Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy From: schick1@netcom.com (Jason Schickli) Subject: Denver Qualifier Report Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 18:09:41 GMT Until Today, I hadnt been to a MiViWi qualifier before, and I hadnt actually play-tested much in the environment. I had been to one small, 5 person, tourney with my deck the week before for some much needed "practice", and had played only 5 or 6 games with my friends. So I was entering the qualifier with minimal experience. I had read several tourney reporst on the net, and decided that I would play U/W ophidian. Im not sure why I decided this, but I figured with the right sideboard and cards I should be able to beat most decks out there, especially R burn. I had thought of going U/B, but decided that Disenchants and serenity were much better at handling Sands of Time than spatial binding and discard and that Nekraataal wouldnt be that powerful with all the black stuff running around out there. the day before the tourney, I learned that all but one of my magic friends couldnt go because of college, football practice, etc. Damn school. When I showed up at the qualifier I play-tested my deck a bit against some R/G guy and smoked him, and then I play-tested with my friend, Kelvin Tang, after he arrived. He had decided to go with a Sands O' poise deck, something I was considering but didnt have the cards for. I was lacking a 4th sands. We played 4 games in around 15 minutes, he locked me on the 4th turn every game. My counter magic was ineffective since he was able to get out a fast equipose on the second turn and phase out my lands after that. my only hope...pre-sideboarding, was to go first, play a 2nd turn abeyance or memory lapse, and have a third turn dissipate set up. I only hoped my 3 disenchants and 1 serenity in the sideboard could help me out. It turns out the denver meta game, like the meta game everywhere else was Tog decks. And I mean tog decks. I had expected some burn or sands, or even more U/W but what I saw was Togs, togs, togs...and more togs. i think 60% of the players where playing tog decks. Only 2 people, my friend and another guy where using Sands decks, and I only heard of 2 mono-red burns. I think I was the only one playing U/W! unfortunately there were only 40 people. A bad showing even here. The last qual., which I missed was at 73 people. It seems alot of Denver's rookie players don't like to show up for these things just to waste $20 and lose. I know there are more players out there since we peaked at 350 or so for the mirage pre-release. Here's how the tourney went for me, I was kinda dissapointed but not really. I had fun and that's what counts overall. hopefully I'll be able to play in college out in Minnesota, but I'm not to sure that there are any big tourneys where Im staying. Sigh. Round 1: Jerome ??? B/G bloom deck? Sigh, I hate forgetting peoples names. I've played Jerome???, I think that's his name, before so It seems It should come to me. Oh well. Before the match starts Jerome says, "Since I know you Jason, I won't make you desleeve." Apparently he doesnt like black-backed sleeves, and Neither does Heath Kennel sitting next to me. Game 1: Hmmm he plays a skuliking ghost, and I play an ophidian. third turn he drops a dense foliage and I stare at my now useless pacifism and abduction in my hand. Oh well so is life. I man-o war his ghost, draw with ophidian...and keep repeating that process for the next few turns with another ophidian, some memory lapses, and an abeyance thrown in there. He soon dies of ophidian beatdown. the card advantage these guys give is HUGE...And if you cant kill them you will die. Game 2: First turn he plops out a sewer rat. 2nd turn he lays a cursed totem. Sigh, I sideboard in disenchants for his cities of solitude, but didnt expect cursed totem. Oh well. He plays a third turn tar-pit warrior, which I man'o'war, and a 4th turn nettletooth which gets a warm and fuzzy feeling. soon I swamr him with cloud elemental and finish him off. Games: 2-0, Match: 1-0 Kelvin was able to play bye, and went 2-0 against him. Round 2: Paul Smith the other Sands deck. Pual is a good player, and was using a B/U/W Sands deck with the standard Mass tutors etc. Game 1: He gets the lock out 3rd turn with rituals and a crystal vein. i concede. I tell him how I didnt want to play Sands, and how unprepared I am for it while sideboarding in my disenchants. Out go my man o' wars for knights of the mist...even these guys are better than man o'war against his deck. I also sideboarded in my lone phyrexian furnace as a cantrip to get those disenchants...the only time I boarded it all day. Its just too slow against ertai's. Game 2: I draw 2 disenchants, his equiposes say good buy, one sands gets countered, and 2 cloud elementals beat him down. Game 3: I drew 2 land, an abeyance, and 2 dissipates in my opening hand. he cant crystal vein out the poise, so I do an abeyance during his third turns upkeep and set up my dissipates. He realizes I have them and decideds to coercion me on his 4th turn. I show him my 2 dissipates, and the third I just drew. It was fun showing him his death. I go on to draw a 4th dissipate and beat him down with elementals and hazerider drakes. Games: 4-1, Match: 2-0 Round 3: Heath Kennel R/U/B Necrotog Yeah a tog deck. Heath in an excellent player, and I know this will be a tough match. Game 1: He gets out an ertai, but is slightly mana screwed...well really screwed only 2 lands for a few turns is bad. And I was holding to abeyances and mass man'owars to back me up if need be. I end up pounding him with cloud elementals and a waterspout. One draw back of ertai's. It lets you see your opponents deck. i new he was not runing any countermagic and that his red was for firestorms since his ertais gave half