Choose the deck based on consistancy, it usually isnt my cup of tea, I q'ed last year on eminent domain, and the year before that was tooth and nail. But the aggro deck just seemed to pull it out this time
I Q'd in Newark, DE on February 11th with Boros, an awful deck choice in a stifling control field. I managed to hit the Bye round 1 (I know, I'm a total sack) and outplay (read as: have an eight card board of Temp. Iso. and Honorable Passage for) Dragonstorm in round 2 despite his turn 2 game 1 win. Round three I played Zoo and lost in three games due to his ridiculous sideboard tech of Tamanoa. Yes, Tamanoa. Jesus freaking Christ. And of course I sided out my Chars because that speeds up their clock. When his Hammers become Helixes, you know you're about to lose. Especially with the whole "my creatures are outclassed by your creatures" aspect of the thing. Round 4 I beat a straight Panda list from Karsten's listings, but he (thank god) didn't see a Martyr game one and took a mull game 2, then drew seven, took a forced mull, and never saw a white source. He showed me a Martyr and three white cards in his hand to end the game. Ouch. Round five I drew into the T8 (30 person field) vs. GWU BlinkSnakeGlare w/ Teferi (he would've rolled me, but we had the best breakers).
Top 8:
Same Zoo deck as round 3. Game one takes FORFREAKINGEVER and I win. Yes, Boros beat Zoo in a protracted game. How? The best deck construction mishap ever. I was planning to run 3 Skyknight Legionnaire because they hit for 2 on turn 3, flew, and were drops in a curve that bumped a bit too hard at two for my liking. Problem was, I didn't have a third Legionnaire and couldn't find one. So, I had to find a singleton from the good ol' rare binder to put in as the sixtieth card. So what did I get?
Sunforger.
I lost game 2 after mulling on the draw, then he mulled on the draw and I had double Priest for the quick win game three. So, on to the semis. Before I get into that, a quick side story. I was 4-0 in the Rockville MSS (seven rounds), and proceeded to drop three straight in the last three rounds. The fifth round matchup? The eventual MSS winner, Dralnu du Louvre, against which I had an awful matchup and had done not nearly enough testing against. So, of course, I face SRDude (although I had yet to make the connection between the person and the MTGS persona) playing Dralnu in the semis. Game 1 is long. He wins that, obv. I win game 2 because my draw is fast. Yay for aggro. Game three, I managed to stick a turn 2 Knight of the Holy Nimbus. He gets in a few points, and SRDude drops a second Desert but is clearly manascrewed at 4 land and a missed land drop. I, however, am stuck on three land with double Seal, Char, and Solifuge in hand. I'm sandbagging for my tournament life here, so I swing with Knight and play nothing, since he obviously had the Rewind, having four mana up and missing the land drop. He double Deserts the Knight after taking two, going to 14. Oops. I tap the Knight and say "Regenerates" just a bit too smugly. He draws and passes the turn. I draw a card (Priest) and swing with Knight. He takes the damage to twelve. He then announces a post-combat Darkblast, then responds to his own spell by saying "Desert the Knight" to which I say "Sure. Knight regenerates" and put his Darkblast in his bin for him, again a bit too smugly. I play a postcombat Priest that gets countered. He untaps, draws, and announces a mainphase Teachings. I'm like "awesome, free Char for me", so I just say "sure." He gets Teferi. No surprise there. He hits his Dimir Aqueduct and passes, practically telling me that he has no counter except Rewind in hand. I untap and pause for a second. I take the top card off my library, placing it face down on the table, and slooooowly lift it up. Foil Unhinged Mountain. Mountainsolifugeswingforsixyou'reatsixgo. I won at that point. He couldn't Repeal the Solifuge, so even if he flashes in Teferi to block Solifuge, I still get Knight through and resolve Char for the last six. I show him as much, and he reaches out. I shake his hand, then mull over what a freaking lucksack I was. Still, I'm not complaining about being Q'd.
I'm playing R/G in the Northeast qualifiers for the next couple weeks, since another $500 in scholarship money plus a box is pretty cool in my book. Tron sees too much hate for me to want to play it.
Remember that with Lorwyn, they were going to break a fundamental rule. I think with the clues we got into FS and this little tidbit from TCG, it will be Planeswalkers. Also gatherer now references the planeswalker type. Why do it so early. If it isn't Planeswalkers, I will submit a video of me tearing up one of my moxes
I top 8'ed at San Antonio Texas
I played Boros in a field full of tron
Match 1
Me Vs. Chase
He was playing UW tron but he lost fast to my rusalka making fetters useless most of the time
2-0 (2-0)
Match 2
Me Vs. ???
This girl was playing fader and would have pushed it to game 3 without making a play mistake and forgetting nimbus had flanking.
2-0 (4-0)
Me Vs. ???
He is playing pickles and I win game one fast. Game 2 I can't get solifuge to resolve and he wins. Game 3 he gets the upper hand and i can't get it back.
2-1 (5-2)
Me Vs. Robert
He was playing scryb and force and he easily wins game one with a pig spectral. Game 2 I burn him and his creatures out. Game 3 I mulligan down to five and end up losing.
2-2 (6-4)
At this point I felt like I didn't have a chance but I played anyways.
Me Vs. ???
He is playing UG tron and he wins roll and I come out fast with Turn one Savannah Lion turn 2 Savannah Lion and beat him down. When he taps out for wrath he takes a char and other burn spells FTW. Game 2 he gets 2 sets of tron and no color I win.
I ended up 8th
Top 8
Round 1
Me Vs. Pickles guy
We slug it out to game 3 and i solifuge FTW
Round 2
Me Vs. 13 UW tron player
I get too fast he can't me out of fuel. I win
Round 3 (finals)
I win game one and then scoop the other 2
Here's my report, was going to submit this somewhere, but don't have the time.
Round One: Justin Bennet with Mono White Martyr (splashing red for Demonfire, Detrivore, Akroma, and Blood Moon).
Unfortunately I was paired against a brother of a good friend of mine from back in the day (Ian Bennet), and had been talking to him extensively before the tournament began. I saw parts of his deck earlier that indicated he was playing mono white, so I figured the match would be easy.
Game One:
I hit turn four Persecute for White on the play and he dumped his whole hand except a lone Demonfire. He then played Molten Slagheap and started to build up counters, but the ‘cute crippled him, and I killed him after I commandeered his Demonfire.
In: Two Persecute, Two Extirpate
Game Two: my draw was shaky with relatively few counters, but I felt like I could still win if I drew into anything of use, considering his deck was so slow. I Persecuted turn four again on white, but was stunned when he revealed a hand of Two Blood Moon, a Gauntlet of Power, and a Detrivore. My deck then coughed up nothing but a bunch of rune snags and I fell quickly to a 7/7 Vore.
Game Three: I hit the turn five Persecute and took Two Blood Moons, a Detrivore and a Demonfire, and things started to look good for me. However, my second black soon was destroyed and I was found looking for a second source while beating with Teferi. Things looked good until a large red Akroma hit my opponent’s side of the field, with me holding a grip of counters and double black cards. I had a rewind in hand as well as eight lands and seize the soul, so I knew that if he goofed and played another spell before he could kill me, then Akroma would sink faster then the Titanic. Unfortunately, my opponent did just that, and a couple of swings later I was on my way to victory.
