[Primer] R/G Lands

[Croprot]

Ok guys here is my report from eternal weekend, but first some preliminary stuff. I walked into the event knowing that it was going to be large and there were going to be a variety of decks, in fact i drove down with a painter player (thank god i didnt see him or any of his ilk during this event) and felt fairly good about my chances given my choices to keep ghost quarter in the main, the ashen riders in the board for omni tell, as well as a zuran orb in the main to fend of the pesky burn players (which i didnt see all day, they must have known what i was up to). my final record was 9-2 and i lost my top 8 position to another lands player by 4% breaker points. so here it is round by round.

ROUND 1 Jeff Racan on OMNI TELL
I knew this deck was going to be here, its popular, linear, and very very strong. i lose game 1 as i should. i dont have a turn 2 kill and he opens with only islands into the show and tell. game 2 i rip into a hand that is a turn 2 choke and tabernacle and it sticks. he scoops a few turns later after a put a rishadan port on the field. Game 3 my opponent mulls to 5 and i go turn 2 trinisphere into the crop rotation for the 20/20. He scoops. RESULT 2-1 WIN

ROUND 2 Harry Corvese on SHARDLESS BUG
This was sweet sweet revenge after losing to this deck at the open in DC. game 2 i turn two a 20/20 and he scoops on the spot. Game 2 he mulls to 5 and i open up with a trinisphere on turn 3 off of taiga forest thespian stage which goes uncountered and drop the dark depths on turn 4. he scoops and my blood oath against shardless bug goes fulfilled. RESULT 2-0 WIN

ROUND 3 Brad Neikowski on RUG DELVER
Pretty typical round 3. i rip him in half with a turn 2 20/20 and he scoops game 1. Game 2 he puts 2 goose in play and gets them threshold very fast and i die quickly. Game 3 i assemble maze of ith punishing fire lock for his delvers and goyfs he has out and then i rip a dark depths off the top of my deck to end the game with the crop rotation in my hand. RESULT 2-1 WIN

ROUND 4 Devin Reilly on MIRACLES
This was the big bad slow game that i didnt want to play early on in the day. While the match is in my favor i dont want to spend my mental capital in an 11 round event this early. To add to this we get deck checked before we start which makes me think about did i register everything correctly. Game 1 he opens up with island into ponder and i put in land exploration which resolves into fetch. he lays down a plains which makes me sink in my chair as i have the dark depths thespian stage in hand and im dead sure he has a swords in his. i put the dark depths thespian stage in play to put him on tilt. he puts karakas into play which i meet with wasteland. 2 turns later he has top but no counter balance. i fish up a ghost quarter with crop rotation on his second main phase and eat his plains. he in response floats a white and gets an island with the ghost quarter search. he uses the island to top and then we go to his end step and i make a 20/20 and kill him the next turn. Game 2 was something out of a fairy tale for me. He puts counter balance up on turn to and for 11 turns doesnt flip a 2 cmc to respond to my punishing fires that i am using 1-2 times a turn. he finally finds a top and i k grip his balance in response. He had to swords his own snapcaster to stay alive an extra turn to try and dig farther into his deck. RESULT 2-0 WIN

ROUND 5 Alex Cadieux on MONO BLUE OMNI TELL
Whats worse than an omni tell player? An omni tell player who plays lotus petal and turn 1 kills me on game one. Alex wins the die roll and has git probe on turn 1, sees im on lands and goes land, petal, petal, S&T omniscience, enter the infinite, C wish, release the ants. I feel like im on the wrong end of a Mike Tyson fight after game one. Game 2 i almost had him, i had sphere of resistance and trinisphere in play he cast S&T for 4 mana and i didnt have an ashen rider to put into play. he drops omniscience and casts emrakul for 3 mana. i talked with him afterwards and it turns out there is a lands player he tests with and he has played this matchup quite a lot. I am demoralized but not dead and i tread on to round 6. RESULT 0-2 LOSS

ROUND 6 Mattew Long on U/R DELVER
Game 1 was very close he had me at 6 life and had 3 delver of secrets up and flipped and i had a 20/20. he swings putting me to 3 becuase i have a maze of ith. i dredged my loam at EOT with thicket and flipped another, off of that. my turn i dredge and get a punishing fire, kill his untapped maze delver and punch him for 20. Game 2 i turn 2 him and we go on to round 7. RESULT 2-0 WIN

ROUND 7 Louis Neiman on RUG DELVER
Im going to preface this round report with my own personal comments on it. I played against a very skilled and very technical player and the way in which i won this round should not make anyone think otherwise. Louis at any given point in the round had a very large amount of control of the game and was able to put significant pressure on me very early all three games we played. Game 1 he gets goose online very fast and rides it to victory. i was prepared for any other creature and 3 punishing fires in yard and 2 maze in play. Game 2 i have tabernacle in play and an active loam and exploration. i have a very technical turn with using thicket to bring back a loam to save it from a surgical on my upkeep. then i draw a second loam. i cast the first loam and it is countered. i cast a second and louis brainstorms and it eventually resolves. i dredge off thicket and cast a third loam on my turn and i got to his turn. on his turn he untaps with 2 goose online and two flipped delvers. he says "draw for turn" and i say "sure." he draws his cards and point out that the tabernacle wipes his board. he calls a judge over to clarify that i don't have to announce the triggers as he knows how tabernacle works but was unsure if i had to announce the triggers or not. I get a 20/20 on board a few turns later and he scoops. Game 3 he assembles an armada of goyf x2, insect aberation x2, and online goos x2 and plenty of lands to pay for the tabernacle i have on board. i am at 5 and playing tricks with my thespian stage and glacial chasm to try and stabalize. i go to 3 by paying the upkeep of chasm so i can assemble a 20/20 and try and get something going. This was the only game i saw my zuran orb and it was dredged into the yard. after i make a 20/20 i continue to play tricks with the thespian stages and chasm. at the end of one of my turns with less than 6 minutes left in round he asks me if the thespian stage i have out is a glacial chasm. i confirm that my only thespian stage on board is a glacial chasm as i sack the real one during upkeep after making a copy. He looks at his hand and untaps and draws for turn. i announced that he has missed his tabernacle triggers and i kill him the next turn with my 20/20. This was a grueling game for me and it showcased how uncertain our delver match up can be post board. RESULT 2-1 WIN

