4CB Tournament #4 Results and Discussion/4CB Tournament #5 Opening

[combo_dude]

I'd like to congratulate Naphtali as the winner of 4CB Tournament #3!
This time the powerhouse was the same Preacher deck that took the first tournament - again, a metagame heavy on threats but light on removal meant that the creature-thieving deck did very well! Congratulations!

Banned List:
Strip Mine
Ghost Quarter
Wasteland
The Rack
Trinisphere
Channel
Form of the Dragon
Abandon Hope
Addle
Brain Pry
Blackmail
Cabal Therapy
Duress
Mesmeric Fiend
Meddling Mage
Energy Field
Foil
Force of Will
Show and Tell

Decks:
1.   combo_dude    -    Before and After    -    Black Lotus,   Leonin Squire,   Null Chamber,   Vindicate
2.   meadbert    -    Hand Rape    -    Black Lotus,   Pendelhaven,   Ravenous Rats,   Anvil of Bogardan
3.   r_x_    -    same old, same old...    -    Black Lotus,   Treasure Hunter,   Aura of Silence,   Blood Moon
4.   Naphtali    -    B&B    -    Karakas,   Black Lotus,   Grand Arbiter Augustin IV,   Leyline of Singularity
5.   ReAnimator    -    We are the Knights who say Ni-mbus!    -    Karakas,   Mox Pearl,   Knights of the Holy Nimbus,   Disenchant
6.   Franz Ferdinand    -    God Made Man    -    Black Lotus,   Indentured Djinn,   Contagion,   Unmask
7.   Godder    -    Mangara's Revenge    -    Karakas,   Fountain of Cho,   Mangara of Corondor,   Leyline of Singularity
8.   combo_dude    -    3.5CB    -    Mox Pearl,   Mishra's Factory,   Disenchant   Swords to Plowshares
9.   meadbert    -    Squirrels    -    Black Lotus,   Pendelhaven,   Anurid Scavenger,   Chatter of the Squirrel
10.   Naphtali    -    Bloody Sermon    -    Black Lotus,   Black Lotus,   Preacher,   Blood Moon
11.   ReAnimator    -    Landstill,    -    Gemstone Caverns,   Mishra's Factory,   Chalice of the Void,   Force Spike
12.   Franz Ferdinand    -    Man Made God    -    Black Lotus,   Anurid Scavenger,   Wipe Away,   Ball Lightning
13.   Godder    -    The Rock    -    Black Lotus,   Black Lotus,   Sporesower Thallid,   Deathspore Thallid
14.   Illissius    -    Worse than Force    -    Thran Quarry,   Stormscape Apprentice,   Disrupting Shoal,   Evermind
15.   Nomad    -    Arson    -    Mox Ruby,   Mishra's Factory,   Searing Touch,   Braid of Fire


Results:

      1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0   1   2   3   4   5 Total Position
1|   X   4   3   3   6   1   2   2   3   6   0   1   3   0   6   40   (9)
2|   1   X   3   1   3   0   2   1   0   0   1   0   0   0   2   14   (15)
3|   3   3   X   1   3   1   2   3   0   3   0   4   3   0   2   28   (12)
4|   3   4   4   X   4   6   1   0   6   3   2   4   6   2   3   48   (4)
5|   0   3   3   1   X   0   1   2   0   0   1   0   0   0   6   17   (13)
6|   4   6   4   0   6   X   2   4   3   6   4   3   0   2   6   50   (3)
7|   2   2   2   4   4   2   X   2   6   0   6   6   6   6   0   48   (4)
8|   2   4   3   6   2   1   2   X   2   6   1   6   0   0   6   41   (8)
9|   3   6   6   0   6   3   0   2   X   0   6   0   0   2   6   40   (9)
0|   0   6   3   3   6   0   6   0   6   X   6   6   6   6   2   56   (1)
1|   6   4   6   2   4   1   0   4   0   0   X   6   3   4   4   44   (7)
2|   4   6   1   1   6   3   0   0   6   0   0   X   6   0   6   39   (11)
3|   3   6   3   0   6   6   0   6   6   0   3   0   X   0   6   45   (6)
4|   6   6   6   2   6   2   0   6   2   0   1   6   6   X   6   55   (2)
5|   0   2   2   3   0   0   6   0   0   2   1   0   0   0   X   16   (14)

Back to the pattern of the first tournament again here: lots of threats meant that decks with carefully chosen removal (like Preacher) did well, whilst decks with less carefully chosen removal (like my two decks) did not! The Shoal deck showed why Force is banned - here, a card that is genuinely useless except as a conjunct to the Shoal was there instead of something useful that could accompany Force, and it still finished just a point off the top! Not a lot new here, though, apart from that - some interesting new ideas thrown up for Scavenger decks, and the Unmask/Contagion trick is a very useful one, but other than that a fairly standard mix. Interestingly, I feel the Stuffy Doll deck or Grim Power may have done pretty well here, given the lack of removal (though I haven't calculated it); maybe not, though, as there was a fair bit of anti-Lotus stuff floating around.

