including an old seesic (predates the actual alias seesic, I believe)
It is. It's a piece from when Michael Noel was still painting under the Masamune handle. Glad that Tinker stayed in the cube family. It's a historically famous piece in the altered art community. Been floating around from one cube/EDH collection to another over the years.
That's awesome. Historical alter... I could get used to that.
Some new alters from some excellent artists, including an old seesic (predates the actual alias seesic, I believe), demonium and Ondal. Chalice was a birthday gift from mister LaRocque himself.
The deck felt great. I didn't have any byes in the tournament so I knew I was in for a long haul of a day. I bought a pack foil ONS windswept heath to replace my judge foothills but wasn't able to play it for the event since I had already registered. Darn. I ate a little bit of a bagel sandwich and we were off to the races. I last minute replaced revokers with trackers the night before as an extra hedge against the fair decks, they ended up being great and I missed playing them. Revokers are great in a lot of ways but I figured I was overboarding for the combo MU.
R1 Jund 2-1
G1: Fetches basic swamp -> DRS, fetches basic forest plays a second DRS and Hymns, I draw dead to DRS and die.
G2: Punishing Fire keeps everything dead with goyfs held off with maze. He needles and I copy his bayou in response with stage and he names stage. I play Depths and copy it on his EOT and kill him.
G3: I have the turn 2 kill with T1 exploration T2 stage depths go.
R2 TES 0-2
G1: He cantrips a bunch and probes me 3 times before burning wish into a telemin performance. :|
G2: He mulls to 6, I gamble T1 for a thorn. He rips dark ritual off the top and I die to an Ad Nauseum T1.
R3 Elves 2-0
G1: Punishing Fire all the guys, ghost quarter all the basics. Play tabernacle.
G2: I have a sick hand which goes T1 Mox diamond + stage Pfire your guy, T2 grove Pfire your guy, T3 Dark Depths and kill you.
R4 ANT 2-0
G1: We play draw go for a bit and I start to ghost quarter him out. He realizes he can't wait too much longer and goes for it, and in response to a dark petition with 6 mana floating from LEDs, I rotate bog him since I figure that's the best line I have to cut him off spell mastery and PiF. I expect to lose to Ad Naus but he didn't have it maindeck and tendrils me for 14 before passing. I also noted he discarded empty the warrens to the LEDs, so on my turn I rotate again, sacrificing my bog, cast Loam and bog him again and he scoops without any wincons left.
G2: He T1 cantrips, I T1 have Land, Exploration, Tomb, Thorn, followed by T2 sphere and then a 20/20 shortly after.
R5 Elves 0-2
G1: I mull hard this game, down to a super shaky 5 and get hoofed real easily.
G2: I mull to 6 and keep an insane hand if I can find a green source, scry to the bottom. I don't find it till it's too late and with chasm in play with Marit lage ready, he drains me for 12 with double deathrite and 4 untap effects after an insane double glimpse turn.
R6 BUG Delver 2-1
G1: I get beat up by double delver and a couple wastelands, force and daze on the loams keep me off action enough to take the game.
G2: He has an early Leovold taxing me out but I take this crazy line where I triple waste + GQ him out letting him draw a bunch of cards but then play tabernacle which kills both of his creatures including Leo. This lets me keep him off mana in spite of the card advantage and i take it.
G3: He has an early Sylvan Library which is great in this MU, but I grind out a 20/20 in turns before some goyfs eat me.
R7 BUG Delver 2-0
G1: Punishing Fire the DRS and delvers and ghost quarter keeps his board clean while I make a 20/20.
G2: Kill his early threat and draw go favors me while I have an active Loam and he fails to find action.
R8 Sneak and Show 2-1
G1: I ghost quarter his basic island 2 times and he gets a third basic so I put him on Omni or sneak. He petals to play a sneak and passes and I try to cut him off mana but he sneaks an emrakul in and drops me to 5. I try to rebuild with a topdecked Karakas but he draws into a second red source and another emrakul.
G2: He plays an early Sneak with no open mana and I Krosan Grip it and Surgical them away. I find Karakas for the show and we play draw go for a while before he blood moons me. I grip it away and make a 20/20.
G3: He mulls to 6 on the play and just says go. I lead with the intent to turn 3 combo but he petal Preordains into basic mountain and city of traitors -> blood moon before i get there. I gamble for Grip and keep it, Grip the moon and make a lage.
