[Editor’s note: This report is reposted by permission and on behalf of Josh Bingaman. He piloted Tin Fins with a Doomsday transformational sideboard in GP NJ in November 2014 to a 58th place finish at 12-3. Enjoy!]
This is going to be rather lengthy, so get yourself some popcorn. Or better yet, an Onion Burst or Blooming Onion or something! As long as it’s onion related, I’ll accept it.
Our story begins the Monday before GPNJ. I’m still sorta debating what I’m going to play, considering UB Tezzeret, but pretty set on 5 Color DDFT with a 7 chant disruption suite. I haven’t played too much magic recently as life has gotten the better of me, so I headed over to Wanderlust’s house to jam some games with both of these to see how they fare against the format’s new boogeyman: UR Delver. Played lots of games with both and we’re not too happy with how they turn out. UB Tezz is a beast when you’re on the play, but seems very hard to catch up on the draw to be able to play Chalice or a Planeswalker through Daze. DDFT seemed about a turn too slow for my liking against UR,although emidln disagrees – I’ll defer to him, as he’s way better with the deck than I am. Could easily have just been playing suboptimally. But regardless as to whether my conclusions are correct, I wasn’t feeling them. They just felt too slow vs. UR’s incredibly fast clock. So… what to do about speeding up? Oh, I know, play one of the fastest combo decks I’ve ever laid my hands on: Tin Fins! Turns out UR seems to have pushed a lot of the Deathrite Shamans out of the format, barely runs any graveyard hate itself, and overall is pretty light on disruption. Wanderlust points all this out to me, and I’m re-convinced to pick up my old deck again.
However, I’ve always struggled with the sideboard plan in modern incarnations of the deck. The best success I’ve ever had was a terrible ANT transformation at GP Atlanta 2.5 years ago… I didn’t want to run that again. And I did really want to run Doomsday… yep, that makes for a much better transformation. Dodges graveyard hate and is stronger against discard spells as it is a one card combo. A few awesome people (Koby, Shivan Goat, warfordium, and Acclimation) toss some ideas around in an email thread discussing reactive plans as well as a couple of other transformations. I don’t see anything that looks any more appealing to me than casting Doomsday out of the board, so I’m sold.
Busy week goes by, and I don’t even get around to getting cards out to build the deck until late Thursday night. I only grab the cards I need for the 75 I settled on and the rest needed for 5C Doomsday (just in case for side events). Settled on this 75:
4 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Children of Korlis
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
1 Reanimate
2 Thoughtseize
3 Goryo’s Vengeance
2 Lim-Dûl’s Vault
4 Shallow Grave
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Griselbrand
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Sideboard:
1 Shelldock Isle
3 Lion’s Eye Diamond
1 Pithing Needle
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Ideas Unbound
4 Doomsday
Done. Could I have found a more hilarious 75? I don’t think so. Time to burst some Onions of DOOM! Why bother drawing only 3 with Treasure Cruise on Turn 4 or whatever, when you can draw 21 with Griselbrand on Turn 1? See, I like card advantage as much as the next guy!
The standard transformation is:
-4 Shallow Grave
-3 Goryo’s Vengeance
-1 Reanimate
-1 Children of Korlis
-4 Entomb
-2 Griselbrand
And swap in the entire sideboard, cutting all reliance on the graveyard.
I flew out from Boulder/Denver at 8am, arriving at 2, fully intending to play in some grinders to actually remember how to play the deck as I hadn’t played it in well over a year in any real competitive sense. Possibly GP Denver? But I get distracted by dealer tables and end up trading in a pile of extra chaff to a dealer for a French Underground Sea, French Tundra, and French Scrubland. Deck just got a little bit prettier! By that time, I’m hungry, without a car, and the rest of the Boulder crew had arrived at the hotel. So I end up walking back to the Edison Hotel to get some food at Harold’s where we proceed to eat the largest sandwich in the history of humans. Really, wtf is that place? Finally get to jam some games against Jason to try to remember how to play this deck, and he crushes me with UWR Stoneblade and UR Delver. Great start! I’m feeling REALLY good about my deck choice… I screw up left and right and decide that I’m perfectly ready for the main event. But the meta does seem really soft to fast combo, and I still really want to be casting Doomsday because I hate myself according to that flowchart. #YOLO
And the event….
