pre-tourney remarks (skip this part - its long-winded and pointless):

I built this Keeper version before vacations, in July, and haven't tested it in tourneys before. So I was really eager to see how it would perform. When finally the day of the tourney arrived I had some stress before: In the morning I was with my children, trying to practize my diabolo routine, at noon I had to leave to attend the farewell party of my colleague sitting next to me at university (which I did for 15 minutes) and then I had a gig at the city club of Vienna (juggling with 2 diabolos, my favourite hobby). Unfortunately, the Siemens-people talked more than 1 hour longer than expected, so I was afraid of coming late to the tourney (it would start at 16:30) - but KPFV told me they'll wait till 16:45 and the organizers of the Siemens event said they'll get me a taxi and I'll be the first after the speeches. Everything goes well, audience cheers and my adrenaline goes berserk. However, I have 45 minutes to chill out in the taxi (still with my juggling costume) and at 16:44 the taxi parks close to the shop. I enter just in time and even find some minutes to change my clothes. Adrenaline is still high...

the tourney:

1. Counter-Oath

I am immediately paired against quite a good player, but the magic gods see my adrenaline level and give me 3 Wastelands, a Mox, an Ancestral, a Regrowth and a Mana Drain. Since I know that this guy is unlikely to play Pox or Sligh I keep. I see a Tropical and Waste 3 times in a row. A Gaeas Blessing on his side resolves after my Ancestral. I find another Waste and a Strip, FoF twice, Seal his Sylvan and Regrow my YagWill (from a previous 4-1 FoF split with Moxen, Land and TimeWalk and the YagWill on the other side) into concession. I haven't seen much of his deck, but suspect Counter-Oath (I mean: Tropical? Blessing? Sylvan?).

Out: 1 Morphling, 1 Masticore, 1 Edict, 1 Zorb, 1 Abyss, 1 Keg
In: 4 REB, 1 Tormod's Crypt, 1 Timetwister

I have a normal hand, but he kills me with Factories (I cannot find Wastelands in time) and Sylvan.

No SB changes.

He starts with UG painland and the magic gods have still mercy with my adrenaline: After a 1 land mulligan I kept Tundra, 2 Moxen, Timetwister, FoW, Mana Leak and topdeck a Tormod's Crypt. I Twister (there's even no need for FoW-backup) and have some board advantage. However, on his side a Sylvan resolves. He draws himself down to 4 lifes quickly, but before things become uncontrollable I have the chance to FoF. So parity is restored. A few turns later I out-FoF him and Morphling finishes him in 1 turn.

1-0-0 in matches, 2-1-0 in games

2. Pox

I am almost back to normal now, but having to face Pox in the hands of our local Pox hero is not an easy task. Since I am physicist I am not superstitious, but the magic gods feal my fear and punish me (after having lost the die roll) with a 1 land hand containing both Morphlings, YagWill, Regrowth and no FoW - after parising I have a deja-vu (though only 1 Morphling this time) and quickly go down to 5. While I am figuring out the chances of drawing Lotus/Balance in a 2 card-hand I look at my third hand: 1 Wasteland, 1 Ancestral, 1 FoW, 1 Mana Leak, 1 Morphling. Well, if I am to loose I might as well loose quickly, so I keep - at least I have FoW now and Ancestral could be good, if I only would find U soon.
But Pox shows mercy: No Dark Ritual, no Duress - just Swamp and pass. So I draw my Mox Sapphire! I play it and Ancestral into Underground Sea, Mox Emerald and Abyss - I recognize that I am online again and play the Sea and the Mox. I Mana Leak his Hymmn (first blood to Mana Leak!) and drop The Abyss - no Hyppies, no Negators. I feel a certain relief. He fights back with Factories and Cursed Scroll, but I am able to Mindtwist him completely, Waste his Factory and Keg the Scroll in time (with healthy 8 lives). Some FoFs later I play Morphling and counter his Edict and soon we move to game 2.

