Originally Posted by calosso
What is Team Calosso, you ask? Team Calosso was formed some time ago with the great Calosso Fuentes taking myself, GRAH, and Elventitz under his majestic wings. Our original name was Team Mongoloid, but GRAH was concerned about offending so we deferred to our fearless leader for a namesake.
Several months ago I asked The Guardian of The Source, "What should I play at The Mana Leak?" He sagely replied, "Red. But not Joblins. Only I can play Joblins, dumbass." So I began work on a non-Joblins Red deck. It took some time, but this is the awful pile I finally settled on.
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City Of Traitors
10 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Arc-Slogger
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Gathan Raiders
3 Sulfur Elemental
2 Rakdos Pit-Dragon
4 Chrome Mox
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Trinisphere
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Seething Song
2 Demonfire
Sideboard
4 Pyrokenisis
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Blood Moon
2 Icefall
1 Trinisphere
1 Sulfur Elemental
1 Rakdos Pit-Dragon
Unfortunately, Lord Calosso was unable to accompany us on our journey. It seems that his Day Two ratio at Grand Prix had dropped to an unaceptable level for a member of Team Calosso. Being an honorable man, he summarily kicked himself off the team, and promised to say a prayer for us.
The Hatfields along with Machinus, were kind enough to pick us up on their way to Stratford. Jesse and I enjoyed many hours of tormenting Chris with arguments over Semantics, Economics, and Pedophillia. We arrived at Ewokslayer's near Midnight, and were treated to The Sexy Rector Show. After consuming an entire bottle of Grey Goose, Mr. Rector regaled us into the wee hours with stories of how Threshold was the worst deck in the format, and how he could break Legacy with Faerie Stompy. Good Times.
The event site was spacious, and packed with video games and snacks to boot. Scouting was difficult, as without my mentor to guide me, I didn't understand what many of the cards I saw actually did. Also, since he was not there to assist, my memory of the following events is patchy. Please forgive me, as my puny intellect is nothing without the support of The Source Guardian.
Round One: Nick Schacter; U/R Phid
Game One: I open with a first turn Magus, but as it turns out, Nick is running only four non-basics. And Mountains. I get in with a Radiers sans Hellbent once before he is bolted. With his countering most of my threats, I have to cast SSG to block his Ophidian. Unfortunately for him, my next two plays were a Jitte, and an Arc-Slogger that finished him.
Game Two: Nick Forces my first turn Trinisphere on the draw, and proceeds to burn, or counter every threat I have. My only mana sources were two Tombs and a Mox, so my life dwindles quickly. Finally, I cast an Arc-Slogger. Nick sighs, looks at the four cards in his hand, and allows it to resolve. "Wait!", he says, noticing I had yet again tapped the Tomb to cast him. "You're at six?" Umm..yep. "Fire you, Fire you, Fire you." Mise well.
Game Three: Again, Nick burns my smaller threats, and counters the larger. I do land a SoFI, though, which is somewhat decent against a U/R deck. After exhausting his hand, I land a Pit-Dragon. He has one turn to draw a burn spell before the Dragon gets in for sixteen.
1-0; 2-1
Round Two:Joseph Bernier; Affinity
Game One: I open with an awful first turn Chalice, having no idea what I am facing. He luckily has no first turn play, so I follow it with a Magus to narrow his options. After seeing a Frogmite, I land a third turn Trinisphere, and this slows him down enough that I can get in with Pit-Dragon after Demonfire clears out a 'Thopter.
Game Two: I keep a creature heavy hand, but cannot keep up with the two Frogs, one Enforcer, two Ravager beats.
Game Three: He lands a first turn Disciple, second turn Top. I get the third turn Trini to slow him down, but he eventually gets a pair of Workers and a Ravager. With me at ten, with Magus and a SoFI equipped Pit Dragon that had killed his Disciple, he swings in. I block the worker with Plating, and roll the dice. He has nine damage on the table and does to flip/sac Top trick, but doesn't find an artifact in the top three. Dragon finishes him off.
2-0; 4-2
Round Three: Bryant Cook; TES
To quote David Gearhart.....
"Game One:Game 1: HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA. God, I'm so fucking unbelievably awesome at magic. Dear Jesus, do I beat the shit out of him game 1. He tries to do shit and I don't care, blah, blah, blah."
