Why Wall of Blossoms Ain't That Pretty

Spending the day in the suburbs of Chicago was awesome, so much fun. If you haven't seen them already, the links to those two tournament reports are here (Becker's collection) and here (Becker's Forces and Mis-Ds). The second also has Ben Perry's updates on Belcher and my comments about them (they're really good!).

The ride back to Toledo from Chicago was fairly quick, but it was dark out and the CB radio was largely quiet. Kyle followed us in his car and gave us plenty of room as we wove through construction zones and darted across multiple lanes to get into the proper toll lanes.

We didn’t arrive in Ohio until after 2 a.m. allowing a desperate stop at McDonald’s for a burger.

The most interesting thing we heard was that black people aren’t out to hurt anyone, they’re just trying to live the American Dream too, like everyone else. Twaun and I could only hear one half of the conversation, but it sounded pretty heated. To cool things down a bit, Twaun picked up the transmitter and announced, “My idea of the Amer’can Dream… two chicks at one time.” Awesome.

All in all a fine trip, but exhausting. After a brief check of the Drain forums and Star City to see if there were any results (no), we all crashed until morning.

For getting in so late, though, we actually woke up pretty well and with lots of time to spare. The sun illuminating the curtains in Twaun’s den woke me up at nine and I was the first to shower and dress.

As Twaun and Kyle got themselves and their decks collected, I started working on making UB Fish into a contender in Michigan. I laid the deck out on a bench seat and watched a Scooby Doo cartoon.

4x Dark Confidant
4x Martyr of Frost
3x Ninja of the Deep Hours
3x Carnophage

4x Force of Will
4x Duress
4x Stifle
3x Null Rod
2x Extirpate
2x Echoing Truth
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk

1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Lotus Petal
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
4x Underground Sea
2x Island
2x Swamp
3x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
1x Bloodstained Mire

I liked the Carnophages so much that I decided to add another in place of an Extirpate. Then I added the two topdeck tutors in place of the Dazes. Honestly, I really like the look of this deck, and the tutors were never dead. I still think I have one too many lands, though, and I kind of want to get Dazes back in there despite the fact that I openly hate it.

Extirpates I cut back after a conversation I had about SS with Jamison (my fourth-round opponent in Chicago). He said that they had cut Extirpates back in the SS because it wasn’t useful in all matchups. I’m not sure about that, but it sounded reasonable enough to try.

Still, I looked at this pile before heading up to Michigan and was so, so happy. It just looked strong.

The sideboard changed too:

3x Planar Void
3x Arcane Laboratory
3x Energy Flux
3x Black Knight
2x Extirpate
1x Echoing Truth

What can I say? I just missed Martin Lawrence.

The plan was that once Twaun, Kyle and I were ready, we would stop at Twaun’s bank and head up to Michigan to meet the Cleveland crew at 11 a.m. for breakfast at Bob Evans. Unfortunately Nam called at 10 and said they were still in Sheffield Lake and wouldn’t make it on time. That was okay, though, as somehow during the morning we lost an hour and ended up leaving for RIW at 11 a.m. ourselves.

We called Geoff on the way to Twaun’s bank because his house was coincidentally nearby. He still denied his Magical side and refused to join us. His excuse: “I’m spending time with my fiancée.”

Whatever, nerd.

So we trucked it up to Michigan in good time and got cheeseburgers for breakfast at McDonald’s just as round one was scheduled to start. Of course, everyone knows that Magic tournaments don’t start on time, so we had plenty of room for error.

Plus, round one was mispaired initially thanks to some neglected entrants.

Everyone said their greetings and performed the traditional pre-tournament bantering rituals while the error was repaired (heh), and we entered the tournament with high hopes.

Round 1 – Mike – Ichorid

Okay, so the plan is that I lose game one then dominate in the sideboarded match with three Planar Voids and four Extirpates, right?

Mike was a nice guy, but he was one of those odd players who plays tight when they’re losing and is willing to joke around when they’re winning. Anyway, it looked like a decent list from what I saw. I still think versions of Ichorid with mana are better than versions without.

Anyway, in game one, I Stripped his Bazaar but he pulled another one off the top, lucky for him. This game was over right quick, though, as he attacked me with an Ichorid and Nether Shadow on his second turn, then Duressed me (which I Forced) and Therapied a second Force before Flashing back Dread Return on his third turn and destroying me.

Bad.

Black Knights, Extirpates, and Planar Voids come in.

Game two went really well. First, he straight up mulliganed four times before finding a Serum Powder, thus taking himself to three cards. I played a Land and a Mox Jet on my first turn, Stifling his first Bazaar activation and Vampiric Tutoring for Planar Void. That was essentially good game right there. I later Wasted and Extirpated his Bazaar because I didn’t want him digging out of it. Ninja and Carnophage finished him off.

Game three. Sigh. Game three. I dropped a Martyr of Frost and Wasted his first Bazaar, but it was too late. He was able to bring back enough Ashen Ghouls and Ichorid to put the pressure on me. I made a mistake though, Stifling his last Bazaar activation in hopes of drawing something good off of Ninja when I should have just Echoing Truthed his Ghouls. It might not have won the game, but it would have bought me more time than that Stifle did.

I was afraid of the Sutured Ghoul combo when I should have been more afraid of the 3/1 beaters on the board. My bad.

Round 2 – Twaun – Tog

Yeah, that’s right. I rode nine hours in a car with the guy to play him in Magic. Typical. Oh well, we all know Twaun he’s enthusiastic yet methodical and one of few remaining Tog experts. I knew this would be a tough matchup.

