Corbin Rudnick (the Belcher pilot) runs 4 Empty the Warrens and no Burning Wishes. Chances are, since Rudnick is new to MTG, his sideboard was 15 Islands (i.e. a joke).
i bombed out at that event but from what i heard from someone that played against his deck his sideboard was 15 islands. didnt see it myself mind you just second hand gossip.
im playing in philly and my playtest partner and i have been grinding some good testing the last couple of weeks. i havent settled on a deck right now but esper-Fae and Naya seem the best we have tested so far, turn 2 BB into turn 3 SFM is just so powerful....and the power level of cryptic and cliques is pretty good. tonight we plan to test G/W trap and Bant so i guess the jury is still out. if the tourney was tomorrow id have to say Naya im the most comfortable with it.
im going to play at PT Philly and im trying to figure out on paper what the best decks are so i can build a gauntlet not to mention im not even sure what im going to play yet. last extended season i started out with Jund and ended with R/G scapeshift..... since this tournament is prior to the october rotation last seasons decks should still be valid and the addition oh NPH and M12 to what was available. please feel free to offer advice this is the first really big event i have attended.
well i won our PTQ today running valakut. 5-1-1 in swiss then won out in top 8. 70 something players. forgive me for not having a great round to round reports but at some point the matches all blurred together and i didnt take notes. the deck i piloted is this
lands:
well to anyone else going.....ill see you in philly!
ps. my only loss on the day was to RDW great pilot and a nice guy ive played against him before. went to game 3 and kargan dragonlord was a beast against me!
ive played this deck since the bannings i took it to a 8 round tourney and finiahed 5-3 with my losses coming to kuldotha red,tempered steel,tempered steel.....as you can see there is a theme.....its tough to beat fast aggro decks with it. i had 3 creeping corrosions in my board that i brought in against tempered steel along with pyroclasms and still got owned by tempered steel+inkmoth......i went back to regular valakut and im loving it! played my regular valakut deck in a 8 rounder 2 weeks ago and ended 6-2 in 11th place out of 136 players....my only losses came in the mirror where i played mirror matches 3 times and only won one of them. additionaly if you lose your only island with the twinpeaks/valatwin deck and dont have cobras to generate your blue for exarch your locked out of the combo and i dont like that only 1 land in the whole 75 will let you combo out......just my 2 cents.
i got my tarnished citadels off ebay for around 5.00 for 3 of them.
traded for everything else.....now i just cant decide if i want to play normal dredge/ led dredge/ or manaless dredge....ugggh
tournament report from 7/23/2011 midwest masters series/tcg player qualifier.
136 people 8 round tournament. first off my decklist, and i know its a different build but i was expecting alot of aggro in my meta. also i left my sideboard at home on accident so the wierd board was due to no vendors being at the tournament and i wasnt able to find act of aggressions.
i was playing against a subpar list with an inexperienced pilot (no highborns, or blood ghasts, but he had maindeck black knights and hex parasites....
not really much to even say 2-0
1-0 in the tournament
round 2 B/R vamps
good list good player
game 1 he wasnt expecting maindeck sweepers he tapped out at the end of his turn when he had me at 5 life. i untapped drew and played pyroclasm clearing his board i killed him next turn.
game 2 he had to mulligan to 5 and never got more than two guys on the field before i had double titans out.
2-0 (viridian emissary was totally earning his spot against vamps)
2-0 in the tournament
round 3 valakut mirror
game 1 he was on the play mulled to 5 and still was able to pull off a turn 4 titan i was a turn behind the whole game.
game 2 i mulled to 5 and couldnt beat his double battlement start turn2 and 3 battlements....i was not really liking my emissary's at this point.
0-2
2-1 in tournament
round 4 U/W control (not the cawblade version)
game 1 he had a slow start i had a perfect opening hand he didnt counter emissary or simulacrum because i think he was playing around summoning trap. i got 2 emissary's and a sad robot down and started beating he day of judgemented giving me 2 more lands in play and a primeval off the top of the deck.
game 2 he mulled to 5 and i ramped like crazy turn 4 primeval that he mana leaked and i dropped 2 summoning traps on the table hitting another prime time and a inferno titan.
