Highlander tournament 29.11.2009 Bratislava, Slovakia - RG beats

[Fish]

Hello everyone

We had a highlander tournament this weekend so I write a small report and share experience with my RG beats. Well, I was quite disappointed with my creation. It appeared to be, how to say that, random.

Here is the decklist:

32 lands:
6x Forest
10x Mountain
Arid Mesa
Bloodstained Mire
Verdant Catacombs
Misty Rainforest
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Horizon Canopy
Stomping Ground
Barbarian Ring
Fire-Lit Thicket
Treetop Village
Pendelhaven
Wasteland
Dust Bowl
Karplusan Forest
Taiga

46 creatures:
Twinblade Slasher
Grim Lavamancer
Basking Rootwalla
Tattermunge Maniac
Llanowar Elves
Noble Hierarch
Wild Nacatl
Fyndhorn Elves
Birds of Paradise
Kird Ape
Jungle Lion
Skyshroud Elite

Viridian Zealot
Hellspark Elemental
Lotus Cobra
Tarmogoyf
Wild Mongrel
River Boa
Dryad Sophisticate
Thornscape Familiar
Tin Street Hooligan
Radha, Heir to Keld
Rip-Clan Crasher
Gruul Guildmage
Scab-Clan Mauler

Burning-Tree Shaman
Hell’s Thunder
Vithian Renegades
Kitchen Finks
Troll Ascetic
Boggart Ram-Gang
Magus of the Moon
Great Sable Stag
Fulminator Mage
Goblin Ruinblaster
Countryside Crusher
Eternal Witness

Boartusk Liege
Ravenous Baboons
Avalanche Riders
Phantom Centaur
Giant Solifuge
Keldon Champion
Flametongue Kavu
Bloodbraid Elf

Arc Slogger

2 planeswalkers:
Garruk Wildspeaker
Sarkhan Vol

20 non-creature spells:
Firebolt
Tarfire
Chain Lightning
Lightning Bolt
Vines of Vastwood
Burst Lightning

Sudden Shock
Price of Progress
Magma Jet
Chain of Plasma
Winter Orb
Incinerate

Rhystic Lightning
Krosan Grip
Blood Moon
Char
Tangle Wire
Sulfuric Vortex
Rift Bolt
Molten Rain


My memory is not so good in order to remember every turn (some people can really do it) but I can generally describe each round (we had 6 I believe).

1. round - WR Boros (top 8 player)

All I can say is that I had terrible mana screw each game even after the mulligan. In the first game my start was solid but I couldn't draw red mana and I had hand full of red cards (half of them double red). I finally drew Fire-Lit Thicket but it was too late. The second game my opponent had Rishadan Port online (the card I am still missing) and I couldn't do anything about it with only once source of red mana and Chain Lightning in my hand to kill the creature that bothered me. This round I had Magus of the Moon in my hand that did nothing.

0:1

2. round - Mono blue control
This round was not a problem. First game I played too many threats for my opponent and even with the "trapped" Bloodbraid Elf I won quite easily. I used Molten Rain on Urza's Factory but it wasn't essential. The second game it was Great Sable Stag and Treetop Village for the win. I think I used LD against Factory again this game.

1:1

3. round - UGBW control

This was the only game I could use LD that I included and that seemed fine during the testing (unluckily it wasn't that usefull during this tournament). The first game I was too fast and I used Ravenous Baboons (that were countered), Avalanche Riders  to cut off mana source of my opponent. I had Wasteland but I had to use it as a fourth mana. The second game I don't remember quite well but I lost (edit: I lost due to Rhox War Monk). The third game my opponent had mana screw - He kept the hand with two lands and one of them was gunned down by Wasteland.

2:1

4. round - UG HELL (Top 8 player)

I really don't know what happened this game but my deck was terrible and I can't imagine the way I could win. First game I was ass-kicked in the best style. I had solid draw and it wasn't enough. I had terrible time with his 2/2 and 3/5 flyers. I couldn't draw burn AGAIN. The second game my opponent had terrible mana screw. He could't draw green source of mana for four turns and he didn't have counters as well. I started to attack but I didn't have enough threats or what? In the fifth turn my opponent played forest and Wall of Roots and I was in deep shit. The real hell begun and Sower with Treachery without and kind of burn support for me kicked me to the ground. The UG Liege was just a bonus. I felt like hammered shit this round. The only relief for me was that my opponent was my friend and his deck is damn good and "well-teched". I guess this could be my worst matchup since Great Sable Stag just sit on the board without doing anything and this  version of UG played most creatures colored with blue. Troll Ascetic couldn't help me either. I still wonder what could happened if I draw burn spells.

2:2

5. round - WW

In the first game Sarkhan Vol won me the game. 5 dragons were sufficient. The second game Cataclysm and pro red creature with threshold (and flying) killed me. The third game was interesting. We raced with my opponent. In the end there were Glorious Anthem and Spectral Procession tokens in play. My Sarkhan Vol was Oblivion Ringed (that lost me the game).  I had 11 life so two attacks could be enough. I had Barbarian Ring in play and six cards in my graveyard (one of them was Hellspark Elemental) and Troll Ascetic in possition. I also had Wasteland, Forest, Stomping Ground and Taiga in play. My opponent had 10 life. The tokens hit me the first time and I had 5 life. On my turn I attacked with Ascetic and Hellspark (removed after attack)- 4 life for my opponent. If I could manage to draw burn (AGAIN) I would win I guess. I had to use Wasteland my own Taiga to enable threshold and then use Barbarian Ring on one of the tokens. I had one draw left but it was a land (I needed any kind of burn).

