MobstercoM

I didn't expect to write two tournament reports in a row but MobstercoM was too sweet not to write about. At least I've posted more than once in this blog and keeping it to a blog entry every 10 days or so.

The Tournament

MobstercoM is the online version for a team tournament. The tournament was arranged by "Mano of All Tings Considered" who commented on the stream with several guest commentators. The stream was run by Timmy from Timmy Talks and scorekeeper was Florian and it used the excellent web tournament software by Slanfan. These web tournaments are just getting better and better.

Every player had to submit three 60+ cards deck and if you stack them together it must be legal in Swedish old school (reprints allowed though). If you only own two The Abyss you can't move them from Deck A to Deck B between games but if you own four The Abyss you can play two in Deck A and two in Deck B. The only exception was that Savannah was un-unrestricted so you could include as many copies ad you could find. In addition mana burn was also in the format. The tournament was seven rounds of swiss without a top 8 cut. The matches consisted of random order of playing each deck max one duel per match. 

The Decks

My basic strategy for building: I wanted to play Tax Tower and that made me build two quick decks to compensate for the potential time loss playing a Tax Tower is. A fully powered Atog seemed like an ok place to be (just got the Mox Pearl for Tax Tower). The third deck I really didn't have any idea for, so I just got nice midrange creatures, Mana Vaults, Mana creatures and late addition Fireballs for a non-creature wincon. I didn't goldfish or discuss my deck lists with anyone in particular, I wanted to just give this format a try for myself.

Sleeved up the decks in different colored sleeves to make it easier to choose the correct deck.

We had to submit all three decks in one pic. I didn't spend enought time tweaking my decks but it's the first time playing this format.

The Matches

Round 1 vs Jeff White (Deck order C-A-B)

Game 1: GWU Midrange

We both mulligan and he start with a turn 1 Erhnam Djinn and I play turn 1 Ancestral Recall into Black Vise (him being at 3 cards).

Turn 2 I double Chain Lightning his Erhnam Djinn and he stumbles on lands. I never really get anything going playing a turn 4 Ankh of Mishra.

He plays an Erhnam Djinn again after reaching four lands and I have to double Lightning Bolt it.

I play an Atog and he Swords to Plowshares it and plays a Serendib Efreet, I play a Serendib Efreet and he follows up with a Whirling Dervish and Control Magics on my Serendib Efreet for the win

 

Game 2: Candleflare

I get an opener with double Tundra, Swords to Plowshares, Ivory Tower and Counterspell and I keep. Play a turn 1 Ivory Tower and try to keep below his land count for a possible Land Tax.

He keeps beating my Ivory Tower gains with Mishra's Factory and nothing really happens (he plays candelabras to pump his single Mishra’s Factory countering my life gain). I get to seven cards and he gets to play Balance with two cards left. He plays a seventh land against my six so I get to Land Tax and use my Sylvan Library, but I don't really find anything.

He can fireball me for my last nine life.

Record: 0-1 (0-2)

 

 

Round 2 vs Jason Beaupre (Deck order B-C-A)

Game 1: RG Beats

I mulligan and he play Mountain, Mox Ruby, Kird Ape. He plays a Forest which I Ice storms turn 3. Turn 4 I play an Erhnam Djinn and he Plays a Erhnam Djinn of his own. He passes and I attack with my Erhnam Djinn and he doesn't block, I double Giant Growth + Berserk for 20 damage. Achievement unlocked!

 

Game 2 vs UW Fliers

He plays land go. I play land, Mox, Black Vise. He takes two points a turn from the Black Vise for a couple of turns only playing lands. I deploy an Atog which he Swords to Plowshares. He plays an Azure Drake. The turn after he goes to 10 from Black Vise and taps out for Jayemdae Tome and I finish him with Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt and Psionic Blast.

 

Record: 1-1 (2-2)

 

The match was over in like five minutes so I took this time for a dinner break from my tier 1 tournament food a full bowl of pasta salad (pasta, fried halloumi, green pesto, sundried tomatoes and some chili flakes).