2-0
3-1 in the tournament
round 5 cawblade U/W (hero of bladehold is really bad if we cant draw an answer really quickly!)
game 1 he mulled to 6 and started slow playing out a couple of hawks he didnt see the pyroclasm coming game 1 and i caught a sad robot in the pyroclasm and drew the titan i was looking for.
game 2 i had to mulligan to 5 i was stuck on 2 lands untill turn 5 he dropped turn 4 hero of bladehold with a hawk already out and he smashed me in two turns.
game 3 i had double emissary he had just played a hero of bladehold i swung with both he blocked 1 after combat i cast pyroclasm killing my other guy and his hero bringing me up to 6 lands. i proceeceded to cast 2 primeval titans, inferno titan,and avenger of zendikar over the next 4 rounds and he countered them all eventually i played sad robot and when i swung he killed it i drew summoning trap and on my turn i drew obstinate baloth(only brought in to have more fatty's to hit with traps) i played ob's thinking he would let it go but he countered and i dropped summoning trap hitting primeval....very close game!
2-1 whew that was close
4-1 in the tourney
round 6 valakut mirror # 2
not much to say my build was not good in the mirror and not having acts in the board was horrible i got completely rolled
0-2
4-2 in the tourney
round 7 RUG/twin-pod
game one turn 3 pyroclasm wipes 2 cobras off the board and he never recovers
game 2 he caught me with a turn 4 twin combo (i wasnt even sure if he had the combo in his build after game 1)
game 3 i bring in natures claims and combust. he made a play mistake which cost him the match he had an acidic slime on board and he cast splintertwin on it i natures claimed it (knowing i was losing this game as he had a spell skite sitting on board) he grimaced and said well that sucked and drops the splinter twin in the graveyard....i breathe a sigh of relief and kill him next turn.
2-1
5-2 in the tournament
round 8 my 3rd valakut mirror of the day (and i knew the pilot and he was a very good player....not looking good at this point)
game 1 i won the die roll and got the perfect curve out dropping titan turn 4 and dropping a second prime time on turn 5
game 2 very close game he drops titan first but was behind on mountains i drop mine on my turn getting 4 triggers 2 to kill his titan and 2 on his battlement leaving him with only one green source. he double slagstorms my titan. we each draw for a couple of turns he drops urabrask i drop a titan and a acidic slime he drops a hasty titan and swings i was at 12 life he uses all of his activations to wipe my board and hits me for 10 leaving me at 2 and we both saw that he could have thrown it all to my face and killed me. i draw show him the GSZ he scoops.....wow that was crazy!
2-0 (finally got a mirror)
6-2 in the tournament.
i placed 11th out of 136 people i was happy with the day but i really wish i would have played some combination of battlements/ emissaries/ solemn's to give me a better chance in the mirror also the acts in my board were a must....next time i guess! theres a PTQ next weekend we will see how i fare in that one.
tournament report from 7/23/2011 midwest masters series/tcg player qualifier.
136 people 8 round tournament. first off my decklist, and i know its a different build but i was expecting alot of aggro in my meta. also i left my sideboard at home on accident so the wierd board was due to no vendors being at the tournament and i wasnt able to find act of aggressions.
i was playing against a subpar list with an inexperienced pilot (no highborns, or blood ghasts, but he had maindeck black knights and hex parasites....
not really much to even say 2-0
1-0 in the tournament
round 2 B/R vamps
good list good player
game 1 he wasnt expecting maindeck sweepers he tapped out at the end of his turn when he had me at 5 life. i untapped drew and played pyroclasm clearing his board i killed him next turn.
game 2 he had to mulligan to 5 and never got more than two guys on the field before i had double titans out.
2-0 (viridian emissary was totally earning his spot against vamps)
2-0 in the tournament
round 3 valakut mirror
game 1 he was on the play mulled to 5 and still was able to pull off a turn 4 titan i was a turn behind the whole game.
game 2 i mulled to 5 and couldnt beat his double battlement start turn2 and 3 battlements....i was not really liking my emissary's at this point.
