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2005 Columbia Valley Regionals Report
Regionals - June 25, 2005
So here's how it went yesterday here in Portland, Oregon. I wound up playing mono green Beacon. I had been testing Tooth and Nail for a long time but the build I really enjoyed playing used Vernal Bloom for acceleration and Fireball as an alternate win condition. But with all the green decks running around Vernal Bloom became more dangerous than helpful. So I switched to this build of Mono Green Beacon:
Spells (7)
-----
3 Beacon of Creation
4 Plow Under
Artifacts (4)
--------
4 Umezawa's Jitte
Creatures (27)
---------
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Eternal Witness
2 Iwamori of the Open Fist
3 Rushwood Dryad
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Troll Ascetic
1 Viridian Shaman
2 Viridian Zealot
4 Wood Elves
Land (22)
----
20 Forest
2 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
--------------
4 Aether Vial
4 Cranial Extraction
4 Pithing Needle
3 Rend Flesh
I decided against the Stampeding Serow because usually they were just a "win more" combo. I cut Eternal Witness back to three for the same reason---usually you just need to get something back once to finish the job. Sure casting Plow Under every turn is a soft lock but it's not a guarantee because of all the shuffle effects out there these days. It also takes awhile to set that lock up and in the meantime Tooth and Nail will just kill you, or blue will find a counterspell for one of the three pieces of the lock. I felt just going with a lot of threats was the best strategy. That's why I didn't add Sword of Fire and Ice or Blanchwood Armor although I would have really liked to get one or both in there---I expected a lot of main deck artifact destruction and a fair amount of black sporting Terror or Rend Flesh. I didn't want to give them too many two for ones. Plus the Jitte by itself is usually all the boost I need.
I put a couple of Iwamori's in mainly to combat them in the mirror, and they are a quick 5/5 trampler with no drawback in most other matches.
Round 1 - Quinn Kennedy - Mono Blue Control w/threats
G1: early Spire Golems which I couldn't block
G2: I mulliganed a 6 Forest 1 Birds hand. He played more Spire Golems and an early Razormane Masticore plus Shackles. My last draw was Pithing Needle but by then it was too late.
Games: 0-2
Matches: 0-1
Round 2 - Nathan Clapp - Tooth and Nail
Before we started Nathan said he didn't even know Regionals was in Portland today until yesterday and one of his friends handed him the deck.
G1: Turn 4 and 5 Plow Unders sealed the deal
G2: I was holding an Extraction forever while I tried to get a source of land. He could have Reap and Sow'ed into the Urzatron but instead chose to blow up one of my forests, which slowed me down but seemed like an odd choice. He had hard cast the Mephidross Vampire so after I extracted for Tooth I witnessed it back and Extracted for Triskelion. After that Rushwood Dryad plus Jitte eventually beat him down.
Games: 2-2
Matches: 1-1
Round 3 - Sam Wilson - Mono Blue Control
Sam is a Rainy Day Games regular (RDG is the shop where I play most frequently) and is, shall we say, not shy or quiet. Games 1 and 2 were very similar as early Trolls beat him down. He didn't seem to draw any of his key cards, he mostly seemed to draw and play Wayfarer's Bauble.
Games: 4-2
Matches: 2-1
Round 4 - Robbie Chan - Mono Red w/Pulse
Robbie is one of the gang who hangs around with Aitchison, Nathan Saunders, Mike Long, etc. I don't know if he's qualified for pro events or not but I know he's a good player.
G1: Two early Plow Unders followed by a Beacon of Creation were too much for him.
G2: An early Troll was enough, even without Jitte. I just kept hitting him for 3 and fortunately he couldn't keep up with the Pulse of the Forge since I got the early jump.
Games: 6-2
Matches: 3-1
Round 5 - Jason Schumacher - Mono Red w/Pulse
Jason is another good player who plays in all the big events. He wound up third going into the top 8 with a record of 6-0-2. I was not one of his ties.
G1: I should have won this game. Turn 2 Troll followed by a Jitte. He cast Arc-Slogger to block eventually and also Topped for his maindeck Shatter. I played another Troll/Jitte combo and he found another Shatter. At one point I was at 25 life (after removing Jitte counters as they were destroyed) and he was at 3, but he had so much land by that point that once he found a Pulse he could cast it two and then three times a turn. I couldn't do the final three points of damage fast enough.
G2: Quick Trolls were too much this time and a Pithing Needle naming Sensei's Diving Top stopped him from top decking answers.
G3: I was at 13 and he was at 11 when he played two Shrapnel Blasts plus a Pulse. Amazing.
Games: 7-4
Matches: 3-2
Round 6 - Nick Megert - Tooth and Nail w/Rude Awakening
G1: Nick went off turn 4 and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Kiki-Jiki plus Sundering Titan ate my land and I scooped.
G2: I sided in 4 Cranial Extraction and I got one turn three (naming Tooth of course). After that I swung with Rushwood Dryad until he died.
G3: I got two quick Cranial Extractions and some creatures and that was all she wrote.
Games: 9-5
Matches: 4-2
Round 7 - Nik Vincent - "mirror match"
Nik was running a different build including Rude Awakening and Kodama's Might.
