This thread will be used to post and discuss multiple C&a...

[KiL0]

This thread will be used to post and discuss multiple C&J tourney reports.
Report: September 2003 [4, 11, 18, 25]
Report: October 2003 [2, 9, 16, 23, 30]
Report: November 2003 [20]
Report: December 2003 [4, 11]
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Date: 4 September 2003

Location:  C&J Collectables
              5454 Central Ave. suite C
              Newark, CA  94560
              (510) 796-5790
              e-mail: juzamjuice@aol.com

Participants: 18

The weekly Thursday trek to C&J’s had an auspicious foreshadowing: 1) No traffic from Livermore to Newark through the two canyons. 2) Only hit one red light. 3) Arriving 15 minutes earlier than usual and actually getting in some practice games. This week I dusted off my MaskNought deck since no one had played it at C&J’s in the past couple weeks.

MaskNought (99% Zhalfirin)
//Artifact
  4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
  4 Illusionary Mask
  1 Black Lotus
  1 Mox Emerald
  1 Mox Jet
  1 Mox Pearl
  1 Mox Ruby
  1 Mox Sapphire
  1 Sol Ring

//Black
  2 Hypnotic Specter
  3 Phyrexian Negator

  4 Dark Ritual
  1 Demonic Consultation
  1 Demonic Tutor
  4 Duress
  2 Hymn to Tourach
  1 Necropotence
  4 Tainted Pact
  3 Unmask
  1 Vampiric Tutor
  1 Yawgmoth's Will

//Blue
  1 Ancestral Recall
  1 Time Walk

//White
  1 Seal of Cleansing

//Land
  1 Badlands
  1 Bloodstained Mire
  2 City of Brass
  2 Gemstone Mine
  2 Polluted Delta
  2 Snow Covered Swamp
  2 Swamp
  2 Underground Sea
  1 Volrath's Stronghold

SB: 2 Withered Wretch
SB: 2 Chains of Mephistopheles
SB: 2 Contagion
SB: 2 Dystopia
SB: 2 Phyrexian Reclamation
SB: 2 Recoil
SB: 2 Blood Moon
SB: 1 Strip Mine

Brief match summary:

Round 1: Jon, TMD lurking_evil (Zoo)

Game 1: Zoo goes APES!
lurking_evil drops Taiga and plays Mox Monkey. Hmm… Taiga. I stare at my opening hand that included Dark Ritual and two Phyrexian Negator. Hmm. I open with ritual followed by Duress and stare at his Chain Lightning and Incinerate. Oh well, play mask. My next turn, I Tainted Pact: Mask, mask, end Tainted Pact with nothing. WTF? UnstableCornBread who was observing, “Shuffling is tech.” Ensuing is a harsh beating from a (double?) Rancored Mox Monkey and a Rancored River Boa island walking over my Underground Sea.

In: 2 Withered Wretch, 2 Contagion
Out: 3 Phyrexian Negator, 1 Necropotence

Game 2: Opening turn ritual followed by hymn and Demonic Consultation for mask. I hold back the mox for fear of the monkey. lurking_evil’s turn consist of draw go, no land. Turned out I hymned his only land. Mask hits the table putting in an 0/1 creature for 1 mana…

Game 3: lurking_evil opens with Quirion Ranger. I open with mask but not enough mana to to put my two dreadnoughts in play. lurking_evil looks worried, making me feel comfortable. He draws and grins, making me feel worried. He plays mountain and plays the top decked Artifact Mutation on the Mask. Oh well, starring at the two dreadnoughts in my hand. Beats coming from two tokens and a Quirion Ranger while dropping a River Boa. Turn or two later, Contagion takes care of the ranger and boa. Top deck mask and able to play both dreadnoughts ends the game a turn later…

1-0, 2-1

Round 2: Gym (Academy)

Game 1: Academy goes ACADEMY!
Turning point of the game, Gym has four cards in hand. I attack with a hippie, forcing a random a discard. I follow up with a hymn, leaving him one card which turned out to be Timetwister! WTF? I had three chances to hit that card. I sit for the next 15 minutes while he gets giddy and strokes off for a billion something…

In: 2 Withered Wretch, 2 Chains of Mephistopheles, 2 Blood Moon
Out: 2 Hypnotic Specter, 1 Hymn to Tourach, 1 Yawgmoth's Will, 1 Unmask, 1 Seal of Cleansing

Game 2: I bait with an opening turn mask which resolves and continue to play chains. Gym reads chains and proceeds to make some (funny) threats to do me bodily harm. Several times this game, Gym is like, “Fuck, this card says ‘draw’ on it too.” Gym in pure spite plays Timetwister in hopes that all my dreadnoughts are discarded… doesn’t work.

Game 3: My opening turn features a resolved Blood Moon and chains.

2-0, 4-2

Round 3: David, TMD Webster (Fish)

Game 1: Fish goes GAY!
Web gets early Null Rod and curious fish beat the hell out of me…

In: 2 Chains of Mephistopheles
Out: 2 Phyrexian Negator

Game 2: An early Duress punches through chains, Web doesn’t like his potential fish all becoming Merfolk Looters. Mask with an 0/1 for 1 follows…

Game 3: Early Duress punches through mask followed by an 0/1 for 1. Web answers by casting Manta Riders and places it directly in front of my 0/1 and saying, “Bring it,” which I do…

3-0, 6-3

Round 4: Brent, TMD UnstableCornBread (Hulk)

[flashback]
I got to C&J’s early and had time to practice. I played Dan’s Zoo in which 2/1’s don’t like 12/12’s. Dan switched to Suicide Black and proceeded to kick my ass. Note to self, Duress = Bad for me. Next I get some games in with UnstableCornBread. First game, he gets out early deed and just lets it sit there. What the hell, it’s for fun. I play my combo of mask and dreadnought on same turn. He untaps, draws and says go. I untap, draw and announce attack. He responds by blowing his deed for ZERO and laughs saying guess he loses. LOL So we play again because it seemed to confuse some onlookers. Since he “lost,” he plays first and put out land, moxen, and lotus(?). I have acceleration in my hand too. I play land and couple moxen. End of my turn, he sacs the lotus and taps everything… to mana burn. “I’ll outrace you,” he comments. Hmm… I tap swamp and cast Demonic Consultation. I believe he thought I was going to try to go combo and kill him before he can mana burn himself out. Demonic Consultation resolves, I name “Camel.” LOL We both start just busting up. Hmm… I must have sided Camel out because it wasn’t in the deck and I lose!
[/flashback]

Game 1: Hulk goes SMASH!
We both do not like our opening hands and mulligan. UnstableCornBread opens with Duress taking my Black Lotus. I was hoping to punch through a first turn hippie since his hand size was already down from the mulligan but now have to slow play. Unfortunately, I’m never in this game as he draws many, many cards and tog takes me out in one turn…

In: 2 Withered Wretch, 2 Chains of Mephistopheles, 2 Blood Moon
Out: 2 Hypnotic Specter, 2 Hymn to Tourach, 1 Unmask, 1 Seal of Cleansing

Game 2: I open with Duress to punch through lotus, sac lotus for Blood Moon. UnstableCornBread opens with a mountain. My next turn, I Duress again to take his Fire/Ice so I can play my negator without loosing my lands or mox. UnstableCornBread plays a mountain. Negator goes all the way…

Game 3: UnstableCornBread opens with Underground Sea followed by Duress. His duressable targets are Dark Ritual, Sol Ring, and Time Walk with City of Brass, Gemstone Mine, Swamp, and dreadnought as the rest of my hand. He takes the Sol Ring, which I’m surprised he did not take the walk. My turn… top deck mask. Hmm. Swamp, ritual, mask. Resolves! An 0/1 is slipped in with the floating mana. UnstableCornBread’s next turn results in dropping of land and some moxes. He Merchant Scrolls for Force of Will because I still have walk in hand. My turn, beats for twelve and I force him to use the FoW by casting walk. His third turn,
drops tog. My third turn, swing with dreadnought forcing him to remove his graveyard and some of his hand to stay alive at one life. Next turn’s draw does not yield an answer…

4-0, 8-4

I dropped the first game in every round and managed to win every game post side board. The final round, let’s be honest, was complete luck of the top deck. I should have mulligan the hand. Furthermore, I felt the hippie was just not what it used to be. In my matchups, hippie was practically a dead draw. Withered Wretch seemed to be more flexable with his ability. During the first round, I was able to keep the Nimble Mongoose from reaching threshold. Also, I would rather have a wretch in play over a hippie in matchups versus Hulk or RectorAnything. What do you think, hippie or wretch? And why.

Props:
C&J’s for holding the weekly T1.
Jon, Gym, David, and Brent. Good players as well as good people.
Christiaan for discussing sideboard options.

Slops:
Me. Demonic Consulting for Camel and not naming BERSERK MURLODONT.

EDIT: Font color.
EDIT: Update tourney report dates.

[Illuzion]

Good job! Always nice to see hulk lose...

I don't know about Hippie... but what do you think about maybe having Negator in the side?

[Saucemaster]

Congrats, Ken.  This is a great report, by the way--you need to start writing them more often!  Only 18 people this last time?  Hrm.  Very strange.  I assume it has something to do with school starting.  Nice topdeck  vs. Brent, too.  

Oh, and Consulting for Camel: brilliant.  Worthy of Kai or Finkel.

[KiL0]

@Illuzion
Good to hear from you. How is Spokane?
About the Negator... I do main three so only one would be side. I'm torn between hippies discard and the wretchs remove from graveyard ability. Currently, discarding has not been that much of an advantage since you could Welder the discarded artifact back into play if playing a Workshop deck. Also as mentioned, wretch stops rectors. If pure control becomes less and less prominent, then hippies value would also become less, imho.

@Saucemaster
Thank you. Congrats to you as well, Justin, for your strong play at eudemonia. I have other reports from previous tourneys but never got around to posting. I will try to contribute on a more consistant basis. As for the topdeck... that's Type 1.

@wuaffiliate & @Tripps
You're correct. The font color was horrible the second time I came back to read...

[UnstableCornBread]

Wretch > Hippie. Wretch owns welder, makes togs Ak's for one and not three/four not to mention Anal's. Yawg win is a dead draw, it eats rectors up yum, BB > BB1. Want me to continue?

Very nice topdeck lover, untill next week you sleep on the couch.

Want me to Pm you my uber super deck I am going to play next week. It is oh so sexy not to mention fun to play! Oh yeah its packed full of hate for our metagame too ^^

[Manny]

What up Ken and everyone at C&Js.
(Manny's AIM:DarkMorphling136)
Im pissed i wasnt there to see u win.
I wanted to try and go to Eudemia(Berkeley) to play or watch. Ill be home this weekend so we should go up.
Did u go play at Frank and Sons(if so write a report)
ill call u when i get home later.

[KiL0]

Quote (UnstableCornBread @ Sep. 08 2003,00:39)Wretch > Hippie. Wretch owns welder, makes togs Ak's for one and not three/four not to mention Anal's. Yawg win is a dead draw, it eats rectors up yum, BB > BB1. Want me to continue?

