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carl
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« on: June 30, 2008, 04:02:35 pm » |
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Saturday evening, I meet Chuff, Pierre and Matthieu (exiled from Quebec) at Chuff's place. Menu: barbecue and some testing. I have built an Aggro MUD and David Ochoa's Trinket Slaver list, as well as bomberman. All decks are ok, but I settle on Slaver after 2-3 games because:
- it has the most broken spell of Type 1
- I like tutors, so Trinket Mage looks promising
- I am expecting dredge, workshop and slaver
On Saturday morning, Matthieu calls to cancel, it seems his body didn't enjoy the barbecue...
Pierre and Chuff come at my place at 8:30, I give them the cards they are missing and here we go. Pierre sleeps deeply in the back, he hasn't had much sleep the last nights.
We arrive quite on time at the site in Breda (not like last time for me, I had a good copilot this time). The T1 players from Ghent made it, the competition will be tough along with the usual Dutch suspects.
There are 37 players for 6 swiss rounds + top 8.
Here is what I played:
1 Gorilla Shaman
3 Goblin Welder
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Duress
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
4 Mana Drain
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
3 Trinket Mage
1 Black Lotus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mindslaver
5 Moxen
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Sundering Titan
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Triskelavus
3 Flooded Strand
4 Island
2 Polluted Delta
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Undergroud Sea
3 Volcanic Island
Sideboard:
2 REB
1 Pyroblast
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Massacre
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Pithing Needle
1 Misdirection
Round 1: Alex Rood - G/R aggro
He opens with Vial, plops 2 Kird Ape and Fanatic, along with Seal of Fire (which shoots my Welder). I gift for Merchant Scroll, Tinker, Demonic Tutor and Trinket Mage, he gives me the last 2 (dunno why DT over Scroll, but I'll take it any day). Trinket Mage gets me Engineered Explosives and I blow is side of the board. DT gets me Yawgmoth's Will, I topdeck Ancestral for a broken turn.
Game 2, Alex plays Taiga and Skyshroud Elite, while Island and Mana Crypt get me a Mage out. He attacks with his 1/1 Elite, which I happily block. My Welder meets a Seal of Fire (Forced), but the second Seal gets rid of him. Another Welder and Gifts make Titan and Triskelavus coming back from the grave. End of story.
2-0, 3 points.
Round 2: Arjan Ruiterkamp - Dawn of the Dead
His Duress is matched by Mystical Tutor on Tinker for 7/10. He still has a Bazaar and 2 Moxen, so he plows the Titan. I finally get an Explosives to screw him enough to take the upper hand.
Turn 1 Duress and turn 2 Thoughtseize get rid of all my business spells, but a topdecked Drain makes sure Null Rod doesn't hit. I hard cast Triskelavus. He plows it, but I can make 1/1 flying Fanatic. He casts Vampiric Tutor for Tarmogoyf while I draw Mystical tutor to break his world with Titan. Still, he has bazaar running, just dropped a Squee, so a timely Trinket Mage, fetching Tormod's Crypt, makes sure this doesn't run out of control. Beatdown ensues.
2-0, 6 points.
Round 3: Pim Wilgenburg - B/W/U solution
Pim has a strong start with Shadowmage Infiltrator and Time Walk on turn 1. Bob joins the dance a few turn later and I can't handle the card advantage he is getting.
Game 2 is a typical one: he has Jotun Grunts and Dark Confidant out when I am able to slave him: He has 3 Plowshares in hand and draws the 4th one! Still I manage to come back thanks to better card quality (we both have a Top out).
No time for game 3.
1-1, 7 points.
Round 4: Gijs Van Den Ven - Ichorid
He has a good start with T1 Bazaar, T2 second Bazaar, hits me for 15.
There is actually no game 2, as Gijs mulligans to 2 and I have turn 1 Tormod's Crypt, turn 2 Pithing Needle. A Trinket Mage is joined by another one to apply.
In the decider I get a great start with Needle and Crypt turn 1. A Trike flies me to victory.
2-1, 10 points, which means I can't draw in.
Round 5: Zagar Zeeman - Uba Stax
Zagar looks quite confident and gets out turns 1 and 2 Trikes while I keep a hand light on mana. We go to game 2.
I play an early Welder but he imprints it. He plays his own, which means I will soon be in trouble, so a Needle saves me for some time. I get Tinker to finish the job.
We have few time for game 3, so when time is called it looks bad for me with Zagar having Smokestack and Welder out, my permanents go one by one. No clock to kill me though, so it's another draw.
