Haunting isn't a bad choice since it also gives the element of surprise, which Lingering Souls doesn't do (although LS is far superior since it's 4 1/1s for 5 mana). Against certain decks I would love that surprise blocker while I'm setting up an Elesh Norn. What comes out though? TI/Reforge?
Going off of a few lists from this weekend, I am seeing Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded, are in the deck. Are there any thoughts about including him into the deck?
His +1 ability isn't too bad, yes it is random, but with all the Flashback in this deck, does it really hurt it?
I wouldn't include more than two, but the only thing is if he is thrown to the graveyard, well that sucks.
Thoughts?
The lists I've seen him utilized in are different than what I would call "traditional" FRites (that being ones that utilize the Mulch/Tracker's Instinct engine). He's usually in decks that run Sun Titans, minimizing the damage that his random discard does.
In a more "traditional" FRites deck, I wouldn't touch him. The issue is that when he hits the graveyard he's a dead card. You can't flash him back, you can't reanimate him, so really he's a dead card if you happen to Mulch or Tracker's Instinct him.
Assuming he does fit in the list, what does he replace?
I would like to run some more spells to generate tokens, but not sure what is the good one.
If I don't run Reforge then I'd likely go back to Tracker's Instinct. I could go and run Desperate Ravings but (a) I don't like the random discard because of the mana base and (b) don't like the flashback in blue (which TI also has)
So far the deck is 6-2 in tournament play (3-1 in two tournaments). As for the card choices, by category
Mana Acceleration
The split of Elves and Pilgrims is always controversial. I went 2/3 since the deck already has 18 Green sources and 11 White sources. I may go 1/4 Elves/Pilgrims, but I haven't decided 100% yet.
Graveyard Enablers
Reforge the Soul is the latest addition. I'm torn on this one, since it allows you to dump your hand and draw a new 7. Sometimes you want to ditch a hand of fatties, sometimes you need gas when your hand is empty. The only drawback is filling your opponent's hand. I'm going to continue to run with it.
I've never been a fan of Tracker's Instinct. It pulls the deck into a 5th colour, necessitating the inclusion of Shimmering Grotto or Darkslick Shores. I've brought it down to two since there's not really a better option available. I thought of Desperate Ravings, but I'm not a fan of the randomness of the discard, since the mana base is a little shaky.
Reanimation Package
Grislebrand and Craterhoof Behemoth are the latest additions, in lieu of Wurmcoils or Inferno Titans that most builds usually run. Grislebrand, at a minimum, draws you seven, typically on your opponent's turn. Even if you don't attack with him, he's 8 mana for 7 cards...not too shabby.
Craterhoof Behemoth lives up to his name. I think this is the game changer card that this deck needed. Elesh Norn really does a job against most decks, but the Behemoth just gives the deck a new dimension with the trample and the +X/+X. It has turned losses into wins for me on more than one occasion.
The question I have is should it be 2/1 Behemoth/Wurmcoil, or the other way around?
Sideboard
This leans towards the transformative SB, but the Huntmasters can be brought in against aggro decks to buy a little bit of time before you reanimate a large target.
Went 3-1 again with the above list. More observations
Reforge the Soul probably should come out as I found that I sideboarded it out in most matchups. Wheel of Fortune is a powerful card and sometimes you need that gas in your hand, but it comes down to a few things
1) What can I be doing with 5 mana if I don't miracle it? Lingering Souls + Flashback, cast Unburial Rites from hand...seem to be better options
2) What benefits are you gaining vs the advantage you're giving your opponent?
However, I found that, against RG aggro and WRR its actually fairly decent since you gain such an advantage knocking cards out of their hand vs what they get in return.
Craterhoof Behemoth is an all star! I found that people are focusing too much on Elesh Norn as the big card in the deck that they totally miss out on the epicness of a Hoof coming down and turning all of my spirits and dorks into massive trampling hulks. You can basically one shot your opponent with him once he hits the table. Again, the drawback is that you really need him later in the game.
