[Report] Vial Birds top 8's at 1k Binghamton event

[TheBirdMan]

My list is an exact copy of Di's Survival list:

Land:20
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bayou
3 Savannah
3 Forest
2 Taiga

Non Land:40
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Thoughtseize
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Dark Confidant
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Nimble Mongoose
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Masticore
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Darkheart Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Eternal Witness
1 Anger
1 Genisis
1 Shriekmaw

SB:15
3 Krosan Grip
3 Extirpate
3 Engineered Plague
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Spike Feeder
1 Yixid Jailer
1 Vexing Shusher

Here's my matchup's I am sorry if i didn't get your source name I didnt start asking till round 4:

Round 1: Levi (Ramptoniin) playing Tombstone

Game 1
Not too much action here he swords one or two of my creatures but he mulled to 6 and didnt get a great draw and I got survival online early and win game 1
SB: -1 Masticore -1 Darkheart Sliver -1 Top +3 Extirpates

Game 2: I get wrecked pretty hard when he plays punishment for 2 and destroys goyf and survival and I never recover.

Game 3: This game is were my board choices were terrible, not only did I not play or need extirpates, I controlled the game decently with hand destruction and swords but with lethal damage on my board I died to a confidant when I was at 2 life and flipped confidant with no way to kill it with masticore or life gain with sliver, I beat myself here.

0-1

Round 2: Nick playing EPIC painter

Game 1
I win this game by eventually resolving goyf and confidant on board.

SB: -2 Top, -1 Quirion Ranger, -1 Confidant, -1 Masticore, -1 Shriekmaw
+ 3 Krosan Grip +3 Extirpate

Game 2 This game he gets a good draw and controls the game well swinging with Trinket Mage for a few turns then eventually grinding my library away.

Game 3 This was a great game for me, Turn 1 Birds, Turn 2 Thoughtseize Daze and cast Goyf, Turn 3 K grip servant and swing for 5, Turn 4 Play Goyf 2 and swing for 5, Turn 6 attack for 10. My opponent did see an unhealthy amount of land but a fun game for me nonetheless.

1-1

Round 3: Ben playing UG

Game one I keep a two land hand, get wastelanded only drawing one more land and drawing with anger, masticore and genisis in my hand which was awesome

SB: -1 Top, -1 Masticore, -1 Quirion Ranger, -1 Confidant + 3 Extirpate +1 Shusher

Game two: This is the game I shouldn't have won, been knocked out and not made top 8, After failing to gain control the whole game i get put at one with nothing but survival on board and hes at 6. I return squee and draw mongoose. His mongoose and serendib is tapped and he has one card in hand and 2 mana idk if both were blue though. I cast goose he says ok, I dont think he has counter maybe a land at this point, I go for it and cast my goyf and he says ok, In my head I am like yesss, I say attack for 7 he says how? I respond with "Anger." He tops sees he has a fow on top shows me the counterspell in his hand and says I forgot about anger. Happy Times for me..

Game 3: This game goes well for me establishing an early Survival and only losing 3 points of life the whole game.

2-1

Round 4: David (Freakish777) with Aluren

Game 1
I Thoughtseize him turn 1 and he Fow's with an intuition so I think hes playing epic painter and then turn 2 he Plays wall of roots so i realize its aluren. I then rip a 2nd seize and take out his aluren and therapy the recruiter. He casted Aluren off the top and with no cards left in hand. I eot 2 Birds into play and my turn cast Survival get Anger and squee into yard and cast a free Harmonic winning the rest of the game with a pair of Goyfs

SB: -2 Top, - 3 Confidant, -1 Genisis, -1 Quirion Ranger, -1 Big Game Hunter
+2 Gaddock Teeg, +3 Krosan Grip, +3 Extirpate

Game 2 I get turn 2 Teeg on board and my opponent doesn't draw more than 2 lands so I win this game.

3-1

Round 5: Chris(Cwt1220) playing Imperial Painter
This matchup sucked because I had to play my friend I rode with and knew one of us wouldn't make t8

Game 1: He Resolves and Early Magus of the Moon but I got a basic forest turn 1 and a Birds of paradise and keep him off the combo with hand destruction. Tarmagoyf swings in for the win

SB: -1 Top, -1 Quirion Ranger, -1 Mongoose, -1 Big Game Hunter, -2 Confidant, +3 Krosan Grip, +3 Extirpate

Game 2: I take this game pretty easily since Chris mulliganed to 6 and had a pretty loose hand with multiple blasts but couldn't find a servant.

4-1

Round 6: ID
This was kinda risky since it was kind of sketchy if I would make it but I ended up 8th after round 6 and got to split the prize with everyone else.


Props:
-Di for a great Survival list
-Kyle M who drove me and played Stasis with 1 morphling as the only win condition and actually winning a round, also for only getting 2 warnings from Binghamton University Police
-Eli for another great event and finding enough stuff in my binder for 4 Fbb Bayou and 1 Fbb Taiga
-My 3rd round opponent for forgetting Anger
-The T8 splitting the prize

Slops:
-Having to play Chris round 5
-Chris for losing Round 6 by not playing Magus of the Moon when his opponent taps all 3 of his non basic lands
-Kyle M for not running Illusions/Donate in his Stasis Board
-Me sideboarding out the creatures that I need like always

[Deep6er]

I like how you boarded in Extirpate all day and it was never relevant enough for you to mention.

That's Extirpate for you folks. Fucking awful.

Anyway, congratulations on the Top 8.

Out of curiosity, have you tested other Survival builds and then just settled on Di's?