Round 1: Zach with Team America
I win the die roll – Good sign!
G1: I mulligan to 5 – bad sign! He goes to 6, so could be worse. T1 he plays Deathrite. Great – the exact matchup I was hoping to dodge. This is going to be a short event… T2 I fetch, Thoughtseize seeing Force, Goyf, Stifle, Delta, and Brainstorm. Stifles too,huh? Probably means Wasteland. Uh oh… I end up doing nothing this game and die to Deathrite and Goyf beats.
G2: I transform as he saw enough of what I was doing game 1 and I really don’t like trying to play through Deathrite. I keep 7 and he goes to 5. I can’t say I remember exactly what happened, but I baited a stifle with a fetch I didn’t need, and won with Sensei’s Diving Top in play, cast Doomsday with Gitaxian Probe in hand, and Tendrils for 22.
G3: I transform back to Tin Fins for some reason. Maybe because I was tired? I keep a strong 7 with Shallow Grave and lots of search, but could never find Entomb and I died.
In hindsight, I boarded wrong both games. I should have stayed Tin Fins on the play, and Doomsday on the draw. Very auspicious start to my tournament.
0-1/1-2
Round 2: Zach with Esper… Something (I played a lot of Zachs in this event)
I win the die roll again – time to make up for round 1!
G1: We both keep 7. I have the nuts and lead off with Dark Ritual which gets forced. I play Lotus Petal and Entomb which resolves. Hard part done… T3 I Shallow Grave, which gets Forced. Then cast Lim-Dul’s Vault on his end step on the next turn and see Goryo’s Vengeance in the Top 5 – DING! Onions were then burst all over the place and he died.
G2: Go to Doomsday as I don’t want to play against Rest in Peace with reanimation. I keep a good 7 with Ideas Unbound in hand. It was a little slow, but lots of search with Cantrips, Sensei’s Divining Top and Doomsday, but not a lot of mana. He casts Ashiok (sweet) and exiles some irrelevant stuff. I finally get Dark Rit and Doomsday in hand, but can’t beat the Force of Will I suspect he has. So, I cast Ideas Unbound looking for a discard spell. And…. he Notion Thiefs in response. Wow. Gross. I empty my hand and get Doomsday Forced (expected) before I have to discard my hand at end of turn. SDT eventually finds a Petal and Doomsday, and Shelldock Isle + Emrakul get there.
There that’s more like it.
1-1/3-2
Round 3: Dan with Oops… All Spells
He wins the die roll – didn’t know what he was on, but he smelled like combo. I’m not scared.
G1: I keep 7, he keeps 5. Sure enough, he dumps his hand and casts Undercity Informer, but doesn’t have the mana to activate it. Oops… he passed the turn. Oops… I burst some Onions off of Lotus Petal on my turn.
G2: I stay on Tin Fins because it’s faster, but board out both Lim-Dul’s Vaults for the Chain of Vapor and Pithing Needle. LDV will never ever ever come up in this match, and those 2 cards might actually do something. We both keep 7. Uh Oh… yeah, I don’t get a turn and he kills me T1. Better hope for a strong hand game 3…
G3: I’m on the play, but I mulligan down to 5. Shit. He keeps 7. Double shit. I keep a hand of Marsh Flats, Cabal Therapy, Brainstorm, Griselbrand, and Pithing Needle. That’s about as good as I’m going to get. So I cast a T1 Pithing Needle naming Street Wraith. He responds with, “well shit.” Pass… He goes off, flips his library, casts Lab Maniac, but can’t win right now because Street Wraith is Needled. He then Therapies away my Brainstorm… I’m essentially on a 1 outer off the top – either Chain of Vapor or a Brainstorm into an IMS and Chain of Vapor. He passes, I just flip the top card of my library over on the table… and it’s most definitely the perfect Chain of Vapor! Bounce Lab Maniac, pass the turn, win. #getrekt Yep, I’m a lucksack! Let’s hope it keeps up!
He’s not salty at all but just can’t believe his bad luck.
Also, I really hate the name Oops… All Spells. I can appreciate the cereal reference and all, but really? Can’t it just be another non-sequitur like Grape Nuts or Kashi Go-Lean Island Vanilla Shredded Wheat?