0-2
2-1 in tournament
round 4 U/W control (not the cawblade version)
game 1 he had a slow start i had a perfect opening hand he didnt counter emissary or simulacrum because i think he was playing around summoning trap. i got 2 emissary's and a sad robot down and started beating he day of judgemented giving me 2 more lands in play and a primeval off the top of the deck.
game 2 he mulled to 5 and i ramped like crazy turn 4 primeval that he mana leaked and i dropped 2 summoning traps on the table hitting another prime time and a inferno titan.
2-0
3-1 in the tournament
round 5 cawblade U/W (hero of bladehold is really bad if we cant draw an answer really quickly!)
game 1 he mulled to 6 and started slow playing out a couple of hawks he didnt see the pyroclasm coming game 1 and i caught a sad robot in the pyroclasm and drew the titan i was looking for.
game 2 i had to mulligan to 5 i was stuck on 2 lands untill turn 5 he dropped turn 4 hero of bladehold with a hawk already out and he smashed me in two turns.
game 3 i had double emissary he had just played a hero of bladehold i swung with both he blocked 1 after combat i cast pyroclasm killing my other guy and his hero bringing me up to 6 lands. i proceeceded to cast 2 primeval titans, inferno titan,and avenger of zendikar over the next 4 rounds and he countered them all eventually i played sad robot and when i swung he killed it i drew summoning trap and on my turn i drew obstinate baloth(only brought in to have more fatty's to hit with traps) i played ob's thinking he would let it go but he countered and i dropped summoning trap hitting primeval....very close game!
2-1 whew that was close
4-1 in the tourney
round 6 valakut mirror # 2
not much to say my build was not good in the mirror and not having acts in the board was horrible i got completely rolled
0-2
4-2 in the tourney
round 7 RUG/twin-pod
game one turn 3 pyroclasm wipes 2 cobras off the board and he never recovers
game 2 he caught me with a turn 4 twin combo (i wasnt even sure if he had the combo in his build after game 1)
game 3 i bring in natures claims and combust. he made a play mistake which cost him the match he had an acidic slime on board and he cast splintertwin on it i natures claimed it (knowing i was losing this game as he had a spell skite sitting on board) he grimaced and said well that sucked and drops the splinter twin in the graveyard....i breathe a sigh of relief and kill him next turn.
2-1
5-2 in the tournament
round 8 my 3rd valakut mirror of the day (and i knew the pilot and he was a very good player....not looking good at this point)
game 1 i won the die roll and got the perfect curve out dropping titan turn 4 and dropping a second prime time on turn 5
game 2 very close game he drops titan first but was behind on mountains i drop mine on my turn getting 4 triggers 2 to kill his titan and 2 on his battlement leaving him with only one green source. he double slagstorms my titan. we each draw for a couple of turns he drops urabrask i drop a titan and a acidic slime he drops a hasty titan and swings i was at 12 life he uses all of his activations to wipe my board and hits me for 10 leaving me at 2 and we both saw that he could have thrown it all to my face and killed me. i draw show him the GSZ he scoops.....wow that was crazy!
2-0 (finally got a mirror)
6-2 in the tournament.
i placed 11th out of 136 people i was happy with the day but i really wish i would have played some combination of battlements/ emissaries/ solemn's to give me a better chance in the mirror also the acts in my board were a must....next time i guess! theres a PTQ next weekend we will see how i fare in that one.
@G/W infect. My name is SpellSkite, and I win. Or, GSZ into Melira, Sylvok Outcast One of those is also profitable to use vs Tezzeret and Twin. If you arn't winning with Valakut, you are doing something wrong, or playing against a demi-god of Kuldotha red.
ive beaten Kuldotha many times however when i played against it over the weekend i lost to it he had the nuts both games with a turn 4 kill game one and a turn 5 kill game 2 both games i was one turn behind from going off.
