I had a variety problems before my first GPT. First, I don't play enough magic to
do any serious playtesting. This makes it hard not only to tweak the deck, but, I
didn't know how to play against certain deck architypes. Another problem is that,
living in a small town where the only card store doesn't even sell singles, it's just
not possible to get any cards I want (no one is trading their Nantuko Shades, for example).
However, quiet roar is great because it doesn't need to have a bunch of rares to win
The reason I played it is not because everyone else is playing it, but because my
pre-Judgement obc deck was u/g madness. There are many different variations of
quiet roar.
The main idea of the deck is to gain early tempo advantage with quiet speculation/roar
of the wurm and wild mongrel/arrogant wurm and sit on counters/bursts. I changed it adding
1cc situational counters so that I could continue bring out out the big boys floating
one island for counter control. There are 22 land, 22 creatures (counting Roar of the Wurm
as a creature), 10 disruption cards (5 counters, 5 burst/removal), 5 tempo advantage cards,
and 1 card advantage card (deep analysis).
I did a little playtesting the Saturday before the GPT, but it didn't help much since
I mostly just won. I got together with some of my friends at Bo's house Wednesday night,
but again I just mostly won as they were mostly testing stuff they ended up not taking
to the GPT. One game I'll never forget was against B/U attempting to use the
traumatize/guildfeeder combo. I diverted a traumatize making his graveyard huge. Next
turn he cast a guildfeeder. I persuasioned it, and he scooped. I was going to use
his combo against him!
*Hover mouse cursor over pie chart to see ==>> COLOR/TYPE : # CARDS : % OF CARDS.
*Left click on pie chart or legend to isolate a field.
Since my deck is supposed to be fast, it's appropriate to look at a sligh analysis of
my deck:
Land (22):
11 forests, 10 islands, 1 cephalid coliseum
Using the deck-u-lator (http://www.implair.com/deckulator/deckulator.html),
there is a 61% chance (if I go first) of drawing both a forest and an island/coliseum.
Not great, but I'm not thrilled with obc lands (unless I'm playing black). However,
given enough initial land, I have deck thinning with 3 quiet speculations, and card
choice with 2 careful study's.
The deck-u-lator says there's a 32% chance of getting at least one island/coliseum, one
forest, and one 1st turner. Rootwalla is a 1-drop which can also do the early beatdown.
Sylvan Safekeeper can protect my wurms, or given me early tempo advantage (Turn 1
Safekeeper, opponent passes, Turn 2 wild mongrel/swing for 1, opponent casts chainer's
edict, and I'm up tempo). The 2 admittedly card disadvantaged Careful Study's give me
consistency, a first turn play, and another way to put wonder or roars in the graveyard.
In 26% of the games, I have atleast one island/coliseum, one forest, one 1st turner,
and one 2nd turner. In a quarter of the games, I will be delivering sever early beats
unless my opponent is really ready.
Other choices:
2 envelop - envelops are great in the mirror, against black, and red. Since they're
mostly a dead card against white, I only put 2 main, but also had 2 in the sideboard.
2 divert - a game winner against black, solid otherwise, but not against white. I used
them to essentially counter a counter spell 3 times in 4 games against Gregory. Card
provides huge psychological advantage. When a player sees you have one, they live
in fear! I wanted to divert a Haunting Echoes, but I did divert a Mind Sludge! Too
situational to put in more than 2, you don't see them enough if you only put in one.
1 circular logic - Since I was running only 1 aquamoeba, I only ran 1 of these. A
major deficiency in the deck as I'm only able to counter 1 creature per game! I'm
depending on my creature hoard to be better than theirs.
4 aether burst - the bursts provide tempo advantage that often leads to victory.
