Well, as I promised, here is number 2. To the ones who haven't read my first report, go here:
http://classic.magictraders.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/025738.html

First of all, mods, if this post should be in my previous post let me know, I can always add. I hope not, as I vouch for a separate forum here where each report gets it's own Topic. But as this is only the 2nd report yet, maybe I could/should update my previous one. LMK.

Short intro: You're playing a Legacy tournament, but the legal cards should cost 0,50 Euros or less which makes for very interesting decks.

I warn you now, you're entering the Twilight Zone of Magic. A zone where good things don't happen, very often..

Right. In March this year the last budget Legacy tournament was held. After my Mill strategy, which didn't work out that bad, I had my mind set on Bottomless Pit. Always loved the card, love mono-black, and so I build a deck around it. I went out and played it then, going 2-3 with some bad luck and mana screws. After the organiser of the tournament emigrated to Germany (of all countries! ), 2 chaps took over and went over the banned list again. This review added some more options to my cardpool, namely Smallpox and Shriekmaw. With these I should do better than last time, I thought, and the gray mass in my head starting piecing together a decklist. I'll post what I changed from last time, but here is what came up:

Kill:
4 Quest for the Nihil Stone - Hardly anybody plays Enchantment removal main, and it's very easy to get 2 counters on here. It's not that tough to empty someone's hand, too. It's staying alive that is the trick.
4 Nihilith - Synergy anyone? A heavy beater with Fear! It can hit the board quickly, especially when a Turn 2 suspended Nihilith is followed up with T3 Wrench Mind or Stupor, T4 Barter in Blood.

Discard:
3 Duress - Control eaters.
4 Wrench Mind - Not many artifacts out there, and if there are they're nasty.
4 Stupor - I'm so bummed Hippie isn't allowed, but the Stupor saved my neck a few times the first gig around. Random discard rules.
3 Augur of Skulls - A blocker if necessary, but it's the discard you want.

Utility/Removal/etc
4 Barter in Blood - Die beasties die.
4 Sign in Blood - Mostly for me to fill up my hand, but can be used on my opponent when Quest needs counters and their hands are already empty, which happens
4 Smallpox (these were Bottomless Pit before) - I love the smell of Smallpox in the morning. I'll call them Smellpox from now.
3 Shriekmaw (these were Doom Blades before) - Alternate kill, it was tough, either this or Skinrender. In hindsight, Skinrender.

Manabase:
2 Cabal Pit - Threshold is easily reached, and kills many beasties. I don't need much mana anyway.
1 Leechridden Swamp - Versatility.
2 Spawning Pool - Great blocker if necessary
4 Terramorphic Expanse
14 Swamp

SB:
3 Life's Finale (these were Consume the Meek before)
4 Dark Ritual, in order to cast Finale or Barter soon(these were 3 Gloom before)
3 Ostracize (these were Deathgrip before)
1 Shriekmaw (Doom Blade)
1 Duress
3 Dismember (these were Tormod's Crypt before)

For the record, last time I beat an U/R deck with Wee Dragonauts and Kiln Fiends plus one mana cantrip effects, plus a control deck. I lost to fast weenies so I armed myself for that. Control became more popular in this scene so I thought I had a good chance. I playtested this version against a friend of mine who was playing MUC faeries with Ninja of the Deep Hours and it was 50/50.

Ok, the draws were set, here we go!

Round 1: Golgari
Wait, what? Your deck consists of Scavenge creatures my Shriekmaw can't kill? This should be fun...
Game 1: I suspend Nihilith on turn 2 and get a Augur of Skulls on turn 3. I hit him once as his 1/1 Scavenge beasty returns the favor. He then adds more Scavengers to the board and I have to block/regenerate the Augur to stay alive. A Shriekmaw joins my blocking brigade but it doesn't last. I don't find my Quest to get some pain going and after a somewhat desperate Sign of Blood my 2nd Nihilith, that I could hardcast, comes too late.
Game 2: I side out the Maws and Sign in Bloods for Life's Finale and Dismembers and face him again head-on, cursing the match up.
I smile as I have 4 lands and 2 Smallpox in my hand. Let's mana-screw the bastard! I get the Turn 1 Quest, Turn 2, Turn 3 Smallpox and even a Turn 5 Smallpox! But he keeps dropping land EVERY friggin' turn! How the hell? He destroys my Quest with +2 counters on it with Golgari Charm, then casts a Dreg Mangler and starts Scavenging his beasties from the yard onto him. I need to find my Finale as I hold him off with a Regenerating Spawning Pool, but I don't find it. After he casts another creature I need to find a Skulls or Nihilith but I don't, so ouch.
0-1

