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![[Modern] Storm - With tournament report Empty](https://2img.net/i/empty.gif)
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Manamorphose
3 Desperate Ravings
2 Peer Through Depths
1 Increasing Vengeance
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Visions
3 Past in Flames
3 Grapeshot
4 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Shivan Reef
4 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
2 Mountain
Sideboard:
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Pyroclasm
2 Shatterstorm
2 Echoing Truth
3 Empty the Warrens
2 Defense Grid
1 Torpor Orb
Had a modern GPT for GP Paris today. I'd no interest in the byes but the top 8 prizes were just really really good, and that was the goal.
Round 1:
Storm vs Mono-Red Goblins
Game 1 he opens really slow, with a turn 2 Mogg War Marshall into a turn 3 Goblin Chieftain. I'd won the die roll and had a turn 4 kill and he had no way to interact.
Game 2 he opens a lot faster. Turn 1 Foundry Street Denizen into turn 2 Bushwhacker into turn 3 Chieftain. In most cases I'd die to his guys before I could Storm off but I had a turn 3 kill since I never drew a third land so I just had rituals and other means of going off and won the game on 6 life. These games were actually pretty nice as warm up games, since it's always handy to get into the groove since I didn't have enough time for any practice games before the tournament kicked off.
Record: 1-0
Round 2:
Storm vs R/B Burn splashing Green for what I imagine is half of Deathrite Shaman
Game 1 I combo off before he's able to burn me out. He'd waited for me to cast 3 Rituals with an Electromancer out and a Past in Flames before Bolting it. It didn't actually make a difference but it very nearly seemed to tilt him which is a non-zero value thing for me.
Game 2 I went off turn 2 and got 16 Goblin tokens in play off of Empty the Warrens. He takes a smash for 14 down to 2 by removing one of those Goblins with Lavamancer. His only manner of killing me was going to be Rakdos Charm at this point. He had 2 in roughly 50 cards. He has a whole 3 points of burn in hand to my 14 life. So naturally he draws one and lethals me.
Game 3 I go off with Empty again fairly early-ish. He's got a lot of burn this time though and I'm eventually down to 6. I attacked him down to 2 with a ton of Goblins, holding one back so I can't get cracked back by a Goblin Guide. My life total is currently 6. I have 2 mana open, with a Gitaxian Probe in hand. If I had paid the 2 life I would have gone to 4, drawn Manamorphose, cycled it into Bolt and killed him. Unfortunately I didn't want to die to Keldon Marauders plus the Shard Volley I knew he had, so I paid a blue and found the Morphose with only 1 mana left. After shipping the turn he flips Skullcrack off the top.
Record 1-1
Round 3:
Storm vs Melira Pod
I was paired down here which kinda ticked me off but since it was pretty much only x-1-1 gets into top 8 I didn't end up caring much in the long run.
Game 1 he had a rather slow start and I had a lovely turn like 8 kill. He didn't seem to be playing any disruption at all. Interestingly he did get to remove 2 of my Grapeshots with Deathrite Shaman since I had to keep killing things so I didn't die. Eventually I drew Past in Flames and the game soon ended.
Game 2 he doesn't end up trying to find his combo pieces slowly and instead tries to aggro me out. If he'd gone for the combo my draw would have been slow enough that I'm pretty sure he'd have got it, but he didn't and eventually I got the win off of storming off with him having lethal on board.
Record 2-1
Round 4:
Storm vs UWR Control
Against one of my friends from my FNM. Didn't really want to play against eachother but obviously we didn't have a choice.
Game 1 he thought he had everything I was doing under control. Eventually he ran out of counters, slammed down a Gideon, and I proceeded to untap. I had 5 lands in play with Past of Flames in hand. Knowing he had no counters left, I cast Past in Flames and flashed back 2 Gitaxian Probes. One of them found a land and I had the potential to kill him multiple times over from there.
Game 2 he drew 8 cards for his opener, didn't realise until I Probed him and he conceded knowing he'd get a game loss from a judge anyway. I said that it was fine and I didn't want him to get a warning since I knew it was an accident. We played out the rest of the match as a friendly anyway. He managed to stop me from ever storming off since I was stuck on 2 lands all game, then in "game 3" I Emptied the Warrens for 10 Goblins on my turn 2 and he quickly conceded, so even without the game loss I would have won.
Record 3-1
Round 5:
Storm vs Affinity
I believe this was the guy who played Naya Blitz when I top 8'd with Zombies at the same venue who I beat to leave me as the only x-0 in that tournament in that round. Some of that information may not be exactly right though.
Game 1 he never actually did anything. I could have gone for a turn 4 kill but it was safe to just go for a turn 5 one since he had just a Signal Pest in play and I was on 12 from 2 Galvanic Blasts.
