Subject: Report from Aug.13 PT4 qualifier From: trump@leland.Stanford.EDU (Michael Jason Lewis) Date: 1996/08/22 I will include the deck I used and a tournament report after a suitable number of blank lines... Artifacts: Ice Cauldron Scarab of the Unseen Shield of the Ages Sol Grail Storm Cauldron Urza's Bauble Walking Wall Black: Dark Banishing Fear Howl from Beyond Krovikan Plague Legions of Lim-Dul Lim-Dul's Cohort Stench of Decay Swamp Mosquito Blue: Arcane Denial Benthic Explorers (x2) Brainstorm Essence Flare Illusionary Wall Krovikan Sorcerer Power Sink Ray of Command Thunder Wall Green: Elvish Ranger Folk of the Pines Forbidden Lore Fyndhorn Brownie Gift of the Woods Gorilla Berserkers Gorilla Chieftain Gorilla Pack Johtull Wurm Nature's Lore Taste of Paradise Red: Anarchy Barbarian Guides Battle Frenzy Bestial Fury Gorilla War Cry Guerrilla Tactics Karplusan Yeti Mountain Goat Orcish Conscripts Orcish Lumberjack Soldier of Fortune Stonehands White: Blessed Wine Kelsinko Ranger Kjeldoran Pride Kjeldoran Warrior Noble Steeds Prismatic Ward Rally Reprisal (x2) Wild Aesthir Land: 4 Forest 1 S-C Forest 3 Island 2 S-C Island 4 Mountain 2 Plains 2 S-C Plains 4 Swamp Ice Floe School of the Unseen ----------------------- My deck: 7 forests 5 mountains 4 islands (none of these lands were snow-covered) School of the Unseen Ice Floe Nature's Lore Forbidden Lore Elvish Ranger Gorilla Pack Gorilla Chieftain Gorilla Berserkers Folk of the Pines Johtull Wurm Orcish Lumberjack Barbarian Guides Guerrilla Tactics Gorilla War Cry Bestial Fury Karplusan Yeti Benthic Explorers Benthic Explorers Krovikan Sorcerer Ray of Command Arcane Denial Power Sink Sol Grail Walking Wall Dark Banishing Sometimes: Shield of the Ages, Fumarole, Anarchy, Essence Flare Deckbuilding comments: Yes, Shield of the Ages is good, I know, but this deck was pretty dependent on beating the hell out of the other person. I primarily put in the Shield against flyers that I would have trouble dealing with. As a note, in two rounds I was the first person done. The Dark Banishing with no swamps actually worked nicely--the Benthic Explorers were great for getting black mana. I fear Moor Fiends, especially in this deck where I would have almost no reliable way of dealing with them (Ice Floe would be it). I would normally play with the Mountain Goat standard--heck, I was using the Gorilla Pack--but I really didn't think it was necessary, and I had no idea what I would take out to put it in. Round 1: vs. Doug Dossett. He was playing standard R/G/B sealed deck cards, but his creatures weren't as good as mine and he made occasional misplays. I discovered the power of the Ray of Command/Gorilla War Cry combo. (He had a Walking Wall and two Whip Vines back, and I had three medium-sized attackers ready--I think Folk of the Pines, Benthic Explorers, and Elvish Ranger. So there's no real point to my attacking--but with Ray of Command and Gorilla War Cry, I have four good attackers and he only can block one of them.) 3-0. I met the first of many Ice Floes during this match, and verified with the judge that Benthic Explorers are good. Round 2: unfortunately, my stuff is down in the car, so I forget this guy's name. David Akbar, I think. Playing R/B/W. He had a Wild Aesthir, which was trouble, so I sideboarded in an Anarchy and Fumarole, which worked nicely. He Danced the Aesthir once, but the Fumarole had taken out his second plains. Again, the power combo won one game for me, and better creatures won the others. 