From: The Corrupter Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Subject: [PTQ] Qualifying with "Tempo" - Monoblue in Wisconsin (VERY LONG) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 00:04:20 -0500 Finally, not an old tourney report. (If you want to skip deck analysis skip down to the @#$@#$@#$) Yeah. There's one slot at the Tourney my newly formed team wants to qualify at. Only 3 of us can go. We arrive, and the field looks pretty sparse. Then, the Crew (of Chicago) arrive, some of the Minnesota players arrive, some Iowans, and the rest of the good WI players, minus those members of Team ACD who are at Worlds (Bob Maher/Ben Kellerstrass, etc). We have enough for 7 rounds of swiss. Sexecution Society Decks ---------- ------- ----- Brian "Sugar Daddy" Kowal - Playing "Tempo" Dustin "Jailbait" Stern - Play "Elipoise" (Sands/Poise Elihu Feustel Style) Adrian "Pretty Boy Whore" Sullivan - Playing "Tempo" We would have had our other members playing Tempo and "Red Whine" (a variant on my Mirage/Visions White Whine, Sands/Poise creature beatdown), but they couldn't make it. Metagaming ---------- Blue Blue Blue. Everywhere. Jim "Tall Ass Bitch" Hustad played Tempo at GenCon for me, and through his suggestions I changed Tempo just a bit towards a heavy blue environment. It definitely paid off. Also, fear of Sands/poise effected my sideboarding. The Deck "Tempo" and some bitching, from the Corrupter --- ---- ------- --- ---- --------- I was playing mono-blue. All day, I heard people saying, "Oh, you're playing _the_ blue Ophidian deck." I wonder if Brian Hacker kept hearing people say, "Oh, Lake-Drain Necro". My deck is extremely different from all of the blue decks I've heard of and played against. Like Hacker Necro and LakeDrain Necro, there are a core of cards that are the same, but _so much_ is different, I got really sick of hearing people say, "Oh, that deck". Tempo came from an analysis of the Visagelight playing environment. Brian Kowal and I determined that to win in MVW, you had to have control of the Tempo of the game. Card Advantage was of minimal importance in comparison. If you could keep the opponent reacting to you, you had gained tempo. A first turn sewer rat, For example, grabs tempo. A Manowar will reclaim it, but only if another creature hasn't hit the table in the meantime, and only if the Manowar can begin to attack. This is the beginning of Tempo. Tempo ----- 4 Impulse 4 Boomerang 4 Manowar 4 Ophidian 4 Ray of Command 4 Vodalian Illusionist 4 Memory Lapse 2 Dissipate 2 Power Sink 3 Manta Ray 1 Flooded Shoreline 3 Quicksand 2 Winding Canyon 19 Islands Sideboard --------- 1 Manta Ray (vs. Blue decks) 2 Vision Charm (vs. Sands Poise) 2 Dissipate (vs. Hammer/Necratog/Poise) 4 Disupt (vs. Counterdecks and Burn) 4 Floodgate (vs. Anti-blue creature decks) 2 Phyrexian Furnace (vs. Hammer/Mancy) The major differences between this deck and Standard Blue (typified by The Crew's Blue (gaining quite some notice at GenCon), is that it had no or at least minimal Beatdown. The Manta Ray and ManOwar are it. Other differences include the 4 Illusionists, and the 4 Ray of Command. Also, their are only 4 exacting counterspells (in addition to the Lapses). Why the differences: Blue against Blue. I noted again and again that the player with the Waterspout traditionally found in Blue decks tended to lose counterspell wars. Simple enough. But how does one deal with a Waterspout if you aren't using them? I altered my deck to play heavily against the spout. The board control from the illusionist makes the spout laughable. Inspired by Ben