Crap, what a horrid matchup with Shriekmaw, and how the hell did he recover from 3 Smallpox in 5 turns! He had more land than I did! Onto round 2 for more luck:

Round 2: Goblin tokens
Game 1:
He wins the dice roll and plays Great Furnace, Kuldotha Rebirth, entering 3 1/1 Goblins on the table. Crap. I need Barter now! and four mana!
I evoke Shriekmaw on T2 to prevent some damage, but on turn 3 he gets 2 more tokens from Dragon Fodder and T4 he plays Bushwacker. My Augur of Skulls can only hold off 1 and I'm finished turn 5 with a Goblin War Strike.

I side in 4 Dark Rituals, Life's Finale and Dismembers.

Game 2:
I suspend Nihilith on T2 while holding 2 more lands and 2 Shriekmaws. He plays Dragon Fodder on T2 and makes 2 more tokens with another on T3. Thinking I will get my 5th land in time I don't Evoke the Maws as they are excellent blockers to his 1/1 creatures and I didn't see creature removal at all, so I should be safe. He plays double Bushwacker on turn 4 hitting me down to 1. I don't draw a land and can either Evoke 2 Maws or Dismember one of them. What a speed deck. Didn't see the discard I needed to get rid of his Bushwackers, just drew more spot removal which was basically useless.
0-2

Ok, we can still go 4-2, now come the weeners! Oh wait, that includes me..

Round 3: Lifegain/creature/flashbackAh, see here, a lifegain deck! Clearly a n00b. This could take long but 1-0 gives us 3 poins, too!
Game 1: He starts hitting me with a Llanowar Elf (I am not afraid, I am not afraid!) and I find a Quest and put some counters on it with my Augur of Skulls. He drops some creatures in the yard until he plays a Boneyard Wurm. I Barter in Blood and smile. On his next turn he plays a sorcery, showing the top 4 cards of his library and if there's a creature, he can take it. He finds Boneyard Wurms' brother and plays it. My hand is clogged with land and Sign in Blood, which I cast to find another Quest and a Nihilith! Yes, I have a blocker for his *counting his creature cards in the 'yard* ... 8/8 Wurm! Shriekmaw! We need you! He doesn't listen and 3 turns later it's over. Bad luck with the cards.
Game 2: More creature removal is good. I get the T1 Quest, T2 Wrench Mind. There, we're set. He Naturalizes on T3 (crap). I Barter my ass off but he keeps casting Boneyard Wurms and Splinterfrights, getting them back from the yard with some greenish card only n00bs use. Right? In the meantime my Nihilith hits away but is rendered useless against his Gnaw to the Bone (gain 2 life for each creature in the yard, with flashback!). He ends at 109 life as my removal runs out and his creatures run me over.
0-3

Not a single leg won yet. Lost to a lifegain deck. Can this get any worse?
Why yes. Yes it can. Read on. I dare you.

Round 4: Madness-Dredge

This guy had Arrogant Wurms in his deck but got busted. These cost more than 0,50 Euros but it's all friendly, he was allowed to change those to basic lands and continue.
This should be easy!
Game 1: I cast a Skulls as he plays Mongrel. Nice. Odyssey rules. He puts down Basking Rootwalla and I Evoke Shriekmaw on the Rootwalla. I stay at 3 land for a while as he morphs a creature. He is all out of cards now and I Evoke a second Maw on his Mongrel (yes!) as his morph attacks on the next turn. Having no idea what it is I have to let it run into me, he discards a Golgari Brownscale and flips a Gathan Raiders! ouch! That finishes me off and we go to game 2.