tap 5 lands float the mana devastating summons for 5 kick a goblin bushwhacker with a guide and a warchief already in play.....uggghhhh
i played in a 78 persone tournament over the weekend and i ended up going 4-3 my three losses were to tempered steel, kuldotha,tempered steel.....the tempered steel match up was horrible i brought in pyroclasms and creeping corrosions and still got poisoned out by ink moths against each player. i think i need shatters or natures claims in the board to even have a chance against that matchup. the loss to kuldotha ...well sometimes kuldotha just does that turn 4 kills both games....uggghhhh.
i bombed out at that event but from what i heard from someone that played against his deck his sideboard was 15 islands. didnt see it myself mind you just second hand gossip.
lands:
3 terramorphic expanse
3 evolving wilds
5 forest
12 mountain
creatures:
1 avenger of zendikar
1 urabrask, the hidden
2 inferno titan
4 overgrown battlement
4 solemn simulacrum
4 primeval titan
4 explore
4 harrow
4 rampant growth
3 slagstorm
2 green sun's zenith
4 nature's claim
3 summoning trap
3 creeping corrosion
3 act of agression
1 obstinate baloth
1 acidic slime
well to anyone else going.....ill see you in philly!
ps. my only loss on the day was to RDW great pilot and a nice guy ive played against him before. went to game 3 and kargan dragonlord was a beast against me!
traded for everything else.....now i just cant decide if i want to play normal dredge/ led dredge/ or manaless dredge....ugggh
136 people 8 round tournament. first off my decklist, and i know its a different build but i was expecting alot of aggro in my meta. also i left my sideboard at home on accident so the wierd board was due to no vendors being at the tournament and i wasnt able to find act of aggressions.
12 mountain
5 forest
3 terramorphic expanse
3 evolving wilds
4 valakut, the molten pinnacle
creatures:
4 primeval titan
2 inferno titan
1 avenger of zendikar
4 solemn simulacrum
4 viridian emissary
3 green sun's zenith
4 cultivate
4 rampant growth
4 explore
3 pyroclasm
2 obstinate baloth
4 summoning trap
2 acidic slime
3 nature's claim
2 creeping corrosion
2 combust
round 1 B/R vamps
i was playing against a subpar list with an inexperienced pilot (no highborns, or blood ghasts, but he had maindeck black knights and hex parasites....
not really much to even say 2-0
1-0 in the tournament
round 2 B/R vamps
good list good player
game 1 he wasnt expecting maindeck sweepers he tapped out at the end of his turn when he had me at 5 life. i untapped drew and played pyroclasm clearing his board i killed him next turn.
game 2 he had to mulligan to 5 and never got more than two guys on the field before i had double titans out.
2-0 (viridian emissary was totally earning his spot against vamps)
2-0 in the tournament
round 3 valakut mirror
game 1 he was on the play mulled to 5 and still was able to pull off a turn 4 titan i was a turn behind the whole game.
game 2 i mulled to 5 and couldnt beat his double battlement start turn2 and 3 battlements....i was not really liking my emissary's at this point.
0-2
2-1 in tournament
round 4 U/W control (not the cawblade version)
game 1 he had a slow start i had a perfect opening hand he didnt counter emissary or simulacrum because i think he was playing around summoning trap. i got 2 emissary's and a sad robot down and started beating he day of judgemented giving me 2 more lands in play and a primeval off the top of the deck.
game 2 he mulled to 5 and i ramped like crazy turn 4 primeval that he mana leaked and i dropped 2 summoning traps on the table hitting another prime time and a inferno titan.
2-0
3-1 in the tournament
round 5 cawblade U/W (hero of bladehold is really bad if we cant draw an answer really quickly!)
game 1 he mulled to 6 and started slow playing out a couple of hawks he didnt see the pyroclasm coming game 1 and i caught a sad robot in the pyroclasm and drew the titan i was looking for.
game 2 i had to mulligan to 5 i was stuck on 2 lands untill turn 5 he dropped turn 4 hero of bladehold with a hawk already out and he smashed me in two turns.
game 3 i had double emissary he had just played a hero of bladehold i swung with both he blocked 1 after combat i cast pyroclasm killing my other guy and his hero bringing me up to 6 lands. i proceeceded to cast 2 primeval titans, inferno titan,and avenger of zendikar over the next 4 rounds and he countered them all eventually i played sad robot and when i swung he killed it i drew summoning trap and on my turn i drew obstinate baloth(only brought in to have more fatty's to hit with traps) i played ob's thinking he would let it go but he countered and i dropped summoning trap hitting primeval....very close game!
