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Green Knight
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« on: April 15, 2005, 03:17:24 pm » |
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Mile High Comics in Thornton Colorado (off 92nd and Washington) was holding a “Grand Type One Tournament” which means there is free entry to the event and $500.00 in prizes; this includes $400.00 cash and $100.00 store credit.
There was a decent turnout, 41 players showed up. I was a bit disheartened as the max number of players is 64 and in years past this would always fill to capacity.
I had been looking forward to playing in this Sanctioned Type One tournament for quite some time. I decided that U/g/b Oath was the deck to play and after play testing for the last few months settled on this build:
Oath U/b/g 04.09.2005
4 Oath of Druids
1 Blessing
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Spirit of the Night
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Duress
2 Misdirection
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Intuition
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
5 Moxen (Jet, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Pearl)
1 Black Lotus
Sideboard:
3 Oxidize
3 Stifle
3 Coffin Purge
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Platinum Angel
1 Pristine Angel
1 Ancient Hydra
I show up to the tourney early and hang out with my friends Scott Limoges playing GAT and Jim Gaffney (Godot) playing Deathlong. We kill some time then Jim and Scott finish their deck registrations and pairing go up.
Round One:
Vs. - Shane Hodkinson
Playing – Kobolds
Game One:
I win the die roll and keep my opening hand, he does the same. I start fast with an Oath off a Lotus 1st turn and burn for one. Shane casts a Skull Clamp and passes. I Duress him (Y.Coast, Island, Tangleroot and AK) taking AK, and drop an EE set to one, I had also played the Orchard this turn. He manages a lowly Quirion Dryad. I Oath up SotN and blow the Clamp to cut off any card advantage. He casts a Kobold and an AK for 2, swings and passes. I Oath up Akroma next and beat him down to 2, he swings with the Dryad taking me to 13, Fetches, and I clean up with my squad next turn.
Life –
Z: 20, 19, 18, 16, 13
S: 20, 14, 2, 1, -11
Sideboard: - 2 Misdirection, + 2 Engineered Explosives
Game 2:
Shane is on the play and keeps his opening grip; I on the other hand am having a heck of a time fining anything playable. I finally settle on a 5 card hand that contains a Flooded Strand, Duress, Brainstorm, Blessing and FoW. He lays a Forest. On my turn I Duress seeing Kobold x 3, Tangle Root x 2 and Naturalize, I take the Naturalize and pass. He casts a Dark Ritual and then a Darkwater Egg, Sac’s the Egg for UB casts another Egg off the last Black floating from Ritual and passes, I remind him to burn for 2 from the UB and he goes to 18. On my turn I play Orchard and Cycle my Blessing returning 0 cards. He attempts to cast a Dryad, but I FoW (no threats for you!). So he swings w/ a Token. Next I Duress a Ritual and lay Oath of Druids. He swings again and does nothing of Note. I Oath Akroma into play attack and take him down to 12, then I Time Walk, Oath up SotN and notice a Gaea’s Blessing just sitting in my graveyard, this is from last turn! I notify Shane of my play error and call a judge, Aaron Tucker (the T.O.) comes over and has us back up the game state and gives me a procedural error. I was totally worried about getting a game lose or some such; I don’t believe I missed that. Such a sloppy play. Okay so the Time Walk turn I attack and kill Shane.
Life:
Z- 20, 19, 18, 17, 16
S- 20, 18, 12, 0
Rounds - 1-0-0
Games – 2-0-0
Round 2
Vs. Lisa Hyder
Playing Food Chains Goblins
Game One:
We both keep our opening 7 and I win the die roll.
This game I bust out a first turn Oath off Mox Emerald and Pearl, I also play Lotus and a Fetch. She opens w/ Goblin Lacky he resolves and I Oath out a SotN and attack. She swings with the Lacky and puts a Sharpshooter into play. I don’t mind and Oath again next turn for the kill.
Life:
Z – 20, 19
L – 20, 14, 2, -10
Sideboard: - 2 Misdirection, - Duress, - Blessing, + 2 EE, + 1 Deed, + 1 Platinum Angel.