Kellerstrass (who used 2?), the illusionists take up mana similar to a spout. While the mana is more in the immediate sense (2 right away instead of 1), their is no stalling in mana development. The rest of the deck can handle spout as well (Boomerang, Manowar, Ray). Without the spout, the Blue environment made the Manta Ray and Excellent beatdown card. Only the spout can stop it in blue. Necratog. Necratog had become more like blue. The original version of Tempo had difficultyy keeping up with the race put up by a flying heavy Necratog beatdown, paired with ground assault. With the Rays of command and Manta Rays, I was able to Race, or turn around both paths to victory. In the end, the differnce between Tempo and Crew Blue (Which I consider the standard) is one of selective control vs. Beatdown control. I select counterspell wars I want to enter and maintain greater board control (which in turn gives me more advantageous use of the Ophidian). They go for quicker beatdown and protect it, much like Big Blue (which is why many call their style of deck Embryionic Blue). The difference is as great as Hacker Necro and LakeDrain Necro. @#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$ The Tourney Report ------------------ Round 1 - Adam Glon of Roscoe IL, 1600, BR-Reanimator This was Adam's first tourney. It showed a number of times, but he played well, considering. Game 1) NECRO! I get a god draw. 2nd turn Boomerang. 3rd turn Ophidian. I let most of his stuff resolve, despite him strands of nighting out a Hellkite (!!!). I win with Manowar "beatdown". Game 2) I draw 5 land in my opening hand. Yeah. He buries and Strands out Morinfen. I get out illusionist control and lower him to 3 life before he gets me with a bolt. Game 3) 1st turn. He DOUBLE RITUALS OUT MORINFEN!!! Ack!!! I have no manowar. I have no boomerang. I have 2 impulses which find me an illusionist for 3rd turn. With one impulse left in my hand, I hold him down until I have the mana to establish full control. MATCH/GAME: 1-0/2-1 Round 2 - Aaron Hoes of Green Bay, 1600, G/R Land Destruction He's playing heavy (countem 8) LD. Plus Settlers in the Side. Fun. :/ Game 1) I slowly Ophidian him to oblivian, aided heavily by Illusionists. His centaurs are stopped by blocking/phasing illusionists or traded with Manta Rays.... Eventually, I overwhelm him in a mass attack. Game 2) He mass Land destructs me. How nice of him to leave me all my colorless mana!! I get beatdown with 4 land in play. I can't cast _anything_. My sideboarded disrupts never appear. Game 3) This time the disrupts do. I always say, one successful disrupt is _game_. His creatures die to Rays of Command and I beat him with Manowars. MATCH/GAME: 2-0/4-2 Round 3 - Noah WIel of St Paul, 1832, UW-AbeyanceOphidian His deck is a descendent of the original anti-red Flying UW. Ophidians came in. We've known each other for a while, and aren't looking forward to the difficult matchup. Game 1) I know I'm bound to lose against him in game 1. My rays of command are not good against all of those creatures that don't kill each other (Hazerider, etc). After a long dance, he beats me down. Game 2) He abeyances me early and I successfully disrupt it. Game. He doesn't feel comfortable casting that turn, since I still have counterspell mana, and the extra card gives me an advantage in the long game. A Manta Ray resolves and eats him. Game 3) Another long dance. A Flooded Shoreline counterspell war decides the game. His waterspout doesn't have quite the same effect on a counterspell war as my Manta Ray does. The Flooded Shoreline ruins