all your report are belong to us

15 people came out to the Mox Pearl tournament at Pro Star Sports And Gaming in
Milpitas. The meta was pretty spread out. We had a variety in the T8: Gifts. CA.
Fish, Dragon, Oath, Confidant, TPS and T1T. I decided to play GWS Oath because
the previous tournament for the Mox Emerald had a weak showing of Oath decks.
This gave me the impression that Oath was under the radar and be less hated
upon. The top decks last time were mainly control/combo, so I could sense a
great amount of sideboard space dedicated to stopping them. I have never played
Oath at tournament before; I always hated playing against it because of the
ridiculous draws. But I figured, if I can't beat em, I might as well join em. 

I played the latest list GWS  published on SGC minus 2 Tops and 1 Mystical
Tutor. I replaced the 2 Tops with Phyrexian Furnace [which was golden today] and
an Imperial Seal took the place of the Mystical Tutor. My sideboard was card for
card but some of the sideboarding decisions were harder to make because of the
dis-synergy of Null Rod and Phyrexian Furnace, but also how much I felt Furnace
wrecked decks depending on Goblin Welder, Yawgmoth's Will, Animate Dead,
Crucible Of The Worlds and etc. In hindsight, I should not have played both of
them. I should have stuck with the tops so they can come out for the Rods or
play another form of hate other than Null Rod.

Decklist [GWS Oath]
Oath Of Druids
4 Impulse
4 Brainstorm
4 Force Of Will
4 Mana Leak
3 Duress
2 Pyrexian Furnace
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Akroma, Angel Of Wrath
1 Razia, Boros Archangel
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Rushing River
1 Imperial Seal
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Crop Rotation
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Island
2 City Of Brass
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
 
SB:
4 Extract
4 Oxidize
3 Null Rod
2 Triskelion
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
 
Onto the matches [please note: These are from my memory and my ONE page of
notes. I am positive not all 100% of the information will be correct but I have
tried to remember best to my ability/memory allows me to.] This was going to be
a 4 round tournament with a cut to the Top 8. So let's go 2-0 and draw in.

Round 1

Vs. Brent Peterson [T1T]

Game 1: My notes are as follows. 20. 19. 17. 14. 11. 7. 3. That is 1 token
hitting me, then 2, then 3, then 3 again, then 4, then game over. I resolved an
oath early; it got chained back to my hand. Then my tokens killed me before Oath
could trigger. [my memory also remembers me Wasting his Underground Sea instead
of his Library [he had Underground Sea, Library and a Mox Sapphire] after I
resolved Oath. My reasoning at that time was preventing him from DT'ing or
playing any broken black spells. In hindsight, I believe that was not the
correct play because he drew 3 cards off of the library.]

SB: In comes DSC, Tinker, 3 Null Rods. Out goes VT, IS, Impulse, 2 Furnaces.

Game 2: We go back and forth. No real action. Then I draw a Null Rod with FOW
back up. I play the Null Rod, it gets Forced, I Force back which gets Forced in
return. We are basically now in top deck mode. A lot of turns of Draw, Go.
Finally I get a Tinker. Then I get a Duress. I Duress him and see Mana Crypt and
Recoup. I take the Recoup and cast Tinker. Now I have a choice. He has 1 Island
and 4 artifact mana. I could Tinker up a Null Rod and set him back and wait to
draw a threat. Or I could put him on a 2 turn clock. I really think hard for a
long time. I then went ahead and made the assumption he sided out his bounce
spell to bring in Oath hate. So I decided to Tinker in DSC. So now he needed to
draw a Cunning Wish or a bounce spell [if any were left in his deck]. Next
card\u2026was Cunning Wish. He wishes for Rebuild, and casts it. Now we are back
to zero again, both of us looking for threats. He manages to tinker up Colossus
and I get an active Oath on the board. He is at 16 life while I am at 17. He
passes the turn. I Oath up Razia. Then draw\u2026Akroma. I swing putting him at
10. His turn. He swings and I'm at 6. I go to my upkeep with Akroma/Blessing/DSC
in my hand and just think, maybe I have an extra Akroma in my deck that I didn't
register. I decide to just draw and attack, putting him at 4. He attacks, I die.

0-2. 0-1.