2-1 whew that was close
4-1 in the tourney
round 6 valakut mirror # 2
not much to say my build was not good in the mirror and not having acts in the board was horrible i got completely rolled
0-2
4-2 in the tourney
round 7 RUG/twin-pod
game one turn 3 pyroclasm wipes 2 cobras off the board and he never recovers
game 2 he caught me with a turn 4 twin combo (i wasnt even sure if he had the combo in his build after game 1)
game 3 i bring in natures claims and combust. he made a play mistake which cost him the match he had an acidic slime on board and he cast splintertwin on it i natures claimed it (knowing i was losing this game as he had a spell skite sitting on board) he grimaced and said well that sucked and drops the splinter twin in the graveyard....i breathe a sigh of relief and kill him next turn.
2-1
5-2 in the tournament
round 8 my 3rd valakut mirror of the day (and i knew the pilot and he was a very good player....not looking good at this point)
game 1 i won the die roll and got the perfect curve out dropping titan turn 4 and dropping a second prime time on turn 5
game 2 very close game he drops titan first but was behind on mountains i drop mine on my turn getting 4 triggers 2 to kill his titan and 2 on his battlement leaving him with only one green source. he double slagstorms my titan. we each draw for a couple of turns he drops urabrask i drop a titan and a acidic slime he drops a hasty titan and swings i was at 12 life he uses all of his activations to wipe my board and hits me for 10 leaving me at 2 and we both saw that he could have thrown it all to my face and killed me. i draw show him the GSZ he scoops.....wow that was crazy!
2-0 (finally got a mirror)
6-2 in the tournament.
i placed 11th out of 136 people i was happy with the day but i really wish i would have played some combination of battlements/ emissaries/ solemn's to give me a better chance in the mirror also the acts in my board were a must....next time i guess! theres a PTQ next weekend we will see how i fare in that one.
136 people 8 round tournament. first off my decklist, and i know its a different build but i was expecting alot of aggro in my meta. also i left my sideboard at home on accident so the wierd board was due to no vendors being at the tournament and i wasnt able to find act of aggressions.
12 mountain
5 forest
3 terramorphic expanse
3 evolving wilds
4 valakut, the molten pinnacle
creatures:
4 primeval titan
2 inferno titan
1 avenger of zendikar
4 solemn simulacrum
4 viridian emissary
3 green sun's zenith
4 cultivate
4 rampant growth
4 explore
3 pyroclasm
2 obstinate baloth
4 summoning trap
2 acidic slime
3 nature's claim
2 creeping corrosion
2 combust
round 1 B/R vamps
i was playing against a subpar list with an inexperienced pilot (no highborns, or blood ghasts, but he had maindeck black knights and hex parasites....
not really much to even say 2-0
1-0 in the tournament
round 2 B/R vamps
good list good player
game 1 he wasnt expecting maindeck sweepers he tapped out at the end of his turn when he had me at 5 life. i untapped drew and played pyroclasm clearing his board i killed him next turn.
game 2 he had to mulligan to 5 and never got more than two guys on the field before i had double titans out.
2-0 (viridian emissary was totally earning his spot against vamps)
2-0 in the tournament
round 3 valakut mirror
game 1 he was on the play mulled to 5 and still was able to pull off a turn 4 titan i was a turn behind the whole game.
game 2 i mulled to 5 and couldnt beat his double battlement start turn2 and 3 battlements....i was not really liking my emissary's at this point.
0-2
2-1 in tournament
round 4 U/W control (not the cawblade version)
game 1 he had a slow start i had a perfect opening hand he didnt counter emissary or simulacrum because i think he was playing around summoning trap. i got 2 emissary's and a sad robot down and started beating he day of judgemented giving me 2 more lands in play and a primeval off the top of the deck.
game 2 he mulled to 5 and i ramped like crazy turn 4 primeval that he mana leaked and i dropped 2 summoning traps on the table hitting another prime time and a inferno titan.