2:3

6. round - Rb Goblins

The first game I FINALLY had enough burn to kill my opponent's goblins and win the game. Bitterblossom helped me doing it and Basking Rootwalla and her "wither friend" did the job at the beginning. It was still quite close (I would probably lose the next round). The second game my opponent had mana screw so I won easily. We play the third game for fun and I had no burn so I lost.

3:3

Summary:
I put out the pumps and included LD. This appeared to be 50/50 cause pumps wouldn't help me against controls and pumps could help me against aggro decks. Since I played 4 aggro decks and 2 control decks it wasn't such a good step but who could know that? My Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon were useless the whole tournament. I played only one 4 colour deck and in that game the Magus and the Moon were somewhere over the rainbow. The best step I did before the tournament was that I included Sudden Shock instead of Keldon Marauders that were bad during the testing cause I needed a creature that stays on the board but I needed the burn even more. The next change could be Withian Renegades out and Loaming Shaman in but still I didn't meet reanimators or LftL decks. The greates problem of the deck was big creatures and lack of burn spells (and even if I could have enough sometimes the creatures were really too big).

Every opinion is welcome and you can comment the deck in Deck Clinic section too.

edit: I made some gameplay edits and some text correction

[Thibir]

I played on that tournament quite similar deck, as both of us just edited Kavu24´s/Goblinpiledriver´s decklist. however I took opposite direction as Fish did and I sacrificed almost all nonbasic land hate unless it was sufficient enought even if opponent didnt play any nonbasic lands. As I expected more aggro metagame I dropped much anticontrol cards and added some combat tricks. I´m not psoting my whole list, just card choices which are different than in Fish´s list:

Lands (+1):
- forest
- mountain
- pendelhaven
- dust bowl

+ mishras factory
+ mutavault
+ city of brass
+ Rootbound Crag
+ Scalding Tarn

creatures:

1cc (+1)
- birds of paradise
+ scorched rusalka
+ mogg fanatic

2cc (-1)
- lotus cobra
- Thornscape Familiar
- Gruul Guildmage
+ Mire Boa
+ Keldon Marauders

3cc (-2)
- Hell’s Thunder
- Great Sable Stag
- Fulminator Mage
+ Fire Imp

4cc (-2)
- Boartusk Liege
- Ravenous Baboons
- Avalanche Riders
+ Blastoderm

5cc(-1)
- Arc slogger

planeswalkers (-1)
- Sharkan vol

other spells
1cc (+5)
+ berserk
+ brute force
+ rancor
+ cursed scroll
+ aether vial

2 cc(+1)
- Chain of Plasma
- Winter Orb
+ Fire Ambush
+ Volcanic Hammer
+ Colossal Might

3cc (-1)
- Rhystic Lightning
- Blood Moon
- Tangle Wire
- Sulfuric Vortex
- Molten Rain
+ Volcanic Fallout
+ Call of the Herd
+ Sword of Fire and Ice
+ Earthquake


I finished with record of 4-2 on the 10th place.

round 1: 4c control. in the first game I pushed forward eithz small guys. when he established defence I just throw all my men through rusalka in his face. I lost game 2 because of slower start and quick MArtial coup for 6. and was unable to deal with all tokens in time. game 3: i got nuts draw. turn one hierarch, turn vithian renegades, turn three phanthom centaur and turn four keldon champion.
1:0

round 2: Jund ramp: I lost first game, because I underestimated my opponent. I kept hand with 1 land and 1 and 2 drops. however opponent started turn 2 wall of the roots, turn 3 sakura tribe elder and soon, the game was over. game 2 was quite ballanced. opponent again started with turn 2 wall of the roots, but i kept him under the preasure. later he played Sharkan and Broodmate Dragon. however he attacked with dragons, kept wall and something in defence. eot I price of proggresed both of us for 6 dmg. attacked with 3 my men, used brute force + lighting bolt for the win. in game 3 opponent played AGAIN wall of the roots in the 2nd turn. I got some pressure, however he played etwined tooh and nail in the turn 6 for Broodmate dragon + Karrthus, Tyrant Of Jund and all of sudden I was death.
1:1

round 3: 5c Reanimator: opponent got just 3 lands in game 1 and I got wastelnad + goblin ruinblazer. In game 2 I price of progressed him for 12
2:1

round 4: WW: I kept hand with  1 land and llanowar elves once again. i got som serious beating from some knight, kitchen finks, etc. however I drew 2nd land played call of the herd, which bravely stood in the way of the army of 2/2 knights and 2/1 finks. however opponent added masticore. luckyly for me, I got tin street hooligan from my opening hand and he was tapped out. I played second elephant, phathom centaur and 5/6 goyf, tarfired his knight making goyf 6/7 and started counteroffensive i started game 2 with kird ape, which got immediately path to exiled. opponent started with soltary priest, gloriout athene and sword of light and shadow. however I was able to race him with my superior creatures + burn
3:1

round 5: mono U control (splash for Demonic tutor, mind twist and the Abyss): I won the die roll and got dream start. first turn noble hierarch, second turn Ram-Gang. opponent was not able to find answer soon enough. game 2 was quite simillar, btu maily because opponent drew card from the top of his curve. and Future sight isn´t very effective against aggro
4:1

round 6:  I wasn´t able to convince opponent to draw, as he had to play if he wanted to be in top 8. I got beaten up by goblins prety ugly. It seemed that I could win the first game as i won a die roll, started with rusalka, opponent played tattermunge maniac, didn´t block rusalka and I played Scab clan mauler which ate his tatterman next turn. however on 7 life opponent played goblin matrone - goblin recruited, and the game was over in game 2 i got 2 lands and llanowar elf. however llanowar elf died soon after i played him. I didn´t drew 3rd land to make Earthquake on my hand relevant. when I finally drew the land I was so low on life, that I couldn´t manage to survive.


Unlike Fish I was very satisfied with my deck and its performance made me happy