From: schach@chemie.fu-berlin.de (Frank Schacherer) Subject: PT Qualifier Berlin, Germany: Tournament Report Date: 4 Nov 1996 11:09:49 GMT Hi! This is a report on the Ice Age/Alliances Constructed Pro Tour Qualifier for the Dallas Protournament, held at CardCon 3 in Berlin, Germany, dubbed "Glaciers over Dallas". The tournament was won by a monoblack Zombie/'Wisp/Necro deck, which went undefeated trough seven rounds of swiss pairings and the following Top 8 Single Elimination, racking up a 10:0 match record. Luckily for me, it was my deck. The deck contained Pumpknights, Lim Duls Zombies (both kinds), Abyssmal Specters, Soul Burns, Necros, Withering Wisps, Contagion, 'Glaciers, Lodestone Baubles, a Banishing, Walking Wall, some DR and of course the Zuran Orb. Expecting a lot of other B/x decks, Dystopia and Infernal Darkness were only in the sideboard, as well as Sunstones, Mindwarp, Consultation, additional copies of some main deck spells and some other stuff. Should I have to rebuild it, I'd probably drop the wall and the Rituals, which turned out to be dead weight most of the time, for another Soul Burn, Necro and Contagion. On the other hand, this way there always were some easy choices to sideboard out :). The other Top 8 decks included: two B/r Zombie/'Wisp decks, which were very similar to the winning deck, with red for Incinerate, 'Burst and Shatter (actually the designers told me they too were based on the monoblack deck I had posted on the Net in Daniel Brickwell's "Strategy:" series), one of them made finals. Three B/r Decks with Balduvian Dead and Hoar Shade (one of them without 'wisps, another with Drift of the Dead), a R/G landdestruction deck and a R/w Jokulhaups deck with Aesthirs and Mutants. Top four were three B/r and monoblack. Missing Top 8 at spot 9 because of a playing mistake was Stephan Funkes R/w LD-Haups deck, who had crushed my black deck 3:1 during playtesting just prior to the tournament. Stephan is one of those players who seem to be able to squeak a win out of nowhere - I firmly believe, had he made Top 8, he would have won the whole thing. On place 14 or so there was Daniel Brickwell with another near copy of the black deck, but he had added blue for 3 Slight of Mind in the sideboard (vs CoP: Black, he didn't have Counterknights), and cursed his decision all day long. On the other hand, we hadn't had much time to construct or test the decks we finally played. To be honest we built them in about 10 minutes on the morning of the tournament, and I ended up with one normal Swamp in the deck, because we didn't find any more snow-covered ones in the hurry. I even had another Swamp in the sideboard. The reason was that Daniel had been to the Qualifier at Essen Game fair the week before with his Browse deck, and it turned out that these decks took to long to finish games, thus getting lots of draws. And draws don't get you into the single elimination. So, even though my browse deck was a lot more agressive (I even didn't have a digger in the main deck), we both decided to go really offensive with the Zombie deck. Dani and Stefan both are members of Team Istari - Gilde Berlin, like me. I'm only a lay member, though, because they ran out of Istari for the T-shirts - there are only five. So I got lay-member status and a Daring Apprentice on my shirt. To be honest, I think the name of the team sucks, but Mike Callahan (he also posts on the net sometimes) had his impromtu team named Team Istari at PT3, and it even was published in the Duelit's Sideboard, so they had to append that " - Gilde Berlin". Martin Luedecke and Boris Buschert, another two Istari played U/w/r Browse and, like predicted, got too many draws and ended up mid-field. Overall I'd say I liked the Alice environment. You get to see a lot of cards that people wouldn't even consider for their tournament decks under normal type II circumstances. I mean, Zombies, Trap Door Spiders, Sibilant Spirit, stuff like that. One guy even got _Melting_ out against Daniel (Snow covered Lands are considered Non snow-covered)! And that wasn't funny at all, as he had Moor Fiends and Daniels Lim-Duls Cohorts, Sunstone and 'Wisps looked pretty pointless suddenly. Ok, now for the match-by-match report, as