Local Extended Tourney

It was April 5th, 1998 and Collector's World in Pittsburgh, PA had a sanctioned Extended format tourney. A little over 20 people showed. Five rounds of Swiss with single-elimination Final 8. $8 entry for a box of Stronghold for first place and $10 store credit for second. NOT Paris mulligan.

Mandatory Background

I didn't oversleep, get lost, or rebuild my deck at 2:00 in the morning the night before. In fact, what I did the night before is watch my undergraduate alma mater, the University of Michigan, win the NCAA National Championship in ice hockey in a thrilling overtime game--I didn't think about Magic at all. So there.

I played a variation of my "Damage Machine" gun deck, which looks even more like PT Jank than the original (listing is below). I did, however, not write down names or anything so the report will be sketchy in places--lots of places.

Swiss Rounds

Round 1

Chris, playing a WW-ish deck.

Game 1: His was similar to mine, WW with bolts and some blue. As I've discovered, one of the things WW can't deal with very well is the Wildfire Emissary. I dropped one on turn 4 and another on turn 5. He did get a Frenetic down on Turn 3, but eventually he had to chump block with it and lost the flip the second time and the Wildfires walked all over him.

Game 2: Got a Cursed Scroll down early and scrolled a lot of his weenies. He got an Emissary of his own down, but I was ready. I dropped a Serrated Arrows from the sideboard, then shot it twice and Scrolled it. That was the bulk of his offense for that game, and I weathered the two hits and held on for the win.

Matches 1-0, games 2-0.

Round 2

Another Mike, playing B/R Necro/burn.

Game 1: Horrible 1-land draw, but with no Paris, I had to take it. Fun. Everything I drop that isn't Pro Red gets burned, and the one Priest I get out gets Soul Burned. I finally die to a large Fireball.

Game 2: I get a decent draw and apply with various weenies and a Wildfire. I get a Bombardment out, so when he takes out weenies with Bolts, he at least takes some damage, and it keep him from using the Necro effectively. Play of the game was him trying to Drain a Wildfire that was beating him up and me Passaging it--no, you don't gain life. Take 4 more.

Game 3: Another fun and exciting one-land draw. Lots of red cards in hand, couldn't get a Plateau, Mountain, or Tithe to save my life. He's beating me into the ground with Factories, and all I can do is chump with Outpost tokens. When I finally did get something small going with White, he Disked. I never really recoverd.

Matches 1-1, games 3-2.

Round 3

Can't remember his name, playing pretty much straight Steel Necro with Hymns and Lakes.

Game 1: I got a solid draw, and go Lion, White Knight, and then Lancer before he's done much of anything. He never really recovers.

Game 2: I again get an early rush. He slows me a little, but I have the answers: Disenchant for the Disk, Wasteland for the Lake. At one point he Contagioned both a Lion and a Priest, though I had a Bombardment out. Bolting yourself when playing Necro has to suck. I think I got a Karma out at some point and it was over soon after.

Matches 2-1, games 5-2.

Round 4

Jim, playing R/W/U with Priests, Control Magic, Man-o-War, Wildfire, Wall of Heat, Plows, that kind of thing.

Game 1: I get a mediocre draw and he Wastes a couple of my duals, then Plows a Priest, drops the Wall of Heat, which I can't get through with White Knights. Finishes me off with a Scroll.

Game 2: His turn to get a bad draw: Two Volcanic Islands and a Tithe, but no source of White. I get the early beatdown going and get Wastelands to keep his White in check.

Game 3: I get a great draw: Two Priests, two Plains, one Warbeast, one Wastland, and a Tithe. His draw is less good, and when I get a Bombardment and a Wildfire out it's pretty much over. He was pretty much mana-screwed in both these last two games.

Matches 3-1, games 7-3.

Round 5

Can't remember his name. We were both 3-1 and pretty much guaranteed to make the final 8 if we drew, which we did. We played for fun and I rolled him three times--yet another dude playing Necro.

Matches 3-1-1, games 7-3.

Elimination Rounds

Quarterfinals

Mike, from round 2, the Necro/Burn.

Game 1: I get a draw from hell--two Wastelands and an Undiscovered. Fortunately, he had a bad start as well. I don't remember much, other than him tapping out to Fireball an Emissary and me Passaging it. Passage is awesome--you fail to remove the dude that's wrecking you, and you take 4.

Game 2: Cursed Scroll abuse. We managed to keep the board pretty clear on both sides and had empty hands. I drew a Scroll. The next many turns were: Draw a land, scroll for it, play it. I scrolled a couple Nekrataals along the way, but ultimately did most of the damage to him with the Scroll. It's such a dumb card, but it's so hard not to play them when they win you games.

