Team 0-2 drop strikes again! A Legacy PSA

[DeathwingZERO]

Ok, so here's my tournament "report". It's a whopping 2 of the 4 rounds, as I decided a 0-1-1 was just as good in a 12 person Top 4 prize payout as my esteemed "Team 0-2 Drop" namesake would be.

Counter-Top Thresh
by Bardo (modded slightly by me)

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Mental Note
3 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Spell Snare
3 Counterspell

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Mystic Enforcer

4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
2 Island
1 Forest

Sideboard
3 Hydroblast
3 Chill
3 Pithing Needle
2 Krosan Grip
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Engineered Explosives

First off, a couple lessons.

1- Never agree to go to a tournament and then on FRIDAY turn your sleep schedule so upside down that you end up waking up at 9pm on Saturday, and decide to stay up rather than attempt a nap, risking not waking to the alarm. I might as well have just taken a couple bong rips, a few energy drinks mixed with some liquor, and maybe a drop of acid or two, just to make it a complete and total circus on my part.

2- If your going to play a deck that you've never tested, and only slightly remember what sideboarding means, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD REMEMBER WHY CARDS ARE IN YOUR SIDEBOARD. Me, I forgot this. Chalk it up to playing far too many casual games on MTGO and the local card shop, I neglect the fact there's a second and third game at times.

3- Remember things. This will be explained later, as I lost my second match JUST to this problem. I made the mistake of taking an article to heart about sticking the game out when you still have options, and then forgetting my options weren't as good as theirs.

Match 1: vs Pinder (4c Cheatyslivers)

Crystalline is an auto-counter. Wait, no it's not. Why? AEther Vial = best form of creature protection, EVAR. Putting in uncounterable, untargetable 2/2's that just get huge after their +1/+1 brethren hit the table, and suddenly that lone Goyf and Nimble Mongoose looks pretty terrible.

The funny thing about this, I never bothered siding in cards. Now, let me remind you what the deck does. It drops a turn 1 Vial, and then sets it to 2. After that, good luck EVER doing any sort of useful removal (re: targeted), and random things like board sweepers aren't a Thresh staple. So what does one do against this?

I should refer to my sideboard, a near direct rip from Bardo's, with one exception: I packed both EE's in the SB, because of a lack of Counterbalance on my behalf, thus using Counterspells in their place.

Sideboard:
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Crypt
2 Krosan Grip
3 Chill
3 Hydroblast
3 Pithing Needle

Ok, this is the real reason why it's a terrible, terrible thing to do what I did when I actually showed up to this tournament in a near mind-altering state. I NEVER sideboarded in more than the 2 EE's. I KNEW those would be set for 2 counters every time, as the crucial Slivers are in that range. Seemed like a good plan.

But something just never ticked. I PLAY THINGS THAT STOP VIAL. Whoops. Suddenly those Crystalline and steroid-induced beaters are a little less threatening when they have to fight through a counter war to hit the table, rather than just drop on in like uninvited relatives.

So yes, my complete neglect of the 5 EXTRA sideboard options that I should have taken in addition to EE's cost me that match, and I completely deserved it. But hey, at least I fought tooth and nail for that third game, and I gotta give Pinder credit for making the match in whole completely enjoyable, even when those little worms with hooks were gutting me while my goyfs were running around like migrant workers.

0-1 (with luck, I could still hit 4th with tiebreakers, so I continue)

Match 2: Zach? (forgot the name, forgive me for my psuedo-inebriated state) RGB "Burning Rock" (don't know the name, but this seems to fit)-

Game 1 goes according to plan. I start hitting with large Goyfs' and big Mongoose as soon as turn 3, and never looked back. A Deed hit, but I was already holding back enough to replenish as soon as it blew.

Game 2 was a complete and utter failure on my part as a player. Let me give you an idea of what WASN'T left in my deck by the time this match was over:

4 StP
4 Goyf
2 Enforcer
4 Mongoose
Lands
etc
etc
etc

I had 7 cards left in the deck by the time I just gave up to GigiddyPede and a Chainer's Edict vs my Goose and Enforcer. I know there were a number of mistakes, and again, I'm a sideboarding genius.

There's 1 card in his deck I feared, and rightly so: Pernicious Deed. Hm, an enchantment that has to activate in order to do something. This sounds very, very familiar to something that had just happened before, getting my ass handed to me by permanents that activate......Hey, why don't I NOT side in the same 5 cards I forgot to last time. That'd be SWELL.

Also, being a Rock variant, there is a pretty stable graveyard reliance with the Witnesses and Genesis Tricks, as well as the wishable Chainer's Edict flashbacks. So, while I'm on the topic of my amazing sideboarding plans, I shouldn't have to remind you all I play Crypts. But I kinda would have needed that reminder myself, as it was ANOTHER option I completely overlooked. I even went as far as to say in game 2 "I have no idea what to side in against you". Man, did that bite me in the ass.

Now, let me set you the scene in which I realized I had made a mistake in continuing (which was pretty obvious by the number of people whispering near our table, us being the last to finish). A very long, long time before that last Deed activation, he had wished for a Chainer's Edict. Now let me give you all some insight: I have played this card since it came out. My buddy and I both ran 4 in our MBC casual decks, and he still has them. In fact, I had played them the night before. So, I knew they had flashback, and would hit me later. What I hadn't planned on, was that "later" was nearing 40 minutes, and my constant decline in conscious thought. So I forgot, you wanna fight about it?

