Subject: Arena report/philosophy? Date: Wed, 10 Jun 98 8:59:12 BST From: J.R.Davis@nortel.co.uk To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com ----------------------------- I'd like to tell you about my experiences in the Arena Tempest season - I know this is approacking ancient history but I've taken a while to get this all down electronically and most of what I want to say isn't only relevant to this environment. First, background; I've been playing Magic since it first came out, but I'm not a serious tournament player. I have won a few small tournaments in the past, but now I rarely enter and I much prefer playing 'social' Magic to serious competitive Magic. A few months back I'd just moved to a new town with a game shop which was running Arena, so I thought I'd join for the first time. This was for the Tempest Arena season (constructed extended) and I decided to try something a bit different. I wanted something which was fun to play, and I wanted to try to stick with a single deck through the season (with minor tuning between matches). I wanted a deck which was flexible and with plenty of variety, so I wouldn't get bored playing it. Also, I wanted it to be tricky to pre-sideboard against, as local people would get to know what I was playing as I was sticking to the same deck. I also wanted something which was not too grim to play against (so I could find willing opponents among the less experienced players). The local play standard is pretty variable, and I didn't want something so powerful that I would crush the weaker players without a chance. I had no intention of trying to win the Arena, just to have some fun and get to know the local players. After careful thought, I decided to play a version of an existing theme deck, 'babes'. This is a highlander (no more than one of any card picture) deck where each non-land card features a woman or women prominently. (Please note: I'm using 'babes' in a complimentary sense, cf. 'hunk'; if this annoys/offends anyone I'm happy to discuss over email, and if I get enough negative feedback I'll change the name). I'm not going to list the deck as the contents evolde over time, but it's basically a green/white deck with a splash of red and blue, featuring a high mana count and a core of about 10 5-6-cost creatures. The rest of the deck is small creatures and general-purpose spells. Currently the deck sits at 67 cards but this fluctuates. The deck is rather slow to start and short of creature removal, but is otherwise pretty solid for a theme deck. Suprisingly, I lost no games to mana problems despite playing with four colours and no true (third edition) multilands. The season was a lot of fun. My deck played much better than expected and I was lucky. Most of the games were pretty close and several were really memorable. The deck has achieved some local infamy and sparked the interest of several local players who are considering theme decks of their own. I'm certainly glad I didn't go for the unfriendly speed/burn or pox/discard decks I was considering! So... do you ever play highlander theme decks? If not, give them a try... a lot of fun and more competitive than you might think... and they're really good for practicing your playing skills with unusual combinations of cards! When you play a Highlander deck over many games, the cards gradually accumulate history, which is great fun. Now when I draw the Shadowbane I think "this was the card which won me that incredible game against the crypt rat" (see match 4 below). Of course, this makes it really hard to take cards out as it feels like I'm taking a friend out of the team :-) Match 1: Green/White big creature beatdown deck My first opponent was inexperienced, and has a deck of medium-large green creatures (ernhams, armadons, nettletooths etc) with white for spell support (disenchant, etc). Game 1 - he gets out a couple of big creatures and hits me pretty hard until I get out a Serra Angel with Divine Transformation, which stops him attacking. He has no fliers out and fails to draw anything to save himself and three turns later it's all over. Game 2 - I take some early damage and then get out Rubina Soulsinger and he has no answer. I start stealing his creatures and attacking with them. A lot of his creatures die and eventually I win. I suspect his deck doesn't have enough creature removal. Match 2: Mono-blue merfolk deck This deck was a mix of creature swarm with permission and war barge for creature control with merfolk assassin and saphire charm. Game 1: He doesn't get above 2 land until it's all too late. Game 2: He gets too much land and none of his tricks, and my creatures are just bigger than his. Result: 2-0. Match 3: Mono-black discard/land destruction Game 1: I get out an early Elvish Ranger with Divine Transformation and a Order of the White Shield. He kills some land and makes me discard cards but gets no creature removal and I hammer him to death. Game 2: He Coercions, Hymns, I get out a couple of creatures, he Perishes them away. Ouch. I get out a couple more creatures and attack while he draws land. He finally gets out a Demonic Horde but it can't block my Order of the White Shield and it's 2-0. Match 4: Black/White This is a highly defensive control deck, played by a young player who played pretty well and made only one obviouse mistake. Game 1: He gets out a Wall of Essence, 3 walls of swords, a crypt rat, multiple Benevolent Unicorns, two puppet strings. He