Anyone Q for nats?

[Gary Lynch]

Oh yeah ME!!!!

And Mills, but no one cares about that.

[Ben Titmarsh]

Nice one guys

[Charlie Grover]

Man, im not q'ed but some scrubs are.

Fail

[Dan Barrett]

Just as well I lent Mills that entire deck, and went 10-1 yesterday only to go 3-4 today. Stupid White weenie...

That Ginger One said:

Man, im not q'ed but some scrubs are. Fail

[James Mills]

Thanks for lending me the deck - it was good fun to play

[Thomas David Baker]

We need more detail!!!!

Decks, victories, matches against people playing Amulet of Vigor Control. C'mon!

[Dan Barrett]

I'm on a bus right now, but will update during lunch at work or something

Thomas David Baker said:

We need more detail!!!! Decks, victories, matches against people playing Amulet of Vigor Control. C'mon!

[Kieran Symington]

All I know is that I was massively ill and couldn't go! Though if everyone was playing Dan's deck I probably dodged a bullet there as my deck would never be able to beat it!
Seems being banned from the club results in more wins at other events! Maybe I should try it....

[Gary Lynch]

Thomas David Baker said:

We need more detail!!!!

Decks, victories, matches against people playing Amulet of Vigor Control. C'mon!

T7 Decklists are here http://thegamerspodcast.blogspot.com/2010/03/nationals-qualifier-ma...

Mine is not there as I assume they could not read my girlfirends writing. I played Jund as it was the least expensive deck to buy that I felt was good.

Was funny that Me, Mills and Rob almost made it. My girlfriend just got a car so we decided to drive there, unfortunatly no one warned us there was a marathon the same day. Half the roads were closed and then another lot were one way making it very difficult to get to the venue through the traffic. We got there just as they were printing pairing for round 1. Lucky for us they let us in and repaired it.

Round 1 I played a kind of Boss Naya/Bushwacker homebrew. Game 1 was close but he took it. Game 2 I blew him out when i Bit blasted into Bloodbraid into Thrinax. Rob was watching and said "love Gary's deck" my girlfriend shugged and said "its just Jund", was pretty funny. Game 3 I tried to control the board and not take much damage, game was over when I put my 1 Basilisk Collar on my Broodmate dragon.

Round 2 I played against a G/W deck. Took game 1 pretty easy after I killed his Baneslayer. Game 2 was funny as we both mulliganed and hee kept his 6 but looked unhappy. He started with land hierarch. I played a land and killed it with a bolt. Next turn he misses his land and plays another hierarch. As he has no mana I decide I should just try and kill all his early dudes. My turn I terminate it. Next turn he makes a land and makes a cobra. I take my turn and kill it. Next turn he misses his land and passes. I take my turn, have no threats in hand so pass back. Then he drops his third land and passes again. I take my turn still not having drawn a creature and pass back. On his turn he finaly plays a Sable Stag. I look at my hand and have nothing I can kill it with. Several turns later I still havent drawn a way to deal with it. I draw Thrinax play it and try to Deathmark it to get some chumps, but he Purges it in response. Not sure if this was the right play here as I could have made it passed the turn and if he didnt kill it next turn I could have Deathmarked it with enough mana to Bit Blast in response to his removal. I end up dying to the Stag with my hand at the end of the game being Bit Blast, Terminate, Deathmark and 2x Maelstrom Pulse :(

Round 3 I played against Eldrazi Green. Thought I was deffinatly going to lose this one but just got a good draw game 2 and in game 3 he mulled to 4 when I had Blightning in hand.

Round 4 I play against Russ Davis playing Chapin Control. Think I beat him 2-0 as he just couldnt keep up in game 1 and in game 2 I double Duressed him and Ruinblastered one of his land to keep him off Martial Coup. i had 3 guys in play so he had to tap out to play Mind Control on my Thrinax. I showed him my Pulse and that was game.