3-0. Another Ice Floe. Barbarian Guides are good too. I considered putting in the J.O.Druid and really going to town on it, but decide not to. Round 3: vs. Nathan Barranco. He was a junior. Playing R/G/B. He had a Dark Banshing, Feast or Famine, two Phyrexian Boons, and a Lava Burst that he fortunately didn't draw all that often. Anecdote of the day: He had a bunch of 3-3 creatures out--Gorilla Chieftain, Balduvian War-Makers, Krovikan Vampire. I cast a Karplusan Yeti, he Banished it. About ten turns later, he drew a Dance of the Dead. He wavered between a Johtull Wurm and the Yeti, but picked the Yeti. My turn. During upkeep, Ray of Command the Yeti. Use it to kill the Vampire. Untap with Dance of the Dead. Use it to kill the War-Makers and the Yeti. Dark Banish the Chieftain. Attack and kill. He had lots of creature defense, like I said, but the games tended to come down to me using the Barbarian Guides to sneak a big guy through. 3-0. (Slightly more obvious combo of the day: Barbarian Guides/Forbidden Lore/ Johtull Wurm. Obvious, but effective.) Round 4: vs. Dustin Wood. R/G/U. The first game, he puts out three forests and an Elvish Ranger, I cast a Barbarian Guides, he attacks and both die. A turn later, I cast a Gorilla Berserkers. He thinks (I'm wondering what's going on) and Force of Wills it. Unfortunately, that meant he didn't have one left for the Johtull Wurm next turn, and it crushed him. Second game goes on for a while--he tried to Binding Grasp my Yeti, and I gave it snow-covered landwalk with the Guides, which returned it to my hand at end of turn--but I beat him. Third game he didn't get enough land. 3-0. Round 5: vs. Jesse Powell. R/G/B. (I discovered later he had a Blinking Spirit and Ivory Gargoyles but didn't have anything else good in white.) First game, I made a minor misplay (I used my Shield of the Ages and tapped myself out, leaving myself no mana to regenerate my Gorilla Chieftain) and that killed me. Second game, he got no land and died. Third game, I got barely too little land to Power Sink his Stormbind, and that killed me, surprisingly enough. Stormbind is just too good in sealed deck. 1-2. Round 6: vs. Caroline Liu. Yeah, a girl, but she's Top 150 in Type 2, and a very good player (she caught my mental error that I mention later, and I'm sure most people wouldn't.) Unfortunately, she had driven up with some friends from LA, and she only had nine game wins so far, so if she didn't sweep she was going to be out, and they really wanted to drive home. So she said that if she lost a game, she'd resign. First game, I was so tired that I cast a Gorilla Pack using a Sol Grail for the green mana (unfortunately, Gorilla Packs die without their forest homes), and deserved to lose. Second game, the Yeti crushed her, and she left. 2-1. 5 match wins, 15 game wins, third seed in the finals. Oh, Caroline was playing R/G/U also. She had an Illusionary Forces, the first big flier I saw all tournament, but I countered it. For whatever reason, I never had to face the Wild Aesthir/Skyknight/Skycaptain/ Phantasmal Mount/Storm Crow/Forces/Storm Elemental type deck. That was a good thing. I know a friend of mine had eight flyers...(I believe it was Wild Aesthir, Skyknight, Mount, two Crows, Forces, Wind Spirit, and Seraph.) Finals. Every other qualifier has had the final eight construct new decks, including the LA qualifier that WotC ran. There was a note on the packing list of supplies for 16 new IA starters for finalists. Unfortunately, Jeff Wilcox, the organizer, had not been told about this and didn't much want to take the time to rebuild decks, so he said that we wouldn't do it unless all eight finalists wanted to. Oddly enough, the undefeated people weren't much for the plan, so we didn't. Not that I'm bitter. First round: vs. Dustin Wood again. Two land each game, and I went home. - Mike -- Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light. And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout, But there is no joy in Mudville--mighty Casey has struck out! -- Ernest L. Thayer, "Casey at the Bat"