R9 BUG Delver 2-0
G1: Wasteland + 2 Ghost Quarter destroy this matchup early, with Loam and tabernacle sealing the deal.
G2: I get low down to 4 from goyf and angler along with wastelands on the mazes but rotate twice to make a surprise Marit lage on his EOT to steal it.
R10 Red and Taxes 0-2
G1: T3 magus of the moon followed by sword of fire and ice + jitte ends this one quick.
G2: We play a grindy game but a chalice on 2 shuts off fire and Loam, and he eventually gets a SoFaI on a flickerwisp while I don't have enough ammo for molten vortex and die quickly.
R11 Dragon Stompy 2-1
G1: He turn 1 chalices followed by double magus of the moon and a blood moon. Nope.jpg
G2: He opens with turn 0 Leyline of the void, T1 City of traitors, chrome mox, blood moon. I have a mox diamond and basic forest and play draw go while he plays double ensnaring bridge and a quicksmith rebel letting the bridge shoot. I gamble for EE and get to EE3 away in a glorious turn then make a lage to take it.
G3: He has an early moon as well as a Chandra, I mise a Grip in my hand for a long time while trying to set up a turn where I can Grip + make token in the same turn. He thankfully flips two lands off Chandra over a few turns which gives me the time I need to safely make the play I was hoping for.
R12 BUG Delver 1-2
G1: I mull to the saddest 4 cards ever, my 7 was do nothing lands + 2 mox, my 6 was the same minus a land, my 5 was gamblex2, EE, Loam,Exploration. It was not a game.
G2: I do what lands does best and deny everything he has before making a 20/20 at 7 life.
G3: He has double goyf and stops my EE with null rod, and also has 2 DRS + 3 wastelands. Yikes.
R13 Burn 2-0
G1: I buy myself two turns from double goblin guide double swiftspear with chasm, long enough for me to set up combo.
G2: My opponent gets land screwed on one land and is one point of damage short when I combo out.
R14 BUG Delver 2-0
G1: I mana deny him hard before locking him out with tabernacle. He scoops once my Loam resolves for double wasteland ghost quarter while he's on one land. He was actually playing 3 basics which was odd.
G2: He has turn 1 DRS followed by T2 bitterblossom which is annoying. I drop a little low on life keeping triple delver at bay with a maze and recurring pfire. I play a spe during a turn which he dazes which is great, because I crop rotate into a tabernacle and triple waste him cutting him down to 1 mana, while I pfire his only faerie each turn. I stabilize at 3 and he says he's had enough and packs it up.
R15 Infect 2-1
G1: My opponent leads tropical go which I waste. He plays foothills and passes which leads me to believe infect. I buy myself some extra time to buildup with chasm and he tries to become immense berserk me with it in play...? I end up ghost quartering all of his lands and tabernacling him out.
G2: He leads turn 1 tropical glistener elf. I wasteland his tropical and surgical all of them. Unfortunately his hand is fetch, invigorate x 2, brainstorm, so he fetches forest and hits me for 9 and I don't have an answer for the next swing. I had a GQ and tabby in hand so if he didn't kill me there he was most likely dead with no mana producing lands besides pendelhaven and inkmoth. I took a risk keeping the hand.
G3: I make a turn 2 Marit lage but he crop rotations for Karakas. Noble hierarch get a few beats in, but I eventually draw Loam to remake the beast and take him down.
I end 11-4, one win from prizing, but good enough for two pro points and a lot of fun.
Takesaways:
Wail wasn't super great during the event. I did board them in quite a bit but I think I'll try something else in the meantime. I currently went -2 wail + ancient grudge + pithing needle.
Tracker is still great. I didn't miss revokers too much.
11-4 at GP Vegas, good enough for two pro points. Deck felt solid aside from a few times I mulled to oblivion but that's variance for you. Can try to get a tournament report up later.
Quick combo or chasm lock is your only outs to burn. If your meta is infested with it, I'd play a copy of Zuran Orb somewhere in the 75. You can chasm lock burn and ghost quarter them out until you're 100% sure it's safe, no need to open it up when they still have mana and get zapped by instants.
