Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 13:20:30 -0400
From: Alex Marszalowicz 
To: webmaster@classicdojo.org
Subject: 1.5 Tournament Report  "Tax Pinch"

Tax Pinch
    I'm writing this report because I've noticed a lack of 1.5 reports lately.  This tournament took place at Gamer's Realm in Cranbury, NJ on Saturday, July 18.  I had just heard about it the night before, while browsing online.  You can visit their site at www.gamersrealm.com.  I'm going to talk about the deck a little bit first, because others may be interested and because some day I may want to look back and wonder what I was smoking.  If for some reason someone wants to skip this section and just read the strict reporting, execute a find for "[Report]".
Otherwise, read on.  I promise not to talk about what I had for breakfast or listened to in the car.

[Deck]
    Normally I don't have a 1.5 deck ready, but I've been testing decks for a little tournament next Saturday at Comics Plus in Middletown.  So I made up an excuse to drive 45 minutes west for the day and took along this radical new development in deck construction.

Tax Pinch

4 Land Tax
4 Tithe
4 Scroll Rack
4 Mox Diamond
 (no surprises so far)
4 Oath of Druids!
2 Serra Angel
2 Gaea's Blessing
 (How everyone expects you to win)
1 Seismic Assault
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
1 Firestorm
 (How you really win)
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Disenchant
2 Wrath of God
2 Reaping the Rewards

4 Plateau
2 Savannah
2 Wastelands
7 Plains

Not world-alteringly new, but I think it's a solid design.  Here's why.

4 Scroll Racks:  I tested with 3, and found that there was never really enough.  3 weeks ago I played in a Grey Matter $1000 show, with a green Land Tax variant.  I only played 2 Racks, because it's all I owned.  Suffice it to say I never had enough.  But more than that, after a very enjoyable match against John Chinnock, I asked how many Racks he had in.  He said 4, because he had tried with 3, and "4 is just better."  I have to say, my experience showed the same thing.  I never once said to myself "Damn, another Scroll Rack."

The Oath of Druids: Strange, I know.  But here's the overwhelming logic.  First of all, some decks can hold back on the land and still be very competitive.  But they almost unfailingly need to play creatures.  And a player that tries to hold back on creatures and on land, without having a deck designed for it (such as the Stupidest of SRB) is basically doing nothing while my deck is working away.  It's a strong pinch.  Eventually, the opponent either plays the land to let you tax (hopefully with the rack) or plays a creature and beckons Serra.  But that's not the most important thing.

Gaea's Blessings:  The Oath lets you shuffle!  That's key.  You'll notice a lot of creature removal.  Playtesting against creature decks showed that I was always looking for creature removal.  So I added more, and still wanted a way to reuse it.  Furthermore, when tax comes in advance of the rack, it's often necessary to discard, and many lands can wind up in the graveyard.  Mox Diamond and Seismic Assault don't help this any.  So a triggered Gaea's shuffle puts them back in for the tax to take.  And it allows for the important cards, be they Wastelands, Disenchants, or Swords to come back.  And even cast they're not bad.

Serra Angel: I know, the current trend is to use sacrificeable creatures and the Fattest of the Phat.  And I can't say with any certainty that Bottle Gnomes wouldn't be a good choice.  Honestly, I didn't think to test them.  But I can say that I wouldn't choose to use Spirit of the Night or Archangel. Several times I've found myself actually casting Serra.  That wouldn't happen with either of the other two.  I felt this capability was worth the smaller size.  Also, when your opponent just kills them off, size doesn't matter all that much.  (What else are they doing with their creature kill?)
 As a side note, every time Serra picked up a Plowshare (I'll skip the fairly obvious sexist remark) the opponent and all onlookers say "When all your Serra's get swordsed, then you're in trouble, right?"  Hardly.  They just get in the way.  I'd be perfectly happy with a free Feldon's Cane every turn.

