From: "Ng, Kai Koon" Date: Mon Jun 2 10:28:14 1997 Subject: Tourney Report Last Saturday, the Tasmania (Aus) State Championship was held. I went with a R/G creature deck which is a morphed version of an old deck. I had mixed results, as you can see. If you are interested, the deck listing is at the end of the post. The format was 7 rounds of game swiss. Winner with the most number of points at the end of the day; no finals (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw). Round 1 v Black Weenie The deck is pretty standard. It's similar to the classic White Weenie (lots of small creatures, and Crusades), except that it's black; thus stuff like Black Knight, Knight of Stromgald, Vampire Bats, and a Derelor for good measure. Bad Moon makes them go bigger, of course. The first game started poorly. I took heaps of early damage, and could not hold off the 2 Black Knights and 2 Vampire Bats (with a Bad Moon in play) forever, and I died. Went to the Sideboard and got the 2 Whirling Dervish. The Gods of Magic smiled, and I drew both in my opening hand with 3 Forests to boot. Needless to say, it was a quick game. Game 3 saw 1 Whirling Dervish in the opening hand and a Forest and Karplusan Forest. The second Dervish was drawn in turn 3. Again, a quick death. Match: 1-0 Game: 2-1 Round 2 v R/G Pretty similar deck to mine. Differences in choice of creatures, but otherwise, completely identical. Game 1 was quick. He got a Maro in turn 3 with a Havenwood Battleground, and I got creamed. Game 2 was quick. I got an Orgg in turn 4, and he got creamed. Game 3 was slow. He got mana screwed, I got creature screwed. When I finally got things going, I was about to set him up for a Jokulhaups and a Wildfire Emissary in the same turn, when he Jokulhaups first! He proceeded to draw more lands than I did, and I died to some big creature. Match: 1-1 Game: 3-3 Round 3 v R/G Again, a pretty similar deck to mine. Differences in the choice of creatures; he had Shivans, and a couple of cards. Game 1 was interesting. It seesawed back and forth before he got me with a Shivan. Game 2 was all me. I got an early Orgg, and he did not see a decent sized creature for the game. He Fireballed the Orgg, but 8 Cobras from the Snake Basket did him in. Game 3 looked good for me. He managed to start with a burst with River Boas, but I recovered to pound him with a Wildfire Emissary. I was at 10, and he wasn't far. I had a Jokulhaups and an Orgg in my hand, and was one mana off to cast both in the same turn. He was one mana off on a Fireball big enough to kill me, with one card in hand. I gambled and cast a Wall of Roots. He drew a City of Brass and I burned. Sigh... Match: 1-2 Game: 4-5 I was extremely discouraged at this time. The deck certainly was performing much better during testing. It was lunchtime, and I decided that if I lost the next round, I was going to withdraw and do some trading instead. Round 4: v U/W It's basically a Big Blue deck, with White providing COPs in the sideboard. Other than that, did not really see any other white cards. Game 1 was fairly interesting. I did not draw any of my BIG CREATURES (TM), and he basically Binding Grasped my Wall of Roots to get him Merfolk Raiders through. That turn, I drew an Orgg. He was tapped out, and he died. Game 2 went okay as well. The early Wildfire Emissary was Hydroblasted, but the Maro that followed kicked butt big time. Game 3 was much closer. I had a Wildfire Emissary he had a Breezekeeper. I was at 4 when the Breezekeeper attacked. By chance, I still had an Emerald Charm in my hand. Breezekeeper stopped flying, and was blocked by the Wall of Roots. The Wildfire came in and crunched. Things were looking alright at that point. Match: 2-2 Game: 7-5 Round 5: v White Weenie Classic White Weenie. Except had a rather large number of flankers, including Mtenda Herders, and Zhalfirin Crusader. Game 1 saw the WW went off on a burst. The creatures were wiped out by a Savage