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By: Tarmotog, Naoto Watabe
Jul 02 2009 12:02am
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Hi all, this is One Double O brought to you by puremtgo.com where you can find out more about the 100 card Singleton format and just about any other format you would want to play online. (I'm probably under the influence of podcasts)

Two weekends, we had the first, of the many to come, 100 card Singleton Weekend challenges and 30 fans of the format (or maybe fans of the payouts as well) came to do battle with 100 card decks.

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One Double O Tournament Centre

Here are the archetypes of the top 8 decks for the tournament:

Lundstrom - UG beats
TheFriendlyHippo - GRWU deck based on creatures that are worth at least 2 cards each, similar in intentions with the "ramp deck" I introduced last time.
ARBBotPlus - GW Aggro
Tarmotog - Crosis control (covered below)
TheUsualSuspect - 3c Zoo
JustMeBaby - UWR Control
Th00mor - Red Deck Wins
BryTheFryGuy - GB

This time, we have a total of 8 distinct deck archetypes in the top 8 but of course, the metagame is definitely being molded around being aggro and beating aggro. This diversity signals a very healthy format which is much different from the previous 3s and 2s of certain archetypes. The question now is whether or not this showing would remain in the format. Nevertheless, it is probably still safe to think that being able to beat aggro will go the distance into being able to do well in the metagame.

The most popular color that did well is probably green, followed by red.

Green is played by aggressive decks and is likewise able to produce cards that can keep aggressive decks at bay, as mentioned last week.

Red is played by both control decks, possibly because red cards, in my opinion, are very strong against red decks.

Decks will be up on the official www.dailymtg.com on Thursdays under the "decks of the week" section. I'll have the link on the next article.

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One Double O Tournament tip #1: Know your Rounds

24-32 is 5 rounds.
33-64 is 6 rounds.
65-128 is 7 rounds.
129-256 is 8 rounds.

This helps you know where you fare during your struggle to the top 8.
This time the tournament has 30 people, which means there are 5 rounds and I would want to get 3-0 to secure a "virtual top-8" so that I can bank on my opponents even if I lose to 3-2 later on.

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One Double O Deck Tech: Tarmotog's Crosis Control

Crosis Control
by Tarmotog
Creatures
1 Nekrataal
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Shriekmaw
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Nucklavee
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Mulldrifter
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Trinket Mage
1 Epochrasite
1 Duplicant
16 cards

Other Spells
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Electrolyze
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Cryptic Command
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Compulsive Research
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Mistvein Borderpost
1 Firespout
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Pithing Needle
1 Memory Lapse
1 Magma Jet
1 Counterspell
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mind Stone
1 Jace Beleren
1 Dimir Signet
1 Bituminous Blast
1 Chrome Mox
1 Rise/Fall
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Force of Will
1 Arcane Denial
1 Izzet Signet
1 Fire/Ice
1 Damnation
1 Veinfire Borderpost
1 Brainstorm
1 Remand
1 Pact of Negation
1 Firebolt
1 Mana Leak
1 Future Sight
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Smother
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Dismiss
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Ancestral Vision
45 cards
Lands
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Academy Ruins
1 Badlands
1 Great Furnace
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Underground Sea
1 Tolaria West
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Sunken Ruins
4 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Reflecting Pool
9 Snow-Covered Island
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Graven Cairns
1 Thawing Glaciers
39 cards

Nicol bolas, planeswalker


Picture view with the basic lands spilling into the 1cc slot:

One Double O Deck Tech: Crosis Control

This particular deck is created by me, of course, designed to run into an aggro heavy field. The obvious tell-tale signs come from the bulk load of removals in the form of burn spells, creature kills and also some cheap counter magic and the most obvious one being nekrataal which I concede to playing (even though I would very much not want to) because it is simply good against creatures. However, that said, the deck is not focused entirely to beat aggro and has a few strong cards against control decks. I enjoy playing blue because I believe that having some say in the flow of the game is very crucial when trying to win.