I was coming to that conclusion too, sir. The only 'advantage' for hippie is the flying, but that ability doesn't make up the difference. Considering the current meta, I'll probably main the wretches.

Quote (UnstableCornBread @ Sep. 08 2003,00:39)Very nice topdeck lover, untill next week you sleep on the couch.

Brr... Couch, so cold. Come on, lover... Let's make out, umm up. LOL Yeah, PM me your uber hate deck and it better not be ABM or Paper...

Quote (Manny @ Sep. 08 2003,03:23)I wanted to try and go to Eudemia(Berkeley) to play or watch. Ill be home this weekend so we should go up.
Did u go play at Frank and Sons(if so write a report)
ill call u when i get home later.

I wanted to go to Berkeley too but managed to screw up my planning for that weekend. If you're home this weekend, give me a call. Oh wait, your cell phone is never on/works...

About that L.A. trip...

[MiniReport]
I did go to L.A. after Friday night hoops. Got to my gf house @ 4:45am. She actually woke me up @ 9:00am for the tourney!

Round 1: Alarm Clock (Wake-up Bell)

Game 1:
Alarm Clock open with 9:00am bell. I have no answer, bell resolves. I topdeck into Snooze, but that is not a permanent answer. Bell continues to beat down mercilessly...

Game 2:
Choose to go first. Draw seven. I lead with A Stream of Consciousness. I put myself in a position to get out of bed, thinking Alarm Clock is silenced. But Alarm Clock counters with sideboard tech! Cold air, fluffy pillow, and warm covers are too much for to overcome. The combo pieces are enough to put me under...

0-1, 0-2

I drop.

Yeah, my gf contributing to me playing magic, but I was too tired to get up.
[/MiniReport]

[KiL0]

Date: 11 September 2003

Location:  C&J Collectables
              5454 Central Ave. suite C
              Newark, CA  94560
              (510) 796-5790
              e-mail: juzamjuice@aol.com

Participants: 19

Once again, this weeks turnout for participants was 'low' compared to the numbers of participants during the summer months. Even with small numbers, strong competition was present including FishHead, Saucemaster, Webster, and Zhalfirin. This weeks deck: WelderMUD.

WelderMUD (99.9% Team Mean Deck)
//Artifact
 2 Karn, Silver Golem
 4 Metalworker
 1 Triskelion

 1 Black Lotus
 4 Grafted Skullcap
 1 Mana Crypt
 1 Mana Vault
 1 Memory Jar
 1 Mox Emerald
 1 Mox Jet
 1 Mox Pearl
 1 Mox Ruby
 1 Mox Sapphire
 3 Powder Keg
 4 Smokestack
 4 Sphere of Resistance
 1 Sol Ring
 4 Tangle Wire
 1 Time Vault
 2 Winter Orb

//Red
 4 Goblin Welder

//Land
 4 Mishra's Workshop
 6 Mountain
 1 Petrified Field
 1 Strip Mine
 1 Tolarian Academy
 4 Wasteland

SB: 2 Bottle Gnomes
SB: 2 Jester's Cap
SB: 2 Null Brooch
SB: 1 Serrated Arrows
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 Rack and Ruin
SB: 4 Red Elemental Blast

Brief match summary:

Round 1: Justin, TMD Saucemaster (Burning Desire)

Great. Saucemaster is a very skilled player. Another 'problem' playing against Saucemaster, you can not categorize him as 'the Hulk player,' 'the Keeper player,' or 'the WelderMUD player.' You just do not know what you will be facing. Hmm, however, he is one of the Team Mean Deck. Perhaps, we have a mirror? I will have to play a near flawless game. With this in mind, we roll for draw/play... I win, electing to play first.

Game 1: Draw seven. Good hand! Hmm... I'll drop a Mishra's Workshop and tap to play either Metalworker or Sphere of Resistance? If I play Metalworker and resolves, I can lock him down completely next turn. If I play Sphere of Resistance and resolves, I would have to play slower in developing board position. I go for the Metalworker in an attempt to lock him out early, it resolves. Saucemaster draws and plays City of Brass. Oh SHIT! Rule out Hulk and WelderMUD. He would not play Keeper considering our current meta. Oh god, no please... not Burning Desire. All this ran through my mind as Sauce taps city, Dark Ritual, Duress taking sphere. He plays out the floating mana and passes. Unless I top deck another sphere, there goes the game! Draw, nope. Well, so much for "I will have to play a near flawless game." I lose on turn one mistake... I am able to play my entire hand including skullcap, stack, and wire (whoohoo! tapping his city! grr...). His second turn lasts several minutes highlighted by casting several draw seven spells and effects, a bunch of floating mana, a Burning Wish, and me kicking myself in the ass.

In: 2 Null Brooch, 1 Tormod's Crypt
Out: 1 Triskelion, 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: Draw seven. Sphere = Saucemaster scoops.

Game 3: Saucemaster elects to play first. Draw seven. Two spheres in hand with no mana sources at all. Mull... Draw six. Sphere in hand with no mana source again. WTF! Mull... Draw five. Mana sources but guess what, no sphere. Feeling like I need a hug, I keep and pray. Saucemaster goes first, good game.

UnstableCornBread comments: When unsure/not 100% sure about the opponent, play the sphere. WelderMUD is built for that, most likely the opponent's deck is not. Sphere can win games.

0-1, 1-2

Round 2: John (Mono-U Control)

I have never seen John play at C&J's before and I am already feeling depressed from the first round which I could have possibly won. If I lose this round, I'm going home and kicking the dog.

Game 1: I win dice role and elect to go first. Draw seven, good hand. Remebering my short comings from round one, I open with Mishra's Workshop, casting sphere. It resolves and I use the floating mana to cast Mox Jet. John's first turn is draw, island, go. My second turn, my second workshop is played. Tapping workshop and mox to play Metalworker, resolves. His second turn, draw, island, go. Hmm. My turn, I drop my whole hand including Karn via worker and two workshops. Hmm, good game?

In: 2 Red Elemental Blast
Out: 1 Powder Keg, 1 Time Vault

Game 2: John opens with island, go. I open with workshop, worker; however, worker is countered by his Force Spike. Hmm. I continue to play Mox Ruby, welder which resolves. His next turn is draw, go. He kept a one hand land playing mono-U with no draw/search effects!?! In fact, his next three turns are draw, go. Good game?

1-1, 3-2

Round 3: Clinton (Suicide/Void)

Game 1: Draw seven. I open with workshop, worker. Clinton opens with Wasteland taking out the workshop. He then notes, "That's probably game already though." Correct. Second turn, play Mountain, tap worker to reveal Black Lotus, Grafted Skullcap, Smokestack, Sphere of Resistance. Tap mountain to play welder and then drop all artifacts. Feeling locked, he scoops.

In: 2 Bottle Gnomes
Out: 1 Mana Crypt, 1 Time Vault

Game 2: Clinton puts the early pressure which featured hymn, sinkhole, and a Flesh Reaver. However, he never managed to cast Nether Void. During the beatings, I stablize getting gnomes and Karn in play along with my lock. My lock becomes animated and angry, ends up swinging two turns to take him out after grinding most of his permanents away.

2-1, 5-2

Round 4: Luis (Hulk)

Getting late, this round is fuzzy and I am laden with play mistakes that, fortunately, do not cost me the match.

Game 1: Luis win die roll and elects to go first. Plays Tropical Island, go. I open with workshop, Metalworker, in which he responds with Ancestral Recall. Metalworker still resolves. His second turn, draw... brainstorm. No land! Between recall, draw phase, and brainstorm he sees seven cards with no land nor Force of Will. Luis is forced to discard down to seven at end of turn. My second turn, draw, tap worker, drop whole hand, he scoops...

In: 2 Null Brooch, 2 Red Elemental Blast
Out: 1 Triskelion, 1 Mana Crypt, 1 Time Vault, 1 Winter Orb

Game 2: Luis opens with Library of Alexandria. No problem as I look at my opening hand with Wasteland. Draw, play Wasteland and take out the library. We both play land go for our second turn. My third turn with mountain in play and REB in hand, I play workshop. I played the mountain first since I feared his lone Strip Mine possibility. Tapping workshop, I attempt to play worker. He tries to force and I respond with REB. He casts Accumulated Knowledge but does not draw an answer, Metalworker resolves. Luis is now searching for an answer. He has three lands, Mox Ruby and Black Lotus in play. My turn again, tapping worker revealing and dropping wire, stack, and Karn. Did I mention I had an untapped mountain still? Luis is staring at me with the look, "Well..." I pass the turn! WTF? He looked surprised too! That mistake could have cost me the game since he gets Pernicious Deed into play next turn with help from the lotus and land drop. However, Karn offs his Mox Ruby after realizing the mistake. My next turn, Karn and his artifact friends swing heavily. Because of Tangle Wire, Luis would have to use deed during the upkeep but only has four mana. Karn swings solo for the win... Whew. I'm a n00bx10.

3-1, 7-2

Final Standings Top 8: (Tiebreakers determined 2-4)
1. Webster (Congrats!)
2. KiL0
3. Zhalfirin
4. FishHead
5. Luis
6. Clinton
7. Robin
8. Dan

If I played the first turn Sphere of Resistance in game one of round one, I most likely would have won the match. Possibly putting myself in a position to play for first. However if I make the same gross play mistakes in round 4, Webster would absolutely crush me.

About the main deck, what changes could be made to include a Null Brooch? Uncounterable counter maindeck with negligible draw back since WelderMUD drops their hand so quickly.

About the sideboard options, REB sucks when skullcap is in play. Would Blood Moon be a better option?

[Illuzion]

Quote When unsure/not 100% sure about the opponent, play the sphere. WelderMUD is built for that, most likely the opponent's deck is not. Sphere can win games.

Personally... I would still go for the Metalworker.  I used to do 1st turn sphere all the time and it would backfire, since they'd answer with Wasteland and somehow I'd suffer greatly under my own sphere. (Just my luck) I guess it depends on what else is in hand... if you have 2 Workshops, then obviously Sphere.  This is all assuming you don't know what they're playing, of course.

Quote About the main deck, what changes could be made to include a Null Brooch?

How was the Time Vault for you?  I played with the Vault a few weeks back in a 1.5 tourney and it was barrels of fun, but it seemed like a win more card. Maybe a sideboard card against non-blue decks instead of main?

Quote About the sideboard options, REB sucks when skullcap is in play. Would Blood Moon be a better option?

I took REBs out for that very same reason... I personally like to severely hose combo with 4 Jester's Caps.  Hmm.... just imagine the possibilities with Chalice of the Void.  You could really kick combo in the groin...