2-1/5-3
Round 4: Sean (Juice11) with Natural Order BUG
Yeah, of course I win the die roll again after that Chain of Vapor…
G1: I keep 7, he keeps 6. I keep 2x Entomb, Shallow Grave, Ponder, Rit, USea. I play USea and pass to play it safe, planning on baiting out countermagic with the first entomb on his turn. I do that at the end of his turn – he Dazes. I untap, draw and play another land, and Entomb – this one resolves… Rit, Shallow Grave, Burst some Onions! Get it!
G2: I keep on Tin Fins as I thought he was Bant. We both keep 7, but I don’t remember what I kept. He T1 Thoughtseizes me – guess he’s not Bant. He took something important (we think it was Ponder), and my hand isn’t looking as good anymore. I think I play a cantrip and pass. T2 he plays Deathrite… Uh Oh. He casts some Tarmogoyfs and eventually kills me with dudes.
G3: After I saw Deathrite and lots of discard, I switch to Doomsday. I keep 7, and he keeps 6. My hand is an easy T1 kill provided he’s got no protection. I Probe and see Brainstorm, Craterhoof Behemoth, Noble Hierarch, Deathrite Shaman, Scavenging Ooze, and Natural Order. What the hell am I playing against? Doesn’t really matter cause he can’t interact with me. Proceed to cast Doomsday and Tendrils for 24+ or something.
I look at his deck afterwards and see it’s Nature Order BUG. That was the only way I figured out what he was doing.
3-1/7-4
Round 5: Chuck (cab0747) with Imperial Painter
Win that die roll again… run goods!
G1: I keep 7, he keeps 6. I think I lead with Thoughtseize seeing Blood Moon, Revoker, Imperial Recruiter, City of Traitors, and 2 Bloodstained Mires. I take Blood Moon and Pass. I don’t do much of anything for a while – eventually save up land drops to discard Griselbrand to hand size but no reanimation yet, while he is beating me down with Recuiters and Painters Servants. He Pyroblasts my Tundra, and I’m running low on land now too. He attacks me down to 2, Revoker’s Griselbrand, and I have 2 pieces of reanimation in hand as well as Lim-Dul’s Vault. He attacks me with 2 Recruiters for exactly lethal, so I Dark Ritual and Shallow Grave Griselbrand as a blocker and gain 7 life. I live, and then use the floating black and an open blue to cast LDV – find Entomb in the second set of 5. Untap, Entomb for Emrakul, Vengeance in response to the shuffle trigger, and kill him as he’s down to 13 from Ancient Tomb activations. Nail biter…
G2: I think we both kept 7, but my notes kinda suck from this game. I transformed to Doomsday in case of Tormods Crypts with Goblin Welder or the like. I believe I lead with Thoughtseize again, seeing Recuiter, Painter, Pyroblast, Revoker, Ensnaring Bridge, Blood Moon, and a land. I take Blood Moon. If I remember correctly, I think I passed the turn, cast Doomsday into Shelldock on my Turn 2 for the win. Hopefully if I got that wrong he can correct me.
Was a fun match and a very nice guy.
4-1/9-4
Round 6: Billy with BW Leyline/RIP/Helm/Something
Lose this die roll… can’t win ’em all I guess.
G1: He starts with T0 Leyline of the Void. Shit. I keep playing so I can see more of his cards to figure out what is going on. Between probes and thoughtseizes, I see Stoneforge Mystic, Dark Rituals, Batterskull, Defense Grid, and Helm of Obedience before he kills me with something. Just… wow. What am I playing against?
G2: I couldn’t transform into Doomsday fast enough. I keep 5, he keeps 6. I have LED, Doomsday, a cantrip, and a land. I T1 cantrip into a land floating Dark Ritual on top. He T1 Thoughtseizes me… and takes LED. THANK. GOD. I untap and cast Doomsday… which he then proceeds to read and says, “Guess I should have read that before taking LED…” Yeah dude, guess you should have. Shelldock Isle and Emrakul punish him for not reading cards.
G3:I go down to 5 again (geez) and he keeps 7. I don’t remember this game very much, but I probe or thoughtseize and see Vampire Hexmage, E-tutor, Ritual, Thespians Stage, some land, and Inquisition of Kozilek. What is even going on? He eventually makes a batterskull and swings in once going to 21. I then cast Doomsday and win… somehow. I think it was Tendrils as I don’t see another hit from Batterskull on our life totals after that, and I would have needed to pass the turn had it been Shelldock.
