3CB Tournament #70 - Special Format!

[combo_dude]

A major rule change for this week! The banned list is the same as usual, but with one slight amendment - see below...

The rules for this competition will be: Anything Goes!

Banned list:
Portal (in ALL its forms)
Unglued AND UNHINGED
[card]Black Lotus[/card]
[card]Mesmeric Fiend[/card]
[card]Nezumi Shortfang[/card]
[card]Blackmail[/card]
[card]Chain of Smog[/card]
[card]Cabal Therapy[/card]
[card]Encroach[/card]
[card]Mind Swords[/card]
[card]Anvil of Bogardan[/card]
[card]Strip Mine[/card]
[card]Wasteland[/card]
[card]The Rack[/card]
[card]Balance[/card]
[card]Meddling Mage[/card]
[card]Isochron Scepter[/card]
[card]Glacial Chasm[/card]
Any card that is used in someone else's deck.

In other words, if you submit a card that is used by someone else, that card - in BOTH decks - is replaced by a basic land of your choice (I'll choose it, but it'll be the most profitable one for your deck). And I won't tell you if there are changes made. In short, find some obscure cards!

There are two prizes (ten and five points) for the two most obscure cards used. My decision is final.

NB this is subject to change within 48hrs of first posting.

What is 3cb?

3-Card Blind (3CB) is a very unique game. The rules are as follows

Your deck is composed of 3 cards, all of which start in your hand.
You have no library (technically, the library exists, but starts at 0 cards) and no sideboard (Wishes fetch nothing).
Random effects always go in your opponent's favour.
You can see your opponent's hand, so you can always make the best possible play.
You don't lose as a result of not being able to draw a card.
You will play each opponent twice, once going first, once going second.
For each win, you score 3.
For each draw, you score 1.
For each loss, you get nothing.
Other than the aforementioned, EVERYTHING IS HANDLED EXACTLY LIKE A REAL GAME OF MAGIC!

To make an entry, PM your deck to combo_dude in the following format:

Subject: 3cb Tournament #70 Entry or 3cb Tournament#70 Revision
Deck Name
Card #1
Card #2
Card #3

Optional Deck discussion, random sucking up, etc.

I'll close entries after 2 weeks. Get your entries in by 5th January and I'll calculate. As I said, the banned list may change within 48 hours of this post going up. After that, it stays as it is. This is not a reason to withold your decks, though - this is not a particuarly serious format! If something's broke, please fix it whilst we can!

Second decks initially accepted, but I reserve the right to remove them - please submit a deck, it needs a lot of players to make this format work. Enjoy - and Merry [insert occasion for celebration here] to all!

Adam

[combo_dude]

Also, whilst it won't affect this fortnight's submissions, the results of the last set will be up on Christmas Eve - slight computer problem with Excel. Sorry to all waiting on results.

[Jacob Orlove]

I wonder if I'd do better in this event if I announce what I'm playing right now. There should probably be a rule against that.

[Matt]

BRILLIANT rule man!

[Godder]

Just enter a normal deck, since nobody else will dare .

[SpencerForHire]

Only one deck submission in this one too would be a good idea.  Otherwise I would submit a deck with:  Mishra's Workshop, Mishra's Factory, Faerie Conclave..  There now I no longer have to deal with those cards...

[Godder]

Evil bastard... he's got a good point, though.

[Ephraim]

I second the suggestion to limit construction to one deck per person. Otherwise, the degenerate way of "winning" would be to submit enough decks to cover every card in the game and then hope that one or more of them has cards that nobody else thought to use. (Impossible if somebody else has the same plan.)

[Godder]

Even when you're allowed more than one deck, the limit is usually two to keep computing results manageable.

[Limbo]

Isn't it an idea to include the decklists of the last regular tourney in the banned list as well? Then you ban the "regular" stuff AND you still have to find really shady stuff.

[combo_dude]

OK, a few clarifications (apologies for the lateness of the replies and for not having results up, TMD didn't seem to work for me for a few days):

1) 1 deck per person. The more players the better, but there's too much scope for abuse with more than 1 per person.

2) I'd fairly strongly discourage posting your own deck, since from a practical point of view it's quite possible to make decks where basic lands are useful enough, but if you particularly want to I'm not really in a position to delete the post.

3) One thought that I was discussing with my brother (as he used to run these) was to have a special format running over several tournaments - start with a small banned list, then ban all the cards used each week. The only problem I found with this is that it might well become a little bit stale if the tournaments only run every two weeks - I'll open this up for discussion, as if you as a group think that you'd enjoy that sort of format, then I'd enjoy running that sort of thing.

Adam

[SpencerForHire]

Is this thing still happenin?

[Godder]

Is this thing still happenin?

Don't mistake lack of activity in the thread for lack of interest . Unless you hear otherwise, it's still happening.

[combo_dude]

Still going, although I'd like 5 more decks or so. This format works a lot better with more decks, I've got about 10 so far. Another 5 would be brilliant, especially as I go skiing on Friday - the postponement would give you plenty of time to think of bizarre decks.

[combo_dude]

Apologies for double post:

OK, results will go up when I get back from skiing (give it another ten days or so from now, as my new computer arrives when I get back and so a certain amount of messing about with spreadsheets etc. will need to go on). The next tournament will start when they go up - it doesn't make a big difference to me if the day changes as to when the results go up, as Thursday isn't the most convenient day of the week for me anyway. Anyone who hasn't sent in a deck yet, feel free to do so.

Adam

[combo_dude]

OK, this is the absolute final postponement - the results are pretty much ready, but I'm going to leave it until Monday before putting them all up. This is because I've got my timetable for lectures for this term, and so for this term at least Monday is easily the best day to be putting things up. I'll also open the next tournament then. Apologies to everyone - I know it's very, very late, but from now on I'm in a routine for the next couple of months, so there shouldn't be any problems with future tournaments.