Library is my favorite card in this deck because it is incredible reach and card manipulation.

Price of Progress is good against almost any deck and it makes the Land match up very winable and great in combo post fireblast.

Rift Bolt gets around Counter-Top.

Reckless Charge is an incredible inclusion for it enables a posible turn two 11 damage with Steppe Lynx's.

The Sylvan Library is my favorite card in this deck because it is incredible reach and card manipulation.

Price of Progress is good against almost any deck and it makes the Land match up very winable and great in combo post fireblast.

Rift Bolt gets around Counter-Top.

Reckless Charge is an incredible inclusion for it enables a posible turn two 11 damage with Steppe Lynx's.

Gaddock Teeg is a 2/2 for 2 is slow for the deck, but the ability is worth it, even with legendary status, to stop combo deck from going off

Ensnaring Bridge stops cards like Sphinx of the Steel wind and Progenitus, bot of which are incredibly bad for this deck. It also stops goyfs, terravores, ard kotr, pretty much anything with a 4 or greater and often times 3 or greater power. Also it tends to shut down S&T

[hungryLIKEALION]

8/22/10
The Portal hosts a $5 for a FTV:Relics. ~30 people show. I know I'm playing Zoo before the event, so there's no real struggle with deck selection here. The only decisions I make are that I cut PoP because it seems really bad right now against everything but lands, especially knowing the meta that I'm going into, and at the last moment dropping the 3rd horizon canopy and 3rd KoTR for 2 Fireblast (Something that I really liked.) I arrive at this build:

4 Wild Nacatl
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Steppe Lynx
1 Figure of Destiny
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Chain Lightning
3 Lightning Helix
2 Fireblast
4 Path to Exile
2 Sylvan Library
4 Arid Mesa
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
3 Taiga
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy

2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Choke
3 Krosan Grip
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Pyroblast

Mom makes a nice breakfast of Bacon and Eggs, and my brother and I make it to the site around 12:45. Tournament starts at 1, so we're in good shape. JT's (yadda) playing Bant Survival today, he may or may not post a report, I dunno. Anyway, Tournament begins.

R1:Steve playing Hypergenesis
I win the roll and open on Nacatl. He goes land, pass. I swing and chain him. He goes land, pass. I play KoTR. He plays land, demonic dread, hypergenesis, Wound Reflection, Wound Reflection, Magister Sphinx. Interesting kill.
-2 KoTR, -1 Sylvan Library, +3 Grip. I side out the slowest parts of my deck for something that can kill a Wound Reflection.
Game two he mulls to 5 and I open on Nacatl again, then on turn two make Steppe Lynx. I got to 19 from a fetchland. I have him on 9 with 2 fireblasts in hand and 3 mountains and a fetch when he combos out, dumping Sphinx, Reflection. I say okay and go to 10, then realize that I should have used my fetch before saying okay so I could double fireblast. I chalk it up to never playing against Hypergenesis, because let's be serious here, it's terribad. I attack, he blocks, I kill the sphinx by capping it with a bolt, and next turn win with fireblast.
Game three I open on Nacatl, and fire an early helix to go to 22 before realizing it was a terrible play because now Sphinx+Reflection kills me, whereas if I held Helix until after Sphinx came down, I couldn't possibly die to just those two cards. Woopsee. It turns out to be irrelevant as on the turn before he dies he finally just goes for it, putting in reflection, FKZ, and Ingot Chewer. Unfortunately for him I put in Goyf and pridemage. Goyf blocks the FKZ, Pridemage chumps the chewer and then shoots the reflection. I beat down for two turns and burn him out.

1-0, 2-1

I feel lucky to have escaped the round one pairing with a combo deck, but I'm done long before everyone else (The whole match took hardly 15 minutes) so I get to scout the field. Rock, some merfolk, one other Zoo player, Excalibur, Bant Sur, Aggro Loam, Lands, Thopters are a few of the decks I see. Pairings go up for round 2, and I find myself facing down...