Added these to the reanimation package at the expense of 3 Wurmcoil Engines. Gives the deck a little bit of diversity in reanimation targets, making it more resilient to Surgical Extraction. Craterhoof is a one shot win condition most of the time if he resolves. He's easy enough to hardcast since this deck can get GGG online with ease. The only downside is that you really don't get maximum value out of him by reanimating him early; you want to either hard cast him or wait until later in the game when you have more tokens or mana dorks on board.Grislebrand is a champ. Harder to hard cast but then again that's why we play with Unburial Rites. Unlike Craterhoof, he is a great target to reanimate early, the Lifelink allows you to replace the life gain from Wurmcoil, and the necro ability is just backbreaking.
2 Reforge the Soul
I'm torn on this. I don't like Tracker's Instinct since it pushes you into five colours, making the mana base a little flakier. I kept two in but replaced two with RtS. It's a tough card to play since sometimes you just don't want to refresh your opponent's grip. However, I have found times where I needed something like Faithless Looting to dump cards from my hand, and so this acts as a Super Looting, especially on a Miracle. It ended up getting boarded out in most game 2s.
Opponent has four Mana Leaks in their graveyard. I cast a spell, he casts Snapcaster Mage in response. Snapcaster Mage resolves and he targets one of his Mana Leaks. Two (with one follow up) questions:
1) In response to the ETB effect, can I cast Memory's Journey?
2) Does my opponent have to name a specific card (as in the Mana Leak closest to the top of his graveyard) or just Mana Leak? If it's a specific Mana Leak, will the ETB effect fizzle if I shuffle that one away with Memory's Journal?
Our LGS runs pretty much only Standard and limited events. The community has been pushing for more variety (I've pushed for Legacy, but to no avail) so the owner finally decided to run a Modern event. He recently had someone offload a collection so 1st prize was a Tarmagoyf. Had this taken place during the Modern PTQ season I think the turnout would have been a lot better. However, there were only twelve players, although the calibre was pretty high as several of the players had top 8'd PTQs in the past, played at Nats, etc.
With no Modern deck to speak of, I went to my existing decks to see what I could port over easily. The one that was the easiest was my Legacy Tezz-Affinity deck, having only to swap out my artifact lands and Ancient Tombs for inferior lands. So this is the list I ended up running
I realize you're looking at my sideboard and going "WTF?!". I'll talk more about it later, as well as main deck changes
Round 1 - Alex Gabriel (RUW Delver)
I sat down across from Alex and said "Well, guess I'm opening the tournament at 0-1". Alex is a really nice guy, and one of the better players at the store.
Game 1 - Alex does himself a lot of damage with fetches and shock lands, making my life a little easier. I drop a Master and a couple of Etched Champions and come race his flipped Delvers
Game 2 - I didn't sideboard anything in. Again, Alex takes most of his damage from his lands. My notes are sketchy but memory seems to indicate that the managed to Disenchant and Helix my good stuff and flew in with flipped Delvers for the win.
Game 3 - Alex recovers from shock/fetch damage with a couple of Helixes, but a resolved Tezzeret allows me to search up answers and deflect damage away from me and towards Tezz. Etched Champions FTW!
1-0 (2-1)
Round 2 - Brandon Vasko (BW Tokens)
Brandon is a regular at the store, fairly good but we seem to have a good split against each other
Game 1 - I mull to six, but a turn one Soul Warden doesn't bode well for me. Midnight Hauntings, Lingering Souls, Raise the Alarm, and it's game over for me
SB - +2 Despise, +2 Dispatch, -4 Myr Enforcer
Game 2 - The swarm comes out, as I manage to swing in for 7, then lethal the next turn
Game 3 - Again, mull to six A Soul Warden, a bunch of tokens, and an Intangible Virtue make semi-quick work of me
1-1 (3-3)
Round 3 - Blake Alty (Aggro-Loam)
Another regular who I routinely split my matches with. I know he's on Aggro-Loam as I've seen him building and testing it over a number of weeks
Game 1 - Shock/Fetch does a bit of work. Etched Champion and Cranial Plating go the distance.
SB - +2 Pithing Needle, +2 Relic of Progenetis, -4 Myr Enforcer
Game 2 - As typical in most matches, Etched Champion does most of the heavy lifting, with support from his friends and Cranial Plating.