In game one, I opened with an untapped land, hoping to Stifle one of his Fetchlands when I should have just played Marty McFrost and commenced the beats instead. Twaun played around the Stifle. He did seem perturbed when I Duressed his Cunning Wish next turn, though. (Cunning Wish is Tog’s toolbox, so cutting those off cuts the deck off of a lot of utility). Next turn he played Lotus and Merchant Scroll to play Ancestral Recall through my Force of Will. Marty and Ninja commenced the beats as I Vampiric Tutored for an Ancestral of my own and played it. Unfortunately, Twaun was able to build his resources and drop Tog at three life to start taking out my dudes and win the game next turn at one life.

Honestly, I had no idea how to sideboard for this and pretty much went on instinct. I don’t even remember what I did. Hopefully I brought in Planar Voids, or I was an idiot.

Anyway, Twaun and I both have reputations as being slow players, but since he had drawn the first round and I had lost, I told him I would concede in game three if it came down to it. It wouldn’t. Sorry to spoil that one.

Game two was a game of inches except I didn’t have enough guys to go the distance. Twaun had plenty of, uh, Tog though. After an initial mistake in counting the damage in his graveyard, he knuckled down and hit me for just enough per turn that I couldn’t block or mount a counterattack. Lemme just say, Tog as a blocker is not half bad.

Oh well. Twaun played well all day and ended up one game out of the top eight. Not too shabby. I wish I could have helped his tiebreakers more, but it was a pleasure losing to him nonetheless.

Round 3 – Bruce – URB Long

Sometimes, combo is a miserable match. The match was over quickly, but Bruce seemed like a friendly, lucky bastard.

He won the die roll and I kept a really nice looking hand that, unfortunately, did not contain Force of Will. As such, he was able to play Mox Sapphire and Brainstorm into the Mox Jet that won him the game. Ritual, Ritual, Sol Ring, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, etc., etc.

Arcane Labs definitely came in for this match.

He scooped to the Lab I played on my second turn in game two. I guess Fish can combo too? Land, Mox, land, Lab for the win?

Game three was much more similar to the first game than the second, unfortunately for me. He played a land and a Mox Emerald to Time Walk. Then he Brainstormed into Wheel of Fortune and Lion’s Eye Diamond. That seemed pretty good. I pulled Force of Will off the Wheel, but he had the REB to answer it when I tried to counter his Grim Tutor. That was pretty much the end of the game.

Hard to quantify this one—I lost to turn one combo twice. Should I really mulligan into Force every time? Seems more like the odds were with my opponent than they were against me this match.

Round 4 – Dirty Hairy – Gifts

Yeah, not the rogue cop Dirty Hairy but the Canadian Magic player Dirty Hairy. This match was great because I think my deck completely baffled and scared him.

In game one, I opened with Martyr of Frost and Force his first turn play, though I don’t have it marked what it is. His first big threat was Tinker, which he ran directly into Martyr because he didn’t know exactly how Martyr worked. He was able to tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will, though, and finally Tinkered the Big Dumb Win Condition into play for the two-turn clock and the win.

Crap.

In the second game I again led with Martyr, but my opponent’s Ruby, Petal, Tolarian Academy, and Empty the Warrens for six seemed a lot stronger. Six little green guys might not be as quite as fast as one gigantic Darksteel Man, but an effective three-turn clock is nothing to sneeze at. I certainly didn’t. I died to it.

At the end he made me tell him what deck I was running and seemed a little disappointed to find out it was just UB Fish. Apparently he thought I had some huge scary combo in it that used Martyr of Frost.

For those of you keeping score at home, I went a stunning 0 and 4 on the day.

Oh and four.

Oh em gee.

I’ve never done that poorly before, and the only thing I can say is that I hope I never do again. My list looked so good for this one, but I guess it will take a little more testing than I gave it.

Who knows? Maybe it is time to switch to powered decks. How disappointing.

Though I came in 26th out of 30 players just because I didn’t drop, our loosely affiliated “team” did have some success. As I said, Twaun was a game away from Top 8, as was honorary Ohioan Kyle Guillemette, who played RG Beats. Actually, Jeff Blystone almost made the final rounds too, but that’s to be expected.

The big news was that Lorain’s own Adam Budweg split the Ancestral Recall prize packing Worldgorger Dragon combo. Huzzah! This after a grueling finals match with Control Slaver guru Brian DeMars.

So congratulations to Adam on a job well done and a hard fought victory.

Perhaps he’ll be able to repeat this domination of the eternal formats with placement in one of this weekend’s two Legacy tournaments?

First, Saturday, there’s a tournament in Sandusky for a playset of Force of Wills:

When:
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Registration starts at noon
Tournament starts at 1 pm

Where:
The Gamers Lounge
127 E. Market St.
Sandusky, OH 44870
(419) 621-0282

First Place gets a playset of Forces of Will!

Cost: $10 Sanctioned

Then, Sunday, in Columbus:

What:
Legacy tournament
Entry is $15

Where:
The Soldiery
4256 N. High St.
Columbus, Ohio 43214

When:
May 6, 2007

Prizes: Will be based upon attendance. Last time we gave away
1st: $200
2nd: $120
3rd:$60
4th:$20

Regardless of attendance, $200 is guaranteed to be given away, like last time.

Registration starts at 12:30. Tournament begins at 1pm sharp.
Tournament will probably run until around 8-9pm.

Swiss with cut to top 8 (unless low attendance, cut to top 4).

Sounds good, right? If you’re even considering going to both of them, I will highly recommend it. That means Diana’s on Saturday and Thurman’s on Sunday. So many insane platefuls!

My first deck in Legacy, the one I placed with I might add, was UWg Grow. I really don’t want to take that to more tournaments, though, because I’m already sick of it. I’m building something new. Something entirely theoretical, with lots of ways to demolish aggro.

And I want to use me some Lotus Petals, dangit!

Okay, maybe not, but it’s gonna be cool. You’ll see it, and I’ll see you there, at both.

Until then...