Game Record: 2-1
Match Record: 1-0
Round 2: Brandon Wheat with UWR Tron
Second round was pretty rough, I played a against a young named Brandon 12 year old who played really well. He had gotten his unorthodox decklist from a buddy of mine Shaheen Soorani (Known for creating Blink Riders and making 9th at Worlds) and by the time I had won the die roll, I was still trying to figure out what was going on.
Game One: I started things off nicely, resolving Teferi after a single Remand, and then continued the beats until I resolved Persecute for red, getting two Demonfires and a Numot. My opponent then sent a Demonfire at Teferi for four in a last ditch effort, which got commandeered.
In: Two Persecute, Two Extirpate
Game Two: This game was a disaster. I got off the turn four Persecute again, naming red as I have always been told, and saw his grip of: 2x Draining Whelk, 2x Compulsive Research, 1x Tidings 1x Wrath of God, and 1x Muse Vessel. Yeah, didn’t win that game.
Game Three: My Opponent kept a two land hand with two tron pieces, but by the time he found a third land, I was bashing with Vampire and Teferi. Oh well, bad beats.
I ended up talking to Brandon and his father whom he attended with (as well as his younger brother and sister who didn’t play), and they were both really awesome guys. His Father started playing Magic after finding a new use for his money after quitting smoking and had turned it into a family activity since. Brandon, as I said before, was only 12, and almost had me. He ended up barely making top 8, edging out 6 other 3-2 players on breakers, and even though he lost in the semifinals, did an awesome job. Congrats again to Brandon, see you on the Pro Tour some day!
Games: 4-2
Matches: 2-0
I was feeling good being 2-0 in a 5 round tournament, after my last excursion at the MD JSS, where I started off 0-1-1 and ended up making top 8 at 8th place with a record of 5-1-1. I wasn’t thinking about winning the whole event, but just my next match. That’s where things got bad for me.
Round Three: Shawn Purnette with WB Fader
I am indeed terrible with names, but this guy’s name I can actually remember. His name was Sean, and as he sat down, we chatted for awhile, and then began playing.
Game one: This game was an absolute slaughter. I ran over him with counters and Teferi beats, I’m pretty sure I sudden death’d and blocked Phyrexian Totem as well, which was his only win condition that game.
Game Two: Ugh, what a nightmare. I started off really good, and went for the throat and played Teferi at EOT. I drew my card and noticed that I was lacking immediate counters, but I had the vampire beats in my hand ready to go. Unfortunately, my vampire was matched with his own, and I died fifteen turns later after not drawing a single sudden death or teachings, dying to fifteen separate church activations. When game two finally ended with me at zero, there were five minutes left and we just decided to call it a draw.
Games: 5-3-1
Matches: 2-0-1
Not bad, not bad. I was unnerved about losing such a game where I basically couldn’t draw anything to save me, but bad beats definitely happen.
Match Four: Brian Schneider with Dragonstorm
A little background info about my fourth round opponent: When I used to be really into the JSS circuit, I would always get paired up against a little kid named Brian, who was always accompanied by his father, who is a pretty cool guy. I always remember having the upper hand on this guy, and have known him for as long as I can remember. He’s a cool guy, and is well known for playing the deck.
Game One: I got blown out by ridiculous draws, I didn’t draw into any answers such as Teferi, Teachings, or Dranlu, and pretty much got blown out.
Game Two: I won this on the back of a turn four persecute (he sides out his remands and drowses for defense grids, and was pretty susceptible to this strategy), and won after a long stream of me killing dragons.
Game Three: I pretty much got god-drawn out, oh well, it happens.
Games: 6-5-1
Matches: 2-1-1
At this point I was starting to get nervous. I had driven four hours to get here and I might be going home with nothing? It had been two years since I had played on the JSS circuit after all, and I hadn’t tried to qualify since 2004. I picked my head up, however, when I figured I was paired up against my acquaintance Tim, piloting old school Angelfire. As we sat down to play, with both of us on the line for top 8, I could tell he was a bit pissed off that he had to play me. I was even more pissed off than he was when I found out we would have to repair, as the judges had seated an 0-3 at table one, and Brian, who sat at 4-0, at table 8. I got paired up with a very shaky and weird kid who was playing UR Sulfur-Tron, and was upset that I might be dispatched by such a goon. We shook hands and played, both knowing that this was it.
Game One: I started things off well, with a seize the soul that I played on my opponent’s Sulfur Elemental, and then went to town with everyone’s favorite brown and sandy Planeswalker, and soon won the game thereafter.
In: Two Persecute, Two Extirpate
Game Two: After all the garbage that had happened in my matches, this made up for it. My opponent was stuck on two tron lands, while I blasted every signet he tried to resolve. On my turn four, with him still without a colored mana, I Persecuted him for red and he showed me his grip of Blue card draw and counter. He remanded my Teferi once after finally finding a reef, but the second time I hit his other Remand with a Spell Snare. One Batman later, and I was finally off to top 8!
My opponent seemed like a cool guy after the match, and wished me luck in top 8.
The Top 8 standings and pairings were posted, and I was most likely going to be paired against Brian in the quarter-finals, which I was not looking forward to. But when the final standings went up, a miracle happened, which would ultimately sent me to JSS Nats!
Final standings after round 5:
1. Schneider, Brian (UR Dragonstorm)
2. Lynch, Christopher (GB Elves)
3. Dreylick, John ( RG Gruul Beats)
4. Cross, Joshua (No clue)
5. Dassler, Matt E (UG Kyoto-Tron)(Coolest name for a deck ever by the way)
6. Armstrong, Timothy M (URW Angelfire)
7. Berke, Andrew R (Me) (The best deck ever)
8. Wheat, Brandon (URW Tron)
I sat down for my top eight match, which began around seven, and realized that I had not eaten anything all day. I usually choke when it comes to top 8’s, but I had such a good match-up this time I felt like there was no way I could lose.
Boy was I wrong…
Wait, no I wasn’t.
Quarter Finals: Christopher Lynch playing GB Elves
Chris was a pretty quiet guy, so I broke the ice by asking how many years over 18 he actually was. We both laughed and my friends gathered around to watch my match, and we finally began.
Game One: Oh man was this a slaughter. He dropped nothing but an essence warden and a Llanowar Elf due to my countering of his turn three play, and I hit the big red button and Persecuted him on turn four. SEEMS GOOD. He did however make a decent comeback after playing a Phyrexian Arena as well as a Grave Shell Scarab, but Teferi and his bat made short work of the beetle.
In: two Persecute, three Deathmark, one Damnation, and one Extirpate
Game Two: This was a pretty easy one. I kept a three two land hand with Damnation, Rune Snag, double Remand, and Think Twice. My opponent kept a one lander and played two Llanowar Elves and Two Essences wardens, but seemed flustered that he could not find a black mana. I countered his Elves of Deep Shadow, and then repealed a Call of the Herd Token, before remanding the Flashback and finally finding my fourth land. I then Played Damnation as a four-for-one and then Persecuted his hand, naming Black, which was the right call apparently. He had all black cards in hand except for two Elvish Warriors, who died to a well-timed Seize the Soul. After I played a Teferi and a Batman, I showed him my grip which contained two Rewinds, two Damnations, and a Deathmark. After a turn or two more, he conceded.