This deck is a very powerful mid-ranged deck that tries to win by stabilizing the board early, getting more and more card advantage and finally ending the game with powerful cards. It forces interaction actively, which I believe to be one of the key factors in doing well in the environment today. The deck builds up advantage incrementally until you finally overwhelm the opponent so it can often look like an even game.

To fight non-basic hate, I have incorporated a large number of basic lands into the deck and use the new borderposts to act as "non-basic lands" that dodge non-basic hate. So far, moons and miners have minimal impact against me most of the time unless I get unlucky because the deck has many answers to them, is not affected much by them (by searching out basic lands with a high priority) or can simply recover fast, especially when the deck runs some mana artifacts like signets as well.

The deck also has some notable strong interactions like:
Sensei's Divining Top + Future Sight that allows you to draw a card for 1 mana.
Nucklavee + Rise/Fall / Cryptic Command / Cruel Ultimatum engine, of which 2 can do a soft lock against a deck that is not able to force interaction.
Makeshift Mannequin + Creatures like Shriekmaw can turn the game in your favor.

Also, it plays the "more-powerful-than-Garruk Wildspeaker" Tezzeret the seeker which has about 6 abilities hidden in the deceiving 3, just like how a textless Cryptic Command has a thousand different abilities to choose from:
+1: untap up to 2 mana artifacts and/or artifact creatures. (that might be tapped from attacking)
0: put an artifact land into play.
-1: Put a Pyrite SpellbombExecutioner's CapsulePithing NeedleSensei's Divining Top / Phyrexian Furnace into play.
-2: Put a 4/4 artifact creature or a mana fixing artifact into play.
-3: Put a Vedalken Shackles into play.
-5: Make your mana artifacts into 5/5 monsters for the win.

Basic Gameplan:

Game one, the plan is simple: take control of the board and win on the back of the powerful spells like Cruel Ultimatum, Nicol Bolas, planeswalker or even Bogardan Hellkite. The deck is balanced so it can fight both aggro and control but it's matchup against aggro is definitely a better one.

Sideboarding would depend on the matchup but generally, the sideboard is split into cards against aggro and cards against control.

The anti-aggro strategy is highlighted by the introduction of (Summoner's Sphinx) into Razormane Masticore which is an absolute beating against aggressive decks. The other cards are adjusted depending on the characteristics of the particular deck, based on experience and analysis.
Usually, I take out all the high casting cost planeswalker, Bogardan Hellkite and also all the cards that don't have any immediate impact on the game and adjust accordingly. The deck degenerates into: hate out aggro and win slowly by beating.

The anti-control strategy is much simpler, jam-packing card advantage into the deck while taking out cards that are more likely to be dead because card advantage defines the control vs control matchup. However, even if I put in as many cards as I can hope to, the deck still will have a large number of creature hate so the control matchup can't be said to be favorable unless I get lucky and don't draw the dead cards. The key cards in this matchup are the slower, more powerful cards.

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One Double O Sideboard Tech of the Week:

With artifact kills mainly targeting equipment, I found that using Unforge would be rather useful against a field of aggro decks, which can give you 2 for 1s or at the very least, get rid of the equipment that you don't want to see.

 unforge

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Tarmotog's Tournament Report

Pretournament

I enter the tournament at about 10:20pm with the event starting at 11pm local time. With the season championships grinding, I've become more and more accustomed to playing at odd hours so I am not very worried about that anymore. Player count: 12.

The clock ticks away and I scan my buddies list (which consists of people who I saw play 100 card Singleton and just added them to sort of track online activity) and cross check the list of names in the tournament. Of the people not on the tournament list, I see TheFriendlyHippo's name and since he's also a regular (or rather one of the more active people) at myMTGO.com who is a regular 100 card Singleton player, I ask him whether or not he'll be playing to which he replies that he's doing some tuning. The player count stays at 14 and slowly climbs as time passes. I talk with a few players who are also in the tournament. TheUsualSuspect (a fellow writer for puremtgo.com) aims to get a playset of the foil Electrolyze by playing in both 100 card Singleton and Kaleidoscope, top 8-ing in 2 of each, which would net him 4 of the 64 copies available online (assuming all the events fire). About 10 minutes before 11pm, the minimum capacity of 24 is reached.

