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Pyromaniac
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« on: November 01, 2005, 11:50:01 am » |
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Well, after months of looking out for this, it finally happened. The site fvor this was conveniently located within a 20 minute cycling range, at the biggest national games-convention (I think). After spending Friday and Saturday trading and buying some cards, seeling off my set of Bazaars and having a 20 minute chat with Martina Pilcerova, the attending artist, and also getting some random stuff signed, it was Saturday evening.
Saturday evening is always special at the Spellenspektakel (Games Spectacle), seeing the Top 8 of the 1000 Euro tourney is played out, and more importantly, we get to open random old boosters and starters in the “Blast from the Past� tournament. This year, as last year, the format was Revised starter and Arabians/Antiquities/Legends/Dark boosters. I opened good cards, comparable to last year, no expensive highlights unfortunately, and built a rpetty good deck. However, there was a difference. Where last year I came in second, this year I didn’t win a match, because for some reason or another, almost everyone opened even better cards. Marco (BigMac) opened a Library, as did someone else, and 2 Abysses were opened as well, so it still was a very fun and enjoyable evening with people who didn’t really play to win, as much as enjoy playing with old cards and sets never meant for Limited.
But back to the report. I decided to play a variation on the Ravager/Plating deck I played to a winning finish in Mol a few weeks ago, bringing in a Timetwister. I played the following list:
"Crappy cards in a good deck"
Hero 't Mannetje
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Myr Servitor
4 Metalworker
2 Myr Retriever
2 Triskelion
3 Cranial “Insanial� Plating
1 Memory Jar
4 Skullclamp
4 Tangle Wire
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
8 SoLoCryptMoxen
1 Mana Vault
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Yavimaya Coast
2 Glimmervoid
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Ancient Tomb
Sideboard:
3 Magus of the Unseen
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Trinisphere
3 Oxidize
2 Naturalize
3 Choke
This is now a blue/green deck, which suits me fine, and it did very well, as evidenced by the results. So, on with the matchups.
Round 1: Hans Poldervaart, with unpowered R/W aggro
This matchup wasn’t too hard. Looking around, there were a TON of weird decks, and this was one of them. I won both games in short order and he couldn’t really put up a defense against me.
2-0, 1-0
Round 2: Dominique Wolthuys, with Control-Slaver
He mulligan’ed his first hand and the second wasn’t a lot better. Both games were over in short order with minimal resistance from him, except for a Welder or two, who met the vacuum cleaner, Triskelion.
2-0, 2-0
Round 3: Remy van Zandbergen, with Oath
Yay, the first Oath matchup. I managed to win game 1 by resolving a Trike and a Ravager and shooting him. Game 2 he got the nuts draw and went Orchard, Oath, while I mulligan’ed into a hand which just couldn’t handle that kind of pressure. Game 3 was interesting, as it went on for a few turns, then he had expended his hand, but had Orchard and Oath. End of turn, he gave me a token, and I responded by killing his Oath, which wrecked him. 2 turns later I played a Skullclamp, which he countered, then a Tinker for Jar, and next turn, I crushed him. A very tense match, which could have easily gone the other way.
2-1, 3-0
Round 4: Daniel Paardekoper, with Oath+Null Rod. The eventual winner of the champs.
Game 1 I got horribly crushed by Null Rod. Game 2 I got a better hand while he mulligan’ed into a hand, which would have been ok, had I not had a Time Walk and a critter with a Plating on it. Game 3 was all his, as he had the nuts and a Rod to show for my efforts.
1-2, 3-1
Round 5: Joeri van Veenendaal, with unpowered R/W aggro
I have no idea how he came this far, but he told me he’d faced Fish a few times, and with the amount of removal he had, it’s no surprise he won thos matches. Anyways, game 1 I crushed him with multiple critter and Tangle Wire, game 2 I got crushed by infinite removal spells and game 3 I eeked out by topdecking a Tinker for Triskelion, which killed his blockers and gave me a free path to victory.
2-1, 4-1
Round 6: Ilja Berukov, with Control-Slaver
I know Ilja, and he seems to either play slaver or stax, so this should be ok. Game 1 isn’t very hard, as he gets run down by a creature with Plating. Game 2 he goes turn 1 Tinker Colossus and I can’t race him and game 3 takes ages, compared to the other 2, but I lure him into a Jar and crush him after Clamping a million creatures and generating a billion mana or something like that.
2-1, 5-1. Well underway towards top 8 and very confidant in my deck.
Round 7: Carl DeVos, with workshop aggro.
Well, after playing for 6 rounds and still not losing to my own deck, it was just an accident waiting to happen, as it always does with me it seems. So this was no exception. Game 1 I hosed him as he kept a slow hand and couldn’t do much about my Wire and Plating’ed critter. Game 2 I got Crcible locked, which I could recover from,s eeing I hada Lotus and 2 moxen in hand, but not enough gas and he had a Monkey. All was looking ok, he was just attacking with a Shaman, and when he played a Trinisphere, that was game over for me. Game 3 saw me mulliganing into an ok hand, which just needed a Plating or Clamp, which I naurally didn’t draw, so I lost horrible to Triskelion, Welder and 2 or 3 Juggernauts.
1-2, 5-2
I decided to drop at this moment, as it was 7.30 pm, I was tired and hungry, didn’t have a chance for T8 and there were no prizes for T16 or something like that, just T8.
The deck performed, and still performs, exceptionally well, due to Plating giving you a sheer boost of speed which is hard to get without it. Few people play blockers and when Plating isn’t enough, you usually get the option of shooting someone with Ravager-Trike combo.
Props:
My deck, for performing very well
My opponents, for being very cool and relaxed, even when there was a lot at stake
Jesse Rivers, for inspiring me to try and break Ravager in Type 1, and making some progress.
Slops:
No real slops actually.
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