all your report are belong to us

I attended a 70-ish man tourney in Québec at l'Imaginaire de Place Laurier. The
tourney organizer decided on 6 rounds followed by cut to top 8. But after we
ended up with so many 4-1-1s, they played an elimination round instead of using
tie-breakers.

The prize structure:
#1 : 380$ cash
#1 : 220$ store credit
#3 and 4 : 140$ store credit
# 5, 6, 7 and 8 : 100$ store credit

The list I played:

Jester's Goblins

Land : 19

4x Badland
3x Bloodstained Mire
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Mountain
2x Wooded Foothill
2x Volcanic Island
2x Scalding Tarn

Creature : 26

1x Wort, Boggart Auntie
4x Earwig Squad
4x Goblin Vandal
4x Goblin Piledriver
4x Goblin Matron
4x Goblin Lackey
2x Mogg Fanatic
3x Vexing Shusher

Spell : 15

3x Warren Werding
1x Demonic Consultation
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk

1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus
1x Mana Crypt
1x Lotus Petal


Sideboard : 15

1x Pulverize
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Goblin Sharpshooter
1x Gempalm Incinerator
2x Energy Flux
1x Bitter Ordeal
2x Ravenous Trap
4x Lighting bolt


Here's how my journey went:

Round 1 : Max vs Joel with Oath of Druids (Score 0-0-0)

He wins the die roll

Game #1

I don't know what Joel is playing even though he's a friend from Trois-Rivières.
So, I decide that the best plan is to stick an Earwig ASAP.

Me Turn 1 : Land, Mox, Petal, Matron for Earwig Squad
Him Turn 1 : Land, go
Me Turn 2 : Attack, Land, Drop Earwig for his win condition GAME OVER he concede

I sideboard in 1x Bitter Ordeal and 1x Vampiric Tutor for 2x Vandal

Game #2

Him : Land
Me : Land, Goblin Lackey
Him : Land, Oath
Me : Attack with Lackey, Drop Shusher, Waste his land
Him : Oath Iona, pass the turn
Me : Waste his last land, drop Piledriver
Him : Oath into dragon GAME OVER I concede

Game #3

Me : Land, Vandal
Him : Land
Me : Attack, Land, Mox, Earwig Squad for 3 out of 4 big creature
Him : Land, Oath
Me : Attack, Land, Matron, Lackey
Him : Oath Obama, King of the dragon
Me : Stare at Obama, play Shusher
Him : Impulse during my EOT, drop a land, Thirst
Me : Drop Pile driver, I now have Vandal, Earwig, Shusher, Matron, Lackey,
Piledriver
Him : GAME OVER he concedes

Round 2 : Max vs Christian with Suicide BG (Score 1-0-0)

He wins the die roll

Game #1

Him : Swamp, Petal, Tarmogoyf
Me : Land, Lackey
Him : Thoughtseize removing Weirding
Me : Land, Mox, Consultation for Weirding, Weirding
Him : Wasteland me
Me : Wasteland him
Him : Do nothing, has around 2 or 3 cards
Me : Ancestral Recall on me, Land, Time Walk, Mox, Lackey
Me : Attack, Drop Matron with Lackey, Cast Pile driver, Cast Vandal GAME OVER he
concede

Sideboarding : 4x Lighting Bolt 1x Gempalm Incinerator for 4x Vandal and 1x
Shusher

Game #2

Him : Land, Dark Ritual, Hypnotic Specter
Me : Mountain, Lighting Bolt
Him : Cabal Pit, Withered Wretch
Me : Waste his Cabal Pit, drop Lackey
Him : Mana screwed, Thoughseize my hand of 5 lands
Me : Strip his last land
Him : Mana screwed
Me : Bolt his Wretch, attack with lackey, drop Piledriver, land
Him : Mana screwed
Me : Land, Attack with all, Earwig Squad GAME OVER he concede

Round 3 : Max vs Sebas with Painter's Servant (Score 2-0-0)

I win the die roll

Game #1

Me : Wasteland, Mox Jet, Petal, Vandal
Him : Land
Me : Attack, Play Wasteland, Cast Earwig Squad that meets Force of Will
Him : end of my turn Brainstorm, fetch, Sensei's Divining Top
Me : Wasteland him, Demonic Consultation for Black Lotus, cast double Piledriver
Him : Land, Thirst
Me : Attack for 11, waste his land
Him : Nothing relevant. GAME OVER, he concedes.

