Diaper Party
Nat had a Diaper Party! And invited us to come and play magic with him. So 16 of us did and it was a blast.

Decklist
Fastbond decks have been sweet so far and I wanted to get in on the action. I had gotten a 4-1 league with a very similar list Ziasbond list, but using Sanctum Prelate in the SB to fight Arcanist. I thought the meta at the TSI would do better with an Oath Transform Sideboard. Here’s a quick report from the TSI, based on my scant notes.

ZiasBond

Lands (34) 4 Bazaar of Baghdad 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Buried Ruin 3 Dark Depths 1 Forest 2 Glacial Chasm 4 Mishra’s Workshop 4 Riftstone Portal 3 Savannah 1 Sejiri Steppe 1 Strip Mine 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale 4 Thespian’s Stage 4 Wasteland Other Mana (4) 1 Black Lotus 2 Mox Diamond 1 Mox Emerald Spells (16) 4 Crop Rotation 4 Crucible of Worlds 1 Enlightened Tutor 4 Fastbond 3 Life from the Loam Disruption (6) 1 Null Rod 4 Sphere of Resistance 1 Trinisphere

Sideboard (15) 1 Bojuka Bog 4 Oath of Druids 2 Collector Ouphe 1 Forbidden Orchard 4 Force of Vigor 1 Emrakul, Aeons Torn 1 Null Rod 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

MTGO Decklist – 20191013 – TSIDP – Ziasbond

RD 1 – M Steve – PO
These games were only a few turns each. Narset did a ton of work for Steve, keeping me off Bazaar and finding winning pieces. No mulligans on either side that I tracked.

G1 – Steve has a T2 Narset that becomes a T3 Mentor into T4 attack. He made 3 monks, and on the Time Walk turn played 3 spells, which only made 17 damage. Steve was flustered because I was not conceding; Glacial Chasm would have had something to say about the Monks, given the opportunity. Leaving me at 3 life, I had the combo cards ready after his turn, but he had the counter spell.

G2 – T1 – Bazaar, medium hand with Riftstone Portal. His T1, cast Balance with 2 cards left and no lands. Then Ancestral. Game lasted until T4, he had Narset, PO -> Tendrils.

0-2, 0-1

RD 2 – Kevin Nelson – 4c AntiVintage

G1 – He makes lots of dudes. T1, DRS. T2, Lavinia. T3, Ouphe. T4, Kataki, DRS. DRS makes my life hard, and I die to creature beats.

G2 – He makes T1 DRS again and T2 Kataki. I’m able to outrace the DRS with Bazaar and am able to flip Rifstone just in time at the end, in order to be able make Marit Lage.

G3 – He keeps a suspect 1 lander with double Fawce of Viggah, double green card. He ends up cast both of them on stuff, but natural Stage/Depths on T5 or so locks it up.

2-3, 1-1

RD 3 – Joe Dyer – RUG Elementals
Joe and I had played on Modo a few weeks before I think? He was running this Elementals list against my RG Lands list. IIRC he won that match, but it could have been me? It wasn’t a blow out that I remember, either way. I felt confident against a creature based deck, especially tokens, banking on Tabernacle and Wasteland effects.

G1 – I win the die roll and play Crucible T1. T1 or so he makes Risen Reef. T2 or T3 I make Fastbond with the combo cards in the yard. I put them all in play and pass turn. Joe can’t find anything to say about it.

G2 – Joe mulls to 5. Sees 3 draws and then scoops.

4-3, 2-1

RD 4 – Guhstin Dewey – 2CM

This can be very bad but I was very lucky.

G1 – I’m on a mull to 6. His T0 Leyline vs. my Bazaar hand seemed bad, but Enlightened Tutor plus Savannah meant I would be able to fetch the Rod for the his kills. He follows up with a T1 No Land, Mana Crypt -> Painter’s Servant on White. Ok, I’m almost dead two ways.

I go to my turn and rip the Null Rod! I play Savannah and pass, he makes a Mox Jet? Goes to 8 from his Crypt before scooping it up.

G2 – He mulls to 6. T0 Leyline again maybe? My notes say I just Fastbond into Null Rod into Sphere. I recall I was just playing control, natural drawing and Wasting. At 12 life I made Marit Lage and that was it.

6-3, 3-1

RD 5 – David Lance – Survival
David is probably the best active sanctioned player on Team Serious. I had some fear of weapon of choice (Survival) as well as of his skill as a player. I knew from testing in leagues that this match up often will come down to how the specific answers line up on both sides, e.g. being able to rotate for Bojuka Bog with Vengevine triggers on the stack. That plus who can Fawce their Viggah more vigorously.

G1 – Grindfest that was really only 6 or 7 turns. He mulls to 6. I went for a very early crop rotation to get Workshop for my Crucible. This play was likely the difference in the game; a few turns later I hadn’t found a Bazaar and had to go for Glacial Chasm off my next Crop Rotation. He had binned Wonder early on and had found a Tropical Island; Sejiri Steppe is good but can’t grant protection from a flying Hollow One! After paying the cost for Chasm and digging and digging, I finally was overrun.

G2 – T1 Bazaar or so plus Stage / DD in hand. His T1, Bazaar, -> Donk, Donk. Double Hollow one. I have the Viggah on hand but just no green card to exile. My turn, I rip Oath and dispatch the Hollow Ones on his upkeep. After some digging by him, I natural 20/20.

G3 – This was actual super grind. Really wish this was on camera. This game was all about the Viggah. David is younger and obviously more Vigorous. He mulls to 5 but I’m not feeling safe. My T1 is Mox, Land, Oath. This is met with an EOT Viggah! We grind. At some point I come up with Fastbond and Crucible but have to pass. I think this is where I get Ravenous trapped? Then soon after, I eat another Viggah. I still have lands and time to rebuild but he’s getting some chips in.

Finally I find the combo again! I put down the Fastbond, Bazaar; discard to having Workshop and Crucible in hand. I play it as a second land. He responds to the Fastbond trigger by blowing up Fastbond. I have Glacial Chasm in the yard and would have combo’ed out at 1 life since Chasm would have been my first land played!

David needed all 4 Force of Vigor in the G3 against me to get the W. 3 were cast while the fourth was exiled to power one of those 3.

GGs David Lance!

7-5, 3-2

Finish
3-2 with strong tie-breakers in Swiss plus one format was good for Fourth place!

Thank You!
Elizabeth and Nat were great hosts and I’m very happy to have been invited. Guacamole was super good. I also enjoyed the door handle on the bathroom immensely, it was very beautiful as well as easy to open and operate.

We all look forward to Baby “Flaming” Moes to meeting us! Congrats and thanks again to Nat and Elizabeth!