I submitted this to The Tome, but it's been almost a week, and I haven't gotten a reply from my last email asking what the hold up was. Ergo, I'm posting it here. There's an unrelated rant for the first two paragraphs-- skip it if you want to
Winning a Type 1 Tournament without Power 9: Easier than finding a place to live in Cincinnati. Every once in a while an article needs to start off with a good rant. This isn’t because the rant is at all related to the article at hand, or even that the rant is vital information to be spread to the world. No, the necessity of the rant stems from the writer—writers need to get things off their chests in order to insure that the rest of the article stays on topic. With that, comes my rant on affordable housing in Cincinnati.
It appears that my buddy Ben and myself make too much money to live in low income housing (by about $5,000/yr.). Fine. We never thought we’d make too much money for anything, but we’re thankful that we make as much as we do. The irony and the rant comes in when we get declined for an apartment somewhere else. The rationale? We don’t make enough money. We’re not looking at a four-bedroom apartment downtown next to the river. It was a simple two-bedroom townhouse. Too much for low-income, not enough for non-restricted. We even asked about a larger deposit or a co-signer. No dice. So apparently two people who make a combined income ranged between $30,001-$50,000 can’t live anywhere. Period. And that pisses me off. If we thought we couldn’t afford rent we wouldn’t apply. We have college degrees (ok, I do, Ben is still working on his). We have jobs. But we need some place to sleep when we’re not at work. I’m tempted to bring down the fiery sword of justice down on the whole place. But that’s probably a bad idea. And I don’t own a fiery sword. But it still sucks.
And now for your regularly scheduled Origins tournament report:
The last tournament I entered was Origins 2001. During the last year I needed some money, and sold off almost the entire deck. Some time around May I decided I really wanted to rebuild it and head back to Origins. I even splurged and bought a playset of Mana Drains. But my deck was still powerless (without Power 9). Walking into the Columbus Convention Center on Friday morning, I had yet to playtest my deck against a living opponent. Like last year, I had spent hours and hours drawing seven and playing out imaginary rounds. But it was untested, unpowered, and I was ready to get my butt handed to me.
Perhaps a decklist is in order. Turboland variant I like to call TurboSoup:
3x Exploration
1x Fastbond
4x horn of Greed
4x Duress
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Sickening Dreams
4x Gush
4x Impulse (on Sunday 1x Impulse was switched for a MD scroll rack)
3x Force of Will
3x Mana Drain
1x Trade Routes
1x Time Spiral
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Sol Ring
1x Zuran Orb
1x Mana Vault
3x Tundra
4x Underground Sea
4x Tropical Island
5x Island
3x Undiscovered
2x City of Brass
1x Gemstone Mine
1x Glacial Chasm
The Sideboard changed every day. But here’s what it was by Sunday:
1x Glacial Chasm
1x Sacred Ground
2x Compost (never used, but I was glad I had them. Black was around, just not my opponents)
1x Elephant Grass
1x Multani’s Presence (The cause of one of the more entertaining plays of the weekend—keep reading)
2x Dismantling Blow
1x COP Blue (never used)
1x COP Artifacts (after losing to Stacker Friday)
2x COP Red (game winner)
1x Chill (after losing to Sligh Friday)
2x Red Elemental Blast (I only had two with me; I tried in vain to trade for two more on Saturday).
I had to work late Thursday night, thus I didn’t get to bed in Columbus until after 2:00am.
There were at least four Type 1 tournaments at Origins, and I entered three of them. My notes are a bit fuzzy, so I apologize in advance for any misinformation.
Friday 11:00am Tournament:
My first match was against Bill C. and his Stasis/Kismet deck. I don’t think either of us had power cards, and game one I went off on turn four. Game two was similar with an early Duress grabbing a counterspell. At least it was over quickly. 1-0-0.
Match II was against a BBS deck operated by Matt S. Turn one he drops mox, land, lotus, and Morphling. I seriously consider scooping right there, but decided to play it out—how long can it last anyway? After getting smacked around for five damage on turns two and three, I drop a Zorb. He drops Powder Keg and detonates for zero. Turn four I pull the Glacial Chasm, and turn five earns me the Yawgmoth’s Will. Replaying several Gush and Tutor cards, I go for the win. My opponent was disappointed that he lost, but more impressed that I pulled the win after a first turn Superman. So was I. Game 2 was a bit slower. He dropped an early Back to Basics which tied up my dual lands. He also miscalculated an early Exploratoin. But a very well placed Gush returned my tapped lands back to my hand. On turn three I drop Fastbond, and Gush again. I finished off on turn five. 2-0-0.
Match III. Peter and a Stacker Deck. I just survived a first turn Morphling—did you actually expect me to also survive a first turn Masticore? I dropped the mana vault and a horn of greed, but I couldn’t get the rest of the Engine. I lost quickly. Game two gave a fantastic opening hand: Tropical, Exploration, Underground, Duress. I grab the Blood Moon without much consideration, and we go from there. He still drops an early Juggernaut, followed by a Masticore, but once again the Glacial Chasm buys enough time for me to pull the win. We both took Paris mulligans in game three. He plays a first turn Su-Chi, but I have the Force of Will in hand. An early duress, followed by the Chasm again leads to victory. He was left holding an all red hand, and no mountains in sight—the first mountain was 10 cards down at the end of the game. 3-0-0.