disenchants or StPs all my threats but cant seem to draw anything to damage me. He gets out a cursed land but I disenchant it, then gets out a Spirit en-Kor which I can't stop. I spirit link it but he disenchants. Things are looking grim - I can't think of anything in my deck which can get through his defenses. The game has gone on a long time and we are running short of time and the game has attracted quite an audience. He pounds my for two a turn down to 5 life then makes his first (and last) bad mistake. He gets cocky and crypt rats me for 5 to win (as he's still on 23 life)... and I Shadowbane. Everything dies except his Spirit and my Order of the White Shield. I throw out a couple more creatures and kill his Spirit and Mishras Factory with an Unyaro bee sting and a StP. I'm hitting him for damage but his Puppet Strings are slowing me down. He gets out another Spirit en-Kor but I draw an Uktabi Faerie and blow away a Puppet Strings and win. He can't believe he's lost. I can't believe I won. We run out of time so I take the match. Match 5: Slivers; A fast creature-heavy 5-colour Sliver deck. Game 1: I kill his first muscle sliver but he gets out a swarm of six flying Slivers and pounds me without mercy. Orim, Samite healer buys me some time and I draw the Karpusian Forest I desperately need to cast a Pyrotechnics to burn away 4 1/1 slivers. The remaining walking slivers can't get past my Orim and an Icatian Phalanx. I draw my Stormbind and just burn away every Sliver he plays. He gets out a Diamond Kaleidoscope which slows me down but I keep attacking and eventually win. Game 2: His start is slower (mana problems) and I get a turn 3 Stormbind. I draw mostly land but that's enough to Stormbind away any Slivers he plays. I hammer him with a Mishra's Factory and a Benalish Hero. By the time he draws a Crystaline Sliver it's too late and I Stormbind him to death. Out of the 21 cards I drew in this game, 14 were land and 1 was a Harrow. I hate to think how it might have gone without the Stormbind. Card of the match! Match 6: Another (similar) fast Sliver deck. Uh-oh. Pray for that Stormbind... Game 1: He hits me for a few turns until I can get out a Folk of the Pines and Kaysa. He gets out a Clot Sliver and atempts to swarm me but I Abeyance and kill the Clot Sliver. Then I get out an Archangel and he stops attacking. His deck dries up and four turns later it's all over. Game 2: I mulligan but draw an OK hand second time around. Again the slivers pour out hammer me fast. I get out an Elf and a Spirit Mirror but no fliers until a turn 5 Storm Spirit. He hammers me down to 6 life and attacks with a Heart Sliver, Winged Sliver, Clot Sliver, and two Spined Slivers. I Abeyance and shoot the Winged Sliver with my Storm Spirit, allowing me to block the others. I kill the Clot Sliver and take 3 damage but I'm still in the game. I get out an Autumn Willow and an Elvish Bard and start to hit back. He gets out a few more Slivers but my Elvish Bard and Storm Spirit keep them under control. He gains 12 from two Victual Slivers but doesn't draw anything to deal the 3 points of damage he needs to kill me off so I eventually win. Match 7: Weak mono-green deck, inexperienced player. Game 1: I catch a beating from a turn 1 Rogue Elephant, but once I get Orim out and some defences up he can't get through to finish me off. An Archangel wins it for me. Game 2: I have some mana problems at the start, but manage to Spirit Link his Rogue Elephant and he fails to draw anything very useful and I have time to recover. I get out Rubina Soulsinger and a Divinely Transformed Icatian Phalanx and it's all over. Match 8: Weak green/black deck. Game 1: He double-mulligans and discards some stuff, I get out a few creatures and win before he can recover. I sideboard in nothing for the first time ever with this deck, as all my anti-black stuff is standard. Game 2: I have mana problems but his deck plays slowly too and he seems to draw only his defensive stuff. He gets out a rod of ruin which I disenchant. I get out a few small creatures and deal some damage but take pain from his wall of souls. We both trade off some small creatures and I wear both our life totals down. He gets out another rod of ruin which kills a couple of Elves which stops my attacking. He's down to 7 but I'm not much better off and I'm taking damage every turn from the Rod. He gets out a second Rod of ruin and things are looking grim but but I drew a Storm Spirit. I attack and finish him off with a Pyrotechnics. Match 9: Blue Control This was a fairly nasty deck featuring Phantom Warriors, Sage Owls, Man-o-Wars, Thalakos Seers, Vodalian Illusionists, Undos, 4 Soul Barriers and a bunch of counterspells. Game 1: A long game... I don't remember much of the detail but there was an epic duel between Rubina and an Illusionist at one point. I won in the end but I was down to about 4 life. Game 2: He draws a lot of creatures and Soul Barriers and not much else. I get out an Order of the White Shield and a Spirit Mirror and he can't deal with them. He blocks for a while but I get out a Stormbind and throw 6 cards to kill him. I stopped taking notes past this point, but up to here I has still not lost a game. I did drop some games after this but I still went on to win the season, much to my amazement! -- John Davis | Passport MSA, Magellan Development Europe jrd@nortel.co.uk | Nortel, London Road, Harlow, UK ESN: 742-3618 | http://47.131.128.110/