Out: 1 Regrowth, 1 Masticore, 2 Mana Drain, 1 Duress
In: 1 Spiritual Focus, 1 COP: Black, 1 Control Magic, 1 Timetwister, 1 Enlightened Tutor

Pox seems ill today - he passes after playing a Swamp. Where are the Ritual, Duress, Hymmn hands I am used to? I play first turn COP with Tundra/Mox. He Hymmns me. Some turns later it doesn't look very good for me: he has 2 Racks, 1 Factory and 1 Cursed Scroll. I have only 1 card, but it's a FoF and I have again Abyss in play. I draw the 3 pile with Seal, Land and Mox. But I draw a Vampiric. He plays Demonic during his turn and attacks. I Vamp for TimeTwister, take 2 Rack damage and having emptied my hand I Twister. I drop a Spiritual focus. He plays another Factory, attacks and plays Demonic. I draw my YagWill, think a bit, and then drop Keg, Zorb, Seal of Cleansing and YagWill into Twister. During his turn he attacks and plays Demonic Tutor for the third time!
But I am in control now: I have Abyss, Keg, Spiritual Focus, Seal, COP and Zorb. I Waste his Factories and make a playing error later on, when I intend to Control his Steel Golem but forget his Keg with 3 counters. Well, actually it doesn't matter so much - after Kegging his Scrolls (on 2 lives), Sealing his Keg with 5 counters and countering his Disk (this was his last hope) he looks at my graveyard and my removed pile (Twister, Morphling), asks me if I have another Morphling in the deck and concedes after my affirmative answer.

2-0-0 in matches, 4-1-0 in games

3. mono-B

It is neither Pox, nor NetherVoid, nor Suicide, but still very good - I mean, ANY deck with 4 of Duress, Ritual, Hymmn, Negator, Hyppie and broken cards like Necro, YagWill and the Tutors, supplemented by Edicts cannot be really bad against control. First game is very close, but I misplay my Keg and loose therefore: Although having an Abyss in hand I set the Keg to 3 counters. With Abyss on board his creatures are useless, but he has Factory and Cursed Scroll. I die just 1 turn too early. My fault. Black is known for punishing errors, after all...

Out: 1 Regrowth, 2 Mana Drain, 1 Duress, 1 Mindtwist, 1 Masticore
In: 1 Keg, 1 Spiritual Focus, 1 COP: Black, 1 Control Magic, 1 Timetwister, 1 Enlightened Tutor

I start and FoF him to death. Silver bullets don't show up, but are not needed anyhow. I play an early Morphling and kill him soon.

No SB changes.

Ha! After beating Sylvan Library on board and Pox after a double Mulligan with only 1 Land I feel like I could beat even Necro... Well, he gives me a chance and plays a third turn Necro (after I have countered his second turn Ritual/Negator with MANA LEAK!). But I have an active Library after an Ancestral. Fortunately for me he misplays his Vamp (he does NOT go for Stripmine to kill LoA), so we have some card parity. I cripple a bit his mana base by Wasting his Factories and Stripping 1 Swamp so he is slowed down and forced to draw down to 7 lives, before he can actually play a Scuta with Kicker (down to 4 lives). He has 3 cards left in hand and I have only 2, one of them being Timetwister. I don't know what to do - IF I draw an answer within 4 turns it is best not to Twister and let him starve with Necro on board. But if I don't...? So I Twister and play Spiritual Focus. A few turns later I am the happy controller of a Scuta (with 8 lives left) and all I have to do is to counter his Edict.

3-0-0 in matches, 6-2-0 in games

4. Keeper (essentially the finals)

The mirror match! I loose the die roll and get a 1 Land hand with expensive stuff. My 6 card hand looks like this: Zorb, Lotus, Balance, FoF, Mana Leak, Mystical. I think "If he has no FoW I can balance down to 3 or 4 cards and maybe I topdeck a land..." but this is shaky as hell. So I mulligan down to 5. I have to keep a 1 land/1 Mox hand, but I am not very happy. It turns out, his hand is not so good either. But unfortunately, I misplay my crucial turn (obviously still under the impression of my double Mulligan): He is tapped out and has the whole Jewelery, some lands, a Zorb and more cards in hand. But I have Keg, Balance, FoW and a blue card. I should have Kegged first, and Balanced then, but I did it the other way round. Even worse, in response to the Balance he sacs all lands and I could have countered my own Balance - but I did not think at that time. So after the Balance and the Keg we have board and card parity. He topdecks the first playable FoF and a few turn later I concede. Unfortunately, we have only 10 minutes left. Unfortunately, I am not a good Magic player anymore, that is, I play good if I have time, but I am not used to play under stress anymore...

Out: 1 Abyss, 1 Zorb, 1 Edict, 1 Keg, 1 Seal, 1 whatever (I was in such a rush - maybe it was Balance)
In: 1 Masticore (only 10 minutes left!), 4 REB, 1 BEB (against REB, they are fast)

I should have won the second game - my REBs and FoFs wreak havoc,
but I was playing in such a rush, that I did not counter his Teferi's response on a Wasteland despite of having 3 (!) Mana Drains and 6 open mana. Instead I played Morphling, he Mindtwists me and I am dead even before the 10 minutes are over.