Round 3 vs Adam Lemke (Deck order B-A-C)

Game 1: Sleight Paladin

I mulligan and had a turn two Mind Twist for three with a Mana Vault from a turn 1 Birds of Paradise. I basically didn't draw any mana and it slowed down and he beat me down with Northern Paladin (Sleight of Minded for Green) and a White Knight.

I got to play a Su-Chi which he Divine Offered and I died with 2 Giant Growth and Berserk in hand.

 

Game 2: Blue control

I started with Ivory Tower and gained bit of life, got to Land Tax once and then had the Sylvan Library and multiple Ivory Towers and Library of Alexandria going for most of the game (ended with 4 Ivory Tower in play).

He had a Maze of Ith which meant I needed two Serra Angels to win so I Recalled for 3 Counterspells and we were moved to stream and when the commentators joined with a stack of six counters they thought we were showing each other our decks.

He scooped (maybe he did have outs, but I had 60 life, 2 Serra Angels, Mana Drain and seven cards in hand).

 

Game 3: RGB Erhnam Void

He started with Badlands go and I started with Mishra's Factory, Sol Ring, Ankh of Mishra. He played Taiga and Demonic Tutor (during the post-game discussion we found out it was for Sol Ring). I Strip Mined his Badlands but couldn't really kill or even damage him.

He played out an Erhnam Djinn and a couple of Elves and he was at 18 life. He had Ice Stormed one of my Mishra's and my Volcanic Island and I never saw another colored source (deck doesn't run that many).

He deployed a Nether void and going to 14 life. My forest walking Atog is up to 13 damage with my Mishra’s factory in hand so can't attack (I'm at 6 life). He attacks with Erhnam, and 3 elves. I get to block an elf with Mishra’s factory going to 4 and killing the Erhnam with my Atog (I sacrificed two Ankhs and a Black Vise, for some reason I thought Erhnam had 6 toughness).

It's still not over, he can't really kill me but later on he channels out a Shivan Dragon and I'm dead with a lot of burn in my hand (still no red sources).

 

My first question after the match was to ask Jon Finkel if I punted the match. He pointed out that I only need to sacrifice two artifacts to kill Erhnam but also said it might not have mattered.

 

Record: 1-2 (3-4)

 

 

Round 4 vs Quinn Maurmann (Deck order A-C-B)

Game 1: BW Midrange (Deadguyish?)

He mulligan to 5 and I started with Island and followed up with Sylvan Library, he played a Serendib Efreet, I Swords to Plowshared, he played another and I Counterspelled it. I had a Land Tax and an Ivory Tower. I played a City in a Bottle to get rid of my City of Brass and therefore enabled Land Tax.

 

I got rid of his Serra Angel and he conceded to save time.

 

Game 2 Mono? Black Control

He started with just a land. I started with Mox Ruby, Mox Emerald, Black Vise and Sol Ring. He just played land go and took two damage, I continued to Chain Lightning him a couple of times and he just played a Maze of Ith and a Fellwar stone (Didn’t have colored lands so he didn’t gain mana from Fellwar Stone).

It ended with me killing him with Atog and Serendib Efreet to get through his Maze of Ith.

 

Record: 2-2 (5-4)

 

 

Round 5 vs Micke Thai (Deck order C-B-A)

Game 1: GW Geddon

I got to play turn 1 Atog and turn 2 Serendib Efreet and he just played a couple of Birds of Paradise and Savannah Lions. He also Armageddon to get rid of my Mishra's Factory but leaving me with Mox Ruby and Mox Sapphire.

 

Game 2: Unpowered The Deck

He started with Library of Alexandria, but I got to turn 2 Ice storm it with the help of an Elves of Deep Shadow. Turn after I got rid of his Plains and the turn after his Fellwar Stone. I got out a Juzam Djinn but he kept it and my Mana Vault down so I couldn't do anything against his Icy Manpiluators and Jayemdae Tome.

