Subject: Tourney Report Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 11:04:06 EDT From: MagicAndy1 To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Tourney Report for Fish Author's Name: Andrew Steingrube Deck's Name: Fish, Men in Blue Format: Type 2 (NorCal Regionals) So I wake up Saturday morning at about 6:15 AM. The tourney is at Match Play, err... Neutral Ground and it is the NorCal Regionals. I decided to use Fish because it was fast and controlling. It has speed against speed decks and control against control decks. I think it is versatile and can play with any deck. I make a Sideboard and go over to my friend, J's (Yes, his name is like the letter, "J") house 'cause he is giving me a ride. He is playing some 5C Wierdness with no basic lands and critters to hose certain decks. Anyways, we get their, we pay our fee. And then it happens, I see Brian Weissman (He was playing Bloom, btw). Wow. That was cool. I wanted to play him, but never got paired up with him. So anyway, the tourney starts. It is 8 rounds of Swiss. Oh, yeah, here is the deck: "Fish, Men in Blue" 16x Island 4x Quicksand 4x Manta Rider 4x Tidal Warrior 4x Merfolk Traders 4x Lord of Atlantis 4x Man-o'-War 4x Vodalian Illusionist 3x Waterspout Djinn 4x Unstable Mutation 4x Counterspell 4x Mana Leak 1x Scalding Tongs SB (Sideboard): 4x Chill 4x Propaganda 3x Phyrexian Furnace 2x Energy Flux 2x Rootwater Hunter Onto the tourney: Round 1: Wayne Allen, Mono-Blue with Steel Golems. Game 1: I play first and manage to get an unstably mutated Illusionist which beats him to about 5 or 6. Then he drops a Golem and already has 2 Stalking Stones down. He begins to pound me, leaving 1 or 2 critters to block. I think I'm in for it... but... I topdeck an Unstable Mutation and then Lord of Atlantis for the win. Game 2: I don't really remember this one but I think an unstably mutated fish does most of the damage and Waterspout finishes him off. M: 1-0 G: 2-0 Round 2: David Lewis, Cursed Sligh. Game 1: He starts off fast, too fast for my wimpy little fish. Two Ball Lightnings do me in. But not to fear, I am prepared for Sligh. In go the 4 Chills and 4 Props. Game 2: I drop a 2nd turn Chill and later a Propaganda, he has a ton of land out though. 2 Lancers spank me around a little bit and he roasts whatever threats I put down, like ohh, say a Spouter. Eventually I die. I lost to Sligh, this is not supposed to happen. Un@#$%$&%Believable! M: 1-1 G:2-2 Round 3: Brian something, WW Game 1: The damage race is even until he drops 2 White Knights. He also did something weird in the early game. He Wrathed when he had an Armored Priest on the table. Anyway, he wins. Game 2: In go the Props and Hunters. I go first: Island, Manta Rider. Him: Plains, go. Me: Island, 2 Unstable Mutations on my Rider, attack. That is a good thing. He manages to Disenchant one of them. But my Men in Blue, finish him off. Game 3: I get a God draw. Tidal Warrior 1st turn. Lord 2nd turn. Man-o'-War Armored creature third turn. Rootwater Hunter and Manta Rider 4th turn. They serve for the win. Brain was a really cool guy though, and to play against. Thanx Brian. M: 2-1 G: 4-3 Round 4: Thomas Rushing, Cursed Sligh. Game 1: Another good old-fashioned Sligh kill. In go Chills and Props. Game 2: I manage to win this one, I totally forget how though. Game 3: He is chillin' with 2 Chills and he still wins! I think my mistake against Sligh was sideboarding out too much of my offense. Well, whatever... I figure I can make top 16 if I go 6-2 and get a prize, so it is ok, but I'm pissed. M: 2-2 G: 5-5 Round 5: I forget his name, Humility Prayer. Game 1: I get some early fish and manage to get a Spout through his defense. I win. Game 2: A 4th turn Spout goes all the way. M: 3-2 G: 7-5 Round 6: William something, Vineyard Stompy. Game 1: First turn Vineyard is not good. I usually have nothing to put the mana into. He casts Walls and Wildebeests up the Ying-Yang and I lose. Game 2: He Parises and still gets mana-screwed. A Waterspout and some other fishies go all the way. Game 3: Another Vineyard and more critters. But I know if I can get Spout he has no way of dealing with it. I topdeck one and cast it. It hits him a few times, but then he empties his hand, he has a Scroll on the table, and then drops an Ensnaring Bridge. Crap. That is game. M: 3-3 G: 8-7 I think about dropping cuase I'm in like 46th place... but I decide to go one more round. Round 7: Neeme something, like 3CW or something. Game 1: I forget, but I die. I really don't care. I'm trading and stuff, cause even if I won I wouldn't get a prize. Oh wait, yeah he Armored a Priest, and I couldn't get to 3 land to MoW it. Game 2: Same as Game 1, 'cept he Armors a Tradewind, which I could have Countered, but oh well. M: 3-4 G: 8-9 So, I dropped. It was late. One thing is very, very, very clear to me now... Cursed Scroll annihilates blue. Just wastes it. That is why I lost to Sligh two times. If I was to use Fish again, I think I'd use Worbs or Scrolls and chuck the Illusionists and Traders. The Traders screwed me more then they helped. Something else annoying was the attitude of the tournament. One guy is cussing out of the Head Judge because he mis-registered his SB, so they took it away. Another guy was crying when the judge ruled on the life-totals, which lost him the game. I heard several reports of cheaters. They need to really come down hard on cheaters. It ruins the game. Well, that is about it. Suggestions and comments can be sent to MagicAndy1@aol.com And if you just wanna talk about decks and stuff you can write me too. I want to thank all my opponents for being cool, I had a good time. L8R. -Andy