Of course, this should all be taken with a grain of salt since I'm quite the scrub  

[KiL0]

Quote (Illuzion @ Sep. 13 2003,09:46)Personally... I would still go for the Metalworker.  I used to do 1st turn sphere all the time and it would backfire, since they'd answer with Wasteland and somehow I'd suffer greatly under my own sphere. (Just my luck) I guess it depends on what else is in hand... if you have 2 Workshops, then obviously Sphere.  This is all assuming you don't know what they're playing, of course.

True. I've been burned too by playing Workshop, being the only land in hand, and Sphere only to get the Workshop destroyed by a Strip Mine or Wasteland. Afterwards, going into a frantic draw-go situation. In game one of round one, my opening hand had only one land, Workshop. If Sauce were to destroy it, I would still have been able to drop my whole hand and lock the board using the MetalWorker.

Hindsight is always perfect, right? Of course Sphere was the right choice, but if you did not know what the opponent was playing, had only one land in opening hand (Workshop), do you play the Metalworker or Sphere first? Any other experienced MUD, wMUD, Stax, or Tape players comments?

Quote How was the Time Vault for you?  I played with the Vault a few weeks back in a 1.5 tourney and it was barrels of fun, but it seemed like a win more card. Maybe a sideboard card against non-blue decks instead of main?

I was leaning towards Time Vault as well. It is fun/funny to grind under your opponent, how many decks can win by giving your opponent as many turns in a row as (s)he wants? But you're right, it feels like a 'win more' card. What would be the second card to cut for a second brooch?

Quote

Quote About the sideboard options, REB sucks when skullcap is in play. Would Blood Moon be a better option?

I took REBs out for that very same reason... I personally like to severely hose combo with 4 Jester's Caps.  Hmm.... just imagine the possibilities with Chalice of the Void.  You could really kick combo in the groin...

By moving two Null Brooches to the main and losing one REB would free three slots for Blood Moon. One reason, off the top, for keeping any REB's would be for an early Tog... not sure if that's worth the slots... I'll have to check out that Chalice too.

As always Illuzion, thanks for the input.
 

[KiL0]

Quote (Manny @ Sep. 17 2003,12:47)Way to go...
You moved on up to 17th in Cali

Not anymore... LOL

Date: 18 September 2003

Location:  C&J Collectables
             5454 Central Ave. suite C
             Newark, CA  94560
             (510) 796-5790
             e-mail: juzamjuice@aol.com

Participants: 20-24

Almost did not make it to C&J's for the weekly tourney (the results... almost make me wish I had not attended). Long day at work, topped off by a district meeting afterwards. Due to the meeting at the district office, I was not able to put together a 'new' deck to play. Usually after work, I go home, read some threads, decide what deck to play, and then put it together. Since I am short on time and still have to make that trek, I grab MaskNought and make some minor changes I was thinking about from two weeks ago...

MaskNought
//Artifact
 4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
 4 Illusionary Mask
 1 Black Lotus
 1 Mox Emerald
 1 Mox Jet
 1 Mox Pearl
 1 Mox Ruby
 1 Mox Sapphire
 1 Sol Ring

//Black
 3 Phyrexian Negator
 4 Withered Wretch

 4 Dark Ritual
 1 Demonic Consultation
 1 Demonic Tutor
 4 Duress
 1 Necropotence
 4 Tainted Pact
 3 Unmask
 1 Vampiric Tutor
 1 Yawgmoth's Will

//Blue
 1 Ancestral Recall
 1 Time Walk

//White
 1 Seal of Cleansing

//Land
 1 Badlands
 1 Bloodstained Mire
 2 City of Brass
 2 Gemstone Mine
 2 Polluted Delta
 2 Snow Covered Swamp
 2 Swamp
 2 Underground Sea
 1 Volrath's Stronghold

SB: 2 Masticore
SB: 2 Chains of Mephistopheles
SB: 2 Contagion
SB: 2 Dystopia
SB: 2 Phyrexian Reclamation
SB: 1 Recoil
SB: 3 Blood Moon
SB: 1 Strip Mine

Brief match summary:

Round 1: Joseph (Tempting Wurm)

Game 1: Joseph admits afterwards he thought I was playing some form of a control deck, perhaps Hulk. He plays an early game Tempting Wurm which allows me to drop Gemstone Mine and Necro into play. I find the combo pieces at one life and win...

In: 3 Blood Moon, 1 Dystopia
Out: 3 Negator, 1 Seal of Cleansing

Game 2: Joseph plays opening turn Tropical Island, go. Draw. I open with Badlands, Mox Pearl, Mox Sapphire, Mask, go. Tainted Pact in hand. hehe. Joseph plays a second turn Null Rod. ugh. Did I just side out my Seal? Oh yeah... ugh. My opening turn... not so intimidating anymore. ugh. My next five draws include three Masks, Dreadnought, Wretch. Tempting Wurm comes in to kill my Wretch before killing me... Good times...

In: 1 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Recoil
Out: 2 Blood Moon

Game 3: I keep an okay hand since I have one piece of the combo. I open with CoB, Mox Emerald, Mask, go. Come on deck, a Dreadnought or tutor effect, please! Joseph opens with land, go. My next eight turns no Dreadnought, no mana sources, nor any search/tutor effects. However, I did manage to get my hand Suppressed and then he Stifled the EoT effect of Suppress. Thus, no hand... Dynamite...

0-1, 1-2

Round 2: Raiyaan (U/g 'Phid)

Game 1: Phids, drawing cards. Counters, stopping Mask from hitting the table. Eventual beatdown from Factories. Just could not get past the counter wall because of his card drawing.

In: 2 Chains of Mephistopheles, 1 Blood Moon, 1 Masticore
Out: 3 Unmask, 1 Wretch

Game 2: My opening turn goes Fetchland, sac for Underground Sea, Duress, Lotus, sac for black, Mask, Dreadnought...

Game 3: I keep an opening hand of hate... Raiyaan opens with Tropical Island, go. Draw. I open with Mox Jet, Swamp, Chains... met by his FoW. Still my opening turn, Lotus, sac for red, Blood Moon... resolves. Raiyaan doesn't drop a basic Island until four land drops later at which time he's able to get a 'Phid into play to block my 0/1 for 2. Turned out to be a Dreadnought...

1-1, 3-3

Round 3: Isaac (High Tide)

Game 1: First turn Dreadnought ends the game quickly. I do not know what he's playing, except it's blue.

In: 2 Chains of Mephistopheles
Out: 2 Unmask

Game 2: See Game 1.

2-1, 5-3

Round 4: Dan (Sui Black)

Game 1: I have no Duress in opening hand but have combo opening hand. Do I keep? Yes. Dan opens with Swamp, go. Draw. I open with Gemstone Mine, mox, mox, Mask, 0/1 for 1. His second turn, Swamp, Ritual, Hymn, Edict. ugh. I do not draw a Dreadnought nor search/tutor effect again. WTF? Dan's Hyppie and Shade follow and go all the way...

In: 1 Masticore, 2 Contagion, 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
Out: 3 Negator, 1 Necro

Game 2: I have no Duress in opening hand again but have combo again. Can lightning strike twice? I keep. Land, mox, mox, Mask. I hold back from casting the Dreadnought because I have Wretch in hand too. Going to cast them both next turn leading with the Wretch. He does not have Edicts and I win two turns later.

Game 3: Opening hand has only one mana source, Mox Pearl. Mull... Hand only has one mana source, Gemstone Mine, and no draw nor search/tutor. Mull... Hand again only has one mana source, Gemstone again, and no draw nor search/tutor again. I feel I can not mull again and give Dan a free Ancestral before the game starts, so I keep. Did not matter. Dan opens with Swamp, Ritual, Duress, Hymn. GG

2-2, 6-5

Round 5: David, TMD Webster (Fish)

Hint: I lose.

Webster's Report Good report. Congrat on the strong finish, Web.

2-3, 6-7

[rant]
Well, that's Tainted Mask... Either it just goes off, top decks like a miser, or just completely craps out. Zhalfirin and I had been talking about the deck and came to the same conclusion. Seems like there is no between. The sheer speed of the deck to win is scary, but when plan A doesn't work plan B is not that solid.

Out of 13 games, a count of specific cards In Hand / Played:
Ancestral Recall: 0 / 0
Demonic Tutor: 0 / 0
Time Walk: 2 / 1
Yawgmoth's Will: 0 / 0

Sometimes your deck just hates you?
[/rant]

Although I was really impressed with the utility of Withered Wretch, four main deck is probably not correct. A combination of consistant discard, Hyppie, and graveyard eating from Wretch would have been better.

[happy thoughts]
Free time is a premium, so I do not get a chance to play test. Just wanted to say 'Thanks!' to the C&J crew (Fishhead, Illuzion, Saucemaster, spevack, UnstableCornBread, Webster, Zhalfirin, Luis and etc.) for helping n00bs like me become more competitive.
[/happy thoughts]

Congrats to Zhalfirin for going 5-0, 10-1 with Long.dec   

[Manny]

Well I was going to put my report up and I almost finished until my connection crashed. So heres a smaller version.

I played Friday night at Clark's Trading in Santa Rosa.
I ran B/G Void with MD Core. There were 40 people/4 Rounds and i ended up in third and recieved nothing, absolutely nothing.

I lost in the 4th round to the eventual winner. A Keeper(ish) deck w/ Bazaar, Masticore, and Squee. We had one great game and it came down to him making a great play capsizing my Core when he was at 2 life under a Void and following it by playing his own Masticore. 2nd game doesn't matter as i really didn't draw anything of importance(ie. Come on Topdeck. I draw Dark Ritual WTF) He ended up tie-ing with a Stax deck for first.

Badly run tournament. Needed more Rounds and needed to separate prizes fairly. 4 isn't enough for 40 people. 2 people were undeafeated. 1st got $45, 2nd got $45, 3rd(me) nothing. Well it was my first time there and for not knowing what anyone played i did fairly well. I plan to win next time.
No prize for third. You gotta be kidding me.

[Illuzion]

Bummer on the rough night...

So have you d/l'd appr and tried testing a bit more?

I, similarly, didn't like the randomness of plain Mask and thought maybe you ought to try some version of Veng Mask. The one I gave you has a little extra redundancy with Living Wish. This way, you can sort of combo with:

Mask + Naught
Shap + Naught
Mask + Wish (Naught)
Naught + Wish (Shapeshifter)
Shap + Wish (Naught)
SotF + Any creature (:

Obviously, control and graveyard issues come up, but hopefully you get the idea. My build could probably use some tweaks, given that I focus my playtesting elsewhere (Workshop and Bazaar fun), since I own only one Mask.

Speaking of Bazaar, kudos to whoever placed 1st with a Bazaar/Squee controllish deck over in Santa Rosa! Too bad no decklist...

[KiL0]

Quote (Illuzion @ Sep. 20 2003,18:16)Bummer on the rough night...

Bummer? I was more disappointed than Gim's blind date. (BTW: I love you, Duck.)

Quote (Illuzion @ Sep. 20 2003,18:16)So have you tried testing... some version of Veng Mask?

I have not tested V.Mask, yet. When I do, I will PM you with questions and results.

