PTQ Omaha 1/17

I've never actually written a tournament report before so I think I'll just mimic what I've read on SCG until I find something that feels right.

I had made plans to drive up to Lincoln with Jesse and crash with Luke Goodwin then drive to Omaha that morning but at the last minute Eric Knight decided he wanted to go. Which was great for me as I wasn't looking forward to spending the night at Lukes anyways, no offence. So I met Jesse and Eric at Eric's new place which is just gigantic and resembles a castle. We hung out for a while and talked strategy. Eric was going to play UR Swath Storm and Jesse was on Goblins obviously since that is all he has played in the last few ext seasons. I hadn't decided on BG Loam or UR Swath Storm and was going to choose once we got to the venue in the morning. I conviced Eric that he wanted a 3rd Swath main and Martyr of Ashes in the board over Firespout. The drive was pleasant and we street raced some random Omahaians and put them to shame. We got up early and Jesse demolished the breakfast they had for us at the hotel. Once we got to the comic shop that was going to host the PTQ I saw quite of bit of Faeries and BG decks and not as much Zoo and burn. I decided on Loam and registered this list.

4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Ravenous Baloth
3 Raven's Crime
4 Thoughtseize
4 Life from the Loam
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Putrefy
1 Worm Harvest
2 Death Cloud
3 Damnation
3 Forest
4 Swamp
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Polluted Delta
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Mutavault
2 Twilight Mire
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Barren Moor
4 Tranquil Thicket
SB:
1 Damnation
3 Choke
3 Krosan Grip
4 Darkblast
4 Extirpate

My list was only a few cards off of the list that GerryT posted in an article on SCG last week. I had talked to Ben Jackson about the deck earlier that week and he gave me his list that was very similiar to Gerrys. I disagreed on a few of the card choices but after reading what Gerry had to say about those choices it all made more sense and I went with it.

The tournament had 83 and 7 rounds until a cut to Top 8.

0-0 / 1914

Round 1: Adam Knudsen w/ Burn
Adam flashed me a Lava Spike while shuffling so I knew what I was in for. He won the die roll and Lava Spiked me on turn 1 and followed it up with Keldon Marauders on turn 2. Thats a pretty good opening for his deck against me. All I did was Ravens Crime him before turn 3 when I layed a Finks. Finks blocked a second Marauders then started getting in there. Eventually he layed a Vortex and the turn before I died I played Baloth to put lethal damage on the table and Raven Crimed the last two cards out of his hand (two Magma Jets). He had a turn to draw anything that would do two damage to me which was pretty much anything except one of his creatures or land. He drew land and we were off to game 2.

-3 Damnation
-4 Putrefy
+3 Krosan Grip
+4 Darkblast

Game 2 was uneventful. He had four three damage spells for a R with a Shrapnel Blast and an Incinerate. I got blown out.

Game 3 I went on the beat down with double Baloth and I had the Krosan Grip for his Ensnaring Bridge. It wasn't close as he drew lots of land.

1-0 / 1919

It felt good to win round 1 against my worst matchup. We had a lunch break at this point so we went to Subway and Jesse explained to me his slick manuver of ordering water and filling it up with whatever he wanted right infront of the cashier and more than loud enough for her to overhear and just not care.

Round 2: David Andrews w/ Fae (Nassif)
David had a 9 hour drive to get here so just from that I could tell he wasn't going to be easy to take down. Game one took well over 20 minutes but basically he drew his best cards against me (Glen Elendra Archmage and Jitte) and I tried to keep in the game but couldn't get my spells to resolve.

-3 Damnation
-3 Ravenous Baloth
-4 Kitchen Finks
+3 Choke
+4 Darkblast
+3 Krosan Grip

Game two I got my engine going with Loam and Crime and he never had any cards in hand. Regardless he did lots of beating down with Mutavault until I got to a point where I was blocking with my Mutavault every turn and he was returning his with damage on stack with Riptide Lab. Eventually I hit my Worm Harvest and he scooped.

At this point we had 5 minutes left in the round so I brought back in 3 Baloth and 4 Finks for 3 Choke 3 Krosan Grip and a Ravens Crime.

Game three he mulliganed and played a land and passed. I Thoughtseized him and saw; Glen Elendra Archmage, Vendilion Clique, Mana Leak, Chrome Mox, Land. I took the Glen Elendra but maybe it should have been Vendilion Clique. He drew, played a land, Mox inprinting Leak, and Vendilion. I think he took a Putrefy with the Clique. I drew and played STE. He had Venser off the top to bounce a land and then two Jittes in the row. I could not keep up and I picked up my first loss.

1-1 / 1902

Round 3: Tyler Kozal w/ BG feat. Chrome Mox and Smallpox
Game one we trade some Finks with each other then I get a Loam and start dredging. I get myself down to 2 cards in my library before he hits and Loam and before I hit a Worm Harvest. So the Harvest has to be the top card and not the bottom or I lose. It is and I am able to Damnation his tokens and Harvest for enough to kill him the next turn before I deck myself.