Incinerates: I was originally going to use Chain Lightning, but I realized there was going to be a LOT of red.  Swords could handle the 4 toughness flyers, so Thunderbolt was unnecessary.  I decided on Incinerate over Shock, for the extra damage/card ratio.  I can't say the 1 generic mana was never a stretch, but I can say that its use as an instant did provide a useable benefit over Chain Lightnings.

2 Wrath of God: Really unnecessary.  With all the creature kill and recursion, even when I had them I didn't often use them, because by the time I could I had just Oathed a Serra in.  I did cast them occasionally, especially when the opponent tried a do-or-die swarm, but I can't say they were excellent.  I'd have preferred 1 more Firestorm and 1 more Seismic Assault, but I only own one of each.  Then again, the ability to take out untargetables could very well come in handy.  Also, Moat would work good, if someone who owns one or two would like to try them in a similar deck.

Reaping the Rewards: Zuran Orb replacement, obviously.  And not so bad.  It does have some surprise value, and can even be cast without buyback if the life is necessary and the land is tight.  But mostly it helps get below the tax limit.  And it does provide a nice life buffer against an aggressive deck.  I think 2 is a good number, with one more in the sideboard against other Tax decks.

Sideboard:
My sideboard was weak.  Not unusual for me.  But I'll briefly explain.

1 Emerald Charm
      Gloom.  It's either the charm or Illumination, and I'm not in the  mood for white counterspells today. 
1 Wrath of God
      Weaker than the ones in the main.  I sided it in final game.  He  sided out 6 creatures.  Nuff said.
1 Aura of Silence
1 Reaping the Rewards
2 Gorilla Shaman
      The above are good mainly against other tax decks.
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Choke
      Counter-heavy decks with excellent timing could potentially be trouble.
1 Peace of Mind
      I don't know what I was afraid of.  This is silly.  It should probably be another Warmth.  Against this field it definitely should have been.
1 Sacred Ground
      Very afraid of the possibility of a Land Destruction, Abyss deck.   I've never played against one, but I've heard they're excellent in Type 1.5.
1 Karma
      Against any black deck, just cast this and play defensively.
2 Warmth
      Self-explanatory.

Weaknesses: Stupid Red Burn could well survive on 2 land and no creatures.  Post sideboard Warmth takes care of that problem.  Again, early counters can stop Land Tax from coming, and then playing extra lands isn't a problem for the blue deck.  Early gloom will cause a hard shut down, so maybe a second charm is in order.  Certainly it wouldn't hurt.  Also, early and persistent discard could potentially be a problem.  If you find yourself facing a Bottomless Pit or some other heavy discard element, I strongly recommend not taxing until the rack is available to put them back.  Otherwise your plains will wind up in the graveyard and you'll wonder why your losing like I did the first 10 times I tested against discard.

Any one who is interested should feel free to copy the deck and make their own alterations as desired.  I welcome any feedback at a-mar@geocities.com.
On to the report!

[Report]

     This was my first time at a Gamer's Realm Tournament.  I get the feeling that they run one of these every month.  (I gathered that from subtle clues people dropped, like "I won last month's tournament" or "what kind of tournament should we run next month?")  Both the people running the tournament and the competitors (who give every appearance of being store regulars) were nice people and fun to play against and converse with.

     It was announced that there would be 3 swiss rounds (less than the usual 4 because of a slightly smaller turnout).  Three games would be played each round with 3 points for a win and 1 each for a draw.  I've heard of other stores doing similar things.  The final 4 would then compete in single elimination with the grand winner taking home an Ali from Cairo.  This was all well and good with me.  Then it was announced that rounds will each be 45 minutes long.  Woah!  Tax decks, this one especially, are not designed to play fifteen minute games.  And I'm a very thorough (OK, Anal) shuffler.  My games generally take about 20 minutes, and that's moving at a decent pace. I need time for my opponent to feel the play-a-land-or-a-creature-and-I-go-to-town pinch.  So there won't be much down time tonight.  The good news is, Paris mulligans are in effect.  I'm just now learning how to use them correctly.

