My 15 QP this time came mostly off of drafts during Alara nix tix week.  On personally frustrating note, a few days before the actual event a car crashed into a telephone off the highway near my house and took down all generated power in my local township for three hours.  This happened at 12:45pm.  At 1pm I was supposed to play in a 64-man draft ZZW, release event style.  Power came back around 2:30pm.  While I didn't get a refund (or really expect one), it did get me thinking about having a plan for a similar disaster.  I created a thread about it on the MTGO boards, and a few people responded.  None of them had anything to add except for the suggestion auto-picks should rare-draft (they don't now), and one man said even if I had managed to call customer service in time and ask them to drop me, I should not get dropped nor get a refund.  I disagree.   I think part of customer service should include dropping people from popular premier events (ones that are always filled up days in advance), in the event of power failures or other disasters.

Oh well, let's fast forward toward the main event.

469 people at t-minus 9 minutes.  That's only about 40 more than when I logged in at 10am, signing up in advance if you are playing has become what to do.  Two more people show up before start, making the total players 471.  This means 10 rounds.  Since the event is starting at 2pm for me, I'm up for it.

I'm not hoping for any particular card or strategy, all I want is two color deck with high consistency.

Immediately, I rarity sort.  Useless = , , ...... Marginal = ....  Good if in color

I immediately pick up blue is a color to be in since I have Vapor Snare and Living Tsunami.  Two land bouncers mean the marginal Walking Atlas will also make the final cut.  That gets me about 11 cards.

Red has Magma Rift as removal plus a bunch of bad creatures like Molten Ravager, Cosi's Ravager, Tuktuk Scrapper, and Ruinous Minotaur.  This eliminates red, despite me having the mesa, 2 Kazandu Refuge, and a Teetering Peaks.

Green has 7 guys which include 2 Zendikar Farguide, a Grappler Spider, and a Graypelt Hunter.  The double Mold Shambler looks good, but only them plus Predatory Urge tells me 'avoid green.'  I didn't even get a combat trick in green.

I've got 2 Kabira Crossroads, a Sejiri Steppe and a Sejiri Refuge. I look at white next.  White has four creatures, which isn't enough -- Apex Hawks, Kitesail Apprentice, Kor Aeronaut, and Kor Firewalker.  The last white card of interest is Iona's Judgment.  White looks not so great, though I'm half-tempted to play one crossroads for the 2 life bonus, I decide to leave them in the side area.

Black has both good removal and guys.  So I'm two color blue/black.  My deck has only 11 creatures, but it also has 2 Zendikons, Summoner's Bane, and Vapor Snare.  I left Soul Stair Expedition, Cancel, Twitch, Spell Contortion, a 2nd Aether Tradewinds, and Dead Reckoning in the SB.  I sort of wanted the Reckoning, but all of my early creatures are junk.  It isn't until the 4 drops that my guys get good enough to want to reckon, and if I'm wasting my 5th turn on that, chances are I'm already losing.

Normally this is when people put their whole pool out there and let people think of their deck.  Trust me that the only build for this was blue/black.  Green was not splashable because in 10 rounds going three colors is like saying '7-3 at best thanks to mana issues.'

MOCS 2010 S2

No special lands, no rares

Creatures 1 Pulse Tracker 1 Walking Atlas 1 Pilgrim's Eye 1 Calcite Snapper 1 Hagra Crocodile 1 Windrider Eel 1 Living Tsunami 2 Jagwasp Swarm 1 Voyager Drake 1 Caustic Crawler 11 cards Other Spells 1 Blazing Torch 1 Explorer's Scope 1 Wind Zendikon 1 Disfigure 1 Corrupted Zendikon 1 Into the Roil 1 Treasure Hunt 1 Hideous End 1 Aether Tradewinds 1 Summoner's Bane 1 Vapor Snare 1 Mysteries of the Deep 12 cards

Lands 8 Swamp 9 Island 17 cards Sideboard 1 Dead Reckoning 1 Cancel 1 Twitch 1 Aether Tradewinds 2 Soul Stair Expedition 1 Spell Contortion 7 cards

Round one vs Tsuhika17, who is not logged on.  However his deck is 40 cards which means he is around and will likely be playing. I choose to play first.  He shows after I wait 2 minutes.

Game one is decided by his mana problems.  He plays 2 mountains, and while he keeps playing mountains and some red spells, a second color is absent.

