So for this event I was playing BUG. I had been testing a Paradoxical list, but I was unhappy witht he performance of all of it, so I just went with something I knew a bit better.
List:
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Managorger Hydra
1 Manglehorn
2 Ramunap Excavator
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Trygon Predator
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Flusterstorm
4 Force of will
2 Mental Misstep
1 Snuff Out
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Null Rod
1 Sylvan Library
1 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
1 Bayou
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground sea
4 Wasteland
Sideboard
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
1 Mindbreak Trap
2 Nature's Claim
3 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Null Rod
2 Energy Flux
4 Leyline of the Void
Apologies, but I forgot to write down all the names in my notes.
Round 1: vs Oath Win 2-0
Lost the die roll. This match was not particularly notable. Game 1 I had an early pair of deathrites, and forced 2 Oaths, then decayed 2 more and the game was ended rather rapidly.
Game 2 was even more lopsided. I sat on a library on the draw for several turns until I could find a decay+force, then played a Deathrite and Ramunap Excavator+strip mine on turn 6-7 and just countered or killed the one oath he found before I strip mined away all of his lands and landed a null rod to turn off his fast mana and he scooped.
Round 2 vs Shops (Ben Kennedy I think?) loss 1-2
Lose the die roll again. Game 1 turn 1 he plays a foundry inspector, sphere of resistance, and hangarback walker. Follows it up with a hangarback walker. I'm never really in this game at all.
Game 2 I start with lotus+wasteland into Green Sun's Zenith for Ramunap Excavator. I force his first sphere then start the wasteland train until he scoops.
Game 3 was pretty crushing. We traded wastelands early, and he ended up with a hangarback and a sphere and 1 mox to my 1 land for many turns. Eventually I draw no gas, and he finds a ravager and just kills me with his random extra artifacts.
Round 3 vs Mono-White hatebears Win 2-1
Game 1 was incredibly weird. In the first 5 or so turns we each had around half a dozen creatures in play, none of which could profitably attack leading to a ridiculous stalemate, including a Dryad Militant on his side making my deathrites worthless. However, I had a Ramunap Excavator and eventually got a strip mine and started wearing down his lands. He scoops to zenith for Trygon Predator to start swinging in for lethal overhead.
Game 2 I just got crushed beneath thalia, vryn wingmares, and spirit of the labyrinth.
Game 3 we trade several wastelands each early, leaving him with just a stoneforge mystic and a single plains in play, with batterskull in hand, and me with a single mox jet for mana. Eventually I play a Deathrite and start to recover, where he never draws another land for a long time. Game is sealed up when I find strip+ramunap excavator and he scoops.
Round 4 vs UR Delver Win 2-0
Game 1 I play a DRS turn 1 and fight a misstep fight over it which I win. Then I play a leovold turn 2 and force his force. After that the game purely revolves around him trying to remove Leovold and me drawing a million cards off it and keeping it in play with the stream of counterspells I draw. He finally concedes when I find Ramunap+strip and remove all his lands, with his only mox being held in check with null rod and being down to 1 pyromancer token.
Game 2 I get an early ramunap Excavator and leovold and strip mine comes into play really early sealing this game up by turn 5 or so.
Round 5 ID with Painters Servant (win 2-0)
Draw into top 8, but played for fun. Game 1 he plays grindstone then time vault. I have DRS+ Null rod, then play Ramunap+DT for strip. He never gets an out to any of that and game is over really fast.
Game 2 was even more lopsided. Decayed a Painter's Servant, played Null Rod, then followed up with Leovold. Countered 2 removal spells and then skillfully drew all 4 wastelands and the game was over.
I was in the top 8 as seed 6
Top 8: vs Shops (ben Kennedy again) win 2-0
This was a rematch of my only loss from the swiss. Game 1 was a complete blowout. He went Workshop, sol ring, which I misstepped. Then he went to cast thorn, which I forced. I played lotus->Ramunap Excavator-> wasteland for his workshop. He only had factory, I untapped played mox, replayed wasteland from the yard, and played null rod. He scooped.
Game 2 he had a turn 1 Foundry Inspector. I wastelanded his Workshop and played a jet and DRS. He followed up with a sphere, but I time-walked on my turn, then wasteland him and DT for Energy Flux. I cast it the next turn and he scoops.
Top 4 vs Oath (Ben Kendrick) Win 2-0
Game 1 was incredibly close. He had a slow start, and I had Library on the draw. On turn 3 he played a show and tell into Dromoka, I put in DRS. On my turn I tried to cast Jace, TMS. He forced, going hellbent. He then proceeded to beat me down with dromoka for 4 turns (I gained some life off DRS to prolong my life) and on the last possible card from library I find DT and tutor for and cast snuff out with mana to kill his Dromoka with flusterstorm and force backup. He plays time vault, and I null rod, then he casts oath and I decay it and then find Strip Mine and zenith for Ramunap Excavator and he concedes after I take him below 2 lands.
Game 2 I keep a hand with decay and nature's claim, he has to give me like 5 tokens off Orchard because I keep wastelanding his other colored sources. He is constanly 1 land away from being able to play something to win, but then Ramunap Excavator comes down and keeps him out of the game entirely.
Finals vs Pitch Dredge Chris Loss 0-2
Game 1 I have a decently close match because he mulliganed 28 cards with Serum Powder and exiled most of his bridges. I have an active DRS, but he manages to get an elesh norn into play along with 2 prized amalgams threatening lethal and I have no outs.
Game 2 I have to mulligan to 5 just to have a hand with spells in it. It has no colored mana, but does have Leyline so I keep. Turn 2 I find a Cage and play that as well. He just filters with Bazaar until he finds a Hollow one and beats me to death with it while I sit on no mana and no useful spells. I didn't even think about the possibility of hollow one so I didn't bring in my claims to possibly kill them. I eventually draw a couple creatures, but it is significantly too late. I still walked away with a Bayou for my troubles, and a good number of other cards (many provided by Team Tusk) from the raffle during the event:
Overall I was pretty happy with the deck. Ramunap Excavator overperformed significantly. I think 2+ 1 green sun's zenith was the correct number. I cast DT ~10 times today, and 7 of those it was for Excavator or Strip. The other 3 were snuff out, Energy Flux, and once for Lotus to cast the Excavator. The fact that it was a 2/3 was incredibly important and it was a massive upgrade over crucible in this particular list.
Jace Vryn's Prodigy however was godawful today. Nearly every time I drew it I wished it was anything else. I would probably rather play another Sylvan Library or another removal spell over it. Honestly, I'm strongly considering an edict of some sort, maybe Diabolic Edict, or a Liliana of the Veil.
Snuff Out was awesome. Having a 'free' removal spell was very relevant in several games. It not being able to hit black creatures was a serious drawback though. I would consider running more if the hefty life cost wasn't there. There were several situations where I wished I could have had a Toxic Deluge today, so perhaps that should be something to work in later.
Managorger Hydra was decent, it was a large body for reasonable cost, but was not as good as I would have expected.
One thing we kept joking about during the day was that I should be playing an Azusa to combo with the Excavators, and I honestly think I will try that instead of the Managorger or JVP.
@thecravenone did a great job running the event, and I had a blast. The venue was also excellent, 4th Tap Brewery in Austin TX.
Thanks for reading!