===================

Date: 25 September 2003

Location:  C&J Collectables
              5454 Central Ave. suite C
              Newark, CA  94560
              (510) 796-5790
              e-mail: juzamjuice@aol.com

Participants: 19

Tonight's episode: Every Dog has His Day.

Are you the gambling type? Ever bet on that long shot, three-legged horse to win the derby? You actually like the odds to hit the lottery, or get hit by lightning… If so, you could have cashed in on tonight’s tourney.

DuckTape
//Artifact
2 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Metalworker
1 Triskelion

1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Smokestack
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Sol Ring
4 Tangle Wire
1 Time Vault

//Black
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

//Blue
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Meditate
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker

//Red
4 Goblin Welder

//Land
1 Badland
1 Island
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
2 Wasteland

SB: 2 Bottle Gnomes
SB: 2 Jester's Cap
SB: 1 Serrated Arrows
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Chain of Vapor
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 3 Rack and Ruin
SB: 4 Red Elemental Blast

Brief match summary:

Round 1: Raiyaan (U/g Phid)

Game 1: Raiyaan is not too happy. Last time, Dreadnoughts rolled... He wins roll and plays first; land, go. Draw. I open with Workshop, Sphere drawing out his FoW, Mox Ruby, Sphere which resolves. Raiyaan's mood does not improve... He's forced into draw, land, go. I am attempting to drop bomb after bomb in my consecutive turns. He's doing his best to work around the Sphere to draw, search, and counter my bombs. Eventually a second Workshop hits table, Metalworker resolves, Smokestack and Karn resolve when Metalworker becomes active. Smokestack grinds him under. Karn and friends eventually go to town...

Unfortunately, the game took a long time.

In: 2 Red Elemental Blast
Out: 1 Triskelion, 1 Time Vault

Game 2: Raiyaan opens with land, Sol Ring, go. Draw. Workshop, Mox Emerald, Mox Ruby, Smokestack. He FoW, but his FoW is met by REB... oops! Raiyaan can only roll his eyes. However, momentum shifts on his next turn. He draws, plays Tropical Island and drops Fastbond. Hmm... Land drop, land drop, Future Sight. Hmm... my first turn Smokestack = Crap. My turn, top deck: Karn. Whoohoo! Time is called, we are now on five turns. Argh! His Factory plays pattie cake with Karn while Stack does all the dirty work. I can not defeat Raiyaan in the time allotted.

Still a victory, but bad on tiebreakers.

1-0-0, 1-0-1

Round 2: David, TMD Webster (U/r Fish)

Hopefully Webster can fill in the details...

Game 1: General DuckTape brokenness.

In: 1 Serrated Arrows, 3 Red Elemental Blast
Out: 1 Mana Crypt, 1 Smokestack, 1 Time Vault, 1 Goblin Welder

Game 2: He opens with Volcanic Island, Grim Lavamancer. Ah crap, I had two Welders in my opening hand to push through his counter wall. His Grim Lavamancer becomes Curious and starts to draw cards. Standstills draw many cards including multiple Energy Flux. Wipes my board and Grim Lavamancers goes the distance...

Unfortunately, the game took a long time. Theme?

Game 3: Serrated Arrows take out Curious Lavamancers. Time is called and we are on five turns. At the end of five turns, David is at 4 life, no blockers; I am at 18, Karn and friends. At one point, Luis is standing behind Web, observing. Web is calculating with two cards in hand and Luis says, "Dude, you're holding two Islands. What are you thinking about?" Not sure if that was true but it was funny. LOL He wanted the tie... GG.

1-0-1,2-1-2

Round 3: Dustin (mono-U Phid)

Game 1: Game deciding moment as we are both down to one card in hand, Dustin is forced to use Nevinyrral's Disk to wipe the board when I announce attack phase; Karn and friends. His turn, draws and plays 'Phid. Dustin's left with one untapped Island and one card. My turn, untap Tolarian Academy, 1 Underground Sea, 2 Volcanic Island; draw and play Workshop. Hmm... in the yard is Lotus, two moxen, Ancestral, Demonic Tutor, Time Walk, Karn, Smokestack, Sphere, Welder. In my hand, Yawgmoth's Will. Tapping Sea and Volcanics for Will and for game. Oops! Dustin taps Island for Force Spike! Hmm... Academy taps for zero, Workshop only for artifacts... Well, it was still game. Just not in my favor. 'Phid draws cards. I lose.

Unfortunately, the game took a long time. Broken record?

In: 3 Red Elemental Blast
Out: 1 Mana Crypt, 1 Smokestack, 1 Time Vault

Game 2: General DuckTape brokenness.

Game 3: Time is called while we are shuffling.

1-0-2,3-2-3

Round 4: Dennis (Ankh Sligh)

Game 1: General DuckTape brokenness. Highlight: At end of game, Dennis has no permanents.

In: 2 Bottle Gnome
Out: 1 Mana Crypt, 1 Time Vault

Game 2: General DuckTape brokenness. Highlights: At end of game, Dennis has no permanents and is beaten by a twenty turn Bottle Gnome. LOL.

2-0-2,5-2-3

Okay, what a weird night! All my rounds went way too long, but that is probably me = n00bx10. I heard a player had illegal cards? What was that about? I heard Player A beat Player B, 2-0, but then conceded. Several players dropped to play team draft. And then "the dog has his day..."

Final Standings Top 8:
1. Clinton DCI Personal Statistic
2. KiLO
3. Zhalfirin
4. Dan
5. Craig
6. Dennis
7. Isaac
8. lurking_evil

Congrats, Clinton! Clinton is a cool guy who mostly plays casual decks in the tourney.

Afterwards, I stuck around to play a couple casual games. Egg'cademy is fun! I like to play it in casual games, for fun! I do not care what anyone else says. However, I will not play with it in the tourney, so please stop asking me to...

Also, anyone care to comment about this: ABM > Hulk

[KiL0]

Quote (Illuzion @ Sep. 27 2003,09:52)BTW, I've been testing long.dec and that thing kicks ass! As a previous disgruntled Academy player, I'm thinking of putting it together. Is it still going strong down there?

Until the last tourney in which the "Drunken Juggernaut" took home the prize, long.dec had been doing very well. Between Sauce and Zhalfirin long.dec had won three of the last five weeks, I believe...

Quote (UnstableCornBread @ Sep. 27 2003,12:25)Abm > Hulk eh? I do believe the incredibly sexy, macho, and down right awe inspiring hulk player was robbed. You see, he told me his pet hamster "Kwon" had just passed away and his mind was not all together during that matchup.

I believe you are correct about that Hulk player. In speaking to a friend of a friend who saw the matchup, the Hulk player just oozes testosterone. Apparently he’s pretty charming, macho, and sexy… all in a non-homosexual way which is too bad for Giggles.

Sorry to hear about his hamster. I know a clammy, hygienically challenged kid in Berkeley who dropped out of high school to raise hamsters full time. He’s not too good at it though, but I’m sure he would be happy to talk to the awe inspiring Hulk player. Perhaps with a couple Jedi Mind-Tricks the kid can fill the void created by the loss of the hamster and they can become 'bestest' friends.

[KiL0]

Date: 2 October 2003

Location:  C&J Collectables
              5454 Central Ave. suite C
              Newark, CA  94560
              (510) 796-5790
              e-mail: juzamjuice@aol.com

Participants: 21

This weeks deck: WelderMUD.

Thank you, TMDers, for all the suggestions on the main deck. From the suggestions, I made the following changes: -1 Petrified Field, -1 Time Vault, +2 Null Brooch.

[flashback]

Quote (KiL0 @ Sep. 26 2003,15:21)Date: 25 September 2003

Afterwards, I stuck around to play a couple casual games. Egg'cademy is fun! I like to play it in casual games, for fun! I do not care what anyone else says. However, I will not play with it in the tourney, so please stop asking me to...

Well, that is still true... for me. However, Riz shows up last minute to the tourney without a deck. Do you see where this is going? heh.
[/flashback]

[flashforward]
Hmm... Riz, for some unexplainable reason, goes 0-2 and drops. All I hear for the next couple hours, either directly in my ear or from across the room, is how the deck sucks. I should have never made the deck. Sleeves are a waste for such a pile, on and on... I'm paraphrasing to keep it PG. heh.

In all fairness, I offered Ankh Sligh, Stompy, and White Weenie in addition to the Egg.

Oh, after the tourney I pick up my Egg pile to go up versus Riz... 3-0 baby! Hmm... Deck? Player? I dunno... I do know 3-0 baby!
[/flashforward]

WelderMUD
//Artifact
 2 Karn, Silver Golem
 4 Metalworker
 1 Triskelion

 1 Black Lotus
 4 Grafted Skullcap
 1 Mana Crypt
 1 Mana Vault
 1 Memory Jar
 1 Mox Emerald
 1 Mox Jet
 1 Mox Pearl
 1 Mox Ruby
 1 Mox Sapphire
 2 Null Brooch
 3 Powder Keg
 4 Smokestack
 4 Sphere of Resistance
 1 Sol Ring
 4 Tangle Wire
 2 Winter Orb

//Red
 4 Goblin Welder

//Land
 4 Mishra's Workshop
 6 Mountain
 1 Strip Mine
 1 Tolarian Academy
 4 Wasteland

SB: 2 Bottle Gnomes
SB: 2 Jester's Cap
SB: 2 Masticore
SB: 2 Serrated Arrows
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 Blood Moon
SB: 3 Rack and Ruin
 

Brief match summary:

Round 1: David, TMD Webster (U/r Fish)

C'mon, I play Web every week?

Webster's Report

Game 1: I resolve an early game Smokestack and Welder. Smokestack grinds under his entire board and I start doing Welder tricks...

In: 2 Rack and Ruin
Out: 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: Web top decks Wasteland to take out my Academy. If he had not, good game. I was prepared to drop my whole hand next turn to lock the game...

Game 3: n00bx10 shows his ugly head, again. Sigh. I think my opening hand is strong including: Workshop, Mox Ruby, Null Brooch, Smokestack x3, and Goblin Welder. The only problem: The Workshop is really a Strip Mine. Sigh. I play the "Workshop" and Mox Ruby, then attempt to tap the Strip Mine for three colorless mana. Hmm...

0-1, 1-2

Round 2: Raiyaan (U/g 'Phid)

C'mon, I play Raiyaan every week?

Game 1: General wMUD Brokenness.

In: 2 Rack and Ruin
Out: 1 Triskelion, 1 Mana Crypt

Game 2: General wMUD Brokenness.

1-1, 3-2

Round 3: Dustin (U/b/g Control)

C'mon, I play Dustin every week?

Game 1: In past matchups with Dustin, he has played either mono-B or mono-U with main deck Disk. I'm thinking this week should be no different.

General wMUD Brokenness.

He did play a couple swamps. I'm thinking, okay mono-B. He's going for Dark Ritual, Duress, Hymn, or early Ritual into Disk after sideboarding...  