Round 5 I was paired against Rob and as I thought I had no chance of beating his deck I convinced him to ID with me based on the fact that we only needed to win 1 out of the next 2 rounds to qualify and also if we won the next round we could ID in. As we were undefeated at this point we felt pretty confidant about this. Ended up feeling bad about this as Rob then went on to loose the next 2. Perhaps it doesnt pay to be nice. Tried to make it up to him by not charging him anything towards petrol or all the tobacco/cigarettes of ours he smoked.

Round 6 I got paird up to Mills as he was the only person on 5-0. He takes game 1 but I manage to pull out a win in the last 2 games. Cant remember all the details. I think it was probably down to the fact im just better at Magic :)

Round 7 I can ID but want to get in some more practise with the deck. I tell my opp who has bad tiebreakers and can only get in with a win or draw that I dont want to ID and he gets a bit upset. He suggests ID'ing and then playing for fun and I say no. Now it seems like im being a dick here but im not. I have every intention of ID'ing with him if I win, but I want a proper game. If I ID first he may not play as well and that would be a waste of time. Turns out its the Mirror and it was a waste of time anyway. Game 1 he gets mutiple Bloodbraids and I dont. Game 2 im on the play and a kicked Ruinblaster puts me ahead enough to win, Game 3 he gets the Ruinblaster kicked to win.

Im glad I played Jund as the deck has a power that no other deck in standard can compete with. Although I do think the tap out U/W is close. Mills said he was 3-1 against Jund with me being his only loss.

Lucky I only played the mirror once as the games seem really draw based and give very little in the way of decision making. Also post side it seems like a kicked Ruinblaster is going to end the game.

I will be happy to help other people test whenever im around as I still want to play around with my sideboard a bit and I know how hard it can be to find people to test with.

Good luck to everyone else who hasnt made it yet. Lets try and get many more London players qualified.

[Gary Lynch]

Actually I put my winning down to my new girlfriend as I have had a decent finish in every event I have played in except the extended PTQ. She stayed home and I went 0-2 drop. Coincidence?

Kieran Symington said:

All I know is that I was massively ill and couldn't go! Though if everyone was playing Dan's deck I probably dodged a bullet there as my deck would never be able to beat it!
Seems being banned from the club results in more wins at other events! Maybe I should try it....

[Dan Barrett]

Post yer list Gary? Next qualifier i can attend isn't til after RoE i think, but mise well have a look and get some games in in the meantime.

Also, there's no way me and Rob aren't Q-ing for this, how else are we gonna have a nats DREAM TEAM of Lynch/Mills/Barrett/Stanjer?!

[Gary Lynch]

Dan Barrett said:

Post yer list Gary? Next qualifier i can attend isn't til after RoE i think, but mise well have a look and get some games in in the meantime.

Also, there's no way me and Rob aren't Q-ing for this, how else are we gonna have a nats DREAM TEAM of Lynch/Mills/Barrett/Stanjer?!

1 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Savage Lands
4 Raging Ravine
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Dragonskull Summit
3 Mountain
3 Forest
3 Swamp

1 Borderland Ranger
4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax
2 Broodmate Dragon
2 Seige-Gang Commander
2 Terminate
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Bituminous Blast
4 Blightning

Sideboard

2 Duress
1 Mind Rot
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Deathmark
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Basilisk Collar

Wanted to fit Master of the Wild Hunt in somewhere but no one had any. Thats why I had the random 1 of Basilisk Collar in the deck. There isnt much room for change with this deck. Went with the 1 of Borderland Ranger over any Rampant Growth/Explore as its a better Cascade and can chump and sometimes attack. Based on how the mirror seems pretty relliant on Ruinblaster though may consider playing a couple of Rampant Growth.

Was pretty happy with having 3 Bituminous Blast as it lets you have more cascades.

[James Mills]

Round 1: Boss Naya (2-1)
Round 2: Open the Vaults Esper (2-1)
Round 3: Jund (2-0)
Round 4: Jund (2-0)
Round 5: White Weenie (2-0)
Round 6: Jund (1-2)
Round 7: ID

Some useful facts:

Treasure hunt is the worst card ever!!!
Jace never left my sideboard.
The one Marshal's Anthem, Kor Firewalker and Elspeth were useless!

Apart from that the deck was fun to play! Would play again!