Long story short, Gigiddypede beats my face, and I want nothing more than to find the nearest brick wall and put myself through it.

Now here's the insult to injury. I scooped because we had a "5 minute warning", and he remembered the Edict. That warning was down to 3 minutes by the time the 3rd game started. We both want to get this done asap, not wanting to tie. So I quickly side in my Grip and Needles. Game starts with 2 minutes, and here's my opening hand:

2 Tropical Island
2 Nimble Mongoose
1 Goyf
2 Force of Will
1 Ponder
1 Flooded Strand

DEAR GOD GIVE ME TIME TO FINISH THIS!!!

We both keep. I go Trop, Goose, pass. He plays Forest, Bird, pass. I drop fetch, snag land, Ponder (seeing Mental Note, Goyf, and Top) draw Goyf, and drop Goose. Swing. Pass. He drops land, and tries for a blocker, which I Force. I draw into Mental Note, play it, and see random card. Fetch out Tundra, drop Goyf, and swing with 2 Mongoose, now threshed. He's currently at 13.

Here's the catch. Time was called. His play is game (turn 5). He's staring down a 3/3 Goose, a 3/3 Goose, and a 4/5 Goyf, with a Bird in play, and possible outs on my side (all I needed was an StP).

The moral here: REMEMBER THINGS. Had I been playing better, I would have scooped turns before I did. I had no creatures left, was completely relying on him forgetting the Edict as I did, and had no answers to Pede other than blocking with the Goose. Had I given myself the leisure of playing game 3 with a correct sideboard plan, more time, and maybe not being an idiot, I more than likely would have won the match. My sideboard options were strong, and cheap. My cantrip base was stable. My threats were fast. However, it all comes down to the pilot, and I just wasn't up to par.

0-1-1, and prime for drop candidacy.

Now, I'm going to say this. The deck is strong. While I, along with many other people, completely and utterly wish curses upon all of Wizards R&D for giving the world Goyf, I will sing praises as long as he continues dropping as a 4/5 for me. That's just silly. The rest of the deck (sans the Counterbalance, which actually would have been rather sub-par in these 2 matches) was working like clockwork, other than the times I just didn't hold fetches back so I could shuffle and Top into better draws. Again, the pilot makes the flight crash and burn.

So with that, I've given you all that want to be better players some insight, and hopefully you learn from some of the atrocious mistakes. I personally couldn't even recall all of them, these were just some that I knew caused me to lose, in addition to showing up in the first place XD


Props:

- Pinder and his buddy that came down from Seattle as said, and all the others who showed up. It was good to get some names associated with faces, and I look forward to seeing you all again.

- Myself, for being the idiot that actually showed up, against all better judgement. I might throw away $10 at a tournament just to scrub out, but at least I'm supporting a damn near dying breed out here in the NW, unlike some of the more prominent members here.....

-Chris for loaning me damn near half the deck on the spot, Goyfs included.

-Nick as well for spotting me the lone 4th Daze I was missing, thinking it was already there.

- Mike and the Batcave for actually giving a damn and hosting the tournaments on a steady bases, AND the awesome cash payout for first place.

- Thresh, for just being so damn classy. I will fully admit I still hate the deck, as it stands for all I oppose (I'm a combo enthusiast, after all), but still able to keep a top spot for a reason.

- Bardo, for spoiling a list that was much stronger than the one I had planned on bringing, and a good test in seeing if it would work

Slops:

- People with blue cards (myself included) not having Counterbalance. I really wanted to test the list as much as possible as it was, but alas I needed to replace with Counterspells. They did well, though, so I can't really complain that much.

- Myself, for being an idiot, the whole damn time.

- Myself again, for not playing something I was more familiar with. No clue wtf it would have been, but hey, Cephalid Breakfast would have even been 100% more my style, even without any practice or full knowledge of the deck. The fact that 2 TES decks showed and got 3rd and 4th is a pretty good indicator that combo can survive there as well.

- Northwest slackers. When even I, the one man "Team 0-2 Drop" can show up to a tournament (which rarely happens), none of the rest of you can have a good reason for not showing, short of a death in the family (and no, grandparents and pets don't count).

Bardo: bring your damn family along next time. At least then the kids can play some arcade games while you and your wife get sloshed across the parking lot in between rounds. Shame on you for not giving Thresh a top slot it deserved.

Zilla: Words cannot fathom the amount of rage I have fully knowing your one of the best players we've got, and you never show up. Screw you and your "life". You're a Magic player, yo!

Frogboy: I don't care what excuse you have. If you were in Seattle, you coulda come with Pinder. If you were in Portland, three of us that I know of could have gotten you. So if you miss the next one that I make, you can drown in a prairie, sir.

LinkXwing: Bullshit excuse about going out and doing important things, and he didn't even leave his house until 4pm to do them, all the while being a Dennys until 5am+ that said morning. Next time, he's getting his ass dragged out again, much like times before. Chris and I have both agreed on this.

Joe (dunno his source name): For not answering his damn phone. The guy has like 16 some Goyf's, multiple decks built at once, and constantly talks about tournaments. Then doesn't show. HATE.


With that said, this seems like a good time to conclude this PSA. May the rest of your tournament days not turn out like this one :D