Game 2 he started much more aggressively and would have me dead turn 5 storm did what storm does even when he had Relic of Progenitus in play. He tapped out so it was no longer active and I just combo'd off with Ascension.
Record 4-1
Round 6:
Storm vs Splinter Twin
This was by far the most intense matchup of the day. Fortunately he had some more grindy draws than he obviously has access to, which made the games very close.
Game 1 he has to hold off on actually cantripping or ever having mana for a Pestermite of Exarch because he keeps countering all my spells and eventually he just runs out and the Past in Flames killed him.
Game 2 was almost literally the exact same thing. Both games were gruelling since I knew I had to keep him tapping mana in my turn for non-win conditions.
Record 5-1
Round 7:
Storm vs Splinter Twin
ID
Record 5-1-1
Top 8:
Storm vs Kiki-Pod
Game 1 my deck worked the way it does. He couldn't quite assemble a combo to kill me in time and I killed him on turn 4.
Games 2 and 3 were a mess. He didn't have particularly fast draws. He didn't have bad draws, mind you, but nothing faster than a turn 5 kill. I, however, had way too many f****** lands. The last game did come down to me being literally another draw away from a lethal past in flames, but serious mana flood saw to it that I didn't get anywhere. I guess eventually the laws of probability were bound to catch up to me and it was an unfortunate end. The guy I lost to was a great guy anyway though and we'd had a lot of good banter throughout the day. He really wanted the byes for GP Paris as well so I was happy that if I lost to anyone I lost to him. I know he made it to the final round but nothing's been posted anywhere about how that went down yet since I left before it started.
All-in-all the day was a great day out with mates and I made some new friends as well which is always swell. As of writing this I'm f****** shattered since I've basically been solving overly complex puzzles all day thanks to my deck of choice.
I wouldn't change anything about the deck except for the mana base. Need some Tarns/Rainforests bad. Otherwise the deck felt perfect.
My prize for top 8 was a choice between half a box of Theros or half a box of Born of the Gods. I chose the latter so I'll be receiving that next month.
I will note; My goal for this tournament wasn't to go positive - It was to get to the top 8. I've been really frustrated with not-quite-good-enough results recently, and I wanted to at least top 8 a decent sized event with a deck I'm confident in piloting. I've achieved my goal and so today was nothing but success. It may seem greedy to not consider a positive record satisfying, but as a competitive player I don't consider not reaching the highest pinnacle a success at all.
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Manamorphose
3 Desperate Ravings
2 Peer Through Depths
1 Increasing Vengeance
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Visions
3 Past in Flames
3 Grapeshot
4 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Shivan Reef
4 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
2 Mountain
Sideboard:
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Pyroclasm
2 Shatterstorm
2 Echoing Truth
3 Empty the Warrens
2 Defense Grid
1 Torpor Orb
Had a modern GPT for GP Paris today. I'd no interest in the byes but the top 8 prizes were just really really good, and that was the goal.
Round 1:
Storm vs Mono-Red Goblins
Game 1 he opens really slow, with a turn 2 Mogg War Marshall into a turn 3 Goblin Chieftain. I'd won the die roll and had a turn 4 kill and he had no way to interact.
Game 2 he opens a lot faster. Turn 1 Foundry Street Denizen into turn 2 Bushwhacker into turn 3 Chieftain. In most cases I'd die to his guys before I could Storm off but I had a turn 3 kill since I never drew a third land so I just had rituals and other means of going off and won the game on 6 life. These games were actually pretty nice as warm up games, since it's always handy to get into the groove since I didn't have enough time for any practice games before the tournament kicked off.
Record: 1-0
Round 2:
Storm vs R/B Burn splashing Green for what I imagine is half of Deathrite Shaman
Game 1 I combo off before he's able to burn me out. He'd waited for me to cast 3 Rituals with an Electromancer out and a Past in Flames before Bolting it. It didn't actually make a difference but it very nearly seemed to tilt him which is a non-zero value thing for me.
Game 2 I went off turn 2 and got 16 Goblin tokens in play off of Empty the Warrens. He takes a smash for 14 down to 2 by removing one of those Goblins with Lavamancer. His only manner of killing me was going to be Rakdos Charm at this point. He had 2 in roughly 50 cards. He has a whole 3 points of burn in hand to my 14 life. So naturally he draws one and lethals me.
Game 3 I go off with Empty again fairly early-ish. He's got a lot of burn this time though and I'm eventually down to 6. I attacked him down to 2 with a ton of Goblins, holding one back so I can't get cracked back by a Goblin Guide. My life total is currently 6. I have 2 mana open, with a Gitaxian Probe in hand. If I had paid the 2 life I would have gone to 4, drawn Manamorphose, cycled it into Bolt and killed him. Unfortunately I didn't want to die to Keldon Marauders plus the Shard Volley I knew he had, so I paid a blue and found the Morphose with only 1 mana left. After shipping the turn he flips Skullcrack off the top.
