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Zherbus
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« on: July 19, 2004, 03:32:47 pm » |
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Tournament in Salem, New Hampshire. Am I going? That’s what my friends asked on Wednesday night. I hadn’t been in a biggish type 1 tournament since the Keene, New Hampshire one last summer. I did well in that one so with only a little thought (do I take home the small prize in the local scene since Patrick and Tristan and Sammy are going to Salem, or do I go for the gold) I decided to go with my VT crew, forgo the local Type 1 and play with a new and more experienced crowd.
Ah…but what to play?
My initial thought was Land Still. I was completely at a loss for what the meta-game would be and Land Still seemed like a fair choice. At Friday Night Magic in Lebanon, NH, our stomping grounds (even though we’re the VT crew), I asked my friend and one of my magic mentors Ben Olegart what he thought I should play and without a moments hesitation he said, “Blue Green Madness.�
Blue Green Madness huh?
The old school prior Lion’s Eye Diamond restriction Madness build use to be my deck of choice – it’s what I placed in the Keene, Tournament with, so I thought that might not be a bad deck. It’d be fun at least.
“It’s aggro-control,� Ben said. “It’s the deck I’d play.�
My respect for Ben as a player is high and if he’d play it I figured why not.
Now all we needed to do was playtest. We swore we’d get to playtesting but poker! We needed to play some bad rare poker first (collect your bad rares – we play five card Texas Hold ‘em – come anytime).
When the little hand was on the two and the digital clocks on our half of the country had those little am letters next to the time, we decided then was probably a good time to begin testing. At first I didn’t like the madness build. It bent over to Keeper and struggled with Ninja Mask. I played Mud, which Tristan threw together while deciding whether or not to play it. The deck I must admit was not playing the way I hoped. At this time it was after three am and I was in no mood to build anything else.
Patrick and I live together and we have all sorts of decks built – I tested Dragon but it is too vulnerable so I dismissed that. I thought briefly about Food Chain Goblins, but again – too vulnerable.
As my mind began to slow and my eyes became as heavy as – well let’s say a Battle of Wits deck, it was time to sleep and go with what I had. Tomorrow, when we awoke at quarter of nine to head to the tournament, Blue Green Madness would be the deck to accompany me to what I knew to be an 0-2 drop – let’s play some poker, kind of day.
We arrived after a long drive. I slept most of the way waking up occasionally to hear Tristan and Patrick giggling about Patrick Black Red hate deck he had decided last minute to play.
“Sedge Trolls,� Tristan suggested.
“Beats for 3 and regenerates,� Patrick said with enthusiasm. “Ah, the brokenness of the troll.�
Go Pat! I hoped he take home the prize. Now that would be something to write about.
All of the decks were registered and it was time to begin the long day of gaming.
Let me say before I continue that names are not my specialty. I did pick up a few and will use them as I recall them, but if I forgot your name, I didn’t forget you. Apologies in advance.
Round One.
Most of the chairs are your basic gray metal folding chairs. The one I was assigned was a low black fold up cloth beast, which I dubbed “The Comfy Chair.� I sat in my comfy chair and prepared myself for whatever beat down was in store for me. I played someone who was playing a deck we still haven’t figured out what it was. I do know it was playing Grim Monoliths, was mono blue with two blue artifact lands, and had a few draw 7 cards. Not knowing what the deck did, I sort of feared the second draw 7 – was happy about the first one because I already had a Mongrel out – and forced it. I guess forcing the second draw 7 won me the game because it was Mongrel beats from then till the end.
The second game wasn’t any prettier for my opponent and with a handshake I went on to the second round with a 2-0.
Round Two.
I’m playing against a Welder deck. I know this because my opponent won the dice roll and tried to cast a first turn Goblin Welder to which I kindly said no to, pitching a Gush to my Force of Will.
It’s my turn and I play a first turn waste land, waste his land and say go. He draws and says go.
I draw a mox, play it along with a land and cast Null Rod.
He draws no land, says go.