far as I can remember - I didn't expect to do so well an thus didn't take notes. I was quite happy with my sideboard and used all the cards save one during the tournament. I'll try to mention what I took in and what went out (much more difficult to decide). Comments welcome. Round 1: Vs. Sebastian Finck, Berlin U/g/r/w Pheldagriff This deck featured Outposts, Insects and Phedagriffs as offense, none of which can be dealt with with the normal creature defense (red direct, StP, etc.), Icies, which are deadly with Insects and one of the best anti-critter cards in the environment next to StP or a big blocker like Walking Wall, because they can deal with blinkies, gargoyles, and black knights, white defense (StP/Disenchant) and a lot of counterspells (12 or so). I don't think he had browse. He had added red via Karplusans for Pyroclasm and maybe Stone Rain and a 'Burst, after his earlier versions suffered vs. Outposts. I think he also had a mountain or two to 'Glacier up. All in all a very well-rounded deck. But, like they said in the Duelist Sideboard, Phelddagriff decks are vulnerable to early black knights. Basically he had to draw one of his 'clasms or Icies in time, if he couldn't FoW the Order. In the first game, I had a turn 2 order, and proceeded to hit him for 3,4,4,4,5. Sideboarding: Out went 2 Contagion, Banishing (he had no creatures to target) and I think a Ritual and the Walking Wall (because of Binding Grasp). In went 2 Infernal Darkness vs. Counters/Grasps/Disenchants and 3 Dystopia vs. CoP: B, Insects. Second game he made a crucial mistake: he had out CoP:B and an Outpost, 1 Token. I had an Zombie, 'Wisp out and Dystopia in hand, when I drew Infernal Darkness. Down went the darkness, he didn't counter, but drew W into his mana pool in response. I announced my attack phase, and he disenchanted the 'wisp! So I burned his token, put down Dystopia and killed him in short order. I believe he figured he'd be save behind his CoP:B, and my darkness couldn't hurt him. Round 2: Vs. Jim (?) from Hamburg R/G Ant/Ranger/Burn This deck featured Fundhorn Elves, Elvish Rangers, Kaysa, Deadly Insects, and 4 Javimaya Ants, as well as Incinerates, Lava Bursts and Meteor Shower. He also had Spirit Guides. Basically it just tried to burn and damage you into the ground before you could draw your pyroclasm. Which is what it did to me game 1, even though I got my 'wisp and killed 2 Rangers and a Fyndhorn in one fell swoop. The player was the most deliberate one I met all tournament (in a positive sense), and very enjoyable to play. Sideboarding: I can't remember what went out, probably the Necros, maybe the Rituals. I kept the Lodestone Baubles, because from a R/x deck this fast I feared Jokulhaups as a restarter. In went 3 Dystopia and Contagion. In game two and three, all those Dystopias and Contagions and Wisps were just too much for him to cope with. Btw., he had defeated Stefans R/w deck the turn before 2:0. Round 3: Thomas (?) Kuhl, from Hamburg, another good player whom you usually see somewhere near table 1 in major tournaments. (By this time we were at table 3) U/W Outpost/Forces/Weirding Yes, that's right, no red! He had lots of Counters, 4 Illusionary Forces, Sibilant Spirits and I think Walking Walls. No Browse, 3 Weirding. Sunstones. Personally, I don't like the Weirdings too much, you have to be winning before you can play them, and they don't help you to win. I think 3 is definitely too many. Game 1, I see the plains, play a turn 2 Order and think "That's game", but he has the FoW. Strangely enough, I don't draw any Zombies or Specters for the rest of the game and he whacks me mit Forces and a Sibilant. Sideboarding: Because I saw all his big blue critters, in goes the second Banishing along with 2 Darkness and 2 Dystopia - there isn't really much in white except for CoP:B which Dystopia is good for. Out went 2 Baubles (no 'Haups), Walking Wall ('Grasp) and the Rituals - I'm faster anyways and would rather have more threats he must counter. I may have taken the extra Necro for a Zombie. Game 2 and 3 he's a bit mana hosed each time, and a well placed Ice Quake (I wouldn't play Outpost when I'm mana short, but he did) plus some Zombies quickly took advantage of the