Game Two:
We both keep our opening hands of 7, Lisa is on the play. She fetches out a Taiga, busts out a First turn Goblin Lacky, Tormod’s Crypt and Chalice of the Void for 0. I Play land go. She swings with the Lacky and puts a Ringleader into play, then casts Lacky # 2. I fetch up a random land that is not as impressive as her small army and cast Oath. Over the next turn I manage to hit her once with Akroma, she has a Food Chains in play sac’s some guys and ends up with Lacky x 2, Ringleader x 4, Warchief and possibly other little green men. I die the horrible death that is FCG’s and hear a random ‘Zach lost to a girl!’ yelled out, good times.
Life:
Z- 20, 19, 18, 14, 13, very dead
L- 20, 19, 13
Game Three:
I am on the play and mull down to 6. Lisa keeps her opening 7.
1st turn I Fetch up some black and Duress taking a Sol Ring. She fetches, plays the Tormod’s Crypt and CotV but no Lacky this time, yeah! Then passes. I Land-Go, she casts Recruiter and I Mana Drain. On my turn I Intuition into 3 AK’s. Lisa resolves a Skirk Prospector and a Goblin Recruiter (placing 11 Goblins on top). I AK x 3 EOT. On my turn I resolve an Oath, she casts Goblin Warchief which meets Mana Drain. I Oath up Akroma and Swing (I also burn for 3) and she does something trivial on her turn. I Oath out the SotN and finish her off in short order. Food Chains Goblins is such a fast and effective deck, I’ve gotta say I respect this arch type.
Life:
Z- 20, 19, 18, 15
L- 20, 19, 13, 1, -11
Games 4-1-0
Matches 2-0-0
It’s lunch time; we have about 20 minutes so Jim, Scott, Travis and I all head over to this little Chinese place across the street. The first thing I notice is that this is not only a restaurant but you can also get your drivers license here, okay that’s a little weird. Free delivery job with every license? I dunno.
So we all order and Jim eats his egg rolls while everyone else is still waiting, I was totally optimistic when I ordered and I got hot and sour soup, egg rolls and Szechwan chicken. I had this grand vision of actually sitting down to enjoy the meal; alas it was not to be. So with less than two minutes to go before the start of round three, I finally get my food. Travis and Scott are forced to say they will be back after next round. I down an egg roll and toss the rest into my truck before heading back in for round three.
Round Three
Vs. Conley Woods
Playing Oath Salvagers
Conley is on the play and keeps his grip, I on the other hand must mulligan down to 5. My 1st hand had a Wasteland, Mox Jet, Duress, Intuition, Brainstorm, AK and some other uncastable card, the next hand has Jet and Duress with no other land and lots of blue cards, I believe Akroma was in here too. So the 5 card hand is Orchard, Duress, Blessing, Time Walk and Wasteland? Not much, but better that a 4 card hand (in theory). Anyhow he land-goes it; and I Duress seeing Mana Drain, Shoal, AK, Pyrite Spellbomb, Orchard and Tropical. I nab the Mana Drain, and it’s pretty clear as to what he is playing now!
I eventually cycle Blessing then cast a Time Walk that meets Force of Will. I am taking two a turn from Tokens. I finally get my Oath out and he Shoals it pitching Shoal! I didn’t expect that! So I FoW and Conley FoW’s back. Okay well done, you win. So I take 3 a turn form my Tokens and never recover. He does resolve a Living Wish at one point, that was interesting. I forget what he wished for, but that was unique.
Life:
Z- 20, 19, 17, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3, 2, 0
C- 20, 19, 18, 17
Sideboard: -1 SotN, -1 Blessing, -1 Oath, -1 Intuition, + 2 Coffin Purge, +1 Platinum Angel, +1 Pristine Angel.
Game Two: I am on the play; we both keep our opening hands.