I draw another Wasteland and play it and if I remember correctly, he picks up his cards and says, “next game.�
This game was more interesting. He played a Chalice for 2. Ouch! This is hard to play through with Blue Green Madness. Fortunately he is not top decking what he needs and we’re playing the land, go game. I force one or two things, play a Rootwalla, offer savage Rootwalla beats and eventually hard cast an Arrogant Worm. With no way to get rid of that egotistical worm I win the game and with another hand shake I move onto the third round with another 2-0.
Round Three.
I sit down to play I think his name is Andy. I have my Comfy Chair again. How I was digging on that Comfy Chair.
I had seen his deck earlier. He was playing a Goblin Charbelcher deck. My goal here was to cast a Null Rod before he could play a Charbelcher.
I win the dice roll – don’t have a Null Rod in hand but keep my hand anyway. I play a land, a Rootwalla and say, go.
He play a mox and a Land Grant showing me his hand and a Goblin Charbelcher in it. I have a Force in hand so wait for him to play it and quickly say no. I soon found the Null Rod and he then scooped.
Game two again wasn’t much different. He was one of the nicest guys I played against however and I wished him luck.
I did meet him later both in our between rounds of Texas Hold ‘em (where he lost his Kabooms – sorry dude) and in the top 8.
Round Four.
I’m playing Tog. I’m sitting in my Comfy Chair though having stole it from Chris (who won a sweet beta Ice Storm for best sportsmanship). I was unsure about my match up here so had to play it smart. I was luck with the first game and basically out ran my opponent for the win. Luck was in my favor giving me the right cards.
Second game I of course side board in Tomod’s Crypt, which I cast first turn. My opponent rolled his eyes and I knew that was a good sign for me. To sum up this round I played a guy and kept swinging and he eventually found his Tog. At the end of my turn I cracked his thick graveyard and kept on swinging.
Another hand shake and another 2-0.
At this point in time my friends are giving me a hard time telling me, “Dude, you’re 3 and 0!�
To which I reply, “That’ll change anytime now.�
Round Five.
My opponent and I discuss drawing so that we can both make the top 8. We asked the judges if we’d make it seeing has neither of us had lost a game yet in the day. The judges couldn’t say for sure although I knew we would. I told my opponent I was confident we were golden but he decided we should play it out anyway.
He was playing what I suppose you’d call a Trini-Stacks Deck. That is, Trinisphere and Stacks.
First game he locks me down. I’m tapping and destroying permanents because of his evil evil deck and basically I can’t win. This is my first game loss of the day but I’m sitting in my Comfy Chair having grabbed it from another table so had faith.
I sideboard in 4 Naturalize and two Crypts.
The opening hand showed me 3 Wastelands and a Null Rod.
Basically I waste his first land, top deck a mox and play another Wasteland and cast the null rod. Now he has no land and his moxes and Sol Ring are dead cards. He doesn’t draw into a land and says, go.
I play an island, play what we have dubbed as the Aqua Beaver (you know it as the Aquamoeba – but dammit it’s the Aqua Beaver!) and say, go.
He doesn’t find land and says, go.
Now he’s taking Beaver beats as I throw whatever I draw to the Beaver. Take 3, take 3, take 3.
Luck again is in my favor, the Comfy Chair is holding me with love and I win game 2.
Game 3, I mulligan into a Mongrel, a Rootwalla, some land and a Lotus a two Naturalize in my opening hand. He plays land, mox, go.
I play Lotus, land, Mongrel, Rootwalla, go.
He plays a Dampening Matrix. I top deck another Naturalize and show him Naturalize during my turn and swing for three.
He plays another land and says, go.
I top deck Null Rod, play a wasteland --- game over for the most part.
With a handshake and my first game loss of the day, Blue Green Madness and Mr. Comfy Chair bring me to round 6.
Round 6.
We draw in with smiles and I play poker until the top 8. I incidentally win a few bad rares during this time. Yay!
Top 8.