situation. In one of the games I went under Necro to draw insane amounts of LD and Zombies while he was busy getting some land. In the end I was down to 4 life and had not drawn a single Soulburn or the Zorb when he died. Hm. Round 4: Vs Stefan Murillo Reets (I hope thats right) a.k.a. "Mighty" I know Mighty back from several tournaments in Hamburg as well as from PT1, where he sucked as bad as I did (we both didn't make top 64). U/W Outpost/Forces/Weirding Looked like a copy of the deck I played in Round 3 (Mighty is from Hamburg, too). As in the games last round, he just can't keep up with my Zombies with his FoW/lose another card and Arcane Denial/I draw one extra. Also, he's a bit mana short, too, and I Ice Quake his only U mana after he Binding Grasped my Abyssmal Specter. After a quick 2-0 sweep, we play two extra games for fun. I win again game three, but game four he finally gets the mana he wants and proceeds to kick the sh*t out of me with 'Grasped Specters and Forces. Mighty comments I should take out the Glaciers for something offensive, a view I cannot really share. After all, they too increase the amount of offense in my deck by removing extra land. He also comments on that he should have had Browse in his deck (probably he ran into some Browse decks.) Round 5: Vs Oliver Wusch, Berlin B/r Zombie/Wisp This deck features a lot of 2/3 Zombies (some of them SC Swampwalk), Abyssmal Specters, Black Orders, 4 DR, Incinerates, 2 Lava Bursts, a Mind Warp, a Shatter, a Soul Burn and 3 'wisps main deck, but no 'Glaciers. He also had 1 Lake of the Dead. Basic strategy is to get a small life advantage via fast attack and burning away early blockers, then wisp for 2 in each players turn with a Zombie out to finish it, or 'burst the opponent to death. I think the deck is more versatile than the monoblack version, mainly because it has ways to deal with artifacts and white Orders standard. Oliver shows up too late, and I cold-heartedly tell him that he has forfeited his first game because of it. He is really annoyed but takes it like a man. I run over him in the first game we play and thus hand him his first loss in the tournament. Round 6: Vs Michael Eisfeld, Berlin, also one of the best players in Berlin and Member of Team "Legions of Doom", like Fincky (from Round 1) and Oliver. B/r Zombie/Wisp See above. Michael is so fair to tell me he took the basic design from my post. He also tells me that I am going down. Yeah sure, whatever you want. Game 1 I run all over him somehow, despite his Mindwarping my Zuran Orb out of my hand. (Sometimes it is better to hold back the orb to lure them into exchanging life instead of blocking and waiting to secure the situation). Sideboarding: I take out the Baubles, Banishing, the Walking Wall (doesn't stop SC swampwalkers and Specters) and one 'Glaciers (big mistake). I know he runs the 4 DR and am a bit afraid he's too fast for me. But he has no Glaciers and not much R sources, which means no 'Haups. I am totally unaware of his sideboarding in 'Wisp of God number 4, and put in another Necro (hey, its black vs. black - whoever draws Necro first wins, right?), Consult and Contagion, as well as a Sunstone and Icy vs. his fliers and walkers. Since I only have 3 Soulburn in the deck, this is very risky, as I am toast if I go under Necro and don't draw one in time. The extra 'Wisps he has don't help either. Anyhow, I lucked out and drew Zorb, 'Glaciers and Necro in my opening hand, and proceeded to totally anihilate him, even though he 'wisped 4 of my creatures vs. one of his, Mind Warped me for 4 and so on. There is just nothing you can do if someone draws about 20 cards more than you. It also took a long time since he had his Zorb out, too. This was Michaels first loss, too. Round 7: Vs Stephan Piepenhagen, from Berlin Stephan is a friend of a friend of mine and has a very modest collection of cards, but he learns quickly and borrowed some from all those card lords he knows. He also was a very pleasant opponent with a friendly, not-stuck-up attidude. R/G LD His deck featured Fyndhorn Elves, 12 LD spells, 1 Haups (he only had one), Goblin Mutant, Rogue Skycaptain, 1 Insect (he only had one), Stormbind, Balduvian Horde, Icies, Incinerates