Round 1
      My opponent is Peter.  He is playing a Green/Red creature swarm / burn deck with generous, but not overwhelming, amounts of Slivers.  Rounding it out are decent support creatures like Granger Guildmage and Mogg Fanatic.  Peter strikes me as a good, if inexperienced player.  The first game he needed to read half the cards I played, but by the third he was already figuring out how to play against me.  Mainly I think he suffered from a deck that used sub-optimal cards.  Spined Sliver is not one of the more fearsome denizens of Rath, and he relied too much on Sonic Blast.  Later that night he explained to me that he wanted Sonic Blast because he expected Serra Angel and Sengir Vampire to be among the more popular cards.  I suggested that in his deck by the time he needed it Lightning Blast would probably be just as effective.  Then I pointed out that since both of the aforementioned creatures fly, Thunderbolt would be even better, and when he said he'd never heard of it, I gave him one.  But you're not here to read about his deck.

Game 1
      My opening hand shows nothing good.  Generally, I'll keep a hand with any one of Mox Diamond, Land Tax, Scroll Rack, or Oath of Leiges, and sufficient land, and mulligan anything else.  The second hand is better with a Tax, a Tithe, and the Seismic Assault.  Fourth turn I draw and play a Mox, then drop the Seismic Assault with the two Plateaus in play.  Next turn I play the Oath I drew third turn.  Serra comes on turn five and triggers a shuffle, which is good because I had discarded a few lands before the Seismic Assault came in, and 2 more after.  After Serra attacks once Peter decides he should Sonic Blast her, and is disappointed when the random discard pulls his Fireblast.  Not that it mattered much, because next turn Tax and a Tithe ensure that I have 6 more lands to pitch, and game one is mine.

Game 2
      My opening hand contains a Mox, two land, a tithe, and one of my two sideboarded Warmths.  He goes first and drops only a Forest.  I play a first turn Warmth.  He Emerald Charms it, then plays a Spined Sliver on his turn. I am impressed at his timing.  Then I topdeck the other Warmth.  Peter is not impressed.  OK, he's impressed, he's just not happy.  This game the Oath starts moving before Tax-Rack comes, but eventually I get both.  Again, he only takes one Serra hit, but that's enough as a handful of burn and the well-timed drawing of a Seismic Assault make the kill.
 My life total this game: 18, 20, 22, 16, 15, 13, 15, 17, 15, 13, 15, 13, 15, 13

Game 3
      No Warmth help this time.  Only 10 minutes are left in the round, so we race the clock.  I forget whether or not I drew a Tax in the game, but definitely no Scroll Rack.  I did draw an Oath, though.  He casts things like two Mogg Fanatics, a Muscle Sliver and a Goblin Bombardment.  I keep reminding myself that time is running out, so I only do 7 riffle shuffles each time instead of 8.
      Eventually I get two Serra's out, although I believe one was cast from hand.  He attacks with two Mogg Fanatics and a Muscle Sliver.  I have a feeling there's a Sonic Burst in his hand.  (He foreshadowed this by looking at Serra funny.)  I'm at eleven life, he's at twelve.  I chose only to block the sliver.  I reasoned that I didn't want to take a chance at having two dead Serra's, because then time would definitely run out.  (See, were I in that situation, had I been forced to lose two creatures, I might just have sac'd both Fanatics to kill 1 Serra and Blasted the other one.  So I reasoned he might do the same.)  What can I say, it sounded like a good idea at the time.  So he sacrifices the Muscle sliver to damage me, and with the two attacking mogg fanatics knocks me to 8.  He asks my life total, glances at each fanatic and the cards in hand, then I see the numbers scroll past his eyes as he calculates that right now he can only knock me to two, something I had counted before blocking.  So he casts a River Boa and says "go ahead."
      Now I'm at 8, he's at 12.  I've drawn one bolt so far, and it's in hand.  To win now, I need to draw one of the following: 1 of 3 Bolts, 1 of 4 Incinerates, 1 of 2 Reaping the Rewards, 1 of 2 Warmth, the firestorm, or the Seismic Assault.  Even one of the 4 Scroll Racks would probably deliver a win.  I draw . . . a Plateau.  This is my on again, off again top decking skills.  I attack and knock him to 4, and hold the bolt that could almost but not quite kill him.  Then say "done."
      Now any good player is probably thinking "bolt a Fanatic so he can't do that attacking point of damage."  Heck, even a lousy player knows that's the correct move.  Now, I can't prove it, but I think that my subconscious told me to hold on to that Lightning Bolt and let him win because he deserved it.  So I'm not really a horrible player, I'm a magnanimous person.  Who gave up a pretty easy win.

