I’m going to start off with the note that I don’t have a very established metagame. By this I mean there were about 5 competitive people there out of the 14 that showed up. The few other “Good” regulars didn’t show up. One of those, my friend Geoff, had said I could borrow some Power from him… To bad I didn’t get that email till Monday after the tournament. Anyways, I work with my friend Mike, and we got off early enough to make the tournament. On the way we assembled a janky Suicide black aimed toward more land destruction. I was equipped with my faithful Mono Blue deck, un-powered of course. We got there and saw and old high school buddy named Jake B. I don’t want to butcher his last name. What was funny is we got paired up first round.
Round 1: Jake B
UBW Control
Game 1 – Sure he gets to go first, opens with a Mishra’s Factory, but from there he got mana hosed. Part way through it didn’t help that I dropped a Back to Basics and then I Powder Keg away his Sol Ring. Mr. Morphling comes out two turns later and that sums that game up.
Game 2 - I sided in 1 more Back to Basics and 2 Control Magic. I hadn’t been aware of the rules, but I attacked with Ophidian and he turned his factory into a creature, and I Control Magic’d it. At EoT, he should have got it back, but it stayed on my side because he didn’t know the rules either. I drew into Morphling and with repeated blows of Ophidian the Factory and Morph gave me both games.
2-0, 1-0
Round 2: Troy Eng
Survival Madness deck
Game 1 – What a cool idea. Use the madness creatures with Survival of the Fittest to get and army fast. But, Back to Basics gets the All Star Award again. There wasn’t a single game that it came down that I lost. He drops 2nd turn Survival and it meets counter. 3rd turn drops a Mox Pearl and another land and plays a Wild Mongrel with eats counter, and then resolves a Survival. Tapped out, I drop a Back to Basics. Two turns later I draw Morphling.
Game 2 – He sides in Monk Realist for my Back to Basics I assume. I side in one more Back to Basics and two Control Magic. He opens up like a bat out of hell. I get Keg down and he gets early Survival down and Mongrel. Then he Survival’s out an Arrogant Wurm for what I can’t remember. I control magic it after setting my Keg to 2 counters. He then drops a Monk Realist targeting my Control Magic, and I blow the keg up for 2 to get rid of his make-shift army. I draw a Capsize with only 5 mana and decide I want to buy it back, so I wait a couple turns. Much to my surprise, the next 3 draws went like this: Back to Basics, Island, Morphling. That was the end of game 2.
2-0, 2-0
Round 3: Edwin
Burn Deck
A Note: Last month this guy beat me with his burn deck at the Extended tournament. I was playing Turboland. Needless to say I was pissed. Since then I sideboard red hate because of him in EVERY blue deck I run.
Game 1 - I draw Back to Basics two consecutive turns, and then I lose an Ophidian AGAIN. It seemed like they were dead before they hit the board more times that night. Eventually I get my Morphling, and to quote someone on the internet: “Tap 2 Swing for 5, next game.”
Game 2 – Props to Edwin. He killed a Morphling. I had 3 cards in had 2 Force of Will and 5 mana untapped. He casts an Avatar of Fury, and instead of taking a pain and losing my other Force, I just hard cast it, in response, he bolted my Morph when I was tapped out. It made me cry, but He deserved props for that move. Eventually I get 2 Chill on the board and cast another Morphling to get me another win.
2-0, 3-0
Final Round: Troy Eng
Man Land Stand Still deck
Game – 1 He gets out an early Mishra’s Factory out and beats me down with that. I draw all of his counters out and drop a Morphling while he has three Fairy Conclave’s and two Mishra’s Factory down. I drop a powder keg, stopping a rush at me. Then he drops his lotus with one card in hand, and I drop a Back to Basics, and he sacs his lotus and taps out to hard cast Force of Will, just to have me Force of Will his force. I end up killing with Morphling again.
Game – 2 It was a funny game with me resolving early Back to Basics and eventually getting all four Ophidian down and just taking him down with those for fun. I had fun doing that.
That’s it; I took first at a t1 tournament. I beat The Eng Brothers, probably 2 of the best players in my area. I also think that Geoff not being there might of contributed to my success.
Props:
Edwin Bolted my Morphling
I Killed with Ophidian’s
I beat both Eng brother’s in one night.
Slops:
Me for not going to Geoff and borrowing some power
My friend Mike for his attitude
BTW, Here is the list:
Mono Blue
Creatures:
4 Ophidian
3 Morphling
Spells:
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Mana Leak
4 Impulse
4 Powder Keg
2 Back to Basics
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Braingeyser
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Capsize
1 Misdirection
Land:
22 Island
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
Sideboard:
3 Gainsay
1 B2B
4 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Chill
3 Rushing River
2 Cannotremember
A NOTE: I Only own 1 Wasteland, hence, I only played with 1.
Ok, now I’ll pay attention to my lecture.
-Doug-