G1: I was beating him down with recurring Iwamori's. He kept killing them by double blocking and then I'd Witness them back to my hand. The turn after I cast two Snakes and a Bird he cast Rude Awakening and swung with five land (he kept a few back), three Insect tokens and a Troll. I was able to block just enough creatures that I had four life left. After that I found a Jitte and swung.
G2: I boarded in the three Rend Flesh which turned out to be a good move. Unfortunately I boarded out my artifact destruction after not seeing any artifacts game 1, but Nik boarded in Swords of Fire and Ice. He had a Troll and two Swords on a Bird and me at 11 but when he equipped the second Sword and attacked I Rend Flesh'ed the Bird. He stalled on three land as I attacked with a bunch of critters
Games: 11-5
Matches: 5-2
Round 8 - Owen Sullivan - Mono Blue Control
Owen was playing the typical build and was obviously quite comfortable with it.
G1: He kept casting Bribery targeting an Eternal Witness to get Bribery back. I was holding Iwamori in my hand, waiting for him to grab that since he's my only really big creature in the deck. After getting all my Witnesses he did take the Iwamori bait and I played mine, killing them both. Unfortunately he'd stolen too many of my creatures and beat me down with them.
G2: Turn 1 Aether Vial followed quickly by Troll and Jitte caused him to enter the scoop phase.
G3: Again with the recurring Bribery. I had a turn 1 Aether Vial and a Pithing Needle naming Shackles but I couldn't find any creatures! I only did two points of damage before I died.
Final results:
Games: 12-7
Matches: 5-3
Standing: 29th out of 136
Mike Hall (2004 US Sealed Deck champion) was in first after Top 8 with his rat deck, believe it or not. They only played one round of the Top 8 because the Top 4 qualified for Regionals. The results of the Top 8:
#8 Christopher Brandon Buker, MD (T&N) def. #1 Mike Hall (Rats) 2-1
#2 Tyler Wilson (Green/black aggro) def. #7 some guy with two first names (T&N) 2-0
#6 Gabe Wilson (Mono-red aggro) def. #3 Jason Schumacher (Mono-red burn) 2-0
#5 Ross Chris Freeman (Mono-red aggro) def. #4 Brett H. (Mono-red aggro) 2-1
Interesting that in every case but one the lower seeded player beat the higher seeded player. I know Mike Hall qualified for Regionals anyway due to his composite rating.
So what's next? On to Kamigawa block. I have an idea for a G/B Legends deck which is in the early stages but is looking promising. Recurring Kokusho's are cool.
So here's how it went yesterday here in Portland, Oregon. I wound up playing mono green Beacon. I had been testing Tooth and Nail for a long time but the build I really enjoyed playing used Vernal Bloom for acceleration and Fireball as an alternate win condition. But with all the green decks running around Vernal Bloom became more dangerous than helpful. So I switched to this build of Mono Green Beacon:
Spells (7)
-----
3 Beacon of Creation
4 Plow Under
Artifacts (4)
--------
4 Umezawa's Jitte
Creatures (27)
---------
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Eternal Witness
2 Iwamori of the Open Fist
3 Rushwood Dryad
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Troll Ascetic
1 Viridian Shaman
2 Viridian Zealot
4 Wood Elves
Land (22)
----
20 Forest
2 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
--------------
4 Aether Vial
4 Cranial Extraction
4 Pithing Needle
3 Rend Flesh
I decided against the Stampeding Serow because usually they were just a "win more" combo. I cut Eternal Witness back to three for the same reason---usually you just need to get something back once to finish the job. Sure casting Plow Under every turn is a soft lock but it's not a guarantee because of all the shuffle effects out there these days. It also takes awhile to set that lock up and in the meantime Tooth and Nail will just kill you, or blue will find a counterspell for one of the three pieces of the lock. I felt just going with a lot of threats was the best strategy. That's why I didn't add Sword of Fire and Ice or Blanchwood Armor although I would have really liked to get one or both in there---I expected a lot of main deck artifact destruction and a fair amount of black sporting Terror or Rend Flesh. I didn't want to give them too many two for ones. Plus the Jitte by itself is usually all the boost I need.
I put a couple of Iwamori's in mainly to combat them in the mirror, and they are a quick 5/5 trampler with no drawback in most other matches.
Round 1 - Quinn Kennedy - Mono Blue Control w/threats
G1: early Spire Golems which I couldn't block
G2: I mulliganed a 6 Forest 1 Birds hand. He played more Spire Golems and an early Razormane Masticore plus Shackles. My last draw was Pithing Needle but by then it was too late.
Games: 0-2
Matches: 0-1
Round 2 - Nathan Clapp - Tooth and Nail
Before we started Nathan said he didn't even know Regionals was in Portland today until yesterday and one of his friends handed him the deck.
G1: Turn 4 and 5 Plow Unders sealed the deal
G2: I was holding an Extraction forever while I tried to get a source of land. He could have Reap and Sow'ed into the Urzatron but instead chose to blow up one of my forests, which slowed me down but seemed like an odd choice. He had hard cast the Mephidross Vampire so after I extracted for Tooth I witnessed it back and Extracted for Triskelion. After that Rushwood Dryad plus Jitte eventually beat him down.
