Tourney Report, Hulen Open 2021
It won't be much of a tourney report. It has been over two weeks, it went badly and I'm a bit down on vintage still. Anyway: I went 2-3 (again). This was the meta:
UW Sharkstill, Bug, White Eldrazi, Golos Stax, HollowVine, UB Witch, 2xDoomsday, Breach, Blue Aggro, Song of creation combo.
Maindeck:
3 windswept heath
3 verdant catacombs
1 Maze of ith
2 savannah
1 taiga
1 bayou
1 scrubland
4 wasteland
1 strip mine
1 the tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 black lotus
1 mox emerald
1 mox pearl
1 mox jet
1 mox ruby
2 mox diamond
1 chalice of the void
4 wrenn and six
2 swords to plowshares
1 mental misstep
3 abrupt decay
3 once upon a time
2 force of vigor
4 deathrite shaman
4 thalia, guardian of thraben
1 collector ouphe
4 endurance
4 archon of emeria
2 knight of the reliquary
Sideboard:
2 void mirror
1 swords to plowshares
3 surgical extraction
3 pyroblast
1 abrupt decay
2 force of vigor
2 collector ouphe
1 knight of the reliquary
Match 1: 2-0 against Sharkstill.
These games went fairly quickly. In the first game, he accidentally played into his own standstill and couldn't regain control afterwords. In the second game, we played draw-go until my hand was strong enough and broke the standstill. I can't remember how I won.
Match 2: 2-1 against Doomsday.
It's a bit silly, but I remember next to nothing from this match. I was a bit drunk and very nervous, but I believe I played well and drew well too. This deck has game against Doomsday now, which is my only real takeaway from this tournament.
Match 3: 1-2 against Doomsday.
I won the first game with several pieces of disruption. He went on to win the following two, and in both games maneuvered out from very difficult positions. I believe I was a favourite to win all three games. This player went on to win the tourney.
Match 4: 0-2 against Bug.
This match went extremely poorly. In the first game, I had plenty of fast mana and opened on a W6 off a fetch and mox, with an uncracked lotus in the board. I preceded to flood out completely. When he finally killed me with true-name nemesis, I had all my colour-producing lands in play and three fetch-lands in hand. I sided in a surgical extraction against him (and otherwise followed the sideboard plan). In the second game, I pyroblasted a true-name nemesis (according to plan) but didn't use surgical on it. He played his second the following turn and I was unable to answer it.
Match 5: 0-2 against White Eldrazi.
I got my ass handed to me. White Eldrazi outpowers me on most fronts. Big Thalia played trump in both games. When comparing the decklists, I think I need Knight of the Reliquary to win. I had this player on ravager shops before the tourney, and believe I'm fairly well equipped against that, but not against eldrazi.
In the semis, HolloWine took down Breach, while Doomsday bested White Eldrazi. Doomsday beat HolloWine in an extremely tight finals match. Congrats to all four players!
All in all, I'm happy to have this group of friends and play this yearly tournament. I played fairly well, was only appropriately drunk and was more unlucky than lucky. I think I lost all five die-rolls. I'm as unhappy with the deck as last year. I have stretched the deck tremendously to beat Doomsday and HolloWine and in the process become too weak to beat-down strategies. The match against Doomsday feels about right. The HolloWine player and I played a match for fun after the tourney and he beat me handily in two games, through 2-3 pieces of graveyard disruption as well as turn 1 wasteland both games. That deck feels close to unbeatable, despite being graveyard based. Anyway. Next year I will finally try something else.