2-1 (5-3)
Round 4 - Jeff Mcarthy (UW Affinity)
This is win and in. Never seen Jeff at the store before, which is good because I like to see our community grow even more.
Game 1 - We start throwing our hands on the table and racing. His racing is better than mine, with a Tempered Steel and Steel Overseer overwhelming my Champion-less board
SB - +2 Dispatch, +2 Despise, +2 Pithing Needle, -4 Myr Enforcer, -2 Frogmite
Game 2 - I Dispatch his Overseer early, and I Poison him out for the win with a Cranial Plated Inkmoth.
Game 3 - My notes are non-existent here, but if memory serves me correct, he was getting artifact screwed here. He had to trade his Memnites and Ornithopters for my creatures, so could never get Metalcraft online. Eventually he just caved and I was on my way to top 4
3-1 (7-4)
I placed 4th after swiss, so I played 1st place. Other match was Twin vs BW tokens
Semis - Jamie Hennessey (Jund)
I've seen Jamie a few times, never played him. Again, one of the better players around, hangs out with Alex (from round 1) and Mike (from the next round).
Game 1 - A couple of Etched Champions make it around his Tarmagoyf. The Etched Champions really give him a hard time as he has no way to deal with them. Shock/Fetch does the up front work for me and the Champions do the rest of the work
SB - +2 Relic of Progenetis, +2 Dispatch, +3 Ethersworn Cannonist, -4 Myr Enforcer, -2 Signal Pest, -1 Frogmite
Game 1 - Puke most of my hand onto the table early, allowing for turn 2 Champion, turn 3 Champion, turn 4 Champion. There was a Master in there as well but he was dealt with. Tezzeret made an appearance, allowed me to dig for more answers, but he got dealt with as well. Couple of Tarmagoyfs here on the table but rendered useless by my Champions. Dispatched one of them, then held one back for blocking while the other two went in for the win.
4-1 (9-4)
So I'm onto the finals, and the Tarmagoyf is within my reach. All that stands between him and I is.....
Finals - Mike Giles (BW Tokens)
Mike's a very good player; very deliberate, plays very tightly. We've played a bit in the past, it's always been pleasant, he gives me deck tips and I always listen :). I've managed to get the upper hand on him a few times, but each time I'm always very lucky.
Game 1 - According to my notes, he hits token generators really quickly and decimates my robot army
SB - Can't remember, no notes, but probably similar to round 2 with no Despise
Game 2 - I get a nasty draw, and proceed to yak my hand onto the table with something to the effect of Inkmoth, Mox, Ornithopter, Drum, Memnite, Thoughtcast. By turn 3 I swung in for 9 poison damage with my Plated Inkmoth. Things were coming up Millhouse for me until Mike cast a Lingering Souls, allowing him to stabilize. It went downhill from there as I just couldn't keep up with the tokens
4-2 (9-6)
So I ended up in second, $20 in store credit. For a 12 person tourney, I'm very happy. I beat two really good players and took a ported deck to second place. Etched Champion was a house since no one could deal with it effectively (except for the Affinity player who could block it all day).
I think BU is the optimal build with Tezzeret. It has the explosiveness of Affinity, but can grind out a longer game with a resolved Tezzeret. He becomes an immediate threat since he'll end the game the next turn, and I'll usually have a Champion or two to help protect him.
Now that I've had a couple of weeks to think about this (yes, this report is a couple weeks old, I've posted this elsewhere), I'd probably make the following changes Maindeck: I'm comfortable with the core of the deck. The land base is probably where I'd make the changes. I wasn't aware that City of Brass was Modern legal, otherwise I'd run four of them, with the rest being either Darkslick Shores, Creeping Tar Pits, or Island/Swamps (I didn't have the BU Shocklands).
I'm sure that the Affinity package (Frogmites and Myr Enforcers) are probably the biggest question marks, but they're just as easy to get out with this build as they are in Legacy. If anything, I'd run main deck Dispatches, but only with the Cities in the maindeck. Sideboard: Okay, so this was the sketchiest part of the deck. Based on who I knew was playing and what they had talked about, I was expecting some combination of AggroLoam, Tron, and Storm. In retrospect, I probably wouldn't have included the Ravagers and Hex Parasites, main decked the Dispatches. In their place I would have included Disenchant (again, I didn't realize this got reprinted in TSP) for AggroLoam, Affinity, and Pod, Torpor Orb for Twin, and Whipflare or Ratchet Bomb for Tokens. Lesson learned I guess.