In: 3 Rack and Ruin
Out: 1 Triskelion, 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: Dustin opens with Flood Strand!? Hmm... I open with

General wMUD Brokenness.

Dustin fetches Underground Sea and drops Tropical Island turn two. However, my double Sphere, Metalworker, and Welder allow me to play tricks. He's never able to cast Deed nor Disk, both were in his opening hand.

2-1, 5-2

Round 4: Christiaan, TMD Zhalfirin (Long.dec)

Positive: I did not play Zhalfirin last week.
Negative: Zhalfirin. He is really good.

Game 1: Zhalfirin has been playing long.dec the past couple weeks, and I am reminded of UnstableCornBreads words of dropping Sphere over Metalworker...

I do not like my opening hand and mull... Draw six. No sphere, but not totally bad if Zhalfirin is not playing Long. Zhalfirin opens with Gemstone Mine (Great, long.dec) and follows with Duress taking my Tangle Wire. Sigh. My turn, draw. Topdeck Sphere, whoohoo! Workshop, Sphere, and then Mox with the floating colorless. Zhalfirin plays through. However, the Sphere buys me enough time to find and drop a second Sphere...

Whew! If I was drawing seven, the Sphere would have been in my hand for his opening Duress. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

In: 2 Jester's Cap, 1 Tormod's Crypt
Out: 1 Triskelion, 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: Zhalfirin calculates his opening hand. He is just short of going off first turn. Instead he plays out his artifact accel, Academy, and Burning Wish into Balance with one card in hand. I keep Welder and discard a bunch of artifacts. He loses only the Academy. I top deck, Academy and play it. We are in top deck mode for a couple draws and then Zhalfirin takes his chance. He taps out to Wheel and gives me...

General wMUD Brokenness.

3-1, 7-2

Final Standings Top 8: (Tiebreakers determined 2-4)
1. Webster (Congrats!)
2. Ron
3. KiL0
4. LegendOfMagic
5. Andrej
6. Zhalfirin
7. John
8. Raziel (Glad you made it to play!)

My second tourney with WelderMUD concluded with near identical results as the first: Losing first round because of a play mistake and then not dropping a game the rest of the night. Maybe I need Magic Calisthenics before the tourney? Or perhaps some friggin' glasses...

WelderMUD is a strong deck. Thank you, Captain Obvious. It can wreck house in competent hands (read: not me, n00bx10). However, wMUD seems to get bent over by Null Rod. U/r Fish has been tough with Grims to shock Welder and main deck Null Rod to shut off my mana accel, artifact d00ds, and answer in Keg. Currently, thinking about dropping Masticore and opening two slots to address Null Rod.

[hieroglyphics]

Hey there, I thought I'd do a tournament report for the C & J's tournament on 10-2-03.  I hope KiLO doesn't mind if I post it on his thread!

Anyway, I was expecting lots of combo, and possibly some Psychatog control decks, so I decided to play Super Grow.  The deck I used was inspired by a decklist posted by Shades on TMD.  Black seemed necessary since I wanted Duress and Wishable graveyard removal.  I used Drains instead of Counterspells since the potential drawback seemed negligible against the decks I expected to face.



Round 1 vs. Max, playing Battle of Wits

Game 1:  We play land, go for 5 or 6 turns, he counters my Fact or Fiction.  I play a Quirion Dryad next turn and pump it with AK and Opts.  Next turn Max plays The Abyss which I let resolve since I have 2 Mystic Enforcers with counter backup in my hand.  I beat him down with the 6/6 Enforcer and he concedes.

I know Max's deck since I've played him before, he uses Academy Rector/Oath of Druids and Intuition/Replenish to get the Battle into play.  Good thing I didn't play Dragon since he has those Gaea's Blessings in his deck!  I take out 2 Swords to Plowshares for 2 Deep Analysis.

Game 2:  I Mana Drain his turn 2 Sylvan Library and cast Deep Analysis off it.  A couple turns later I flash it back and draw into another Deep Analysis.  Sweet, I outdraw him and can pretty much counter anything relevant he plays.  I beat him down with a Meddling Mage naming Replenish and a small Quirion Dryad, and he concedes after I play Yawgmoth's Will.  Max's deck looks like a lot of fun to play.

1-0, (2-0)

Round 2 vs. Tom, playing Dragon

Game 1:  I play first and have Mox Sapphire for 1st turn Mana Drain possibly. Tom plays a Bazaar and draws into junk, discarding 2 animate spells.  Since he can't get a Dragon into the graveyard I get a couple turns to stabilize.  I Mana Drain his end of turn Intuition, and next turn I cast Fact or Fiction off it.  Pile 1 is Quirion Dryad, Pile 2 is 2 Force of Wills and 2 other blue spells!  For some reason Tom wanted my Dryad in the graveyard, and I was glad to cooperate with him.

We play draw-go until I topdeck Demonic Tutor, I tutor up Cunning Wish.  End of turn I grab a Coffin Purge and purge his Laquatus.  Soon after Tom attempts to Necromancy my Dryad, I out-counter him and he concedes soon after.  I take out Misdirection, 2 Mystic Enforcer and Opt and put in Blue Elemental Blast, Swords to Plowshares, and 2 Tormod's Crypt.

Game 2:  Tom keeps a hand with a bunch of combo pieces but no Bazaar, and I play a Quirion Dryad on my turn 1.  My hand is not great (only 1 counter), but luckily he stalls long enough for me to cantrip into some countermagic.  He gets his Bazaar and he discards some fat creatures.  Looks like Tom decided to side in some traditional Reanimator stuff in.  My hand is loaded with counters at this point though, and I play a Dryad, then a Meddling Mage for Animate Dead.  Unfortunately for Tom, he was never able to get his Bazaar/Squee stuff going.  Good luck with Dragon, hope you play it again this Sunday!

2-0, (4-0)

Round 3 vs. Christiaan, playing Burning Academy

Game 1:  I play first and start off with a land, Christiaan Duresses my Force of Will.  Since he played a Gemstone Mine, and since last time we played Christiaan was playing Burning Academy I'm pretty sure of what he's playing.  Therefore I play turn 2 Meddling Mage naming Burning Wish.  Christiaan resolves some mana artifacts and plays Wheel of Fortune (without cracking the LED) but I don't have the counter for it.  On my next turn I attack with the Meddling Mage.  I have no counters in hand but the Wheel put 2 AK's in my graveyard and I have an AK in hand.  

Christiaan plays Windfall and I decide to cast AK for 3, hoping to draw a Force of Will.  Sadly I don't draw a counter and the Windfall resolves.  He drops some mana artifacts and Dark Ritual, then Brainstorms.  I decide to Force the Brainstorm and hope he has no more draw spells or Storm cards (at this point if he draws Tendrils it's fatal).  Sadly though, he had a Demonic Tutor for Mind's Desire, and that's the end for me.  I take out 2 Mystic Enforcer, 2 Cunning Wish and Quirion Dryad for Blue Elemental Blast, Meddling Mage, and 3 Null Rod.

Game 2:  I survive to turn 2 and Meddling Mage for Burning Wish once again.  Next turn I topdeck Mana Drain, giving me Drain + Force of Will backup (sweet).  I get Duressed, Force of Will a Timetwister, and now am counterless.  Christian plays Memory Jar, I play Gush + Brainstorm but can't find the counter for it, so it resolves.  Luckily for me he runs out of steam and I cantrip into a counter next turn.  The Meddling Mage is joined by a Quirion Dryad and they beat him down.

Game 3:  I have an opening hand of Ancestral, 2 AK, 2 Drains, Mox Emerald, Tundra.  I reluctantly mulligan this into a hand with Meddling Mage + Force of Will.  Once again I get a turn 2 Mage for Burning Wish (maybe naming Burning Wish was a mistake).  Two turns later I topdeck Null Rod and play it.  I have 2 counters in my hand as well, but time is called so we draw.

2-0-1, (5-1-1)

Round 4 vs. David, playing U/R Fish

A quick analogy:  In this match David was like the Oakland A's and I was like the Boston Red Sox.  He just steamrolled me horribly plus I made a bad mistake.

Game 1:  His small creatures are too fast for me.  I am in trouble and have to plow his Grim Lavamancer.  He is beating me down with Mishra's Factory, then he plays a Standstill.  Obviously I have to break the Standstill and I Demonic Tutor for Ancestral.  I didn't cast it right away since I have a suspicion it's going to get Forced or Misdirected so I wait until next turn so I can force it through with my Mana Drain.  

This is where I make a horrible mistake.  I cast the Ancestral during my turn, and he Misdirects to him.  I drain the Misdirection and my Ancestral resolves.  I then play a Dryad.  Then David points out that I take mana burn this turn!  I was so used to playing Ancestral/Mana Drain on my opponents' turns that I didn't consider this.  So I lose 5 life and therefore my 1/1 Dryad is forced to chump block for me to stay alive.  The correct play would have been to wait until my second main phase and then cast my stuff.  Well, my next card was a land so it didn't have any bearing on the game at least.  I lose.  I take out Fact or Fiction and Meddling Mage and put in Blue Elemental Blast and Swords to Plowshares.

Game 2:  This game is even more of a slaughter than the last one.  He puts a lavamancer then a turn 2 Standstill.  I have to Ancestral in response at this point even though I have no counter backup.  Of course,  he Misdirects it to him and quickly drops another Standstill.  Ok, thats pretty much game and I concede soon after.  Congratulations to David for winning the tournament.  I'll probably bring Madness next time and hopefully get stoopid on David's fishies.  His fish have been looking unstoppable lately.


Some quick conclusions/opinions about Super Grow:
1.  It performs pretty well against combo decks.  The spot removal is great against Dragon.  Even if they can get the Bazaar/Squee engine started you have a good chance since you can Wish for graveyard removal or Swords to Plowshares.

I also think it's a decent deck against Burning Academy due to Meddling Mages (if you can survive long enough to drop one).  Maybe naming Tendrils instead of Wish is a better choice after game 1 though.

2.  It's not too bad vs. control.  You can draw almost as much as them and you have a good chance to overwhelm them with a cheap early creature.  Not that a matchup vs. Psychatog is ever easy or that much in your favor though.  I've never played it vs. Keeper though, so I'm not sure about that.

3.  Vs. Aggro-Control decks Super Grow is not too strong.  I played vs. Suicide Black and it's definitely an uphill battle with all their disruption.  Judging from playing vs. Fish (about 10-12 games total) it seems like a horrible matchup as well.  On the plus side though, more simple-minded aggro decks are a good matchup, especially after sideboarding.  I've done surprisingly well vs. Goblins.  