Round 2
Vs. Justin Chien [G Aggro]

Game 1: I play a turn 1 Duress and see Forest, Lotus, Orim's Chant, Watchwolf,
Watchwolf, Mox Emerald and Muscle Burst. I take the Lotus. He can't play any of
his spells unless he draws a white Mana source. I get Oath online and Razia and
Akroma do their job.

SB: In comes Triskelion and Triskelion. Out goes 2 Furances.

Game 2: I play turn 1 Duress and see Pacfism, Eladarmri's Call, Demonic Tutor,
Forest, Forest, Wild Mongrel. He had a B/G land out. I took Demonic Tutor. I get
Oath online but am getting beat down by Mongrel. I Oath up Razia and swing. He
then plays this 1/1 green guy from one of the new sets. He has the ability to
destroy target creature with flying by tapping 4G and sacrificing a creature you
control. That was trouble, so I had to oath up a Trike. I Oath, Trike comes out,
he shoots down that guy and the Mongrel.

2-2. 1-1.

Round 3
Vs. Shane Mason [Uba Stax w/ Tangle Wire]

Game 1: I played turn 1 Brainstorm. Turn 2 Orchard/Oath. Turn 3 Duress.

SB: Out goes Akroma, VT, IS, Impulse,3 Duress. In comes Tinker, 2 Trikes, 4
Oxidize.

Game 2: He played an early Tangle Wire which sets us back. Then I play an Oath
without and Orchard. So I can sense him holding any welders he is drawing as I
don't see any Duplicants in his yard. I also am eating at his yard with a
Furnace. Oath finally gets active and I get out a Trike. Next turn comes Razia
and I swing. He casts Duplicant on his turn and I think about shooting her down
with Trike and save the counter in my hand for something else. I just counter it
and that sealed the game.

4-2. 2-1.

I am now ranked 5th in standings with 6 points. 3-0, 2-0-1, 2-0-1, 2-1 and 2-1
make up the top 5. There are a couple of 1-1-1 and maybe a 1-0-2. I would love
to just draw and get in with 7 points. 6 points should make the top 8. I believe
my opponent had 5 points [not 100% sure]. I asked if he would like to play and
he said yes. So let's shuffle.

Round 4
Vs. Dan Messineo [TPS]

Game 1: He opens with Fetch/Lotus go. I play an Orchard use it to Duress him. I
see Gifts, Mana Crypt, Wheel Of Fortune, Fetch, Underground Sea. I take the
Wheel of Fortune. I then play Lotus and break it for green with Mana Leak back
up. I play my Oath and then realized the Mox Sapphire was still in my hand
[stupid mistake]. He then casts Gifts in response and I give him Cunning Wish
and Brainstorm. I burn for 1 and still have Leak in hand. I pass the turn and he
wishes or brainstorms an answer. I Oath up an Angel and Mana Leak his answer. Go
to game 2.

SB: In comes 3 Null Rod. Out goes 2 Furnaces, IS.

Game 2: This is where I am looking for some feedback from the Magic Community. I
have played in only 7 tournaments my whole life [all small 20-40 people Vintage
tournaments]. I do not have the amount of experience as most players at the
tournaments. I try to be polite at all times and act in a very reasonable
manner. I do play a LOT of poker. In poker, one of the strengths you possess is
deceit. You represent hand you do not actually have. So I have always tried to
incorporate my poker play into my Magic game.

I draw Oath, Oath, Mana Leak, Orchard, Lotus, Wasteland, X. I see that and think
if he doesn't kill me on turn 1 or makes me discard my hand I am going to be
3-1. I sit there and take my time and look at it like it's a bad hand. I then
think of mulliganing it and then proceed and comment "Ok let's give this a
shot." My main question is: Is that considered bad sportsmanship in the Magic
Community? If so, I apologize.

He plays land go. I play Orchard Lotus pop for green and tap Orchard for blue
representing a misplay by representing a Mana Leak, I cast my first Oath and he
Forces the Oath and then I play my second Oath. I use the Leak next turn and its
game. He then tells me "I am sick" and asks how did I even think about
mulliganing that hand. I respond by telling him I was worried, as I did not have
a Force of Will. Am I obligated to provide the truth? Am I at fault in this
situation? Is that situation considered cheating in any way?

6-2. 3-1. 3rd Seed.