I side in more creature removal (it being the only SB I have really)
Game 2: I don't find Nihilith, Skulls or a Quest but a bucketload of discard. He keeps dredging and playing his 2 Golgari Brownscales after I Barter him twice. He plays more creatures while I await my beaters and win conditions, having 2 Life's Finale in hand and 6 land open. He kicks me to 1 life and I Life Finale him. He dredges his Brownscales back and I Life Finale him again. Again, he dredges his Brownscales back and I find my 3rd Life's Finale. I need to get 2 Nihilith or 1 Nihilith and an Augur or Spawning Pool in a row now or I'm dead. I cast the 3rd Life's Finale and find a Nihilith and Spawning Pool in a row! I dare to crack a smile but he dredges a Stinkweed Imp that I missed on his next turn and it flies over my crying defenses.
0-4

It starts to rain outside. Hard.

Round 5: U/W Spirits/Soldiers
Finally, a controllish deck! Maybe my honor can be saved, somewhat.
Game 1: He opens with a Gitaxian Probe and I get the T1 Quest, T2 Augur of Skulls. I Wrench Mind him and attack with the Skulls, putting him at 17. In the meanwhile his Midnight Haunting spirits are chopping away on me.
On his next turn I play Stupor putting him without cards. Yes! here we go. He goes to 12 and plays his land, knowing my Augur can take out his hand if necessary. His spirits hit me down to 1 life but I find Barter in Blood and am saved. He goes to 7 and I play another Quest, putting him at lethal damage if I activate my Augur next turn. At the end of my turn he casts another Midnight Haunting and it's over. FU*&^#!!@%)*^$%, so close!!

Ok, no whining, he got lucky (as did they all), we'll get him, this is MY matchup now!

Game 2: He plays some spirits and through discarding I get a turn 5 Nihilith in play. I hit him to 16 after he gained some life through Sejiri Steppes and the likes, as his spirits are poking at my flesh. He plays a Drogskol Captain and hits me to 8. I then get a Shriekmaw and destroy his Captain, but he casts a Celestial Crusader at the end of turn and flies over me in 2 turns.

0-5

I've never ever had so much bad luck. How the hell can you play roughly 18 creature removal spells in total, and only find 2 when it really counts? This happened to me so many times I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. How the hell do you survive a T2, T3 and T5 Smallpox? What are the odds that you play the first round against someone with black creatures, only 3 people out of 37 present played black, including me!

I'm almost crying now, my friends make fun of me, and it's a 30 minute drive home at least, so I need to regain my honor and totally crush my last opponent.
The sheets is hung up and everybody rushes to see their last opponent. Driven as I am now, I am first to get there, my blood pumps with furious anger and resolution to destroy this one person, this opponent, who is just as bad as me today and his name is....... Bye? A bye. Of course.

I spend the next 45 minutes sitting at the finals table where 2 of my friend are playing for fun. One of them (the Faerie guy against who I tested with an went 50/50) is already number one and draw with the other guy ensuring him of 3rd place with a U/R/B Counter/Removal deck with Sphinx of Jwar Isle as wincondition and Mystic Speculation as broken card (this was actually banned before they reinstated it along with Smallpox and such)

0-5. I would've dropped at 0-3 normally, but I was along for the ride so I stayed around.
A sad day.

I posted this to have a change, people always post their winning Reports. Well, here's a losing report. I never had so many odd matchups as today, nor so much bad luck.

I already unsleeved the deck and thinking of going back to mill (mono-u mill) or U/W control (fish style). At least something with counters. I'll post in the Deck Help forum some other time.
I hope you had a good laugh though, this is my Walk of Shame. For now, I need a hankey. This report made me cry all over again.
Cheers,

(PS: Comments, jokes, puns, feel free to post!)

Edit 1 and 2: punctuation etc.
Edit 3 : removed inappropiate comment
__________________
/Thunder in the wind/No rain/Peace mourns its passing/

Yuck. Lol.

I'm sorry

Maybe I could help you out for next time :P

If you want, ship me a "banned list" or whatever, since I don't use euros as currency!

quote:

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Originally posted by Link139232:
...

Yuck. Lol.

I'm sorry

Maybe I could help you out for next time :P

If you want, ship me a "banned list" or whatever, since I don't use euros as currency!

But as always, nice article

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Thanks! Well, the allowed list of cards is here:
http://www.janr.nl/20121222_Castricum_Budget/allowed_all_colors.htm
Let me know if you have an idea. The next tournament should be in about 3 months or so, so no hurry

quote:

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Originally posted by Pail42:
Thanks for the report. I enjoyed reading it

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It's always good to read about someone's misery eh? But thanks!

__________________
/Thunder in the wind/No rain/Peace mourns its passing/