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NaClhv
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« on: April 06, 2003, 05:27:25 pm » |
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First, some general commentary about the deck:
ABM has no doubt gotten weaker with the recent changes in type 1: Grow variants, which were one of the bad matchups for ABM, has become the dominant deck in type 1. When ABM was first introduced, people didn't play much grow, so I didn't pay much attention to it despite the fact that we knew it was a good deck which beat ABM. Now, that very deck is everywhere.
Also, Keeper and other blue-based control decks, which ABM has a favorable matchup against, has become less popular, and has therefore caused ABM to become correspondingly weaker.
The aggro-control startegy of ABM has become weaker as well, since the 2/2 creatures of ABM did pretty well when faced against the creatures of sligh, stompy, mishra's factory, or other similar creatures. But now, the creatures which dominate the format are dryads, togs, dreadnoughts, and sui-chis.
Lastly, ABM has not received any good cards from the recent sets, whereas virtually every other deck in the format has benefitted from the new fetchlands, which is probably the biggest thing to hit type 1 since the Urza block.
However, despite all these setbacks, ABM continues to be a good deck which can finish high in a tournament, as the following tournament reports here demonstrate. It is no longer simply THE deck to play, as it was up to the time when groatog got popular, but it takes its place as one of the 8 or so decks which make up the set of solid contenders in the type 1 metagame.
The decklist:
A Beautiful mind
5 plains
3 islands
4 gemstone mine
2 undiscovered paradise
1 city of traitors
1 library of alexandria
1 mox pearl
1 mox sapphire
1 mox jet
1 mox emerald
1 mox diamond
1 sol ring
1 black lotus
4 land tax
4 scroll rack
2 whirlpool warrior
1 trade routes
1 zuran orb
2 meddling mage
1 devout witness
1 gorilla shaman
1 psychatog
1 cunning wish
2 back to basics
2 swords to plowshares
4 force of will
1 misdirection
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 mystical tutor
1 merchant scroll
1 regrowth
1 ancestral recall
1 time walk
1 balance
1 yawgmoth's will
1 mind twist
60 cards
SB:
3 blood moon
2 swords to plowshares
1 diabolic edict
1 dismantling blow
1 abolish
2 waterfront bouncer
2 meddling mages
1 sylvan library
1 ebony charm
1 misdirection
As you can see, the deck has become a lot more controllish since the last time. This is a consequence of the change in the metagame, and it does not reflect the "optimal" state of the deck as dictated by the deck theory. Rather, it is a form which comes about because the "optimal" deck has to be warped in order to adapt to the metagame. Critique of the decklist is welcome as usual.
Anyway, on to the reports:
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C&J's holds its regular Thursday night type 1 event at Newark, CA, and for the last few weeks there have been a increase in the number of players showing up. I believe that there was about 25-30 people there this week. Since I didn't get to play in too many type 1 tournament prior to this, I'm glad that it's a strong field when I show up there.
Round 1: Zack, playing mono-black.
Zack is a young player (about 10?) playing a mono-black deck, with hyppies. I didn't get to see too much of his deck, as I won both games fairly quickly with an early tax-rack. In game 2, my opening play was mox pearl-land tax, city of traitors-sol ring-scroll rack.
Matches: 1-0
Games: 2-0
Round 2: Gim, playing sligh.
He comes at me with a steady stream of burn spells and some creatures, while I get a scroll rack. I find a land tax with the scroll rack, but we're both at 2 lands, and Gim knows not to play land against my deck. So I need to find my zuran orb. Meanwhile, I manage to kill all of Gim's creatures, and get a meddling mage down naming lightning bolt. But by this time, I'm at 1 life, while I'm still looking at the same set of cards with the scroll rack.
In a streak of bad luck, Gim manages to topdeck nothing but lands and lightning bolts for the next few turns. He manages to get a non-bolt burn spell to kill my mage, but I have a force of will for it (hardcast, as I was at 1 life). Eventually, the scroll rack's allowing me to topdeck at 2X the speed allows me to find a whirlpool warrior, and I whirl into the zuran orb. From there, I have tax-rack-zorb, and that seals the game.
In game 2, I get a mox diamond, sol ring, scroll rack, some lands, and a zuran orb, and then perform one of the most beautiful plays in all of magic: The perfect balance. 0 lands, 0 creatures, 0 cards in hand. I still have my artifacts, and Gim can't recover from the balace.
Matches: 2-0
Games: 4-0
Round 3: Tin, playing a quicksliver dagger-apathy combo deck.
I was forewarned by another player of this random combo beforehand, so I go into the match with the appropriate caution. As it turns out, this wasn't so necessary, as my deck likes me and gives me an early tax-rack both games. Soon meddling mages are naming combo pieces, and I win without difficulty.
Matches: 3-0
Games: 6-0
Round 4: David, playing Nether Void.
First game, I open with lotus-scroll rack, vamp tutor for land tax, play plains. He plays a swamp. Next turn I play the land tax, and we're both at 1 land. He plays a swamp, with "mox jet" written on it. I exclaim, "What!?", both from the surprise of seeing a proxy and the shock of the fact that he got to 2 mana without playing a land. David says, "no, no, it's a swamp", as it should be, since this is a sanctioned tournament. He says that he just couldn't borrow the power today, like he usually does for the other weeks. He then proceeds to ritual out a nether void. He later plays another swamp, with "black lotus" written on it. I feel a little bad. Anyway, tax-rack works fine under void, and I eventually build up my mana base with Ring of Sisay and the Ramos charms, and get a devout witness down. David scoops.
If David had been able to get a hold of power, then he would have been able to play around my tax-rack for a while, but would have eventually had to play the second land, since nether-void is a very mana hungry deck. I think the game would have been harder for me, but the final outcome wouldn't have changed.
