Subject: Tourney Report missing? (last try) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 98 9:14:51 MDT From: Steve Kovach To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com ------ Well, I finally won my first tournament! Saturday, a local store was having a small (10 people) Tempest-Stronghold constructed tournament. I put together the following deck with help from other members of Team MVP (Mountain View Presbyterian). ************************************** * Tempest/Stronghold "Cursed Bridge" * ************************************** Blue (19) ========= 4 Wall of Tears (ST) 4 Rootwater Hunter (TM) 3 Propaganda (TM) 4 Counterspell (TM) 2 Power Sink (TM) 2 Mana Leak (ST) White (7) ========= 4 Wall of Essence (ST) 3 Disenchant (TM) Artifacts (12) ============== 4 Cursed Scroll (TM) 2 Ensnaring Bridge (ST) 2 Watchdog (TM) 2 Scalding Tongs (TM) 2 Bottle Gnomes (TM) Land (22) ========= 13 Island 5 Plains 2 Thalakos Lowlands (TM) 2 Reflecting Pool (TM) Sideboard (15) ============== 2 Chill (TM) 2 Rebound (ST) 2 Mana Leak (ST) 2 Volrath's Curse (TM) 1 Disenchant (TM) 2 Hanna's Custody (TM) 2 Watchdog (TM) 2 Scalding Tongs (TM) Jim Fox, Mark Carlson and I showed up and found out that our competition would be comprised of mostly teenagers. We would also find out that these teenagers have a lot more time to dedicate to magic than we older people with families! Anyhow, on to the first round. Round 1 - Lance (18ish) playing WW with en-Kors, decoys, shadow This was my first match with this deck and it took a long time. I believe he had me 20-1 in the first game, but I managed to stop the bleeding and commence with scroll damage. I win the first game 1-0! I didn't write down exactly what I sided in, but I know the 2 Volrath's Curses went in. The second game started about the same. I was facing 24-1 (thanks to a Staunch Defender), but managed to pull out another 1-0 win! What a match. It took almost all of the hour, and all of the other matches were waiting for us. Record: 1-0, 2-0 Round 2 - Cory, Lance's brother (11 years old) playing Red burn He burns me badly in the first game. My opening hand looked good enough to decline a Paris mulligan, but it took a few turns to get my third land and that really hurt. For the second game, I sided in the chills, rebounds, volrath's curses (for fanatics and sandstone warriors), and 1 watchdog. I can't remember my reasoning for the extra Watchdog, but somehow it seemed to make sense at the time. I also didn't write down what I took out. I'd guess some of the walls, bridges, something. Well, I manage to hold him off with some counters for a while. I then make a stupid mistake late. He attacks with a Sandstone Warrior and a Mogg Fanatic. I kill the warrior with a scroll and Tim, instead of blocking it with my Wall of Essence! So, he gets me within Lightning Blast range and finishes me off. At least the match was fast! Record: 1-1, 2-2 Round 3 - Travis (15ish) playing WU flying with counters & capsize In this match the scrolls proved to be too much for Travis to deal with. For the second game, I sided in the Hanna's Custodys, and 2 more Watchdogs. I draw my hand and see a two lands and a scroll. I keep my hand and don't draw a third land for some time. I get beatdown by Warrior Angels and Avenging Angels. In the third game, my opponent decides to not draw any blue mana and that really hurts him. I scroll him to death. BTW, I had to convince (I don't think he was really convinced) that (1) removing the target of a capsize make the capsize fizzle and go to the graveyard and not his hand, and (2) decoying my tim in response to me activating it doesn't stop my tim from pinging him! This added to Travis' frustration. Record: 2-1, 4-3 Round 4 - Zeb (15ish) playing GR Spikes I dominated this match. The scrolls and Tims were too much for him to handle. My bridges didn't even show up! I think the game scores were 16-0 and 20-0! My walls came out fast enough to stop all of his threats. Record: 3-1, 6-3 Round 5 - Andy (15ish) playing WW Andy took another deck and stripped it down to play in this TM-ST format. The deck just wasn't that good. How did he get this far? I was a little suspicious of scouting when he dropped a second turn CoP: Blue, but then felt better when he dropped a CoP: Red two turns later. Anyhow, I destroyed him with scrolls and tongs. Record: 4-1, 8-3. OK, the swiss portion is done for me. Lance is playing Chase who is undefeated going into the final round. If Chase wins a single game, he outscores Lance and me. Lance, however, sweeps Chase. We're then informed that the only tie-breaker used is head-to-head. I've beaten Lance 2-0, Lance beat Chase 2-0, so Chase and I need to play to settle things. If he beats me, we play round robin again (which none of us wanted to do). Playoff - Chase (14ish) playing CounterBurn Chase faces two games of mana screw. That's gotta hurt. First to third because of two mana screws. Anyhow, I sided in everything but the two Volrath's Curses. I took out the 8 walls, 2 bridges, and 3 propagandas. The second game opened with Chase laying Island, Scroll. I hadn't drawn a scroll, yet, so I couldn't match it. I played my land and let him go. He plays a second island and is done. I draw a scroll, but hesitate to play it knowing how many counters he has in his deck. He sits on two islands for several turns (discarding dismisses and such), while I continue to lay lands, sitting on my scroll and disenchant. He finally, plays a third island and drops propaganda. I disenchant his scroll and lay my own the next turn, while he was tapped out! I, then, beat on him with my artifacts and tims. He finally draws some red mana and tries to burn me, but it's too late. Record: 5-1, 10-3 I win the top prize of $30 in store credit. I used it on 10 packs of Stronghold and pulled some cool black--Volrath's Stronghold, Gravepact, etc. Lance finished second and received a Mox Diamond. Third (Chase) through fifth received: t-shirt, magazine, magazine. Final thoughts: I'm pleased that I was able to come up with a deck, put it together, and lead it to victory in a tournament. Being primarily a limited environment player, this was a good change of pace. I might have to find time to devote to more of this. (Just don't tell my wife and kids!) Props: * MVP Team members (Jim Fox, Gary O'Brien, Mark Carlson, Mike Kingdom) for helping me come up with the right cards to put in my deck * Randy White for challenging me to build a deck around the bridge. * Mike Kingdom for suggesting the use of Volrath's Curse in the sideboard. * Randy (Game Castle) for running the tournament. * Lance for being the coolest opponent, even after getting me to one life point twice. Slops: * Me for making such a scrub-mistake in my sceond match. * Jim Fox for playing a deck that happened to beat my deck once, instead of playing the more solid deck. * The guy who left the tournament after the first round after finding out that he couldn't replace his illegal sideboard (main deck too?) card with legal ones. Steve Kovach, aka Vach Team MVP