Mindful of the Foil Electrolyze, I hope that the tournament stays at a small player count.

Of course, I should in fact be hoping that more players show up but... I'm human. I'd rather play 5 rounds than 6. The count in the last 5 minutes suddenly jumps at a very fast pace and soon enough, it reaches 30 at 10:59pm local time. It doesn't climb anymore and the tournament starts! (Yes!! 5 rounds!)

Round 1 vs ChicoMartini 2-0

ChicoMartini was spotting a UGW deck with a myriad of goodstuff with a difficult plan to follow or rather anticipate.

Game 1, he starts off looking like a UW deck and I am surprised to resolve a turn 3 Jace Beleren. He has Court Hussar out so I hardcast my Mistvein borderpost (hoping to ramp up into the Nicol bolas, planeswalker sitting in my hand) and Lightning bolt away the 1/3. He then uses Flooded grove to cast a Troll Ascetic which my Firespout takes care of since he has no green mana to regenerate it. I Pact of Negation an Elspeth, knight-errant. He drops Ohran viper and has negate for my bad-ass dragon planeswalker. Sword of fire and ice goes onto the snake and I am forced to cast Damnation and Tezzeret the seeker into an epochrasite which he responds with a Mulldrifter and a watchwolf. I choose not to search out a Pithing needle but untap the epochrasite which attacked because I think I can get his Watchwolf to attack into my epochrasite as I have Venser, shaper savant in hand to bounce the equipment. I Memory lapse his Cryptic command that tries to prevent my plan and indeed, the watchwolf dies. He drops both (Knight of the medowgrain) and Sword of fire and ice, leaving Cryptic command mana up. I pop the executioner's capsule on the 2/2 and after he drops a Reveillark and equips, I Rise/Fall and hit Cryptic command and Silvos, Rogue Elemental. I desperately search for answers by shuffling and topping and I get Nucklavee which returns (Memorty lapse) and Rise/Fall for the last 2 cards from his hand. He drops Noble Hierarch and a Nantuko monastery. On my turn Merchant scroll into Cryptic Command and use the last loyalty counter of Tezzeret the seeker to get Pithing needle for the land but Pyrite spellbomb jumps out instead. I let him kill my Nucklavee since I have Makeshift mannequin in my hand and I use an Ingot chewer to get rid of Sword of Fire and Ice. His last play for the game, Selesnya Guildmage is Memory Lapsed and he scoops. What a long game!

Game 2, he starts with Selesnya Guildmage and he does not get his 4th mana while I have Shadowmage infiltrator out and Nekrataal clears the 2/2 away. He tries to Faith's Fetters Shadowmage Infiltrator but I Force of Will it since the 1/3 would probably be really important in this matchup. Jace beleren joins in the action as well. He finally has his blue mana and casts a Rhox war monk and I Fact or fiction and he spits the pile into: Duplicant+Nucklavee or Shriekmaw+Pithing needle+Bloodstained mire. Thing is that I have Cruel Ultimatum which does many bad things. With Nucklavee and Cruel Ultimatum, not many things can go wrong. I draw Makeshift Mannequin so I discard Nucklavee. He drops Oversoul of Dusk (which I have no problem with since I am going to Cruel Ultimatum next turn. Court Hussar is cast, I Makeshift Mannequin into Nucklavee, get Cruel ultimatum and Force of will, and Force of Will the 1/3 to get the concession.

With various people talking to me and commenting on my deck after my match, I suddenly remember that replays are up and there were quite a few people watching my games!

One Double O Tournament Tip #2 Watch Replays

Once your match is over, you can now scout around the possible decks you will face by watching replays of games that are already completed. The way to do this is first look at your score. Find people who are in your score, check out their games and take note of their deck archetypes. This sounds like hard work but it helps you greatly as the tournament progresses.