-4 Putrefy
-1 Slaughter Pact
+4 Extirpate
+1 Damnation

Game two there isn't any action besides cycling lands until turn 3 when he transmutes Shred Memory for Loam. On my turn I Ravens Crime him and he pitches Loam and asks if I have it. I assure him that I do and Extirpate his Loams. A few turns go by of me dredging and attacking with Finks and he scoops.

2-1 / 1916

Round 4: Daniel Pantoja w/ Zoo
He is playing a version with Dark Confidant, Sculler, and Figure of Destiny. He gets some really early beats game one backed by double Sculler. I get burned out from 7.

-1 Ravens Crime
+1 Damnation

Game two is blurry but I think I had double Damnation then started harvesting Worms and picking off Tarmogoyfs with Putrefies until he fell.

Game three involed me gaining 16 life and him conceding when we were tied at 14.

3-1 / 1930

Round 5: Phillip Johns w/ Zoo
I know he is playing Zoo because I had just watched Boss smash him at the feature match table last round. Needless to say he is disheartened when he finds out I'm playing the same deck. Game one he is mana flooded and I make a big mistake when I decide to just draw cards with cycling lands instead of emptying his hand and he burns me out from 11.

Same boarding as last round.

Game two I have double Damnation that each get 2 dudes followed by 2 Finks and a Baloth. I finished the game at 21 life.

Game three was much of the same as game two. I had double Damnation again, obv. A Finks and a Baloth later he scoops while I'm at 22.

4-1 / 1936

Round 6: Kyle Schouten w/ Fae
Game one I had a great hand with Thoughtseize, Ravens Crime and Loam. He never has a hand and dies to an uncontested Baloth.

Same boarding at round two.

About the same thing happens game two except this time I have Choke in play and he tries to get in there with Mutavault but eventually I start recuring Mutavaults to block once I have enough mana to do other things as well. This game he is done in by 13 Worms.

5-1 / 1945

Round 7: Erik Peters w/ Protean Hulk Combo
Game one I Ravens Crime him every turn starting turn 3 while keeping mana up for Putrefy. I was hoping if he had the combo I would be able to break it up with that but I guess it would have been futile.

-4 Putrefy
+4 Extirpate

Game two I mull to 5 looking for disruption, didn't find any and he killed me on turn 2.

Game three I keep this hand:
Swamp
Thoughtseize
Thoughtseize
Extirpate
Extirpate
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Ravenous Baloth

Thoughtseize him twice and he still goes off turn 3 but I have the Extirpate. After a few turns of drawing dead he scoops.

6-1 / 1958

I finish at the top of the swiss and have the honor of facing Mr. John Rolf in the Top 8.

Top 8: John Rolf w/ Fae
Game one was just weird. Not how it is supposed to play out. I draw all my bad cards against him ( the creatures; 3 Baloth, 3 Finks, 3 STE) and he draws all his good cards against me (2 Glen Elendra, Jitte, Riptide Lab). I have to try to get my beat down on but he stabilizes at one life and kills me from 16.

Same boarding at rounds 2 and 6 except I brought in Extirpate over Krosan Grip since I had him on a full 4 Glen Elendra.

Game two my engine comes out perfectly. He resolves 2 Ancestral Visions and 3 Thirst but never has any cards in play. Eventually I Extirpate Engineered Explosives and Worm Harvet him out. When I Extirpated I noticed his board for me was more Glen Elendra and Negate.

Game three was just stupid. He had susprise Extirpates from his reboarding. Cannot imagine why these weren't in the deck game 2. Anyways, he gets my Loams real early. When I go for a Worm Harvest it gets Mana Leaked and Extirpated. Alright, now I have to get you from 20 to 0 with STEs, Mutavault and a Death Cloud to finish you off. I keep all his guys off the table with Darkblast and have him down to 7 before he draws the 3rd Extirpate. Now he has Spellstutters and Riptide Lab but his mana is tied down because of my double Choke. He draws a second Chrome Mox so he can play his guy and bounce it without using any of his untapped Islands every turn. This is where I draw Death Cloud and he is at 4 and I am at 5. Obviously I have to go FTW or I just lose the race. I know his outs are the 3ish Negates and whatever Leaks he kept in after going though one. He ended up having the Leak and when I didn't draw the second Death Cloud next turn I scooped. Turned out he had 2 Negates and the Leak so I was drawing dead.

7-2 / 5th place / 1941

I was happy with my performance. I was more happy that John went on to beat Boss in Top 4. Whew.

If I was going to play this style of deck again I would probably play another Ghost Quarter in there somewhere but I really think that Michael Jacobs list kinda makes this deck obsolete as it is practically strickly better.