I think Dave Price's Survival list is pretty good, and I like certain aspects of it quite a bit more than in Di's list. Have you tested both?

[cwt1220]

Yeah it did suck that i had to play you round 5 but at least someone from our car made T8.......lol

-Chris-

[TheBirdMan]

Yea you are right, although round 3, game 3 I extirpated his Serendibs and then his Tarmogoyfs which was cool.

I tested a few lists and picked up his and just really felt it was solid, I've honestly never tried Price's list, I believe he runs Burning wish, I don't really like wishes although like I said I've never tested it.

[rsaunder]

Good job boys!

And nice work with the BBduals quack! Although it's sort of disappointing I'm no longer a unique snowflake

[Ramptoniin]

Our round one matchup was one of the best matches ive ever played in my life

Game one I shouldve Mulled again

Game two my deck did what it was supposed to

Game three....thank dark confidant

Its unfortunate I didnt top 8, Drawing 2nd round with my buddy I rode with was probably a poor choice, then face Ray with Counter slivers round 3 sucked BAD

Then facing Smelski round 5 was just horrible, dude who created my deck idea crushed me

This was a really fun tourney, and I cant wait for another once I change decks or revamp my current one

This tournament made me realize some of the weakness in Extirpate, as it often is a dead card in your hand waiting for the right card to target. When you do get it to work about 20% of the time it is fully devastating, like Extirpating thresholds tropical islands or something like that.

Seriously again though Jonathan, great matchup and it was a lot of fun to play against you - Levi

[psu42]

nice job, yeah i drew round 6 and thought i was in at 8th, but ended in 9th...i totally must have missed someone that could reach top8 points

good report and congrats

[AngryTroll]

Round 3: Ben playing UG

Game one I keep a two land hand, get wastelanded only drawing one more land and drawing with anger, masticore and genisis in my hand which was awesome

SB: -1 Top, -1 Masticore, -1 Quirion Ranger, -1 Confidant + 3 Extirpate +1 Shusher

Especially in a list with so few basics, why did you side out QRanger here?

Nice work on the Top 8, even if it was with Di's list. (just kidding) (mostly)

[quicksilver]

Especially in a list with so few basics, why did you side out QRanger here?

I did notice that every single match you sided out ranger for extirpate. Why not just run extirpate in the main and not run ranger at all? Ranger is best against decks with wasteland, so if you don't even like him then why run him at all?

[emidln]

Congrats on the top8!!!

(despite the fact that you were playing Taigas)

[TheBirdMan]

I was kinda hesitant about what to take out after boarding out every creature i needed round 1. I usually only use ranger with masticore and rofellos so I didnt think i would need it and didnt think about it with wasteland. On a side note I extirpated his wastes and he only ran 2 which was kinda wierd, at least to me.

[SkinLikeSkim]

Wow quack. For a second I thought you did it with that crazy birds deck for real.

[Peter_Rotten]

I like how you boarded in Extirpate all day and it was never relevant enough for you to mention.

That's Extirpate for you folks. Fucking awful.

Wow. We totally agree on something here.

[quicksilver]

Wow. We totally agree on something here.

Wait wait wait. This is something all of Virginia agrees on. This means you agree with Virginia! Hell has frozen over!

[AngryTroll]

Wait wait wait. This is something all of Virginia agrees on. This means you agree with Virginia!

Wait, I thought that was something that everyone agreed on? I mean, by the time Virginia figures something out, everyone else has already given lectures, written a book, and retired on the subject, right?

[nitewolf9]

Wait, I thought that was something that everyone agreed on? I mean, by the time Virginia figures something out, everyone else has already given lectures, written a book, and retired on the subject, right?

"Wrong." *gunshot

-John Matrix, "Commando"

[quicksilver]

Wait, I thought that was something that everyone agreed on? I mean, by the time Virginia figures something out, everyone else has already given lectures, written a book, and retired on the subject, right?

I was under the impression that everyone thought extirpate was the bees knees. After all tons of people run it. And we've always thought extirpate was bad, we are still waiting for everyone else to realize this.

[darkalucard]

Extirpate is not awful. What happens is people board it in against the wrong decks or play it in a decks sideboard where the deck cannot take advantage of extirpates long term effect.

• If you have a deck that could lose because you needed extirpate to be a removal spell then extirpate should not be in your deck.
  
• If you have a deck that is fast or has some tempo in it than you cannot take advantage enough of extirpate's long term effect and the card is not for your deck.

It does not fit in every deck. Test it in a deck it does fit in like Landstill or The Rock.

[Nightmare]

I agree with Virginia. Maybe hell really has frozen over.

[quicksilver]

Extirpate is not awful. What happens is people board it in against the wrong decks or play it in a decks sideboard where the deck cannot take advantage of extirpates long term effect.

• If you have a deck that could lose because you needed extirpate to be a removal spell then extirpate should not be in your deck.
  
• If you have a deck that is fast or has some tempo in it than you cannot take advantage enough of extirpate's long term effect and the card is not for your deck.

It does not fit in every deck. Test it in a deck it does fit in like Landstill or The Rock.

It is true that people board it in against the wrong decks and play it in a decks sideboard where the deck cannot take advantage of extirpates long term effect. Not only do I think the card is bad, but it incourages bad play descisions on top of that.

I don't even think it's good in a deck where you want to get long term advantage out of it. I think too often the card disadvantage of it makes you lose out in the short, and games where you expect to win in the long run, don't even get that far cause you wasted time and cards extirpating when you could have been effecting the board state.