R2:Allen Abendroth (talon7331) playing Excalibur
Unfortunate. Allen's both a team mate, and he's been working on Excalibur since the GP. He took my design and has moved it in an interesting new direction, playing KoTRs, Wastelands, Horizon Canopies, and some other stuff. I don't know his whole 75, but having designed the deck it's based off of, I know to play around Spellstutter Sprite, which is probably the most important card in the matchup.
I win the roll and we both mull to 6. I open on Lynx which gets in once before becoming a farmer. I then land Lavamancer. For the next 5 or so turns I just use burn+Lavamancer to keep his creatures off the table, also using up some paths along the way. Luckily he's only playing 1 basic (Forest) and he fetched for it (Probably in anticipation of PoP-Joke's on him!) so Path is just W:Exile target creature. I resolve some spells through Spellstutter Sprite by taking out his faeries with the trigger on the stack, and eventually topdeck into a Wild Nacatl to put a real clock on him (Lavamancer doesn't count.) Cat and Pridemage get there, eventually.
-3 Steppe Lynx, -1 Chain Lightning, -2 Fireblast +2 Jitte +2 EE +2 Pyroblast
Steppe Lynx is kind of crappy here since he has Jitte, and I don't need to be super fast here so I can drop the Fireblasts and the sub-par removal spell (Sorcery speed? Ew.) EEs give me a great tool/element of inevitability, Jitte answers his jittes obv, and Pyroblasts come in to answer annoying things like Spellstutter and RWM which I expect him to bring in since I know he added them to Excalibur in the past despite my urging not to since I don't think it's necessary for the deck.
He goes fetch Trop, Hierarch, go. I go Nacatl, go. He goes Hierarch, go. I play Lavamancer, bash for 3, and pass. He plays Vendilion Clique and takes my Jitte. I helix Clique and Lavamance an Hierarch. He makes a land drop but I still use Mancer to hit his other Hierarch. He plays out some bigger dudes but I rip paths to exile them. He clears out my board but I land Nacatl again. Nacatl races with a Spellstutter Sprite for a bit until I play Goyf and he untaps and plays KoTR. Lacking a path, I pull the trigger on EE@3, though I can't crack it with just 3 land in play. Unfortunately, he was sandbagging SFM so he's able to SFM for Jitte and play it. I frown. I topdeck Grim Lavamancer, a little late there. I pop EE and he swings in with Spellstutter, garnering two counters. Thankfully, the top of my deck yields Jitte(!!!) and I legend rule the shit out of his, then lay Lavamancer. From here it's elementary as my Nacatl and Goyf smash his silly little 1/1 and 1/2 into dust under their lionly paws.

2-0, 4-1

The dust having settled from round 2, I shake hands with Allen (It was really weird playing against my own deck, especially when I designed that deck to be good in this matchup. This was the first time I'd done it. Me knowing how to play against it was definitely important, because otherwise I would have gotten blown out by Spellstutter about, say, 8 times throughout the match?)


R3:Ryan Parsley playing Countertopthop
Ryan is playing my friend Matt's (tammit67) Thopters list, so I know his 75. I know that Game one is good for me, while before game 2 he brings in 3 Finks and 4 Paths. Yikes. I wish myself luck and we begin!
I win the roll and he mulligans. I open on Nacatl, Pridemage, Goyf, burn spells. He hits his plows and a counterspell for the Goyf, but I land lavamancer and then burn him out.
-2 KoTR -2 Library -1 Path to Exile -1 Horizon Canopy -1 Tarmogoyf +3 Grip +2 Choke +2 REB
I board out the slower elements of my deck, a canopy because I don't need the extra land here, and leave in 3 paths because I know Matt's list brings in Kitchen Finks. If I was playing against anyone else with Thoptertop where I did not expect Finks g2, believe me, I'd happily side it out.
I open on Steppe Lynx but he has the plow. I land Nacatl, but he lands Jace and bounces it. I chain Jace and replay nacatl but it walks the lonely path. I chain him and get in once with Lynx before he answers it and lands CB. I attempt a lavamancer, but he has Enlightened Tutor for Top. I let a few turns go by while I sculpt my hand(AKA try to draw a spell to bait with so I can land Grip without fear), and he's not really doing anything. On the fourth turn of Draw-Go I pull the trigger with a Lightning Helix aimed at his head. He responds by using a Fetchland and I grip the CB. CB dies but he still shuffles and reveals Sword of the Meek to counter the Helix. I resolve Tarmogoyf, and he goes for EE at 2 and passes priority. Grip! Goyf gets in for 6, putting him to 8. I attempt Choke, but he has force of will. He lands Moat. I draw Grip. He lands Humility. I grip it and play Pridemage and blow up the Moat, but he has the plow for Goyf. I play Lavamancer. Also, Fireblast.