1 persuasion - I like 5 instead of 4 creature removal/bounce. Persuasion is card
advantage, tempo advantage, board control... I only have the one or I'd have
put 2 or 3 more in the sideboard.
missing - I can't bounce or remove an arbitrary card since bursts/persuasion only
works on creatures. enchantments and artifacts are hard to deal with. I have
1 ray of revelation in the sideboard to deal with enchantments, but nothing to
deal with catalyst stones.
On to the tourney report:
I was up until 1 am game day trying to figure out a sideboard. At 4:30 am, my
2 year old woke me up. At 6 am, Bo and Zack came to pick me up. We went to
pick up Tim, drove about 3 hours to Boise, and arrived a little after 10 (we lost an
hour to the time zone change). I was surprised at how young everyone was, lots of teenagers.
One guy was extremely boisterous (in other words loud and goofy), one guy was
wearing a long white wig for fun, and one guy was being very quiet. I could tell right
off the bat the quiet guy was going to be someone to deal with (ends up he won the
tourney).
Round 1 - Vs. Alan Thompson, B/G
Well, my first match is against the guy with the wig. He took it off and got very
serious. He played Black for removal and Green for creatures - interesting deck.
My rating is low, so his is probably high in a first round matchup. Later I found out
he worked at the store.
Game 1 - Roar tokens fly over for the win.
Game 2 - A memorable game, I bring out big creatures, but he brings out two phantom
nantukos. If I attack with wurms, he would block and kill my tokens, and he would
merely lose a +1/+1 counter off each. So, I bring out creatures, persuasion one
of the phantom nantukos, and wait for wonder to fly over for the win. However, he
has different ideas, casting steamclaw. So now I start waiting for to draw aether
bursts. Instead I finally draw wonder, but instead of pitching it, I hard cast it.
Then I make a big mistake, I attack with my phantom. He discards and blocks with a
grotesque hybrid killing my phantom. He then swings with a 15/15 trampling phantom,
and I block with my pro. black phantom, taking 10 trampling damage. Since he would
do it again the next 2 turns for the win, I have no choice, I attack with everything.
I have 4 more attackers than he has blockers, and I win.
Match record 1-0 (2-0)
Round 2 - vs. Jacob (Age 12), R/G
Game 1 - Roar tokens beat wild mongrel. Aether Burst clears the way for me to
finish him off.
Game 2 - He gets a turn 1 grim lavamancer. I don't draw a forest until turn
8000, but I'm still able to Careful Study into a Basking Rootwalla.
I was about to stabilize, but my last 2 life are lost to that same
grim lavamancer.
Game 3 - Again I got a slow start, but Red has a hard time with wurm tokens
(though tim used magnivore to full effect, works great against the sorcery
based monoblack control). My tokens dominate.
Match record 2-0 (4-1)
Round 3 - vs. Kyle Marcum, Monoblack Control.
Here we go. Now I'm playing someone with a high rating. Here goes nothing.
Game 1 - He goes five turns without playing a spell. I don't know what he's
doing, I just keep delivering the beats bringing him down to 3. A 6-swamp
mutilate clears the board. I bring out creatures and he brings in
Laquatas Champion dropping me to 11. I persuasion the champion, and
attack for the win.
Game 2 - I don't get any islands out all game, just the (darn) coliseum.
Pain kills as I take between 5 and 7 from it.
Game 3 - He has sided in many creature, and its a real stand off. Judge
says time's up and gives us 5 turns after the current turn. I start
gaining the advantage, but on my last turn I do 6 bringing him to 3.
I know he can't kill me on his last turn, but the judge comes back
and tells us we miscalculated and I get another turn. Aether burst
clears the path and I win. We're both exhausted.
Match record 3-0 (6-2)
Round 4 - vs. Eric (Age 14), Monoblack Control.
Game 1 - I see lots of chainer edict, but I still bring him to 2. Mutilate
clears the board. He has 2 Cabal Coffers, generating huge amounts of mana,
casts caustic tar putting me on the clock. He hard casts Hypnox, which
spells final doom.
