Thor's Hammer, Saturday 1.5 (July 16th, 2005)
Six players, straight swiss (three rounds)
I arrive at 11:55 for the noon tournament. Every table was full of that Warhammer 401(k) game. I think I see a guy who used to live in the co-op with me two years ago (it turns out to be him after all). He doesn't see me or notice me. I take up residence on a leather couch in the back corner. Some kid sits down next to me and thumbs through his deck. I leaf through The Plot, by Will Eisner, a graphic novel which I read yesterday at Barnes and Noble depicting the true origin of one of the most famous and deadly hoaxes of all time, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The kid's dad comes over, talks about getting him "some swords". I don't know if he's referring to StP or SoFI.
There's a lot of general bustle as the Warhammer people roll dice and yell "Charge!" A portly fella does a funny little waddle-dance. The kid leaves. I notice he has a Saviors of Kamigawa shirt on.
It's a biggish place, maybe 2000 square feet (40' by 50'), bright and cool, with twelve fans, though after the storms of the last two days, it's a beautiful 79 (26 C) outside instead of the usual 102 (39 C). I really like how this shirt sits on me, I should wear it more often. I notice my handwriting is atrocious, the result of months spent on a keyboard and without pen in hand.
The tournament begins. We have six people.
The metagame:
1 High Tide (Matt)
1 Tradewind/Opposition (Ken)
1 Kiki-Jiki/Opposition (John)
1 Life.dec feat. Angels and Armadillo Cloaks (Addison)
1 Black/red aggro (Andy)
1 Ankh Sligh (Woodrow)
ROUND ONE
vs. Ken, with Tradewind/Opposition
Game One: I win the die roll and play. At first I think he is playing Survival - after all, he played forests, Trops, Bops, and Elves. I wondered what fevered dream led him to put Æther Spellbomb in Survival, though. I half expected Auriok Salvagers to come out and play. My notes on this game were extensive: he played Strand->Trop, Llanowar Elf. Wooded Foothills->Trop, BoP. Forest, Sylvan Library, Æther Spellbomb (cracks to draw). Opposition, which I let resolve because I have Turnabouts. Winter Orb, which I fight over but lose. I concede to Orb/Opp/creatures.
I sideboard thusly: +2 Force of Will, +1 Echoing Truth, -1 Diminishing Returns, -2 Cunning Wish
Game two is similar. He resolves an Opposition and a Deranged Hermit. I have to try and go off, but I fail (I have Mystical Tutor and untapping cards but neither Tide nor Returns, and my Ideas Unbound fizzles). He also brought in both Dazes and Pyroblasts, making this matchup nigh-unwinnable.
At some point in this match I have to use Ideas Unbound to set up, always a dicey proposition. After ditching the obvious, I am left with D.Returns, Tide, Tide, Turnabout, Turnabout, FoW and have to discard one more card yet. I end up ditching the spare Tide but I agonize over this decision for several minutes.
ROUND TWO
vs. Woodrow, with Ankh Sligh
He predicts as he sits down that whoever goes first will win. I say, we shall see, and I mention how he must know what I'm playing since his round was over so fast. He mentions that if I glance at his score sheet I'll know what he's playing, and I do, and it's full of "Bolt, Mogg" so I surmise red.
Game One: I look at my tempting hand of four Island, fetch, Cloud, Mystical. But I figure I won't live to play all those lands so I paris. He plays a Grim Lavamancer then an Ankh. I wonder how the card that most loves fetchlands coexists with the card that most hates them. I set up a good hand, holding back Sea. I have a Tide, a Merchant Scroll I intend to spend my third turn using to get another Tide, and some untaps/draw spells. But on my third turn I draw a Tide anyway and just Tendrils for 26. I am now living in fear of REBs and Scalds from the board. He laments how useless his Pithing Needles are (he put them in just for Opposition).
I sideboard -3 Wish, +3 BEB. I think abot bringing in Truth for Scald but decide against it.
Game Two:
I take some Ankh hits and at one point I feel compelled to go off at 12 life, but I have to push a fetch through an Ankh to do it. I fizzle and mana burn to 6, then he burns me out with double Incinerate.
Game Three:
He parises a one land hand into a weak hand. He never gets more than two land, and is slowly beating me to death with two Mogg Fanatics. I play it safe by Turnabouting his lands EOT to shut off REBs, then go off handily.
ROUND THREE
vs. John, with KikiJiki/Opposition
Game One: I simply do not get my shit together and he beats me up with Seeker of Skybreak, Spore Frog, and a Deranged Hermit.
Game Two: He utterly fails to get HIS shit together and I go off at 19 life through a Force of Will. I have to go off on four Islands, and use a Brain Freeze.
Game Three: Again he beats me about the head and shoulders with Seeker of Skybreak and Spore Frog. I Force a Hermit at some point. I sit on my hand of mostly mana engine and an Ideas Unbound for several turns, trying to find some more reliable draw. three damage a turn isn't much pressure anyway. Eventually I Scroll for a Wish, Wish for a Tutor, and Tutor for a Returns, then go off through a Counterspell. This game featured triple Underground Sea on my part and triple Kiki-Jiki on his.
So after three rounds, the unthinkable has happened: we have FOUR 2-1s. I tie for first on tiebreakers, worth four packs. I convince the store owner to let me get a pack of Dragon Shield sleeves instead of packs (which must be from in-print expansions). I choose blue, andthey are everything I hoped they would be.
The decklist:
//Mana Engine
3 High Tide
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Turnabout
2 Peregrine Drake
1 Snap
//Draw spells
4 Diminishing Returns
4 Ideas Unbound
//Findit, findit
4 Brainstorm
4 Impulse
3 Merchant Scroll
3 Cunning Wish
1 Mystical Tutor
//Miscellany
2 Force of Will
2 Tendrils of Agony
//Lands
4 Underground Sea
2 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
11 Island
//Helps me go off
SB: 1 High Tide
SB: 1 Snap
SB: 1 Mystical Tutor
//Utility
SB: 3 Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Force of Will
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
//Anti-control
SB: 4 Ophidian
SB: 2 Brain Freeze
The phids tech (blatantly stolen from Finkel's old list) were totally dead, but against U/W or monoblue control they would have been awesome after the opponent sides out all their creature control. I really wanted to squeeze one Misdiretcion in but couldn't. I also figured I would never need Wish->Peer Through Depths while going off so I dropped that.
Not that many people play Wasteland, so I figured I'd add black (the ankh sligh guy did btu otherwise no). Tendrils as the kill makes Returns spectacular, since now the reshuffle doesn't undo my storm card. I wanted to fit a third FoW main but the decklist was incredibly tight. I'm very glad I dropped the X draw spells (Prosperity and Braingeyser). I don't know whether Ideas Unbound or Meditate would be better. I should include a Meditate in the board to Wish for, but over what?