Twister. A Wildfire Emissary finished the job. Game 2 was pretty much my game. He did draw a Kjeldoran Outpost and was feeling pretty good, until I summoned a Subterranean Spirit in the very next turn. The Outpost was useless, and a Wildfire Emissary basically crashed his way through. Game 3 was looking good for him. He was onto a good thing, having my Wildfire Emissary block his Zhalfirin Crusader, and redirecting the damage to me. I got to about 10 when I got enough mana, and I Jokulhaups, and summoned a Wildfire Emissary. Game Over. Match: 3-2 Game: 10-5 Round 6: v R/G Playing against the current leader of the ladder. Again a pretty similar deck, but more smaller creatures, ala River Boas, and Suq'Ata Lancers, and Yavimaya Ants. Game 1 had him on a burst, and got me to 1. I knew I was dead, since there are still 2 Suq'Ata Lancers staring at me, and only 1 Incinerate. There are only 3 cards in the deck that can save me. The 2 Savage Twisters, and the Jokulhaups. I Thawed, as a matter of routine, and was relieved when I saw a Forest at the top of the deck. I shuffled the deck, and my opponent cut it. Then using the FORCE (TM) (aka please please please let this be a ), I drew a Savage Twister. SAVED!!! Luck was with me for the rest of the game as I drew an Orgg in the next turn, and he drew nothing but land and a couple of Pillage. Phew! The next 2 games and I contined to have the luck. While he summoned Suq'Ata Lancers, I summoned a Maro. In Game 3, the only creature he saw was a Suq'Ata Lancer. Cleaned up, and went on. Match: 4-2 Game: 13-5 Round 7: v R/G The decider. Both Dougal and me were on 39 points. The winner takes all. I proposed an Intentional Draw, and split the first and second prize. We were playing similar decks, with the only difference being that I had more BIG CREATURES (TM), he had more direct damage ala Hurricanes and Earthquake. Game 1 was a ripper for the deck. Went out of the blocks like it was on JP5. Spewed out Maros and Wildfire Emissaries. Killed him in under 10 turns. Game 2 was better for him. I had a Subterranean Spirit that was blocking his Wildfire Emissary and neutralising the River Boa. Just when things were looking up for him when he got a second Emissary out, and killed the Jungle Wurm that was slated to block it, I Jokulhaups. I was hoarding land and he was not expecting the 'haups. I came back with an Orgg and the turn before he died, he drew the second land he needed to Incinerate me. Unfortunately, that left me on 3. He had a second Incinerate, but no more untap phases. Game 3 went bad for him. I got a lot more BIG CREATURS (TM) than him, and he died. Match: 5-2 Game: 16-5. All in all, I have mixed feelings. I was not able to finish my opponent off quickly when he was mana screwed. However, when I was down, I managed several great recoveries. I can't wait for Ice Age to be back, with the Stormbinds, and maybe even Pyroclasms. Anyhow, here's the deck listing. Lands 1 x Balduvian Trading Post 7 x Forest 2 x Havenwood Battleground 4 x Karplusan Forest 8 x Mountain 2 x Thawing Glaciers Artifacts 2 x Fire Diamond 2 x Snake Basket Green Spells 2 x Creeping Mold 2 x Maro 2 x Jungle Wurm 2 x River Boa 2 x Sylvan Library 2 x Wall of Roots Red Spells 2 x Fireball 2 x Hammer of Bogardan 4 x Incinerate 1 x Jokulhaups 2 x Orgg 2 x Pillage 1 x Subterranean Spirit 4 x Wildfire Emissary Multicoloured Spells 2 x Savage Twister Sideboard Artifacts 2 x Lodestone Bauble Green Spells 2 x City of Solitude 2 x Emerald Charm 2 x Tranquil Domain 2 x Whirling Dervish Red Spells 4 x Pyroblast 1 x Subterranean Spirit Cheers ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ng, Kai Koon Ph : +61 3 6226 1824 University of Tasmania, Australia Fax: +61 3 6226 2136 E-Mail : kk_ng@postoffice.sandybay.utas.edu.au Web Page : http://www.eecs.utas.edu.au/cgi/hons/kk_ng/Homepage.html "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance" - Thomas Jefferson ------------------------------