Tropical Island is Feb's MOCS card!!!

I hope I get my bonus soon. These lands are killing me...

Wow I just found that someone made a proxy with the card's art. (www.etsy.com)

CQ Invitationals 2013 T4

Last night, I got to top 4 in the CQ Invitationals 2013 with the following deck which is a deck similar to what I played in Legacy, using Kevin Cron's 4c Vintage Champs 2013 list but with a Gush Engine and tweaked some numbers.

1 Merchant Scroll

2 Lightning Bolt

4 Force of Will

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Wasteland

1 Yawgmoth's Will

1 Tinker

1 Toxic Stench

1 Flooded Strand

2 Polluted Delta

1 Sensei's Divining Top

2 Misty Rainforest

4 Scalding Tarn

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Blightsteel Colossus

2 Mental Misstep

2 Snapcaster Mage

1 Ancient Grudge

4 Brainstorm

1 Flusterstorm

1 Sol Ring

1 Island

1 Mana Crypt

2 Underground Sea

2 Mana Drain

2 Tropical Island

2 Volcanic Island

1 Fastbond

1 Time Vault

1 Library of Alexandria

1 Strip Mine

1 Abrupt Decay

3 Deathrite Shaman

4 Gush

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Voltaic Key

Sideboard

1 Pyroblast

2 Leyline of the Void

1 Trygon Predator

1 Yixlid Jailer

1 Mindbreak Trap

1 Nature's Claim

1 Steel Sabotage

1 Surgical Extraction

1 Ancient Grudge

3 Grafdigger's Cage

1 Flusterstorm

1 Abrupt Decay

This is what I managed to scout through the tournament. Games were all watchable so I had to use this information to get a slight edge.

Vs GW Hatebears 2-0
This matchup is not tough. The window to do what you want is very big. All I had to do was to protect my Blightsteel Colossus.

2 Grand Abolisher

3 Elvish Spirit Guide

4 Wasteland

2 Ghost Quarter

3 Aven Mindcensor

3 Tarmogoyf

3 Gaddock Teeg

4 Noble Hierarch

4 Qasali Pridemage

3 Student of Warfare

3 Leonin Arbiter

4 Razorverge Thicket

2 Leonin Relic-Warder

3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

4 Grafdigger's Cage

2 Path to Exile

4 Cavern of Souls

4 Savannah

1 Strip Mine

2 Kataki, War's Wage

Sideboard

2 True Believer

3 Stoneforge Mystic

3 Surgical Extraction

1 Batterskull

2 Path to Exile

4 Rest in Peace

Vs Laboratory Maniac 2-0
Not a tough matchup as I have ways to control the flow of the game.
I only have to deal with the Laboratory Maniac which is not difficult with this deck.
I caught him off guard by letting him try to deck out and used Lightning Bolt plus protection to turn the game around.

2 Hurkyl's Recall

1 Demonic Consultation

4 Force of Will

4 Thought Lash

1 Vampiric Tutor

3 Ancient Tomb

3 Flooded Strand

4 Polluted Delta

2 Annul

3 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Ponder

4 Mental Misstep

1 Dismember

4 Laboratory Maniac

4 Brainstorm

1 Sol Ring

6 Island

1 Swamp

1 Mana Crypt

3 Underground Sea

1 Dispel

1 Demonic Tutor

2 Swan Song

Sideboard

1 Hurkyl's Recall

2 Annul

3 Yixlid Jailer

1 Dismember

4 Grafdigger's Cage

3 Energy Flux

1 Swan Song

Vs Affinity 0-2
Crappy matchup. Did not have any good anti-affinity tech in my list.
I would think Meltdown or Seeds of Innocence or Hammer Mage (less so unless there is a mountain in the sb) would be good in the SB if trying to hate them.

4 Ancient Tomb

4 Wasteland

2 Gaea's Cradle

1 Tolarian Academy

1 Memory Jar

4 Tangle Wire

4 Arcbound Ravager

4 Genesis Chamber

4 Lodestone Golem

4 Memnite

2 Mox Opal

4 Phyrexian Revoker

4 Signal Pest

4 Skullclamp

1 Sol Ring

1 Mana Crypt

1 Mana Vault

4 Mishra's Workshop

1 Strip Mine

2 Steel Overseer

3 Frogmite

1 Mishra's Factory

Sideboard

1 Memory Jar

2 Thorn of Amethyst

2 Phyrexian Metamorph

2 Dismember

2 Witchbane Orb

4 Grafdigger's Cage

2 Tormod's Crypt

Vs BUG 2-0

Gush is a huge draw spell vs this archetype.
I have gas and answers and have a reasonable window to do my things.