and Lava Burst. No Glaciers. Because a lot of things were in there only one time, it was pretty hard to sideboard against. His sideboard vs. me had Natures Wrath waiting (yuck!) Game 1 he doesn't do much and dies to an Order and a Zombie in no time. Generally I had the impression that he had mana problems a lot of the time, mainly to get his RR for the Mutant or Pillage. Sideboarding: I took in my anti-Ld SB: The Swamp (Ha! take that!), Consult ("its like a black swamp"), some Dystopia and a Banishing vs his red biggies. Out went 2 Soul Burns (expensive), the wall (casting cost 4 and he has Pillage) and a Zombie - I thought about taking an Abyssmal and about taking in an Infernal Darkness, to shut him down as he doesnt damage me early on, but decided against it. Darkness costs 4 and upkeep too. If you get to four mana, you'll probably win anyways. Maybe this line of thought is wrong, though. In the second game I went too early under necro when he was colourscrewed for red, and died to Necro and Stormbind damage the turn before the zombies would have killed him, as I drew no lifegainer - my fault. So I took out some Necro for more Dystopia and won the third game, luckily, because I had one of them in hand and _just_ enough swamps in play after a surprising 'hops, from which he recoverd faster and played Natures Wrath (go figure what else would have happened). Single Elimination: Quaterfinals vs. Stephan Piepenhagen again I run over him game 1 again, second game he goes first Forest, Elf. I have no Contagion, and end up on the recieving end of 4 LD Spells in a row. Still I draw even more land, but not fast enough to stop his Insect/Icy combo, as no Dystopia or wisp or consult shows up and he taps and blows up my blockers. Of course I drew 2 Contagion and a Banishing while the Insect was working me ;). Game three his lack of experience does him in as he plays a Rogue skycaptain way too early. I could banish it, but instead glacier and Icequake it into my service, while hitting Stephan with a Zombie. He finally plays his Balduvian Horde (it's too late anyways), and I banish it just on principle. Single Elimination: Semifinals vs. Marcus Heiduk a.k.a "The Duke", Berlin Marcus won the Mirage Sealed Preview in Braunschweig and missed National Team '95 as quarterfinalist. B/r Hoar Shade/Wisp He was nice enough to let me look at his deck and sideboard afterwards and talk a bit about it. This deck features Hoar Shades, SC swampwalking Zombies, Abyssmal Specters, and Balduvian Dead, as well as Withering Wisps. He had Warbeasts in the main deck, as well as 4 Feast or Famine, no Dark Rituals, no Black Orders, no Contagion, no Soul Burn. He also ran 2 Dystopia and a Mindwarp main deck. It had a solid red percentage and had 4 Thawing Glaciers, to get the mana for his pumpers and offset Warbeast land-loss (and because they are just abusive, of course.) He also had a Moor Fiend main deck, as well as a Stench of Decay, as he is afraid of white orders. The Sideboard contained Contagions, Darknesses, more Dystopia, a 'Haups, Primitive Justice, 'Burst and Karplusian Yeti (vs. Zombies, Spiders, Gargoyles, the list goes on). He said he preferred the Feasts to Banishings, as he found it more important to kill Insects than artifact creatures. He didn't use orders because they died in the smallest 'wisp, so he used Hoar Shades. He also said he'd run the 'burst main next time. These were the toughest, most nerve-wracking matches of the whole tournament. I won the first one pretty quick. Sideboard: I'm aware of 'wisps this time so out go the Banishing, a Necro, a Ritual, a Lim-Dul Cohort (doesn't SC walk) and like always, the wall. He has enough red for 'Haups, so in stay the Baubles. In goes Contagion, Icy, a Sunstone, all vs. walkers and fliers (and pumpers), and the Mind Warp. Second game he plays a warbeast. Warbeast? Agk. These things suck - always when I use them. I considered putting some into my SB vs. other black decks but decided on Walking Wall and a second Banishing instead. My Banishings are in the SB by now. Having only a Specter as black card in my hand and having only 5 Land out, 4 SC and my normal Swamp, with no decent blockers left in the deck and only 1 DR left after sideboarding