So I've been registered here for a while but never introduced myself. My name is Trevor, aka GnuHouse. Used the username for ages, back when the idea of open source P2P file sharing was new, combined with my love of house music.
34 years old, been playing since Revised. Stopped playing somewhere in the Masques block. Picked it back up with Rise of the Eldrazi, been playing ever since. Play Standard mostly, but I love playing Legacy and, to a lesser extent, Modern. Not a fan of limited, but I'll play if I have to.
Local game store is Comic Connection in Oakville, Ontario. It's quickly becoming the focal point for Magic west of Toronto. When I started playing a couple years ago they had a hard time pulling in eight for a draft, but now they pull in about 30 on a Wednesday for Standard, and over 75 for midnight prereleases.
First rare I ever pulled was a Revised Tropical Island. First competitive deck I played was a Red/Black land destruction deck which I used to beat future hall of famer Gary Wise with in a Type 1 tournament (hooray Underworld Dreams!). Currently playing Frites in Standard, Tezz Affinity in Modern, and Tezz Afinnity or Dredge in Legacy.
I like long walks on the beach....oh wait, wrong site
Hi everyone. I'm GnuHouse, but those who know me in real life call me Trevor. I started playing Magic back in Revised, stopped playing after the Mercadian Masques block, then started again with Rise of Eldrazi. I hail from Oakville, Ontario and play most of my Magic here but I have played a bit of Magic in Toronto at 401 Games.
Played in a tournament recently where one of my matches went to time. The first game went rather long but I ended up winning. There wasn't much time left in the round so the second game went to turns and there was no winner. The match was recorded as a draw, but I think I should have won the match.
When I read the official tournament rules, I'm a little confused as to what is supposed to happen. Section 2.1 seems to contradict itself when it says
A Magic match consists of a series of games that are played until one side has won an announced number. Drawn games do not count toward this goal, and the match continues for as many games as necessary or until time ends for the round, in which case the winner of the match is the player who has won the most games at that point. If both players have equal game wins, the match is a draw. The default number of games required for winning a match is two.
So, the question is....should that match have been a draw, or should I have won?
Haunting isn't a bad choice since it also gives the element of surprise, which Lingering Souls doesn't do (although LS is far superior since it's 4 1/1s for 5 mana). Against certain decks I would love that surprise blocker while I'm setting up an Elesh Norn. What comes out though? TI/Reforge?
The lists I've seen him utilized in are different than what I would call "traditional" FRites (that being ones that utilize the Mulch/Tracker's Instinct engine). He's usually in decks that run Sun Titans, minimizing the damage that his random discard does.
In a more "traditional" FRites deck, I wouldn't touch him. The issue is that when he hits the graveyard he's a dead card. You can't flash him back, you can't reanimate him, so really he's a dead card if you happen to Mulch or Tracker's Instinct him.
Assuming he does fit in the list, what does he replace?
If I don't run Reforge then I'd likely go back to Tracker's Instinct. I could go and run Desperate Ravings but (a) I don't like the random discard because of the mana base and (b) don't like the flashback in blue (which TI also has)
What do you want token generators for?
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
2 Llanowar Elves
Graveyard Enablers
4 Mulch
4 Faithless Looting
2 Tracker's Instinct
2 Reforge the Soul
Reanimation Package
4 Unburial Rites
4 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Grislebrand
1 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Lingering Souls
Land
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Gavony Township
5 Forest
3 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Ray of Revelation
So far the deck is 6-2 in tournament play (3-1 in two tournaments). As for the card choices, by category
Mana Acceleration
The split of Elves and Pilgrims is always controversial. I went 2/3 since the deck already has 18 Green sources and 11 White sources. I may go 1/4 Elves/Pilgrims, but I haven't decided 100% yet.