4 Force of Will

4 Wasteland

4 Polluted Delta

2 Spell Snare

2 Trygon Predator

4 Tarmogoyf

3 Thoughtseize

2 Spell Pierce

2 Misty Rainforest

2 Verdant Catacombs

3 Mental Misstep

1 Dismember

1 Liliana of the Veil

4 Brainstorm

4 Underground Sea

1 Bayou

2 Tropical Island

1 Strip Mine

4 Abrupt Decay

4 Deathrite Shaman

1 Daze

1 Demonic Tutor

4 Dark Confidant

Sideboard

1 Trygon Predator

1 Yixlid Jailer

2 Nature's Claim

2 Dismember

4 Grafdigger's Cage

1 Flusterstorm

3 Energy Flux

1 Golgari Charm

Vs Bant 1-2

I'm actually favored in this matchup but things do not always go as planned.
Doesn't really matter here as 3-2 should get me into T8.

4 Force of Will

4 Wasteland

3 Windswept Heath

1 Sword of Fire and Ice

1 Umezawa's Jitte

3 Trygon Predator

4 Tarmogoyf

4 Noble Hierarch

2 Knight of the Reliquary

2 Spell Pierce

4 Misty Rainforest

3 Stoneforge Mystic

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

3 Mental Misstep

1 Batterskull

4 Brainstorm

1 Island

1 Forest

1 Savannah

2 Tundra

1 Karakas

3 Tropical Island

1 Strip Mine

4 Swords to Plowshares

2 Truefire Paladin

Sideboard

2 Nature's Claim

4 Grafdigger's Cage

1 Bojuka Bog

2 Energy Flux

4 Rest in Peace

2 Kataki, War's Wage

T8: Vs Laboratoy Maniac
Lost game 1 and had to claw back through games 2 and 3, with a very dangerous state where Mana Crypt almost kills me.

T4: Vs Affinity
Gave away game 1 from a position where I would have won. I had Mana Crypt again and had to get rid of it. I had Vampiric Tutor and Key Vault in hand. I scripted a play that involved searching for Tinker, top it into hand, sac Mana Crypt, get Sol Ring, Key Vault for the win.
It was 5+am and I had a mental lapse when the deck showed up. I thought I was doing Tinker when I was still at Vampiric Tutor so I put Sol Ring on the deck. I had only colorless mana with a Deathrite Shaman so I could only survive by not losing to Mana Crypt flips and finding an Underground Sea or Tropical Island to cast Abrupt Decay on the Mana Crypt but I couldn't even with 2 extra turns.
Lost game 2 with little effort.

Post GP Kyoto

Friday

My teammate and I reached the tournament site at 12.30pm, hoping to see if our #3 player is there and if he's interested in playing in the team sealed event. He wasn't interested so I played in a 6 round Legacy trials for the Sunday event.

I went 4-0, and ran into a UW deck with Counterbalance, True-Name Nemesis, Vedalken Shackles, Back to Basics etc. We started a little of game 3 but ran out of time. At that point, I had my full set of basic lands out so I was not going to be blown out by Back to Basics which decided game 2.
I wanted to negotiate for one of us to win but he looked ok with the draw. (15 points and above get the same no of packs, 18 points get a bye)

I split prizes with the last round opponent who played Sneak and Show and I lost.

Friday Legacy score: 4-1-1.

Saturday

Originally, we registered as opening Japanese packs but player #3 was against it so we changed to English packs on the main event. We heard the players sharing the table with us that their pool was bad.
The pool we had was quite sick, especially in the white pool where I counted 22 playables which included:

2x Wingsteed Riders, 2x WW Phalanx, 2x God's Willing, 2x Hopeful Eidolon, 2x the 2 creatures get +2/+2 spell, Divine Verdict, white God.
The instruction was to pass the deck to the team sharing the table. That felt very crappy.
We were to check the contents so there might be another pass away.
There wasn't.

The pool had some good cards but lacked the key meat to the various types of possible decks.
We made a GB deck (which I played), WU and RB (because we had a player comfortable in that archetype). It could have been RG because we had the numbers for playables but I personally felt that familiarity would go the longer distance.

We went 2-0, then 2-2 and drew with the 5th round opponents. I wanted to try to convince our opponents to settle for some sort of win/loss method but we could not and both teams dropped from contention.

Team sealed 2-2-1. =(

That ended my time with Theros limited. I would come back on Sunday for Legacy and hope to leave my mark in the format.

I went to get my 2 planechase planes signed and I noticed a very familiar piece of art.

Snap buy.

It was past the timing to get cards drawn so I would only do so the next day.
I got some Rilakkuma sleeves and bought some 2nd layer sleeves to protect them.

At night, I was busy resleeving and deciding on what my deck composition would look like.
At that point, I just had to decide between Riptide Laboratory/Volrath's Stronghold and Misdirection/Venser in the sideboard.

Sunday

Sunday had the Legacy side event. It started with friggin' 256 players which was 9 rounds plus top 8.
That's like an old MOCS event! I have to admit that I was very excited to be in a big Legacy tournament.

