Grand Prix Philly

It's been about a week since the Grand Prix in philly ended. It was fun, while it lasted. Day 1 was pretty amazing for me, except for the fact that my deck ended up getting stolen. But I suppose these things happen. The thing that hurts the most I suppose is the fact that not only were my hard earned cards in there, but also my friends. Anyways, after Day 1 I ended up touring Philly a bit, it was a good time and I have plans on uploading the pictures at a later date. Faeries was definitely the route to go. Anyways, my tournament report

Before the tournament I scurried around, buying up the last few cards I needed for my deck. Namely, 1x Vedelkan Shackles, 1x Force Spike, and 1x Riptide Laboratory. I decided in my faerie deck's build, I would run 2x Desert over 2x Mutavault in case of the mirror match, as well as 1x Time stop as I figured it could be useful. My sideboard was almost entirely geared into dredge hate, as I felt it was my only truly unfavorable matchup.

Main Deck

Creatures
4x Cloud Sprite
3x Mistbind Clique
3x Pestermite
4x Scion of Oona
4x Spellstutter Sprite
2x Vendilion Clique

Spells
4x Counterspell
3x Cryptic Command
4x Force Spike
4x Remand
1x Time Stop

Artifacts
2x Vedalken Shackles

Lands
2x Desert
18x Island
1x Mutavault
1x Riptide Laboratory

Sideboard
4x Leyline of the Void
3x Echoing Truth
2x Stivle
2x Hurkyl's Recall
4x Tormod's Crypt

0-0 (0-0)
Round 1 - Jeff w/ U/W 8-post
Game 1
He mulls down to a 6 card hand, which ends up only having 1 land. After a few round of beats on my side, he concedes.
1-0
Game 2
Between my Cloud Sprite, and his fetch + shock lands, he plummets from 20 to 13 pretty quick. He attempts to throw a Chalice of the void up for 2, but I remand it. He attempts to Condescend my Remand, and I force Spike it down. The next turn he tries it again, and it goes through. After that, he Decree of Justice's for 3 - 4/4 Angel tokens. I drop my Shackles and take one of them, and we trade men. After that he attempts to Wrath of God down the bored, which I counter with a Cryptic Command. He cycles another Decree for 11 1/1's, which he proceeds to swing into me with after I shackle his last angel token. I take 1 out with desert at end of combat, blocking another one with the angel, and letting the rest through; taking my first blood for the tournament of 10 damage. He then taps out for 2 Exaulted Angels, and I cryptic command down his men, dropping some more faeries, and swinging in for the win.

1-0 (2-0)
Round 2 Semion and R/b Goblins
Game 1
He drops down a Goblin Piledriver, and I proceed to literally counter down every other play he makes for the rest of the game, swinging over head of his piledriver for the win.
1-0

Game 2
This game goes more in his favor. And by more in his favor I mean he Cabal Therapies down most of my useful faeries, and rapes my hand of counterspells. Then using Earwig Squads (resolving 3 of them via prowl) destroys my deck of solutions. I am completely overwhelmed by his army
1-1

Game 3
The most interactive game. I counter down most of his therapies, as well as a few of his other spells. I resolve my Shackles. Rather than having me grab the piledriver he sacs it as well as his Skirk Prospector to play another spell. I shackles down his Earwig Squad, and end up keeping the rest of his board clean enough for me to swing with the Squad ftw.
2-1

2-0 (4-1)
Round 3 Spencer with Mono-Red Burn
Game 1/2/3
This is the game/match that would in my opinion, stop me from getting to Day 2 as a result of my own poor playing. One of my friends bought a burn deck of their own to the GP, and so in play testing a lot of the time it came to me out aggroing him, over countering down his burn. Not that I wouldn't counter down his burn when possible, but I would let the deck take more of an aggro course. And with this in mind the games would be pretty much, burn you / swing, take your turn. I swing back. I got so into the aggro aspect of the deck, that I forgot the more controlling aspect of the deck, and forget to desert down his Blinkmoth Land the turn it swings into me, the land netting the 3 damage overall needed to really win the one game I lost. But this match was pretty much burn/counter/aggro, with noting truly interesting going on in it. It ends 1-2 in his favor.