I go into the top 8 in the number 1 slot. I play my friend Sammy from my neck of the woods. He’s playing Ninja Mask, which is a horrible match up for me.
I take the first game and he takes the second. The third game I squeak by – he wanted me to win anyway I think – and go to top 4.
You the man Sammy!
Top 4.
I play the Stacks again. The Comfy Chair is still with me and so I hope for the best. If I could win this game, I could get myself a Mana Drain. I don’t have any of those so hey, I can’t complain. I still need to beat this deck again though.
First round is a lot like the first round of the last game. He locks me down and I lose.
Second game I sideboard in not only the Naturalize and the Crypts, but what my friend Tristan suggested and to which I could possibly owe the day to, Back to Basic’s.
The game is close, but we both lock each other down and I have more guys and swing for the win.
Game three was the same way, him casting a Trinisphere holding me in place until I have a Mongrel and a Worm in play. He has a Charbelcher out and takes out my Mongrel with it, but alas my worm survives and gets angry. I take the game and move on to top 2.
Top 2 – Finals.
I’m playing against a deck you all probably know well. I’m playing Steve O’Connell a.k.a. Zherbus, and he’s playing his 4 Color Control build to which I lost hard to the previous night while playtesting.
The first game was basically me holding onto my Forces and stopping his playing of a creature face down all the while beating with my guys. I take the win and move onto game two.
Steve told me that since his friend created this deck he knew how to play it. What I don’t think Steve expected were the 3 Back to Basics I boarded in against him.
I keep a hand that was truly a hand to question. In it are 4 Force of Wills, one Strip Mine, a Back to Basics and an Aqua Beaver.
I had to think. I know his deck. My roommate Patrick plays that deck. It’s his deck. He’s taught me how to play that deck. I know that it’s a slow deck and that its win condition is Angels. I have 4 Force of Will’s, which is enough to stop two angels at least. I also know that the mana base can be iffy and that one Strip Mine might be enough to play it out. Furthermore I know that it’s a slow deck and that I do not need to be hasty to play against it. I’ve been playing so much poker lately that I decided I was going to slow roll him. So, after some intense thought I keep my hand.
He gets to go first and plays a bunch of moxes and goes for the first turn angel, to which I Force.
I go, strip his land and say go.
Now we’re playing the top deck game – a lot of draw, go’s.
The game really takes a turn about the time that I find a Crypt. I decide it’s time to take out his graveyard. I’ve already Forced his Yag Win but feared the scrying for more cards. That done I play a Mongrel.
He does something I’m sure, but I can’t recall and says, go.
Now comes the luck for me. I top deck a lotus and play it. It resolves. I have a Brainstorm in hand, a Back to Basics and another Beaver. I crack the lotus for blue, and Brainstorm. There I find a Null Rod, a Mongrel and a Wasteland. I keep the Null Rod and the Mongrel and throw back the Waste and the Beaver. He’s got some land out and a lot of moxes so I decide to play the Back to Basics first and try to bait a Force of will. I tap two forests and use one of the blue floating to cast it. It resolves. With the other one floating and a Wasteland I play Null Rod and at it resolves. I use my last two mana to play a Mongrel and say go.
He plays a Flametongue Kavu and kills off my Mongrel, tapping most of his mana to do it. Ouch.
I play a Beaver and say go.
He swings with the FTK and I pitch a card to the Beaver who in turn takes one for the team sending his FTK away as well as my Beaver.
I say, go – he says, go.
Steve plays lands but I waste them and with the Back to Basics and Null Rod in play he’s pretty much shut down.
Soon I find an AquaBeaver and sadly for Steve, he takes Beaver beats till the very end.
I sold my power off last September, but once again I now own a mox.
Blue Green Madness. Who knew?
Thanks for the suggestion Ben. Patrick; thanks for being my coach in between rounds. Tristan; thanks for being my cheering squad. Sammy, for the go get ‘em approach, and to everyone I played. It was a great day!
Chad O’Brien
July 18, 2004
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