Games: 2-2
Matches: 1-1
Round 3 - Sam Wilson - Mono Blue Control
Sam is a Rainy Day Games regular (RDG is the shop where I play most frequently) and is, shall we say, not shy or quiet. Games 1 and 2 were very similar as early Trolls beat him down. He didn't seem to draw any of his key cards, he mostly seemed to draw and play Wayfarer's Bauble.
Games: 4-2
Matches: 2-1
Round 4 - Robbie Chan - Mono Red w/Pulse
Robbie is one of the gang who hangs around with Aitchison, Nathan Saunders, Mike Long, etc. I don't know if he's qualified for pro events or not but I know he's a good player.
G1: Two early Plow Unders followed by a Beacon of Creation were too much for him.
G2: An early Troll was enough, even without Jitte. I just kept hitting him for 3 and fortunately he couldn't keep up with the Pulse of the Forge since I got the early jump.
Games: 6-2
Matches: 3-1
Round 5 - Jason Schumacher - Mono Red w/Pulse
Jason is another good player who plays in all the big events. He wound up third going into the top 8 with a record of 6-0-2. I was not one of his ties.
G1: I should have won this game. Turn 2 Troll followed by a Jitte. He cast Arc-Slogger to block eventually and also Topped for his maindeck Shatter. I played another Troll/Jitte combo and he found another Shatter. At one point I was at 25 life (after removing Jitte counters as they were destroyed) and he was at 3, but he had so much land by that point that once he found a Pulse he could cast it two and then three times a turn. I couldn't do the final three points of damage fast enough.
G2: Quick Trolls were too much this time and a Pithing Needle naming Sensei's Diving Top stopped him from top decking answers.
G3: I was at 13 and he was at 11 when he played two Shrapnel Blasts plus a Pulse. Amazing.
Games: 7-4
Matches: 3-2
Round 6 - Nick Megert - Tooth and Nail w/Rude Awakening
G1: Nick went off turn 4 and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Kiki-Jiki plus Sundering Titan ate my land and I scooped.
G2: I sided in 4 Cranial Extraction and I got one turn three (naming Tooth of course). After that I swung with Rushwood Dryad until he died.
G3: I got two quick Cranial Extractions and some creatures and that was all she wrote.
Games: 9-5
Matches: 4-2
Round 7 - Nik Vincent - "mirror match"
Nik was running a different build including Rude Awakening and Kodama's Might.
G1: I was beating him down with recurring Iwamori's. He kept killing them by double blocking and then I'd Witness them back to my hand. The turn after I cast two Snakes and a Bird he cast Rude Awakening and swung with five land (he kept a few back), three Insect tokens and a Troll. I was able to block just enough creatures that I had four life left. After that I found a Jitte and swung.
G2: I boarded in the three Rend Flesh which turned out to be a good move. Unfortunately I boarded out my artifact destruction after not seeing any artifacts game 1, but Nik boarded in Swords of Fire and Ice. He had a Troll and two Swords on a Bird and me at 11 but when he equipped the second Sword and attacked I Rend Flesh'ed the Bird. He stalled on three land as I attacked with a bunch of critters
Games: 11-5
Matches: 5-2
Round 8 - Owen Sullivan - Mono Blue Control
Owen was playing the typical build and was obviously quite comfortable with it.
G1: He kept casting Bribery targeting an Eternal Witness to get Bribery back. I was holding Iwamori in my hand, waiting for him to grab that since he's my only really big creature in the deck. After getting all my Witnesses he did take the Iwamori bait and I played mine, killing them both. Unfortunately he'd stolen too many of my creatures and beat me down with them.
G2: Turn 1 Aether Vial followed quickly by Troll and Jitte caused him to enter the scoop phase.
G3: Again with the recurring Bribery. I had a turn 1 Aether Vial and a Pithing Needle naming Shackles but I couldn't find any creatures! I only did two points of damage before I died.
Final results:
Games: 12-7
Matches: 5-3
Standing: 29th out of 136
Mike Hall (2004 US Sealed Deck champion) was in first after Top 8 with his rat deck, believe it or not. They only played one round of the Top 8 because the Top 4 qualified for Regionals. The results of the Top 8:
#8 Christopher Brandon Buker, MD (T&N) def. #1 Mike Hall (Rats) 2-1
#2 Tyler Wilson (Green/black aggro) def. #7 some guy with two first names (T&N) 2-0
#6 Gabe Wilson (Mono-red aggro) def. #3 Jason Schumacher (Mono-red burn) 2-0
#5 Ross Chris Freeman (Mono-red aggro) def. #4 Brett H. (Mono-red aggro) 2-1
Interesting that in every case but one the lower seeded player beat the higher seeded player. I know Mike Hall qualified for Regionals anyway due to his composite rating.
So what's next? On to Kamigawa block. I have an idea for a G/B Legends deck which is in the early stages but is looking promising. Recurring Kokusho's are cool.