Graveyard Enablers
Reforge the Soul is the latest addition. I'm torn on this one, since it allows you to dump your hand and draw a new 7. Sometimes you want to ditch a hand of fatties, sometimes you need gas when your hand is empty. The only drawback is filling your opponent's hand. I'm going to continue to run with it.
I've never been a fan of Tracker's Instinct. It pulls the deck into a 5th colour, necessitating the inclusion of Shimmering Grotto or Darkslick Shores. I've brought it down to two since there's not really a better option available. I thought of Desperate Ravings, but I'm not a fan of the randomness of the discard, since the mana base is a little shaky.
Reanimation Package
Grislebrand and Craterhoof Behemoth are the latest additions, in lieu of Wurmcoils or Inferno Titans that most builds usually run. Grislebrand, at a minimum, draws you seven, typically on your opponent's turn. Even if you don't attack with him, he's 8 mana for 7 cards...not too shabby.
Craterhoof Behemoth lives up to his name. I think this is the game changer card that this deck needed. Elesh Norn really does a job against most decks, but the Behemoth just gives the deck a new dimension with the trample and the +X/+X. It has turned losses into wins for me on more than one occasion.
The question I have is should it be 2/1 Behemoth/Wurmcoil, or the other way around?
Sideboard
This leans towards the transformative SB, but the Huntmasters can be brought in against aggro decks to buy a little bit of time before you reanimate a large target.
Any thoughts would be helpful
Reforge the Soul probably should come out as I found that I sideboarded it out in most matchups. Wheel of Fortune is a powerful card and sometimes you need that gas in your hand, but it comes down to a few things
1) What can I be doing with 5 mana if I don't miracle it? Lingering Souls + Flashback, cast Unburial Rites from hand...seem to be better options
2) What benefits are you gaining vs the advantage you're giving your opponent?
However, I found that, against RG aggro and WRR its actually fairly decent since you gain such an advantage knocking cards out of their hand vs what they get in return.
Craterhoof Behemoth is an all star! I found that people are focusing too much on Elesh Norn as the big card in the deck that they totally miss out on the epicness of a Hoof coming down and turning all of my spirits and dorks into massive trampling hulks. You can basically one shot your opponent with him once he hits the table. Again, the drawback is that you really need him later in the game.
4 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Grislebrand
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Mana Dorks
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
2 Llanowar Elves
Fill the 'Yard
4 Mulch
4 Faithless Looting
2 Tracker's Instinct
2 Reforge the Soul
4 Unburial Rites
4 Lingering Souls
Land
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Gavony Township
5 Forest
3 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Ray of Revelation
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
Deck went 3-1, beating Mono Green, RG Aggro, and RWBU Reanimator, losing to UW Miracles.
The AVR additions:
Added these to the reanimation package at the expense of 3 Wurmcoil Engines. Gives the deck a little bit of diversity in reanimation targets, making it more resilient to Surgical Extraction. Craterhoof is a one shot win condition most of the time if he resolves. He's easy enough to hardcast since this deck can get GGG online with ease. The only downside is that you really don't get maximum value out of him by reanimating him early; you want to either hard cast him or wait until later in the game when you have more tokens or mana dorks on board.Grislebrand is a champ. Harder to hard cast but then again that's why we play with Unburial Rites. Unlike Craterhoof, he is a great target to reanimate early, the Lifelink allows you to replace the life gain from Wurmcoil, and the necro ability is just backbreaking.
2 Reforge the Soul
I'm torn on this. I don't like Tracker's Instinct since it pushes you into five colours, making the mana base a little flakier. I kept two in but replaced two with RtS. It's a tough card to play since sometimes you just don't want to refresh your opponent's grip. However, I have found times where I needed something like Faithless Looting to dump cards from my hand, and so this acts as a Super Looting, especially on a Miracle. It ended up getting boarded out in most game 2s.
1) In response to the ETB effect, can I cast Memory's Journey?
2) Does my opponent have to name a specific card (as in the Mana Leak closest to the top of his graveyard) or just Mana Leak? If it's a specific Mana Leak, will the ETB effect fizzle if I shuffle that one away with Memory's Journal?