The next couple matches are hazy. At some point I lost to another Stacker deck. I beat another Keeper deck (something about keeping an opening hand with both the Abyss and Moat, when you don’t realize you’re playing against a creatureless deck). Duress was still my key defensive card, grabbing counterspells, or forcing them to counter the duress. Then there was Sligh.
Match V (?). Game one I got fried quickly, in the standard Sligh fashion. Game two lead to some no-brainer sideboard issues. I drop a second turn COP Red, and he stalls out with two scrolls on the table, but no mana to activate them. He tied up my mana by attacking every round, but once I dropped the Chasm, I bought enough time to find the combo. But it was a long, tiresome game. We move into game three. Early Fastbond, drop 3 land, keeping one in hand. I Enlightened Tutored and thought way too long on a simple choice—I could grab the COP Red and go into another long, stalled game. Or I could go aggressive and take the horn of greed with the hope of winning early. Yep, I’m a moron. I grab the horn. Price of Progress, Price of Progress, bolt, fireblast. I so deserved to lose that match.
Bonehead mistake #2 is somewhere. My opponent Cunning Wished. I Impulse, holding a FoW in hand. I grab something (horn of greed?) instead of the Gush. Next turn he Shattering Pulsed my horn, followed by the Zorb, and any other artifact I thought about playing. He won game, and match.
Even with these two horrid plays, I end up 12th out of 56 original players. Not bad, all things considered.
Saturday 1:00pm. I stopped taking notes after each game. I can only provide brief snippets from memory, which may or may not be accurate. I hope at least the outcomes of the games are valid.
First round I played a kid who didn’t know what “Type 1, Classic” meant. We’re still not sure if he confused it with Sixth Edition (Classic) or what. But his deck contained Paralyze, Unholy Strength, and a Krovokian Vampire. I felt bad killing him. I really did. But in his defense, I took way too long to go off, and his little critters did a decent amount of damage to me.
My hardest match was against a rogue Enchantress/Oath/Replenish deck. Too many Seals of Cleansing. His win condition was Sacred Mesa, which I thought was a little odd. I won the first game, but he sideboarded in a few cards that stopped me fast: Multani’s Presence wasn’t cool, but it was the City of Solitude that sucked the most. Of course I drew the Force of Will the next turn—but it was already in play. This was after his first turn Fastbond; I dropped first one, then a second horn of Greed, knowing my opponent would gain advantage, as I only had an exploration out. But I was hoping to draw my own fastbond and end it. But his card advantage lead to Seal of Cleansing, Seal of Cleansing, Replenish. I should have quit there, but I played it out. Time was called on our third game, making the match a draw.
I don’t remember many of my other matches, but two plays will forever remain etched into my skull:
Biggest Mistake of the Day: It was Game Two against a BBS deck, and I was in the process of going off. I had Duressed away his counters, so I knew his hand was empty and I had free reign. The only problem I might run into was not having enough cards to drop a 20 pt. Sickening Dreams. I had played Yawgmoths’ Will, and was looking at casting either the Vampiric Tutor or another Impulse from my graveyard. It had been a long day. It was late in the tournament. I tapped two blue mana, removed the Impulse from the game, and picked up my library to go through it. My opponent’s look of shock, followed by his cry of “What was that?” jerked me back to reality. I stammered, realized I had no explanation whatsoever, and asked what he wanted to do. I was expecting to call the judge and get a stern warning for being a bonehead. I suggested I tap a black mana, cast the Vampiric before the Impulse resolved, and lose the two life. My opponent agreed, and I won the match, still feeling very much like a moron.
The Second Biggest Mistake of the Day: Game one against Trix, the final round of the tournament. I had gone 4-1-1 (I think), and was looking at Top 8. I threw a couple of early Gushes, and soon the combo was rolling. I Duressed his Necro, and I don’t think he played much else that was a real threat for me. I had cast Yawgmoth’s Will, and I realized too late that I was removing too many cards from the game. It was going to be close, as to whether I could grab 20 cards in hand. The other problem was that I didn’t have the Sickening Dreams in hand, and I was afraid of an odd number of cards left in my library compared to number of horns in play. I grab the Demonic Tutor and fix that problem. I have three horns in play, and 7 cards in my library. I drop two lands and draw six. At this point in the story it’s important to note that I had a Trade Routes sitting in play. All I needed to do was tap all my lands but two and return them to my hand for the Dreams. No, no. That wouldn’t make this the bonehead play of the day. Looking through my hand, I see a Gush, and without even thinking about it, I cast it to send two lands to my hand. I continuing going through my hand, trying to see if I have 21 cards, when my opponent leans over and picks up Gush. He states, “Um, don’t you die when you draw the second card?” I look at him. I look at the Gush. I drop my hand onto the table in disgust and state, “Why yes, yes I do.” In the process of scooping I realized that I still had 5 counterspells in my hand I could have countered my own Gush to win the game. It was a sad play. He sided out the combo and in came Negators and hyppies for the second game. He drew almost all of his sideboard cards, and handed my butt to me, well beaten. We decided to play the third game for fun afterwards, and with his deck back to the original configuration, I pounded him soundly. I’m curious if I could have won the third game if he had sideboarded again.