Top 8

Quarter Finals
Vs Mars Chen [5c Dragon]

We rode together to the tournament and practiced in the AM. He had a flight to
catch at 7 PM. He decided if he was to Top 8 he was going to reschedule the
flight to tomorrow. If he scrubbed out he was going to leave early. He Top 8 but
was matched up against me. He then decides to just re-reschedule his flight to
the original plan and make it back to class at UC Irvine on Monday.

Semi Finals
Vs. Stan Gin [Cerebral Assassin]

Game 1: I am going to be honest. I cannot remember the details of this match. I
do remember it was good and it lasted long. I played 2 early Phyrexian Furnaces
and he responds with a Null Rod, then a Possessed Portal. The Furnaces were so
good in this situation as I got to sac them to the Portal. He then welded out
the Portal for a Crucible. I then proceeded to draw on my next turn and someone
watching said, "You can't draw." I just ignored the statement and kept on
playing. Are the only people that can influence a match: you, your opponent and
the judge? I got Oath/Orchard online. I got Razia Swords'd then started taking
Sundering Titan [Animated] beats. I was at 14 and he was at 8 when Akroma came
to the rescue. This was a long grueling game.

SB: In comes 2 Trikes, 4 Oxidizes. Out goes Akroma, 3 Duress, IS, VT.

Game 2: This one took longer than game 1. Stan could not draw land in this game.
He had 2 Bazaars and 2 City Of Brass out for the majority of the game. I lived
through 1 Ray of Revelation and 1 Swords to Plowshares. I had to shoot Razia
with Trike in response to his Swords To Plowshares and then remove her from the
game with my own Phyrexian Furnace when he cast Animate Dead. Then trigger Oath
with no creatures in my deck to get the Trikes back in. He then ended up at 4
life after I Oath'd up a Trike with 2 City Of Brass out. I had a Force Of Will
in my hand. I knew the only card that would kill me right now was Black Lotus.
Even if he had double Swords, he would ping himself to death. It was a tough
match. Good game Stan.

Phyrexian Furnace saved me in this Match.

Finals

Vs. Brent Peterson [T1T]

Game 1: Quick/Broken Oath draw. It did not require as much thought as luck. I
believe it was this game where I got my early Oath chained back to my hand and
then Duress'd, revealing 2 Oaths and a Lotus. [I know that this happened, but
cannot remember which game.]
 
SB: In comes 4 Extract, 1 Tinker, 1 Colossus. Out goes VT, IS, 2 Furnaces,
Impulse, Rushing River.

Game 2: I play a turn 1 Extract. I take out the Tendrils Of Agony. I play turn 2
or 3 Extract. I take out the Colossus. I Extract a couple of turns later and see
nothing of an immediate threat. I have Tinker in my hand so I took into
consideration of protecting my Colossus if I get it resolved. I see a Cunning
Wish and Yawgmoth's Will. I figured he can Will and play 100 cards but do
nothing but Duress me and draw. I see the Wish and get reminded of the Bounce
Spells and possible alternate kill [I had NO IDEA he played Brain Freeze]. We
play draw, go for a good amount of time. He has a spirit token that is putting
me on a 20 turn clock. I now have a problem. I can't kill my token and he has a
HANDFUL of counters [drawing with a Library]. He eventually Brain Freezes me to
death. He Merchant Scrolled for a Cunning Wish late in the game. That really
confused me, I was almost certain I only saw 1 Will and 1 Cunning Wish in his
deck. He then had another one in his hand which he grabbed Stifle [stop
Blessing] with and Brain Freeze with the last one.

SB: In comes 1 Null Rod. Out goes 1 Mana Leak. [plus the changes from before]

Game 3: I play turn 1 Extract. I see a missing Tinker. Out goes DSC. He plays
Volcanic Island Mana Crypt Intuition. I Force his Intuition. He passes. I play
Wasteland to take out his Volcanic leaving him with a Mana Crypt. He plays land
and then Tinkers out the Crypt for a Lotus. My notes [or memory] don't show
anything after this part. I think I got out and Oath which got Chained and then
Duressed. I eventually die to Tendrils.

The last 5 games of the night were all great. The deck worked out well and the
sideboard well also. I just need to figure out if Null Rod and Phyrexian Furnace
will work hand in hand. Hope to see a bigger turnout for the next couple
tournaments. Thanks for the great tournament Pro Star Sports and Gaming. [
www.prostargaming.net]

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. Any situations in which I
made a huge mistake, I would be more than happy to have it pointed out to me so
it can be avoided in the future. Thanks and goodnight.