I had gotten past the Quarterfinals! The only time I ever did this before I won the whole thing, so I was feeling Confident. These were the players remaining this round:
Schneider, Brian
Versus
Dassler, Matt E
Armstrong, Timothy M
Versus
Berke, Andrew R
This was it, I had a good matchup, and I felt confident. Just a quick rewind here, I had been wondering about the Angelfire/Dranlu matchup and had emailed Frank Karsten about a week prior to the tournament. To my surprise, he said that the match-up was about 50/50, but depended highly on skill. I knew I was skilled and had been playing my deck for a long time, so I felt good about my chances, even though I was nervous.
Game One: I started things off well, despite my hand being counter lights sans a rune snag, and ended up resolving Teferi after Remanding my opponents Court Hussar. Unfortunately for me, my opponent played Sacred Mesa next turn….
“Is it good?”
“Nope, I’m saving my counters for the good spells”
Ouch, I was facing down the worst possible card for me, with no Teachings in the yard or my grip. I drew my next card, and it yielded a Rewind. Teferi and the bat got in there after getting chumped by a flying horse, and I was getting frustrated. Fortunately I drew into a steady stream of counters and my opponent was unable to generate enough pegasi (pegasuses? pegi? whatever,) to stop my big black crew.
An interesting note is that I really did rip two Rewinds and Two Remands in a row. After I drew the second one in succession, my good friend John May started to burst out laughing. My opponent knew what was up and laughed too.”
“It only figures you would draw into things like that, you didn’t have a counter for six turns”
In: two Persecute, three Deathmark, one Damnation one Sudden Death, one Extirpate
Game two: This was a bad beat for sure. I resolved big poppa bats on turn six, but was getting wasted by a big Detrivore fast. I had Teferi and co on board, but my lands were getting crushed. I kept drawing into aqueducts as well, and couldn’t hold four land. I got my opponent down to four and was one combat step away from winning when a Hellkite came down and killed me. I was holding two Rewinds in hand, and was pretty sure I would have one had I one more land.
At this point, I started to get discouraged, but kept on going.
Game Three: I was on the play, and after a long deliberation, I decided to keep a two land hand with Spell Snare, Rune snags, a Rewind and some other goods. My opponent mulliganed which was nice, but I was pretty scared about my land situation. I went first up, and surely enough, didn’t his my third land. I was extremely flustered at this point and remember saying this:
“Well, have fun at champs man!”
It turns out that my opponent didn’t have a land either, and we both stalled for awhile, while I countered his signets. I hit lands three and four, and my opponent hit a Karoo the turn I hit land four, and then the game finally got good. I resolved a Teferi while my opponent was fumbling with Court Hussars and Compulsive Researches, and then dropped a batman. I was clearly winning here, with a grip full of counters and such, I felt my chances were totally stellar. I let a Lightning Angel through and then blew it out of the sky with Deathmark, while still holding a bunch of counters. My opponent then built up a lot of land, and was clearly trying to pull off a double wrath, but as he was plotting everything out, I was sculpting the perfect hand. When he finally played Wrath one, he passed and said go. I attacked and sent him down to one, and passed. When he drew his card, he started to think for awhile, until I revealed my hand of Rewind, Rune Snag, and Remand. With his 8 mana available, there was literally nothing he could do, and he extended his hand as all my friends started yelling and cheering like total morons.
Later on my opponent told me he kept a one land hand, and then ripped land, signet, signet, signet, land. Crazy stuff.
I'm Q'd for nats, which is good stuff. This was in Pourtsmouth, VA by the way.
Also, Ansset, you live pretty close to where I do, what store do you play at?
I won with UG Tron (Before it became big, my own janky list ;_;) In Michigan. First place. I played (if I remember correctly):
RWB Angel (Win)
Dragonstorm (Win)
Dralnu (Lose... Mull to 4 twice)
RG LD (KBBK) (Win)
Boros (Win)
-Draw into T8-
GBW good stuff (mainboard ghost quarters and extirpate is good against tron... but I luck sack)
UW Tron (targeted draw loses agains willbender...)
Dralnu (Love this matchup = D)
Hey, UKNaruto, I don't really play at stores a whole lot, as I have a pretty solid six man team that I just test and draft with. However, I play at Dream Wizards and plan on driving down to Portsmouth and over to Newark, DE after I get back from college in mid-May, but for now I'm rocking the northeast scene, which is nice because the MSSes up here are rarely more than five or six rounds. The one in Rockville was 127 people. Thank god, since two more would've been a nine round MSS. Not so good.
As for where you Q'd, that's amusing as anything, since a few of my friends went down there for a combined 7-8 (two 3-2s and a 1-4) playing Dragonstorm (audibling out of R/G, to my horror when he told me the field was full of Fader) to a 3-2, R/B to a 1-4, and 4color Blink (my own design, I have the list, but it's ridiculously playskill intensive) to a 3-2, but got manascrewed game 3 vs. Fader round 5 game 3 mulling to five and never saw a second land or a Birds. That deck should've taken it. My friend playing Storm lost to the G/B Elves, he was telling me how ridiculous that deck was. I'll have to tell him you took it down in the top 8.
Anyways, where do you play, coming from Reston? Do you have a test group or do you just get decks from Karsten?
For casual Friday night drafts, I tend to go to the Lucky Frog or just grab prize packs, throw some draft sets together, and draft with the team.
Remember that with Lorwyn, they were going to break a fundamental rule. I think with the clues we got into FS and this little tidbit from TCG, it will be Planeswalkers. Also gatherer now references the planeswalker type. Why do it so early. If it isn't Planeswalkers, I will submit a video of me tearing up one of my moxes
I top 8'ed at San Antonio Texas
I played Boros in a field full of tron
Match 1
Me Vs. Chase
He was playing UW tron but he lost fast to my rusalka making fetters useless most of the time
2-0 (2-0)
Match 2
Me Vs. ???
This girl was playing fader and would have pushed it to game 3 without making a play mistake and forgetting nimbus had flanking.
2-0 (4-0)
Me Vs. ???
He is playing pickles and I win game one fast. Game 2 I can't get solifuge to resolve and he wins. Game 3 he gets the upper hand and i can't get it back.
2-1 (5-2)
Me Vs. Robert
He was playing scryb and force and he easily wins game one with a pig spectral. Game 2 I burn him and his creatures out. Game 3 I mulligan down to five and end up losing.
2-2 (6-4)
At this point I felt like I didn't have a chance but I played anyways.
Me Vs. ???
He is playing UG tron and he wins roll and I come out fast with Turn one Savannah Lion turn 2 Savannah Lion and beat him down. When he taps out for wrath he takes a char and other burn spells FTW. Game 2 he gets 2 sets of tron and no color I win.
