Subject: [Tournament]
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 14:50:21 -0400
From: Mike Byrne 
To: "webmaster@classicdojo.org" 

Local 1.x/Booster Draft

There weren't very many people in Extended (could determine one undefeated in three rounds of Swiss), but we played five rounds of Swiss anyway, which meant it might be possible to lose one and still advance.

Mandatory Background

Swiss Rounds

Round 1

Game 1: I won the roll and got a decent opening draw, dropping a Mox, a land, and a Scroll. He dropped a Forest and a Vineyard. A Vineyard? Err, OK. I used the Vineyard mana to cast a Rainbow Efreet--not a lot of Green flyers out there. I let it go a couple turns, using the Vineyard to cast a Warbeast and Scroll and such, and eventually Disenchanted the Vineyard. I win it.

Game 2: He goes first and again goes Forest, Vineyard. I drop a land and a War Beast--first turn 3/4 is pretty good. I use the Vineyard to drop a Wildfire, then Disenchant the Vineyard a little later and keep dropping creatures, including a Priest. He never really catches up.

Matches 1-0, games 2-0.

Round 2

Game 1: I get a good early rush going, getting a turn 1 Lion and an early Scroll, using a Mox to thin out my hand. The Scroll keeps his Black/Pump Knights off the table and I get in the beating.

Game 2: He Hymns me on turn 2 and drops Necro on turn 3. Looks bad and gets worse. He drops Lakes and a Wildfire. I drop a Wildfire but he Fireballs it and beats my head in with his Wildfire and a couple big Lake Drains.

Game 3: He again drops a Necro on the third turn, but I get better early pressure from Priests and an Aura from the side which keeps his Disks at bay. I Passage a Drain to keep my Wildfire on the table (and keep his life total low) and it's all over.

Matches 2-0, games 4-1.

Round 3

Game 1: It's amazing. I get a hand full of Red cards and can't keep a source of Red mana on the table. No Tithes, no Moxen. I get beat down by a very pumped Killer Bee (!).

Game 2: Games 2 and 3 run together a little bit in my mind. In both games I got Tithes and Moxen so the LD wasn't that effective. I got a lot of Plows in this game which kept the board clear of Ernie and his big cousin Force of Nature. Priests, which Green/Red is ill-equipped to handle, served up the necessary beating.

Game 3: In this game, at one point I had 3 War Beats in my hand, a Mox and a land on the table. I drop a Beast, and it gets Shattered. But I top-deck another land, and drop Beast #2. Beast #2 goes pretty much all the way--the best answer he got was a Killer Bee, but I Interdicted the pump. Harsh.

Matches 3-0, games 6-2. At this point, I'm the only undefeated--as far as I can tell, we should be stopping here, but we play on.

Round 4

Game 1: We both get Scrolls down--I get one, he gets three--but I get ahead with a Mox and my hand stays mostly empty so I can kill his weenies. Mine eventually serve.

Game 2: He gets two early Scrolls and I draw a lot of land and a Shattering Pulse, so I kill both Scrolls but then keep drawing land while he draws creatures and also Plows for the few creatures I draw. This one goes his way.

Game 3: The problem with this particular deck is that every once in a while you draw nothing but land, Tithes, and Moxen. This game, I drew pretty much nothing but land, Tithes, and Moxen, and get beaten into the earth.

Matches 3-1, games 7-3.

Round 5

Game 1: I get a good draw and apply early pressure with two Lions and a Factory. He does deal with those but then I'm applying with a Priest and a War Beast and he never really catches up.

Game 2: I get Hymned turn 2 and Stupored on turn 3. He gets down a Disrupting Sceptre and a Wildfire, and it's over early.

Game 3: I get another early-pressure draw and get Bolts for his Black Knights, and this one ends quickly in my favor.

Matches 4-1, games 9-4. There are two of us at 4-1 (John from round 4 and myself) and no undefeateds. On one hand, I felt like I should have advanced because I was the only undefeated when we got to the point of there being only one undefeated, but on the other, he did beat me head-to-head. The T.O.'s, however, went with the tiebreak supplied by the DCI's software, which was opponents' match win percentage. I win on the tiebreak, which generated a more whining than was really necessary.