For next week: Same Again!

Rules:

Basic Rules

- Your deck is composed of 4 cards, all of which start in your hand.
- Your deck has no sideboard.
- You don't lose as a result of not being able to draw a card.
- You can see your opponent's hand, so you can always make the best possible play.
- Your random effects always go in your opponent's favor.
- All other rules of Magic remain unchanged, unless otherwise stated.

Tournament Rules

- All matches are played out by the moderator (participants only submit the decks).
- Tournaments are run in round-robin fashion.
- Each matchup consists of 2 games, with each deck going first once.
- Participants earn 3 points if their deck wins a game, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss; thus, over the course of a match, you can earn 6, 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0 points.

Deck-Building Rules

- You may not submit a deck that can win before the end of your opponent's first turn.
- You may not submit a deck that can force an opponent to discard more than 1 card in one turn.
- You may not submit a deck that can generate infinite (or an arbitrarily large amount of) mana on the first turn.
- Your deck may not include Unglued or Unhinged cards, ante cards, Garfield event cards (such as Splendid Genesis or Proposal), or 1996 World Champion.
- You may not include a card that appears on the 4CB Banned List.

Banned List:
Strip Mine
Ghost Quarter
Wasteland
The Rack
Trinisphere
Channel
Form of the Dragon
Abandon Hope
Addle
Brain Pry
Blackmail
Cabal Therapy
Duress
Mesmeric Fiend
Meddling Mage
Energy Field
Foil
Force of Will
Show and Tell
Smallpox <---------- NEW ADDITION

Preferred Submission Format: (Use [] instead of <>)

Subject: 4CB #??
YourName
DeckName
Card1
Card2
Card3
Card4

The date for closing entries will be the 9th November - two weeks from today. This tournament will almost certainly run late, as that's right in the middle of a play that I'm heavily involved in, but hopefully I'll be able to get them done.

Thanks,
Adam

[Naphtali]

A few comments on the banning list.
Banning of Duress helps Lotus.
Banning of Trinisphere helps suspend.

I think the Shoal-Evermind is fine. Unlike Force it only hits 0 casting cost spells. If it pushes some more decks away from Lotii and Moxen all to the good.

[Franz Ferdinand]

6 (Lotus-Djinn-Contagion-Unmask)
vs.
4 (Karakas-Lotus-Arbiter-Leyline)
Current: 0-6
Should be: 1-4

He wins if he goes first. If I go first, I Unmask the Lotus out of his hand and force a draw.

vs.
8 (Pearl-Factory-Disenchant-STP)
Current: 4-1
Should be: 6-0

Why is this 4-1? Whether or not I go first, I Unmask the STP out and just beat down with Djinn.

vs.
13 (Lotus-Lotus-Sporesower-Deathspore)
Current: 0-6
Should be: 6-0

Wow, this one I really don't get. On the play, I Unmask a Lotus and there is no way he can race me with Deathspore. On the draw, after he drops both of them, I Contagion and hit Deathspore and put a -2/-1 on Sporesower, and he still can't race me with that.

That puts me at 59 points, putting me in first. Still, this deck was actually a bad meta choice, I think, since it kept getting hit by Leyline-Karakas.

12 (Lotus-Scavenger-Wipe Away-Ball Lightning)
vs.
10 (Lotus-Lotus-Preacher-Moon)
Current: 0-6
Should be: 3-3

On the play, I drop Scavenger. If he plays Preacher without playing Moon, I recur Lotus, play it, and pass turn. On his turn, he can either take control of Scavenger, or not--I Wipe Away Preacher at end of turn. Then, on my turn, I recur Lotus. He can play Preacher, but either way I'm going to recur Wipe Away on my next turn and make it unusable.

vs.
11 (Caverns-Factory-Chalice-Spike)
Current: 0-6
Should be: 1-4

On the draw, he plays Chalice and I lose. On the play, I assume he pitches Chalice for Cavern. If he does, he can't tap to animate Factory, or else I drop Scavenger and he loses. If he pitches Factory, he can't win and forces a draw. If he pitches Spike, he can't stop me from playing Scavenger.

[Naphtali]

Franz looks right to me. Well on everything except "this was a bad metagame choice", IMO the winning deck is a pretty good choice