Matches 4-1-1, games 9-3.

Semifinals

The Necro deck that I drew with in Round 5. Packed with Edicts and such.

Game 1: I don't remember this game particularly well other than that I won it. The reason I don't remember this one is that the next two were so much more memorable.

Game 2: I get out a few dudes, but he managed to get a Disk through. I go into lunatic Cursed Scroll mode again, but he drops two Lakes. Bad. I keep scrolling, and then he hits me with--ready? Lake, Lake, Ritual, Ritual, tap a bunch of Swamps. Drain for 13. Ugh. I keep scrolling, getting Funeral Charmed and Hymned a couple times to keep me out of options. He finally gets a Consult and Consults for a Drain to finish me.

Game 3: A great game, the tide swinging back and forth. I'm again with a lead but nothing on the table (helped by Dystopia), staring at two Lakes and many Swamps. I only have three land out, one of which is an Undiscovered, so I don't want to drop the Outpost I'm holding because then I won't be able to Passage the Drain I think is coming. I finally draw a Karma, but don't play it becaue I fear the Drain. Then he Hymns both the Karma and the Drain out of my hand (ugh), and my next draw is of course land. Thanks. I know he's out of Edicts, though, so now I start dropping stuff and trying to outrace the draw of a drain. I get down a Wildfire and a scroll and an a Warrior en-Kor and start beating. He Hymns two more creatures out of my hand, so I start Scrolling. I finally kill him on a Scroll call which was one of two. Two more draws down was the Drain that would have turned the tide.

Matches 5-1-1, games 11-4.

Finals

Friend and teammate Aaron, playing the Spitting Slug/Erhnam Djinn thing, based on the deck Mike Turian used to qualify for PTLA a while back. We agree to split the prize with the winner getting 5 packs from the loser. I know this matchup is bad for me because I have no way of handling most of his fat, at least not main deck.

Game 1: He gets out two quick Birds and then a fourth-turn Force of Nature. I die quickly and horribly.

Game 2: I side in three Sleights and two more Plows. I get a little ahead and get a Wildfire Sleighted to pro-Green, then get another Wildfire and a Kor out. He drops (are you ready?) Dark Heart of the Wood. Ugh. I leave the Kor back to block his Erhnam and start applying with my protected Wildfire. He eventually kills the Kor with Serrated Arrows counters, and kills a Lion that way as well (I have the Bombardment out so it costs him Birds). I mutual the non-protected Wildfire with an Erhnam. I drop a White Knight, which is useless against his two Wall of Roots. I've got him low enough with the pro-Green Wildfire that he's low on Forests when he top-decks a Scroll. This is where I mess up. I have two Plows in hand that I've been saving for more Erhnams and the Force. What I should have done is plowed the Bird he had out and one of the Walls so he couldn't scroll. But he gets some Factories he uses to chump the Wildfire for a couple turns (I have to use a Passage to save the Wildfire after he does the block-scroll thing). But eventually he drops another Scroll and top-decks more Forests. The Wildfire dies to double-Scroll and I follow soon after. Ugh.

Matches 5-2-1, games 11-6.

The Deck: Damage Machine 2.0

Land (20)

4 Plateau
2 Tundra
1 Outpost
2 Wasteland
2 Undiscovered
2 Mountain (should have been 3)
7 Plains (should have been 2)

Creatures (23)

4 Savannah Lions
4 White Knights
4 Soltari Priest
2 Phyrexian War Beast
3 Wildfire Emissary
3 Suq'Ata Lancer
3 Warrior en-Kor

Spells (17)

4 Lightning Bolt
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Disenchant
2 Bombardment
3 Cursed Scroll (duh)
2 Tithe
2 Honorable Passage (awesome)

Sideboard (15)

3 Sleight of Mind
3 Aura of Silence
2 Honoroable Passage
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Serrated Arrows
3 Karma (should have been 2)

Other Comments

Props

* Army of Allah (our team), for sending two of us to the finals when only three of us showed.
* Darth & Dave, the judges, for keeping everything gasp! on time.
* Cursed Scroll, for winning me games.

Slops

* The standard mulligan rule. Too many games decided with one-land mana screw for everyone, which is just not fun.
* Necro. A ten-year-old kid made the semis playing straight burn because there were so many people playing Necro that couldn't handle it. Necro is great in the hands of a master, but in other hands there are probably better choices--like stupid gun decks.
* Cursed Scroll, for being such a dumb card that if you plan to win, you must either play it or be ready to play against it.
Sunburn, http://byrneweb.com/sunburn/