No funny stuff here, just a brief report for those that are interested in the performance of 4CC w/Tinker. Hopefully, MoreFling will get around to posting T8 and lists soon.
Saturday 17th of September marked the first T1 tourney organised by GamesWorld Eindhoven. It was held at a well-known venue (where GameForce used to hold theirs) so attendance was okay (42 people) for a first tournament. The fact that they had a minty UL Mox Jet, a Mirror Universe and a box of Kamigawa up for grabs for the T8 for a 10 euro entry fee helped some, too. It's a decent venue and the tourney was well-run an good fun. It was also the first tourney for me in like four months and marked the first time I actually picked up a deck in some three months. I wanted to play Kowal's Madness list and found several people willing to root through their binders to get the stuff I needed only to find out an hour before the tourney that I was missing way more than I initially thought (Mongrels, Wurms...) so I smahsed the glass of my Emergency Tourney Deck Cabinet and played 4CC. I didn't have a list handy so I printed out some random 4CC list from Morphling.de and crossed out what I didn't play etc. Since I was pressed for time, I dubbed the deck 'T8 Decks On Morphling.dec', which was done simply by adding a 'C' to the printed page's header. Rudy convinced me to try the Tinker/Colossus/Karn tech I had never tested, and because of the 'what the hell' feeling I had ever since I discovered I couldn't play Madness, I did. I left it at 61 cards because I didn't immediately know what to cut and again I figured what the hell, this shit isn't affecting my rating anyway (in retrospect the Mystical can easily go). MoreFling will probably post T8 and decks soon (from what I know off the top of my head: Trinistax 1st, 4CC 2nd, and another Trinistax build, a Madness build and another 4CC somewhere in the T8).
'T8 Decks On Morphling.dec'4 Flooded Strand
2 City of Brass
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Skeletal Scrying
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk
1 Balance
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Fire/Ice
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Darksteel Colossus
2 Exalted Angel
SB: 3 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Flametogue Kavu
SB: 2 Rack and Ruin
SB: 1 Fire/Ice
SB: 1 Coffin Purge
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Vampiric Tutor
SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 1 Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 1 Skeletal Scrying
SB: 1 Mind Twist
Round 1 - Rudy Bloemberg (The Man Show)
Game 1: I get a first turn Crucible, and he gets one too, off a Crypt. Great. This meant we were in for a long haul. My hand was less than great, so I hoped for Crypt damage. A Mana Vault came out to help me s'more. Right before his Crypt almost went all the way, he topdecked a Shrapnel Blast (MixingMike tech, I believe) putting me at 8, and saving himself from fatal Crypt damage. I was unable to stop a Titan, and died.
Game 2: I crap out an early morph Angel and beat once while morphed. The turn after, I find my second white mana, start the 8-lifeswing per turn insanity, manage some dorks thrown my way, and win.
Game 3: We were on a tight clock because of an overly long first game. I control the board early on, but fail to find decent card advantage spells. He manages to get out a Titan in the turn we were called for time and hence was unable to go all the way. We draw.
0-0-1
Round 2 - Pieter (Oath)
Game 1: Nothing much happens initially, while I crap out land, counter key spells and build up card advantage. Eventually I go for an Angel, and he manages to force through an Oath the consecutive turn. A turn later, he Oaths for Darksteel Colossus, which I can STP. When he Oaths for another one a turn later, I bait a counter with some half-decent card (I can't remember which) which he Memory Lapses (wow...how ironic!). I Drain it to get the two additional mana I needed on my turn to
hardcast my own Darksteel Colossus. The two dorks just sit there on opposite sides* and eventually I finish him off with my Angel.
Game 2: Once again, Game 1 had taken rather long and Game 2 wasn't any different. I was able to build up massive card advantage through multiple Scryings after he had managed an early Oath. I just sat there with a hand full out counters and removal. I played an Angel at one point, after which he activates Oath. Time was called, and I could have finished him off before the end of the extra turns without him being able to kill me, but since I was ahead 1-0 anyway, I decided to go the safe route and gave him 11 life at EOT with an STP. We drew that game, and I won.
1-0-1
Round 3 - Adriaan (Anhk Sligh)
Game 1: I had no idea what he was playing, and I went first. I played Tundra - Jet - Lotus. Sac Lotus for blue, tap Jet, play Tinker for Darksteel Colussus (saccing Jet, obv.) with 1 blue floating, an untapped Tundra and a Mana Drain on hand. Turn 1 11/11 creatures in a control deck kick ass. Or rather, they didn't, because my opponent took his turn, dropped a Mountain, reconsidered, and scooped. The Mountain drop was a mistake, since it gave me a fair idea of what to board.
Game 2: I had correctly assumed I would be up against some Slight variant. I Fired an eary Pup and Fanatic and established board control at the cost of a fair amount of life, FOW'ing an Ankh at one point. I got hit once by a surprise Ball Lightning (!) afterwards, taking me down to 6. I was now ready for any creatures he could thrown at me, having 2 STP's on hand, but he hit me with an Incinerate (FOW), a Chain (which I was unable to counter and didn't bounce
and a Bolt that killed me. Ouch.
Game 3:
He hits me repeatedly with an turn 1 Pup that I eventually Plow, bringing him to 22. At that point, I Tinker for a Colossus. Since 22 = 11 x 2, and his only blocker is a new Pup, I win two turns later.