Against Sneak and Show, it's pretty abysmal. G1 you want to cut them off Red, either with GQ or Port, and be able to find karakas. Postboard it's a toss up since they also bring in blood moons against you, but Warping Wail, Grip and Revokers are amazing here. You can also quick combo them and they have no way to deal with a marit lage token.
Tidespout tyrant is pretty much the only card you really care about pre-board. Chasm lock and Karakas get you through pretty much anything else and they can't interact with maze of ith well either.
Deck felt solid. I really like the new cycling land.
Grats as well Sparki! Can you eleborate on Sheltered Thicket's usage? I understand you can save Loam from Surgical, use it to draw extra cards, use it for extra Loam's, etc.. My question is more like...when do you decide to fetch/gamble for it? Or do you just wait till you draw of dredge it?
Could you write out how the ANT match went? Thanks a lot in advance!
Thicket was great because it's fetchable. When you already had loam and exploration going or something like molten vortex, it's a great target to grab to help play around surgical, as well as just plow through your library to find what you need. I'd probably wait to fetch or dredge it and save the gambles for something more important.
My ANT matchup was honestly pretty lucky.
G1 I have a T3 kill, and he combos out the turn before in a great Ad Naus turn. He knows I have a crop rotation in hand to bog, but makes me play my hand out by casting cabal therapy, which forces me to rotate bog. In response to the bog trigger, he casts a cabal ritual to still hit threshold and it gives him the required mana to combo out.
G2, I mull down to 6, and I lead with a T1 crop rotation for ancient tomb -> Thorn of Amethyst. He plays a volcanic, pays life and mana and probes me. I waste him and he doesn't draw a land for 6 turns and dies.
G3, I have a T1 revoker naming LED. I'm lacking green mana for a crop rotation but eventually draw one and hit him with a ghost quarter on his only basic swamp. I rip loam off the top and ghost another island leaving him with one island left. He's at 11 life and is forced to go for it because I have him ghost locked the next turn otherwise, but he is 1 mana short of a tutor chain to kill me at 18 life, so is forced to Ad Naus and dies to it. (I surgical petals in response to the Ad Naus to not give him immediate mana sources). He had an echoing truth in his hand and was thinking about hitting revoker the turn before, but he didn't think he would be able to go off and declined to. I'll take it!
Very nice stuff!
That's awesome. Historical alter... I could get used to that.
It's not going anywhere sometime soon!
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bojuka Bog
3 Dark Depths
1 Forest
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Chasm
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Karakas
3 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Sheltered Thicket
2 Taiga
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Thespian's Stage
1 Tropical Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Crop Rotation
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Exploration
4 Gamble
4 Life from the Loam
1 Molten Vortex
4 Mox Diamond
3 Punishing Fire
1 Chalice of the Void
3 Krosan Grip
2 Sphere of Resistance
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Warping Wail
The deck felt great. I didn't have any byes in the tournament so I knew I was in for a long haul of a day. I bought a pack foil ONS windswept heath to replace my judge foothills but wasn't able to play it for the event since I had already registered. Darn.
R1 Jund 2-1
G1: Fetches basic swamp -> DRS, fetches basic forest plays a second DRS and Hymns, I draw dead to DRS and die.
G2: Punishing Fire keeps everything dead with goyfs held off with maze. He needles and I copy his bayou in response with stage and he names stage. I play Depths and copy it on his EOT and kill him.
G3: I have the turn 2 kill with T1 exploration T2 stage depths go.
R2 TES 0-2
G1: He cantrips a bunch and probes me 3 times before burning wish into a telemin performance. :|
G2: He mulls to 6, I gamble T1 for a thorn. He rips dark ritual off the top and I die to an Ad Nauseum T1.
R3 Elves 2-0
G1: Punishing Fire all the guys, ghost quarter all the basics. Play tabernacle.
G2: I have a sick hand which goes T1 Mox diamond + stage Pfire your guy, T2 grove Pfire your guy, T3 Dark Depths and kill you.
R4 ANT 2-0
G1: We play draw go for a bit and I start to ghost quarter him out. He realizes he can't wait too much longer and goes for it, and in response to a dark petition with 6 mana floating from LEDs, I rotate bog him since I figure that's the best line I have to cut him off spell mastery and PiF. I expect to lose to Ad Naus but he didn't have it maindeck and tendrils me for 14 before passing. I also noted he discarded empty the warrens to the LEDs, so on my turn I rotate again, sacrificing my bog, cast Loam and bog him again and he scoops without any wincons left.
