From: Brick@ccmailer.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de (Daniel Brickwell) Subject: Re: Principia II: A powerful Browse deck... - Report Date: 18 Aug 1996 21:22:02 GMT Hi, In article <4v2jqk$8md@news.cc.utah.edu>, sl7506@cc.utah.edu says... > >Daniel Brickwell (Brick@ccmailer.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de) wrote: >: >Yep, now again much thanks for your efforts. I hope all our efforts >: >won't go to waste and we'll actually have a good tournament deck in this. >: >:) >: >: I am going to try the deck in a small Type II tourney this weekend, not >: sanctioned btw. :(. > > >Looks like I may not make it to tomorrow's T2 after all. *sigh* I'll just > have to delay the test runs 'til next week. :( > Hi, like promised I tested the Browse Deck (We need a better name) in a small non-sanctioned 60-people Type II tournament. Some of the better Berlin Players were there, testing for my Black Lotus Tourmnament which is next Saturday. The tournament was run in „British Style“, i.e we were separated into Groups of 4, the first in each group advancing and some of the best second place finishers. Points were assigned according to game score 10 points for a 2:0 win, 8 points for a 2:1 win, 5 points for a draw, 2 points for a 1:2 loss and 0 points for a 0:2 loss. My group contained a Green Horde LD, a R/G/B „Newbee“ Deck and a Bauble-Jokulhaups-Bind Deck. 1st Match: Against Martin Luedecke, R/G Jokulhaups-Bauble Bind Martin belongs to my gaming group and is also a very good player, competing in Pro Tour 1 and placing well enough to qualify for Long Beach. Too bad he couldn’t afford the air fare. The Deck is new and he is still testing it running 4 Haups, 8 Baubles and 2 Bind and 2 Gorilla Shaman. Game 1: Martin starts out strong with a forest, vise. I have a thawing glacier in hand, but decide to put down an island first to draw Martin’s possible stripmine. Martin strips. I play my Glacier. I build up mana, but a second stripmine 2 rounds later on my glacier, stops me ahort and an ernham and some other creature kill me quickly. Game 2: I sideboard 3 Brassmen, a Giant Oyster , a Control Magic. I toss out a Steal Artifact, the Library of Lat Nam, 2 Disks and something else. Martin dies Mana Death early on with only a Forest in play. I get out two Brass Men and a Mishra. I hit him atleast for 6 points with Brass Men before Browse and a Djinn supported by counter protection end his feeble attempts of Haupsing twice later on. Game 3: Martin does not get over three mana, I get an early Browse. Three Browses later and it is soon game over Mahamotis cruising in. The Brass Men would have probably worked well, if the wins hadn’t been so decisive in the last two games. 2:1, 8 points 2nd Match: against a R/G/B Newbee Deck In game one he plays a Demonic Tutor, almost enough said. I do not want to disqulify him as I came here to have fun. In game two I realize that he is always drawing up back to seven cards. After the match I go through his deck and remove a Kird Ape, a Sol Ring and a Channel !! I win 2:0, Bird Maidens are no Match for Mahamotis, card drawing and spoilers not withstanding! 2:0, 18 points 3rd Match: against a Green Horde LD with Thermokarst, Stripmines and Icy Manipulators, Woolly Spiders, Whirlings and lots of Llanos. Game 1: A Force of Will protected Disk, ruins his early build up. I get up to Browse mana, enough said. Game 2: Brass Men and a Steal Artifact on his Icy buy me time. Then my lucky charm shows up, the Giant Oyster it eats a Llano and a Bird before Drawing a Giant Growth while Blocking! I get to Browse Mana. 2:0, 28 points Final 16: I play against a Green/Black Ant, Hypno, Stunted Growth Discarder with Birds. Game 1: I Force of Will a Dark Ritualed Hypno and another Hypno in Round three. A disk gets me up to Browse mana, but no Browse is in evidence. This is the original reason I added the Library of Lat Nam to the Deck to have a fifth Browse. I am constantly waiting for Browse, as soon as I have six mana, which can go pretty quickly with the deck. Lots of rounds later I draw the Library and get the tutor for the Browse. I Browse 4 times. But one Browse is a heart breaker with 2 Mahamotis, 2 Force of Will and a Disk. I take the Mahamoti. But the amazing thing happens, Dark Banishing keep the Mahamotis at bay as I fear a Drain Life early on and can not draw counters. When I finally have counter protection, I have no Mahamoti. I continue to draw lands. The second to last card is the last Mahamoti. My mishras have been stripped. It’s too late. This is the first game I have ever lost after Browsing repeatedly. I will probably in the future exchange the Library Lat-Nam for the Digger in the sideboard. The digger also raises the number of Browses in my deck and is just too cruel to deck yourself. Game 2: I sideboard my Digger, a Mahamoti, a Control