According to the guild of tourney report writers a default report has to start with some off-topic sentence (which is the one you are reading right now), so I decided to include the very essential information that I did not post, play or think about Magic for 1 month, because "you know, I can stop whenever I want to!" (actually being in the Ukraine and giving some lectures is closer to the truth, but that's how tourney reports go - a mixture of Fact and Fiction...).
My decklist was actually identical to the one of the previous tourney (see report below about Trinity winning in Vienna, posted 4 weeks ago) with only 1 change: 1 swapped my single Aura Fracture from the SB for a single Dustbowl, just because of the presence of 1TnT (and 2 other Keeper fellows) and the absence of mono-U, Enchantress or Parfait.
[For those who don't know what Trinity is about: it is 4 colour Keeper (UBGw) with the Power Artifact/Grim Monolith combo maindeck and with dual transformational SB: against aggro you side 4 Oaths and 2 Krosan Reclamation and put your library in the grave once he plays a creature to reclaim a YawgWin and combo with SoLoMoxen, Academy, Grim Monolith, Power Artifact and Stroke; against control you side 4 Duress and some mixture of Negators and Call of the Herd (there are about 1-2 customizable slots; I used Compost and Dustbowl)]
My first 3 opponents were rather easy or non-existent (got a first round bye), so I shall be brief in that part:
First Round: bye
Second Round: against Vladimir with Sui
His deck is not bad, but neither is it optimal since it lacks Sinkholes. There were 2 reasons why I did win: in the first game I had a FoW for his Ritual/Negator start and in the second game I comboed before he reached 5 mana for the stylish Hunting Echoes kill (I had my library in the grave for 2 rounds due to lack of mana), BTW, in this game I needed both Reclamations (just for the sake of statistics).
Matches: 2-0-0, Games: 2-0-0, Games won by combo: 1
Third Round: against ? with ? (mono-B with 4cc artifacts)
My opponent is 1-1 and his deck is, er, creative. I win the first game in any way you want to imagine given time, mana and life (I chose one particular - I think it was honest Morphling beatdown). The second game he plays this 4cc artifact where you pay X life to create each turn a X/X token (Phyrexian Processor, I think). He pays only 6 life (if he payed 19 he could have won with a Drain Life for 1), but as it is I won with KrOathan combo.
Matches: 3-0-0, Games: 4-0-0, Games won by combo: 2
Fourth Round: Peter S. with Pox (splashed White)
First game:
Thanks to Ancestral, acceleration and Mis-D I am in good shape. He drops Nantuko, but Morphling is stronger (I mean tougher) and it flies. I win the beatdown race.
Second Game:
An ancient recurring nightmare: in my first 2 years of Magic I have lost dozens of tourney games due to Ritual/Hyppie. It was about time to see this beast in action again. On 14 life a Negator follows, so I am on a 2 turn clock. One turn later I am on a 1 turn clock. I managed to collect some mana (7) due to an early Ancestral but I have no card in my hand by now. I try to use my Jedi-powers to activate my legendary topdecking skills... and I draw Merchant Scroll on 7 lifes. Rosewater, where are you when I need you? Unfortunately I am too stupid to see the solution - do you see it already? Taking Ancestral is not possible (it is in the grave), taking Stroke, Mystical or one of my counters is pointless. Fire and Ice is not in the deck (and it would not be a real "solution") - so what else can I take - right, FoF with the hope of seeing a Balance. Alas, with 7 mana I am unable to cast Merchant Scroll, FoF AND Balance (and my opponent is not as stupid as I am and does NOT put the Balance together with a mana source). So what is the solution then? Right, IMPULSE! (Incidentally, the 4th card after shuffling was the Balance, so I really saw it among the 5 FoF cards, but that was just because the Magic God likes to add irony to the injury).
Third Game:
This game is all about an early Compost. He is helpless (he has 2 Racks and a Cursed Scroll). Since he refuses to play a creature I hard cast the combo after drawing a bunch of cards.
Matches: 4-0-0, Games: 6-1-0, Games won by combo: 3
Fifth (Final) Round: Peter P. (aka KPfV) with Keeper (Ubwr)
First Game - he wins the die roll but I must start
I have won our last duels, so the Imp of Statistics sits in my neck and convinces me to take a 1 Land/Lotus/FoF hand. Actually, the hand was ok (since it had also Morphling, FoW and Ancestral(!)), but Peter's cards were not - he Misdirects my Ancestral and FoWs my FoW. Then, he plays his own Ancestral and Recalls it (you know, the blue card from Legends). I play a Sylvan, but he Wishes for Disenchant and I give up before he celebrates his victory too much
Second Game - I start
He keeps a rather bad hand and I mana screw him completely with 2 Wastes and 1 D-Blow. The rest is standard technique: Duress (Mana Drain), Negator (Edict), Mindtwist and YawgWin.
Third Game - I must start (this is the first match in my life where I lost the die roll but started all 3 games!)
Now it is my turn to be mana screwed (or rather colour screwed) - I draw all my white mana sources, i.e. 2 Tundras and Mox Perl, but with 2 Negators, Duress, YawgLose and Edict this is not too hot. Just to ensure that I am not completely insane: I had also a COB and I Duressed him successfully, but COB got stripped and I never saw a black source before a Mindtwist for 6 hit me. Since it was the last game and I was in a good mood I wanted to play until the very end - well, I saw a FUTURE SIGHT and I must admit, this card is not bad. I don't think it is just a "win more card", although in the present case it clearly was. Anyway, he draws like 3 cards each turn and kills all my permanents except for the Tundras before he feels safe (or bored) enough to bother with Morphl... no, wait - he beat me down with Mox Monkey!
Final Score: Matches: 4-1-0, Games: 7-2-0, Games won by combo: 3
It was quite nice to taste the drug of Magic after 1 month of abstinence, but I need a higher dose now, so I shall play already in 2 weeks...
