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Magi
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« on: July 19, 2004, 12:54:50 am » |
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HOK Timewalk Tournament
Well, my story starts out a couple of weeks prior to the event. I had 2 decks built: FCG and MonoU fish, both for T1.5. I needed a deck to play. Being an aggro-control player at heart, I started poring over Fish and Madness decklists. I started out testing Madness (it was about the time I made a thread on the deck in the open forum) but it turned out to be garbage, so I was back to square one. I tried making my own creation. That lasted for a day or two. With time running out, I decided to just give in and netdeck, and then tweak to my own specifications.
TAmpon.dec
Beaters://
1x Gorilla Shaman
4x Grim Lavamancer
4x Spiketail Hatchling
4x River Boa
2x Call of the Herd
Disruption://
4x Force of Will
2x Daze
2x Stifle
3x Null Rod
Draw://
4x Brainstorm
4x Curiosity
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Timewalk
Mana://
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland
4x Mishra’s Factory
3x Flooded Strand
3x Polluted Delta
1x Island
3x Volcanic Island
3x Tropical Island
SB://
1x Stifle
1x Null Rod
3x Oxidize
3x Naturalize
3x Red Elemental Blast
2x Blue Elemental Blast
2x Maze of Ith
Some notes about the deck:
- Creature base is HOUSE. An excellent mix of aggressiveness and utility is present in almost all the creatures, except for CotH which is just card advantage tacked onto a bit of fat. It looks like shiat on paper, but this deck can reliably run on 2 dual lands, and given the high number of fetchies, as well as Brainstorm, this deck does not get color screwed.
- Manabase is smooth, but fragile. You can get access to all the colors you need, but a concentrated attack on your manabase leads to trouble. I originally had an Emerald in place of the single Island, for acceleration, but decided I’d rather have the solidity instead, as well as the BEB out against Blood Moon (which all but rapes me).
- I went 2:2 with the Dazes and Stifles. Stifles helped protect the manabase, in addition to the other uses it has.
- Sideboard was to reflect the metagame. There was no Dragon present, and nothing Survival based, so I felt that graveyard hate was not necessary. I would have found room for Crypts and/or Seals in the sideboard had there been some. The Naturalizes were the “randomness factor�
So that takes us to the tournament. There were 22 decks present (if I recall correctly). A pretty good field, considering the fact that for many present, this was their first major Type 1 tournament ever (add me to that list. I had played in small T1 tourneys, and big 1.5 tourneys, but never big T1 tourneys). There were a few notable people absent who play T1 hardcore, but they couldn’t make it � but it’s all good.
I didn’t take notes, so most of this is from memory. I can recall key plays and turning points in the game, as well as what I sideboarded in/out and anything else interesting.
Round 1: Gavin playing Tog.
River Boa eats Tog for breakfast. We split the first 2 games. He killed me via. a Berserked Tog. I killed him with my men. Game 3, mana denial won the game, as it left him floundering for answers while my men beat him down. During one of the games, Gaving tapped out to Mindtwist me, forgetting I had a Spiketail on the board.
I boarded in a Maze and 3x REB’s, siding out a Rod, 2 Dazes and a Stifle. Maze actually saw action one game.
Round 2: Corndog playing U/R Crucible.
It was a pleasure playing against Corndog. Our first game was like a war of attrition. Our first 4 lands we played, if I can remember correctly, were 2 duals and 2 Wastes a piece. I ended up topdecking more land, and getting some men on the board to commence the clock. He did end up getting a Crucible into play late, but by then I had knocked him low enough to just kill him with my men before the effects of Crucible could really be felt.
Sided out Dazes, Null Rods, and a Stifle I think for 2 Oxidize, 2 BEB, and 2 REB.
I boarded in BEB’s because during round 1 scouting, I saw Corndog use Magma Jet to great effect as a damage source and deck manipulator.
Game 2, we trade some blows early, but he gets a Crucible out on the board early. I’m feeling a little nervous, but I have men on the board so I commence the clock. It’s a slow clock, and every turn he’s just playing the same Delta over and over from his GY, getting more land into play. I dump some more guys through, after a few get killed via. burn. Luckily for me, Corndog drew gas for a lot of turns, and my men went all the way.
I mulled to 6 during both games.
