[Tourney Report] Angus' Top-4 with Zoo

This tourney report is courtesy of Angus, our local monthly tournament organizer. As he faced High Tide 3 times, memories were fuzzy and some edits were made to provide something more consistent to what his opponents remembered. Nonetheless, Angus made top-4 and here's a shout out to him: Thank you for organizing the monthly tournaments!

Zoo by Angus

Main (60 cards)
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape(Domo!!!)
3 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Loam Lion
3 Qasali Pridemage
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
2 Chain Lightning
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Lands
2 Plateau
2 Savannah
2 Taiga
4 Arid Mesa
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains

Sideboard (15 cards)
3 Mindbreak Trap
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Null Rod
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Krosan Grip
1 Karakas
1 Bojuka Bog

Tournament Report

All this is from memory, so there are probably some mistakes here and there.

To summarize, my matchups are damn suay today. I met High Tide a total of 3 whole times, while other decks don’t even meet them once. Wtf. And I have never played against High Tide before. After extremely draggy matches in Round 1 and Round 3, I was very emo to be paired up with High Tide yet again in Top 8 playoffs.

Note: An effective way to counter Time Spiral is to nuke their graveyard, so they have very few key cards left to redraw. Also, if you are playing burn and have a grip of Lightning Helixes, you should not expand all your mana on the Lightning Helixes when they Time Spiral. This is because you might draw more Lightning Bolts in the fresh 7 cards, and will be able to spend the same amount of mana to deal more burn to the opponent. Lastly, if you can somehow keep them off 4 islands, they are unlikely to be able to combo off. They must die by turn 3 or when they have at most 3 islands in play.

Round 1: vs Kelvin Ho (High Tide)

Game 1:

My first time seeing High Tide in action. But I had prepared a fast Zoo deck, and managed to overwhelm him with Wild Nactals and Domo, with Lightning Bolts to seal the game.

SB : +3 Mindbreak Trap, +3 Leyline of Sanctity, +3 Null Rod, +2 Gaddock Teeg, -2 Stoneforge Mystic, -1 Umezawa’s Jitte, -1 Sword of Body and Mind, -3 Knight of the Reliquary, -3 Path to Exile, -1 Grim Lavamancer

Game 2:

I mulligan once, but am not able to draw my Leyline of Sanctity. Still, I have a fast hand with fire backup. I’m not fast enough though, because I get stuck on 2 lands and he manages to hit 4 Islands. He combos off with a High Tide, a Candelabra, and Time Spiral. We draw a fresh 7, and I get 2 Mindbreak Traps.

Now this is where I start to learn exactly what to counter by trial and error. Additional Candelabras are not important. Additional High Tides are not important either. However, I wasted my Mindbreak Traps on them before realizing that I should have saved them for additional Time Spirals and Meditates.
He manages to combo off and I die, but at least I’m starting to get a feel of how High Tide works.

Game 3:

Again unable to draw into Leylines or Mindbreak Traps in my opening 7. But I manage to play 2 Null Rods and 1 Gaddock Teeg. Unfortunately, he had Echoing Truth and Chain of Vapor. The game drags on way into overtime as he plays with himself before climaxing. My Mindbreak Traps couldn’t save me as he had additional Pact of Negation support.

Score: 0-1-0

Round 2: vs Zhiming (Dark Depths)

Game 1:

My opening grip has 2 Lightning Bolts, 1 Wild Nacatl, 1 Path to Exile, 1 Qasali Pridemage and 2 lands. He casts Smallpox, Sinkhole, Bloodghast, Hexmage and Dark Confidant in quick succession. I manage to survive the land destruction with 1 Plateau intact, but lost my turn 1 Wild Nactal and had to pitch a Knight to the Smallpox. I Bolt the Bloodghast, which was a mistake because Hexmage and Confidant appeared soon after, and he also had Life from the Loam to bring back the Bloodghast. I spend all my removal on Hexmage and Confidant, and get another land to play my Pridemage. He doesn’t draw anything relevant and concedes as I build up an army.

SB : +1 Karakas (No way am I letting the ledendary 20/20 Marit Lage token hit me!), +1 Bojuka Bog (To stop Life from the Loam nonsense), -2 Stoneforge Mystics

Game 2:

He casts turn 1 Dark Ritual, Phyrexian Crusader. 0_0 Wth pro red pro white. All my removal is useless. I play Domo and pass the turn. He plays Swamp, attack. I bolt him back and attack on my next turn. He plays a turn 3 Phyrexian Crusader. I concede.