I side in Twitch for Summoner's Bane, as bane is bad against Zendikons and the Zektar Shrine Expedition he showed me (which Twitch solves).  On the play I see 6 land Jagwasp Swarm, I mulligan into 3 land Corrupted Zendikon, Living Tsunami, Into the Roil.  He plays turn two guy, turn three guy, Searing Blaze my Zendikon turn four, Dread Statuary, and the Green Zendikon turn six.  I lose from his tempo.

Game three he plays forests and islands without mountains.  He scoops on turn six when I have 10 power worth of guys vs his empty board.  Mana issues win.  The entire match took 18 minutes total to play out.

Players at 1-0 are 308 people with 146 having a first round bye.

 

Round two vs 'this isnt the name i chose' (no byes)

He chooses to draw first. He's playing black/green.  Game one I get turn two Atlas, turn four Windrider Eel, turn five Living Tsunami, and turn six Vapor Snare his Halo Hunter.  He scoops.

Game two we both mulligan.  I turn 3 swamps/4 blue cards into five lands plus Jagwasp Swarm.  I play a turn four Windrider Eel as my first non-land card.  He beats me down with a first turn Gruul Draz Vampire, which is joined by a turn four Nissa Sell Sword.  I don't trade the Jagwasp for the Sell-Sword, preferring to trade damage.  He plays Halo Hunter, and I play Vapor Snare on it again.  I win the game by equipping his own Hunter with my Blazing Torch, meaning his vampire can't chump block.  I win with Disfigure in hand.

Players at 2-0 are 186 people with 64 having a second round bye.



Round three vs Balkothe (no byes)

I elect to play first keeping 2 swamp, island, Explorer's scope, Hideous End, Vapor Snare, Jagwasp Swarm.  This takes 14 seconds since I don't want to be hit by a delayed mulligan from the 'yes I'd like to play first' bug.  He decides to do nothing until his clock reads 27:02.  He's playing u/w/g Luminarch Ascension with allies.  My Jagwasp plus a Wind Zendikon go the distance.  He does have both Marsh Treader and River Boa though, so we may be racing game two.

I switch out Summoner's Bane for a 2nd tradewinds.

He plays first and gets turn two Luminarch (again).  But it's Ok because my opening hand includes Vapor Snare.  I get first turn Blazing Torch, second turn Treasure Hunt into Island/Pulse Tracker, and third turn I draw a tradewinds to shut down the Ascension if it gets out of hand.  It never does and I win with fliers again.

Players at 3-0 are 111 people with 25 having three rounds of byes.
 

... my Flyers make the first few rounds easy.


Round four vs. GI Darius (one bye, no game losses)

We both have mana issues.  He's stuck with mountains, me with islands.  Vapor Snare shows on my board to ultimately make the difference.

Game two he gets both Cunning Sparkmage and Murmasa Pyromancer to kill the blocker to kill me before Living Tsunami kills him next turn.

Game three I keep Swamp, 2 Island, Hideous End, Dead Reckoning, Pilgrim's Eye, Treasure Hunt.  I play first turn Swamp, second turn wind Zendikon, swing for 2.  He has turn two Explore into +1 land, turn three Leatherback Baloth, turn four sparkmage.  My Turn five is living tsunami, Disfigure on Sparkmage, but he has vines of vastwood to save the mage.  We go back and forth a bit; his Tuk-tuk grunts trade with my Tsunami.  I hideous end Summit Apes over the Baloth since I can't block them well. (This means I keep back Wind Zendikon and chump since I need both my swamps to do this.)  I Reckon back the Tsunami and take out a Grazing Gladeheart, but my final 'kill you' strike is thwarted by hardcast Slingbow Trap.  I lose a close match.  If I'd gotten a third swamp or ultimately NOT played my one swamp first turn, I'd have won with that little bit of extra tempo allowing me End the baloth and Reckon the apes instead of how it went.  However I had no idea I would draw Wind Zendikon as my 8th card and therefore screw up my later mana game plan.   You always hear about playing the wrong land losing matches.  It is non-obvious, except when watching that replay.

At this point in the event all of the top 28 have at least one bye except runcowardlyfishies, in 27th place.


