Kerz
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« on: September 14, 2004, 12:31:02 am » |
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Top Eight Waterbury: Aaron LeKarz vs. John “Ultima� Blake
Coming into this match, both players are noticeably excited. They have just reached the top eight of a 187 person tournament, and are guaranteed at least a Library of Alexandria! Both players being truly top-notch, this is definitely going to be an excellent match!
The interesting nature of the matchup is intensified by John’s deck choice: Mono Blue Charbelcher. The deck seems to play out similarly to Smmenen’s Mono Blue, but with Ophidians and Impulses out for an imported Tog draw engine (4 Accumulated Knowledge, 2 Deep Analysis, 2 Intuition) and room made for Goblin Charbelchers and Mana Severence. The numbers of these cards are speculation, seeing I havn’t seen the actual decklist. Nonetheless, this deck proved to be an amazing metagame choice, bringing John to the top eight after beating Steven “Grand Inquisitor� Houldette in the top 16.
Aaron, besides from having an awesome name, is also an excellent player who narrowly missed top eight at GenCon. He is playing TPS, the slower but more consistant Tendrils deck in the format, which has seen much success overseas. Well, the days of its overseas-only success are over!
Aaron’s deck is obviously faster than John’s. John’s goal in the match is to simply use his many counters to run Aaron out of gas, while getting the Charbelcher out ASAP for the kill. Even on topdeck mode, TPS is a very, very dangerous deck. Aaron has 8 counters of his own though (4 Duress 4 Force of Will), so he won’t go without a fight.
Game 1
John wins the roll and draws his grip.
He keeps the following:
Island
Island
Island
Wasteland
Sol Ring
Time Walk
Accumulated Knowledge
Aaron looks at his seven card hand of Underground Sea, Island, Island, Polluted Delta, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, Swamp, Duress and decides it isn’t keepable.
On his second try for a good hand, his deck gives him: Academy, Darksteel Colossus, Island, Duress, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, Tendrils of Agony. He sighs and throws it back for 5.
He draws his five cards: Swamp, Black Lotus, Dark Ritual, Rebuild, and Duress. He doesn’t have much choice and chooses to keep.
John starts out with a solid Island, Sol Ring play. Aaron draws Lion’s Eye Diamond, increasing the already huge amount of expendable mana in his hand. He plays Swamp, go. John draws Merchant Scroll, then plays Island and casts Time Walk with 1 colorless floating. After that resolves, he casts his Accumulated Knowledge, which draws him a Mana Severence. On his Time Walk turn, John draws Force of Will, then casts Mana Severence, removing what looked to be all the lands from his library. He then played the Merchant Scroll, getting Mystical Tutor.
Aaron takes his turn, drawing Force of Will. He casts Duress to which John responds by Mystical Tutoring for Tinker. Aaron takes John’s Force of Will and passes. John takes his turn, casting Tinker. Aaron casts Force of Will removing Rebuild leaving John with nothing in his hand but a Wasteland! Aaron has a huge chance to capitalize, but draws an Underground Sea and is forced to pass the turn right back. John draws a Lotus, then Wastelands Aaron’s Sea. Aaron breaks the stalemate by ripping a Tinker! He plays Lotus and Lion’s Eye, then casts the Tinker (he is forced to sacrifice the LED). John obviously has no responses and sighs as Aaron happily fetches out his fat man- Darksteel Colossus.
John takes his turn, drawing Mox Jet.He casts it, making his boards just some Islands, a Lotus, and Sol Ring. He has no hand, and says go. Aaron draws a Dark Ritual, and turns C-Lo sideways. John eats his 11 like a man and draws his final card: an Accumulated Knowledge. He casts it, drawing Mox Pearl and Branstorm. He then Brainstorms, drawing Cunning Wish, Mana leak, and Mana Severance. After putting back Severance and Mana Leak, he casts Cunning wish off Lotus for Chain of Vapor, returning the Colossus back to LeKarz’s hand!
Aaron, obviously a little peeved after that miraculous chain of events, draws a Sapphire and passes.
John draws the Mana Leak he set back with Brainstorm last turn, and passes back. Aaron draws Tendrils, passing but realizing that now he is just waiting for a few more spells with a Ritual already in hand and John at 8 life. John, still drawing dead off the Brainstorm 2 turns ago, picks up his Mana Severance and passes. Aaron draws another Ritual, bringing him closer to the Lethal Tendrils. John is finally past his 2 Brainstorm’ed cards, and sees a Mana Drain on his draw step. Continuing the vastly entertaining game of Draw-Go, Aaron draws an Underground Sea and passes. John sees Back to Basics and sends it back to Aaron, drawing Tolarian Academy. John picks up AK for 3 and says go, while Aaron draws Sol Ring. He decidecs the time is right and casts Mox Sapphire, which then casts Sol Ring. Then he casts Ritual, which is met by a Drain on John’s side. LeKarz plays his Academy, and goes for Ritual #2. John Mana Leaks it, but Aaron pays the bills with a Sol Ring and Academy, leaving a few Blue floating. With his newfound three black mana and a bunch of spells on the stack, Tendrils of Agony is cast, and they move on to game 2.
Sideboarding:
Aaron sides in 3 Damping Matrix, taking out Darksteel Colossus, Memory Jar, and Chain of Vapor.
John isn’t cool enough to show me what he put in or took out. Maybe he’ll PM me later. (wink wink).