I ended up 8th
Top 8
Round 1
Me Vs. Pickles guy
We slug it out to game 3 and i solifuge FTW
Round 2
Me Vs. 13 UW tron player
I get too fast he can't me out of fuel. I win
Round 3 (finals)
I win game one and then scoop the other 2
i'm the robert that you played
our game three was pretty rowdy. You almost had me with the fast start.
This year I qualified in a side event at Grand Prix Dallas. My deck was fairly sketchy. You see, I didn't bring a Standard deck with me because I was afraid if I had one something subconsciously would have me not play as tight in the Grand Prix because my subconcious would feel as though I had something to fall back on if I lost. I had two byes off rating and had just won a PTQ the week prior so I felt pretty confident with Extended.
Anyways, I didn't make day two so, with only a few dual lands and a single Harmonize, I decided to make GBW Beach House control. Two hours later, between borrowing from people and buying singles from the dealers for exorbitant prices, I had made a jury rigged version of a deck I had no testing with. It worked out, I played in the JSS and won it without dropping a game.
Last year I won with Kyle Goodman's W/B aggro (Think Olivier Ruel's "Hand in Hand" deck he top eighted the pro tour) the week before pro tour Honolulu happened.
Two years ago I qualified with mono green aggro (also known as Beacon Green) before it was a well known archetype.
Three years ago I qualified with good old Mirrodin-Onslaught era U/W control, losing to my brother in the finals.
Hey, UKNaruto, I don't really play at stores a whole lot, as I have a pretty solid six man team that I just test and draft with. However, I play at Dream Wizards and plan on driving down to Portsmouth and over to Newark, DE after I get back from college in mid-May, but for now I'm rocking the northeast scene, which is nice because the MSSes up here are rarely more than five or six rounds. The one in Rockville was 127 people. Thank god, since two more would've been a nine round MSS. Not so good.
As for where you Q'd, that's amusing as anything, since a few of my friends went down there for a combined 7-8 (two 3-2s and a 1-4) playing Dragonstorm (audibling out of R/G, to my horror when he told me the field was full of Fader) to a 3-2, R/B to a 1-4, and 4color Blink (my own design, I have the list, but it's ridiculously playskill intensive) to a 3-2, but got manascrewed game 3 vs. Fader round 5 game 3 mulling to five and never saw a second land or a Birds. That deck should've taken it. My friend playing Storm lost to the G/B Elves, he was telling me how ridiculous that deck was. I'll have to tell him you took it down in the top 8.
Anyways, where do you play, coming from Reston? Do you have a test group or do you just get decks from Karsten?
For casual Friday night drafts, I tend to go to the Lucky Frog or just grab prize packs, throw some draft sets together, and draft with the team.
I draft/test at a store called Outpost Games in Gainesville. I'll be up at the MSS next weekend in MD just to hang out, I'll be sure to say hello.
Remember that with Lorwyn, they were going to break a fundamental rule. I think with the clues we got into FS and this little tidbit from TCG, it will be Planeswalkers. Also gatherer now references the planeswalker type. Why do it so early. If it isn't Planeswalkers, I will submit a video of me tearing up one of my moxes
I just Q'ed yesterday at a strangely small tournament in Brooklyn. IIRC, the Top 8 decks there were:
1 Gruul
2 Dragonstorm (Me)
3-4 Zoo
3-4 MGA
5-8 Dredge
5-8 Dralnu
5-8 UR Tron
5-8 UBG Fish
Funny thing was, there was only 8 people in the entire tourney.
Game 1: I draw a pretty bad hand that gets even worse after double stupor and Dimir Cutpurse beats. I eventually find a Hellkite and hardcast it, wiping out his whole board, and find another one after a Sleight of Hand and he scoops.
Game 2: I keep a turn 4 win hand without the Dragonstorm, and can't find it even after 3 Telling Times and 2 Sleight. He PErescutes me for Red, beats me down for 2 turns with a Hypnotic Specter equipped with a Loxodon Warhammer, and I can never find a Dragon to block
Game 3: I have 3 Ignorant Blisses for his 2 Persecutes and Stupor, and then Pyroclasm his 2 mana elves, a Specter, and a Cutpurse before they do much damage. I eventually win through a hardcasted Hellkite and then a Dragonstorm with a copy through Sleight of Hand
Round 2 was against Christian Calcano, a cool guy playing Zoo who was hasn't been Q'ed for (ever maybe?) a very long time. I always thought his rating would Q him, but I guess not. He top 8'ed NY States this year with MUC, so I was a bit nervous.
Game 1: I get a turn 4 kill after winning the coin flip. Had he won the flip, he would've taken this game.
Game 2: Lots of Gigadrowsing, Remanding, and more Remanding finds me at 1 life and full combo suite in hand. He meets my first Hellkite with Honorable Passage, and I die.
Game 3: Mul to 5 has me pretty upset, but I drew a pretty solid 5 and am playing first. After 4 of his turns, he's got me down to about 6 and is tapped out, and I draw a well-need land off the top to take the game. He's visibly upset, but anyone who was on the receiving end of such a lucksack would be.
Me and my round 3 opp. drew, but we played for fun. Gruul needs a really good start to beat Dragonstorm, and a Remand put me one turn ahead of him both games.
Easiest $500 in my life, and the TO was kind enough to let us take foreign packs. I open up a Japanese Extirpate, a Russian Hellkite, a Russian Magus of the Scroll, and a reg. Damnation, so I walk away pleased. I was tempted by a new-found friend before the tourney to play UR Tron, but decided against it, and am very happy. A lot of good guys at the tourney, especially aforementioned Tron tempter (mike?) and Christian, along with the guy (jeez, I forgot his name already ) who I drew with in the last round.
this was a while ago, but I won one in Boise at the start of january. I won it with UWr firemane control. We also had a very poor turnout, we barely got enough to even sanction the event. Hopefully wiht the really good sets coming out there will be more interest.
Me and my friend played in that, I think you were the dstorm player I played against with UR Tron. My friend misplayed bad in the semis too, he could of went remove soul on the helkite lol.
I didn't play against anybody with UR Tron, nor against a player in the semis who had Remove Sould in his deck, so maybe you're thinkin gabout some one else, sorry
Hi - I won some random SSQ (scholarship series qualifier) in pennsylvania season 2.
Played Angelfire:
1st Round - Crushed Beach House 2-0.
2nd Round - Crused Glare 2-0. It came close, but helixes are really good.
3rd Round - Crushed THE RACK 2-0. Not much to say but it was really easy.
4th Round - Beat the mirror match 1-0 because of maindeck chronicler and detritovre
5th Round - Drew with a friend into top 8. (I was first seed in T8 anyway so I didn't need to play it out to expand my ego )
Top 8 - Beat the mirror match, it was 2-1. Got unlucky first game, won with a 15/15 detritivore second game and owned with annex and angel 3rd game.
Top 4 - Beat the same friend I drew with 2-1. He got the god hand 1st game and I came up short. 2nd game he mulled and I capitalized and 3rd game he got mana screwed BAD, VERY BAD.
Top 2- He playing dralnu with red, me playing with angelfire, we figured I would get the portfolio and he'd get the satchel because he wanted it.
Also - anyone reading this knowing that I wanted a satchel just to have it - I got one from my friend when I leant him the deck for another SSQ.