Point total: 6

Round 2
      My opponent is Matt Rubin.  Matt is the only person at this tournament I know.  He's a regular at MC Comics in Old Bridge, where there's a Type II tournament every Sunday night.  (Wow, that's the third store I've plugged.  I should sell commercial time.)  He told me before the tournament started that he won a Mirror Universe at last month's Gamer's Realm tournament.  I thought it over and decided he probably wasn't lying.
      Now I knew before everything started that he might be tough.  Every deck Matt plays is very, very strong.  It has to be - it's copied right off the Dojo.  And he does play with a relatively high degree of skill.  But we sat next to each other in the first round.  So while my deck no longer had any surprise value, I knew what he was playing - Buehler's Extended tax-rack.
      Now I figure I should have the advantage here.  Eventually Reaping the Rewards will allow me to win the Land Tax war.  Oath of Druids should dissuade him from casting creatures, while holding them in hand would net zero benefit.  And if he tries to race, Wrath of God should deliver good card advantage.  So I figure I should be in a position to win two, then we'll draw the last one on time.  But I like Matt, and my throat's getting dry already because I talk too damn much, so I offer we split at 4 points each.  He declines.  I guess he came to play.

Game 1
      Plodding and predictable.  I use a disenchant on his Scroll Rack, knowing Buehler only used 3, and that tax will eventually dry up without rack to reload, while racks by themselves can fetch Land Taxes.  He casts a creature, I forget which, but I use Oath to fetch Serra.  He plays a few more lands and creatures to try to race, but in doing so allows me to work the tax-rack engine.  So even though he StPs Serra, I have the upper hand.  He concedes at 4 life when I am at 16 and have a Seismic Assault in play.

Game 2
      Should have gone the same way.  Should have.  I brought in two Mox monkeys, Aura, and the third Reaping the Rewards.  I keep a hand with tax but didn't have a mox.  This is unfortunate because he did.  (Due in part to a mulligan he declared.)  I stay competitive taking out an early rack.  A few turns in I draw a mox, but he's in good position by putting up threats and playing a few creatures I have to remove.  Reaping the Rewards does a little work to get me to 26 life and prevent him from Taxing.  I get a Land tax in myself before my mox is disenchanted.  Now I have the Aura in hand, but only two land, so unless I draw a mox I'll have to play the third land just to cast the aura, and then I'd have to sacrifice it to kill the tax immediately or else let him thin his deck.  Instead, I use Reaping the Rewards to go to 30 life with no lands so I can Tax myself.  Good play, right?  Wrong!  I did it during his discard, so he flashes a surprise disenchant taking out the tax.  So I sit with no permanents for the next 10 turns while I can't draw a land.  Eventually, when I realize death is imminent, I concede.
      Interestingly stupid point.  Before this game I sided out one Gaea's Blessing, figuring that Oath recycle only needs one.  Then I drew it.  Then CAST it.  Then realized that my wonderful recycling deck wasn't going to do much recycling after all.

Game 3
      We have Five minutes left for the third game.  That is enough time to bolt each other once.  So we draw at 17 life each.  So we each get 4 points.  Like I offered in the beginning.

     BTW, It turns out Matt didn't copy the deck exactly.  He removed the Mox Monkeys from the main deck to put in Soltari Monks, figuring there wouldn't be a great deal of moxes or cursed scrolls here.  He was mostly right, except for me.