G2: He T1 cantrips, I T1 have Land, Exploration, Tomb, Thorn, followed by T2 sphere and then a 20/20 shortly after.
R5 Elves 0-2
G1: I mull hard this game, down to a super shaky 5 and get hoofed real easily.
G2: I mull to 6 and keep an insane hand if I can find a green source, scry to the bottom. I don't find it till it's too late and with chasm in play with Marit lage ready, he drains me for 12 with double deathrite and 4 untap effects after an insane double glimpse turn.
R6 BUG Delver 2-1
G1: I get beat up by double delver and a couple wastelands, force and daze on the loams keep me off action enough to take the game.
G2: He has an early Leovold taxing me out but I take this crazy line where I triple waste + GQ him out letting him draw a bunch of cards but then play tabernacle which kills both of his creatures including Leo. This lets me keep him off mana in spite of the card advantage and i take it.
G3: He has an early Sylvan Library which is great in this MU, but I grind out a 20/20 in turns before some goyfs eat me.
R7 BUG Delver 2-0
G1: Punishing Fire the DRS and delvers and ghost quarter keeps his board clean while I make a 20/20.
G2: Kill his early threat and draw go favors me while I have an active Loam and he fails to find action.
R8 Sneak and Show 2-1
G1: I ghost quarter his basic island 2 times and he gets a third basic so I put him on Omni or sneak. He petals to play a sneak and passes and I try to cut him off mana but he sneaks an emrakul in and drops me to 5. I try to rebuild with a topdecked Karakas but he draws into a second red source and another emrakul.
G2: He plays an early Sneak with no open mana and I Krosan Grip it and Surgical them away. I find Karakas for the show and we play draw go for a while before he blood moons me. I grip it away and make a 20/20.
G3: He mulls to 6 on the play and just says go. I lead with the intent to turn 3 combo but he petal Preordains into basic mountain and city of traitors -> blood moon before i get there. I gamble for Grip and keep it, Grip the moon and make a lage.
R9 BUG Delver 2-0
G1: Wasteland + 2 Ghost Quarter destroy this matchup early, with Loam and tabernacle sealing the deal.
G2: I get low down to 4 from goyf and angler along with wastelands on the mazes but rotate twice to make a surprise Marit lage on his EOT to steal it.
R10 Red and Taxes 0-2
G1: T3 magus of the moon followed by sword of fire and ice + jitte ends this one quick.
G2: We play a grindy game but a chalice on 2 shuts off fire and Loam, and he eventually gets a SoFaI on a flickerwisp while I don't have enough ammo for molten vortex and die quickly.
R11 Dragon Stompy 2-1
G1: He turn 1 chalices followed by double magus of the moon and a blood moon. Nope.jpg
G2: He opens with turn 0 Leyline of the void, T1 City of traitors, chrome mox, blood moon. I have a mox diamond and basic forest and play draw go while he plays double ensnaring bridge and a quicksmith rebel letting the bridge shoot. I gamble for EE and get to EE3 away in a glorious turn then make a lage to take it.
G3: He has an early moon as well as a Chandra, I mise a Grip in my hand for a long time while trying to set up a turn where I can Grip + make token in the same turn. He thankfully flips two lands off Chandra over a few turns which gives me the time I need to safely make the play I was hoping for.
R12 BUG Delver 1-2
G1: I mull to the saddest 4 cards ever, my 7 was do nothing lands + 2 mox, my 6 was the same minus a land, my 5 was gamblex2, EE, Loam,Exploration. It was not a game.
G2: I do what lands does best and deny everything he has before making a 20/20 at 7 life.
G3: He has double goyf and stops my EE with null rod, and also has 2 DRS + 3 wastelands. Yikes.
R13 Burn 2-0
G1: I buy myself two turns from double goblin guide double swiftspear with chasm, long enough for me to set up combo.
G2: My opponent gets land screwed on one land and is one point of damage short when I combo out.
R14 BUG Delver 2-0
G1: I mana deny him hard before locking him out with tabernacle. He scoops once my Loam resolves for double wasteland ghost quarter while he's on one land. He was actually playing 3 basics which was odd.
