Reports from Carta Magica - 02-02-03

[K-Run]

Carta Magica Type 1 Event – February 2nd 2003

About 60 players gathered to play the most fun format ever. I came with my traditional deck, Deck Parfait, with a couple of maindeck changes and many in the sideboard.

Here’s what I ran :

Deck Parfait – February 2003

        1 Tormod's Crypt
        2 Sacred Mesa
        1 Strip Mine
        3 Wasteland
        1 Mountain
        12 Plains
        1 Library of Alexandria
        1 Blood Moon
        1 Replenish
        4 Argivian Find
        1 Mana Crypt
        3 Orim's Chant
        1 Seal of Cleansing
        2 Aura of Silence
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Diamond
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Sol Ring
        2 Claws of Gix
        2 Humility
        1 Ivory Tower
        2 Wrath of God
        2 Story Circle
        4 Swords to Plowshares
        1 Enlightened Tutor
        1 Balance
        3 Scroll Rack
        4 Land Tax

SB:  1 Replenish
SB:  1 Phyrexian Processor
SB:  1 Jester's Cap
SB:  1 Moat
SB:  1 Cleansing Meditation
SB:  2 Pariah
SB:  1 Ivory Tower
SB:  1 Orim's Chant
SB:  2 Tormod's Crypt
SB:  2 Aura of Silence
SB:  1 Grindstone
SB:  1 Karmic Justice

This is a good build without anything wacky. I finally removed the Golden Wish after a second testing session, which was just like the first one. I had no Digger, no Mask and didn’t miss them. I also removed the Abolishes to add additionnal Auras : they’re much better vs TnT, Academy and Army of Squirrels.

I was happy to have additionnal win conditions vs blue-based decks. Pariah has been great vs most aggro decks.

On to the report…

Round 1 – Cancerman playing TnT

Cancerman is a bit concerned about losing this match and I understand this is a nightmare matchup for his deck. The game starts with him playing a first-turn Juggy. I get rid of it with an Aura and he plays Survival. Eventually, despite an early Balance, he manages to kill me with 1/1’s.

Game 2 I’m able to take control and finally get an Ivory Tower on the table to take back all the life I lost but there’s a big problem : he crypted away my lone Sacred Mesa ! Having no other way to win than decking him, I keep control and he eventually concedes, probably thinking that I’ll draw my other Mesa ! Woo Hoo!

Game 3 I’m still facing some rough beats but time is called before he delivers the final blow.

0-0-1

Round 2 – Sylvain Charbonneau, playing a rogue Gro deck.

Game 1 he lays a first turn Dryad and I don’t draw enough anti-critters. I die very fast.

Game 2 He gets another dryad early on, but I have a lot of hate for it. Unfortunately for me, he had 5 counters in hand. What can I do ?

0-1-1

Round 3 – Daniel Kramer, playing Urphidian

Game 1 goes my way, with me being able to StoP his creatures, even Morphling !

Game 2 I have an excellent start with 1st turn Tax, 2nd turn Chant-Grindstone. He has an Ophidian in play, but I don’t care, he’ll deck himself faster. I start the grinding and once put 8 cards in his graveyard with a single activation. He then taps out for a second Phid, and I make the mistake of Wrathing them away. I then start to play permanents instead of grinding, and he eventually plays a Morphling against who I can’t do anything.

Game 3 doesn’t last long, time is called.

0-1-2

Round 4 – A boy playing Feldon’s Cane.

The boy is running a 4-color deck without any basic lands. Despite the fact that the games took a while to play, I still don’t know how his deck worked. I guess it just didn’t work at all.

1-1-2

Round 5 – Alex Leblanc, playing mono-u.

I win rather easily the first game. Alex is so hungry though that he concedes game 2 on 3rd turn, when I drop a Blood Moon. He prefers to eat than to play a long and already lost game.

2-1-2

Round 6 – Olivier Cloutier, playing Gro

Game 1, Olivier overwhelms me with a dryad and a serendid efreet.

Game 2, Rootwater Thief removes my 2 Sacred Mesa from the game but he’s having trouble getting past my Moat and Story Circle. He decks himself.

Game 3 he gets a strong Dryad / Serendib start but I play Moat. He plays a second Serendib but I’m able to hold them back with Pariahs. I get Mesa on the table and he can’t do much, blocking a single Pegasus a turn and being hurt by the efreet, but time is called and it’s a draw.

2-1-3

In retrospect I’m still somewhat happy with my deck. I didn’t see anything going bad. I’ll probably run the same thing next time.

[Fishhead]

Quote Alex Leblanc, playing mono-u. ... Alex is so hungry though that he concedes game 2 on 3rd turn, when I drop a Blood Moon.

That must be a strange Mono-U to scoop twice to Blood Moon.  

[Saucemaster]

Quote This is a good build without anything wacky

Good build?  No doubt!  But wacky?  Mana Crypt!!  Wow!    I'm assuming that since your posted updates to Parfait are always well-researched and tested, you've found this to be good.  How's the drawback been?

[the phoenix]

Nice report K-run. Is your rumored mono-green control deck near being ready?

I'd just like to take this opportunity to give major props to François Mathivet for playing ACADEMY in HARD TOPLOADERS with A BROKEN ARM and coming in TIED FOR FIRST. That is trully a great feat!