Wow I was really debating about going to the Rocky River mss. Was it all scrubs or something? BW Husk ftw????
Hey, B/W can have its day when people are playing combo or try to out-board control you. It can freaking wreck aggro if piloted well. Jones's topdecked Helix should never have happened, since, as I'm watching the clip now, the situation was like this: CJ @ 6, OR @ 7, CJ's EOT with Char in hand, five lands untapped, and Kird Ape, Watchwolf, and Isamaru on the board. OR's hand is unknown, but his board is two Plagued Rusalkas, a Ravenous Rats, the black Hand with Pro:White, and a 1/1 white flying Spirit token with Seize the Soul haunting it. Jones ships it, Ruel (who has four mana available at that EOT and six mana after untap) double Rusalkas the Isamaru with Rats and Spirit, in the process killing Ape with the haunt trigger from STS. This leaves a board of Hand, Spirit, 2x Rusalka to Watchwolf, with CJ sitting at six life. Ruel swings with just Hand and Spirit and passes with his mana up. If he serves with the team (best play), then CJ either goes to one or blocks a Rusalka (only legal block) and goes to two, making Char a non-option, meaning it would be pointed at the Hand of Cruelty instead. Jones would be at two, Ruel at seven, Jones would topdeck Helix, dome Ruel to make the game 5-4 Jones, neither player having lethal on the board. Ruel made the worst play possible in holding back TWO BLOCKERS to a board that had ONE attacker. Kinda bad. Gave Jones that out that he needed, though....
Long story short, B/W can beat base R/G aggro, it just has to be piloted well.
Remember that with Lorwyn, they were going to break a fundamental rule. I think with the clues we got into FS and this little tidbit from TCG, it will be Planeswalkers. Also gatherer now references the planeswalker type. Why do it so early. If it isn't Planeswalkers, I will submit a video of me tearing up one of my moxes
No it wasn't all scrubs. I was out of it and did 0 playetesting before the event, so I didn't do so hot, which kind of upsets me becuase I usually can Q at my first JSS every year, but i guess not this year. At least im already qualified.
The top 8 was. ( If i rememebr correctly. )
Dralnu
Dralnu
Goblinstorm
Husk
Mono U Pickles
?????
Angelfire
Dragonstorm
And then the quarters went on to
Dralnu
Husk
Angelfire
Mono U Pickles
Then the finals were
Husk
Angelfire
There was like 37 people. And wasnt scrubby with a few solid JSS names there, including the guy who was playing husk. His deck did look a bit jank, but i was playing around with it against the guy he tied to in first after the event, and it was pretty solid, basically just cuz it could castigate/ mind slicer your hand away. And still had some beats.
LOL...i was that guy. YA the Husk deck was kinda janky and i didnt expect to Top 8. I realy didnt feel like playing that day and wanted an easier deck to play(i was gunna play pickles but iam glad i didnt) That was my third 1-2 finish in a jss event an ill see every one else in baltimore.
EDIT: If i beleive correctly dralnu played Pickles in the first round
I thought it'd be fun for anyone who has qualified at a JSS or just wishes to discuss their experince, to post here.
I q'ed in Taraentum PA, a few weeks ago with Grull
http://www.professional-events.com/decks/WotC/Scholarship07/MSS041407.htm
Choose the deck based on consistancy, it usually isnt my cup of tea, I q'ed last year on eminent domain, and the year before that was tooth and nail. But the aggro deck just seemed to pull it out this time
Top 8:
Same Zoo deck as round 3. Game one takes FORFREAKINGEVER and I win. Yes, Boros beat Zoo in a protracted game. How? The best deck construction mishap ever. I was planning to run 3 Skyknight Legionnaire because they hit for 2 on turn 3, flew, and were drops in a curve that bumped a bit too hard at two for my liking. Problem was, I didn't have a third Legionnaire and couldn't find one. So, I had to find a singleton from the good ol' rare binder to put in as the sixtieth card. So what did I get?
Sunforger.
I lost game 2 after mulling on the draw, then he mulled on the draw and I had double Priest for the quick win game three. So, on to the semis. Before I get into that, a quick side story. I was 4-0 in the Rockville MSS (seven rounds), and proceeded to drop three straight in the last three rounds. The fifth round matchup? The eventual MSS winner, Dralnu du Louvre, against which I had an awful matchup and had done not nearly enough testing against. So, of course, I face SRDude (although I had yet to make the connection between the person and the MTGS persona) playing Dralnu in the semis. Game 1 is long. He wins that, obv. I win game 2 because my draw is fast. Yay for aggro. Game three, I managed to stick a turn 2 Knight of the Holy Nimbus. He gets in a few points, and SRDude drops a second Desert but is clearly manascrewed at 4 land and a missed land drop. I, however, am stuck on three land with double Seal, Char, and Solifuge in hand. I'm sandbagging for my tournament life here, so I swing with Knight and play nothing, since he obviously had the Rewind, having four mana up and missing the land drop. He double Deserts the Knight after taking two, going to 14. Oops. I tap the Knight and say "Regenerates" just a bit too smugly. He draws and passes the turn. I draw a card (Priest) and swing with Knight. He takes the damage to twelve. He then announces a post-combat Darkblast, then responds to his own spell by saying "Desert the Knight" to which I say "Sure. Knight regenerates" and put his Darkblast in his bin for him, again a bit too smugly. I play a postcombat Priest that gets countered. He untaps, draws, and announces a mainphase Teachings. I'm like "awesome, free Char for me", so I just say "sure." He gets Teferi. No surprise there. He hits his Dimir Aqueduct and passes, practically telling me that he has no counter except Rewind in hand. I untap and pause for a second. I take the top card off my library, placing it face down on the table, and slooooowly lift it up. Foil Unhinged Mountain. Mountainsolifugeswingforsixyou'reatsixgo. I won at that point. He couldn't Repeal the Solifuge, so even if he flashes in Teferi to block Solifuge, I still get Knight through and resolve Char for the last six. I show him as much, and he reaches out. I shake his hand, then mull over what a freaking lucksack I was. Still, I'm not complaining about being Q'd.
I'm playing R/G in the Northeast qualifiers for the next couple weeks, since another $500 in scholarship money plus a box is pretty cool in my book. Tron sees too much hate for me to want to play it.
H/W list!
What'll you'll see at Table One:
RG Gruul
UR Dragonstorm
WUR Angelfire
I played Boros in a field full of tron
Match 1
Me Vs. Chase
He was playing UW tron but he lost fast to my rusalka making fetters useless most of the time
2-0 (2-0)
Match 2
Me Vs. ???
This girl was playing fader and would have pushed it to game 3 without making a play mistake and forgetting nimbus had flanking.
2-0 (4-0)
Me Vs. ???
He is playing pickles and I win game one fast. Game 2 I can't get solifuge to resolve and he wins. Game 3 he gets the upper hand and i can't get it back.
2-1 (5-2)
Me Vs. Robert
He was playing scryb and force and he easily wins game one with a pig spectral. Game 2 I burn him and his creatures out. Game 3 I mulligan down to five and end up losing.
2-2 (6-4)
At this point I felt like I didn't have a chance but I played anyways.
Me Vs. ???