Magic, an Icy Manipulator and a Winter Orb. I sideboard out the Library, a Steal Artifact (He has no major Artifacts except Racks), two Browse (an overreaction I guess) and something else. I get Hymned twice early on, but I have drawn only 6 lands and an Icy. He only gets 4 lands. I still reach 4 mana as I draw even more land. Then I get a Browse. Browse redeems itself and I win the game not much later on by pounding him with a protected Mahamoti. Time is called, but we may play a deciding third game. Game three: I get pounded early on, but at 6 life I get my Zuran Orb an a Thawing Glacier procures me the necessary fifth mana to play a disk and tap one of the 2 ernhams and the hypno attacking me while I am at two life. The disk saves me and the glacier allows me to build up mana. From the face of my oponent I gather that he has an ant in hand but not the second green mana. I deny him the second green through about 15 rounds by serrated arrows and strips until 3 Mahamotis come around to teach him somke lessons about playing discard decks against Browse. 2:1 Final 8: Against a U/W Control deck with Serras, White Knights, Control Magic, Wrath of God but almost no artifacts. There is not much to say. I have more counters, with the thawing glaciers I have card drawing ability that he can not counter and he does not draw or has no stripmines in his deck. In game two he makes a crucial playing mistake by not balancing away his land with a Zuran Orb which would have killed my 3 mishras. These pound him into submission in the next rounds. 2:0 Semi-finals: Against Dirk Hein playing Turbostasis. I have played just recently against Dirk and his Turbostasis and have beefed up his deck with more boomerangs and 2 disenchants in the sideboard. Talking about improving your competition. Still I beat him 4:0 in testing with my Browse deck so I am quite confident. (Perhaps to overconfident, but I am certainly looking forward to some interesting games. Turbostasis against Browse is a lot of fun, atleast for those who like U mind games.) Game 1: I win through Balance-Zuran Orb down to zero lands and one card in hand. My one card is the mahamoti, which drops thanks to 6 mana tapped into my mana pool. Game over. Game 2: I sideboard in my Winter Orb, the Digger, the two Caps, the Icy and a Steal Artifact. I forget to sideboard in the Energy Fluxes which I wanted to try out. I drop a second round Winter Orb which dominates the game. Dirk almost takes the game away from me when he boomerangs the Orb and Vaults, but I have one land untapped and can put down a second land and the Orb again before his combo locks down. Dirk probably made a mistake here I goof on an even grander scale when I discard two Icies in the ensueing long stasis. I die too my own winter orb in end effect because I can not control it without Icies later on and need to digger to stay alive. My third Icy gets capped. Game three: I now also put in Energy Fluxes. Energy Fluxes and Winter Orb dominate the battle, but it is a loosing one because I did not counter his Kismet in Round 5 having only one counter in hand and fearing Stasis. The play is dominate by the Kismet because we overlook it Twice! with Winter Orb and Digger. This could have won Dirk the game much earlier giving him a full untap atleast once. I start to dig with no library left no Winter Orb and no Stasis. I can also hit him with 4 Mishras for 8 a round. Then we realize that he forgot his Ivory Tower. Feeling bad because of the Kismet-Winter Orb screw up, we decide to set his life total at 40, instead of 15. I hit him down to 16 before Stasis drops a final time. Game winners for him were certainly his 2 Feldon’s Canes in the sideboard and the two Disenchants. 1:2 Loss I guess 2 Feldon’s canes of my own would have worked wonders in the sideboard. I also miss direct artifact destruction, Disenchants in the sideboard? Natalie (vincit omni), as it played 4 Counterspell 4 Force of Will 2 Arcane Denial 2 Control Magic Steal Artifact (stole a cap once in the semi-finals!) Library of Lat Nam (will be a Digger) 4 Browse 3 Mahamoti 2 Icy Manipulators 3 Disks 2 Mana Vaults 2 Serrated Arrows Winter Orb Ivory Tower Zuran Orb 1 Balance 2 Thawing Glaciers 4 Mishras 4 Strips 4 Ardarkar Wastes 13 Islands 61 cards Sideboard 2 Energy Flux (will be Canes or Disenchant) Black Vise 2 Jesters Caps Winter Orb Steal Artifact Control Magic 3 Brass Men Giant Oyster Soldevi Digger (Library of Lat Nam ?) Icy Manipulator Mahamoti Djinn >--Steve Internet: sl7506@u.cc.utah.edu http://www.cc.utah.edu/~sl7506/ >"Steve, why do you make me kill people?" >"That's because fledgeling ballerinas often have excuses for their >pathological behaviors, and I'm your excuse." ROTFL. :) Friendly Greetings, Daniel Ceterum censeo Orbem Zurensem esse interdicendum. (And otherwise I think that the Zuran Orb should be banned.)