Game 3:

I mulligan once, and keep a hand of 1 Tarmogoyf, 1 Loam Lion and 4 lands. I play a land and Loam Lion. He plays turn 1 Dark Ritual and Cabal Therapy naming Lightning Bolt, looks at my hand, and casts a 2nd Cabal Therapy naming Tarmogoyf. I discard Tarmogoyf, draw a land, and play it. He casts Dark Ritual and plays double Hymns. I discard 4 lands. He seems surprised even though he saw my hand with Cabal Therapy earlier. Both our hands are now empty, but I have a far more advanced board position as I have a 2/3 Loam Lion in play while he has nothing. I draw another Loam Lion and start beating. He doesn’t draw his Phyrexian Crusaders and dies soon after.

Score: 1-1-0

Round 3: vs Wu Ruizhi (High Tide)

Game 1:

Game 1 Ruizhi went off turn 4 impeded.

SB : +3 Mindbreak Trap, +3 Leyline of Sanctity, +3 Null Rod, +2 Gaddock Teeg, -2 Stoneforge Mystic, -1 Umezawa’s Jitte, -1 Sword of Body and Mind, -3 Knight of the Reliquary, -3 Path to Exile, -1 Grim Lavamancer
(Does all this seem familiar?)

Game 2:

I had Loam Lion, Pridemage, and Teeg on the table, with Ruizhi on 10 life. An attack got him to 4 and Ruizhi went end of turn Echoing Truth on Teeg. On his final turn, he tried going off with Tide, Candle, Spiral, and Cunning Wish in hand. A Mindbreak Trap ensured and Ruizhi couldn't Wish for a Pact as he missed a land drop.

Game 3:

I mulliagan once and hit a Leyline of Sanctity which I lay on the table. However it doesn’t seem to do much, because by the time High Tide is ready to combo off, they will be able to draw a ton of cards and find their bounce spell to get rid of it. I’m still learning to place my Mindbreak Traps effectively. I watch him take 10 minutes for 1 turn and concede to save time.

Score: 1-2-0

Round 4: vs Pat (Affinity)

Game 1:

I draw a hand of 1 Pridemage, 2 Chain Lightnings, 2 Lightning Bolts and 2 lands. He plays Seat of the Synod, Memnite. I play Arid Mesa, fetching Taiga. He gets stuck on land and does not get the explosive start that Affinity is so famous for. He dies to cats, Domo and Bolts.

SB: +3 Null Rod, +2 Krosan Grip, -2 Stoneforge Mystic, -1 Umezawa’s Jitte, -1 Sword of Body and Mind, -1 Grim Lavamancer

Game 2:

He starts off with a pile of cards hitting the table: Seat of the Synod, Memnite, Ornithopter, Springleaf Drum, Frogmite, a total of 5 cards. I play land, Domo. He plays Vault of Whispers, Cranial Plating and places it next to the Ornithopter, grinning. I show him the Null Rod in my hand and play it. He shrugs, plays Darksteel Citadel, and passes. I play Tarmogoyf, currently a 1 /2 because of a fetch in my graveyard. He plays another Darksteel Citadel, and declares tapping for 1 Blue, 1 Black... (obviously for Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas). At which point a spectator points out that Null Rod affects Artifact Lands too. He can’t tap for mana. He sighs and passes the turn. I Lightning Bolt his Frogmite, instantly pumping my Tarmogoyf into a 4 /5 monster because of land, artifact, instant and creature in the graveyards. I play another Tarmogoyf, and the game is over.

Score: 2-2-0

I barely squeak into Top 8... by placing 8th on tiebreakers. Losing to both High Tides which place among the top few help me get in.

Top 8 Playoffs: vs Wu Ruizhi (High Tide)

Game 1:

I cry when I get paired up with High Tide AGAIN. Game 1 I have Domo and Wild Nacatl, and just keep beating. However, he tries to combo off on 3 islands, with a Candelabra on the table by casting High Tide followed by Time Spiral, confident that he can win since I do not have my Mindbreak Traps sided in yet. His Time Spiral gives me a hand of 3 lands, 2 creatures, and 2 Lightning Helixes, but gives him... 6 lands and a Merchant Scroll. His face cramps and he uses the Scroll to find a Brainstorm, then Storms to find an answer that isn’t there. I shoot him on his end step and then attack, and shoot him again. I win! =)

SB : +3 Mindbreak Trap, +3 Null Rod, +2 Gaddock Teeg, -2 Stoneforge Mystic, -1 Umezawa’s Jitte, -1 Sword of Body and Mind, -1 Knight of the Reliquary, -3 Path to Exile

Game 2:

I can’t really remember all the details because I was so damn high. Apparently, he kept an extremely loose hand of 2 Candles, 2 Spirals, and 3 lands. He topdecked Brainstorm into Merchant Scroll (how lucky!), only to face Null Rod on turn 2. And that's game.



I finally won High Tide!

Congrats Angus for making top-4!

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