Acutally, it was more like first turn Magus, second turn Chalice for one, third turn Chalice for two. Then a Trinisphere later on. He did Spree the Trini and a Chalice away, but still coudn't go off due to Magus.
Game Two: I open a hand with no Red mana. But I have first turn Tomb, Chalice for one. Second turn Tomb, Chalice for two. Third turn City, Morph, Trinsphere. Fourth turn SSG and mana burn, pitch to unmorph, swing. Bryant draws, then scoops.
3-0; 6-2
Round Four: Brandon Lepage; 4C Thresh
Game One: I play second turn Chalice for one around Daze and it gets there. I basically stall him from there until I can assure a Dragon through countermagic, and swing for the win.
Game Two: Another hand with no Red mana, but I've optimized the deck to play through this. I take five on turn two to play a Trinisphere, then drop two unmorphed Raiders after a Mox the next turn. Brandon drops a 6/6 Enforcer, then passes the turn with a Red open. I have two cards in hand, and unfortunately for Brandon, he waits until my draw step to Bolt a Raiders. I pitch two, and cast Sulfur Elemental in response. If he had done it during upkeep, one would have died the moment I drew. Anyhoo, I swing in for ten, and he considers blocking until he finds the other benefit of Sulfur. :sadface: Whatever he draws can't deal with another 13 damage coming at him, and he concedes.
4-0; 8-2
Round Five: Rich Meyst; 3C Zoo
ID
Round Six: Brian Ewokslayer; Survival
ID
Quarterfinal: Jeff Folinus; 3C Goblins
Game One: I win the roll, and drop first turn Slogger. Jeff plays optimally as usual, but without mistakes on my part, there is little Goblins can do to keep up.
Game Two: I stupidly keep a hand of Mox, Magus, Mountain, Slogger, 3X Pyrokenisis. I do get a second turn Jitte which allows my Mox to dode a Tin-Street long enough for me to cast a couple of creatures, but Jeff's triple Ringleaders beat out my trip 'Kenisis, and he rolls me after rebuilding for a turn or two.
Game Three: I mull a decent hand on the play. Sigh...what can I say. You really want either a first turn Jitte, SoFI, or Slogger against Goblins. The matchup is still good otherwise, but they usually can't recover from these. Sorry, Jeff; I got the turn one Slogger again, and it goes much like game one.
Semifinal: Rich Meyst; 3C Zoo
Game One: I don't remember may plays, but Rich's were Kird Ape, Watchwolf, Watchwolf, Bolt, Helix, Helix. I lost badly.
Game Two: I mull into a first turn Chalice for one. I follow it up with a Raiders who trades, then a Slogger. He mistakenly doesn't block my second attack with Slogger, and I take him down from eight afterwards with the help of an SSG, and milling forty of the forty-three cards left in my library.
Game Three: Rich had to mull to five on the play. I waited two turns to drop a Magus so that I could protect it with Chalice for one. He didn't drop his second land until then, so all of his burn was shut off, and the only creature he could cast was Kird Ape since he runs no basics. It was bad luck on Rich's part.
Final: Ewokslayer, again
ID
The tournament was a lot of fun I met some ultra-cool people, and won a nice prize.
Props:
The Hatfields for facilitating both my ride and housing. And for a lot of good advice. I love you guys.
Machinus for splitting Day Two with Ewokslayer using a quite new Threshold build. And for beating Folinus playing Goblins with it. Jeff is cool as can be, and is amazing with Goblins, so that win shows tremendous skill.
Ray for his amazing tournament, attitude, and sick prize support for a sub-par tournout.
My opponents for all being very friendly and sporting.
Zach Tartell for trading for cards to make my awful deck, and having me sign them. You are a silly guy, Zach.
And a super-extra huge thank you to Brian. First, he puts all of us up for the night. Then, he wins both freakin' days of the tournament. I kind of wish that he didn't have a life,(wife, job, etc.) so he could play more often. He was that dominant. Our draw in the Swiss made sense, as he had the highest tiebreaks. But aside from fatigue, he had no reason to split in the finals. I have little doubt that outside of some serious bad luck, he would have crushed me as he did the rest of his opponents this weekend. Sincerely. Thanks, man.
~ Team Unicorn Motto
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