Record 1-1
Round 3:
Storm vs Melira Pod
I was paired down here which kinda ticked me off but since it was pretty much only x-1-1 gets into top 8 I didn't end up caring much in the long run.
Game 1 he had a rather slow start and I had a lovely turn like 8 kill. He didn't seem to be playing any disruption at all. Interestingly he did get to remove 2 of my Grapeshots with Deathrite Shaman since I had to keep killing things so I didn't die. Eventually I drew Past in Flames and the game soon ended.
Game 2 he doesn't end up trying to find his combo pieces slowly and instead tries to aggro me out. If he'd gone for the combo my draw would have been slow enough that I'm pretty sure he'd have got it, but he didn't and eventually I got the win off of storming off with him having lethal on board.
Record 2-1
Round 4:
Storm vs UWR Control
Against one of my friends from my FNM. Didn't really want to play against eachother but obviously we didn't have a choice.
Game 1 he thought he had everything I was doing under control. Eventually he ran out of counters, slammed down a Gideon, and I proceeded to untap. I had 5 lands in play with Past of Flames in hand. Knowing he had no counters left, I cast Past in Flames and flashed back 2 Gitaxian Probes. One of them found a land and I had the potential to kill him multiple times over from there.
Game 2 he drew 8 cards for his opener, didn't realise until I Probed him and he conceded knowing he'd get a game loss from a judge anyway. I said that it was fine and I didn't want him to get a warning since I knew it was an accident. We played out the rest of the match as a friendly anyway. He managed to stop me from ever storming off since I was stuck on 2 lands all game, then in "game 3" I Emptied the Warrens for 10 Goblins on my turn 2 and he quickly conceded, so even without the game loss I would have won.
Record 3-1
Round 5:
Storm vs Affinity
I believe this was the guy who played Naya Blitz when I top 8'd with Zombies at the same venue who I beat to leave me as the only x-0 in that tournament in that round. Some of that information may not be exactly right though.
Game 1 he never actually did anything. I could have gone for a turn 4 kill but it was safe to just go for a turn 5 one since he had just a Signal Pest in play and I was on 12 from 2 Galvanic Blasts.
Game 2 he started much more aggressively and would have me dead turn 5 storm did what storm does even when he had Relic of Progenitus in play. He tapped out so it was no longer active and I just combo'd off with Ascension.
Record 4-1
Round 6:
Storm vs Splinter Twin
This was by far the most intense matchup of the day. Fortunately he had some more grindy draws than he obviously has access to, which made the games very close.
Game 1 he has to hold off on actually cantripping or ever having mana for a Pestermite of Exarch because he keeps countering all my spells and eventually he just runs out and the Past in Flames killed him.
Game 2 was almost literally the exact same thing. Both games were gruelling since I knew I had to keep him tapping mana in my turn for non-win conditions.
Record 5-1
Round 7:
Storm vs Splinter Twin
ID
Record 5-1-1
Top 8:
Storm vs Kiki-Pod
Game 1 my deck worked the way it does. He couldn't quite assemble a combo to kill me in time and I killed him on turn 4.
Games 2 and 3 were a mess. He didn't have particularly fast draws. He didn't have bad draws, mind you, but nothing faster than a turn 5 kill. I, however, had way too many f****** lands. The last game did come down to me being literally another draw away from a lethal past in flames, but serious mana flood saw to it that I didn't get anywhere. I guess eventually the laws of probability were bound to catch up to me and it was an unfortunate end. The guy I lost to was a great guy anyway though and we'd had a lot of good banter throughout the day. He really wanted the byes for GP Paris as well so I was happy that if I lost to anyone I lost to him. I know he made it to the final round but nothing's been posted anywhere about how that went down yet since I left before it started.
All-in-all the day was a great day out with mates and I made some new friends as well which is always swell. As of writing this I'm f****** shattered since I've basically been solving overly complex puzzles all day thanks to my deck of choice.
I wouldn't change anything about the deck except for the mana base. Need some Tarns/Rainforests bad. Otherwise the deck felt perfect.
My prize for top 8 was a choice between half a box of Theros or half a box of Born of the Gods. I chose the latter so I'll be receiving that next month.
I will note; My goal for this tournament wasn't to go positive - It was to get to the top 8. I've been really frustrated with not-quite-good-enough results recently, and I wanted to at least top 8 a decent sized event with a deck I'm confident in piloting. I've achieved my goal and so today was nothing but success. It may seem greedy to not consider a positive record satisfying, but as a competitive player I don't consider not reaching the highest pinnacle a success at all.
