Subject: Tournament Report From: Scott Wills Date: Fri May 30 12:05:59 1997 Hi all. Here's my tourney report from the 3rd (of 8) qualifiers for the UK National Championships which will be taking place at the end of June. Standard Type 2 format. I listed my deck in the last report, and it's barely changed, but for those who are interested it will be at the end of the 2nd part. I'm playing a Black Weenie/Black Ice style deck. More creatures than standard Ice, more disruption than standard Weenie. That's the theory anyhow. :-) The tournament took place in Swindon, last Sunday. It was exceptionally well organised by the Swindon crew (Dave Fry, Martin Steed and Co.). All the tables for the 140+ competitors were situated in a single room, and at the start of each round, each persons seating position was displayed via an over-head projector so everyone in the entire room could see it. If only every tournament was organised this way. The top 11 won invitations to the National. 9 rounds of Swiss (no knockout or anything) so we figured that a couple of 7-2's would probably get in. The "3 pts for a win, 1 for a draw" system was in operation. Round 1 - vs Sean McAuley - G/U/W (strange) deck. Game 1 I started fast, Two Knights and a Skulker in the first 4 turns. Sean played 4 Painlands and took out the Skulker with a Nature's Chosen (?). The only other cards I saw him play were Winter Orb (I had my Lake out) and Diamond Kaleidascope. It was over quickly. Game 2 Sean had about the worst mana-screw possible - a single Hollow Trees for about the first 6 turns. He did manage to pop out a Dervish and a Roots Of Life though, which slowed me down a little. He got an Undiscovered Paradise as his next land which helped, but a Phyrexian Warbeast ended it quickly. Match: 2-0 Total Matches: 1-0 Total Games: 2-0 Round 2 - vs John.... - White Weenie We both knew these games would be quick. In game 1 we both got out 2nd and 3rd turn Orders, although he went first so had the extra damage advantage. He was on 7 and going to kill me next turn, I tutored for a Lake, attacked for 4 and Drained for 3. The Drain Life makes all the difference. Game two was much easier for me. John saw a couple of creatures, one of them an Order. I had sideboarded in Dystopia's instead of Gloom because he was playing with Adarkar Wastes and I suspected Sleights or Mind Bends. I took out his Order and two other creatures with the Dystopia, and beat on him with an Order. He showed me his hand when he died - 3 x Adarkar Wastes and 3 x Afterlife, all useless. Match:2-0 Total matches: 2-0 Total games: 4-0 Round 3 - Andy Page - R/W GargoyleHaups. I knew right at the start of this tournament I should have added Ebony Charms to my sideboard to get rid of these damn annoying Gargoyles (and Hammers) but I forgot. Lost me this match. Game 1 - He took a little early damage, and burned some of my creatures, then got down a Gargoyle. I hadn't been holding land back as I was a little short. He Jokul'ed the turn after, and I didn't draw another land, dying to the Gargoyle, and finally a Sandstalker (He was holding Land + Glaciers). Game 2 was better. Occasional hits from Knights and Ghosts got him down to 11, whilst I was still looking healthy. The Drain and the Lake showed up when needed, and a 6 pt Drain, followed by a 5 pt Crypt Rat finshed things in short order. Game 3 started evenly. After turn 8-9 we were both down to around 10 life. I had a Black Knight, he had a Gargoyle. A Winter Orb was on the table, but he'd Pillaged both of my Lakes so it was affecting me as much as him. I was expecting a Jokul, and had been holding Swamps, but what I was not expecting was a Spirit Link on his Gargoyle! I can't find a Nekrataal, Contagion or Disk to kill the Gargoyle and remove the Spirit Link, and the life he gains over the next 5 turns keeps him at around 10 whilst I plummet to 0. A bad way to go. Match: 1-2 Total Matches: 2-1 Total Games: 5-2 Round 4 - James ..... - Mono Red DD. Game 1 sees James with a bad land draw. He sees two Mountains (One of which I Choke) and 1 Quicksand (Which kills a Knight). The rest of my creatures steam over and he's down to 0 by turn 7. Game 2 is more along the lines of what I'd expect against mono-red. I get a little early damage in with the creatures taking him down to 13, but then his burn has enough mana to work, and he kills everything I put on the table. By this time I have plenty of mana and the ever-faithful Drain Lifes do their work. The one in my hand takes 8 life from him, and I tutor for a second Drain to get the final 5. Match: 2-0 Total Matches: 3-1 Total Games: 7-2 Round 5 - Ellis Romero - U/W Couter Post. The first game is a long one. I get a Sheltered Valley, and a Lake out early and I gain life for about the first 10 turns - I can tell he's starting to wonder whether he'll be able to kill me. I do a lot of damage to him, but he Wraths and Disks at the appropriate times to stop it getting too messy. He finally plays a Rainbow Efreet and then Binding Grasps one of my Knights. It's not looking good. I try and draw a Counter by playing a Disk - it works, only the counter in question is Desertion and he steals the Disk from me! The Drain which would've killed him gets Forced. I'm sitting with practically no cards in my hand, and he still has several. My next few draws aren't great, as the Rainbow Efreet smacks me around. He doesn't attack with my Knight as I can double Quicksand it. he then gets a Helm out and snatches a Warbeast from my deck. It's all too much for me to deal with, and although he's on only 1 life, he has a fistful of counters, and I can't get the damage through. I concede in the hope fo winning the next two quickly. Game 2 I still don't know what happened. I had a slightly bad land