him. MATCH/GAME: 3-0/6-3 My teammates are doing well. Dustin is undefeated and Brian has lost 1 match versus my next opponent: Round 4 - Warren Connell from Omaha NE, 1600, R-Burn He's playing fast burn. Minimal creatures, with more creatures in the sideboard, he is not sporting Lancers. He prefers Minotaur/Sandstalker cleared by Dwarven Miners. Game 1) I outrace him late game with an _eventually_ protected Ophidian. He gets me to low life, but not low enough to outrace Ophidian. Game 2) He hammers me to oblivian. I never see a furnace until I am at 2 life. Game 3) I play a 3rd turn ophidian. His search land (meant to clear land out of his deck) makes him unable to bolt it yet. I disrupt his attempt at killing it on 4th turn. GAME. I outdraw him by 28 cards by the time I kill him (actually by more that that, but the Ophidian gives me 28 extra cards) MATCH/GAME: 4-0/8-4 [Side note: many Waterspout supporters would claim that the beatdown should have been over long before, and could have been if the Spout was out. I agree. However, the long control still finishes in kill, and puts you in a less likely position of _ever_ losing control, even if you have them under pressure] Round 5 - Sam Heckman of Chicago (the Crew) - 1883 - Crew Blue Sam and I know each other, and this is actually our first matchup. I'm not sure about his opinions of me, but I definitely respect his ability. His deck, howevert, I know I can thrash (_extremely_ intensive testing against multiple Blue decks shows that Tempo beats Waterspout Blue (or Embrionic Blue) decks _cold_). Game 1) I go first and lay a 2nd turn Flooded Shorline. This spells the end of the game far before we get to late game. After a very minimal amount of dancing with each others deck, I get warmed up with illusionist control. I Flood it all away and Attack with 3 Ophidians (which weren't getting through), 2 Illusionist, and a ManoWar for 8. His play was a bit cautious. I think he was preparing for counterspell wars that weren't going to happen (Spout, for example). I complain bitterly to him about not drawing fliers. Game 2) He goes first. He gets the god draw. 2nd turn Boomerang. 3rd turn ophidian. He begins drawing up a storm. I _recover_. The deck runs 12 counters and he ophidians like mad. One illusionist resolves and ends his massive advantage (thank god for disrupt). Another resolves. In the end, my Illusionists and Manowars stare down his fliers, 4 ophidians and manowars. Nothing is getting through. I attempt to switch modes and deck him, but he eventually gets through. This game took roughly 50 min. Game 3) I get ahead early with disrupt and illusionist. I stay ahead when we run out of time. I'm certain 2 more turns and he would have died (I had out Manta Ray/Manowar with 2 Illusionist, 2 Ophidians and Counters in hand). MATCH/GAME: 4-0-1/9-5-1 Round 6 - Shawn Marler of ???, 1600???, Necratog (Sage Owl Varient) Fairly standard deck. Fairly stupid match. Game 1) I'm manaborked. He wins. Game 2) He is. I win Game 3) Repeat game 2. MATCH/GAME: 5-0-1/11-6-1 Round 7 - Kevin Williams of Omaha, 1600, BU-Metagame We draw in MATCH/GAME: 5-0-2/11-6-1 1 - Kevin Williams - 1600??? - B/U Metagame - Nebraska Team? 2 - Bob Allbright - 1807 - Necratog (Sage Owl Varient) 3 - Adrian Sullivan (me) - 1786 - Tempo Blue - Sexecution Society 4 - Cory Jensen - 1753 - W/U Metagame (descendant of W/U anti-red) -NE.Team? 5 - Dustin Stern - 1600 -Elipoise - Sexecution Society 6 - Clint Priest - 1594 - B/R/U Best of the Best 7 - Matt Kocken - 1600 - B/u Beatdown Necratog 8 - Matt Bublitz - 1600 - U/g Metagame (anti-Blue) (full decklists