He is playing UG tron and he wins roll and I come out fast with Turn one Savannah Lion turn 2 Savannah Lion and beat him down. When he taps out for wrath he takes a char and other burn spells FTW. Game 2 he gets 2 sets of tron and no color I win.
I ended up 8th
Top 8
Round 1
Me Vs. Pickles guy
We slug it out to game 3 and i solifuge FTW
Round 2
Me Vs. 13 UW tron player
I get too fast he can't me out of fuel. I win
Round 3 (finals)
I win game one and then scoop the other 2
Round One: Justin Bennet with Mono White Martyr (splashing red for Demonfire, Detrivore, Akroma, and Blood Moon).
Unfortunately I was paired against a brother of a good friend of mine from back in the day (Ian Bennet), and had been talking to him extensively before the tournament began. I saw parts of his deck earlier that indicated he was playing mono white, so I figured the match would be easy.
Game One:
I hit turn four Persecute for White on the play and he dumped his whole hand except a lone Demonfire. He then played Molten Slagheap and started to build up counters, but the ‘cute crippled him, and I killed him after I commandeered his Demonfire.
In: Two Persecute, Two Extirpate
Game Two: my draw was shaky with relatively few counters, but I felt like I could still win if I drew into anything of use, considering his deck was so slow. I Persecuted turn four again on white, but was stunned when he revealed a hand of Two Blood Moon, a Gauntlet of Power, and a Detrivore. My deck then coughed up nothing but a bunch of rune snags and I fell quickly to a 7/7 Vore.
Game Three: I hit the turn five Persecute and took Two Blood Moons, a Detrivore and a Demonfire, and things started to look good for me. However, my second black soon was destroyed and I was found looking for a second source while beating with Teferi. Things looked good until a large red Akroma hit my opponent’s side of the field, with me holding a grip of counters and double black cards. I had a rewind in hand as well as eight lands and seize the soul, so I knew that if he goofed and played another spell before he could kill me, then Akroma would sink faster then the Titanic. Unfortunately, my opponent did just that, and a couple of swings later I was on my way to victory.
Game Record: 2-1
Match Record: 1-0
Round 2: Brandon Wheat with UWR Tron
Second round was pretty rough, I played a against a young named Brandon 12 year old who played really well. He had gotten his unorthodox decklist from a buddy of mine Shaheen Soorani (Known for creating Blink Riders and making 9th at Worlds) and by the time I had won the die roll, I was still trying to figure out what was going on.
Game One: I started things off nicely, resolving Teferi after a single Remand, and then continued the beats until I resolved Persecute for red, getting two Demonfires and a Numot. My opponent then sent a Demonfire at Teferi for four in a last ditch effort, which got commandeered.
In: Two Persecute, Two Extirpate
Game Two: This game was a disaster. I got off the turn four Persecute again, naming red as I have always been told, and saw his grip of: 2x Draining Whelk, 2x Compulsive Research, 1x Tidings 1x Wrath of God, and 1x Muse Vessel. Yeah, didn’t win that game.
Game Three: My Opponent kept a two land hand with two tron pieces, but by the time he found a third land, I was bashing with Vampire and Teferi. Oh well, bad beats.
I ended up talking to Brandon and his father whom he attended with (as well as his younger brother and sister who didn’t play), and they were both really awesome guys. His Father started playing Magic after finding a new use for his money after quitting smoking and had turned it into a family activity since. Brandon, as I said before, was only 12, and almost had me. He ended up barely making top 8, edging out 6 other 3-2 players on breakers, and even though he lost in the semifinals, did an awesome job. Congrats again to Brandon, see you on the Pro Tour some day!
Games: 4-2
Matches: 2-0
I was feeling good being 2-0 in a 5 round tournament, after my last excursion at the MD JSS, where I started off 0-1-1 and ended up making top 8 at 8th place with a record of 5-1-1. I wasn’t thinking about winning the whole event, but just my next match. That’s where things got bad for me.
Round Three: Shawn Purnette with WB Fader
I am indeed terrible with names, but this guy’s name I can actually remember. His name was Sean, and as he sat down, we chatted for awhile, and then began playing.
Game one: This game was an absolute slaughter. I ran over him with counters and Teferi beats, I’m pretty sure I sudden death’d and blocked Phyrexian Totem as well, which was his only win condition that game.
Game Two: Ugh, what a nightmare. I started off really good, and went for the throat and played Teferi at EOT. I drew my card and noticed that I was lacking immediate counters, but I had the vampire beats in my hand ready to go. Unfortunately, my vampire was matched with his own, and I died fifteen turns later after not drawing a single sudden death or teachings, dying to fifteen separate church activations. When game two finally ended with me at zero, there were five minutes left and we just decided to call it a draw.
Games: 5-3-1
Matches: 2-0-1
Not bad, not bad. I was unnerved about losing such a game where I basically couldn’t draw anything to save me, but bad beats definitely happen.
Match Four: Brian Schneider with Dragonstorm
A little background info about my fourth round opponent: When I used to be really into the JSS circuit, I would always get paired up against a little kid named Brian, who was always accompanied by his father, who is a pretty cool guy. I always remember having the upper hand on this guy, and have known him for as long as I can remember. He’s a cool guy, and is well known for playing the deck.
Game One: I got blown out by ridiculous draws, I didn’t draw into any answers such as Teferi, Teachings, or Dranlu, and pretty much got blown out.
Game Two: I won this on the back of a turn four persecute (he sides out his remands and drowses for defense grids, and was pretty susceptible to this strategy), and won after a long stream of me killing dragons.
Game Three: I pretty much got god-drawn out, oh well, it happens.
Games: 6-5-1
Matches: 2-1-1
At this point I was starting to get nervous. I had driven four hours to get here and I might be going home with nothing? It had been two years since I had played on the JSS circuit after all, and I hadn’t tried to qualify since 2004. I picked my head up, however, when I figured I was paired up against my acquaintance Tim, piloting old school Angelfire. As we sat down to play, with both of us on the line for top 8, I could tell he was a bit pissed off that he had to play me. I was even more pissed off than he was when I found out we would have to repair, as the judges had seated an 0-3 at table one, and Brian, who sat at 4-0, at table 8. I got paired up with a very shaky and weird kid who was playing UR Sulfur-Tron, and was upset that I might be dispatched by such a goon. We shook hands and played, both knowing that this was it.
Game One: I started things off well, with a seize the soul that I played on my opponent’s Sulfur Elemental, and then went to town with everyone’s favorite brown and sandy Planeswalker, and soon won the game thereafter.
In: Two Persecute, Two Extirpate
Game Two: After all the garbage that had happened in my matches, this made up for it. My opponent was stuck on two tron lands, while I blasted every signet he tried to resolve. On my turn four, with him still without a colored mana, I Persecuted him for red and he showed me his grip of Blue card draw and counter. He remanded my Teferi once after finally finding a reef, but the second time I hit his other Remand with a Spell Snare. One Batman later, and I was finally off to top 8!
My opponent seemed like a cool guy after the match, and wished me luck in top 8.
The Top 8 standings and pairings were posted, and I was most likely going to be paired against Brian in the quarter-finals, which I was not looking forward to. But when the final standings went up, a miracle happened, which would ultimately sent me to JSS Nats!