What a weird deck. I’m pretty sure this guy is actually crazy.
5-1/11-5
Round 7: Zach (the third) with Elves
I win the die roll. Luck is really on my side today!
G1: I probe and see 2x Quirion Ranger, Green Sun’s Zenith, Elvish Visionary, WIndswept Heath, Cradle, and Bayou. I don’t care about any of that! My hand is close to going off with Reanimation, Brainstorm, and Therapy, just needing Entomb or a Dude to therapy away. I brainstorm into Emrakul, and something else. I must have been constrained on mana as I tank thinking of the best way to go off. I must have distracted myself somehow, as I manage to put back both Therapy AND Emrakul AND crack a fetchland before I realize what I even did. What was I even doing? Whoops… I do nothing after that while he Craterhoofs me.
G2: I stay on Tin Fins as he doesn’t know what I’m doing yet since I screwed up that last game so badly. I board in Chain of Vapor and Pithing Needle for 1 LDV and 1 Probe. I open on Probe seeing 3x Elvish Visionary, Nettle Sentinel, 2 Natural Orders and Windswept Heath. Oh, what’s that I have in hadn? A Pithing Needle? I play Needle naming WIndswept Heath and my opponent’s jaw drops. He gets very sad. I have Therapy, Ritual, Griselbrand, and Brainstorm in hand, hoping to Brainstorm into reanimation next turn. I don’t need to as I rip it off the top and proceed to burst Onions in my sad opponent’s face.
G3: I’m on the draw, so I board into Doomsday in case of Deathrite Shaman. We both keep 7, mine is insane with SDT, Delta, THerapy, Chome Mox, Ritual, Doomsday, and Probe. He plays Forest and some irrelevant Elf. I cast Top, Ritual, and Doomsday and kill him to answer his elf. Yeah… Doomsday is pretty sick.
6-1/13-6
Round 8: Richard with UR
I just keep winning die rolls…
G1: I keep 6, but I don’t remember exactly what they were. They were good, whatever they were. He plays Volcanic into Delver – finally, the matchup I’d been hoping to play! Seems like a good one… He reveals Daze and Force to Delver triggers, so I know I have to beat those. I finally get a hand that does it with Ritual, Petal, Therapy, Entomb, Shallow Grave, and 2 lands in play. I sequence poorly like an idiot and lead with ritual. I realize my mistake immediately and and that my only hope is…. hope. Fail. He forces the Ritual and I lose. Damn, that one stung.
G2: I stay on Tin Fins as UR doesn’t have a lot of grave hate and I’m on the play. I go to 6 again and he keeps 7. He attacks me with Swiftspears for a couple of turns and taps out. In return for his generosity I make a Griselbrand, draw 14, make some Children, and Tendrils for a bunch.
G3: I stay on Tin Fins because he still doesn’t have hate… he’s still UR. I keep a great hand that just needs another mana source, but I don’t have any cantrips. I Thoughtseize and take Pithing Needle. He eventually drops Blood Moon. I ponder off of a Petal and finally find what I need to go off next turn. Pass. And then he drops Grafdigger’s Cage. Sad face. Can’t win ’em all. Didn’t find chain of vapor in time, and died to beatdown and burn.
6-2/14-8
This was honestly a not very enjoyable match. My opponent bothered me for some reason, and it was getting really late by this point with no food anywhere. I was getting hangry and wanted to take it out on someone… lucky for me, my last win and in obliged me with…
Round 9: Chris with Jund
He wins the die roll… could my luck be running out?
G1: He keeps 7, I mull to 5. Yeah… luck. Seems bad… but then he plays Badlands and something irrelevant. I cheer up and make a Griselbrand on T1. Cast Children. Onion Burst for a billion. Yay!
G2: I swap into Doomsday in case of Deathrite Shaman. I keep a pretty good 7, and I think he kept 7 too. He inquisitions and takes Ponder, I think, when I have Brainstorm in hand as well. Weird… He hymns, and I brainstorm in response. Of course I screw it up. I hide Doomsday and LED that I drew off Brainstorm, but but Hymn hits the Emrakul i left in my hand for some dumbass reason. I’m wishing I had less fun at this point as the shuffle trigger shuffles away my Doomsday and Ritual. I play a land, and Sensei’s Diving Top that I drew – could be worse! He casts Liliana and I discard a land. I cast Lim-Dul’s Vault end of the turn and find a Doomsday to go with the RItual in my hand still. Liliana doesn’t beat Shelldock Isle -> Emrakul.