3 Meddling Mage
4 Quirion Dryad
2 Mystic Enforcer
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
3 Mana Drain
2 Duress
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Cunning Wish
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Gush
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Opt
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
3 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus

1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Coffin Purge
1 Disenchant
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Meddling Mage
3 Null Rod
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Deep Analysis
1 Sacred Ground
1 Hurkyll's Recall

The list was from a Super Grow thread.  Thanks for reading, and thanks to my opponents for being fun to play against.  PEACE

[KiL0]

Date: 9 October 2003

Location:  C&J Collectables
             5454 Central Ave. suite C
             Newark, CA  94560
             (510) 796-5790
             e-mail: juzamjuice@aol.com

Participants: 20ish

Deadlines and reports for work have really pressed me for time; feels like a real life Smokestack/Tangle Wire combo. heh. My plan is to enter (1. It's FREE. 2. Get credit for DCI tokens.) and play until I lose a round. Then I can go home and catch up on some work.

I keep to my mindless-sheep-mentality and flock to C&J’s to join the rest of the herd. The other usual suspects include: Raziel, Shawn (nonTMD), spevack, Webster, Zhalfirin, and special guest appearance by Fishhead.

This weeks deck: WelderMUD.

WelderMUD
//Artifact
2 Karn, Silver Golem
4 Metalworker
1 Triskelion

1 Black Lotus
4 Grafted Skullcap
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Null Brooch
3 Powder Keg
4 Smokestack
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Sol Ring
4 Tangle Wire
2 Winter Orb

//Red
4 Goblin Welder

//Land
4 Mishra's Workshop
6 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland

SB: 2 Bottle Gnomes
SB: 2 Jester's Cap
SB: 2 Serrated Arrows
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Tsabo's Web
SB: 3 Blood Moon
SB: 3 Rack and Ruin


Brief match summary:

Round 1: Tim, but my friends call me 'Tim' (Reanimator)

Don't really know Tim that well but I am going to go out on a limb... his friends were not at the tourney because everyone else there called him 'Asshole,' 'Lil Bitch,' and 'Loud Ass.' I do remember him from a previous tourney in which my opponent remarked, "I wish I was his age... I would kick the living shit out of him..."

Please note, the verbal hazing was because everyone else did know him and were joking around.

Game 1: Tim plays an early game Zombie Infestation which had me mildly worried. Multiple Squees can negate my Smoke and Wire action for him to stabilize. Fortunately, Tim does not find the Squees in time, and he tries to reanimate Verdant Force. My Welder puts Null Brooch from graveyard to play, counter, GG. Smokestack grinds him under next turn, Metal Workers and Welders pound until Karn decides to show up.

In: 2 Jester's Cap
Out: 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: General WelderMUD brokenness. I try to Cap out his whole deck but he scoops...

1-0, 2-0

Round 2: Shawn (Bazaar Madness)

Shawn beat Webster in round one. I heard Shawn had too many fatties, too quickly. He is also playing the full P9, so the permanent count can become an issue for me...

Game 1: I win die roll and play first. First turn Sphere doesn't make him happy. My second turn Metalworker doesn't improve Shawn's state of mind. Third turn, dropping my entire hand has Shawn looking for side board options...

In: 1 Tormod's Crypt, 2 Tsabo's Web, 2 Blood Moon
Out: 3 Powder Keg, 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: Shawn opens with a Fetch land. Draw. Workshop, Mox Emerald, Mox Ruby, Sphere, Sphere, go. He plays through. Hmm, he must have some kind of answer... His second turn is land, go; while I drop another Workshop and Metalworker. He drops Bazaar and starts his search for an answer. Draw. Activate Metalworker, reveal two cards, tap Mox Ruby, Blood Moon, in response tapping both Workshops to cast Skullcap. I managed to stop his draw engine while putting mine in place. Shawn does not find what he needs before Skullcap plus Metalworker drop hand after hand...

Turned out, Shawn had an Artifact Mutation but was unable to cast it early because of Spheres. Blood Moon shut off his only current source of green mana, Tropical Island. When Smokestack hit table and started to ramp up the counters, his window of opportunity was over. My opening turn of double Sphere was key. A single Sphere had the opportunity to be blown up by Artifact Mutation. Lucky...
 
2-0,4-0

Round 3: Andrew (mono-U 'Phid)

Game 1: I win die roll. Opening hand is strong, if I had some mana sources. Mull. Hmm... Let's do that again. Mull. Keep a subpar hand since I just gave away a free Ancestral after he draws. Still turned out to be a really close game. Smokestack cleared the board on both sides and we were both left with 1 card hands... Top decking. Andrew top decked better.

In: 2 Jester's Cap
Out: 1 Triskelion, 1 Winter Orb

Game 2: Again, I mull the opening hand. Draw six. General WelderMUD brokenness. Whew...

Game 3: Argh! The pain. Mull. Damn it. Curses. Mull. !@#$ it, I'll keep a subpar hand. This game is not even close. Andrew casts a turn three Energy Flux. GG.

If I didn't have to double mull games 1 and 3, perhaps it would have been a different story. But hey, sometimes that's the way it goes...

2-1, 5-2

Well, I get to go home early. Congrats to the eventual winner!

[KiL0]

Date: 16 October 2003

Location:  C&J Collectables
             5454 Central Ave. suite C
             Newark, CA  94560
             (510) 796-5790
             e-mail: juzamjuice@aol.com

Participants: 20+ish

Work has not let up. In fact, the load has increased. Sigh...

This weeks deck: WelderMUD.

WelderMUD
//Artifact
2 Karn, Silver Golem
4 Metalworker
1 Triskelion

1 Black Lotus
4 Grafted Skullcap
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Null Brooch
3 Powder Keg
4 Smokestack
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Sol Ring
4 Tangle Wire
2 Winter Orb

//Red
4 Goblin Welder

//Land
4 Mishra's Workshop
6 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland

SB: 2 Bottle Gnomes
SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 2 Jester's Cap
SB: 2 Serrated Arrows
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 Blood Moon
SB: 3 Rack and Ruin

Brief match summary:

Round 1: Isaac (U/r Control Burn)

Isaac had really tried to meta-game his deck. He planned on main deck hate for TnT matchups which also work quite well versus wMUD.

Game 1: Talk about HATE!
This game featured my first Karn getting hit by Shatter. Shatter; not just being played but main deck. My second Karn (along with a Sphere) getting hit by Rack and Ruin, main. Later I get bitch slapped with Bribery taking my Trike, in which I was lucky that both my Karns were in the grave already. Trike takes out a Metalworker and Welder. With THREE Smokestacks in play, I was going to grind him under (my perm count was high with moxen, Workshops, and three Skullcaps to drop hand every turn). However, I get a little nervous when Isaac taps his library and wishes for a top deck Shatterstorm! He did not get it but WTF? So much hate, why can't we all just get along?

In: 2 Jester's Cap
Out: 1 Powder Keg, 1 Smokestack

Game 2: I Strip and Wasteland Isaac's first two lands and that seals the game. He managed to draw all his FoWs to keep me from rolling. However, Isaac is land light and eventually Karn and friends show up to the party.

1-0-0, 2-0-0

Round 2: Christiaan, TMD Zhalfirin (Hulk)

Christiaan comments how no one cares about Game 7 between the Sox and Yankees. WHAT! It's tonight? Handshake, ID, and drop. Christiaan and I go grab a pizza and watch the game next door.

Heartbreaker.

1-0-1, 2-0-1

Congrats to UnstableCornBread!
He brought his beatstick to the table (and we're not talking about the 'Tog in his deck) to smash face going 5-0-0. In the finals, UnstableCornBread beats Fishhead a mirror match. What was the tech beatstick again... 5 Duress or the 13" Rod of Ruin with Might of Oaks?

[hieroglyphics]

Hello, since it turns out I can't make it to the L.A. type 1 tomorrow (working on Saturday is a bummer), I thought the next best thing would be to write a quick report on last night's C & J's tourney.

But first I'll mention that last week I went 1-2 and dropped playing UGB Vengeur Masque, getting smashed by 2 Tools 'n' Tubbies decks.  Let's just say that cutting Gilded Drake/Tradewind for a 4th Brainstorm/Vampiric Tutor isn't the greatest thing when facing a TnT deck.  

So, not wanting to play Vengeur Masque again, I decided to put together Bazaar Madness.  My build was exactly the same as the one in the Madness primer except:  -1 Careful Study, -1 Fiery Temper, +2 Pyrostatic Pillar.  And here was my sideboard:

4 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Null Rod
4 Artifact Mutation
1 Blue Elemental Blast

The sideboard was mainly geared toward Psychatog/Dragon/Storm combo decks.

Round 1 vs. Jon, playing White Weenie (with Serra Angels)

Game 1:  I play first and go Land, Careful Study, 2 Basking Rootwalla.  Next turn I get Mox, Sol Ring, Bazaar, Arrogant Wurm.  Jon is beat down by fast creatures and the only nonland permanent he has out is Glorious Anthem when he dies.  I decided not to sideboard anything for this matchup.

Game 2:  I keep a decent looking hand with burn, lands and a Careful Study.  Strangely enough, 5 turns into the game and another Careful study later, I haven't drawn a single creature!  He plays a Serra Angel and it beats me down for a couple turns.  I finally draw a Bazaar and draw into Roar of the Wurm + Wonder; at this point I am at 8 life but I'm holding his Serra at bay.  Unfortunately for me, Jon decides to cast Armageddon, which sends my Wurm token falling from the skies like Icarus.  Next turn I dont find the Island I need to give my Wurm flying and the Serra beats me to death.

Game 3:  My first turn Sol Ring, 2nd turn Bazaar leads to an Arrogant Wurm with Anger in the graveyard.  Next turn I Bazaar into another Arrogant Wurm + Basking Rootwalla and they bring the pain.  He manages to plow an Arrogant Wurm but I am way ahead in the damage race and seal the game with a Pyrostatic Pillar.  When I casted Time Walk, Jon paused to read the card then remarked "that's pretty good."

1-0, (2-1)

Round 2 vs. Tim, playing Reanimator

Tim is the kid mention earlier in the thread.  I don't know why he is so maligned, he hasn't been annoying while I've played him.  Then again, I dont know him too well.

Game 1:  He plays first and starts off with a Buried alive for Visara, Butcher Orgg and Rorix Bladewing, and I cast a Basking Rootwalla.  Next turn I get Hymned and I lose a land and Fiery Temper.  I play Wild Mongrel on my turn and attack with the Rootwalla.  Next turn, he casts Exhume, and I respond by pitching Arrogant Wurm so it gets reanimated.  Unfortunately for me his Visara is too big for my creatures to get past.  He casts Zombify(?!) on his Rorix and I die.  I side in 3 Tormod's Crypt and take out 2 Pyrostatic Pillar, and 1 Fiery Temper.

Game 2:  First turn I play Lotus, LED, land, Arrogant Wurm, Basking Rootwalla, flash back Roar of the Wurm.  Tim doesn't manage to play any spells this game, turn 3 kill!

Game 3:  Tim starts off with a turn 1 Duress.  My hand includes Lion's Eye Diamond, Arrogant Wurm, Careful Study, and only 1 land (a Taiga).  Tim says to me:  "I'll take the Careful Study since you're playing Madness."  Ok, that's fine with me.  Next turn I topdeck Tormod's Crypt, so I dump my hand with the LED.  I cast Arrogant Wurm + Rootwalla and put him on a clock which he can't outrace.