Round 2 vs Chriskool 2-0

I bump into Chriskool spotting 3c zoo, who probably did not want to meet at round 2 since we get along quite fine.

Game 1, he mulls to 6 and drops Mogg fanatic and Llanowar elves on turn 2. I do a Tezzerator-style Chrome mox for a turn 2 Firespout. He casts (Lightning Greves) which I shut down with a Pithing Needle from a Trinket Mage. Turn 4, I have a hand with a Murderous redcap, lightning bolt and smother and I (Fact of fiction) into gas which he throws all into a pile and concedes.

Game 2, I have a hand with Sensei's Divining Top, Razormane Masticore, Twisted Abomination and lands. Razormane masticore is good but I don't have anything else. I draw into Murderous redcap. He casts end of turn Sulfur elemental and attempts a Qasali Pridemage which I attempt to Arcane denial but is denied with a Pyroblast. murderous redcap forces Qasali Pridemage to eat my Izzet Signet. He Incinerates my Murderous Redcap on his turn and I deal 1 damage to the Sulfur elemental to ward it off for a turn before I drop my Razormane masticore. I hold the Razormane masticore back for a turn, suspend (Ancestral visions) and began attacking with it since it looked safe. I tried to be aggressive and cast rise/fall with no more cards in hand other than the one promised from the Sensei's divining top in play and hit decree of annihilation and a figure of destiny. boil resolves (obviously) but has no real effect on the game. Finally, (Ancestral visions) resolves. He topdecks Fire/Ice and tries to Char my Razormane masticore. Since he'll be down to one if Char resolves, I consider not countering it with Hydroblast but he has nothing left so I Hydroblast for the win.

Round 3 vs Ludvik 2-0

Ludvik is playing GW aggro which I identified via scouting.

Game 1, I get brought down to low levels of life on the back of a resolved Calciderm which I take tons from. I struggle at one life but I have tons of cards in hand against his nearly empty hand and since that color combination does not have anything that can burn me, he scoops up. The game ended quite prematurely in my opinion but I would probably have won from that position.

Game 2 starts on the back of him having Wild mongrel and 2 man lands. I slowly take control of the game with counters and ShriekmawMakeshift Mannequin  but my life goes down to a ridiculously low level of 3 while I struggle not to cast Damnation because I don't have anymore blockers for the Mutavault sitting on the other side. Finally, Chameleon Colossus comes down to force it out. A resolved (Ancestral Visions) lets me dig past 3 dead cards and I use sensei's divining top and see Brainstorm which would be able let me trade the dead cards away and I shuffle the deck with a fetchland. I see Tezzeret the seeker and Razormane Masticore on the top of the library and get Tezzeret the seeker to untap a Dimir Signet which might win me the game since he's at 5 life (from City of Brass damage and Shriekmaw fear beats from awhile back) but Oblivion Ring answers it. I try again with Razormane Masticore and he has no answers.

Going 3-0, I am in a "virtual top8" as mentioned above because my opponents of the next two rounds would have at least 4 wins worth of tie-breakers each if I lose to both of them but I should not get too happy yet because it's not 100%.

Round 4 vs TheUsualSuspect 1-2

I face TheUsualSuspect with whom I was chatting away with during the course of the tournament who, like me, would rather meet at 4-0. I know he's playing zoo from talking to him and also while scouting. He says his deck is the winning deck from the last PE with some changes. (6 cards if I remember correctly)

Game 1, I am on the play with a very fine hand. He opens with a mountain and a plains with tin street hooligan which I opt not to Remand hoping to get mileage from the Firespout in hand. He remains mana screwed and I finally try a Firespout which he responds to by casting Path to Exile which I Memory Lapse and he scoops because he's too far behind on board development.