Final standings after round 5:
1. Schneider, Brian (UR Dragonstorm)
2. Lynch, Christopher (GB Elves)
3. Dreylick, John ( RG Gruul Beats)
4. Cross, Joshua (No clue)
5. Dassler, Matt E (UG Kyoto-Tron)(Coolest name for a deck ever by the way)
6. Armstrong, Timothy M (URW Angelfire)
7. Berke, Andrew R (Me) (The best deck ever)
8. Wheat, Brandon (URW Tron)
I sat down for my top eight match, which began around seven, and realized that I had not eaten anything all day. I usually choke when it comes to top 8’s, but I had such a good match-up this time I felt like there was no way I could lose.
Boy was I wrong…
Wait, no I wasn’t.
Quarter Finals: Christopher Lynch playing GB Elves
Chris was a pretty quiet guy, so I broke the ice by asking how many years over 18 he actually was. We both laughed and my friends gathered around to watch my match, and we finally began.
Game One: Oh man was this a slaughter. He dropped nothing but an essence warden and a Llanowar Elf due to my countering of his turn three play, and I hit the big red button and Persecuted him on turn four. SEEMS GOOD. He did however make a decent comeback after playing a Phyrexian Arena as well as a Grave Shell Scarab, but Teferi and his bat made short work of the beetle.
In: two Persecute, three Deathmark, one Damnation, and one Extirpate
Game Two: This was a pretty easy one. I kept a three two land hand with Damnation, Rune Snag, double Remand, and Think Twice. My opponent kept a one lander and played two Llanowar Elves and Two Essences wardens, but seemed flustered that he could not find a black mana. I countered his Elves of Deep Shadow, and then repealed a Call of the Herd Token, before remanding the Flashback and finally finding my fourth land. I then Played Damnation as a four-for-one and then Persecuted his hand, naming Black, which was the right call apparently. He had all black cards in hand except for two Elvish Warriors, who died to a well-timed Seize the Soul. After I played a Teferi and a Batman, I showed him my grip which contained two Rewinds, two Damnations, and a Deathmark. After a turn or two more, he conceded.
I had gotten past the Quarterfinals! The only time I ever did this before I won the whole thing, so I was feeling Confident. These were the players remaining this round:
Schneider, Brian
Versus
Dassler, Matt E
Armstrong, Timothy M
Versus
Berke, Andrew R
This was it, I had a good matchup, and I felt confident. Just a quick rewind here, I had been wondering about the Angelfire/Dranlu matchup and had emailed Frank Karsten about a week prior to the tournament. To my surprise, he said that the match-up was about 50/50, but depended highly on skill. I knew I was skilled and had been playing my deck for a long time, so I felt good about my chances, even though I was nervous.
Game One: I started things off well, despite my hand being counter lights sans a rune snag, and ended up resolving Teferi after Remanding my opponents Court Hussar. Unfortunately for me, my opponent played Sacred Mesa next turn….
“Is it good?”
“Nope, I’m saving my counters for the good spells”
Ouch, I was facing down the worst possible card for me, with no Teachings in the yard or my grip. I drew my next card, and it yielded a Rewind. Teferi and the bat got in there after getting chumped by a flying horse, and I was getting frustrated. Fortunately I drew into a steady stream of counters and my opponent was unable to generate enough pegasi (pegasuses? pegi? whatever,) to stop my big black crew.
An interesting note is that I really did rip two Rewinds and Two Remands in a row. After I drew the second one in succession, my good friend John May started to burst out laughing. My opponent knew what was up and laughed too.”
“It only figures you would draw into things like that, you didn’t have a counter for six turns”
In: two Persecute, three Deathmark, one Damnation one Sudden Death, one Extirpate
Game two: This was a bad beat for sure. I resolved big poppa bats on turn six, but was getting wasted by a big Detrivore fast. I had Teferi and co on board, but my lands were getting crushed. I kept drawing into aqueducts as well, and couldn’t hold four land. I got my opponent down to four and was one combat step away from winning when a Hellkite came down and killed me. I was holding two Rewinds in hand, and was pretty sure I would have one had I one more land.
At this point, I started to get discouraged, but kept on going.
Game Three: I was on the play, and after a long deliberation, I decided to keep a two land hand with Spell Snare, Rune snags, a Rewind and some other goods. My opponent mulliganed which was nice, but I was pretty scared about my land situation. I went first up, and surely enough, didn’t his my third land. I was extremely flustered at this point and remember saying this:
“Well, have fun at champs man!”
It turns out that my opponent didn’t have a land either, and we both stalled for awhile, while I countered his signets. I hit lands three and four, and my opponent hit a Karoo the turn I hit land four, and then the game finally got good. I resolved a Teferi while my opponent was fumbling with Court Hussars and Compulsive Researches, and then dropped a batman. I was clearly winning here, with a grip full of counters and such, I felt my chances were totally stellar. I let a Lightning Angel through and then blew it out of the sky with Deathmark, while still holding a bunch of counters. My opponent then built up a lot of land, and was clearly trying to pull off a double wrath, but as he was plotting everything out, I was sculpting the perfect hand. When he finally played Wrath one, he passed and said go. I attacked and sent him down to one, and passed. When he drew his card, he started to think for awhile, until I revealed my hand of Rewind, Rune Snag, and Remand. With his 8 mana available, there was literally nothing he could do, and he extended his hand as all my friends started yelling and cheering like total morons.
Later on my opponent told me he kept a one land hand, and then ripped land, signet, signet, signet, land. Crazy stuff.
I'm Q'd for nats, which is good stuff. This was in Pourtsmouth, VA by the way.
Also, Ansset, you live pretty close to where I do, what store do you play at?
RWB Angel (Win)
Dragonstorm (Win)
Dralnu (Lose... Mull to 4 twice)
RG LD (KBBK) (Win)
Boros (Win)
-Draw into T8-
GBW good stuff (mainboard ghost quarters and extirpate is good against tron... but I luck sack)
UW Tron (targeted draw loses agains willbender...)
Dralnu (Love this matchup = D)
As for where you Q'd, that's amusing as anything, since a few of my friends went down there for a combined 7-8 (two 3-2s and a 1-4) playing Dragonstorm (audibling out of R/G, to my horror when he told me the field was full of Fader) to a 3-2, R/B to a 1-4, and 4color Blink (my own design, I have the list, but it's ridiculously playskill intensive) to a 3-2, but got manascrewed game 3 vs. Fader round 5 game 3 mulling to five and never saw a second land or a Birds. That deck should've taken it. My friend playing Storm lost to the G/B Elves, he was telling me how ridiculous that deck was. I'll have to tell him you took it down in the top 8.
Anyways, where do you play, coming from Reston? Do you have a test group or do you just get decks from Karsten?
For casual Friday night drafts, I tend to go to the Lucky Frog or just grab prize packs, throw some draft sets together, and draft with the team.
H/W list!
What'll you'll see at Table One:
RG Gruul
UR Dragonstorm
WUR Angelfire
i'm the robert that you played
our game three was pretty rowdy. You almost had me with the fast start.
