I've been a Keeper player for a long time. It's my favorite deck ever. However I noticed TnT decklists popping up here and there and decided since I already had all the cards, I may as well try it out. I've always liked Survival so that was a plus. The week before the tournament I built TnT and played a few games against friends who had Sui Black, Sligh, Pox and Keeper built (all fully powered). TnT handled its own and I knew I had a new Type 1 deck to play with. For reference here's the decklist I registered:
Mana sources:
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Forest
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Grim Monolith
Creatures:
4 Goblin Welder
4 Juggernaut
4 Su-Chi
2 Triskelion
1 Anger
1 Wonder
1 Genesis
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Squee
1 Druid Lyrist
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Shield Sphere
Fun Stuff:
4 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
Sideboard:
2 Jester's Cap
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Emerald Charm
2 Naturalize
2 Bottle Gnomes
2 Powder Keg
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pyroblast
1 Masticore
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Mile High Comics (
www.milehighcomics.com/magic)
Type One Tournament
Thornton, Colorado 11/23/2002
(shamelessly taken from Green Knight's post)
On to the tournament report!
Round 1 vs Zach Gable *Green Knight here* (Keeper - fully powered)
I had heard of Zach from other tournaments and from here, but I never put a name with a face. He introduced himself as Zach and I asked him in the middle of our first game what his last name was. We exchanged a few words about TMD.com and the old BD and went on with the match.
Zach's match description can be found in this forum. He obviously took better notes than I did.
Matches: 1-0
Round 2 vs Kent (G/w critters, definately not powered)
Game 1: Well, his first creatures on the board were Vine Trellis, Vine Trellis and Llanowar Elves. Needless to say, flying, hasted Juggernaut/Su-chi beats are a little unfair.
Game 2: Much of the same, I didn't bother sideboarding and the result was the same. It was a Turn 1 Juggernaut, Turn 2 Survival; swing for 5, Turn 3 flying/hasted Juggernaut x2; swing for 10, Turn 4 swing for the kill.
Matches: 2-0
Round 3 vs Andrew (Mono G Elves, again not powered)
Game 1: A first turn Survival turns into a hasted Su-chi followed by a Triskelion. I have his life total as 20,19,12,0.
Game 2: I'm allowed 1 bad game for the whole tournament and this was it. I'm not really sure what happened. I drew horribly and couldn't get ANY big creatures down. Winter Orb did not help my cause. I remember chumping a 4/4 elf with my mox monkey and scooping shortly after. Ok deck, it's elves, don't die on me.
Game 3: Much better. I get out a Survival and a Welder. I get recurring Triskelion's going on him. Elves don't like Triskelion's much. He ended the game with 2 Forests and a Cradle in play.
Matches: 3-0
Round 4 vs Jeff Vance (Turboland, not powered)
ID
Jeff and I rode down with some other people and to give ourselves the best chance at Top 8'ing we ID.
Matches: 3-0-1
Round 5 vs Matt (Goblin sligh, not powered)
Game 1: I open up quickly with a Juggernaut which he bolts. A Raging Goblin deals me damage for a few turns before I make a Su-chi stick. It's followed by a Triskelion and it it game shortly thereafter. I ended at 16 life.
Game 2: This game was a freaking battle and he mulliganed to 5! He opened with a City of Brass, Duress. Well, there goes a Mox Pearl. I play a land and the next turn he Duresses again. I lose a Time Walk. He gets down a Sparksmith and a Mogg Fanatic. I play a Welder and a Su-chi. He kills them both. I play another Su-chi. It dies too. All in all I took 12 points of burn from Su-chis. Heh. Where oh where was my Masticore? Anyway, the last tunr of the game he has a Sparksmith and 3 land on the board, 2 moutains and a City of Brass. He's at 2 life, I am at 3 life. I cast Genesis the turn before. I have a Welder, a Mox and some land in play. There is a Bottle Gnomes in my yard. I attack with both and immediately realize my mistake. If he draws a burn spell that can deal 3 points of damage I will die because I can't weld my mox into a Bottle Gnomes. He chumps Genesis of course and proceeds to draw.... Firebolt. Whew. It takes me to 1 and we don't have to go to game 3.
Matches: 4-0-1
Round 6 vs Shane (Keeper - fully powered)
I like my chances against Shane, but we are both 4-0-1 at this point and playing may knock one of us out of the Top 8. We ID and I mill around for an hour.
Matches: 4-0-2
Top 8
1 AJ Hill - Mono U Artifacts - 16pts (fully powered)
2 Taylor Reid - Keeper - 15pts (fully powered)
3 Rob (forgot this last name) - Sligh - 15pts (his first tourney)
4 Jason Shickli - Gro - 15pts (fully powered)
5 Terry Welty - Gro - 14pts (fully powered)
6 Me - (r3as0n) TnT (fully powered) - 14pts
7 Shane Knepshield - Keeper - 14pts (fully powered)
8 Zach Gable (GreenKnight) - Keeper - 13pts (fully powered)
So I go into the top 8 as the 7th seed with 14pts.
Quarterfinals vs Rob (Sligh, not powered)
Rob told me before the match that this was his first tournament here. I remarked that he did quite well for his first tourney (and thought to myself, he probably has no idea how to play against TnT)
Game 1: Well, when Sligh doesn't deal you a point of damage all game long, it's a real good sign. My first turn was Mox, Academy, Lotus, Triskelion. Mmmm, tasty for red. A Su-chi came along and sealed the deal.
Game 2: This game took a bit longer. An early Ball Lightning and some burn dropped me to 1. Fortunately that's where I stayed. I got 2 Bottle Gnomes down and a Masticore. They made short work of him as he couldn't push through for any more damage.
Matches: 5-0-2.
So, I went 5-0-2 for the tourney, only dropping 1 game and both draws came intentionally. I didn't face the quality of decks I expected save for the 1st round with Green Knight, but for my first tourney with TnT I was happy. I walked away $100 richer and with some store credit. TnT is definately a blast to play and I look forward to future tournaments with it. Thanks for reading! Peace!