2-1 (5-3)
Round 4 Chris with G/w Spirit Stompy
Game 1
I quickly aggro him down with Cloud sprites, then manage to drop my land tapping Cliques several turns in a row, swinging in with them for an easy victory. It should be noted that I nearly set up a Riptide Laboratory/Mistbind Clique don't untap your lands anymore combo. Should I manage to rebuild the deck, I may consider running 2x Laboratory rather than the 1
1-0
Game 2
This Game I get completely overrun by Troll Ascetics with enchantments on them. Not fun at all. Well, it was still fun, but quite painful xD
1-1
Game 3
This game he manages to drop a Teeg, which nerfs my solution vs. a resolved Worship. I start using my Vendellion Clique + the Laboratory to search my deck for solutions at the end of each of his turns. I figure this game is probably done for me, though I manage to drop a shackles and tiff his teeg, working him down to 1 hp. To my surprise he makes the play error of attacking into me with an armadillo cloaked Troll, which I proceeded to blocking with his teeg, allowing me to bounce the worship to his hand and taking the win with fliers.
2-1

3-1 (7-4)
Round 5 Jon with G/b Rock
Game 1
My easiest matchup, and I must say I quite enjoyed playing with Jon, it was hella fun, and one of my only opponents to really make me feel like he wanted me to do well when the match was all said and done with. In anycase, game 1 basically went, me dropping faeries a plenty, and swinging overhead; countering down large threats and board wiping cards.
1-0
Game 2
Same game plan as the last game, and again with my victory.
2-0

4-1(9-4)

Round 6 Rich with R/b Goblins
Game 1
Let me say for the record, that even though goblins are winnable against, they are probably one of the toughest matchups for this deck, and at the same time, the most fun to lay against. Game 1 I keep a land with an Island, mutavault, desert, figuring I would draw into my second Island. I don't. And so my basic counterspells in hand are pretty much nerf'd. I don't put up much of a fight with my cloudsprite, and he overwhelms me with piledrivers
0-1
Game 2
This time around I have all the islands I need, not that he doesn't beat the heck out of me. I manage to counter down a good portion of his threats, and with a well timed Time-stop, manage to win the game.
1-1
Game 3
Another Game that ended in his favor, overwhelming me with a couple of resolved piledrivers, and me having no resolved shackles to deal with them. At this point I decided that if I ran the deck in another tournament, I would probably cut 2 sideboard cards for +2 Shackles.
1-2

4-2 (10-6)
Round 7 Andrew with R/g burn.
Game 1/2/3
This in my opinion is faerie's other unfavorable matchup. But unlike goblins, where it's a fun match either way, this match is no fun at all. Burn. It hurts, and really is just heart of the cards, either you have the aggro to get em down with the counters to back you up, or they have an overwhelming amount of burn. It really isn't all that fun of a match up. Scratch that, it isn't fun at all. The games end quick. This match ends up in my favor 2-1

5-2(12-7)
Round 8 Ben with U/g Tron.
Game 1
Ah yes, the match of absolute cakewalk. The match that in my playtestings, I just couldn't lose. Unfortunately I completely lost my heart of the cards in this match up, and had to mull down to 5 in every game. Game 1 ends in his favor, me not being able to counter down a mindslaver, which proceeds into locking me down.
0-1
Game 2
This time even after mulling down to 5, I manage to drop a ton of aggro. I still don't have enough counters though, but manage to stall him a couple of turns via my land tapping clique. Finally, the turn he would have gone off and taken the match win, I drop a time stop on his upkeep. A card of complete and total jank + awesomesauce, saving me for the second time this tourn.y
1-1
Game 3
A close game, but once again I have to mull down. It really was ridiculous, but I suppose these things happen. I still manage to get him down to 4 before he locks me down.
1-2
I feel it should be noted, for the record, that unless you are forced into a situation where I was, where you keep drawing no-land hands, there is no reason to lose a tron match-up.

5-3 (13-9)
Round 9 Hans with Enduring Ideal
Game 1
Although I really didn't have a reason for playing the final match, I figured maybe there would be a slight chance of a victory. I didn't expect an Enduring Ideal deck, and although I get him to 4, he gets the ideal off as I am a naab and counter some silly enchantment. The game ends in his favor
0-1
Game 2
He gets a junky hand of nothingness, and he ends up conceding this game
1-1
Game 3
The deck just can't keep pace with faeries, and I overwhelm him countering down bothersome spells.
2-1

I end 6-3 in the GP, place 222 out of 969 people. Of the matchs I lost, 2 were from poor luck (not drawing the lands I needed/mulling) and 1 was from dumb gameplay. The dumb gameplay part is a lesson learned, don't get ahead of yourself. If it wasn't for that, I am sure I would have made it into day 2. Of course at the end of Day 1, while trading, someone walked off with my deck when I wasn't looking, which really sucks as stated previously. But these things happen, Day 2 I spent trading and going about the city; managed to finish a few decks I have been working on, and all in all enjoyed my stay in Philly. I suppose better luck for me next time.