We play a couple of matches afterwards with a more balanced result (though pre-sideboarded his deck is better in the mirror, because he has D-Blow and Stroke and no dead Masticore)

3-1-0 in matches, 6-4-0 in games

5. Pox

I don't remember much of the first game - I was still under the impression of the recent game. But I won somehow with an early Morphling, I think.

In/Out: The same as against previous Pox

He makes an early error: He plays a Keg, but does not kill my Emerald immediately. This gives me (together with the Mox I draw) 4 mana second turn for Abyss. This is (again) practically game for me. Some turns later I win. I just remember that (again) the instant Tutors were gold against Pox - Mystical or Vamp in response to Hymmn is sooo good!

Final score: 4-1-0 in matches, 8-4-0 in games

KPFV wins the tourney and I finish second. I prefer store credit over foil Quirion Ranger (sorry Andrew and Sylvester )

It is great to see two Keeper decks among the top 2 and not those lousy Forbiddian/Pox/Sligh decks that usually occupie them

Here my deck list:

Big Blue's Keeper (with comments):

Mana (28):
1 Undiscovered Paradise (no comment this time, it was still as great as expected and saved me at least in 2 games (once for a REB and once for The Abyss)
4 COB
4 Underground
3 Tundra
2 Vulcanic
1 Academy (this will become a Vulcanic next time!)
1 LoA
1 Strip
4 Waste (with all those Factories even great against Pox, Fobiddian or Sligh!)
7 SoLoMoxen

Counter (10):
4 FoW
4 Mana Drain
2 Mana Leak (they were EXCELLENT - better than Mana Drain - I am almost tempted to swap one Drain for a third Leak)

Draw (5):
4 FoF (I was very content with my replacement Stroke -> 4th FoF)
1 Ancestral

Kill (3):
2 Morphling
1 Masticore (I did not want to loose first game against Sligh or Stompy - and these decks WERE around - but against Pox and control this card is obviously horrible - I will change it maybe to a Gorilla Shaman (sorry, Mako ))

Defense (6):
1 Edict
1 Balance
1 Keg (great, great, great - this will stay DEFINITELY; though I even did not encounter Sligh or Stompy, this card was excellent against Pox and a Mox-Balance against Keeper)
1 Abyss
1 Seal of Cleansing (as I noted in the Keeper Kernel about it, this card is great against Pox - I would have lost at least 3 games if this would have been a D-Blow)
1 Balance

Search (3):
1 Mystical (IMO the best - blue and gets you almost everything at instant speed - svaed me often against Pox)
1 Vampiric (the second best - B is sometimes a problem and 2 lifes hurt sometimes, but still, instant speed kills!)
1 Demonic
0 Merchant Scroll (horrible against Pox - you Scroll, they Duress; but at least it's FoW-food)

Brokenness (5):
1 Duress (it is so good to see the hand of another control player...)
1 Mindtwist
1 YagWill
1 Time Walk
1 Regrowth (I think, good ol' Regrowth will soon be replaced by good ol' Timetwister and go to the SB or leave completely - farewell, Green )

SB (15):
4 REB (great, but sometimes I had problems with Vulcanics, or rather the lack of them)
2 BEB (since I had to face no Sligh deck, I can say little about this - in BBS it was always great)
1 Keg (have I mentioned how great this card is?)
1 Masticore (this is your slot - SB, but not MD!)
1 Control Magic (I like it - great against Pox and Forbiddian)
1 Tormods Crypt (excellent against Keeper - since Keeper is a slow combo deck with YagWill as combo and this card wrecks that combo it is your life insurance - and with Twister it has nice synergy)
1 Timetwister (will be promoted to Regrowth's MD slot again)
1 Spiritual Focus (Pox Paranoia; maybe it is not needed - but I was very happy with it)
1 COP: Black
1 COP: Red
1 Enlightened (thanks to Matt for this tech)

So in summary, the Mana Leaks were the heroes of the day - I think, every Keeper player playing Mis-D and/or Counterspell should seriously consider (at least) 2 Mana Leaks in those slots.

Since I saw also KPFV in action I am seriously considering Fire/Ice - this card is really excellent! (You can read more about it in his report...).

Masticore will be banished to 1 SB slot and Gorilla Shaman is likely to enter MD.