2-0, (4-2)

Round 3 vs. Shawn, playing Bazaar Madness

Game 1:  The Mirror!  I watched Shawn play vs. Tog last round a bit, and he seems to be a very good player.  I play first and play land, Mox, Wild Mongrel.  Shawn Wastelands my Taiga.  Next turn I attack and play a land.  Next turn he plays a land and says go.  Turn 3 I play land, another Mox, pump the Mongrel with Roar of the Wurm and flash it back!  I beat him down to 7 and he concedes when I play Pyrostatic Pillar.  I got an awesome start this game... sometimes better lucky than good!  The only life loss I have in this game is from Deep Analysis and a fetchland.  I side in 3 Tormod's Crypt and take out 2 Pyrostatic Pillar and 1 Deep Analysis.

Game 2:  Shawn starts off with a turn 1 Rootwalla, and we both take a couple turns to develop our mana while the Rootwalla beats down to 13.  Then we both play Bazaars and trade Arrogant Wurms, then trade Basking Rootwallas.  Playing blockers at instant speed is fun!  I get out an Arrogant Wurm but Shawn has more mana sources than me (I had to drop my Bazaar earlier than him).  So it looks pretty even at this point.  

Then Shawn casts Wheel of Fortune, I tap my Bazaar and Fiery Temper him in response.  In a great stroke of luck, his Wheel hand gives him no creatures!  Awesome, since my new hand had Wonder, Arrogant Wurm, LED, and Roar of the Wurm.  Because I have Anger in the graveyard, that's game.  Shawn said after the game that he's removing the draw 7's from his deck for good.

3-0, (6-2)

Round 4 vs. Clinton, playing Gobbo Sligh

Game 1:  Clinton plays first and starts with Goblins of the Flarg.  Hmm, this should be easy, I'm thinking to myself.  On my turn I play a Basking Rootwalla.  His Goblin mountainwalks right past my Rootwalla, then gets bloodlusted, so I eat 5.  I attack him for 1.  Next turn he attacks, bolts me and Goblin Grenades me.  Next turn I play a Land, LED and 2 Arrogant Wurms.  Next turn Clinton plays Price or Progress and I am toast!  Clinton is playing weird stuff like Goblin Balloon Brigade, but his deck can do a lot of damage fast and is to be reckoned with.  I side in 1 Blue Elemental Blast and take out 1 Deep Analysis.

Game 2:  I start off with a land, Clinton plays Goblin Balloon Brigade.  I play 2 moxes, Bazaar, and block his Balloon Brigade with an instant speed Arrogant Wurm.  I start beating down with the Wurm, while Clinton throws burn at my head.  Clinton is getting low on life and he Goblin Grenades my Wurm.  I Bazaar into a Roar of the Wurm.  Next turn he plays Price of Progress for 6 and I'm at 5 life.  If he had Goblin Grenaded me instead, I would've been dead and he would've barely survived.

Game 3:  Clinton starts out with land, bolt me.  I play land, mox, Wild Mongrel, discard Anger and attack for 3.  Next turn he Incinerates me.  I play a land and pump the Mongrel, casting Arrogant Wurm and attack for 7.  He plays a Goblin and Grenades me next turn.  I play another Arrogant Wurm with the Mongrel and attack him for 11.  Turn 3 kill!  Whew that was a close match, never before did I fear Goblins of the Flarg and Goblin Balloon Brigade so much!

4-0, (8-3)

At this point I dropped because I wanted to watch the Yankees game which I had tivo'd, and it was getting late.  It was a fun tourney, and Madness is insane fun to play in t1.  To me it's like the new Stompy deck, kind of in the same way that Stacker is the new Ankh-Sligh deck.  But with bigger creatures and more fun tricks!  

Anyway, I like Pyrostatic Pillars a lot.  Sure they deal you damage, but they will really hamper your opponent in those tough matchups (Tog, Storm Combo).  It's gonna be interesting with Mirrodin, looks like Madness will still be good.
Until next time, PEACE

[UnstableCornBread]

Another person who goes 4-0 and drops, I just dont understand it, seems rather silly if you ask me. I was looking forward to playing madness in the finals, but because you dropped, I was forced to play Tog mirror. At least these games went very smoothly as I durressed him 'five' errrm four times in the first five turns. Which was fueled my an active LoE..

This was my one tourny I play in every six months or so, and it got me over the 1900 rating hump.

On a lighter note, he F&S tournament which we drove seven hours for, was an utter waste of time. Horrible play space, feeling like being in the middle of the desert, a head judge who very clearly does not know floor rules, and a sponser of the tournament acting like a child because Long hosed him two rounds in a row so he takes it out on his 3rd round opponent. The only good part of this trip was the waitresses at D&B's, the Toyko Teas, and getting people drunk.

And yes Kilo, the 13'' Rod of Ruin was my sekret tech as you put it. It is a beating but is also rather uncontrollable and uncomfortable. Until next time, this is Cornbread signing off till next week, same Bat time, same Bat Channel. Remember; watch the skies!

[KiL0]

Date: 23 October 2003

Location:  C&J Collectables
             5454 Central Ave. suite C
             Newark, CA  94560
             (510) 796-5790
             e-mail: juzamjuice@aol.com

Participants: 22

Running so late. Rush home and grab my deck, which had not been touched since the L.A. trip. Oh crap, Mirrodin is legal now. Hmm... where did I put those CotVs? Don't even think about main deck changes, I'm late. Hmm... okay. Pull these out of the sideboard and throw in the CotVs. No testing, no reading the TMD prior, just do it...

This weeks deck: WelderMUD. Again.

WelderMUD
//Artifact
2 Karn, Silver Golem
4 Metalworker
1 Triskelion

1 Black Lotus
4 Grafted Skullcap
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Null Brooch
3 Powder Keg
4 Smokestack
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Sol Ring
4 Tangle Wire
1 Winter Orb

//Red
4 Goblin Welder
1 Viashino Heretic

//Land
4 Mishra's Workshop
6 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland

SB: 3 Chalice of the Void
SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 2 Serrated Arrows
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 Blood Moon
SB: 3 Rack and Ruin

Brief match summary:

Round 1: Dan (Sui Black)

Every time Dan and I play, seems like he gets godly draws while I draw flaming piles. Hopefully that will end tonight...

Game 1: My !@#$ing deck HATES me!
Opening hand of Metalworker, Mox, Mountain, and Welder with three high casting cost artifacts to round out. "Draw into a third mana source or get Hymned, then Welder the good stuff in..." is what I'm thinking, so I keep. Land, Mox, Welder, go. Ugh. Turns out I do not draw another mana source for the game nor does Dan help me by Hymn. Instead he elects to cast Negator and Shade. Beatings...

In: 2 Chalice of the Void, 2 Ensnaring Bridge
Out: 2 Null Brooch, 1 Smokestack, 1 Winter Orb

Game 2: Draw seven. Only mana source is Black Lotus with no Metalworker. Too risky, I send it back and mull. Draw six. No mana source hand. Ugh. Blood pressure rising, headache coming on. Man, could I use one of UnstableCornBreads' Midols right now... Anywho, keep the five card hand; whatever it was. Dan's opening turn features Swamp, Ritual, Duress, Null Rod, go. GG. Anyone seen 'CornBread? Headache's getting worse...

0-1-0, 0-2-0

Round 2: Cherie Ann (mono-B)

In fairness, her deck was not complete. Playing for fun with the bonus if she wins... Yeah, but if I lose she wrecks my rating.

Game 1: General WelderMUD brokenness.
Especially painful since I never drew into Karn or Trike. Yes, it was the Metalworker going... all... the... way.

In: No change.
Out: No change.

Game 2: General WelderMUD brokenness.

I felt kinda bad. Her first experience playing wMUD and her highlight from both games was casting a Duress before being locked. She was a good sport, even though she muttered, "I hate that deck" several hundred times during the match.

1-1-0, 2-2-0

Round 3: Ron (Gay Fish)

Game 1: I ask myself, "Feel lucky, punk?"
Not knowing what Ron was playing, I keep a hand with Lotus as my only mana source. Lotus, Metalworker... resolves! General WelderMUD brokenness.

In: 2 Chalice of the Void
Out: 1 Smokestack, 1 Tangle Wire

Game 2: General WelderMUD brokenness.

[flashback]
General WelderMUD brokenness.
Hmm... not very descriptive and I seem to use it alot in my tourney reports. However, if you play or have played against DuckTape, MUD, wMUD, or Stax, you probably know what I am implying. For those who do not know, I am preventing the opponent from playing any spells, including Moxen when really broken, and just play land, go. After that, it gets worse for the opponent...
Good times!
[/flashback]

2-1-0, 4-2-0

Round 4: Max, TMD spevack (Keeper)

Max: If you read this thread, could you please fill in the blanks and give a commentary of our match.

Game 1: Epic battle!
Very, very long game as Max is successful in keeping Metalworker and Welder off the table. However, I have an active Viashino Heretic keeping his Isochron Scepter combo off the table. Mid to late game, Max has an active Mox Monkey eating anything casting three or less. Attempting to drop threat after threat, one finally resolves and lives to become active, Welder. Weld in Metalworker. Weld in Memory Jar when Metalworker becomes active...

In: 2 Blood Moon, 1 Chalice of the Void
Out: 2 Smokestack, 1 Winter Orb

Wanted to keep the Winter Orb in to take better advantage of Workshop. I also wanted all three CotV to try and hose Isochron Scepter. Without playtesting I was unsure how to side...

Game 2: Max opens with Tundra, Mox, Mox, go. Draw. Hmm, unspectacular. Trying to bait counters, I play Mountain, Mox, Welder... resolves. End of turn, Max Cunning Wishes for Shattering Pulse. Hmm. He plays land, Isochron Scepter imprinting Shattering Pulse. Hmm. I need to get one of his Moxen in the grave to do Welder tricks. However, time is called and we are now on five turns. Although it is not over for me, Max is in a much better position...

3-1-0, 5-2-1

Clearly, the new Keeper build is going to be strong and my sideboard will have to be better developed. Thinking of including Mox Monkeys in the side to combat CotV while giving me a chance against IS and Null Rod. Meanwhile, I would like to run CotV in my main. Have some ideas on how to do that, just need to find the time to actually test...

Congrats to SauceMaster on the victory, 4-0!

[Manny]

Tourney in Santa Rosa.
Clarks Trading right next to the SR Mall.

Playing Hell's Bells B/G Void
1st Round old school player(elves, fat creatures, natural order)
1st game i deed away some elves and drop void. game.
2 and 3 game he pulls out third turn natural order verdant force? too big for me and cant handle it. 3rd game i did double dark rit and deeded it away for 8 to have him draw and 1/1 elf and kill me in 3 turns. he hit with force twice so i was low. sad.

i go undefeated every other game not losing one and tieing with quite a few players for third. i had better tie-breakers but still didnt get a prize.

two tied for first one being an aluren deck and the other being the rock. still weak not having enough rounds.

ill find out when the next tourney will be, give ken a call and he can tell u all.