3-0, 6-1

It's 5 rounds top 8, so I can safely ID in at this point. I do so. JT also went 3-0 and IDs in. Caffrey (mchainmail) also IDs into top 8 with lands, boo. The three of us and Matt go to Taco Bell where me and Matt split a Grande Meal, then we Cube draft. I go UG and hit Survival+Fauna Shaman. SoLS also finds its way into my stack as a means of abusing Survival, which I happily accept. Unfortunately we only get to play one match of Cube before top 8 goes up, in which I smash Matt's BW deck... mostly due to having Great Sable Stag + SoLS. Of course, Body Double on turn 5 copying Kalonian Behemoth is pretty good.

Top 8:Ken Koepplinger(naarou) playing Team America
Ken used to play Reanimator up until the Mystical Tutor banning. He still has Reanimator, but recently built Team America as well, and it's been working pretty well for him apparently, as he was 3-0 in the swiss today. Ken's a good friend though, so we wish eachother luck and square off.
He wins the roll and opens on USea. I open on Nacatl, which gets Snuffed, but Ken misses his second land drop and discards a V. Clique. I land Goyf, which also gets Snuffed. He EEs a few of my guys, garnering a 2-for-1 on some one drops and then nailing a goyf. I land Cat, Chain him, and he lands Goyf. I run cat into it and then chain goyf before landing Pridemage who takes him to 1 and I have the burn spell.
-2 Steppe Lynx (He plays Stifle and I'm scared D: ) +2 Pyroblast
Choke doesn't seem worth it here as he has bayous and basics and junk and I really just don't wanna use a card on something as intangible as him not untapping since this matchup is kind of a war of attrition most of the time.
Game two I keep a hand with Taiga and Canopy but no plains. I go t1 Cat t2 Pridemage swing for 3, then rip the fetchland to get a plains. He uses some fetchlands and lands a 3/4 goyf which nacatl beats passed. He goes to 10 on a force of will on my Goyf, but I have a second. I swing all three of my critters into his Goyf+4 mana with a hand of Bolt, Path, Chain, Fireblast, Pyroblast, and a taiga, plateau, and canopy for mana. He blocks the Nacatl and smothers the goyf, making my attack kind of suck... A lot. I pass the turn, intending to EoT Bolt him(5), untap, Chain (2) Fireblast(-2). Unfortunately, once I pass the turn, he ponders, then casts Hymn to Tourach (!!!). I weigh my options. It's either pull the trigger now and try to put him on 1, or see what the fates have in store for me and hope to keep my fireblast and path. I decide to pull the trigger. Tap Taiga, Bolt him. (5) Float a Red from Plateau, sac both mountains, Fireblast. He Dispels. I Pyroblast Dispel. (1) Tap Canopy for Path on Goyf. Resolves. He has One untapped land, and cannot Snuff out without dying, meaning Pridemage gets there.

4-0-2, 8-1

My brother loses his quarterfinals match to Caffrey, meaning I have to face Lands instead of Bant Sur, which I'd be much more confident going up against. Of course I have to play the only lands player in the building, and I didn't bring PoP. Earlier in the tournament Caff asked if I was playing PoP because Parsley told him I wasn't (Damn you Parsley >:O ) and I implied I was ("Only a fool would play legacy without PoP.")

Top 4:Michael Caffrey playing Lands
I lose the roll. I keep a sketchy hand with basic mountain, Canopy, double Lavamancer, Triple R burn spell because I know I'm unlike to win game 1 anyway and this hand can at least mostly ignore Maze of Ith. Unfortunately his draw is nuts and involves Tabernacle turn 3, me not drawing any more land, and turn 4 Zuran Orb. I scoop.
-2 KoTR, -2 Library, -4 Path to Exile, -1 Tarmogoyf +3 Crypt, +1 Bojuka Bog, +3 Krosan Grip, +2 EE
Similar to my boarding strategy against Thopters, except here I just take out Path since I know he's not bringing in creatures.
Game two I keep 3 burn spells, Crypt, 3 land because I'm just frustrated and tired and know there's hardly any way I win this matchup without PoP. I spend a few turns burning him before he puts out Chasm. He takes 2 from it to go to 5, surprisingly, but then dredges Zuran Orb. The next turn he forgets to pay for Chasm. Unfortunately he has double maze of ith, so creatures are not getting there. At this point, I just need to draw two of 8 burn spells left in the deck or one of 3 lavamancers to kill him. He uses a fetchland, making the fireblasts into single-card outs. I draw a Helix, meaning the remaining ten burn/lavamancer spells are outs. 15 turns go by. I draw land after land after land after steppe lynx after land. He gets his factory beats on which kill me despite him being on 1. An incredibly frustrating way to end the day, but it happens.