I picked up 8th place (and 8 packs of product), and my last opponent earned 7th. If I would have won the match, I would have been 3rd. Oh, well. Live and learn.
Sunday, 12:00pm. As much as I wanted to stay for the midnight tourney, I couldn’t do it. So I came back Sunday morning, and walked in just as they announced last call for noon Classic. I sign up only to learn that our 8 player match had dropped to 4 as “four guys had to catch their ride home.” The judge offers to either return our $5 or let us play an unsanctioned event with prizes being 8:4:2:2. $5 for two packs as a worst-case scenario? We’re in.
We decided to play Round Robin because there were so few of us. Round one I face an Extended 11 land stompy deck that the kid claims he bought for $7 off a guy who needed food. Game one goes my way. He hits me for 9 on turn two in game 2, and I don’t recover in time. Game three I start to get a bit nervous—I would hate to lose to an Extended deck. A well-placed Glacial Chasm holds off his forces, but I’ve taken plenty of damage. After three rounds, I can’t afford the upkeep and the Chasm goes away. I’m down to 3 life, when I draw both the Yawgmoth’s Will and the Fastbond. I tap for the Yawgmoth’s Will, and Gush away. I end up with only a Gemstone in play with one counter on it. If I tap for the Fastbond, I don’t have enough lands for the Chasm to come back. I win by 1 life point. Gemstone for Fastbond, second land, sac for Chasm in graveyard, 1 life remaining. It was too close.
Match II is against a High Tide deck of sorts. Palichron, Turnabouts, Wheel, Stroke, et al. The first game was really long, hard fought. It became draw-go because I couldn’t afford to cast much without a few counters to back it up. He cast an 8 pt Stroke on himself, which I Mana Drained. I manage to drop a free horn, but ended up taking 8 burn. I think it was worth it. A few rounds later I ended up going off. Game two he focused on hitting only my horns. I couldn’t draw what I needed, and he had complete board control. I believe I conceded to give us time for game three. Game three he countered 2 or 3 horns, but I kept drawing more. Duresses again saved my butt by drawing counters out. I ended up winning the match.
Third match was against Demi God from themanadrain.com, who was playing Keeper. I won the first game after heavy duress use. It was drawn out and well played. The second game he drops a second or third turn COP Black. Honestly, who plays with COP Black? I concede after realizing my Dismantling Blows are in the SB. If I were running the Twister/Regrowth combo, I could have still won, but my lousy Time Spiral wasn’t going to do it. Game three I start with 3 Duress and a Vampiric in my opening hand, but no black mana. Turn three I draw the Underground and things are looking up. Until a Balance, followed by a Morphling. I counter, but he ReBs. I end up tapping my Undiscovered Paradises for burn each turn to put lands back in my hand. But after a couple rounds he Wastelands them both. It was my last turn. I either needed to go off, or at the very least drop the Chasm and Zorb to stay alive. I have the Time Spiral, but only three lands untapped. If only I could have afforded the Twister. I get the Fastbond and I have 1 horn in play, but I’m out of lands. Thinking quickly, I look at the Multani’s Presence I have in play. Whenever a spell you play is countered, draw a card. I pay 1 mana for the Sol Ring, and remove the useless Time Spiral from the game to Force of Will my own card. I draw a land, which I immediately play to draw another land. I really need a Gush or the Yawgmoth’s Will. But I’d settle for a Zorb. A second land. Still alive. Next card, Force of Will. Nooooo! It was exciting, though. And I take 2nd place in a Type 1 tournament.
So what have I learned from all this? Get plenty of sleep before tournaments—it’s worth it. Impulse does not allow you to go through your library. COP Red is almost always more important than the horn of Greed. If they play Cunning Wish, counter whatever it is they wish for. Yes, Timetwister really is worth the $120 people pay for it, as much as I hate to admit it. After a tournament, it’s not worth selling off the cards in the deck to only rebuild it the next year. More importantly, it is still possible to play in Type 1 without Power. My deck cost around $300, and $150 of that was Mana Drains, which could easily be Counterspells. Type 1 isn’t dead, and it’s not too late to join in.
But the biggest lesson for the day? The General Manager of Forest Park Apartments in Cincinnati has some policies that I don’t agree with. And to avoid slander, that’s all I’m going to say on the topic.
I’ll trade some Mana Drains for a place to live in August!
Comments, questions, tournament corrections, and lease options for the Cincinnati area can be mailed to:
patchje@hotmail.com \n\n
