|
Tyrius
Guest
|
 |
« on: August 03, 2002, 09:23:32 pm » |
|
Hi all. Tyrius here. I won third at a local Type1 tournament this past Thursday, and I thought I might post a report about it. I was running a Suicide Black deck metagamed to the store (although in all fairness, the deck is heavily based on Legend’s primer. Go read it. It's good stuff.) I'll post the list, and then I'll explain a few of the stranger card choices at the end.
16 Swamp
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Powder Keg
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
2 Diabolic Edict
4 Phyrexian Negator
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Nantuko Shade
2 Phyrexian War Beast
Sideboard
4 Planar Void
3 Masticore
3 Contagion
3 Dystopia
2 Null Rod
And now for the rationalization. After reading one of FeverDog's posts, I noticed that he ran two Edicts main deck. This struck me as an interesting idea, and I decided to give it a try. With only two, I didn't come across it as often as I would have liked, but I'm still glad I ran it.
After looking at the field and seeing it was split about 60-40 between aggro and control, I decided the four Powder Kegs were a worthwhile investment. Blowing up weenies and moxen is good. Scientific studies have proved as much.
The War Beasts are simply one of the many metagame choices I made. I knew that a good portion of the field was going to be aggro, but the Masticores simply seemed too slow to me (there's a hell of a difference between a turn one drop and turn two.) Also, I knew that the Masticores would be sub par against control, since they wouldn't have many targets to ping to death. I finally decided on the War Beasts, since I could play them on turn one with a Ritual, and still a full turn before the Masticores, if for some reason I kept a bad hand.
In one of those strokes of genius that can only happen at three o'clock in the morning when you're ready to fall asleep on the floor, I decided to run a full compliment of Planar Voids in my sideboard. In my sleep-deprived stupor, I reasoned that they would be incredible should anyone show up with a Worldgorger deck, excellent against Stacker/Tubbies (denying them use of the Welder,) and good against Keeper (denying them use of Yawgmoth's Will and Regrowth.)
On to the matches!
Round 1: Steve, running Sligh
Game 1: I drop an early War Beast and back it up with a fistful of disruption. I Sinkhole and Strip Mine most every Mountain he drops, and once the other War Beast comes out to play, he's finished.
Game 2: I keep a fairly slow hand, but manage to drop a sided in Masticore on turn two. Unfortunately, his deck can sense this, and decides to give him nothing but burn. Coupled with the Black Vise he dropped on turn one (which dealt five damage to me over two turns!) I'm dangerously low on life quickly. But I get lucky, and at the crucial moment (read: when I'm at two life) he doesn't draw any burn and my Masticore attacks for the win.
2-0; 1-0
Round 2: Clint, running B/u Control
Game 1: Thanks to some early disruption, Clint is quickly stripped of a hand. With a little help from a Ritual, I drop a Shade and a Negator on turn three and quickly pummel him into submission.
Game2: Clint gets a little better start this time, but once again I manage to Duress and Hymn until his hand is virtually gone. Shade shows up again to clean up.
2-0; 2-0
Round 3: Gary, running U/w Mill
Game 1: I get off to a good start, but soon Gary drops a Teferi's Moat. I can't help but groan as I'm defeated by the accursed thing. Suddenly, I remember the two War Beasts I have main deck. I try to drop one, but he counters it. Figuring I can force the other one down with the discard in my hand, I try to wait it out. Unfortunately, he manages to mill it away. I consider trying to go all the way with a Specter, but two are in my graveyard along with most of my discard, and I know he's holding a fistful of countermagic. I finally give up and concede.
Game2: After some consideration, I bring in my Masticores and Dystopias in favor of the Edicts and Kegs. Fortunately, I manage to force through enough disruption to the point where Gary is stripped of his countermagic. Things are looking grim for him as I drop a Negator and tell him to go. With no cards in his hand and only one Capsize main deck, his odds of getting rid of it are horrendous. Then he topdecks a Story Circle. I groan again, but my next card is a Dystopia. I drop it grinning, as he has no cards in his hand, and he's forced to sacrifice the Circle the next turn. I let the Dystopia go, and the Negator went to town.
Game 3: I don't quite remember exactly what happened, but Gary dropped an early Morphling, Millstone, and Scalpelexis. Needless to say, I lost.
1-2; 2-1
Round 4: Eddie, playing Keeper
Game1: I get a horrible hand, even after I mulligan. He's able to seize control fairly quickly, and I pretty much just keel over and die.
Game2: After much consideration, I opt to exchange two Kegs for two Rods. I get a great hand, and am able to Duress and Hymn until he's reduced to topdecking. He manages to draw and play a Morphling, however, but it doesn't help much, as I have enough creatures where I can attack around it.
Game3: This game is fairly similar to the last, in that I strip him of his hand and then his land. He has a few moxen out to help him, but I quickly drop a Null Rod and he's soon stuck at one colorless mana. His hand is no threat either, as I have a lone Specter beating him every turn. At some point, Jeff (the judge) calls time, and Eddie doesn't hear it. He draws a Mystical tutor, and looks for a Timetwister in hopes of resetting the game. However, if he had heard Jeff he would have been able to look for his Time Walk instead, and force the game into a draw by taking one of the turns. He casts the Twister, but is unable to draw a solution and my Specter kills him on the last turn. I walk away from this match with a new nickname for my deck, courtesy of Eddie: Worst-Matchup.dec.
2-1; 3-1
Round 5: Raziel, playing Mono-Blue Control
Game1: I don't recall exactly what happened, but quick beats led to a quick defeat.
Game2: I get off to an early start, but before the Negator I dropped can do much damage, he casts Psionic Bolt on it! I'm forced to sacrifice all my permanents and never recover.
Game3: Thanks to the sheer ridiculousness of my hand (and the fact that his didn't contain a Force of Will,) I'm able to drop a Specter, a Shade, and a Strip Mine on my first turn. I Strip his first Island, and Duress him the next turn. He isn't able to recover from my initial onslaught and is dead within five turns.
2-1; 4-1
Final Standing 3rd out of 24
If I could do things differently, I would cut the War Beasts and the Edicts from my main deck and run Flesh Reavers instead. Also, I don't think the Planar Voids were necessary for my sideboard. Well, so concludeth my first tournament report. Comments, critiques, and praise are all appreciated. Flamers can go burn in the depths of hell, however. Thanks for reading!
|