In game 2, David gets down a fast necro. I'm soon overwhelmed with many creatures, while I have nothing but a land tax and some lands on my side of the table, and nothing in my hand. David attacks, and I will certainly die with the next attack.
In this crucial do-or-die situation, I tax for 3, then topdeck a time walk. I cast it. I tax for 3 more, and topdeck a whirlpool warrior. I cast the warrior, and and whirl into a lotus and a scroll rack. I cast the scroll rack using the lotus, and scroll the rest of my hand away. (David is looking rather bewildered at this point) I scroll into crap. I then sack the whirlpool warrior, and whirl into my ancestral recall. Ancestral finally gets me a solution: zuran orb. I also had another land tax which I picked up along all this insanity. I am now set: I will survive the next attack with the zuran orb, then I get to look at at least 8 new cards with double tax-rack on my next turn.
Alas, it turns out all not to matter. David attacks, and by using a dark ritual to pump up his nantuko shade, he deals more damage to me than I can sack lands for. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
In game 3, we go back and forth for a while, but I eventually get tax-rack and that seals the game.
Matches: 4-0
Games: 8-1
Round 5: Justin, playing Groatog.
In game 1, despite an early back to basics, Justin gets going without too much trouble. He soon gets a tog and a dryad on the table, and counters my attempt to balance. I die on the next turn. It was turn 5, I believe. My chances of being wrong are high, though since I didn't take too much notes. Anyway, the point is that Groatog killed with counter backup, on turn 5, through a back to basics. Sick.
Fortunately, this is a matchup that I've prepared for. I side in extra swords, blood moons, and waterfront bouncers. I feel pretty good about my sideboard against growatog, so I go into game 2 expecting to do well.
Ah, but Justin gets fastbond-gush-yawgwill craziness, and kills me on the second turn. Sick.
We play a few more games afterwards, and I manage to win some of those. At the end of the night, my net record with growatog was 3-4, showing that the matchup is unfavorable but not unwinnable for ABM.
So, I get to the finals, only to let first place slip through my fingers again. My record for the night is:
Matches: 4-1
Games: 8-3
Which is good enough to earn me 3rd place. Ironically, David, whom I've beat in round 4, places 2nd, ahead of me in tiebreakers. Ah, well.
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The report on Matchplay will be very short, since this post is long enough already.
There was about 25-30 people again, with a number of these players coming from Games of Berkeley and C&J's. The format was 5 rounds of swiss, then cut to the top 8.
I run into the WORST MATCHUPS EVER. If you've been following the posts on ABM, you know that grow and combo are the two bad matchups for ABM. Well, on Sunday at Matchplay, I ran into a first-round groatog, followed by 3 combo decks. Despite having pretty much the worst possible matchups, I manage to make top 8, and end the day with a 3-2-1 record. I get 3 legions packs as prizes for losing on the first round of top 8. I played pack wars with the packs, and realized that legions is a really, really crappy set.
On to the actual report:
Round 1: Christian, playing Growatog.
Both games, he gets first turn fastbond, and casts more gushes than there are in his deck, before he's gone through half of his deck. Sick.
0-1
Round 2: Brent, playing turboland.
In game 1, I see a first turn exploration, so I name horn of greed with my meddling mage. He kills it but I have another one handy. I soon establish control with tax, rack, B2B, and the mage, and Brent concedes.
In game 2, I get down a blood moon and a medding mage, and the game is soon over.
1-1
Round 3: Charles, playing discard/phrexian arena/black drain spells.
Game 1 ends pretty fast with some early beatdown on my side, and his phyrexian arenas dealing damage to him. In game 2, he gets multiple arenas out and goes into drain mode, while I have a near empty hand because of his discard. However, he can't quite finish me off before I get a tax-rack, which soon becomes a double-tax-rack, and I eventually win.
2-1
Round 4: Emmanuel, playing Dragon.
In game 1, I have a meddling mage naming buried alive, and a back to basics in play. Emmanuel, however, goes frantic search, tapping 3 nonbasic lands, and then discards the combo into his graveyard. He untaps, and casts animate. Bah.
In game 2, I get multiple meddling mages out shutting out his combo. He gets some negators, but they get swords. I beatdown for the win.
Game 3 is very similar to game 2, except time is called. I get a tog out and swing on the 5th extra turn, but I can't deal the last 2 points to him, for the want of a single card in my hand. So we draw.
2-1-1
Round 5: Louis, playing TNT.
Finally, a favorable matchup. I get multiple swords to stave off his early beatdown, then get tax-rack. I win from there fairly easily. In game 2, I name survival and welder with my mages, get tax-rack, and kill my opponent's creatures with sideboard cards.
3-1-1
This is enough to get me into top 8.
First round of top 8: Max, playing Academy.
I catch his academy under back to basics, but max plays lotus, frantic search, untap academy, use it, regrowth frantic search, untap academy again. He goes off soon thereafter. In game 2, I get a double tax-rack in play, but max makes an excellent play- using his candelabra to untap his gemstone mines, then tapping it again to destroy it by removing the last counter, thereby making our land count even. Sometime afterwards, he plays a draw 7- I draw into 2 FoW's, but he has an abeyance, a force, a demonic tutor, and an overall more broken 7 than mine. He abeyances me and goes off.
3-2-1
Not too bad, considering that I ran into the WORST CONCEIVABLE MATCHUPS for my deck.
Lots of other weird things happened in this tournament - like the two gro players both taking themselves out of contention, one by filling out the match results incorrectly, and the other by accidentally presenting an illegal deck to his opponent in the 3rd game in a round. Apparently, a type 1 tournaments at Matchplay will become a regular event, so in the future we will perhaps have better tournament reports being written without such strange things happening, and the tournament being more reflective of the current state of type 1.
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