Sideboard in : 4x Lighting bolt for 1x Warren Weirding, 1x Wort, 1x Piledriver,
1x Shusher

Game #2

Him : Land, Ancestral at my upkeep
Me : Land, Mox, Shusher
Him : Land, Mox, Engineered Plague
Me : Attack, Land, Earwig that finds Force of Will
Him : Vamp Tutor during my EOT, drop Grindstone
Me : Attack, Land, drop Piledriver
Him : Land, Demonic Tutor
Me : Attack, Mana Crypt, Drop Earwig for his 3 other Painter's Servant, keeping
open
Him : Painter's Servant, activate Grindstone. I respond with Bolt on Servant.
GAME OVER he concedes

Round 4 : Max vs Simon with TPS (Score 3-0-0)

I win the die roll

Game #1

Me : Land, Mox, Petal, Matron for Earwig Squad
Him : Land, Mox
Me : Attack, Land, Earwig taking DSC and both tendrils GAME OVER he concedes

Sideboard in : 1x Vamp Tutor, 1x Bitter Ordeal for 2x Mogg Fanatic

Game #2

Him : Land, Mana Crypt, Tinker for DSC
Me : Land, Vandal
Him : Attack for 11, Time Walk, I'm dead

Game #3

Me : Land, Vandal
Him : Land
Me : Attack for 1, drop Wasteland and Fanatic
Him : Respond to my waste with Brainstorm, he fetches during his turn
Me : Attack for 2, drop a land
Him : Drop a land, time walk
Him : Drop a land and Engineered Plague, fanatic suicide for 1
Me : Drop Vexing Shusher, wasteland his land
Him : Respond to waste with Thirst for knowledge, drop a Land, drop a Crypt,
cast Memory Jar
Me : I now fear a Yawg Will, I attack, drop Earwig Squad, and then he responds
with Jar. At this point, I have 3 Warren Weirding in my hand. I exile Yawg Will
and both Tendrils from his deck.
Him : Tinker for Colossus
Me : Warren Weirding the Colossus GAME OVER he concede

Round 5 : ID (Score 4-0-0)

Round 6 : ID (Score 4-0-1)


Final Score : 4-0-2.

After everything is counted up, I discover that I'm 1st after 6 rounds of swiss
and have a bye in the elimination round for the 4-1-1s. The other 12 top8
candidates play while Ian Lampron and I enjoy our bye.


Top 8 : Max vs Ugo Rivard with Tezz

He wins the die roll

Game #1

Him : Island
Me : Land, Mox, Petal, Matron for Earwig Squad
Him : Fetch
Me : Attack, Drop Earwig that meets Mana Leak
Him : Do nothing
Me : Attack, drop Vandal
Him : Sensei's Divining Top
Me : Attack for 2
Him : Do nothing
Me : Attack for 2
Him : Do nothing
Me : Attack for 2
Him : Do nothing
Me : Attack for 2, drop Earwig Squad that takes Time Vault, Tezz, and Platinum
Angel
Him : Land, Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Triskelion
Me : Warren Weirding the Triskelion, he kills my Earwig Squad, Attack
Him : Lose the flip off mana crypt, do nothing relevant
Me : Attack for 2
Him : Lose the flip off mana crypt and go below 1 life. I win.

Sideboard in : 1x Vamp Tutor, 1x Bitter Ordeal, 1x Gempalm Incinerator, 1x
Lighting Bolt for 2x Fanatic, 1x Wort, Boggart Auntie, 1x Warren Werding

Game #2

Him : Land
Me : Land, Vandal
Him : EOT Mystical tutor for Ancestral
Him : Ancestral Recall, land
Me : Attack, drop Shusher which meet Mana Drain to get 2 mana off him
Him : Mox, Land, DT, Vault-Key GAME OVER I concede

I saw no Sower of Temptation so... I sideboard out 1x Gempalm Incinerator and 1x
Lighting bolt for 2x Mogg Fanatic

Game #3

Me : Land, Lackey which meets Force of Will
Him : Land
Me : Lackey
Him : Land, Pyroclasm
Me : Land, Lackey, Vandal
Him : Land
Me : Attack, Piledriver
Him : End of my turn Thirst for Knowledge, Land, Mox, Mana Crypt,
Tinker-Triskelion
Me : Warren Weirding Triskelion, I loose Pile driver and Lackey
Him : Demonic Tutor
Me : Land
Him : Vault-Key GAME OVER I concede

That was the end to a great tourney!! I won $100 in store credit. Turns out we
absolutely lack the resources to counter modern Tez in the late game. Triskelion
is solid tech for this meta and our sideboard has nothing for it. I think this
deck is very powerful and needs only minor modifications to beat Tez. I still
finished 4-0-2, and first after Swiss. I think that this is proof that putting
my time into honest play-testing and deck design resulted in a very competitive
deck.

AmbivalentDuck and I worked together building this over a few months. I find it
interesting that a social game like MTG can make connections between people as
geographically separate as we are: Quebec and Chicago! I'm primarily a
French-speaker who learned English in school; he's primarily an English-speaker
who learned French in school. Even though I was the one piloting the deck, this
top8 is really the achievement of two people.

- Max