Point total: 10

Round 3
      My opponent is Jamie.  He is playing a Black/Red deck the way we all used to build them.  (Those of us that ever used to build decks, that is.)  You know.  Good regenerators like Drudge and pump knights.  Dark ritual out a good creature like Sengir Vampire.  Then enhance him with Unholy Strength and such.  Round out with Red X spells.

Game 1
      Jamie only gets one creature out, but it's a doozy.  With 2 swamps down he double rituals a Sengir with a Thrull Retainer.  That's right, I said Thrull Retainer.  Target gets +1/+1, sac TR to regenerate.  I look down at the one bolt I have in hand.  Next turn I Oath out Serra, and set up tax-rack for the next round, but no swords appears.  He plays a swamp, terror's Serra, casts unholy strength and attacks for 7.  I tax rack.  I also Oath, but that nets only a shuffle because the other Angel's in my hand.  Still no Swords or Wrath, but I do get an incinerate to go with the aforementioned bolt, and Sengir bites the dust on his next attack.  Ancestral tax helps my burn out race his, as I get him to 8 before casting Serra from hand, who delivers two hits to win the game.

Game 2
      Warmth on turn three.  I'm 70 percent sure he has no way to get rid of enchantments.  Then his friend says "Uh-oh, does that deck have any way of getting rid of enchantments?"  Jamie says "no."  Now I'm 80 percent sure.
      Anyway, hearing things like "tap 5 mana, fireball you, take 2" should indicate that I had plenty of time to set up tax-rack drawing.  Both Serra's I painstakingly cast by hand were terrorized before delivering a single hit.  But he dies to 4 bolts and 4 Seismic Assault powered land-pitches.

Game 3
      Another Warmth comes, but I can't do it in time.  Draw again. (Surprise)

      After the match he let's me look through his deck.  Now I'm 85 percent sure he didn't have any enchantment removal.

Total points: 17

      I just squeak into the final 4 at 4th seed.  Whew.  OK, it's 2 out of 3 single elim from here on out.

Round 4

      My opponent is Jim.  He is also playing Green/Red.  His card mix is decent and well spread, ranging from Ghazban Ogres, Scryb Sprites and Mtenda Lions up to Ernhams.  Plus he's got the tech card Veteran's Voice.  Strong.  Unfortunately, during the previous round I accidentally mis-informed him about it.  See Slops at the bottom.

Game 1
      He plays first.  First turn Forest, Mtenda Lion.
Me - first turn mox (discard wasteland), plateau, Oath.
Jim - Mountain, Attack for 2, Scryb Sprites, Veterans Voice on Scryb.
Me - Oath out a Serra (don't think I triggered a blessing).  Nothing else.
Jim - Attack with lion.  I block with Serra.  Scryb make lion 4/2.  Mox makes lion deal no damage.  Lion dies, Jim kicks himself.
Me - Attack with Serra.  Done.
Jim - I Swords Scryb with on draw.  He lays forest, casts tranquility.
Me - I attack with Serra (J-13), play Savannah, cast Land Tax, cast Scroll Rack.  Jim pounds his head for Tranquilitying too early.
Jim - Play mountain, cast Ernham Djinn.
Me - Tax.  Draw.  Rack.  Play Plateau.  Attack(9), cast bolt(6), bolt(3), incinerate (win).

Game 2
      I'm going to make a departure from my usual self-absorbed mentality and speculate on Jim's state of mind at this time.  He knows my deck fairly well by now (as does everybody in the store), including the 1 Seismic Assault.  Knowing that, along with how I played Land Tax the turn after he cast Tranquility, I'm going to assume that he'll want to save his Tranq until he can take out two enchantments at once.  Unfortunately for him I never played more than 1 Land Tax and 1 Scroll Rack.  He played three forests the whole game, but two Mtenda Lions weren't enough to do much damage and his hand was full of burn.  When I got around to it (after taking 6 points from them), I firestormed both Lions and him.  From there I killed him with 2 hits from a cast-from-hand Serra and a couple of bolt/incinerates scattered about. After the game Jim confirmed my suspicions about holding back enchantment kill when he showed me the Tranquility in hand.  He also told me that he had sided in 4 Havocs, but drew neither them nor the Mountains to cast them with.