Game 2 - Mana screw does not do well against mirari+rancid earth. I die
with 2 land on the board :(
I don't have a problem losing to a 14 year old, but he his pour a little
salt in the wounds by wearing a Burger King hat! (He certainly did no
gloating though, a nice kid).
Match record 3-1 (6-4)
Round 5 - vs. Gregory (Age 11), U/G mirror matchup
Like many others we both have 9 points and can draw in. For some reason,
he doesn't want to.
Game 1 - He gets the quick beatdown. Aether burst keeps me alive until
my wurm tokens beat him down.
Game 2 - I get the early beats this time, Arrogant Wurm can't be stopped.
Match record 4-1 (8-4)
I'm in the top 8! Since everyone else drew in, I am ranked 2nd, 2nd only
to the quiet guy I noticed at the beginning, who happens to be undefeated.
Interestingly, Gregory still makes it into the top 8, and I play him again.
I'm confident, not because he's 11, but because I know my deck is better
than his.
Since he swept me before, I assume he's going to win. My goal is to win
a game, then anything can happen. The final four boasts 2 quiet roar decks
vs. 2 monocontrol black decks.
Game 1 - I lose taking only 11 life from him.
Game 2 - I side in, among other things, Genesis, and of course 2 envelops.
This game is one I'll remember for a long, long time. I finally have some
idea home to play against monoblack control. Basically, I don't bring out
multiple creatures so mutilate becomes just another chainer's edict, but one
you can't flash back. Thus, he can't get card advantage in this way. So,
I start to begin the much slower beatdown. Then, he tries to gain card
advantage via mind sludge, and I divert it to him! SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!
He discards 5 cards, and draws land for a couple of turns, Chainer's edit
keeps him in business for a while. Then I cast Genesis. I hit him with
it once, then he kills it. Now, I'm bringing in 1 or 2 creatures each
term, and win.
Game 3 - I have the counters ready, and I win with 20 life.
Match record 6-1 (12-5)
Final - Round 8 - vs. Kelly Kehrer
The Roar decks beat the Monocontrol Black decks in the semis, and I'm in for
the mirror matchup. Problem is, he's running catalyst stones. I'm still
three hours from home. I offer him the win for 1st place prizes, since I'm
not interested in going to Cleveland. He's not interested in going to
Cleveland either, so we agree on a draw. Tied for 1st! YESSSSSSSSSS!!
However, the judge steps in and says someone has to win. We agree
to split the winnings even. We play for the right to go to Cleveland, which
neither of us wants.
Game 1 - Turn 2 Catalyst Stone beats mana screw any day.
Game 2 - I side in 2 Catalyst Stones, but I never see them. All I need is
Aether Burst for the win, but I never get it. He gets an aether burst
for the win. I ask him to sign one of my aether bursts. He signs it
"Here's the aether burst you didn't get." and signs his name. He then
asks me to sign one of his aether bursts and I sign it "Here's the aether
burst you got that I didn't", and I sign my name.
Kelly and I get 11 packs each, and I (unofficially) am tied for 1st out of 38.
I never saw the white birds that I feared. I wish I had 3 more genesis for
the sideboard. Siding in 4 genesis against monoblack would have been a
good thing.
Props:
Bo (who drove), Tim, and Zach. We had a great time.
The Judge/tourney organizers. Great tourney and the judge was patient with me.
My opponents - not all were happy about losing, but none were jerks. It was especially
neat to meet and play Eric, Kelly, and Kyle.
Slops:
The Judge. Once I accidentally drew 2 cards instead of one. I only picked up the second
one for about a cm, before putting it down. No one saw that I did it, but the right thing to
do was to tell the judge, and he gave me a warning. He probably had to, but he still gets
this mention in the slops.
The tourney organizers. Only the top 8 should get prizes, not the top 20.
WotC. Shouldn't have printed Cabal Coffers. It's really evil!!!!!!!!!
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