[G-TECH-L] DDT Tournament Report
Bennie Smith
Dancing Dead Things
This past Saturday saw me take the latest incarnation
of Dancing Dead Things to the bi-weekly Standard
Tournament at Total Access Games in Richmond, VA.
DDT has undergone some changes, most notably in the
sideboard. Here's the decklisting of what I played:
DDT
4 Oath of Ghouls
3 Survival of the Fittest
3 Living Death
3 Ebony Charm
2 Recurring Nightmare
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Wall of Roots
3 Wall of Blossoms
3 Spike Feeder
2 Uktabi Orangutan
2 Mindless Automaton
1 Spike Weaver
1 Cloudchaser Eagle
1 Coffin Queen
1 Crypt Rat
1 Shard Phoenix
1 Fallen Angel
1 Spirit of the Night
3 City of Brass
6 Swamp
14 Forest
62 Cards
Sideboard: 3 Emerald Charm, 2 Gaea's Blessing,
2 Nekrataal, 1 Cloudchaser Eagle, 2 Thrull Surgeon,
2 Harbinger of Night, 2 Stromgald Cabal, 1 Scragnoth
I was really looking forward to playing this deck through
a solid gauntlet of decks with my experimental "Ghoul Tech"
cards-- the Harbingers and the Cabals.
A small group of 11 people got together for the tournament,
4 rounds of Swiss, then cut to the final 8. Yeah, that's
a lot of Magic for just 11 people, but at least everyone got
in some play time! Besides, for such a small tournament
there were three people who've been to the Pro Tour here,
so there was some good competition.
Round 1 vs DDT (slightly different version)
I eliminated Alex in the round of 8 last tournament, and he
decided to play DDT himself and has had a lot of fun with
it. We've debated some cards for it, and he has "improved"
the deck with cards he likes, so we'll see who's DDT is
better! Duel 1 is pretty tight; he draws his engines and
I don't, but some well-timed Ebony Charms keep him down
for a while. Still, I need to get something going to win,
but I don't, so when he get's a Spirit out it's soon over.
Next game, my sideboard Emerald Charms and Cloudchaser
disrupt his game enough to put me over, and then my own
Spirit brings it on home. The final duel is over pretty
quick,
as I just get some quick Spike and Automaton beatdown
going with no recursion; he has a horrible draw and just
dies.
2-1 Win 1-0 Matches
Round 2 vs Oath of Rogues variant
Yikes! I do not like this matchup, especially
pre-sideboard.
At least my Ebony Charms could give me some hope to
take out some of his recursion. Duel 1, it's ugly; he Oaths
to his Spirit of the Night first, and I die. Duel 2 is not
much better, Spirit serves again.
0-2 Lose 1-1 Matches
Round 3 vs WW
Unfortunately, I don't remember anything about this match!
There were 3 WW in the tournament, and I ended up playing
all three; I remember the next two, but nothing about this
except I sweep.
2-0 Win 2-1 Matches
Round 4 vs R/W
We draw into the top 8! Time for lunch…
1-1-1 Draw 2-1-1 Matches
Onto the round of 8:
Round 5 vs Oath of Rogues (varient)
Oh no! Is DDT in for a short run today? This deck so
horribly
wrecked me, I am truly upset. The first duel is sickening,
I draw absolutely no graveyard recursion or Survivals, and
so I die. The second duel is do or die; he get's out quick
Oaths but I manage to destroy each of them, get some board
control until he gets a Gaea's, shuffles the Oaths back in,
and
soon enough I'm staring back at another Oath. Shortly after
that a Spirit comes calling. By then, I have a pretty solid
mana base, and recursion cards, so I get a Spike Weaver to
prevent Spirit beatdown. I work in the Cloudchaser to kill
his Oath, set up a Fallen Angle and follow through with
a Living Death to bring out all my boys. Whew! A squeaker!
The last match is tough, I manage to deplete his graveyard
of three Spike Feeders and get out the Weaver again to
stop his Spirit. I have a solid mana base, two Oath of
Ghouls
and a Survival out and am starting to take board control
when
my opponant casts Jokulhaups. Jokulhaups?!?! In an Oath
of Druids deck? He shakes his head and explains he hasn't
been able to trade for a Cataclysm, which would fit much
better into the deck. Luckily, the haups leaves me with
my enchantments, so when I bring back two Birds with
the Oaths, all I need is a Forest-- which I top deck! Whoo
hoo!! In fact, I top deck 4 lands in a row and by the
fourth
turn I have two birds, 1 Wall of Roots, a Spike Feeder and
Coffin Queen out. When I pitch a Spirit of the Night at
the end of his turn to Survival, he conceeds.