     For the first time all night, I finally have 5 minutes break between games, while Matt tries to maneuver Tax against WW. He loses.  But he does point out that his opponent cast 7 Disenchants, 5 Auras, and 3 Serene Offerings during each game, as if to suggest that I should lose now.  Actually, he mentions it several times, in case anyone in the store didn't know I'm supposed to lose now.  But he did cheer me on.  I just think he was trying to set me up as the underdog for . . .

The Finals

      Mike is playing White Weenie.  That's really all I knew going in, and only because I sat next to him during the semis.  I really try to avoid scouting, even at small tournaments, but I generally accept it as something unavoidable.  I've even been happy to show the contents of my graveyard to anyone who's curious after each Oath milling.  Actually, I think the close proximity and friendly nature of all competitors is what makes small tourneys so much fun.  What's lacking in new deck technology and prize money is made up for by amiable competitors and radical deck concepts.  That's why I've only been to 1 PTQ in my life, but try to support local shops with my attendance whenever possible.  That, plus I like being a big fish in a small pond.  But I'm digressing again.
      From what I know about it, Mike's deck is lots of white weenies with different types of removal, but no Cursed Scroll or Empyrial Armor.  I also know he had at least one Cataclysm and two Armageddons.  Other than that the mix was fairly predictable.
      I would also like to mention that before the finals started I suggested that since this is winner take all, we create a second place prize, like winner gives a Dual Land to the loser.  No deal.  Doesn't bother me, as I only came for fun and to test out the deck, but I wanted to be sporting and win some good Karma.  Plus, Matt's talk about the endless stream of disenchants had me a little worried.

Game 1
      I win the roll and choose to draw first.  I count out my seven cards face down on the table, and audibly ask that it be a God hand.  Judge for yourself:

Plateau
Wasteland
Mox Diamond
Serra Angel
Oath of Druids
Land Tax
Seismic Assault

OK, sure, I'd have preferred the Angel to have been a Scroll Rack, but who's really complaining?

Mike - Plains, Savannah Lion
Me - Draw Tithe (didn't have one, yet), play Plateau, Mox, Oath.
Mike - Attack (18).
Me - Oath out Serra, shuffle. Draw & cast Scroll.  Mike StPs Serra(22).
Mike - Attack (20).  Plains.  Disenchant Oath.
Me - Draw Land Tax.  Cast Land Tax * 2.
Mike - Attack with Lion.  Done.
Me - Tax for 6.  Draw.  Swap.  Bolt Lion.  Play land, mox. Cast Oath.

      From there, Mike didn't play much.  I used a couple incinerates for about 6 points of damage before scroll was disenchanted.  Fortunately, the lands were in the deck at the time and I used a Tithe to shuffle.  Eventually I cast Serra #2 from hand, but she ate StP before doing any damage.  So I finally cast the Seismic Assault that had been sitting in my hand, taxed, and pitched 7 lands for the kill.
      Wow, I got great draws that game.

