From: Brick@ccmailer.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de (Daniel Brickwell) Subject: Origens - Magic Revitalized?! Part 2 Date: 9 Jul 1996 10:27:20 GMT Hi, I am back after 12 hours of sleep for the second part of my report. Bear with me as I still have a cold from the air conditioning at Origens. (It was freezing cold in the damn tournament area!) The Nationals -------------- First I will give you the final 16, 8 and 4. Then my analysis of the new decks, some insights and some great and worst plays I watched. The final 16 after Swiss: 1) Zila Jason 6:0 W/G Ernhamgeddon with 1(?) Deadly Insect, 4(?) Icies. 2) George Baxter 5:0:1 (should have been 6:0) W/G/u Titanias Song Deck 3) Mark Justice 5:0:1 (should have been 5:1) B Necro (4 Dystopia sideboard) 4) Bruce Swiney 5:1 Necro 5) Matt Place 5:1 Turbostasis or The Vault Deck U/w/b Stasis 6) David Adams 5:1 U/R Browse Deck 7) Peter Leiher 5:1 Necro 8) Dennis Bentley 5:1 B/R Necro 9) Derik Mortimer 5:1 Necro 10) Travis Thomas 5:1 W/G Helm Titanias Song Deck 11) Adam Green 5:1 W/R 12) Rick Latham 5:1 R/G 13) Chris Gross 5:1 R/W Savanah Burn 14) Michael Long 4:1:1 U/w/b Turbostasis - The Vault Deck 15) Michael Dove 4:1:1 U/w/b Turbostasis - The Vault Deck 16) Brendon Herzog 4:2 Necro 18) Mark Chalice B Necro 30) Adanm Maysonet 32) Frank Gilson Surprising Facts: Of the 4 Turbostasis Decks attending the nationals 3 made it to the final 16, 2 to the final 4. (The 4th Turbostasis deck was played by Derek Rank who ended up 4:2 losing 1 Game to a Red/Green Deck with 4 Yotians standard.) Of the 30-40 Necro Decks attending only 6 made it to the final 16 that is underproportional. At this point I renewed my prediction that no Necro Deck would make it to the top 4 and backed it up with a 10 Dollar bet with Henry Stern. The Final 8: 1) Zila Jason, who beat Brendon Herzog's Necro 2:1 just as easily as I saw him beat Bruce Swiney'S Necro in the last round of Swiss. Zila reminds me a lot of Olle. He looks harmless, but ....) 2) George Baxter, who had no problem with Micheal Dove's Turbostasis (4 Winter Orbs in the Deck and 3 Serras in the sideboard go a long way against Turbostasis.) 3) Micheal Long, who beat Mark Justice 2:0 with his version of the Turbostasis Deck. (Mono-Black Necro has huge almost unsolvable Problems with TurboStasis (yotians in the sideboard?) 4) Chris Gross, who beat Bruce Swiney's Necro deck with a R/W Burn Deck with Savanah Lions, Bolts, Incinerates etc. 5) Matt Place in my opinion the best Turbostasis player there, beat Rick Lathams R/G Deck (Turbostasis does quite well against other decks too, unless they have Winter Orb.) 6) Travis Thomas won against David Adams U/R Browse Deck with his version of a Titanias Song Deck. 7) I heard Peter Leiher with necro advanced over Adam Green, because Adam had written down only a 59 card deck forgetting one plains. (I know it's the Nationals, but letting someone throw a final 16 match because of one missing plains sounds draconian to me. There is the letter of the law and then there is the will of the law. There is a difference. The will of the law is to stop cheating, forgetting to write down one plains is not cheating.) 8) Dennis Bentley won with his Black/Red Bolt Necro with Black Knights against Derik Mortimers Necro. So there were only 2 Necros in the final 8, one advancing because of disqualificcation the other a non-standard necro adavancing against a necro deck. The Final 4: 1) George Baxter, who beat Peter Leihers Necrodeck. Baxters Deck contained 4 Aelopile, 4 Serrated Arrows, 4 Icy Manipulators, 4 Winter Orb, 4 Felwar Stones, Wrath of God, Multiple Armageddon, 1 Deadly Insect, 2 Titanias Song, Disenchants, Divine Offerings. It was a beauty to behold. It killed Necros with Aelopiles and Serrateds for knights, Aelopiles and Swords for Hippies, Wrath of God and Titanias Song plus Armageddon for total situational turnaround. Titanias Song also stops the disk ofcourse. (Even an untapped one, as it can only destroy everything _before_ the Titanias Song hits the table.) It also had Cities of Brass and Ardarkar Wastes to Support Hydroblasts and Slights in the sideboard. Baxter could have won his final swiss match against Mark Justice btw, if he had balanced to zero cards in hand one pumpknight against 1 Titanias Songed Serrated Arrow in one situation. He decided to wait and balanced much less fortitiously later on. The game was finally called on time. Ending the match in a draw. Ofcourse he was helped by the fact that Mark had forgotten to sideboard in his 4 Dystopias. Quote: "Every Deck of mine has to contain 22 creatures. It can not win if it does not contain 22 creatures." Explaining the Titanias song to Mark Justice. 2) Matt Place, who beat Chris Gross W/R Burn Deck. Turbostasis: The Center of Turbostasis is Lim-Duls Vault and Howling Mines. The combination of these cards allows you to draw combinations on hand in one round. The lock is Stasis Kismet, ofcourse. Despotic Sceptre and a huge Land Ratios helps to upkeep the early Stasis. Surprising is the voluntary disregard for defence to make room for the high land ratio and the lock. I think the deck contains only two disenchants and no swords. Walls of Air in the Sideboard. It basically goes like this: Round 2: Howling mine or Vault for Howling Mine: Round 3 Despotic sceptre if lucky. Round 4 Stasis: Rounds 5-15 Upkeep Stasis (The Howling Mine assures that you draw about one land per round plus you have land left from the beginning hand.) Force of Will as protection. Round 16 destroy stasis with despotic sceptre before your turn or boomerang it. Vault before draw phase. Draw rest of the lock on hand. Throw down Stasis Kismet, 2nd Howling Mine. Round 16-20 Upkeep Stasis Round 21 Destroy Stasis untap 20 Blue Lands. Vault for 3rd Stasis, or Recall one of the first two stasis. Put down Stasis. Show oppenent 2 Arcane Denial and three Force of will. Ask: "Do you want to concede?" Zuran Orb and Ivory Tower protect Life Total. The Howling Mines and 1 Feldon's Cane insure that the opponent will run out of cards first. Sorry Lunch Time. I guess there will be a part three. Friendly Greetings, Daniel Ceterum Censeo Orbem Zurensem esse interdicendum. (And Otherwise I think that the Zuran Orb should be banned.)