Game 2, he has a quick start with noble hierarch and has Eternal witness to pick up a fetchland while I slowly play an Executioner's capsule and I wait till end of turn after he beats for 3 (2+exalted) before I crack the capsule just in case he has a better creature. I cast Jace Beleren and he takes the opportunity to cast Siege-gang commander. A very sad Hydroblast stares at it and kills the leader on the next turn. I hold up Mana Leak with mana and pass the turn where he activates Treetop village and swings with the team to kill my planeswalker, following up with a Tarmogoyf. I want to Mana Leak it but I have Duplicant which would be able to take its full size because of a particular ruling so I let it resolve. He follows up with a Duplicant of his own and swings with the token team. I contemplate about what to do with my hand and I end up swampcycling my (Twisted Abominaition) and Shriekmawing the Noble Hierarch. Armageddon puts me in a very bad position and I can't get out of it.

Game 3, I have a decent start but I don't want to cast my Veinfire borderpost too early. He has some beats with Grim lavamancer and he casts Qasali Pridemage (thankfully I didn't drop the borderpost!) which I Fire/Ice away and put down the borderpost. Unfortunately next turn he Eladamri's Call into a Tin street Hooligan and keeps me off my second black mana source. Not very sure what I should do, I lay another Snow-covered island and keep Cryptic Command mana up. He casts Figure of Destiny which I counter+draw and drops a River Boa as well with one mana to regenerate it. Next turn, during his combat, I Bituminous Blast and hope to get something useful. Flametongue Kavu, probably one of the best cards I can wish for in most situations) is the card and I shoot down the lavamancer which it returns the favor on the kavu. He casts Ravages of War which again puts me in a relatively bad shape but I topdeck a Firebolt and take the shock from Steam vents to get rid of the boa. We skip a few turns trying to draw lands and he gets his 2nd mana first, casting Sakura-tribe elder. I am at 8 life and I topdeck Sunken Ruins which would give me some game. He has no plays so I force him to sacrifice his Sakura-tribe elder by throwing Lightning bolt at it which he also has for me, bringing me down to 4. I draw a sad mistvein borderpost and pass the turn. He has Ranger of Eos which I lapse away. I draw Cascade bluffs (which means I have access to UU, RR and BB) and I Arcane Denial the ranger. Arcane Denial becomes very bad here when we are at a point where every card matters. I get a Crumbling Necropolis and I play it with a hardcast mistvein borderpost because I have Sower of Temptation, Nekrataal and Venser, shaper savant in hand. He has a Woolly Thoctar which I Nekrataal away in case he has a 1 mana removal for Sower of Temptation. He drops Phantom Centaur (!!) which I probably will have an insane time against and I Sower of Temptation it which he later casts Naya Charm on. He attacks and I attempt to cast Venser, shaper savant but it meets a Pyroblast and Nekrataal is a black creature facing one with protection from black.

Round 5 vs JustMeBaby 0-2

The last round of the swiss tournament, I am paired with JustMeBaby whose deck I had also identified early as URW but did not get much specific info about.
With the both of us at the top of the 9 pointers, we wish each other luck with the thinking that we should both make it into top 8, regardless of the outcome of the game. My deck, being more creature centered, would not have as good a matchup against a control deck. Hopefully he runs enough creatures to make the game matter.