I submitted the below decklist:

Round 1 was against BUG (team America-ish) with Dark Depths.
Game 1, I copied his Dark Depths with my Thespian Stage.
Game 2 he gets a fast Marit Lage.
Game 3 also hinged on the 20/20. I had one under a Standstill and he had zero real outs with me having Snapcaster Mage which I can cast a Flusterstorm or just sacrifice to whatever he could make me sacrifice with.

1-0

In round 2, my opponent on Shardless BUG played out a draw by doing things in between slowly as my deck had an advantage going into the matchup. I WAS SO ANNOYED.
I cast a counterspell at his Tarmogoyf, he sits there and contemplates. For awhile.
He then casts Extirpate. He looks at my deck. (I wouldn't be surprised if he did take awhile there.)
He shuffles the deck. Passes it back to me to shuffle, then shuffles it again. -_-"
"As per the card effect".

I go into time and can't beat him.

1-0-1

Round 3 was versus merfolk.
Surprisingly, I took game 1 on the back of Punishing Fire and Vendilion Clique.
I lost game 2 swiftly.
Game 3, I resolved a Pernicious Deed but my opponent cast Back to Basics. The rest was just formalities.

1-1-1

Round 4 was versus Sneak and Show.
I mulliganed to 4 and lost before they repaired me to the same matchup.
I lost game 1 in a similar fashion.
Game 2 I kept my opponent at bay with discard spells.
Game 3, I had a boatload of counters/discard with Venser in hand.
Time was up (I forgot that I had 10 more minutes) so I went very aggressive by casting Venser into the open to join my Snapcaster Mage and Deathrite Shamans. Managed to win by turn 5. It took awhile to recall that I had extra time.

2-1-1

Round 5 was against a BUG deck that had Mishra's Factories.
Game 1, I dropped a Standstill and he played Mishra's Factory (!!!). I went down all the way to 2 life before I cracked it myself. Surprisingly, I managed to make a comeback eventually with Marit Lage.

Game 2, I mulled down a lot and my opponent manages to get Liliana out and Wasteland me. I scooped when I saw I had no way to make a proper comeback.

Game 3, the game went very grindy and it almost ends but our life totals are recorded differently.
I have a slight advantage so I just give it to him as I believe that I can end it. I eventually do.

3-1-1

Round 6 was against UW counterbalance + red +Mishra's Factory.
I probably won game 1 with a Marit Lage.
Game 2, I get knocked away by Mishra's Factories.
Game 3, I get knocked a bit by Mishra's Factories but slowly managed to make a comeback from 4 life.
I either won with a Jace or Marit Lage seeing that my opponent was at 17.

4-1-1

Round 7 was against merfolk.
I do not get good removals and swiftly lose.
Game 2, I tried to cast Toxic Deluge but get Swan Songed,

4-2-1

I thought that I would have dropped here but I found out that I was still in contention for packs so I played on.

Round 8 I faced a BUG (team America style).
Both games I won at 18 life. Jace was gold in this matchup because I could easily manipulate the game state and Tombstalker could not do anything to impact the game. I chipped off the opponent game 1.
I might have won with Jace or Marit Lage in game 2.

5-2-1

Round 9 I was in contention for prizes but had to win. We split 8-7 as it would be so demoralizing to go back empty handed after playing 9 rounds of Magic.
My opponent played UBW with Stoneforge Mystic and True-Name Nemesis.
Game 1 I won with Marit Lage after controlling the board and keeping threats off.
Game 2, we were in a very long struggle and I misplayed in a small window and had to dedicate more resources than I otherwise would have had to. I ended up with lands in hand versus a True-Name Nemesis.
Game 3, I successfully controlled the board and won the game with my opponent at 17 life, which means either Jace or Marit Lage.

6-2-1

Over the course of the 2 days, I went 10-3-2 with my deck so I am very satisfied with its performance. I feel that the drawed games were in my favor.

I tried queuing up in between rounds but I kept failing to reach the artist to get my card and a blank mat drawn on. I managed to ask my friend who were in the main event for help and they came back with my best loot from the GP: a Force of Will playmat!

Preparing for GP Kyoto: 18th Nov

Friday the team got together to try making 3 decks with 12 packs.
Surprisingly, 12 packs did not produce very impressive pools.
It was quite an eye opener when it came to deck building as you have to really get into the head of your team mate. I hope we get a sick pool and just win.

Anyway, I did a 8 man sealed. It's actually quite good payout-wise with DE payout with 1 less win requirement. I lost 0-2 and got a bye which got me 3 packs.

BUG Landstill 2013 4-0

Today, I brought the below to a 4-0 finish, beating Omniscience, URW delver, Death n taxes and GW (bears and stuff). It's kinda late now so I'll go to bed.

Side Event Prep: Legacy Bug Landstill 2013

Preparing for GP Kyoto: 11th Nov

Preparing for GP Kyoto: 10th Nov

Today's sealed was quite tough. I felt that UR would be more stable than WR as it had a pair of the 3/4 fliers at the common slot versus a pair of Silent Artisans. WR felt a little lacking without more heroic enablers.

WU could not get the card count.

Went 2-2.