I bust out a first turn Orchard, Black Lotus. Sac the Lotus for Blue, tap the Orchard for Green. Play Oath of Druids with double blue back up. He does nothing and I burn for 2.
I Oath up Platinum Angel cast Duress seeing Mana Drain, AK, Island x 2 and LoA. I take the AK and pass. My notes have me burning every turn I suppose he got out his Orchard and we were trading tokens for good ol’ Oath. No matter, Platinum goes the distance and he concedes.
Life:
Z- 20, 18, 17, 15, 14, 13
C- 20, 16, 14 Concede
Game Three:
Looks like he is on the play and we both keep our opening hands.
He opens with a Library of Alexandria, not bad. I open with a 1st turn Oath! Played off an Island and Emerald. He draws, and then uses the LoA to draw again, such a cheater! I believe he plays a Tropical Island.
On my turn I play Duress off a Forbidden Orchard. This reveals Mox Emerald, Mox Ruby, Island x 2, Flooded Strand, Tundra and Oath. I take the Ruby. My turn I get out the Platinum Angel via Oath and pass. He casts a Living Wish to which I Mana Drain. On my turn I Oath out a Pristine Angel, Swing w/ Platinum, burn for two and pass. He swings w/ the 2 Tokens and passes; I make another Token for him. Oath up Akroma, hit him for 14 taking him to 2 and that is game.
Life:
Z- 20, 18, 16
C- 20, 16, 2, -12
Games: 6-2-0
Matches: 3-0-0
Round 4
Vs. Adam Ramsay
Playing Oath
Game One:
We both keep our opening 7. Adam is on the play.
He opens with an Island I believe, I open up strong with an Orchard, Emerald, Oath. He Tries for an Ancestral Recall, I FoW. But things just got interesting as he follows up on the following turn with an Orchard! I lay the first turn Oath and am all ready to go off on him, only to find out I’m playing the mirror! Bad things.
At the beginning of my upkeep, I get a token, so I make a token this way I can Oath, however Adam has other things in mind and as I attempt to Oath he Stifles, who plays this main deck? In Oath!? Okay, this is bad. At one point I try to Intuition (to get out some Orchards), but he Mana Drains this. I pass, he one ups me and plays another Orchard. Now he is in control. I fend off his Oathing as long as possible, but to no avail as he has Orchard advantage and eventually plays out a Main Deck Morphling and Akroma. GG.
Life:
Z-20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 Concede
A-20, 17, 16, 15
Sideboard: +3 Stifle, +1 Platinum, +1 Pristine, - 1 Demonic Tutor, -1 Oath, -1 Intuition, -1 SotN, - 1 Blessing.
Game Two:
I keep my opening hand, he mulls down to 6. I am on the play.
Okay, I am holding the 1st turn Oath in the form of Orchard, Mox, Oath, FoW, Mana Drain, Brainstorm, Underground Sea. This looks pretty good, right? So I am feeling all confident. I drop the 1st turn Oath and give him a Sprit Token, of course he drops an Orchard of his own. No worries we can have the Orchard war, that’s cool. Of course I want to Oath on my turn so I give him a dude during my upkeep, and am really happy to be able to get off an Oath activation. But par for the course he Stifles! I do nothing of note (maybe play an Underground Sea) and pass, he does the unimaginable and plays a Wasteland killing my Orchard, WTF!? So out of his first 8 cards he saw Forbidden Orchard, Wasteland and a Stifle… exactly what he needed, oh man! No worries I’ll just top deck a Wasteland, so of course I don’t and he Oath’s out fatties (Pristine & Akroma) while I watch and lose to my own Oath. I was pwned. In every way imaginable. Bad things man. Yes I misplayed this game by laying that Oath so early. Interestingly I never really had a chance to play test vs. the mirror and it kinda bit me in the ass. I was so overzealous with that early Oath!
Life:
Z- 20, 16, 12, 11 Dead
A- 20, 19, 18, 16, 15
Games : 6-4-0
Matches: 3-1-0
Round 5
Vs. Phil Siu
Playing MBC
Game One:
I keep my opening grip, he mulls down to 6. He is on the play.