Game 1, with knowledge about his deck, I keep a hand of Pact of negation and 6 lands. The game becomes land-go until his turn 7 with Vedalken shackles being the first spell of the game which I don't react to. Next turn, I draw Mystical Teachings and he casts Mana Severance which signals a Goblin Charbelcher kill. However, I notice that he has an island count of 4 which means that he can't possibly shackles my Bogardan Hellkite. I Mystical Teachings into a Fact or Fiction and as I flashback it on the next turn, we get into a small counter war because I want my dragon and I don't want his Remand to become a counterspell + card draw so I Arcane Denial it and he Cryptic Commands the teachings which I react to using Pact of Negation. I am very much aware that every single card he draws will never ever be a non-land. He casts Bribery and takes my Mulldrifter which I use Bogardan hellkite to kill which he Wrath of Gods away. I get an unmolested Cruel Ultimatum which gets me the dragon again. The game looks quite good for me as I have Force of Will backup but he casts Mystical Tutor into Enlightened tutor, signalling a possible game ender. I cast the dragon again and it meets Pact of negation. I cast Soul manipulation to try to get it back but he has Spell burst with buyback. I make a big mistake by countering Spell burst with Force of Will because he can never cast Spell burstGoblin Charbelcher if I try to Force of Will it instead because he has 8 mana. I try to find a Pithing Needle desperately by casting Electrolyze and I draw Makeshift Mannequin which I use on the Mulldrifter which is probably another mistake because he has to pay for Pact of Negation which I do not realise so playing the Bogardan Hellkite and pushing for damage would have been the best play since I can reanimate it if he has kill cards or just beat for the win. He doesn't cast Enlightened Tutor but has Goblin Charbelcher. With my (Vendillion Clique) away the Goblin Charbelcher plan gone, I cast it and hope to get a counter magic. I don't and he shoots me for 41.

Plain sloppy play.

Game 2, I try to build my board while disrupting his casting of Solemn Simulacrum. He casts Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and I try to Banefire him for 4 (because I don't seem to be getting the excess lands I need) but it meets Pact of Negation. He pays for pact and swings. I hope to draw land no. 6 to cast Nucklavee but I don't get a land. Instead, I Compulsive Research into a snow-covered island and play shadowmage infiltrator. I attack to lure out a flashed Solemn simulacrum so that my chances of resolving Nucklavee goes up. He Enlightened Tutors into Goblin Charbelcher and casts Elspeth, knight-errant to give Teferi flying. I Magma Jet Solemn Simulacrum to get rid of the planeswalker but another swing from Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir brings me down to 5. I try to cast Banefire on Teferi, mage of Zhalfir again and he has Repulse. An activation from Goblin charbelcher puts me at one. Ponder from him secures no lands and he shoots for another 5 points.

I anxiously wait for the last round to finish and hope that nothing goes wrong to find myself placed 8th!

Round 6 vs TheUsualSuspect 2-0

I face off TheUsualSuspect again. (Revenge time?)

Game 1, I start out not too satisfied with my hand as I take shock damage from Steam Vents into Sensei's Divining Top and a Noble Hierarch starts off on the other side. I Mana Leak a (Kami of the Ancient Law) and I top during upkeep to hope to find black mana sources. I draw an Underground Sea and keep Remand on the top of the deck. He casts Living wish for Detritivore and casts River Boa which I Remand. I cast Shadowmage Infiltrator which he Flametongue Kavus away and I return with a Shriekmaw from my side after thinking whether or not to cast Nekrataal + Sensei's Divining Top instead. He casts River Boa and Anurid Brushhopper which I Nekrataal, hoping to see him throw his 2 cards away. He suspends Detritivore for 2 and keeps one mana to regenerate River Boa but I have Fire/Ice in hand which I use to kill both creatures after he blocks and tries to regenerate. He goes down to 8 from Shriekmaw and I Thirst for knowledge into Tezzeret the seeker, deciding to go as aggro as I can to end the game fast. He casts Indrik Stomphowler and sensei's divining top hides away. Tezzeret the seeker gets a 4/4 Epochrasite and Shriekmaw punches in for 3 more points. He drops a Recumbent Bliss on Shriekmaw and I find a Duplicant on the top of the library to get rid of the 4/4 beast, swinging with both Nekrataal and Epochrasite into the 2/2 Detritivore which chumps the 4/4, going down to 3. I search out Executioner's Capsule and the game should be over. Wall of roots and Arc-slogger comes down but...