2-0
3-1 in the tournament
round 5 cawblade U/W (hero of bladehold is really bad if we cant draw an answer really quickly!)
game 1 he mulled to 6 and started slow playing out a couple of hawks he didnt see the pyroclasm coming game 1 and i caught a sad robot in the pyroclasm and drew the titan i was looking for.
game 2 i had to mulligan to 5 i was stuck on 2 lands untill turn 5 he dropped turn 4 hero of bladehold with a hawk already out and he smashed me in two turns.
game 3 i had double emissary he had just played a hero of bladehold i swung with both he blocked 1 after combat i cast pyroclasm killing my other guy and his hero bringing me up to 6 lands. i proceeceded to cast 2 primeval titans, inferno titan,and avenger of zendikar over the next 4 rounds and he countered them all eventually i played sad robot and when i swung he killed it i drew summoning trap and on my turn i drew obstinate baloth(only brought in to have more fatty's to hit with traps) i played ob's thinking he would let it go but he countered and i dropped summoning trap hitting primeval....very close game!
2-1 whew that was close
4-1 in the tourney
round 6 valakut mirror # 2
not much to say my build was not good in the mirror and not having acts in the board was horrible i got completely rolled
0-2
4-2 in the tourney
round 7 RUG/twin-pod
game one turn 3 pyroclasm wipes 2 cobras off the board and he never recovers
game 2 he caught me with a turn 4 twin combo (i wasnt even sure if he had the combo in his build after game 1)
game 3 i bring in natures claims and combust. he made a play mistake which cost him the match he had an acidic slime on board and he cast splintertwin on it i natures claimed it (knowing i was losing this game as he had a spell skite sitting on board) he grimaced and said well that sucked and drops the splinter twin in the graveyard....i breathe a sigh of relief and kill him next turn.
2-1
5-2 in the tournament
round 8 my 3rd valakut mirror of the day (and i knew the pilot and he was a very good player....not looking good at this point)
game 1 i won the die roll and got the perfect curve out dropping titan turn 4 and dropping a second prime time on turn 5
game 2 very close game he drops titan first but was behind on mountains i drop mine on my turn getting 4 triggers 2 to kill his titan and 2 on his battlement leaving him with only one green source. he double slagstorms my titan. we each draw for a couple of turns he drops urabrask i drop a titan and a acidic slime he drops a hasty titan and swings i was at 12 life he uses all of his activations to wipe my board and hits me for 10 leaving me at 2 and we both saw that he could have thrown it all to my face and killed me. i draw show him the GSZ he scoops.....wow that was crazy!
2-0 (finally got a mirror)
6-2 in the tournament.
i placed 11th out of 136 people i was happy with the day but i really wish i would have played some combination of battlements/ emissaries/ solemn's to give me a better chance in the mirror also the acts in my board were a must....next time i guess! theres a PTQ next weekend we will see how i fare in that one.
ive beaten Kuldotha many times however when i played against it over the weekend i lost to it he had the nuts both games with a turn 4 kill game one and a turn 5 kill game 2 both games i was one turn behind from going off.
tap 5 lands float the mana devastating summons for 5 kick a goblin bushwhacker with a guide and a warchief already in play.....uggghhhh
from right to left inferno titan, valakut, primeval titan with text that reads "Valakut....24 to your face!"
4 drowned catacomb
4 darkslick shore
4 creeping tarpit
10 swamp
3 island
creatures:
4 phyrexian obliterator
2 abyssal persecutor
spells:
4 mana leak
2 cancel
2 negate (thinking maybe spell pierce instead)
4 go for the throat
2 dismember
4 inquisition of kozilek
2 despise
4 preordain
2 gitaxian probe
3 jace beleren
1 dismember
1 despise
3 flashfreeze
1 black suns zenith
1 life's finale
3 spellskite
1 abyssal persecutor
as always any constructive criticism is welcomed!