at end) Quaterfinals) Vs. Clint Priest I thought he was playing B/R Necratog. Game 1) I get late slow down (illusionist, ManOwar), and clear the Ophidians path. I quickly seize Tempo, and he dies to MantaRay. Game 2) I side in dissipates and the Phyrexian furnace. I accelerate his mana fuck (Undiscovered paradise loves being helped out by Boomerang on other lands and lapses on spells). Ophidian ensures victory. MATCH/GAME: 6-0-2/13-6-1 Other Quarterfinals results: Matt Kocken (Necratog Beatdown) defeats Bob Allbright (Necratog Owl) Matt Bublitz (U/g antiblue) defeats Kevin Williams (Metagame U/B) Cory Jensen (W/U metagame) defeats Dustin Stern (elipoise) (Side note... Apparently Dustin got mana-screwed with one land twice. He runs 28 land (4 vales, but still)) Semifinals) vs. Matt Kocken Game 1) Late slow down, where I grab Tempo with Illusionists. Manta Rays and Ophidians finish him off. Game 2) Really stupid. I draw a quicksand and die. Game 3) I retard his growth with the helping hand of boomerang. His Undiscovered makes it that much easier. Ophidians take over. MATCH/GAME: 7-0-2/15-7-1 Finals) vs. Matt Bublitz Matt's playing anti-blue green cards and blue touched guts (you know the ones). A very funny matchup (in terms of jokes spread around), it's quite layed back, with, as one commentator (Ronny of the Crew) noting that usually players trash talk each other, not the head judge and spectators like Matt and I were doing. Game 1) It's the standard sumo-ritual. We both stand there and look at each other's blue mana build up, without casting a thing. Then he lays a forest. Something different. Immediately, I'm considering the possibility that he's playing anti-blue... I start verbalizing the list of cards I expect and he grins at me. He does however let me know that he is playing meerkat (I love reading people's body language). Eventually, I establish control with illusionist. Game 2) I see a 2nd turn meerkat. I get no answers for the longest time. My answers: Quicksand and Ray of Command (for his other creatures). Normally I can outrace a Meerkat with my own creatures (especially since his islands let me beatdown with MantaRay), but he never lays a creature I can ray (with the 3 Rays in my hand). I lose. Game 3) I draw 1 land. He 2nd turn meerkats. I lose. Things look bad, folks. Game 4) He 2nd turn meerkats!!!!!!! ARGH! I lay third turn ophidian. We stare at each other. He doesn't want to give me the equivalent of Greed, and I don't bother attacking. Eventually, I establish table advantage with multiple illusionists and Ophidians. I do eventually quicksand the meerkat. Game 5) This is it. Turn 1 - Land Turn 2 - He lays a Meerkat. EEK!!!! Turn 3 - He lays a boa. I lay an ophidian. Turn 4 - He lays 2 more Boa. I attack. He double-blocks, I boomerang Turn 5 - Snake basket. Eek!!!!! I lay Illusionist. I keep drawing land!!! Turn 6 - Look!!! 7 Snakes on his side of the board. 2 Boas and 5 friends. And a Meerkat. Me: Illusionist and Ophidian and a quicksand. The next several turns, I eat pain and don't use the illusionist each time, so I can save counterspell mana. I quicksand the meerkat. I keep drawing land and am down to 1 life. He has 2 boas. I have 2 Illusionist and an Ophidian. He has 20 life. Very slowly, I regain control. The illusionist hold of his boas until I get another Ophidian. I start getting card advantage like mad. He casts his 4th Boa of the Game which I let resolve. Boomerangs later, I finish him off with the combined goodness of damage dealing Ophidians, Illusionists (3 of each at this point), and the Ray. Look forward to seeing you in Chicago. Look for the guy with the big Mug (for coffee). ----- Top 8 Decklists- 1st - Adrian Sullivan (The Corrupter) - above 2nd - Matt Bublitz (seeded 8th) - U/g Anti-Blue Metagame 4 River Boa SIDE 4 Jolrael's Centaur 2 Biskellion 1 Waterspout Djinn 2 Karoo Meerkat (WHAT!!! 2!!!!!!) 