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carl
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« on: November 27, 2006, 05:47:39 pm » |
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Hello,
Here is my report from Mol on 26 november. I went there alone, forgot to bring music in my car, and forgot to bring my book (Discworld :) to read between rounds, so all could think/talk about was Magic...
I love reports, and lately I've been reading less and less about Magic, so I just read Feinstein's reports.
This is how I decided to try UW fish. I bought the recent cards I was missing (the Threads of Disloyalty weren't loyal at all to me: they arrived in the mail the day after the tourney, so I replaced them with good Old Men):
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Savannah Lions
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
1 Time Walk
4 Meddling Mage
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Null Rod
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Plains
1 Strip Mine
4 Tundra
2 Polluted Delta
4 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
Sideboard:
1 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Old Man of the Sea
3 Orim's Chant
4 Seal of Cleansing
1 Trickbind
3 Umezawa's Jitte
I was expecting a lot of Tendrils and Gifts, hence the 2 Misdirection main.
The turnout was low (28 players), meaning we would fight for a Library of Alexandria.
Round 1: Bart Aelbrecht - Vial fish
This is the first time I play the deck against a opponent and it shows: I remove cards instead of putting them to the bottom of the library; I am also not aware of the following ruling: "You can't make a spell which is on the stack target itself." My opponent tells me it's a new ruling. Actually, it's from 2004, so maybe he started playing before me (Legends). But my opponent is not better than me: he forgot twice to pay Kataki's upkeep on his artifacts (getting the same warning twice in the same game), tapping moxen to get mana under Null Rod, etc.
Anyway, he is playing Vial fish (U/b/w) and we have a very low game 1, which I eventually lose because he has more creatures and Bob Maher helps him in the end.
We have like 1 minute for the second game, but got 4 extra minutes from all the rulings.
This is enough for me to take game 2 in the extra turns: turn one Isamaru, turn 2 Lions, turn 3 Grunt + Jitte while he is colour screwed (no black). That's why I stuck with 2 colours.
1-1-0, 1 point.
Round 2: Jan de Vrij - mono-red Ubastax
I have played Jan before, he is quite nice, but also quite slow.
Game 1, I get a Null Rod out, which hampers his development. He got a Mountain and lots of mana artifacts. At some point, he drops a Lotus and cracks it to play a Chalice at 2, but the judge stops him. This is a costly mistake, as the Lotus stay on the board and he can't discard it to Bazaar. Anyway, he is screwed by the Rod and I trample him.
Game 2, I don't get a start, he stabilizes with Ensnaring Bridge. He is low on mana again, and has Trinisphere out, but can discard extra cards to Bazar to stay below 2 cards in hand. Kataki makes his life difficult, but he manages to control the game when he drops a Chalice at to that I can't remove. I wonder how I will be able to get out of this, but time is called and he can't kill me in the extra turns.
1-0-0, 4 points.
Round 3: Tim Steurs - mono-red Stax
Tim is playing mono-brown (with Metalworker and Ancient Tomb) with Red for Welders.
Game 1, he is fighting to get his mana running, and a turn 2 Kataki doesn't help.
Game 2, I cleanse his turn 2 Metalworker only to see a second one. He drops a turn 4 Titan which destroys enough of my lands to put me on the defensive. The fact that I cast Kataki into his Chalice at 2 doesn't help.
In the decider I get a good start with turn 1 Lions, turn 2 Null Rod. He has Welder and Ensnaring Bridge out, but he can't drop his hand and I run over him.
2-1, 7 points.
Round 4: Steven Van Den Bulck - 5C Ubastax
Steven tells me we played each other in 1995 or so, but I can't remember. He is very nice but not very talkative.
I know from the previous round that he plays Welder, but not which deck. I win the toss and drop Pikula naming Thirst for Knowledge :(
This is not too bad as I plop a small army and he can't do much.
Game 2, he opens with Workshop, Sol Ring, Smokestack. I kill it with a Seal of Cleansing. I force his second Smokestack on turn 2, then play Isamaru and Meddling Mage. He gets out 2 Duplicant (on Mage and on some Grunt), so it's not looking that good for me. Still, Old Man comes out to break the stalemate.
Steven goes for an all out attack instead of getting an extra turn by holding back the 4/4 Duplicant.
2-0, 10 points
Round 5: ID with Gwen De Schamphelaere - Slaver
This leaves me some time to get my mobile I forgot in the car...
Top 8: Cedric Bodson - Slaver
Cedric is the only other French-speaking player of the tournament.
I get out some weenies then counter a business spell, then he tinkers for a Titan. He hits me with the Titan once, which allows me to put him low on life enough to swarm him (helped by a plow on his Welder and a burn from a Drain on my first Plowshares). Maybe getting Triskelion instead of Titan would have been safer...
In the second game, Cedric opens with a Recall that I am able to steal thanks to Misdirection :) This means he is colour screwed (only a Volcanic Island) that I manage to strip. That gives me a window big enough to squeeze in my little army.
2-0
Top 4: Ilja Berukof - Slaver
Game 1 I am able to Brainstorm and cast Ancestral but don't see a second coloured land. Ilja draws his lone Wasteland to screw me badly. I don't scoop since there is no time limit, but I have no doubt about the outcome.
Game 2 I get an aggressive opening, he tutors for a REB to protect his Tral, but it's not needed. He uses the REB to good effect on my Walk. I get him low on life, but he casts Triskelavus which I count. This is probably a mistake as he has a Welder out (but only one artifact in play). I manage to plow the flying Trike, but it has done its dirty job and Ilja has the game in control. He kills me while at one life.
0-2
So, I got 4th place with a 3-1-2 record, which is quite satisfactory seeing how I don't play nearly enough and it shows.
I didn't cast a single Daze because I didn't draw a lot, and sideboarded them out often (playing vs Workshop or on the draw).
Misdirection was all right most of the Time. The only change I would make is obviously getting a 4th Flooded Strand (lost some months ago).
Thanks to Dave Feinstein for the decklist and primer, and above all the entertaining reports.
Cheers,
--
Carl
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