7-2/16-8
That’s a wrap on Day 1 – finishing around 11:15 or so. Have to go find some shitty food that I don’t want to mention, and don’t get to sleep until around 1am, with the players’ meeting starting at 9am the next morning. Greeeeeaaaaat.
Day 2…….
Round 10: Lucas (toor) with URW DelverBlade
I lose the die roll.
G1: He keeps 7, I keep 6. And it’s an iffy 6 that I probably should have shipped and gone to 5 for. I was really tired and probably not all that awake enough yet. He is beating me down, but is at 3 from fetches and Gitaxian Probes. I have reanimation and Thoughtseize in hand to go along with a Dark Ritual and a Brainstorm. Cast Brainstorm into Emrakul!!! Too bad I’m at 2 life though and I can’t Thoughtseize myself. So I die.
G2: I keep on Tin Fins as he hasn’t seen what I’m doing, so there is no reason for him to bring in Rest in Peace. I keep 7, Thoughtseize T1 and see Force of Will, Swiftspear, Dig Through Time, Containment Priest (!?!?), Treasure Cruise, Volcanic Island. Even before I do anything, he comments that he brought in Priest because he thought a 2/2 Flash guy would be more useful than a Young Pyromancer. Prescient, this one… But i don’t care as I take Force of Will and then Burst Onions on Turn 2.
G3: I swap into Doomsday after seeing Containment Priest and see him boarding more – likely Rest in Peace I’m thinking. I probe T1 and see 2x Force, Scalding Tarn, Fireblast, Volcanic, Ponder, and Price of Progress. I keep searching for more disruption to fight through that brutal hand. Doomsday is looking pretty bad in the face of Price and Fireblast. I Thoughtseize, and manage to nab 2 Forces as he counters it, protecting his Fireblast and Price. He ends up killing me before I can do much – I have Doomsday and a win in hand, but I can’t cast it as my life total is too low for his untapped lands for Price.
7-3/17-10
Out of Top 8 contention at this point, but definitely still in the money.
Round 11: Spencer with Esper Stoneblade
I lose the die roll again. Seems my luck is drying up…
G1: We both keep 7. He Thoughtseizes away my Shallow Grave, and I respond with Probe seeing 2x Spell Pierce, Tundra, Ponder, and Swords to Plowshares. Next turn I bait with Brainstorm and a fetch land, and he pierces it as expected with his only open mana. I Ponder into bursting onions from there. Nope, luck is running just fine.
G2: Board into Doomsday in case of Rest in Peace. I keep 7 and he keeps 6. I probe and see Stoneforge, Cruise, Brainstorm, Pierce, Strand, and Delta.I have Dark Ritual and Doomsday in hand. I ponder and see Land + Doomsday, and keep the land in case he draws discard after he presumably Forces my Doomsday in hand. I then cast Doomsday assuming he will Force it, but he DOESN’T and I don’t know why!! I can’t believe what is happening, so I needed to rethink through my Doomsday pile as I wasn’t planning on doing it this turn. Because I had already played a land, I had to make a slow Shelldock Isle pile with Needle in it in case of Wasteland. Pass. He Treasure Cruises and then drops Karakas. Hmm…. I have to get Needle through his Force now. My turn, I fake counting storm and life totals for a bit, and then put Pithing Needle on the stack. He tanks……… and lets THAT resolve! I name Karakas, activate Shelldock Isle, cast Emrakul, move to wreck your face step. He made some pretty bad plays there… He told me afterwards that he didn’t force doomsday because he thought he could deal with whatever I did after that. And he didn’t force needle because he thought I had Griselbrand or something under Shelldock and he would counter that. Whoops!
8-3/19-10
Round 12: Mike with UR Delver
I win the die roll – Hooray!
G1: I keep 6, he keeps 7. I probe and see Swiftspear, Brainstorm, Young Pyromancer, Delver, Flooded Strand, Force of Will, and Treasure Cruise. He plays Delver, and then I Cabal Therapy away his Force of Will. Delver flips to Lightning Bolt, but I burst Onions on Turn 3.