Elimination Rounds

In Stronghold, I open a Fanning the Flames, which is some good. Better yet, the first pack passed to me has an Ensnaring Bridge. Well, looks like Burning Bridge is the way to go--if I can scare up some good permission, that'd be great, so I decide to look for blue. I get a Cloud Spirit on the next pick and a Spindrift Drake and a Hammerhead Shark in the next few picks, so Red/Blue it is. I never get passed a Mana Leak, but I do get a Rebound, a Flowstone Blade, a Convulsing Licid, a Furnace Spirit (weak in general but good with the Bridge) and counter-draft a late Death Stroke and Volrath's Gardens.

Exodus was a lot of utility cards--the best Exodus I got was a Killer Whale. I got a Robe of Mirrors, a Merfolk Looter, a Dizzying Gaze, a couple Anarchists, a Mage il-Vec, a Maniacal Rage (not so good with the Bridge), a Shattering Pulse, a Raging Goblin, and counter-draft some Green fat. Never saw any of the strong Blue shadow, though. Good decision not to go with White, though, since I got passed none of the killer White in Exodus. I end up playing a lot of the low-cost stuff and 18 land, hoping for the Bridge and the Fan.

Quarterfinals

Game 1: Burning Bridge theory comes through. I drop the Bridge early, and eventually whittle my hand down to just the Fan, which I use to burn him to death.

Game 2: He got a second-turn COP:Red (ugh), but I get the third-turn Cloud Spirit which provides a nice early beating. He Shackles it. I can kill off most of his creatures with Searing Touch or Searing Touch/Mogg, though, so I have some time to draw my Spindrift. I drop it, and put the Robe on it and pray he doesn't draw one of his many fliers. He doesn't, and the Spindrift goes the rest of the way.

Matches 5-1, games 11-4.

Quarterfinals

Game 1: He gets an early Vampire Hounds and then gets Disturbed Burial going, and I know it's over when he Capsizes a blocker--I just can't Fan stuff or him fast enough to win this one.

Game 2: Now I know where all the good Blue shadow went--Nick has all of it. I manage to Spell Blast the Capsize before that gets out of control, but I can't keep up with the Hounds/Burial beating.

Matches 5-2, games 11-6. I still have to play for third.

Consolation Finals

Game 1: I don't remember this game very well other than that I mostly got smacked around a lot by big fat green stuff. This did not help the headache.

Game 2: I get a lot of Mountains and no Islands, but he gets a lot of Forests and no Mountains, so we're both color-screwed. I Aftershock some green fatness and get the Touch going, picking off all his weenies. He drops Scragnoth and finally gets a Mountain. I top-deck Anarchist and Aftershock the Mountain rather than Scraggy, who I can handle with the Renegade Warlord/Searing Touch thing. He dies with a bunch of Red in his hand and no Mountains on the table.

Game 3: I again get the Searing Touch early which gives me board control. I get the Fan, and Fan some of the medium-sized things. I get the Pump Sliver out and Robe it, which becomes a problem for him. He tries to drop the Plated Rootwalla but I Spell Blast it. I figure I can just Fan him to death, but he taps out to play a 6/6 Krakilin. Ugh. I top-deck land and have just enough to Fan it to death before he can regenerate it, but I don't have enough to pay for the buyback. The Warlord and the pump Sliver, however, bring me all the way.

Matches 6-2, games 13-7. So, I leave $55 richer than I arrived (entry fee was $20), probably gain some Extended rating points, and made a bunch of good trades--not a bad day, really.

The Deck

Land
----
4 Tundra
4 Plateau
2 Kjeldoran Outpost
3 Wasteland
2 Mishra's Factory
5 Plains

Spells
------
3 Mox Diamond
4 Tithe
2 Swords to Plowshares
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Cursed Scroll
2 Honorable Passage
3 Disenchant

Creatures
---------
4 Savannah Lions
4 Soltari Priests
3 White Knights
3 Phyrexian War Beasts
1 Frenetic Efreet
3 Wildfire Emissary
1 Rainbow Efreet

Sideboard
---------
2 Shattering Pulse
1 Interdict
2 Honorable Passage
3 Sleight of Mind
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Aura of Silence
2 Red Elemental Blast

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