to feed Soul Burn, I consult for 'wisps and play them. He Icequakes one SC swamp. Hehe. I knew that normal swamp would come back to haunt me. But I luckily draw another SC one and wisp the mess away. Then I start taking control with Abyssmals and Stuff. He plays 'hops and catches me unprepared. Well that was one mistake too many on my part (I had vowed I'd be careful of 'hops, as he had enough red and 4 'Glaciers in his deck to pull it off.), he got out of the hole faster, and another warbeast finished me off. Game 3 he gets two glaciers going but not much else. I had drawn none of my glaciers of course. So I build up my mana base slowly and put out a Zombie- he double Glaciers (they were both out at the same time somehow), I attack, no contagion. I Mind warp him for 3, and he has only the 'Glaciers and more land in his hand. He has nothing left and sits under the Zombie, I got wisps, too and am at 17, he's at 12 life. He draws and plays - Zuran Orb. This was a bad mistake, because if he hadn't shown it, I'd started to wisp down. He told me afterwards he was fearing a big Soul Burn. So he got eternal life for now. I get out a Black Order and start to hit him hard, he gets out a warbeast and hits back, when suddenly his cellular phone rings. He answers "Hello? ... I'm busy right now, I'll call you back later.", but is totally out of his concentration, as he proceeds to draw - his own wisp. In a reflex he wispes for 8, killing all the critters, both wisps. I was at 2 now. He immidiately realized his mistake, but it was too late. He could have won the game right there. He draws and plays Icequake. I'm at 1, he's at 2 and about 5 land + Zorb. I just had a lot of land. I can't remember what I drew, must have been another Order or Soul Burn or Something. I only remember sitting there like "Zuran Orb, pleeeaze!". Oh well. (Btw. the guy who called was a friend of his, who just wanted to ask how he was doing in the tournament. So it goes.) Finals: vs. Oliver again B/r 'wisp. He had beaten a non-wisp Balduvian Dead/Krovikan Horror deck. The second game in the finals is the only time I'm mana-screwed at 2 swamps all tournament. I really felt like I had a charm working for me because of that. I win the die roll and go first. We split the first four games, whoever goes first wins. Sideboarding: I didn't take out the Icequakes, even though he had no 'Glaciers. I had been lucky all tournament, so I stuck with it. I still could screw him for red. Decider: I have some Swamps, 2 Icequakes, Consult, Necro. 1 Zombie. He has Zuran Orb, but is mana Screwed at two mana, which I both quake (one is a Lava Tubes ala Mark Justice), still he plays a Lake of the Dead, taps it for B (I dispute that but the Judge says it's ok), DR, Zombie. I have no Contagion, no other Zombie, nothing. He sure will get out of his screw soon. Having read the Article by Justice about the 1/36 chance for both Strips in the top 6 cards I consider consulting for another Quake ("If in doubt consult for the Strip Mine"), but then he had his opponent on the ropes. So I decide to go under Necro and just set aside offense and LD. If I wouldn't draw lifegainers, I could still emergency-consult. So while he got another 4 land, I got another Icequake and my Sideboard Icy, to nail him down at 2 mana. But I only drew 2 more Zombies, which he contagioned, and he had lots of life because of Zorb, I was at 5 and he has Incinerates. Consult for Soul Burn, none in the top 6. That's game. After the tourney I played some games vs. Andreas Pischner, Berlin, who was seeded at spot 10 and wanted to test his decks performance vs. the tourney winner. After all, it's always fun to say you defeated the winner. It was B/w with Walking Walls, Black Orders, 'Wisps, Glaciers, Outposts, StP, Disenchant, Gargoyles. His non-allied colours, both of them quite color intensive, and all the life he gave me with StP were clearly a liability as he lost 3:1. I hope you all enjoyed the report. I'd also like to thank all the people who responded to the original posting of the "Black Widow" deck and shared their thoughts with me, especially Eric Taylor (hope I got the name right). Thanks! -- Frank schach@chemie.fu-berlin.de "Amnesia - it's a no-brainer."