ROUND 8 Ed Demicco on GRIXIS DELVER
Game 1 i put a 20/20 on board and swing for the win. Game 2 i had the worst draws of my life. 6 turns. no lands. and nothing but a sphere of resistance and mox diamond draws. he surgicals my punishing fire in response to me trying to bring it back to my hand and kills me with delver. Game 3 he assembles 2 deathrites and 2 flipped delvers in the first 4 turns. i cannot compete with it and i lose. RESULT 1-2 LOSS

ROUND 9 Andy Markiton on MUD
I recognize andy from some of the vintage events that i go to (i play dredge in vintage, what a surprise) and he recognizes me. i am fairly demoralized from round 8 and i take some deep breaths to calm myself down. Andy is on the play game 1 and leads with cavern of souls naming construct. i look down at my hand and it is mox, mox, waste, waste, forest, exploration, loam. Game one ends after i demonstrate wasteland lock for 3 turns. game 2 begins with ancient tomb and chalice on 1. this is a little annoying but my hand is mox, tabernacle, port, loam, stage, depths, waste. we replay game 1 and my spirits are lifted again. RESULT 2-0 WIN

ROUND 10 Jun Yin Loke on OMNI TELL
Ive been playing magic for about 17 years. in that time ive seen some decks with almost all foils and then some beta or alpha to fill in the blanks. This was the first time ive seen a deck in all foils in an eternal format. every single card. judge promo when available and the glare from the lights actually made me think some cards were others. Game 1 i lose because i cant interact with him at all. Game 2 he goes S&T and i put down trinisphere. i follow with krosan grip on his omniscience on that same turn. on my turn i draw into ashen rider and cant help but smile. we do draw go for 2 turns because im sand bagging the ashen rider in my hand and i cant find a crop rotation to make the stage in play a 20/20. i also am porting him and wasting when appropriate because i also have a choke he knows about. he goes S&T again and i put in ashen rider. by this point he was at 14 and was on only 5 lands. he was aggressively fetching and probing throughout the game as he should be. he puts in omniscience and it gets RFG after he realizes he doesnt have the mana to do anything through the trini because of the porting and wasting. i go to my turn put him to 9 and then play the choke which he cant counter as he only has 2 mana up. Game 3 i land a trinisphere and sphere of resistance. he is stuck on lands and eventually has 8 lands up one of them being boseiju. he show and tells emrakul on his turn and i put in the depths to make the 20/20. EOT i waste his boseiju bring him down to 7 lands. i go to crop rotation on my turn with the intention of getting karakas and he knows this. he has a choice to make cunning wish to get the wipe away for his next turn and let the emrakul go back to his hand and die or force the crop rotation and block with the eldrazi. he goes to block because otherwise he is dead. he needs to draw a land next turn to stabilize and doesnt get one. RESULT 2-1 WIN

ROUND 11 Das Anuraag on MIRACLES
This was the final round and my opponent leads game 1 with island and i am dreading that i am going against omni tell again. he plays ponder and passes. i open with mana bond, he forces pitching snapcaster. i dont think anyone has ever said this in real life but i think to my self "thank christ its miracles." he plays another island and passes. i gamble on my turn for another mana bond and pitch the loam into the yard that was in my hand. mana bond resolved into port, maze, karakas, thespian stage. two turns go by of me tapping him down and him missing land drops and he scoops and we go to game 2. Game 2 was the text book way we want a miracles game to go. he mulls to 4 and i keep a grip of 7 with loam, thicket, choke, crop rotation, taiga, exploration, stage. he goes island pass. i draw the depths of the top and decide to sand bag it until i have some real control over the game. my turn one epxloration resolves and i drop the stage. my opponent goes plains pass. on my next turn i rip grove off the top and decide to put loam in the yard to bait something out. he attempts to surgical and i thicket in response. next turn i drop choke on him and crop rotate my extra forest out for boseiju. i get to do some uninteractive loaming for a few turns while he misses every land drop except a volc that i wasteland, i have the depths in play by this point and im waiting for a port or ghost quarter to show up. he finally taps his island for a brainstorm and then plays top off of his plains and i make a 20/20 at the end of his turn. RESULT 2-0 WIN

Every card in my deck played like i wanted it to except zuran orb. that will most likely turn into another fetch land for the deck if not something else. i was finding myself to be on the lucky end of a lot of events during the day; people missing land drops, people misplaying, people not knowing what ashen rider was (answer: its the nut). if you guys got questions or comments, shoot.