[FeverDog]

Nice report Raph, sorry you didnt make top 8  

Andy, how did you do yourself? Also, im happy to see that our metagame seems to be pretty good, with a nice mix of different decks.

[BurningIce]

K-Run: Couldn't make it this time, so it seems we missed each other again  

Anyway, Nice report.  Good to see you won more than you lost.

[Luc, Use The Force]

Quote (K-Run @ Feb. 03 2003,12:05)Round 2 – Sylvain Charbonneau, playing a rogue Gro deck.

Héhé!

I played the same guy in round 3 and I couldn't say what he was playing... I saw 1 dryad in 2 games along with Jester's Cap, Grim Monolith, Orim's chant... well  

[K-Run]

Saucemaster :

About Mana Crypt, I think a Mox Ruby would be better, but I don't own it and I think the Crypt is quite interesting to play, giving the deck a much needed 2nd Sol Ring. Playing 2 Claws of Gix allows you to play that card. In theory I think a lot of cards in the deck can negate its negative effect, and I didn't take in consideration that I could win the flip when I add it to the deck.

the phoenix :

At the tournament, I actually played a game with my mono-g deck just for kicks. It's slowly but surely evolving into a playable deck instead of being a pile of cards that seem to have some synergy between them. I really need to proxy a Berzerk though and see if it can improve the deck.

[carl]

Quote (K-Run @ Feb. 03 2003,21:05)Carta Magica Type 1 Event – February 2nd 2003

Round 1 – Cancerman playing TnT
Game 3 I’m still facing some rough beats but time is called before he delivers the final blow.

Round 3 – Daniel Kramer, playing Urphidian
Game 3 doesn’t last long, time is called.

Round 6 – Olivier Cloutier, playing Gro
Game 3 he gets a strong Dryad / Serendib start but I play Moat. He plays a second Serendib but I’m able to hold them back with Pariahs. I get Mesa on the table and he can’t do much, blocking a single Pegasus a turn and being hurt by the efreet, but time is called and it’s a draw.

So many draws.
How long was it for a round? 45, 50 or 60 minutes.

Thanks for the report.

[Razor]

I'm hoping someone (Sick Boy?) posts some results and top decklists.

[specialk]

Cool you killed TnT and mono U scoops to blood moon? good report I like how Parfait is evolving it is getting much better

[Cancerman]

Althought he did have a lot of TnT hate, K-Run did scare me a lot. But we ended up with a draw. I won the first game while I conceded the second thinking that he would do me in with a 2nd Sacred Mesa (which he sided out!!!). I thought that I could win the third match-up, and i almost did except that i needed 2 more turns with the 5 turn ruling when were out of time. I managed to drop him to 5 points when we played our last 5-extra turn.

K-Run, I had an incredible time playing against you and i hope that we can do this more often!

Peace.    

[K-Run]

Quote So many draws.
How long was it for a round? 45, 50 or 60 minutes.

50 min. Parfait is an unforgiving deck : you lose a game, you don't win the match. That's why I'm trying to build the best maindeck I can. Or lose my games very fast. Losing a drawn out game is like losing the match. I'm happy though to have Processor in my sideboard. I feel I have a shot at a quick kill if needed.

In retrospect, vs cancerman I had to sac my silver bullets (auras) to stay alive, and he kept sending me troops. I needed a board sweeper but TnT isn't a deck that gives you a lot of time to get one. Same thing happened during game 3 : cancerman would have won if time hadn't been called.

Vs the mono-u player I made a strategy mistake. Losing that game really made the difference.

Vs the last player, he managed to remove from the game both of my Mesas. Eventually I won, but it took so long for him to concede (actually I was the one thinking about conceding !) that I lacked a few turns in the 3rd game to kill him.

cancerman : Yeah, we really need to play that matchup again ! Good type 1 games forever!  

[Razor]

RE: 2 Claws of Gix, maindeck

How are they working out for you?  Since you weren't paired up versus anything using Buyback, would you rather have mained 2 ZOrbs?

[Cancerman]

K-Run: Will you be there for the next MTL tourney (March 2nd)?

 

[SiCK_Boy]

Yes, I'm gonna post the decklists and results and all that stuff soon.

I have allready typed out all the decklists, I'm still trying to figure out the data to extract from those. I hope to finish it for this sunday. At worst, monday night it should be up.

Also, you can all go read a report about the tournament on StarCity here.

[the phoenix]

FeverDog - I needed to win my last round to make T8, but I didn't.  But at least our meta rocks, yeah.

K-run - I was under the impression that it was creatureless, but now that you mention Berserk I guess I should think otherwise? I guess a creatureless deck would be pretty damn hard to swing; no Enchantresses, no white splash for Panther...etc.

SiCK_Boy - I look forward to your report.

[K-Run]

cancerman : I don't know yet, but chances are slim. I usually work on sundays, so my presence rests on the shoulders of my boss.

The Phoenix : The original version was a sylvan/wilding deck, but it lost too much to aggro, so I had to change many things and eventually, add creatures. This is still controlish though.

Razor : I now prefer Claws, for the simple reason that they allow me to break buyback locks and to use Mana Crypt.