Type 1 in Silverdale, part 2 - RESULTS

[Ruken]

So anyways, I go into the event expecting a bigger one.  Last week they had 15 people or something like that, so I was like, 'this is gonna be the bomb.'  We barely squeak by with 8 and that means the prize is going to suck - 1st place gets 4 boosters.  Well, T1 is T1.

   T1 - no proxies
   WoTC (that's why)
   4/23/03

   Me: "I know what's going to happen.  First I'm going to play you, then you, and then you, and it'll just be like us playing at home except it cost me $5 to do it."

   Keeper (more old-school than I thought)

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fire/Ice
1 Future Sight (broken beyond belief)
1 Cunning Wish
1 Merchant Scroll
2 Morphling

1 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Diabolic Edict
1 The Abyss
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Skeletal Scrying

1 Regrowth
1 Sylvan Library

1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance
1 Seal of Cleansing

1 Zuran Orb

1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Island
2 Tropical Island              
2 Tundra                        
4 Underground Sea
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
3 Polluted Delta
3 City of Brass

Side:

3 Phyrexian Negator
2 Duress
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Psionic Blast
1 Misdirection
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Powder Keg

... mana base was something like that.  I don't want to get it out of its suitcase to look for sure.

Round 1:  random dude playing Draw-go with Mishra's Factories and Stalking Stones (?)

Interesting match.  We end up in a counter war over something relatively important (I think) and he ends up running me out of counters.  Next turn he drops Future Sight while I'm all tapped out.  HOLY crap.  I'm not going to run him out of counters anytime soon, so I let the game progress.  He's already used 2 Wastelands and a Strip Mine so I wait.  He's outdrawing me 3x to 1 and I can't use the Ancestral Recall in my hand.  Soon he drops Standstill (why?) and I can't do anything here.  We continue draw-go for awhile until he decides to break his own Standstill to play a Morphling (he's got a PILE of land out).  Inexplicably not attempting to use the Mana Leak sitting on top of his library, he enters into a counter war with me which, of course, he wins, but which leaves him at 1 mana untapped.  Down to about 5 cards from the counter war, I open with a Duress and steal his Misdirection (he's holding Capsize and another Standstill), then Diabolic Edict his Morphling.  His Mana Leak is now useless, given that he's only got 1 island untapped.  We draw-go again for a few turns until I finally topdeck my Mishra's Factory.  This applies the beats for a few turns, and puts him down to 6.  He's drawn significantly more cards than I and is running out of resources, and I've got a Wasteland and a Strip Mine waiting for his manlands.  He concedes.

For game 2 I side in the Negators, among some other things (can't remember).  Abyss and stuff goes out.

Game 2 ends fairly quickly.  He can't stop an early game Negator (losing a counter-war) and responds to it with a Powder Keg.  2 hits to the head with Negator and the Powder Keg sits at 2 counters; he plays another Keg, and blows it for 0, to destroy my Moxen.  He's pretty much tapped out, so I respond to it with a Cunning Wish for Hurkyl's Recall, and Recall his other Powder Keg to his hand.  Negator walks over for the win.com.

1-0

Round 2: Mark playing Chains of Mephistopheles.dec

I play Mark on a daily basis so it's no big deal.  He hands me my only game loss of the tournament.

Game 1 - I get discarded to death and end up dying to Rack damage.  I can't pull out.  I don't remember the specifics on this one, except that it wasn't aided by Chains.

Game 2 - He draws no swamps and I waste his useful lands, and obliterate him.  This whole match is hazy, for whatever reason.  His sleeves are shiny and they blind me.

Game 3 - Right.  I won this one with early Negator beatdown.  I can't remember anything much else, except that he didn't have an Edict.  I play this guy so often the games all blur together.

2-0

Round 3: Eric playing mono-red Ankh Sligh

The closest thing to a tournament deck faces me here with a good build involving Ankhs, Price of Progress, Cursed Scroll.. all the usual things that makes Keeper curl up into a ball and cry.

Game 1 - I was hovering on very low life totals when I get the HEART OF THE CARDS and topdeck a Zuran Orb.  This keeps me alive until I somehow manage to cast Future Sight.  This gives me at a steady influx of life until I manage to do something to win.  Probably Morph beats.  That's how they usually end.

Game 2 - A mid-game Price of Progress keeps me honest, but Zuran Orb was a champ today.  I had already resolved Morphling by then and insisted on keeping it out.