Round five vs. Watchwolf92 (one bye, his only game losses are round four, which he lost 1-2)

He's green/blue/black.  Game one is an easy win with fliers.  Game two he draws no black mana, but he has a Vapor Snare for my Living Tsunami. I have a trump -- Into the Roil.  Tsunami kills him, though mana problems were the real reason for the loss.

I'm now in 75th place.  Of the 28 players with 15 points, only 10 have no byes.


Round six vs Matsmatsmatsmatsmatsmats (no byes, one match loss)

From the replay I see he is playing r/w and learn a few of his cards.  He obviously watches my replays too, since he wins the roll and spends the first few minutes doing nothing. He makes the first move when his clock reads 25:00.

Game one I come out strong with t1 Pulse Tracker, t2 Wind Zendikon.  He has fast guys, but what causes me to stall is being at four lands.  Keeping back the zendikon to Summoner's Bane a Tuk-tuk grunts was key, since he had a Talus Paladin on the table.  Eventually I draw into more land, Hideous the slow beatdown by his Marsh Treader, play more flyers, and win.

Side in cancel for aether tradewinds, as I didn't see Zendikons.

Game two my first play is a Calcite Snapper.  A crusher zendikon does take out my Windrider Eel on turn four or five (double block with snapper to take no trample).  He gets Ruin Ghost going with Teetering Peaks, making me unkicked into the roil his 2/4 angel flyer.  However I have Summoner's Bane for when it tries to come back.  We both draw lands, but my drawing extra cards from Mysteries of the Deep is what really won the game for me. His not drawing more than one piece of removal helped too.  I finish holding Cancel with open mana.

I am now in 48th place, and 14 people have 18 points, with eight of them having byes of some kind.

Undervalued card here.  2/2 flying haste, plus can block and provide mana for tricks.

Round seven vs ProtossX (he has no byes, and only 12 match points... this is a pair down for me)

He's playing green/blue.  I see Sphinx of Lost Truths, Mistform Seastalkers, and Woodcrasher Baloth on his side.  I draw Vapor Snare, and my Caustic Crawler takes out his Tideforce Elemental.

Game two all he plays are Tempest owl, Pilgrim's Eye, Hedron Rover, and Windrider Eel.  I have answers for everything, and while I'm a bit flooded as well, I do draw Living Tsunami to go with my Summoner's Bane and Disfigure.

At the end of the round, I notice GI Darius, the only man I've lost against, is still undefeated.  I'm in 32nd place.  Seven people have 21 match points, and 34 other people also have 18 match points.


Round eight vs CopHyak

He's black/green.  I watch his replay and keep a hand with 4 islands, Voyager Drake, Vapor Snare, and Hideous End.  I elect to play first.  He's obviously watching my replay too.  I see he has Bestial Menace, decent black removal, and a River Boa.

He plays a t2 bokuja brigand, t3 Oran-Reef Survivalist, and I draw my fifth island.  He plays river boa in foil, meaning he has two of them. I put out my voyager drake.  It looks like my Drake will trade for the 3/3 brigand. It does not, he has Groundswell.  I Vapor Snare the Boa and draw my 6th island.  He is stuck at 3 land but keeps drawing strong spells like Smother... guess where it went?  I try to stay alive one last turn with Into the Roil, but he also has Vines of Vastwood, kicked.  Not bad for only having 2 forest one swamp all game.  This game was lost by me failing to draw a swamp.

Game two I miss my 2nd land drop.  I can't begin to tell you how frustrating this feels after 8 hours of trying make the top 8.  It's not like I should mulligan Into the Roil, Jagwasp Swarm, Living Tsunami, Island, Swamp, Hideous End, Cancel.  He's got the same opening -- Survivalist and Brigrand on turns two and three.  My fourth turn I do draw a swamp, but then I miss a land drop AGAIN!  He naturally plays Corrupted Zendikon and hits me from 17 to 9. I do not draw land on my sixth turn.  I simply concede since he has more than 9 power on the board, having also played a post combat river boa.

Mana screw twice for the loss.  X-2 has no chance of making top 8. I take some deep breaths and go do something else for 30 minutes to maintain my focus.  Top 64 gets packs, top 32 gets random foil promo. Only two more rounds, might as well do my best.



Round nine vs Tank1985

Game one more mana problems, I lose fast.

Game two I get early wind Zendikon and it tempo advances me to a win during a close game.