[UnstableCornBread]

"How about when he's losing and lifts/takes off his shirt to distract the opponent... "

How about when he does the same thing, but with his pants?

As the for metagame at C&J's, it is in a bit of turmoil as of late. People testing new cards, trying to revamp old decks which they have a love for. Keeper/TnT are both starting to show there ugly faces again after being driven out of the environment just a few months earlier. I give it a month or so tops before it all settles down and you can sit down and know what you are going to expect to make sideboard choices.

Player base is fairly strong also, altho normally round one to two you are playing an unpowered aggro deck, but after that all you will face are fully powered above average players. But all in all, the same 4 or 5 people always win the prize.

As for the Fever vs. normal naught discussion. No offense to the maker of fever, but I think it is a steaming pile of crap compared to the original deck. But I suppose I am just playing it incorrectly, much like ABM and Keeper. That's all I will say on the subject for I few another 'warning' from the hands of a certain moderator.

I look forward to Kilo's tourny report from this week so I may reply with my oh so witty banter.

P.s. "I have never lost to a first turn LoA." My favorite quote of all time that I wish to share with you all; my addoring fans. Good day and good night my loyal listeners\n\n

[UnstableCornBread]

Here is your report. Very few people showed up, it was raining pretty hard. Fishhead pwnd Saucemaster in round two. Then got killed by Oath.dec play by the masssive monolith known simply as duck in the finals. What is Oath.dec you say? Cognivore oath from last extentded season! But with the addition of a card called Force of Will, pure GENIOUS on his part. I mean what is Tnt going to do against Treetop Villages and an accelerated turn three P.Deed.

Fishy played Tnt with playtesting lightning greaves.
Sauce played some form of ducktape.
Tom I dont know.
Web Fish.
And annoying Keeper player who always ties, I mean ALWAYS.
Rest I dont care.

[Saucemaster]

I was with Stax with Chalices.  Fishhead did indeed pwn me in round 2, after which I dropped because it was more fun to play against Web, who also dropped.  So Web and I playtested and then HE pwnd me.  Like, many times.  As in repeatedly.  And with great abandon.

Basically, I spent the night getting pwnd.

[Manny]

Santa Rosa Tounrney the 14th

Ken(Kilo) and Christiaan(Zhalfirin) come on time while the losers who thought they could make it in one hour from Newark were an hour late.

Losers:
Brent (Unstable Cornbread)
David (Webster)
Louis

I played B/G Void while Ken played Welder Mud and Christiaan played Long.

Hell's Bells except no power (2 swamps) and i took out Necropotence for a Lotus Petal. I liked it. Help me get the green for deed.

Sideboard:
3 Masticore
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Naturalize
3 Contagion
1 Pernicious Deed

Round 1: Ankh Sligh (2-0)
No chance against Void. Drop Nether Void 2nd or 3rd turn and game is over.

Round 2: No Idea (somewhat T1 Madness) (2-0)
Never really saw any of it. Drop Void followed with Shade and blew up every land he had(Bazaar, Dual Lands). He dropped right after. LoL he sided out Force of Will which was the only chance he had to stop Nether Void.

Round 3: Long, Christiaan (2-1)
Disruption goes crazy. No hand no land. followed with Nether Void. Shade and Hippie beats.
2nd game im an idiot. mulligan to 5 giving 4 land and chalice.
knowing i have chalice he drops his 0s going first. im thinking he can only save himself with wish or chain of vapor if hes running it. i chalice for 2. i only need void in play and i can make the game go long. i play land go and he builds up the perfect hand to kill me. rit rit some other crap and the one tendrils he needed.
3rd game goes like the first one.

Round 4 : Aluren (2-0)
Deed owns him and so does his low mana base as waste strip and sinkhole mana screw him until Nether Void hits and he scoops. Never saw anything.

4 rounds isnt enough for the amount of people and there are 3 other undefeateds (TnT, Jank, Me) the other decide to split while i go tie-breakers knowing that mine were probably better. only got 25 credit compared to the 38 i chould have had.

other sidenotes:
Ken got noobed 3rd round.
Ken whats rack.dec?
Land and 4 the rack.
wMUD has skullcap out while noob has swamps and 3 racks out.
Ken took damage and lost twice LOL.

[KiL0]

The tourney was not sanctioned.

Here is the mini report:

Before the start, a player comments how stupid moxen are and I should just play extra land. Thanks for the info...

Round One: Cool Dude (mono-U)

Game 1: Cool Dude gets pwned. Cool Dude comments how Tangle Wire is cool. Sphere is cool. Smokestack is cool. And how Karn is cool with the cool Tangle Wire, cool Sphere, and cool Smokestack.

In: No change.
Out: No change.

Game 2: Cool Dude gets pwned, again.

1-0, 2-0

Round 2: Cool Guy (Rack.dec)

Game 1: General wMUD brokenness.

In: 2 Mox Monkey
Out: 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: Here is the super tech of Rack.dec!
After I have Skullcap on board, my opponent plays Ritual, Charm killing my Welder, the Rack, the Rack. My turn, untap and take damage. Draw, two mana sources. His turn, draw, tap swamp, the Rack!

In: 3 Rack and Ruin
Out: 1 Mana Crypt, 1 Trike, 1 Smokestack

Game 3: The resilient Rack.dec!
I draw no red mana sources. I play Jar. Use Jar. No red mana sources while drawing Mox Monkey and a couple Ruins. I thin out my opponents deck to draw into the Rack, the Rack, the Rack!

1-1, 3-2

Round 3: Cool Kid (Sligh)

He comments, "Oh god, not Stax..."

NO! IT'S wMUD, damn it!

Game 1: He has no perms on board.

In: 2 Mox Monkey
Out: 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: He has no perms on board.

2-1, 5-2

Round 4: Not so Cool Kid (mono-R)

I tell him he got paired down. He says I must suck...

Game 1: He has no perms on board.

In: No change.
Out: No change.

Game 2: He kills himself with Jinxed Choker tech. Crap player...

He gets pissy after getting pwned and will not give up his chair to Web for us to play. He literally sits there and pouts.\n\n

[KiL0]

Date: 20 November 2003

Location:  C&J Collectables
              5454 Central Ave. suite C
              Newark, CA  94560
              (510) 796-5790
              e-mail: juzamjuice@aol.com

Participants: 20ish

I've been ill the last couple weeks and as a consequence have missed some tourneys. After recovering my health, I go back into battle at C&J's.
In my absence, what madness has been unleashed? I have heard of Duck's success in the past two tourneys; winning with Oath and wMUD. Fascinating... not like a phenomenon but like an auto accident. I had to see first hand and Duck did not disappoint (Finishing second, losing in the finals to Webster).
I just love the concept too much to give the deck up even though it's been meta hated... This weeks deck: WelderMUD.

WelderMUD
//Artifact
 2 Karn, Silver Golem
 4 Metalworker
 1 Solemn Simulacrum

 1 Black Lotus
 3 Chalice of the Void
 4 Grafted Skullcap
 1 Mana Crypt
 1 Mana Vault
 1 Memory Jar
 1 Mindslaver
 1 Mox Emerald
 1 Mox Jet
 1 Mox Pearl
 1 Mox Ruby
 1 Mox Sapphire
 4 Smokestack
 4 Sphere of Resistance
 1 Sol Ring
 4 Tangle Wire
 2 Winter Orb

//Red
 4 Goblin Welder
 1 Viashino Heretic

//Land
 4 Mishra's Workshop
 6 Mountain
 1 Strip Mine
 1 Tolarian Academy
 4 Wasteland

SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 2 Null Brooch
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Triskelion
SB: 3 Blood Moon
SB: 2 Gorilla Shaman
SB: 3 Rack and Ruin

The addition of Solemn Simulacrum was to smooth out the mana (since I got screwed in Santa Rosa by not finding a red source to win) and increase the perm count. Blocking/Sacrificing with the Solemn Simulacrum was welcomed for card draw. With Welder I can two for one my permanents; putting an artifact into the grave and getting Solemn Simulacrum plus a Mountain. The Mindslaver felt kinda like Time Vault; a random fun victory. Mindslaver had been devestating in play testing. For the first run, it worked pretty well...

Brief match summary:

Round 1: Thomas, TMD Raziel (Rector Tendrils)

Neither of us are happy to be facing each other first round. Funny part, we both thought each other was playing Dragon...

Game 1: I win the die roll. Raziel mulls to six. Slow lock on my part but Raziel is mana light and top deck draws are worse than mine...

In: 2 Null Brooch, 2 Blood Moon
Out: 1 Mindslaver, 1 Viashino Heretic, 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: Unfortunately, Raziel runs into the same mana problems. He Ancestrals, followed up by a Brainstorm, and still ends up mana light... Again, my deck did not explode but with all the time I was given, eventual victory.

Anyone can beat a mana hosed opponent. So this match was not as exciting nor fun like it should have been.

1-0-0, 2-0-0

Round 2: Ryan (R/G Sneak Attack)

Game 1: I was unsuccessful in locking the game early. Ryan gets Sneak Attack into play. Luckily for me, he draws poorly for several turns and I don't die. Karn finally shows up with his friends for one big swing.

In: 1 Null Brooch, 2 Blood Moon
Out: 1 Viashino Heretic, 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: Ryan elects to play first; Mountain, go. Since his deck is unpowered, first turn Smokestack spells bad times for Ryan...

2-0-0, 4-0-0

Round 3: David, TMD Webster (U/r Fish)

Really, can this deck be called Fish anymore?

Game 1: Spiketails + Null Rods = GO FISH!

In: 2 Blood Moon, 1 Null Brooch, 1 Triskelion
Out: 1 Mana Crypt, 1 Mindslaver, 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: I have a first turn Sphere on table via land, non-red mox. We are both mana light. Web eventually draws into a third mana source for Null Rod...
Ugh... I had three Welders in hand but could not draw a red source.

2-1-0, 4-2-0

Round 4: Tim (mono-R Gobbo)

Game 1: Tim, Type 2 Gobbo. Me, Type 1 wMUD.

In: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
Out: 2 Winter Orb

Game 2: Tim, still Type 2 Gobbo. Me, still Type 1 wMUD. 'Nuff said.

3-1-0, 6-2-0

Thought I would see some control variants, thus the inclusion of two main deck Winter Orb. Anywho, it made it easier to know what to side out... I will probably keep the Orbs in the main deck. It really adds to the lock and is a pain versus control...

Final Standings Top 8: (Tiebreakers determined 2-4)
1. Webster (Congrats!)
2. Duck
3. KiL0
4. Drunken Juggernaught

[Puschkin]

This thread was both tremendously helpful and awesomely full of spam. In order to keep this tremedously useful and to distinct this TMD thread from [insert random magic forum], it has been edited heavily.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent
-Bomb the Bass