I FoW an early Nantiko Shade, then Duress away a Diabolic Edict. He manages a Skeletal Scrying for 3. I get out an Oath and finish him off quickly.
Life:
Z- 20, 19, 18
P- 20, 17, 11, -1
Sidebaord: +2 EE, - 1 Intuition, -1 Island
Game Two:
He is on the play again, and opens strong with a Hynm to Tourch off a Ritual. So I simply Misdirect this back to him, so good! Next turn I Duress away a Demonic Tutor. I sac a fetch and get an Oath online turn three. He drops a Sol Ring trying desperately to get the mana to make a come back, I drop an EE set to one and deny him this luxury and swing with Akroma. Next turn I Duress away a Skeletal Scrying and Swing. He is out of gas, and that’s game.
Life:
Z-20, 19, 18, 17
P-20, 19, 13, 1, -11
Games: 8-4-0
Matches: 4-1-0
Round Six:
Vs. Adam Wood (12 points)
Playing Tog.
There are 6 players with 12 points, one with 15 and one with 10. We are safe to draw into the top eight. Adam wants to play for fun, and I’m down with that, so we do.
Game One:
I win the roll and am on the play. I keep, he does as well.
My notes aren’t the greatest as these games don’t really matter. We have a counter war over ? (Ancestral Recall perhaps), I FoW, He FoW’s, I FoW back. He resolve’s a Tog, I resolve a EE set to 3 and an Oath. I finish him off quickly and never need to blow the Explosives.
Life:
Z-20, 19, 18, 17, 15
A-20, 19, 18, 17, 11, -1
No Sideboard
Game Two
He is on the play and he mulls down to 6. I keep.
I totally controlled his resources this game. I remember, Duressing him and he FoW’d, so I FOW’d back. I think I pulled an Ancestral. He casts a Cunning Wish at one point for a Rushing River. I eventually Duressed this away.
Life:
Z- 20, 19(FoW), 18(FoW), 17(fetch), 12 (burn)
A- 20, 19(FoW), 18(fetch), 17(fetch), 14(DA), 13(fetch), 10(burn), 9(fetch), 6(DA), 4(burn), 2(Vamp Tutor)*
*is it more beneficial/helpful to everyone out there to list all life totals this way to show exactly where the damage came from?
Games: 8-4-2 (really 10-4, stupid draw…)
Matches: 4-1-1 (really 5-1-0)
Okay so the top eight looks like this:
1st: Adam Ramsay (Oath)
2nd: Jeffery Vanlaethem (Parfait (W/b))
3rd: Adam Wood (Tog)
4th: Brad Carsten (GaT)
5th: Conley Woods (Salvagers Oath)
6th: Ray Houle (Landstill)
7th: Zach Gable (the Hero of this story, playing Oath)
8th: Travis Spero (Bird Shiz)
[9th: Scott Limoges (GaT)]
[11th: Jim Gaffney (DeathLong)]
Top Eight:
Vs. Jeff Vanlaethem
Playing Parfait (W/b)
He wins the roll and elects to play.
He drops the excitement like only Parfait can, and I watch in awe as the plays the card of cards…just kidding it’s only a Plains. I resolve a fast Oath off a 1st turn Lotus I believe, I also have the Orchard. E.O.T. I give him a dude and burn for one. I swing with Akroma and pass. He attacks with Tokens I go down to 17. He tries for a StP but this meets our good buddy Force of Will. I then Duress him revealing StP, Scroll Rack x 2, Argavian Find x 2. I take the StP and beat down w/ Spirit of the Night + Akroma, Angel of Wraith. He can’t come back and I take game one.
Life:
Z-20, 19, 17, 16
J-20, 14, 12, -10
Sideboard: - Island, - Intuition, + Engineered Explosives, + Deed.