Game three it looks like I'm winning the race, as he's at 9 (technically at 8 but I just bounced a refuge with a zendikon on it) and I'm at 8. I just stole his Grotag Thrasher with my Vapor Snare.  I have in hand a Hideous End plus a land for my convertible turtle on the table (but Snare will bounce a land anyway...).  He needs to play 2 more guys or NOT attack me and play one guy or else I'm killing him on my next turn.  His side has a Cunning Sparkmage and a Plated Geopede with a Kitesail equipped.  He top decks a card I didn't see in his replays or in either of the first two games -- Gigantoform.  +8/+8, it beats me (he also plays around Disfigure, which I left a swamp open to bluff).  If I didn't steal the Grotag Thrasher, I could not have attacked him into winning range, which is why I chose that play over using Hideous End.



Final round ten vs. ptimmons

I keep 3 island, 2 swamp, summoner's bane, tradewinds after deliberation.  Rather be flooded than stuck 2 lands yet again.  My opponent mulls to five on the play. He plays a t2 marsh Treader, t3 Wind Zendikon. I draw 3 swamps in a row, and tradewinds the zendikon ASAP. I draw Disfigure (on his Marsh Treader, it still did 6) and Island+Swamp.  He draws Tideforce Elemental and Windrider Eel.  I draw Island and Jagwasp Swarm, and then Bane out a Lightkeeper of Emeria.  He gets Explorer's Scope on his Eel and an Archon of Redemption.  He gets lucky with the scope and always hits for +2/+2.  Jagwasp Swarm chumps rather than trades.  Yeah... flooded out.


Game two I play first. I keep 4 lands with 3 guys.  He mulls to six.  I kill off his stuff and over-commit.  Before I do so, I'm thinking 'is there a wrath effect in Zen bloc?'  I could not think of one, I swear it!  I kept coming up with Martial Coup, probably because I played so much Alara Block earlier in the month.  But I've been playing for 10 rounds straight and I'm tired.  It's past my bedtime.  I've written articles on why you shouldn't play when you are tired, but in MOCS it is unavoidable if you don't have byes.  He plays Day of Judgment.  I top deck Wind Zendikon and Vapor Snare (Shepard of the Lost) to keep up pressure.  He uses his own Vapor Snare to take back his Shepard.  I draw Caustic Crawler to take out his Marsh Treader, but his next play is Archon of Redemption, putting him back to 8 and out of range of anything I topdeck.  I can't attack because of the Quicksand he played in the early game.  I get Voyager Drake to air attack him down to 4 life by kicking.  He chumps with the Shepard.  But I'm at one, and he's got two guys to my one blocker.  I lose.

  I was judged unworthy in the last round.


This means I don't get any prizes either, my final placing is 66th place (in the top 15% of people playing).  Opponent's Match wins was .6169; I needed above .6271 to win something.  Going 6-1 then ending up 6-4 isn't fun.

Personal stats:  
total games played: 23
games won from mana issues of opponents: 5
games lost from my own mana issues: 5
matches won from their mana: 1
matches lost from my mana: 2
mistakes, game loss: two... R4G3 playing wrong last first turn and R10G2 overcommiting and getting blown out by Day of Judgment
Percentage of games decided based on mana issues and not play skill -- 43.5%
Reason I dislike Zen bloc -- too many mana issues from fast blowout hands and not enough chances to outplay people
People I played who made top 8 -- one, GI Darius

Suggestion for improvement for MOCS:  max rounds on one day should be 7.  MOCS should mean a cut to top 64 and a day two, like in a real life Grand Prix.  I really felt this event was grueling, but maybe I'm getting old.  Normally I talk about how they are dumb for not doing Swiss+1, but 11 rounds would just be too much.

Not covering the top 8 this time, though every single X-1 did T8, probably because 410 people ups it to 10 rounds and we were only 61 people above that.  No X-2 made it in. 

One final note about the MOCS.  Who had the bright idea of making Emeria Angel the promo for Season 3?  It's the worst promo so far for MOCS, worse than even Grim Lavamancer.  I'd rather they redo Vindicate again, or even use the box-promo art for Celestial Colonnade or Day of Judgment.  Sometimes selling the promo helps defray the cost of Q'ing for MOCS, and I really think they should not be offering flagship event promos that will ultimately be less than 3tix.

Thanks for reading.