Game 2
       I mulligan a nothing hand for one that has a Tax.  He elected to play first, and goes Plains, Land Tax.  I'm surprised to see his Tax.  I remark that it's a good start.  I draw a mox, then drop mox, Tax, for a better start.  He plays a Mishra's factory, then disenchants my Land Tax.  Now I'm not in such great shape.  I play a Savannah and an Oath, to keep away creatures.  He animates the Assembly Worker and attacks.  I'm not holding any way of dealing with the Factory.
       I draw a Scroll Rack, but don't want to cast it with just 2 mana out, because it might get killed before I get a chance to use it.  So I play a plains, cast the rack and use it.  The good news is I draw a bolt and a wasteland, as well as a tithe to shuffle.  Proving my premonition was correct, Mike disenchants the Scroll Rack.  That's not the bad news.  The bad news is I now realize that I can't kill the Factory without letting him tax.  I have to draw one of the three disenchants or the charm I sided in (expecting Aura of Silence).  Furthermore, never expecting to see Land Tax as a support card in his deck, I sided out both Reaping the Rewards figuring that I didn't need the extra life.  So I'm hoping to draw some enchantment kill.
       I get help in a different way.  Over the next 3 turns I draw 2 moxes.  This puts me up to 5 mana so I can cast a Serra I've been holding.  Now Mike makes a mistake.  He Swords Serra, then plays a third land so he can attack with the factory.  I take it once, but now am down a land so I can afford to kill one.  Next time the Assembly Worker attacks a bolt sends it crying "Union!"  Now I have the upper hand.  After the swords and the final Factory attack I'm at 14.  He plays another plains, a lion, and a white knight.  I Oath out Serra #2.  (Which doesn't trigger a Gaea's, as I'd cast one earlier.)  I now have about 10 cards left in my library, including one Gaea's and 1-2 basic plains.  I have a wrath in hand, but want to keep Serra, so I opt to bolt and incinerate these two creatures.  I also cast a rack, joining the tax I'd played earlier.
       On Mike's turn he casts Nevinyrral's Disk.  Wasn't expecting it, but by now I'm holding 2 disenchant as well as the charm.  (Perhaps I've missed a blank turn in here somewhere, so if following this doesn't follow exactly, give me some leeway.)  So the Disk is no problem.  I Gaea's recurse a few bolts, pulling them to hand with the rack, and deliver with Serra.  Mike concedes the turn before it all ends.

      As an interesting note, at least 2 spectators said that I missed at least one attack with Serra.  That might be true, but I don't think so, and neither did Mike or the judge who watched everything.  It probably just looked that way because I was doing so much other crap on my turn (tax, draw, rack, tithe, Gaea's, bolt, etc.)

      So I win!  A mint Ali from Cairo, as advertised.  They bring it over, protected by 8 different kinds of plastic protective sleeves.  OK, so it's not mint, but it's definitely Ex+ to NM, and I'm hardly going to complain.  (It's just that the flyer and the web site had the word "mint" in CAPS, and like most Usenet people I don't take that lightly.)

      Anyway, it was big fun, and I'm really happy to have won, despite numerous mistakes.  Maybe I'll even use Ali in a deck.  Naah.

      I'm not a big fan of the headings "Props and Slops," but who am I to mess with tradition.

Props:

Gamer's Realm and all participants.  Everyone was really cool.  The tournament was a lot of fun, and I was saying that even after round 3 when I wasn't sure I made the top 4.

Matt Rubin. For cheering me on here, among other times.  And for always telling me I "have to write a tournament report" every time he sees me, usually in my first and only round of a single elim thing.  (Though hopefully I've mentioned him enough in here to cure him of that habit.)

This deck.  Really.  I played pretty badly at times and it still delivered great draws.

Ali from Cairo.  For being worth a lot even though he's not really game breaking by himself.

Slops:

Me.  Sometimes I fancy myself the rules know-it-all at times.  Plus, I like to talk waaaay too much.  So during the Swiss Jim asked a question about how Veteran's Voice works.  I could see the owner/judge was a little confused himself, so I spoke up.  I explained how it works, how very similar to Fire Whip it is, in that the creature gets the ability and how summoning sickness still affects it.  When I got home I looked up VV on MoxPerl, and discovered that Veteran's Voice and Fire Whip work completely differently.  Sorry, Jim.

Wizards of the Coast.  For making Veteran's Voice and Fire Whip work completely differently.  What kind of stupid move is that?
 

That's all I'm saying.  Please e-mail me feedback.  I'm very lonely.

Alex Marszalowicz
a-mar@geocities.com

p.s.  Anybody wanna buy an Ali from Cairo?  It's MINT.