Game Two:
He’s on the play and plays a Land Tax. I open with Duress revealing Humility, Plains, Story Circle, Swords to Plowshares x 2, Balance, Chains of Mephistopheles. What a quandary he has all the answers right there. I think about it and decide on the StP. The game progresses and he casts the Chains, then the Story Circle, and the final nail is Humility. At one point it is obvious that my ship is sinking and I Ancestral Recall during his draw phase (yeah, yeah draw step. I’m old school) this lets me draw the first card without discarding, then cycle the last two. It netted me a Force of Will and blue card, but this was too little too late. I Duress and take StP leaving him with only Balance. So of course he casts a Goblin Charbelcher the next turn or so and belches me into oblivion (he revealed 12 cards and then hit the lone Mountain). Was I just talking trash about Parfait? Um… I just got my arse handed to me and it wasn’t pretty.
Life:
Z-19, 17, -7
J-20 (Perfect)
Game Three:
This is for all the marbles right here, of course I play first. As an aside who doesn’t play first?
I think he mulls down to 6 here, I can’t remember and there is a hole in my notes regarding this. I keep my opening hand.
I lead with a Duress seeing Duress, Swords to Plowshares, Scrubland, Plains, Swamp and Belcher. I grab the Duress as I am holding Oath. Next turn I Duress again and take that nasty Sword.
I resolve Oath I also have myself taking a point of burn. I may have cast the Oath with Mox, Tropical and used the Orchard at his E.O.T. I Oath out Akroma and swing. He tries for a Humility, I have Force of Will. He beats me with Tokens for two. I Oath up Spirit of the Night and take him all the way down to 2. Jeff pleas to the Magic God’s for a Miracle and it is an amazing thing as he top decks Humility! I am totally screwed. I do not have the counter and it resolves. My Akroma, Token of Meek and Spirit of the Playground are very small and unwilling to block his natural 1/1 Tokens. So I draw and just about lose it, as I see none other than Engineered Explosives! I have more mana than anyone could ever want at this point (approximately six or seven sources). I tap Orchard for Red, Tropical for Green, Underground for Black and Underground for Blue. Use two other Mana, Island and Waste I believe, to blow the Explosives and end my Humility. I say “one good top deck deserves another” and swing for the win. That game is what Magic is all about my friends.
Other Top Eight matches:
Bird Shiz (Travis) beats Oath (Adam)
Salvagers Oath (Conley) beats Gro-a-Tog (Brad)
Landstill (Ray) beats Tog (Adam)
Top Four:
Zach Gable (Oath) vs. Ray Houle (Landstill)
Travis Spero (Bird Shiz) vs. Conley Woods (Salvagers Oath)
Now we have been playing all afternoon and can split for $100.00 cash each and store credit. Or play for:
1st - $250.00
2nd- $100.00
3rd- $50.00
4th- $50.00 Store Credit.
I am totally cool with the split and manage to talk everyone else into splitting as well. Now reflecting back it would have been awesome to play it out and see who really was king of the hill. But with bills to pay and a guaranteed $100.00 staring you down, it’s hard to say no!
Random thoughts:
I was impressed with how well Parfait faired against the field, unpowered no less, I have seen this with the red splash (a la Razor at Gen-Con 2004) and now with black, both seem viable and I have high hope for this decks continued success and development. Any non-blue based deck that does well gets a nod in my book.
I was very comfortable with Oath the entire tournament. The main worry is in game one is facing off against Platinum Angel and having no way to remove it or deal with it. The only maindeck removal I have is the Engineered Explosives, obviously this gives you trouble vs. 6 + casting cost stuff. After sideboard I do have Deed and Oxidize (not that Oxidize is there for say the mirror at all).
This almost makes me want to switch back to the build running Skeletal Scrying and Cunning Wish vs. Intuition/Accumulated Knowledge to give you more of a game vs. randomness. But I am very happy with how streamlined the deck functions.
With as fast as Type One has gotten lately I feel that Duress is a must these days; it is so powerful to have knowledge of the opponents hands and to be able to proactively remove counterspells to force through your own Oath. Not to mention randomly knocking out a vital combo piece or removal spell. This card is a MVP.
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