4-1-2, 9-3.

All in all, a good day for Zoo. Caff went on to crush a merfolk player in the finals (Thank God too because the dude was a total douchenozzle. Two weeks ago at Cyborg One he was ranting about how Belcher was the perfect deck for Legacy because nobody was playing Blue anymore, and the GP had no Blue in it so Belcher should just rape everything. Today he was ranting about how everyone plays Blue, so he played Merfolk because it's good against blue and lord knows EVERYONE plays blue... I made fun of him saying this in a very loud voice, and he either didn't hear me (Which would mean he MUST be deaf) or pretended not to. Either way, guy's a douche.)

I get $20 Store Credit, test some more Zoo vs. Allen's Bant deck (which he changed up significantly after the tournament) and then go home.

Tomorrow... Tournament report for DREDGE!!! at Cyborg One on 8/21/10.

[Damnosus]

Congratulations on the finish. I am playing almost the same thing (different manabase/I am not sure whether to go with Steppe Lynx or Loam Lion), and it is pretty darn solid.

How often do you go to cyborg one (I do realize this wasn't where you were but yea)? Before I moved away I used to go there quite a bit. I am not sure if I ever saw you there, but I do remember enjoying myself (for the most part-there were a couple of guys...). Is the metagame still full of Belcher, and is there still that one guy who always played Landstill? Just curious as to how things have changed.

Cheers.

[naarou]

yeah, that merfolk player was a complete tool.

good games harry hopefully next time i'll make you work a little harder :)

ninja edit: two P's in my name btw

[hungryLIKEALION]

yeah, that merfolk player was a complete tool.

good games harry hopefully next time i'll make you work a little harder :)

ninja edit: two P's in my name btw

I thought there were, but your facebook said otherwise D:

Anyway, yeah, they were good games, and I look forward to our next match. :]

[hungryLIKEALION]

Congratulations on the finish. I am playing almost the same thing (different manabase/I am not sure whether to go with Steppe Lynx or Loam Lion), and it is pretty darn solid.

How often do you go to cyborg one (I do realize this wasn't where you were but yea)? Before I moved away I used to go there quite a bit. I am not sure if I ever saw you there, but I do remember enjoying myself (for the most part-there were a couple of guys...). Is the metagame still full of Belcher, and is there still that one guy who always played Landstill? Just curious as to how things have changed.

Cheers.

I've only been to Cyborg three times, and the first time was only like 2 months ago, so I probably never saw you. I'm probably going to be going there about once or twice a month for the forseeable future. There was one belcher player this most recent time, and no landstill that I saw.

[Damnosus]

OK thank goodness, I was so worried that the Landstill player might have been you, cause I really really disliked him. I have no idea if he still goes there, but if he does, please crush him for me (if you play him). He is a medium height short blonde haired skinny guy with a decent size nose if I recall.

[OldOD]

OK thank goodness, I was so worried that the Landstill player might have been you, cause I really really disliked him. I have no idea if he still goes there, but if he does, please crush him for me (if you play him). He is a medium height short blonde haired skinny guy with a decent size nose if I recall.

i believe thats josh putusuck. he is the shittiest person on the planet and an even worse magic player.

[Damnosus]

Awesome, someone else who feels the same way I do!!! He would totally ruin all the fun whenever I went. Thankfully I only played him twice (or at least that I can remember) and I am 1-1 against him. Crushed him the first time with sui black of all things (felt good), then lost with U/G/w countertop after his friend (also a jerk, though quieter so less obtrusive), looked at my hand and told Josh that there was no way that I could beat him (I believe that is cheating, but I was too tired at the time to say anything).

More on topic: hungryLIKEALION, as I asked before, if you ever play him, please make me proud by trouncing him!

[jrsthethird]

I've played against Landstill there a couple times, but not him. Sounds like a dick, I would love to trounce him while stuffing my face with a glorious sandwich from the adjacent deli.