4 Cloud Elemental 2 Knights of the Mist 2 Power SInk 1 Snake Basker 4 ManOWar 1 Manta Ray 4 Ray of Command 1 Elephant Grass 4 Memory Lapse 1 Desertion 4 Impulse 1 Powersink 1 Dissipate 1 Dissipate 1 Snake Basket 2 Uktabi Orangatang 10 Forest 1 Phyrexian 11 Island 2 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Quicksand 60 Total 3rd - Cory Jensen (seeded 4th) - UW Metagame (descended from anti-red) 4 Abeyance 2 Afterlife 2 Honorable Passage SIDE: Unavaillable 3 Hazerider Drakes 2 Phyrexian Furnace 3 Biskellion 2 Mindstone 3 Memory Lapse 4 Dissipate 3 Impulse 3 Ophidian 3 Waterspout Djinn 4 ManOWar ??? Land Ratio 60 Cards 4th - Matt Kocken (seeded 7th) - Necratog Beatdown 4 Ertai's Familiar 4 ManOWar SIDE: 4 Fog Elemental 3 Ebony Charm 2 Dark Ritual 2 Agonizing Memories 4 Wicked Reward 2 Crypt Rats 2 Circles Vultures 4 Aku Djinn 2 Shadow Guildmage 2 Null Rod 2 Sewer Rats 2 Biskellion 4 Fallen Askari 4 Necratog 2 Hidden Horror 3 Nekratal 7 Islands 10 Swamps 3 Quicksand 3 Undiscovered Paradise 60 Cards 5th - Kevin Williams (seeded 1st) - BU Meta-game [I'm pretty sure I played Kevin in Chicago at the 1st PTQ with "241". This deck looks very much like 241 with metagaming enhancements.] 4 ManOwar 3 Agonizing Memories 3 Serrated Biskellion SIDE 4 Waterspout Djinn 2 Benthic Djinn 2 Benthic Djinn 1 Agonizing Memories 4 Stupor 3 Shimmer 4 Necromancy 4 Enfeeblement 2 Phyrexian Furnace 2 Phyrexian Furnace 3 Dissipate 3 Cursed Totem 4 Nekratal 3 Impulse 8 Swamps 8 Islands 4 Badriver 4 Quicksand 60 Cards 6th - Bob Allbright (seeded 2nd) - Necratog (Owl) 4 Nekratal 3 Waterspout 4 Fog Elemental SIDE: 4 Necratog 1 Abduction 2 Boomerang 4 Vision Charm 4 ManOWar 3 Mind Harness 4 Ertai's Familiar 4 Mana Web 3 Ophidian 3 Phyrexian Furnace 3 Dissipate 2 Sage Owl 2 Necrosavant 1 Ray of Command 3 Necromancy 9 Swamps 7 Islands 4 Bad River 2 Undiscovered Paradise 60 Cards 7th - Dustin Stern (seeded 5th) - Elipoise [This deck is unintentionally "Baxterized". I lost the decklist of Elihu's and had to rely on memory to recreate the deck. Subsequently, we of the Sexecution Society would like to say our sideboard sucked, and the deck needed Elihu style main elements...] 4 Enlightend Tutor 2 Gerrard's WIsdom 2 Sage Owl 4 Sands of Time 2 Wand of Denial SIDE 2 Desolation 3 Stupors 4 Vampiric Tutor 2 Coercion 1 Straw Golem 3 Disenchant 2 Steel Golem 2 Wand of Denial 4 Dark Ritual 1 Wave of Terror 4 Equipoise 1 Timid Drake 2 Coercion 1 Gerrard's Wisdom 4 Crystal Vein 2 Aku Djinn 4 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Lotus Vale 4 Islands 6 Plains 6 Swamps 60 Cards 8th - Clint Priest (seeded 6th) - RUB Best of the Best 4 Nekratal 4 Fallen Askari 2 Crypt Rats 2 Wildfire Emissary SIDE: 2 Benthic Djinn 2 Benthic Djinn 4 Shadow Guildmage 3 Honorabl Passage 4 ManOWar 2 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Ophidian 3 Enfeeblement 4 Bogarden FIrefiend 3 Thunderbolt 4 SuqAtaa Lancer 2 Wildfire Emisarry 4 Incinerate 4 Islands 5 Mountains 6 Swamps 3 Bad River 2 Rocky Tar Pit 1 Lotus Vale 1 Undiscovered Paradise 60 Cards --- Once again, see you in Chicago! Adrian Sullivan @#$ The Corrupter $#@ GAT/CS/WS C(+++)$ N++ PS++@ b++ R+++* r+ z++**? Game Theorist, Coffee Addict, Opinionated Gynophile Hedonist MHTHTS But who needs labels? - Comments always welcome...