G2: I board into Doomsday out of habit, but I don’t think I should have. Too many burn spells for that. He does… something… and I lead with Probe and see 2x Force, 2x Daze, Treasure Cruise, Price, and land. My Therapy gets Forced. Somewhere he forces something Else. We get somewhere where I know he has Price, Daze, and Cruise in hand, I have SDT, USea in play, along with Petal, Ideas Unbound, Dark Ritual, Brainstorm, Doomsday, and Probe in hand after a cantrip. I pass, and he drops Blood Moon. Hmm… I tank for a while… and figure out how to play through Daze and Blood Moon. Petal, Ritual, Doomsday, building Petal, LED, LED, Dark Ritual, Tendrils. Probe draws Petal, Petal Casts Brainstorm putting back Ideas Unbound and Dark Ritual. Play LED, LED, crack them for UUUBBB. Draw with Top and cast Ideas Unbound, drawing Top, Dark RItual and Tendrils. Cast them all and Tendrils for 24, all with my USea/Mountain untapped the whole time.
Whew, that was a fun one! Shouldn’t have gone to Doomsday, but get there anyway.
9-3/21-10
Round 13: Mike with Dark Maverick I think
I ended up misidentifying the deck twice during the match before I figured it out, leading to awkward plays.
He wins the die roll
G1: I keep 7 and a Turn 1 hand. He mulls to 5. Gross. He plays Plains and Mother of Runes. Excellent… I kill him and put him on Death and Taxes. I shouldn’t have been lazy and should have probed or discarded him mid-combo to see the rest of his hand. But I didn’t.
G2: I sideboard into Doomsday because Death and Taxes has Rest in Peace and Karakas. He leads with Deathrite Shaman… welp, there goes that theory. I probe, and see Knight of the Reliquary, and some other stuff. Maverick? I cast Doomsday, and my opponent pleads to Ari Lax sitting next to him to not let Doomsday kill him – Ari pauses in the middle of his play and gives me a hilarious look like, “wtf, you’re casting Doomsday!?” I snicker… But of course this all managed to distract me. I think I need one more storm than I really do, because I’m thinking his Deathrite Shaman can gain life when there are no creatures in the yard. So I could have killed him that way, but screwed that up – went for Shelldock instead. I put Needle in the pile to name Knight of the Reliquary to get around Wasteland or Karakas… but I managed to screw that pile up too, and I died before I could cast Emrakul. My opponent’s pleading and Ari’s sidelong look worked to protect him. 😦
G3: I got back to Tin Fins because I’m on the play, but maybe I shouldn’t have because of Deathrite. I keep a great 7, and he mulls to 5. I Ponder and find what I need and Pass. He drops Deathrite. I case Petal, Ritual, Entomb, and Reanimate on Griselbrand. Then cast Children of Korlis off my Scrubland. Onions were Burst all over the place! No Doomsday required.
10-3/23-11
Round 14: Zach (2moon1) with Sneak/Show (4th Zach)
I win the die roll
G1: He keeps 7, and I mull to 5. I do nothing basically, while he casts Show and Tell and drops Emrakul. Sweet, I scoop to make sure he can’t see what I’m up to.
G2. I stay on Tin Fins as it is faster and more things to drop in off of Show and Tell. We both keep 7. I Probe and see 2x Emrakul, Ponder, Force, Tarn, Show and Tell, and City of Traitors. Draw Griselbrand off of Probe – Sweet!!!! Cast Entomb on his turn to bait Force of Will, but it resolves. I play a land a pass the turn. He casts Show and Tell. He puts in Emrakul, I put in Griselbrand. Sad days for him! He passes to me and then I burst the Onions!
G3: I board into Doomsday in case of Surgical or something. I don’t know if that is right – just in case. I don’t know enough about Sneak/Show sideboards. I think we both keep 7. Turn 1 I case Pithing Needle naming Sneak Attack. Subsequent turns, Thoughtseize and Therapy both meet Spell Pierces. Pass. Next turn, draw another Therapy – resolves! Name Force of Will… DING! He’s left with 2x Show and Tell and Through the Breach. Dark Ritual, Doomsday, Probe into Therapy, and take Through the Breach (he’s got 5 mana). THen Shelldock Isle with Doomsday on the bottom so that I don’t deck myself after my Emrakul trigger given I need to attack twice to actually kill him.