2-0-1
Round 4 - xxxx - (U/G Madness)
Game 1: He opens with Tropical - Careful Study which is kind of a dead giveaway. I open with Crucible. I play an AsianBB Skeletal soon after, and he calls a judge for the Oracle wording. Great. His prerogative ofcourse, but since everything but my UL power and my germanBB duals in 4cc is asian, this kind if behaviour could suck. I explain the card, and offer to continue playing as the judge was busy at the moment, explaining that if the judge would rule that I explained it wrong when he came over later on, I'd lose anyway. He accepts, the judge confirms my explanation later on, and he doesn't question any of my other asian cards (which leads me to suspect that he knew the card, but was just unsure whether the lifeloss was part of the cost or not). He tries some stuff but because I saw an early Ancestral and Time walk I had resources to spare to counter his madness outlets. I topdeck a Wasteland, kill his mana base, and go for the win.
Game 2: Second turn Darksteel Colossus gets him in scooping mode.
3-0-1
Round 5 - Hero 't Mannetje a.k.a. Pyromaniac (TPS)
We were both at 10 points in this 6 rounder, and last time 13 points was the benchmark for T8 with the same amount of players. Hero is a teammate ofcourse, but a draw would be detrimental to both of us. The math is simple: the winner can draw into T8 the next round, and the loser needs to win the consecutive round.
Game 1: Tendrils my
ass. Hero plays a turn 1 Necro which I can't FOW (I didn't want to mulligan to FOW with a hand this good). In two turns, he gets himself to 6, playing a Tinkering for a Darksteel Colossus over a Jar. Interesting choice given the fact that I play STP's, but it turned out great for him. He must've figured that ploughing a Colossus would draw him 11 cards. In spite of all my massive card drawing, I fail to find an answer however and go from 19 to 8. He finishes me off that same turn with a Tendrils.
Game 2: More of the same. No Necro this time; just a Tinker that fetched his Colossus again. I brought myself to 1 with a pair of Scryings digging for Balance or STP but failed and the big-ass monster went all the way in no time at all.
3-1-1
Round 6 - Jesse Cornelissen (TPS)
Game 1: Great. I need to win this one to make T8 and I get paired against the only deck that beat me today. I manage to FOW a Twister early on, but he recovers and finds a Will which he is able to force through (with a Duress if memory serves). He tries to go nuts but fails, and ends up taking 1 mana burn. Good. That's two rituals, a Will and a Demonic less I need to worry about. He can't recover and I commence Angel beatdown for the win.
Game 2: Things initially look up for me, but he topdecks a Bargain which I can't stop. He takes himself all the way down to 1 life (and I'm talking
starting at 20 here). He still has a land drop, so he makes it, and thinks. And thinks. And thinks again. To my surprise the best thing he can do is Tendrils me for 12, thereby drawing him 12 more cards. He thinks. Hard. Really hard. And scoops. He had drawn
31 cards that turn and couldn't go off because he missed one lousy mana. It was incredible! His remaining library was like 7 cards, among which were a Lotus and at least 4 Moxen. The odds against that are so incredible that we took a pic of his library-sized hand (containing nothing but FOWS and land and stuff he couldn't play) and remaining lib before I moved on to the T8.
4-1-1
Playoffs:
Qaurter Finals - Jochem v/d Hoven (4CC)
Game 1: a lengthy game that, surprisingly, saw no Crucibles until very late in the game. Jochem clearly had the better hand and I couldn't recover from his card advantage. Specifics elude me, but my life totals tell me I had a Colossus at one point that never attacked and got Ploughed. I scooped at 11.
Game 2: MoreFling wrote some match coverage on this game, which he may or may not post later on. Some highlights: he tries to Ancestral during the upkeep of my 2nd turn. I have FOW but no blue card. I Skeletal for 1 in response, drawing a blue card (Brainstorm?) and try to stop the Ancestral. He FOWs back. Oh well. I proceed to make a horrible mistake a few turns later by playing another Skeletal (for 4 this time) in my main phase (!) while he has two blue open (I guess it was a desperate and really badly executed attempt at getting back in the game card advantage wise). Naturally, he Drains and plays an Angel off my mana. He sinks the remainder into his Shaman to kill my moxen and I look just about ready to scoop. But then I draw Balance. I play it and to my surprise it resolves, leaving us both with 1 (or 2?) land, and maybe two cards on hand. My plan was to Tinker out my Karn as quickly as possible, killing his two moxen, which would give me the superior board position (I had Colossus and Tinker on hand with no Brainstorm). Somehow, though, I manage to draw some more cards through maybe a Scrying and Jochem feels the need to Balance. Since this would leave me unable to play Karn the next turn
and take out his Moxen on the same turn, I FOW. He FOWS back, and Balance resolves, costing me a land and some cards. Naturally I choose the Colossus, which goes back in the lib. On my next turn, seeing as how I can't use Karn to kill his pair of Moxen anyway for lack of mana, I Tinker up the Colossus and just hope for the best. It managed to swing once taking him down to 7 before he can Wish for an STP and basically end my game right there. Soon after, he resolves a mediocre Will that was good enough to get back some dorks and I could do naught but scoop. I get some boosters thrown my way and stay to watch Jochem duke it out with Joram de Kraker (Trinistax) in the finals and lose.
Props:
- Everyone for searching for the crap cards I needed for Madness and not murdering me when I didn't play it.
- MoreFling and Limbo for borrowing me some random 4CC stuff.
- GamesWord for running a good tourney on their first try and for seriously considering our suggestion of making it Holland's first proxy tournament next time. Yay!
*= ...and the Darksteel Colossuses, too.