Anyways, I didn't make day two so, with only a few dual lands and a single Harmonize, I decided to make GBW Beach House control. Two hours later, between borrowing from people and buying singles from the dealers for exorbitant prices, I had made a jury rigged version of a deck I had no testing with. It worked out, I played in the JSS and won it without dropping a game.
Last year I won with Kyle Goodman's W/B aggro (Think Olivier Ruel's "Hand in Hand" deck he top eighted the pro tour) the week before pro tour Honolulu happened.
Two years ago I qualified with mono green aggro (also known as Beacon Green) before it was a well known archetype.
Three years ago I qualified with good old Mirrodin-Onslaught era U/W control, losing to my brother in the finals.
I draft/test at a store called Outpost Games in Gainesville. I'll be up at the MSS next weekend in MD just to hang out, I'll be sure to say hello.
10th is released on July 13th. Will it be legal for the July 28-29 MSS?
H/W list!
What'll you'll see at Table One:
RG Gruul
UR Dragonstorm
WUR Angelfire
1 Gruul
2 Dragonstorm (Me)
3-4 Zoo
3-4 MGA
5-8 Dredge
5-8 Dralnu
5-8 UR Tron
5-8 UBG Fish
Funny thing was, there was only 8 people in the entire tourney.
Game 1: I draw a pretty bad hand that gets even worse after double stupor and Dimir Cutpurse beats. I eventually find a Hellkite and hardcast it, wiping out his whole board, and find another one after a Sleight of Hand and he scoops.
Game 2: I keep a turn 4 win hand without the Dragonstorm, and can't find it even after 3 Telling Times and 2 Sleight. He PErescutes me for Red, beats me down for 2 turns with a Hypnotic Specter equipped with a Loxodon Warhammer, and I can never find a Dragon to block
Game 3: I have 3 Ignorant Blisses for his 2 Persecutes and Stupor, and then Pyroclasm his 2 mana elves, a Specter, and a Cutpurse before they do much damage. I eventually win through a hardcasted Hellkite and then a Dragonstorm with a copy through Sleight of Hand
Round 2 was against Christian Calcano, a cool guy playing Zoo who was hasn't been Q'ed for (ever maybe?) a very long time. I always thought his rating would Q him, but I guess not. He top 8'ed NY States this year with MUC, so I was a bit nervous.
Game 1: I get a turn 4 kill after winning the coin flip. Had he won the flip, he would've taken this game.
Game 2: Lots of Gigadrowsing, Remanding, and more Remanding finds me at 1 life and full combo suite in hand. He meets my first Hellkite with Honorable Passage, and I die.
Game 3: Mul to 5 has me pretty upset, but I drew a pretty solid 5 and am playing first. After 4 of his turns, he's got me down to about 6 and is tapped out, and I draw a well-need land off the top to take the game. He's visibly upset, but anyone who was on the receiving end of such a lucksack would be.
Me and my round 3 opp. drew, but we played for fun. Gruul needs a really good start to beat Dragonstorm, and a Remand put me one turn ahead of him both games.
Easiest $500 in my life, and the TO was kind enough to let us take foreign packs. I open up a Japanese Extirpate, a Russian Hellkite, a Russian Magus of the Scroll, and a reg. Damnation, so I walk away pleased. I was tempted by a new-found friend before the tourney to play UR Tron, but decided against it, and am very happy. A lot of good guys at the tourney, especially aforementioned Tron tempter (mike?) and Christian, along with the guy (jeez, I forgot his name already ) who I drew with in the last round.
I wish my mss's had only 8 people :P.
First JSS tourney and I Qed, so no complaints here. Had a great time at the tournament too.
-AJ
EDIT: In Indiana not the brooklyn jss
Unless you're talking about AJ, that is.
Yes, it is legal within a few days after the release, as far as I remember.
Played Angelfire:
1st Round - Crushed Beach House 2-0.
2nd Round - Crused Glare 2-0. It came close, but helixes are really good.
3rd Round - Crushed THE RACK 2-0. Not much to say but it was really easy.
4th Round - Beat the mirror match 1-0 because of maindeck chronicler and detritovre
5th Round - Drew with a friend into top 8. (I was first seed in T8 anyway so I didn't need to play it out to expand my ego )
Top 8 - Beat the mirror match, it was 2-1. Got unlucky first game, won with a 15/15 detritivore second game and owned with annex and angel 3rd game.
Top 4 - Beat the same friend I drew with 2-1. He got the god hand 1st game and I came up short. 2nd game he mulled and I capitalized and 3rd game he got mana screwed BAD, VERY BAD.
Top 2- He playing dralnu with red, me playing with angelfire, we figured I would get the portfolio and he'd get the satchel because he wanted it.
Also - anyone reading this knowing that I wanted a satchel just to have it - I got one from my friend when I leant him the deck for another SSQ.
C yas
But i got 3-4 sweeping the field with Dralnu all the way through the whole tournament and then loosing to some B/W aggro bunk lol. It was bad.
Hey, B/W can have its day when people are playing combo or try to out-board control you. It can freaking wreck aggro if piloted well. Jones's topdecked Helix should never have happened, since, as I'm watching the clip now, the situation was like this: CJ @ 6, OR @ 7, CJ's EOT with Char in hand, five lands untapped, and Kird Ape, Watchwolf, and Isamaru on the board. OR's hand is unknown, but his board is two Plagued Rusalkas, a Ravenous Rats, the black Hand with Pro:White, and a 1/1 white flying Spirit token with Seize the Soul haunting it. Jones ships it, Ruel (who has four mana available at that EOT and six mana after untap) double Rusalkas the Isamaru with Rats and Spirit, in the process killing Ape with the haunt trigger from STS. This leaves a board of Hand, Spirit, 2x Rusalka to Watchwolf, with CJ sitting at six life. Ruel swings with just Hand and Spirit and passes with his mana up. If he serves with the team (best play), then CJ either goes to one or blocks a Rusalka (only legal block) and goes to two, making Char a non-option, meaning it would be pointed at the Hand of Cruelty instead. Jones would be at two, Ruel at seven, Jones would topdeck Helix, dome Ruel to make the game 5-4 Jones, neither player having lethal on the board. Ruel made the worst play possible in holding back TWO BLOCKERS to a board that had ONE attacker. Kinda bad. Gave Jones that out that he needed, though....
Long story short, B/W can beat base R/G aggro, it just has to be piloted well.
H/W list!
What'll you'll see at Table One:
RG Gruul
UR Dragonstorm
WUR Angelfire
The top 8 was. ( If i rememebr correctly. )
Dralnu
Dralnu
Goblinstorm
Husk
Mono U Pickles
?????
Angelfire
Dragonstorm
And then the quarters went on to
Dralnu
Husk
Angelfire
Mono U Pickles
Then the finals were
Husk
Angelfire
There was like 37 people. And wasnt scrubby with a few solid JSS names there, including the guy who was playing husk. His deck did look a bit jank, but i was playing around with it against the guy he tied to in first after the event, and it was pretty solid, basically just cuz it could castigate/ mind slicer your hand away. And still had some beats.
EDIT: If i beleive correctly dralnu played Pickles in the first round