 

Game 3: Atog

I kept a sketchy hand with mana, Sylvan Library and Counterspells. He played Land, Ancestral, Mox, Mox, Black Vise, Black Vise. He followed it up with Serendib Efreet and Mishra's Factory and I never saw a removal spell.

 

Record: 2-3 (6-6)

 

 

Round 6 vs Adam Merkado (Deck order B-A-C)

Game 1: GWB Midrange

I had a slow starter and he deployed a King Suleiman (my only threats being Erhnam Djinn and Juzam Djinn). I got rid of his Plains and he stumbled on mana and I got out a Sengir Vampire that beat down on him. My Erhnam Djinn got countered and my Juzam Djinn got Spirit Linked, he got rid of my Sengir Vampire, so he was gaining life (don’t remember how I got rid of the King Suleiman).

I had a Fireball and a Dark Ritual in hand and drew a second Fireball. Had the possibility to try to kill him two rounds in a row and he Counterspelled the first Fireball and played an Azure Drake. On my turn I got to lethal Fireball with a Dark Ritual (he gained life from the Spirit Link so I needed the Dark Ritual for lethal).

 

Game 2: Trick deck

He played a turn one Black Vise that ticked me down to 12 and followed up with some burn spells. I played a Serra Angel and he deployed The Abyss. At least I got to Swords to Plowshares my own Serra Angel to go back to 12 life. He played an Underworld Dreams and a Winds of Change me having 4 cards and he 1. I Disenchanted the Underworld Dreams and got 3 new cards.

I got out a Serra Angel him being at 20 life with nothing to back it up, he drew 4 lands in a row and then I drew a Mana Drain to counter his Wheel of Fortune and kill him.

 

Record: 3-3 (8-6)

 

 

Round 7 vs Gordon Andersson (Deck order A-B-C)

Game 1: Arabian Aggro

I had a start without engine cards but could Counterspell the early onslaught of Arabian creatures and then deploy a City in a Bottle to kill a Erhnam Djinn and two City of Brass. Then I set up with Jalum Tome, Sylvan Library, Land tax activation twice and Ivory Tower. I was at a low life total and his hand consisted of only Arabian creatures.

 

Game 2: Parfait

I had some problem getting into this game as he had Winter Orb + Relic Barrier and him having a Serra Angel and an Icy Manipulator tapping down my creature. He deployed a second Serra Angel and gave me one turn without Icy Manipulator, I attacked with Erhnam Djinn and playing Growth + Berserk to kill his double blocking Serra Angels and get him to 6. Had I drawn a green mana I would have played another Berserk for the win. After that he keeps me locked down by tapping my land I untapped during my untap step and I just die.

 

Game 3: Power Monolith

I was on the play with the Atog deck and went Volcanic Island, Lotus, Timetwister. He got a bad hand. I got to play a second turn Demonic Tutor for Ancestral Recall. I just got to burn him out with him doing nothing (even had a Wheel of Fortune if that wasn't enough).

 

Record: 4-3 (10-7) for a 24^th place out of 69 players.

Individual Deck Results

Deck A – Tax Tower: 4-2

The deck performed as expected or maybe even a little better. Would have changed the wincons for Millstone instead of Serra Angel as I faced a lot of The Abyss, Maze of Ith and other removal.

Deck B – BG SMASH: 2-3

The deck performed as expected. I didn't really think I would win much with it but was extremely happy to get a one shot kill in the second match. I would probably brew a lot with this build to make it better but if I remove some powerful cards from the Atog list I would probably play something else.

Deck C – Dibatog: 4-2

The deck performed below expectations (didn't really seem solid and I think it's clearly a 5-1 or 6-0 deck non sideboarded games). I think you can just cut some powerful stuff (Mox, Mishra's, Serendib Efreets) to make it available for your third deck.

Final conclusions

I had a great time with this tournament, playing against so many different decks over all the seven rounds. I want to thank my opponents for being super nice all day long, most people I talked to after the tournament really loved the tournament and the format. I also want to thank Mano, Timmy, Florian, Slanfan and the guest commentators for making this tournament possible.