Thanks
With no Modern deck to speak of, I went to my existing decks to see what I could port over easily. The one that was the easiest was my Legacy Tezz-Affinity deck, having only to swap out my artifact lands and Ancient Tombs for inferior lands. So this is the list I ended up running
//Land
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Island
3 Swamp
//Creatures
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Etched Champion
4 Master of Etherium
//Spells
3 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Thoughtcast
//Sideboard
2 Arcbound Ravager
2 Despise
2 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenetis
2 Hex Parasite
3 Ethersworn Cannonist
2 Dispatch
I realize you're looking at my sideboard and going "WTF?!". I'll talk more about it later, as well as main deck changes
Round 1 - Alex Gabriel (RUW Delver)
I sat down across from Alex and said "Well, guess I'm opening the tournament at 0-1". Alex is a really nice guy, and one of the better players at the store.
Game 1 - Alex does himself a lot of damage with fetches and shock lands, making my life a little easier. I drop a Master and a couple of Etched Champions and come race his flipped Delvers
Game 2 - I didn't sideboard anything in. Again, Alex takes most of his damage from his lands. My notes are sketchy but memory seems to indicate that the managed to Disenchant and Helix my good stuff and flew in with flipped Delvers for the win.
Game 3 - Alex recovers from shock/fetch damage with a couple of Helixes, but a resolved Tezzeret allows me to search up answers and deflect damage away from me and towards Tezz. Etched Champions FTW!
1-0 (2-1)
Round 2 - Brandon Vasko (BW Tokens)
Brandon is a regular at the store, fairly good but we seem to have a good split against each other
Game 1 - I mull to six, but a turn one Soul Warden doesn't bode well for me. Midnight Hauntings, Lingering Souls, Raise the Alarm, and it's game over for me
SB - +2 Despise, +2 Dispatch, -4 Myr Enforcer
Game 2 - The swarm comes out, as I manage to swing in for 7, then lethal the next turn
Game 3 - Again, mull to six A Soul Warden, a bunch of tokens, and an Intangible Virtue make semi-quick work of me
1-1 (3-3)
Round 3 - Blake Alty (Aggro-Loam)
Another regular who I routinely split my matches with. I know he's on Aggro-Loam as I've seen him building and testing it over a number of weeks
Game 1 - Shock/Fetch does a bit of work. Etched Champion and Cranial Plating go the distance.
SB - +2 Pithing Needle, +2 Relic of Progenetis, -4 Myr Enforcer
Game 2 - As typical in most matches, Etched Champion does most of the heavy lifting, with support from his friends and Cranial Plating.
2-1 (5-3)
Round 4 - Jeff Mcarthy (UW Affinity)
This is win and in. Never seen Jeff at the store before, which is good because I like to see our community grow even more.
Game 1 - We start throwing our hands on the table and racing. His racing is better than mine, with a Tempered Steel and Steel Overseer overwhelming my Champion-less board
SB - +2 Dispatch, +2 Despise, +2 Pithing Needle, -4 Myr Enforcer, -2 Frogmite
Game 2 - I Dispatch his Overseer early, and I Poison him out for the win with a Cranial Plated Inkmoth.
Game 3 - My notes are non-existent here, but if memory serves me correct, he was getting artifact screwed here. He had to trade his Memnites and Ornithopters for my creatures, so could never get Metalcraft online. Eventually he just caved and I was on my way to top 4
3-1 (7-4)
I placed 4th after swiss, so I played 1st place. Other match was Twin vs BW tokens
Semis - Jamie Hennessey (Jund)
I've seen Jamie a few times, never played him. Again, one of the better players around, hangs out with Alex (from round 1) and Mike (from the next round).
Game 1 - A couple of Etched Champions make it around his Tarmagoyf. The Etched Champions really give him a hard time as he has no way to deal with them. Shock/Fetch does the up front work for me and the Champions do the rest of the work
SB - +2 Relic of Progenetis, +2 Dispatch, +3 Ethersworn Cannonist, -4 Myr Enforcer, -2 Signal Pest, -1 Frogmite
Game 1 - Puke most of my hand onto the table early, allowing for turn 2 Champion, turn 3 Champion, turn 4 Champion. There was a Master in there as well but he was dealt with. Tezzeret made an appearance, allowed me to dig for more answers, but he got dealt with as well. Couple of Tarmagoyfs here on the table but rendered useless by my Champions. Dispatched one of them, then held one back for blocking while the other two went in for the win.