his deck away to me. i also didnt see any askari in his graveyard so knew not to boad in knights of the mist. Thanks ertai, you made his deck so familiar. Game 2: He gets out another early ertai, and I see 2 nekrataals go by. He ahs already nekrataaled one of my man o'wars so there was only one left in his deck. I decide to lay a waterspout...and tap out to do so. I didnt think it needed protection. next turn it got nekrataaled and that was basically game. I had no more offense after that. Game 3: I get out a fast waterspout and Man o'war. He nekrataals the spout, but I play another. He then firesotms both my man o'war and spout away and begins hitting me with his nekrataal. I believe 2 cloud elementals and another spout pulled this one off for me. He got me down 2 two life before I killed him. The turn before I won, I had 4 lands and a memory lapse in hand. He drew a crypt rats played it and smiled, I then showed him my memory lapse, and I smiled. thanks go for memory lapse or I would have taken 2 extra points of damage...which would have killed me. Game: 6-2 Match: 3-0 Round 4: Rob Farallo B/R Black weenie wierdness Rob is a nice guy and good player. And he had to get me back for regionals where I knocked him out first round. He was playing a cool black deck complete with gravebane zombies and shadow riders...hehe. Game 1: I get swamped. Needless to say my pacificm kills me, since it is my only permanent in play aftter I am forced to pacify one of his 2 urborg stalkers. pacifying one of them is not very effective. Game 2: I sideboard in my Gerrard's wisdom among other things, and expect him to be using forsaken wastes. I draw like 15 land this game, but somehow pull it out after I wisdom for 16. I let him get me low on life with gallobraid, and him aswell before I wisdom. the gallobraid got him so low on life that I was able to pull the game out of nowhere. Game 3: I draw around 13 land this game, sigh. Once more urborg stalkers do me in and and 8 point wisdom cant save me from torch/drain life. Games: 7-4 Match:3-1 Round 5: Lee Lahti R/G Big fattys and riverboa Needless to say, thats all I saw of his deck. I hadn't gotten an ophidian beatdown after the first game of the first round until this match and it was sick. Game 1: He drew 2 land, and I get ophidian and begin man o'warring, abeyancing, and abducinting stuff every turn. I drew around 10 extra cards that game to ophidian. woohoo. Game 2: He drew 2 land, and some elves so he was ok mana wise. Unfortunately for me, I only drew one land opening draw and had to discard on my second turn. The good news for me was that I had 3 abeyances in hand. OIn my third turn I drew land, was able to start slowing him down with abeyance, and drew more land off of my abeyances until I was back in the game. After that I played an ophidian then proceeded to abduct, pacify, and man'owar him to death. He must have played one stampeded wilde beest 4 times that game. I believe my 2 hazerider drakes, which he had no way to deal with did him in for good. Games: 9-4 Match: 4-1 My friend Kelvin had a VERY bad day and went 1-3 before dropping. Quaterfinals: Eric Jenes B Necratog Eric is a good player, and a pro-tour Junior whom I have never played against before. Game 1: I get a good draw, He gets me down to 8 before I take control of the game. I abduct 3 of his creatures, abeyance him a few times and finish him off with cloud elementals and his own creatures. Quicksand sucks versus abeyance :). Its annoying to see your own abducted askari attack you and to have no way to deal with it. Game 2: I get the god draw. He plays one urborg stalker the entire game...well he plays him more than one thanks to man o'war. Ophidian s and ma o'wars hook me up along with 3 abeyances and 4 pacifisms. I didnt even need to use 3 of the pacifisms or one of the man o'wars in my hand thanks to abeyance. i got out 1 ophidian, and 2 man o'wars and hit him for 5 every turn, and abeyanced him 3 turns in a row. He could do absolutely nothing aboute it. Semi-finals: Rob Farallo Rob again , arggg. I hate his wierd deck, but oh well. Game 1: I beat him down fast and easy with a large air armada Game 2: I have 1 spout on the table, and decided to lay 1 more and a cloud. I figured that I needed to beat him fast...since he had 2 urborg stalkers out, and that I would win the game in 2 turns no matter what unless he drew a crypt rats...i had no counterspell in hand. He tops decks a crypt rats, and i almost choke.I get an attack in for 10 knocking him down to 6. Next turn he rats for 5 bringhim me to 6 and him to one. He then proceeds to drain life me and torch me to death. Sigh. Game 3: I get mana screwed for 2 turns, and my slow start can not keep up with mono-black. Unlike black or even red in MiViWi, U/W has no reset button, and thus can not come back when slightly mana screwed. without disk I had no way of winning. Even 1 undo, the semi-reset button does nothing for me. I dont feel that I did too bad in the tourney, despite making one or two judgment errors. Though I dont think either would have affected the outcome of any of my games. the finals were between Heath and Rob, and I think heath should have one since his deck appeared better suited to handle Rob's. hopefully I'll be able to attended some big tournaments up in Minnesota if they ever have any around there again...I didnt see any qualifiers for pro-tour Mainz in the state. here's my U/W ophidian deck. 4 ophidians 4 Man o'wars 4 waterspouts 4 cloud elementals 2 Hazerider drakes 3 memory lapses 4 dissipates 4 abeyances 1 pacifism 2 impulse 2 quicksands 2 flood plains 3 abductions 1 desertion 13 Islands 7 Plains Sideboard: 3 pacifism 3 undo 1 phrexian furnce...this card sucks except against hammers 3 disenchants 1 serenity 1 Gerrard's wisdom 2 knights of the mist 1 quicksand Jason Schickli