Game 2, he starts off with a tin street hooligan and I develop my board with a Dimir Signet, followed by Jace Beleren which is matched with a Garruk Wildspeaker producing a token. I have firespout but I hope to draw burn to kill Garruk wildspeaker which I do but I probably should have just used the Pithing Needle sitting in my hand instead. Jace Beleren dies to the creatures and he attempts a Sword of light and Shadow which I Memory lapse. I cast Firespout on my turn and Arcane denial an Arc-slogger. I think of whether or not to cast Mulldrifter but decide to cast Pithing Needle naming Sword of light and shadow instead before he casts something small and equips it as I have Shriekmaw in hand as well. Phantom Centaur (ack!) and Sword of light and shadow come down next turn. I draw my secret tech of Unforge and hardcast Mulldrifter which he Lightning Helixes and brings me down to 5 using the centaur. I Makeshift Mannequin Mulldrifter into the way of Phantom Centaur which draws into (man-o-war) and Electrolyze. He casts Qasali Pridemage and kills Pithing Needle *evil grin*. After he equips the centaur with the sword, I Unforge Sword of Light and Shadow and Electrolyze away Phantom Centaur for good. I draw Duplicant and Flametongue Kavu which makes my hand immune to creatures and I have lands in hand + a signet in play to survive an armageddon so I pretty much have this game unless he multiple burns me. He drops Grim lavamancer which I flametongue kavu away after casting Tezzeret the seeker untapping a great furnace and the dimir signet. He drops Taurean mauler and Blurred mongoose. I shriekmaw one and he blocks Flametongue kavu with the blurred mongoose. I find a blank Chrome mox to get ready an overrun. Duplicant eats my shriekmaw but I have Murderous redcap and I shoot it, (Man-o-war) the redcap and cast it again so that I have a solid board position with threats. I find another artifact land so I have 20 points of tezz ulti damage. The game ends soon after.

Round 7 vs Lundstrom 1-2

I am paired against Lundstrom with his UG deck.

Game 1, I have a decent hand and I try to understand the situation with his hand. I manage to resolve a Shadowmage infiltrator on turn 3 but he Wastelands my Steam vents and I think whether or not to kill his Llanowar Elves. He casts its cousin and I kill both with remand mana up. He casts Indrik stomphowler which I venser, shaper savant and he scoops because he's too far behind my draw 2 a turn.

Game 2, I mull away a 1 land hand into a no land hand into a hand with a Great furnace + a Mistvein Borderpost. I hope to get lucky and peel a basic but I don't and Indrik stomphowler from awhile later makes me concede.

Game 3, I start with a very odd hand and I start slow and he has a troll ascetic followed by a Patagia Viper which totally foils my Cruel Ultimatum plan and I have no choice but to Force of Will away a Garruk wildspeaker. He discards Deep analysis to my ultimatum and I get smother, pyroblast and a land to join my 2 lands in hand. Not good. I shriekmaw a sakura-tribe elder. He has Mulldrifter and I get a Nekrataal to kill it and he finds Venser, shaper savant with (Worldly tutor. venser, shaper savant clears the path for a clean hit for Troll ascetic and Psionic Blast kicks me out of the tournament.

End of tournament report.

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Last Words

I am more than happy to have a nice finish in a tournament that I had prepared for and correctly metagamed into, especially with the foil extended art Electrolyze on the line. It seems like my statement of "you can play any deck in the format" is slowly solidifying.

I might not be around until the second week of August if I can't secure an internet connection while overseas but if you need any help, you can always pop by the "100 Card Singleton Fans~" group at myMTGO.com where you can find a small but active friendly 100 card Singleton community.
 

tarmotog@hotmail.com
tarmotog on myMTGO.com

(For those people who are interested, I have a group in myMTGO.com tracking the promo cards called "The Promo House" and will update as soon as I pick up news about any new promo cards. Of course, you can get that info from the official message boards but myMTGO tells you about updates)

1 Comments

awesome by eddie112 at Thu, 07/02/2009 - 13:34
eddie112's picture
5

100s is one of my favorite formats. I took a nearly exact replica of tus's list for last weekends event and ran it into the ground. I may be trying a control build next week, to get delicous foily cloaks.