1-1-1, 11 points.
Round 6: Arjan Bos - Cerebral Assassin
Arjan and a friend of his are those who organised this tourney :)
Too bad I have to kick him out of top 8, as his tiebreakers are weak.
He has Gemstone Mine, use the last counter for Life from the Loam, which I force, followed by a Crypt, so he is screw. We trade Welders, I play a second one, fetch Top with a Mage and beat with Triskelavus for the win.
Game 2, he plays Academy and Lotus, and passes. So do I :) He is screwed again while I drop land after land. I get a grip on him and never release it while a Trinket Mage and a Welder beat him to death.
2-0, 14 points.
I am entering the top 8 as first seed, as the top 2 tables drew in.
Round 7: Baptist Matthijs - MUD
Game 1 is all his with Smokestack and Karn for quick beats.
Game 2 is starting bad as he caps me (getting DSC, Triskelavus and Titan). I slave him to take control of the game. He concedes a bit later when I drop a Trinket Mage.
He keeps a soft hand in the decider, opening with Crucible of Worlds, which he doesn't follow with Strip Mine or Wasteland. His turn 2 Chalice at one doesn't bother me much, not does a Thorn of Amethyst. I drop lands without doing anything before round 4 when I cast Trinket Mage (for EE), then Tinker a Darksteel Colossus that is unmatched.
2-1.
Round 8: Gwen De Schamphelaere - Slaver
I play a Welder while Gwen seems to be missing red mana. I cast a Trinket Mage that resolves. I get Top which gives me card quality while beating for 2 a turn. I weld in a Titan and hit him down to 4, but he played a Welder which will be active next turn, meaning we soon won't have any land in play. So I Mystical tutor for Time Walk, active Top to draw and exchange the Top for a Mox Sapphire, so I just have the 2 mana to cast the Walk and hit him once more: he has to block with his Welder and loses.
In the second game, he has an early Tinker for Triskelion to get rid of my turn 1 Welder while applying some pressure. I play a Trinket Mage, but can't get a Pithing Needle as I decided not to sideboard any in, which is a pity as I am holding a second Welder. Which I soon have to play to stop the bleeding by the 3/3 Trike. He casts Fire on the Welder and me (I am at 6), but I force, he forces back and I REB it. He plays a Razormane Masticore. I top and the third card is a Tinker, so I grab a Titan, destroying his 3 lands (he still has 2 Moxen). His Masticore shoots the Mage and we don't do much. But he is discarding a card each upkeep, while I am building a good hand. Since I am at 5 and him at 16, I can't race him if he doesn't keep him Masticore. But it seems Gwen forgot to note that I lost one life with the Force of Will for the Fire: at 6 life, I win the race. Anyway, I don't think he changes his mind when somebody tells him I am actually at 5. Anyway, with much more mana and cards than him, I am able to break the standoff and win my ticket to the finals.
2-0.
Round 9: Gijs Van de Ven - Ichorid
I am able to fetch Tormod's Crypt in game 1, meaning it's almost even. later on. But I can't Force his Dread return as I am not holding a blue card and a 13/13 Troll hits the board. My Titan can't match it and we go to game 2.
I have an OK hand, but no Crypts nor Needle. My turn 1 Brainstorm gives me Crypt, Crypt, Engineered Explosives which I cast at 3 to kill my own Trinket Mage to get rid of his 3 Bridges. I then stop the action with Pithing Needle and beats with Triskelavus and his minions (2 Welders in play to build a little army of flying fanatics).
Game 3 he has to mulligan to two cards to find a Bazaar. My turn 1 Needle makes sure he can't use it more than once. He casts Contagion on my Trinket Mage to buy some time but I force it, then play a Mox Monkey to make sure he doesn't have time to come back.
2-1.
So, with a 7-0-2 record I take home a Mox Sapphire while Pierre takes 11th with Grim Long (4-2-0) and Chuff get the bye in the last round (U/W fish from Feinstein). They kept themselves busy drinking a dozen beers each (after 6 in round 3 to 6), meaning Pierre snorred all the way home. Fortunately nobody got sick in the car...
The deck was very good, a bit light on mana (I had to mulligan a lot for a control deck). Duress weren't great and Massacre should go.
Thanks to David Ochoa for the main deck and to Mickaël Lellouche for the best part or the sideboard.
Thanks to the TO, judges and card shop for a nice tourney. Only thing that could be better: announce when the rounds start and end with the mike.
Cheers,
--
Carl
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