G2: He has turn 1 DRS followed by T2 bitterblossom which is annoying. I drop a little low on life keeping triple delver at bay with a maze and recurring pfire. I play a spe during a turn which he dazes which is great, because I crop rotate into a tabernacle and triple waste him cutting him down to 1 mana, while I pfire his only faerie each turn. I stabilize at 3 and he says he's had enough and packs it up.
R15 Infect 2-1
G1: My opponent leads tropical go which I waste. He plays foothills and passes which leads me to believe infect. I buy myself some extra time to buildup with chasm and he tries to become immense berserk me with it in play...? I end up ghost quartering all of his lands and tabernacling him out.
G2: He leads turn 1 tropical glistener elf. I wasteland his tropical and surgical all of them. Unfortunately his hand is fetch, invigorate x 2, brainstorm, so he fetches forest and hits me for 9 and I don't have an answer for the next swing. I had a GQ and tabby in hand so if he didn't kill me there he was most likely dead with no mana producing lands besides pendelhaven and inkmoth. I took a risk keeping the hand.
G3: I make a turn 2 Marit lage but he crop rotations for Karakas. Noble hierarch get a few beats in, but I eventually draw Loam to remake the beast and take him down.
I end 11-4, one win from prizing, but good enough for two pro points and a lot of fun.
Takesaways:
Wail wasn't super great during the event. I did board them in quite a bit but I think I'll try something else in the meantime. I currently went -2 wail + ancient grudge + pithing needle.
Tracker is still great. I didn't miss revokers too much.
Ancient Tomb in the sideboard is gas.
Against Sneak and Show, it's pretty abysmal. G1 you want to cut them off Red, either with GQ or Port, and be able to find karakas. Postboard it's a toss up since they also bring in blood moons against you, but Warping Wail, Grip and Revokers are amazing here. You can also quick combo them and they have no way to deal with a marit lage token.
Tidespout tyrant is pretty much the only card you really care about pre-board. Chasm lock and Karakas get you through pretty much anything else and they can't interact with maze of ith well either.
Thicket was great because it's fetchable. When you already had loam and exploration going or something like molten vortex, it's a great target to grab to help play around surgical, as well as just plow through your library to find what you need. I'd probably wait to fetch or dredge it and save the gambles for something more important.
My ANT matchup was honestly pretty lucky.
G1 I have a T3 kill, and he combos out the turn before in a great Ad Naus turn. He knows I have a crop rotation in hand to bog, but makes me play my hand out by casting cabal therapy, which forces me to rotate bog. In response to the bog trigger, he casts a cabal ritual to still hit threshold and it gives him the required mana to combo out.
G2, I mull down to 6, and I lead with a T1 crop rotation for ancient tomb -> Thorn of Amethyst. He plays a volcanic, pays life and mana and probes me. I waste him and he doesn't draw a land for 6 turns and dies.
G3, I have a T1 revoker naming LED. I'm lacking green mana for a crop rotation but eventually draw one and hit him with a ghost quarter on his only basic swamp. I rip loam off the top and ghost another island leaving him with one island left. He's at 11 life and is forced to go for it because I have him ghost locked the next turn otherwise, but he is 1 mana short of a tutor chain to kill me at 18 life, so is forced to Ad Naus and dies to it. (I surgical petals in response to the Ad Naus to not give him immediate mana sources). He had an echoing truth in his hand and was thinking about hitting revoker the turn before, but he didn't think he would be able to go off and declined to. I'll take it!
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Dark Depths
1 Forest
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Chasm
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Karakas
3 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Sheltered Thicket
2 Taiga
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Thespian's Stage
2 Tropical Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Crop Rotation
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Exploration
3 Gamble
4 Life from the Loam
1 Manabond
1 Molten Vortex
4 Mox Diamond
3 Punishing Fire
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Chalice of the Void
3 Krosan Grip
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Sphere of Resistance
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Warping Wail
Deck felt solid. I really like the new cycling land.
I played against:
R1: Bantblade? Deathblade? Whatever you want to call it. 2-0
R2: DnT 2-0
R3: RG Lands 2-0
R4: ANT 2-1
R5: DnT 2-0
R6/7: ID
As for shipping, you can buy Global forever stamps in the US for $1.15 last I checked! Sent many a card that way and never lost anything.
Nice job. Did you like only 2 maze?