2-1 Win 3-1-1
Round 6 vs WW
So I square off against Bill, surprising me by playing WW;
he's been a Suicide Black man for the last couple of
tournaments,
guess he got tired of the dark side. Anyway, this is
another
tough matchup, but I am with sideboard tech!
The first duel he get's off to a fairly rapid start; I get
out
two Walls but he's got three creatures out and is pressing
the attack. He makes a fatal mistake by getting greedy
and over committing his forces, so as he dumps his
hand and delivers the beatings, when my fifth mana appears
Living Death sweeps the board. He never recovers. Whew!
Duel number two is great; I get an early wall, he gets two
ground pounders out. After he drops his third creature,
I play a Harbinger of Night. Poor Bill, he knows I play
some wacky shit, so he just shakes his head, reads the
card, and shakes his head some more. Two turns later,
his army is gone. The next turn, so is the Harbinger,
done with his duty of ridding us of pesky white weenies!
Meanwhile, he's slowed my enchantment development
with 2 Auras of Silence-- Curses! I build up land, try
to lure him into using the Auras by squeaking out
an Oath of Ghouls, but he has a Disenchant. Another
Oath finally takes out an Aura. But Bill is not done
with creatures! He starts to draw more nastiness and
tries to overwhelm my defenses with two more critters.
My poor Bird of Paradise succumbs to a Recurring Nightmare,
and again, Harbingers shrink Bill's soldiers into oblivion.
I play a Survival, he Aura's, and in response I go fetch
a Stromgald Cabal. "They reprinted that piece of tripe?!?"
Bill exclaims. I grin. "Yep." He frowns, reads the card,
frowns some more. Soon thereafter, he conceeds the
game when he has no cards in hand and I've a fist-full
and creatures on the board.
Whoo-hoo! 2 and 0 vs. WW!!!
2-0 Win 4-1-1 Matches
Round 7 vs. DDT
So, Alex has been doing well since we squared off in
the first round; I'm glad my creation has done so well.
I just wish we could have both made it to the final 2.
Oh well. The match pretty much replays the previous
matchup where he pretty well dominates one game,
and I pretty much dominate the other two. Ebony
Charms were the key against this matchup, and whomever
could get out and keep early Oaths. Alex grudgingly
congradulates me and laughs that it would've been bad
if he had beaten me with my own deck. I agree!
2-1 Win 5-1-1 Matches
Round 8 vs. WW FINALS!
He just beat a Sligh deck to make it here, and I'm a little
disappointed; I would've much rather played Sligh!
Duel 1 is over quick, as an Amored Monk beats me
senseless. Duel 2, he doesn't have a real quick start,
and I get out an early Spirit of the Night (thanks,
Recurring Nightmare!). When he Cataclysms and
I have a Spirit out to match his Priest, it's soon over.
The last duel is a heartbreaker. He get's early armor
priest beatdown going; I manage to get out a Cloudchaser
to slow the bleeding. I am really short on mana the
entire game, as he churns out the threats. I actually draw
my Harbinger, and shrink his army down, but when
it leaves, he comes out with more shadow guys. I
manage to get a Spike Weaver and Stromgald Cabal
into play, but I never draw any Spike Feeders and,
with my life and mana so low, he manages to cast
a Cataclysm, (I leave my Harbinger out to finish
off his Paladin), and I can't get mana enough
to get anything going before he spits out a Knight
to kill me. I had mana problems the whole game,
but he had me on the defensive even when I drew
answers. He had a solid deck, much like Linde's
(if not an exact copy).
1-2 Lose 5-2-1 Matches
So, I take second place, get some cash and a booster
pack of Tempest (with a garbage rare, Flowstone Wyvern
or something), and continue the winning streak of DDT.
I am very pleased with the Harbingers, they are truly
amazing in this deck! Not only do they shrink down to
oblivion any weenies on the board, they encourage your
opponant to hold back his creatures for a few turns, buying
you some vital time! I would strongly recommend anyone
playing DDT to pack two in your sideboard. SOLID TECH!
The Stromgald Cabals were good, too. If nothing else,
they're great demoralizers for a white opponant. And
they stop those damn Cataclysms! (if you have the life)
The Gaea's Blessings were never used. They're going to
come out.
So, back to tweaking the deck. Over the weekend, I traded
for a fourth Survival, which will probably go back in.
Also,
three Living Deaths are too many; two or even one might
be better in the main.
Oh, I was reading the newsgroups, saw a great post from
someone saying that people were playing DDT in
Los Angeles, and extolling the virtues of the deck.
Reading that did my heart proud!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the report. I must say
it's a whole lot more fun writing a report when you
do well!
Bennie Smith
Guerilla Tech Mage