11-3/25-12
Round 15: Pete with UR Delver
I saw him beat Ben Sherman earlier when I was playing against Maverick, but I couldn’t remember what he was on. He sits down, sees me, and says, “Oh, DOOMSDAY, huh.” I laugh on the inside as he apparently only saw my sideboard games. Well, he’s in for a treat…
I win the die roll.
G1: We keep 7’s, mine has everything and Probe see Volcanic, Delver, Swiftspear, Young Pyromancer, Bolt, Chain Lightning and Force. Play a land, Pass. He plays Delver (his only non-Force blue card that I saw). I draw a second entomb so I go for it. Turns out he didn’t draw another blue card so he was unprotected. Whoops! Wouldn’t have saved him anyway. I Onion Burst going infinite to get get vengeance for Ben! Tendrils for approx. 160 or something.
G2: LIke I’m supposed to, I stay on Tin Fins, and swap 1 Lim-Dul’s Vault for Chain of Vapor. We both keep 7, and mine is pretty good with some cantrips and the combo in hand. He just… passes. Huh? I draw a redundant entomb, and pass. He just discards Forked Bolt. Ok…. Entomb on his end step, and he Forces it. During my turn, the second entomb gets there and I go nuts! Matt Braddock (astormbrewing) gets some oracle text on cards for my opponent during Game 1, and ends up birding the entirety of Game 2. Neither of us can figure out why he kept a no land Force of Will hand! He was really salty too, particularly that I wasn’t ACTUALLY on Doomsday like he thought I was. Sorry brah.
12-3/27-12
Wow. Awesome. Standings go up, and I see I’m at 58th in the Top 64 and go nuts! Good for $300 and my first 3 Pro Points! I don’t think I put on my resume that I’m a professional spell slinger though. I see HoneyT (who got 24th!!!! with Nic Fit) and we congratulate each other before the Boulder crew heads back to Harold’s for a celebratory dinner (for me) and conciliatory dinner (for them). I order a Rueben and they bring me the biggest sandwich I’ve ever seen. Holy. Hell. If you’re reading this 3 weeks later, I’m still eating that sandwich every day, 3 meals a day. Seriously the size of a small child. That filled my meat quota for the year. Anyway…
Thoughts on the deck: I wouldn’t change a single card in the 75 if I were to play it again. The meta seems super soft to Tin Fins and soft to fast combo in general right now, especially at a larger event where you can just steamroll random things. Treasure Cruise got ya down? Just kill ’em before they can cast it.
Also, if any of my opponents read this and see any mistakes or misrepresentations I’ve made, please let me know and I’ll fix them. My memory is a bit unclear in some places, and I don’t always take the greatest notes.
Props:
– 4003 people showing up to play a dead format
– Meeting a bunch of people that loved Richard Cheese and my creation (Tin Fins!)
– Harold’s insane food (I think it’s a good thing?)
– Richard Cheese for going 7-2 drop with Zoo cause he wasn’t coming back on Sunday
– Trading in mostly trash for FBB Duals
– Getting Wastelanded only ONCE the entire tournament
– Mostly enjoyable Opponents
Slops:
– Why the hell doesn’t New Jersey have sidewalks?
– Why was the event in the middle of the warehouse district?
– 1.5 hour rounds on Day 1 led to finishing at 11:15
– Not enough food around for dinner, and I even brought a ton with me
Random Stats:
– Judge calls for Oracle wording on Russian Children of Korlis: 6
– Judge calls for Oracle wording on ENGLISH Lim-Dul’s Vaul: 4
– Treasure Cruises cast against me the entire event: 1
And of course meeting and hanging with a bunch of awesome people –
Eldon
Jason (thanks for letting me take the bed!)
thecrav (thanks for letting me sign your Eternal Warrior and Playmat!)
ShivanGoat
Richard Cheese (thanks for the Russian Children of Korlis!)
Ben S
James V
astormbrewing
r3dd09
HoneyT (great work 12-2-1!!)
Ellomdian
Other Denver/Boulder warriors!
Did I miss anyone? Probably. Sorry. 😦
Awesome event overall – see you nerds in Seattle next year, if not sooner.
MTG Koby 