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kl0wn
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« on: July 29, 2002, 12:27:05 am » |
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Crazy Carl, myself, and our mutual acquaintences Rob, Jason and Smack arrive at 9am to Laura's Diner so we could all get some meat-filled breakfasts. We've all come to the agreement that having meat for breakfast is the secret to doing well in tournaments. Unfortunately, Laura's is closed and we are forced to go to Friendly's. This is a very bad sign, perhaps bad enough karma to jinx the entire tournament.
At Friendly's, everybody orders meals that are packed with meat with the exception of Rob, who is ultimately the first one of us to go down.
But onward to the report:
We arrive at Altered States in Syracuse at about 11:15am, which is excellent time since the tournament begins at noon. Before registering my deck, I decide to look around to try to find a Moat, as I'm playing Parfait and I somehow lost every game to a Tubbies variant at Fat Cat the day before.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a Moat, but I see a lot of Glooms and Hippies being shuffled up in peoples' decks. I begin to believe that there will be a large Suicide showing, so I decide to slip an extra Light of Day into my SB, then register my deck.
My deck, for reference:
Tier 3.dec 0wnz j00
Maindeck:
4 Land Tax
3 Scroll Rack
2 Zuran Orb
3 StoP
2 Wrath Of God
1 Balance
1 Humility
2 Sacred Mesa
1 Soldevi Digger
1 Tormod's Crypt
4 Orim's Chant
3 Aura Of Silence
1 Story Circle
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ivory Mask
4 Argivian Find
3 Replenish
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Library Of Alexandria
14 Plains
Sideboard:
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Replenish
1 Thran Lense
2 Masticore
2 Ivory Tower
1 StoP
2 Abolish
1 Humility
2 Light Of Day
1 Spiritual Focus
For the record, the past two tournaments that I had attended and played this deck in at Altered, I took 1st place, then 2nd place, both times sharing the finals with CrazyCarl.
Round 1: Stefan; Sligh with Seismic Assault, Goblin Vandals and Orcish Artillery (Stefan also does not have a sideboard)
Game 1: Stefan casts a bunch of 2/1 Sligh dorks while I get a Land Tax going. Unfortunately, I can't draw any creature elimination or a Scroll Rack before he mows me down.
Side in: 1 SToP, 2 Masticore, 2 Ivory Tower
Side out: 1 Tormod's Crypt, 1 Aura of Silence, 1 Soldevi Digger, 2 Replenish
Game 2: He gets out a Pup and 2 Goblin Vandals and throws a little burn at my head. I eventually whip out my Ivory Mask and later slam a Masticore down on the table. Stefan plays Seismic Assault and tries to stop my Masticore from beating his head in by throwing lands at it. His plan only prolongs his impending demise, as I have enough mana on the table to regenerate my Masticore and kill every guy he puts into play.
Game 3: I set up on him and get out the usual anti-Sligh measures; Ivory Mask, Humility, Zuran Orb, and eventually a Sacred Mesa. Unfortunately, because Stefan had been playing quite slowly, time ran out the turn before I would have run him down with my purple poneys.
The match ended in a draw. I'm not going to elaborate any more than saying this: in retrospect, I think he was stalling. Since when do Sligh's turns last longer than Pafait's? Either he was stalling or he's just a moron who came from the shallow end of the gene pool. I usually have nothing but respect for my opponents but this one was also absolutely obnoxious and his slow play cost me a much-deserved win. Enough complaining, its my fault, I should've called a judge.
Round 2: Don; Sligh with lots of burn and Browbeat
Game 1: Don beats me down for a little bit with Mogg Fanatics and burn until I eventually stabilize with Ivory Mask and Zuran Orb. I throw out a Mesa and make a swarm of Pegasi that ride him down to 1 life. I'm at 4 life and on the turn before he's about to die, he casts Flame Rift hoping that I'll forget about my ZOrb. I don't and the game ends with him at -3 life and me at 2.
In: 1 Thran Lens, 2 Ivory Tower
Out: 1 Soldevi Digger, 1 Aura of Silence, 1 Tormod's Crypt
Game 2: He opens with Mountain, Mogg Fanatic. I open with Wasteland, Sol Ring, Thran Lens (fearing Anarchy). On his turn he throws 6 points of burn at me and hits me with his Mogg Fanatic. On my turn, I go Plains, Black Lotus, Argivian Find my Lotus, Lotus, Plow his Fanatic, Sacred Mesa, Balance. This leaves him with 2 Mountains and no cards in hand and me with a Sol Ring, Wasteland, Plains, Thran Lens and a Sacred Mesa ready to beat down. Over the next few turns I draw nothing but Plains, and he draws a Mountain, a Havoc and some random burn while I continue to apply the pony beats. Don gets me down to 3 life and casts Browbeat. He's tapped out and can't kill me. He's at 10 life and I've got 8 Pegasi out. I need to rip something fierce from the top of my library or else I'm toast on his turn, as I know he's got at least a bolt in his hand. I close my eyes and peel my card, then look at it....ZURAN ORB! RAWR!!! I slap it down on the table and stare at my 4 juicy lands and smile. He counts my lands also, and I remind him that he's going to have to deal more than 10 points of damage to me next turn to win. He Scoops.