draw, and it took me several turns before I was able to cast anything offensive (Only Warbeasts and Nekrataals in hand). He had an excellent start, with an Outpost down early. He saw all three Disks in a very short space of time, which as well as killing my creatures, took out Bad Moons and Winter Orbs. Because of this he had plenty of counters left, and I conceded when faced with an Outpost, an Efreet, and two of my own Knights (Desertion and Grasp), and I had no cards in hand. Match: 0-2 Total Matches: 3-2 Total Games: 7-5 Round 6 - Sue..... - Mono Green. This is the sort of deck I like playing against. The advantage gained from the Nekrataals and the multitude of first-striking creatures almost always wins out. Game 1 goes well. I get a few early cretaures out, and see Quirion Rangers and a Jolraels Centaur on the other side of the table, none of which concern me too much. Sue plays a Splintering Wind (A card which I love to play, but hate to play against) which can kill off all my creatures given enough time, but a Winter Orb shuts it down completely after the first Splinter Token is made, and when the Token dies so do a couple of her creatures. Game over. I have a great opening hand in game 2: 3 Swamps, a Drain, a Warbeast and a 2 Nekrataals. Sue gets down a lot of early weenies, including 2 Rangers and a Centaur. I put down the Warbeast on turn three, to block the Centaur, only to see it get splatted by an Uktabi Orangutan! This forces me to lose one of my 3 swamps and I don't see another land all game I die to the Rangers/Orangutan/Centaur, despite having the two Nekrataals and the Drain in hand. Game 3 I lose because of one play. In a creature battle (Knights and Warbeasts vs Boas and Stampeeding Wildebeest) we are just about even, although the Wildebeests can give me a problem. Sue's only untapped land is a Heart Of Yavimaya. I tap 6 of my 7 swamps to Drain the Beests for 4, and she pumps them to 5 toughness. I could've Drained for 5 if I'd thought about it but I was just not paying attention. That mistake lost me the game and the match. :-( Match: 1-2 Total Matches 3-3 Total Games: 8-6 Round 7 - Chris Warr - G/W. The first game starts OK. We trade a little damage here and there, then Chris drops a Dervish. This gives me problems immediately as I have no Quicksand. I draw a Scimitar to deal with it. He then drops a Scalebanes Elite (This is pre- sideboarding!) and I'm in trouble. He Creeping Molds the Scimitar and attacks with the Elite leaving the Dervish to block. I lay down a Disk to get rid of them both, but Chris draws a second Creeping Mold from the top of his deck and that wins him the game. The second game is similar. Chris sees a couple of his pro- black creatures but we both take damage. I get a disk down when we're both on around 5 life. This time it doesn't get molded and I clear the board. We quickly develop a standoff situation. I have an Evil Eye a Knight and 2 Quicksands, but he has a Dervish and an Elephant Grass which prevents me from attacking. He can keep the Grass down for ages, but I need to draw a single Swamp to have enough to Drain him for the win. It takes a few turns but it finally shows up, and it's another game won via a Drain Life. Game 3 is very strong for me. I lose only 7 life all from the upkeep of 2 Dystopias (1+2+3, 1) but they take out two Elephant Grass, an Elf, a Dervish and a Scalbanes Elite so I'm not too bothered! Several Knights and Skulkers finish Chris off in 4 attacks. Match: 2-1 Total Matches: 4-3 Total Games: 10-7 Round 8 - Madog - R/W Gargoyle (Again!!!) >From this tournament and the last I'm getting pretty sick of Ivory Gargoyles by now (Played 5 decks with them in I think). Game 1 goes OK. An early Sheltered Valley gains me plenty of life, and a Winter Orb shuts down some of his DD. My weenies do him some early damage, and he can't get rid of an Evil Eye under the Winter Orb. A Drain does the final few points. Game 2 is close. His DD keeps my creatures at bay, and he has sideboarded in Diamonds to deal with the Winter Orbs. A Gargoyle combined with Wraths and Earthquakes shuts down most of my offense, and once I run out of creatures, the DD and the Gargoyle finish me. Game 3 I die horribly. I see one swamp in my first 4 turns, by which time he has 4 land and two Diamonds which means he can cast big DD spells and Gargoyles at his leisure. The Winter Orb barely affects him now, and my sole Disk is either Pillaged or Disenchanted (Forget which). I die fairly quickly whilst he is barely scratched. Match: 1-2 Total Matches: 4-4 Total games: 11-9 I bow out of the tournament at this point as I've got a BBQ to go to, and there's only one round left. I'm a little disappointed, but not overly so. I only lost one game 2-0 and I feel the other 3 I lost could've gone either way. Ebony Charms in the sideboard would've helped out immensely against the two Gargoyle decks, and it was only through my own idiocy that I lost to the mono-green. Everyone has 20/20 hindsight. :-) Well it's the Weatherlight tournament tomorrow, and I may do some sort of report on that depending on how feasible it is. The next qualifier is the week after. Here's my deck listing for those that are interested: 4 x Black Knight 4 x Pump Knight 3 x Skulking Ghost 2 x Phyrexian Warbeast 2 x Dancing Scimitar 2 x Evil Eye Of Orms By Gore 4 x Nekrataal 2 x Crypt Rat 3 x Choking Sands 3 x Winter Orb 3 x Drain Life 2 x Contagion 1 x Vampiric Tutor 2 x Nev's Disk 3 x Lake Of The Dead 4 x Quicksand 2 x Sheltered Valley 14 x Swamp Sideboard: 3 x Dystopia 3 x Bad Moon 2 x Gloom 1 x Winter Orb 1 x Choking Sands 1 x Drain Life 1 x Nev's Disk 1 x Contagion 2 x Dirtwater Wraith (These I would swap for Funeral Charms as I didn't see a lot of Black.) Scott scott.wills@nene.ac.uk