3-0

Round 4: Joe playing a Fruity Pebbles deck

Remember that one?  I played Joe back in the last Silverdale report I posted, once again for 1st place.

Game 1 - His deck crumples up and dies to 2 Wastelands and a Strip Mine early on.  He -had- plenty of mana, but it all went away.  Reflecting Pool isn't very good when you don't have any other lands out.  This game took a very long time because I was being very careful not to leave my head open.  One resolved Enduring Renewal would have been lights out.

Game 2 - 'What were you thinking?'  He stays on 1 City of Brass and a pile of 0 casting cost creatures (Shield Sphere, etc.), hoping to draw some more I guess.  Wasteland is a meanie.  Negator hits the board with authority and RAWRs through two Shield Spheres, an Ornithopter and a Phyrexian Walker, joined midway through by Negator #2.  He's at 4 life, and I Cunning Wish for a Psionic Blast to end it.

   Me: "Booster packs are the prize?"
   Dan the tournament organizer: "Yeah."
   Me: "Like... Beta boosters?"

Ludicrous as it sounds, I get to pick from whatever Magic boosters they have left, which leaves me with the illustrious selection of Nemesis, Onslaught, Torment, Legions, Judgment, Odyssey, and some other unremarkable sets which I can't remember.  Maybe I should have gotten 7th Edition.  Maybe.  I take 4 Onslaught packs and get absolutely nothing of value, unless someone wants a foil Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.  w00t or something.  I wouldn't have paid $5 for those cards to begin with, but a tournament is always fun.

   (I'd have legitimately preferred Yu-gi-oh! packs.)

   Me: "There was a type 1 tournament last time without me?  I -AM- the Type 1 scene around here!"

   On a positive note, I did get to intimidate player #1 with my metal briefcase.  It's basically a metal briefcase you can buy at Lowe's which has spongy stuff inside it.  You can tear little squares out of the sponge and basically create whatever shape of compartment you want.  So, I buy the briefcase, tear out just enough sponge to fit my deck in, and that's my deck case.  Perfect!  It's a riot, worth every penny.

   And Dave, I did indeed use the 'hmm.... I think I'll play THIS one!" line.  Btw, where were you?

   Kevin

[Ruken]

Regarding some deck choices:

Tolarian Academy: I know a lot of players have rightfully panned Tolarian Academy as being unreliable and spastic.  Which it is.  However, since Future Sight is such a huge part of the deck, the obscene blue mana requirements to cast it are greatly mitigated by Academy.  Plus, I can't help but love the extra mana it gives on a Yawgmoth's Will turn.

only 1 Cunning Wish: I know people will usually play 2 or even 3.  When I play it, the deck chokes on more than 1.

Psionic Blast: I wanted blue damage.  I think I'll just switch to Lightning Bolt, it's easier to cast and is better against most decks, and the only thing that Psionic Blast is better against is Su-Chi (and Negator, of course).

Sylvan Library/Regrowth: With the advent of the fetchlands, green is dead in Keeper.  Right?

Why?  The fetchlands only make it easier to get the green in the first place, Sylvan Library is further broken with both the fetchlands and especially Future Sight, and I'm pretty uneasy about going into a tournament with the only graveyard recursion being Yawgmoth's Will.

Skeletal Scrying: A lot of people are heading this way it seems over Stroke of Genius and Braingeyser.  It's making a lot of sense, too.  A Stroke for 5 mana is a little underwhelming, but it represents a massive investment of mana.  The Scrying's XB casting cost is really, really low.  The graveyard drawback prevents you from playing it too early, and the life drawback prevents you from getting too much out of it; but the fact that it's 2 mana cheaper than Stroke, not to mention untargeted, is a huge plus.  They're tremendous 3rd and 4th turn early-game boosts.  I even keep Scrying in against Sligh.  Losing the life hurts, but it's a few turns you won't otherwise get, and you certainly won't have the mana for an appropriate Stroke of Genius.

Gorilla Shaman in SB: We're not exactly a hotbed of T1 action.  Shaman is a poor maindeck choice around here since nobody owns any Moxen and stuff except me and Joe (above).. Mark's got a set in storage.. Eric has had them go through his possession..well, anyway, not many people play with them.

Duress: Proactive anti-control.  In my opinion, better than REB for that use.  Being able to look at a hand is a huge plus.