Round 3: Kyle, playing 4cControl
*cue: random RPG battle music :p *
Kyle and me did quite a bit of testing for this event together. He knew what I was playing, I knew what he was playing, we knew each others sideboards for the most part. I was expecting to see him bring in Damping Matrixes and Crucibles!!! in against me. He knew what he had to do to win, and same for me. To me, this matchup was as even as can get. On paper it might fall slightly in Fish’s favor, but Kyle is VERY experienced with his deck, having won a Brainburst T1 tournament online with it, while I had only a few days worth of playtesting with my deck.
Game 1, we poke and prod, no one really wanting to overextend, yet no one wanting to give either. As soon as Kyle had 4 mana (by turn 3 I think due to Moxen) he morphed. I had no answer. Angel flipped soon after. I tried to race, but he countered my flashbacked Call. Angel was just too much.
I boarded out my Dazes, a Stifle, and a Null Rod. I brought in 2 Mazes and 2 Oxidizes.
Now, games 2 and 3 might get mixed up, so I’ll just say what happened during both of them. I didn’t see Crucible or Damping Matrix. Angel hit the board once, but do did Maze. Curious River Boa saw action a lot, and I think a Curious Mancer did as well. I remember Oxidizing a Mox. Basically, Fish did what it as supposed to do to great effect.
Round 4: Thomas playing Belcher
Me and Thomas draw, as 3 wins and no losses almost virtually assures a spot in top 8.
Round 5: Eddie playing Kobold-Clamp
Same deal, although Eddie needed some convincing for some reason.
So, top 8 looked like this:
Sebastian, FCG
Thomas, Belcher
Earl(Me), U/G/R Fish
Eddie, Kobold Clamp
Kurt, U/R Fish
Kyle, 4cControl
GMontag, Bazaar/Infestation control
And I can’t remember the last person. � how weird.
This wasn’t the exact order of the T8 btw...
Anyways, onto the matches:
Sebastian played GMontag first round. I played Kyle, Kurt played Eddie, and I forgot who Thomas played (AAARGH).
Quarterfinals: Kyle, 4cControl
Here we go again.
First game, a Curious River Boa does its damage. It fuels enough disruption so I can back it up. I think the first Boa got plowed, but I either played a Mancer or another Boa to finish him off.
Game 2, same sideboarding plan.
Kyle went first, played Mox Pearl and Tundra. I wasted the Tundra. He didn’t see another land for the next few turns. I played a Boa which got Forced, and then a Monkey which also got Forced. Still, he didn’t draw into anything. I got a Curious beater on the board, can’t remember exactly which one, but needless to say by the time he saw some more land it was immediately Wasted. I feel bad whenever I win via. Manascrew, but I guess it’s a part of the game. :\
I remember Kyle mulling down quite a bit during one of our games, but I can’t remember if it was during this match or the one during regular play. Also, one of the eot’s, I had an unpopped fetch on the board and another land. I went Brainstorm, popped the Fetch, and Brainstormed again, and dropped a fetch next turn.
I <3 Brainstorm.
Brainstorm > Standstill
Semifinals: Thomas playing Belcher.
Early on during our first game, I hear the news that Sebastian had defeated Eddie. This means that my FCG deck had made it into the Finals. Go me ï?Š
I remember these games pretty well, seeing as how everything was decided on the first 2 turns.
*cue: Juno Reactor - Conga Fury*
Game 1: I kept a Force/Daze hand. I think he won the Die Roll. He made me Force something, I can’t remember what it was, but he ended up Timetwistering. I drew another hand, which had a Force and a Null Rod. He tried to play Belcher next turn, I Forced.and dropped Null Rod during my turn.
Sideboarding: -2x Call of the Herd, 2x River Boa + Stifle, Null rod, 2x Oxidize
Game 2: I kept a 2x Force hand. I Forced a Tinder Wall, and then a card which he Demonic Tutored for (can’t remember). I topdeck Null Rod! Topdeck Waste to kill his only green source! Curious Spiketail draws me another Force! And a daze! Like, WTF!
I felt like a cheater, seriously.
Finals: Me VS Sebastian.
We just split. I knew my chances against FCG (we playtested the night before), and rather than take a “Twalk VS Berserk� chance, we just sold the 2 cards and split it among me and his teammates (we’re still in the working out process).
In the end, I had fun. It was nice to meet the US people (Team Card Tard). Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of the, as well as other teams from the States.
The deck is solid. Surprisingly smooth, awesome creature base, awesome sideboard options. I think this is the next evolution of Fish, WTF and Gay/r combined to become one.
Team “High Five for Sex Crimes� : Tighter than a twelve year old. �
PeAcE
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