Round 3: Steven; Bad 4 Color Slivers, all basic land, phasing creatures
Game 1: He throws out an early Clot Sliver and beats me down for a while. A Mnemonic and Metallic join the assault with a Tolarian Drake. I Wrath, then cast a Mesa, which cleans him up.
Steven concedes the match to me because he wants to go eat. I feel really bad about crushing him, as it was clear that he was a serious novice. A side note here: folks, if someone wants to play Type 1, take some time to teach them how to build decent decks if you can.
Round 4: CrazyCarl; Bad Academy (no Candelabras, Trade Routes)
Before we start playing, we discuss drawing into the top 8, but realize that I won't make it even if we draw. To be honest, I have never played against Academy and am a bit intimidated by this matchup.
Game 1: Carl opens with a bunch of mana artifacts, including a Helm of Awakening. This allows me to cast an early Ivory Mask which was a huge mistake. I should have instead cast an Aura of Silence and left my Wasteland untapped. On the next turn, Carl casts Crop Rotation and digs out his Academy. He essentially goes nuts on me and I never take another turn. He Capsizes my Ivory Mask and Strokes me for about 14,000. I actually just scoop when he has more than 60 mana floating and he shows me the Stroke.
I don't get to sideborad, as Carl conceeds the second and third games to me so we can both make top 8. Thanks Carl, I owe you one.
Round 5: Bob; U/B/W Finkula with Dromar's Charm, Vindicate, Morphling and SB Extract
Bob reminds me of the great Brian Griffin, a local player who always shows up to Fat Cat with the most random decks that give everyone else severe headaches.
Game 1: Bob goes to work on me with a Shadowmage Infiltrator and a Meddling Mage naming Sacred Mesa. I eventually force through a Wrath, cast Humility then Sacred Mesa and proceed to run him down with my purple pony tokens.
In: 2 Masticore, 1 Thran Lens
Out: 1 Tormod's Crypt, 1 Story Circle, 1 Replenish
In retrospect, this was a terrible sideboarding decision.
Game 2: I try to get jiggy with a Masticore, but he ends up Vindicating it and Disking away everything I have. Finkel hits play and Bob counters all my attempts to kill it. Finkel and Pikula go all the way.
Out: 2 Masticore, 1 Thran Lens
In: 1 Humility, 1 Story Circle, 1 Replenish
Game 3: Bob casts Meddling Mage and names Swords to Plowshares. I wrath. I then proceed to set up my side of the board. He gets a disk out and ends up blowing it, wiping out my team. We play a little back and forth for a bit, him with Vindicates, creatures and Extracts, and me with creature elimination and Argivian Finds. Bob eventually throws out a Morphling, but I resolve a Replenish with every hoser in my graveyard, including a Mesa. Just for good measure, I plow his Morphling before I roll him with my horses.
Round 6: Jason; Keeper
Here it is. The match that I'm always waiting for. I've always claimed that I can take Keeper down easily, and here's my chance to prove it.
Game 1: I cast a Land Tax on the second turn and Jason Drains it. Not a good start. We play draw-go for a while until he drops a Morphling. I panic and hurry out a Wrath which is Drained into a 4-point Stroke. I should've just playd the Library that was sitting in my hand and cheated for the next 3 turns in hopes of finding some answers to force through, but I always have to start playing badly at some point during every tournament in which I use the basic Plains. This was my time to shine. Badly. I start drawing answers, but Jason counters each one until I'm dead.
In: 1 Humility, 1 Replenish
Out: 2 Swords To Plowshares
Game 2: I play an early ZOrb and trick Jason into thinking I'm mana screwed by only playing2 land. He wastes his Strip on one of my Plains and I sac it for 2 life. I cast a Scroll Rack and play Library. He peels Wasteland and blasts it. I sac it in response. I stack my deck and adjust my hand for a bit with my Scroll Rack, then cast a Story Circle into a Mana Drain. The 3 colorless turns into a Morphling, but this time I'm ready. Next turn I Chant Jason. He counters. I Chant him again and it resolves. I grin evilly and politely say "you're screwed". I go nuts with a Lotus and dump my hand, then sac all 2 of my land and cast Balance. Another Morphling down, and an Armageddon to boot. Jason gets greedy with his Sylvan Library while we play draw-go for a little bit until he has enough mana for another Morphling and he casts it. He's at one life now from a City of Brass and his Sylvan. Jason hits me a couple of times with his Superman, but gets greedy and taps out with the exception of his City to cast Timewalk. At the end of his turn I cast the lone StoP in my deck, targetting his Morphling. The game is mine now, as he only has a Braingeyser as a win condition and about 4 counters left in his deck and I have all of my threats and 4 Replenishes and about 3 Argivian Finds to back them up with. Unfortunately, by now, time is called and I lose the match. *sigh*
Well, that's it. I believe I finished in 3rd place out of the whole tournament. Unfortunately, only 21 people showed up so we were 4 people shy of the 25 needed for the $150 prize so I only got my entry fee back which was $6.
CrazyCarl and I were the only people out of the Binghamton crew to make top 8. Smack, Jason and Rob all went 2-2 I believe.
As another note, everyone faked me out...there was no Suicide that I know of.
Hope y'all enjoyed the long-ass read.
WTF?!?!? --->
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