Game 2
John sees a hand of Darksteel Colossus, Mox Jet, Polluted Delta, Island, Goblin Charbelcher, and Mana Leak. After John chooses to keep, Aaron takes a peek at his hand.
Aaron likes what he has: Polluted Delta, Brainstorm, Mana Crypt, Rebuild, Island, and two Dark Rituals.
John starts it off by casts Mox Jet and cracking a polluted Delta for Island. Aaron draws a Brainstorm and casts Brainstorm off his Island. Seeing Force of Will times two along with a Damping Matrix, he chooses to put back a Matrix. John draws Chalice and passes. Aaron draws Matrix and then Fetches a Swamp. John then draws a Force of Will, prompting him to cast the Chalice for zero. Unphased, Aaron lets it resolve. I believe John was overestimating the power of Chalice for zero versus TPS. Aaron then draws a Force of his own, and casts Brainstorm, seeing Mox Sapphire, Yawgmoth’s Will, and Duress. Matrix and Force go back on top, and another Fetch is played and sacrificed. John has a simple Island, Go turn, letting Aaron draw a Matrix. Aaron plays Ritual, which draws out a Mana Leak from John.
At this point, the game state has initiated a relatively controlling game played by both players. Aaron finds himself doing what TPS does quite often: simply biding his time until one explosive turn, where he will win without a doubt. This explains all the Draw-Go’ing, and can also make a case for LeKarz’s controlish sideboarding plan. With nothing threatening LeKarz, there’s no reason for him not to sit back, bait counters here and there, and amass a potent hand ensuring victory.
John draws ANOTHER counter, a Mana Drain. He has no play but to pass. Aaron draws a Lotus, trying to cast Rit #2, which meets a hardcast Force of Will. Content with the trade, LeKarz passes. John draws Delta, which is Sacrificed to get an island. John goes for the Charbelcher, which Aaron decides to Force of Will after much deliberation. With only two lands out, Aaron could bank on drawing a mana source to cast his Damping Matrix, or he could cast Force, losing his only way to deal with Chalice at the moment. Aaron’s Force meets a Mana Drain anyways, and John passes. Aaron draws a Time Spiral, then Duresses seeing only Colossus after John’s hand being spent last turn.
John then takes his turn, drawing AK. With 6 Islands, John goes for the hardcast Darksteel! It resolves, and Aaron draws a Mana Crypt (uncastable). John takes his turn, Intuitions for 3 Mana Drains, and passes. On his last turn, Aaron sees a Mox Pearl then concedes.
Sideboarding:
Aaron puts in 2 Rebuilds and a Jar for the 3 Damping Matrix, realizing his Control Slaver tech was no good versus John’s belcher.
Game 3
Aaron finally gets to play first, and keeps:
Underground Sea
Dark Ritual
Ancestral Recall
Duress
Brainstorm
Island
Lotus Petal
John also keeps Polluted Delta, Time Walk, Mox Ruby, Wasteland, Brainstorm, Accumulated Knowledge, Mana Drain.
Aaron begins with Underground Sea casting Duress, which nabs a Mana Leak. Seeing an opportunity, Aaron casts Lotus Petal into Ancestral Recall, yielding Trinker, Reuild, and Mystical Tutor.
John draws an Accumulated Knowledge, Wastelands Aaron’s Sea, and passes.
LeKarz draws Windfall. He plays Island into Brainstorm, drawing Black Lotus, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Mana Crypt! After putting back Tinker and Ritual, Aaron casts Lotus, Lion’s Eye, Crypt, and sacrifices Lotus for blue. He then casts Mystical Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will, and Cycles Rebuild off the Mana Crypt, Sacrificing LED for Black in response. Yawgmoth’s Will is cast, bringing back Black Lotus, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Lotus Petal. Aaron Duresses again to get his spell count up, and Sacrifices LED for UUU. Mystical is cast for Tendrils, and Ancestral is cast into the Lethal Tendrils, bringing Aaron and his TPS to a top four berth!
Another Post-Match interview:
Kerz: Hey Aaron. Awesome job, wanna answer a few questions for TMD?
Aaron: Sure, Sure.
K: What do you have to say about your deck in general today?
A: It’s so consistent. I don’t playtest a ton so I read up consistently and really know the ins and outs of my deck. I think that’s really important. Its really simple to just Demonic Tutor for Lotus against aggro and win…I did that a lot today. Against Control, its much easier than you think to resolve Bargain, and Desire is the second huge bomb versus them, being uncoutnerable.
K: Have any favorite plays on the day?
A: On my turn one, I had Sol Ring, 3 Moxen, and Mana Crypt. I cast Windfall into hardcast Darksteel Colossus with Rituals against Rector Trix. He casts Hurkyl’s Recall during my endstep! The next turn, I topdeck Time Spiral and win from there.
K: What were the keys to the matchup you just played, and what do you think of John’s rogue choice?
A: Rebuild was great for me all day, but never did anything there, for some reason. I really wanted to keep him mana light and prevent him from drawing cards- rather focusing on all my threats and diverting his gameplan.
K: Tech?
A: Damping Matrix in the SB against Control Slaver. Colossus was good, but he’s kinda old news. Stifle in the board wasn’t bad against the Tendrils decks and Dragon either!
K: Awesome! Any last comments?
A: Tendrils: Not just for Europe anymore!Also, I can’t stress how important it is to be a good technical player and know all of your cards. For example, how you can cast a Brainstorm in the middle of resolving Mind’s Desire.
Aaron Kerzner
PS: Aaron Kerzner =/= Aaron LeKarz[/size]
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