4-1 (9-4)
So I'm onto the finals, and the Tarmagoyf is within my reach. All that stands between him and I is.....
Finals - Mike Giles (BW Tokens)
Mike's a very good player; very deliberate, plays very tightly. We've played a bit in the past, it's always been pleasant, he gives me deck tips and I always listen :). I've managed to get the upper hand on him a few times, but each time I'm always very lucky.
Game 1 - According to my notes, he hits token generators really quickly and decimates my robot army
SB - Can't remember, no notes, but probably similar to round 2 with no Despise
Game 2 - I get a nasty draw, and proceed to yak my hand onto the table with something to the effect of Inkmoth, Mox, Ornithopter, Drum, Memnite, Thoughtcast. By turn 3 I swung in for 9 poison damage with my Plated Inkmoth. Things were coming up Millhouse for me until Mike cast a Lingering Souls, allowing him to stabilize. It went downhill from there as I just couldn't keep up with the tokens
4-2 (9-6)
So I ended up in second, $20 in store credit. For a 12 person tourney, I'm very happy. I beat two really good players and took a ported deck to second place. Etched Champion was a house since no one could deal with it effectively (except for the Affinity player who could block it all day).
I think BU is the optimal build with Tezzeret. It has the explosiveness of Affinity, but can grind out a longer game with a resolved Tezzeret. He becomes an immediate threat since he'll end the game the next turn, and I'll usually have a Champion or two to help protect him.
Now that I've had a couple of weeks to think about this (yes, this report is a couple weeks old, I've posted this elsewhere), I'd probably make the following changes
Maindeck: I'm comfortable with the core of the deck. The land base is probably where I'd make the changes. I wasn't aware that City of Brass was Modern legal, otherwise I'd run four of them, with the rest being either Darkslick Shores, Creeping Tar Pits, or Island/Swamps (I didn't have the BU Shocklands).
I'm sure that the Affinity package (Frogmites and Myr Enforcers) are probably the biggest question marks, but they're just as easy to get out with this build as they are in Legacy. If anything, I'd run main deck Dispatches, but only with the Cities in the maindeck.
Sideboard: Okay, so this was the sketchiest part of the deck. Based on who I knew was playing and what they had talked about, I was expecting some combination of AggroLoam, Tron, and Storm. In retrospect, I probably wouldn't have included the Ravagers and Hex Parasites, main decked the Dispatches. In their place I would have included Disenchant (again, I didn't realize this got reprinted in TSP) for AggroLoam, Affinity, and Pod, Torpor Orb for Twin, and Whipflare or Ratchet Bomb for Tokens. Lesson learned I guess.
So I've been registered here for a while but never introduced myself. My name is Trevor, aka GnuHouse. Used the username for ages, back when the idea of open source P2P file sharing was new, combined with my love of house music.
34 years old, been playing since Revised. Stopped playing somewhere in the Masques block. Picked it back up with Rise of the Eldrazi, been playing ever since. Play Standard mostly, but I love playing Legacy and, to a lesser extent, Modern. Not a fan of limited, but I'll play if I have to.
Local game store is Comic Connection in Oakville, Ontario. It's quickly becoming the focal point for Magic west of Toronto. When I started playing a couple years ago they had a hard time pulling in eight for a draft, but now they pull in about 30 on a Wednesday for Standard, and over 75 for midnight prereleases.
First rare I ever pulled was a Revised Tropical Island. First competitive deck I played was a Red/Black land destruction deck which I used to beat future hall of famer Gary Wise with in a Type 1 tournament (hooray Underworld Dreams!). Currently playing Frites in Standard, Tezz Affinity in Modern, and Tezz Afinnity or Dredge in Legacy.
I like long walks on the beach....oh wait, wrong site
When I read the official tournament rules, I'm a little confused as to what is supposed to happen. Section 2.1 seems to contradict itself when it says
So, the question is....should that match have been a draw, or should I have won?