Tourney Recap: The Big 1.5

I ventured to the Monster Den in Minneapolis Saturday along with 44 other players including a handful of close friends for the monthly "Big 1.5" tournament. It was my first time going and from checking with friends I was told to expect 40-60 people and high competition.

I packed up my Merfolk deck, paid $15 entry and got ready for some M:TG. We were competing for "4 duals, a foil fetch, a from the vault: exiled, and store credit" - though I have no idea which duals and fetch, or how much store credit.

My Deck
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=30566
(SB Modifications: +2 Mind Harness / -1 Divert, -1 Spell Pierce)

Round 1
I'm facing Chris Clark. I met Chris in a sealed event at Dreamers in St. Louis Park a few weeks ago where he had to face my unfair double Vampire Nighthawk deck. He's a good player with a high rating (around the top 15 in Total rating in Minnesota), but he unfortunately fits into what I label as the 'Sigler' player category after Jesse Sigler who sold all of his own cards to infinitely mooch off others for "borrows" so he could still compete in constructed events. "Got Borrows?" "No Jesse, I don't - get a life." Alright, that's unfair - no offense to either Jesse or Chris; they're both alright guys. I even lent some "borrows" (a Malakir Bloodwitch) to Chris at States a couple weeks ago, though I still have to get it back from him. :-)

Anyway, Chris is piloting Goblins and though I start off well in game one with him having mull'd, I only manage to get him to 5 before his deck goes nuts and crushes dreams. Game two I mull on the play and we trade damage again but I'm wrecked once more. Goblins is a fairly bad matchup for Fish and I really need some clutch counters and a strong draw to get there.

SB: - 4 Standstill / + 2 Mind Harness, + 2 Propaganda

0-1

Round 2
Joe Barthel with Merfolk. Wow, what a matchup. For those that missed my SCG Open recap, Joe is the guy that gave me my Merfolk list and helped me with the meta allowing me to pilot my way into the $525 finish. I feel like Ralph Machio vs Mr. Miyagi.

Game one I'm on the play. We trade blows and I take Joe down to 5 but he gets me. Game 2 I play again and blow him out of the pool while staying at a healthy 20 life. Joe is on the play game 3 and I believe this is where he drops an early Lord of Atlantis giving all of our swimmers evasion. Unfortunately I drop more of them than he does and finish him off fairly quickly.

SB: +2 Propaganda, +2 Divert, +3 Spell Pierce / - 3 Stifle, -2 Kira, -2 Standstill

1-1

Round 3
David Lebedoff with ANT (Ad-Nauseum Tendrils.) I connected with David on Facebook recently and didn't recognize him at the tournament. Largely because he told me he hadn't been playing for some time so I fully didn't expect to see him there. It was cool to run into him in person. He had to scrape his cards together along with some from friends to make his deck so he didn't have the optimal build. He's also unfamiliar with the deck which is tough with a fairly complex combo deck (ok so you just play a bunch of spells and storm for the win, but you need to know what you're doing when playing against counters.)

Thankfully David isn't running Orim's Chant or Silence and I'm able to counter the right spells to keep him down to minimal cards in hand. I win both games fairly swiftly - especially game two where he tries to go all-in on an Ad Nauseum only to be blown out by my counters.

SB: +4 Relic of Progenitus, +3 Spell Pierce / -3 Merfolk Sovereign, -2 Merrow Reejerey, -2 Kira

2-1

Round 4
Jared Brown with Merfolk. My 2nd mirror match of the day. Jared wins the first game but I get him in the others. He's sporting a different list than Joe and I featuring Wake Thrasher main along with Relic & the wizard-bouncing land (seems pretty good with Silvergill Adept.) I can't recall any other specifics so we'll leave it at that.

SB: +3 Spell Pierce, +2 Divert, +2 Propaganda / -3 Stifle, -2 Kira, -2 Standstill

3-1

Round 5
Corey Giuld with 1-land-Belcher. Unfortunately I'm not well versed in scouting prior to a match and not knowing that Corey was playing Belcher stung me game 1 as I keep a hand with 0 counters. He just dumps his hand after a couple turns to stick a Belcher then waits a couple more turns until he gets enough mana to belch me out. Game 2 I'm watching out for both Belcher and Empty the Warrens and I go with the plan of countering his 2nd mana ramp spell whenever it's opportune to do so. I'm pretty sure he sticks 6 tokens but I drop propaganda then spend a few turns playing fish and eventually roll over him. Game 3 I'm going with the same plan. I hack away at his life total putting him at 6. He gets his Belcher in play but untaps with only 2 mana sources available and needs to get a 3rd mana to belch me into oblivion. I should mention at many points Corey was looking Queezy at best and I could tell that he knew he was in trouble. Anyhow, he draws into a Wraith that he cycles for 2 life putting him at 4 with me having the win on the board. Unfortunately for me he draws into a Tinder Wall which nets him the 3 mana he needs putting him in the Top 8 and me out.

I'm pretty sure I had a propaganda in hand so I shouldn't have been too concerned about him ramping up tokens on an Empty the Warrens (even though he was running Red Elemental Blast that he could remove the Prop with), so maybe I should have just focused on countering that Belcher. Live 'n learn.

3-2.

Corey goes on to make top 4 and some sort of prize split. I'm pretty sure Michael Bearmon was in there too (a top player from the Den that often puts up top finishers) but I'm not sure who else. I also never learned what the 4 prize duals, fetch, or store credit consisted of - and I don't know if the "from the vault: exiled" was a sealed item or some singles therefrom.

I had about 6 close friends at the event as well but none of them made it either, mostly ending with the same 3-2 finish as me. It was a fun time and I'll definitely check it out again - it's the biggest payout for a recurring event in our area and I'm eager to battle next time.