Tourney Report
Tourney Report - Beta Black Lotus Prize - Type 2 - April 1997
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The Weedwhackers decided that we needed another Beta Lotus, so we headed
out to the Pack Shack in Taylor, Michigan to win one. The four of us
(John Bradt, Mark Brombacher, Mike Donais, and myself - Jeff Donais) drove
to the store with some of our familiar Type 2 decks. John used his
Black/Red deck (Forsaken Wastes, Emmisaries, Hippies, Bolts, etc). Mark
used his Blue/Red deck (Phyrexian Portal, Bolts, Emmisaries,
Counterspells, Frenetic Efreets, etc). Mike and I used the Mono-Blue deck
Mike created a long time ago (before it got so popular) with Disks, Ghost
Ships, Walls of Air, Control Magics, etc. I put COP: Red in the main deck
standard because I felt there would be a lot of burn at this tournament.
This is the very slightly modified version I used:
15 Islands
1 Plains
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Quicksand
2 Soldevi Excavations
3 Thawing Glaciers
=27
4 Nevinyrral's Disks
1 COP: Red
=5
4 Ghost Ships
3 Walls of Air
4 Control Magic
4 Dissipate
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
2 Inspiration
2 Political Trickery
1 Recall
=27
Sideboard:
1 Steal Artifact
2 Energy Flux
1 COP: Red
1 Plains
4 Disrupting Sceptres
1 Disenchant
1 Giant Tortoise
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Political Trickery
Round One
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Opponent: Blue/White Counter/Post. Kjeldoran Outposts, Counterspells,
Dissipates, Force of Will, Wrath of God, Swords to Plowshares, Rainbow
Efreets, Control Magics.
Game One: My opponent was a good player, and was carefully building up
mana to cast a protected Rainbow Efreet. I guessed he would be using
Control Magics, so I held off casting a Ghost Ship, and instead built up
counterspells and Political Trickeries to steal the inevitable Outposts.
I managed to win the counterspell war after he cast the Rainbow Efreet,
and was using Soldevi Excavations to get only good cards, while he drew
whatever happened to be at the top of his deck. After he dropped his
first Kjeldoran Outpost, I still had enough mana to Trickery it and
counter his 2 attempts to counter my Trickery. I then used Thawing
Glaciers to get my one Plains in the deck, and hammered him with his own
Outpost. I had 3 Walls of Air in play at the end to hold of his Rainbow
Efreets (which I let him cast eventually). This game took 40 minutes, and
it was at this point that I learned that we would be using Game Points to
see who got into the finals (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 for
a loss). We were also supposed to play ALL 3 GAMES whether we won the
first two games or not. This was really dissapointing for me, since I was
playing a slow deck. If I had known that this rather unorthodox method of
scoring was to be used, I probably would have played a quick deck.
Nontheless, I said "Let's play this game fast enough that we might finish
it". My opponent suggested that I could give him a few cards to concede
the game to him, and I told him that Jeffy Don't Play That Game, and that
collusion was grounds for disqualification. He said that it happened all
the time in these tournaments, and he had been bought of in this manner
before. I just finished my sideboarding (put in 4 Disrupting Sceptres)
and we started the next game.
Game Two: I got a 2 Mishra's out right away, waited for 2 islands, and
pounded him with the Mishras, countering anything which hindered me. I
also dropped a Sceptre, and used it to dwindle his cards to nothing so I
could have a safe ride with the Mishras. I beat him in less than 10
minutes.
Game Three: The next game was similar to the first, only I stole his
Kjeldoran Outpost third turn, Thawed for a Plains, and beat him down with
great speed and agility. I thanked him for the game, and told him he had
a solid deck, and wished him luck.
Record after Match One: 3-0 Game Wins, 1-0 Match Wins
Round Two:
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Opponent: White Weenie. Savannah Lions, White Knights, Freewind Falcons,
Mesa Pegasus, Longbow Archers, Crusades, Swords to Plowshares,
Disenchants, Spirit Links.
Game One: My opponent played a first turn Savannah Lions, and a second
turn Crusade. I was struggling with a Mishra's Factory and a Quicksand.
I was happy to use the Quicksand on the Lions, though it slowed me down
(it was worth it). More weenies popped out, and she Swordsed my Wall of
Air immediately. Eventually (I was at 2 life) I managed to Control a
Weenie, and bring out 2 Walls of Air. This left us in a stalemate. I
built up some cards (using Glaciers and Inspiration along with Soldevi
Excavations for card advantage), and threw out a couple of Ghost Ships.
Eventually I managed to slip the Ships through, and win the game.
Game Two: I did not see any Outposts, but I figured I should leave in the
two Trickeries just in case they came in from the sideboard. I left the
deck virtually identical, except I replaced the COP: Red and a Disk with 2
Giant Tortoises (great cards vs. weenie decks). I got an early Tortoise,
followed by a quick Control Magic on a Longbow Archer (having the first
strike with the ability to block her fliers was nice). I took control
very quickly, and protected my permanents with counterspells when needed.
My opponent Spirit Linked a couple of my Ghost Ships, and I thought it was
going to be rough trying to finish her off, but I cast a Disk and Disked
away the Spirit Links, while regenerating my Ghost Ships. She died
quickly thereafter to the Ghost Ships.
Game Three: Yes, these funky rules had us playing all three games of
course. This game was really tight, as I could not keep up with her 4
weenies plus 2 Crusades by turn four. I was down to 1 life when I finally
managed to disk away her permanents and start casting some of my own. I
brought out Walls of Air, Quicksands, Mishras, and Ships, and held her off
while she built up again, only to have me disk away everything again. I
finished her with 2 Mishras and a Ghost Ship. It was a close game.
Record after Match Two: 6-0 Game Wins, 2-0 Match Wins.
Round Three:
------------
Opponent: Mono Red Burn. Ball Lightnings, Viashino Sandstalkers, Mishras,
Triskelions, Lightning Bolts, Incinerates, Fireballs, Hammer of Bogarden,
Fireblast, Nev's Disks.
Game One: Since nobody else was totally undefeated, I had to play someone
who was 5-1 game wins instead of 6-0. He had a very good deck for a red
deck. My Control Magics and Disks were virtually useless against him, and
even my main deck COP: Red would not nessesarily save me. He got off to a
quick start with a Mishra's Factory that pounded me for some early damage
(this deck just hates that early Mishra's Lovin'). I got out a Quicksand,
which was great in dealing with his Mishras (holding it off). I actually
used the Quicksand on a Sandstalker which came over to give me his best
wishes. I got down to a super low life total, and had no counterspells in
hand. I did have out a COP: Red and tons of mana, so I figured I was
fairly safe (since not many red decks can handle COP: Red in the main
deck). He then cast two Triskelions, and finished me off. I complimented
him on the use of Triskelions in his deck since it handled a lot of
different threats (weenie decks, Nekrataal decks, COP: Red, etc). There
were so many red decks at the tournament it was incredible. They are
great for winning the first game, but you would think people's sideboards
would handle them fine.
Game Two: I got out an early COP: Red, and protected it like my life
depended on it (it did). I had to counter early disks and Triskelions
which tapped me out and let him bolt me or Hammer me, but it was worth it
in the end, as I built up a large card advantage (with counterspells), and
eventually killed him with Ghost Ships. I had sideboarded out my Disks
and Control Magics, and he had actually sideboarded in Wildfire
Emmisaries..interesting..
Game Three: He hit me fast with bolts and Lancers, taking me down to 10
life very quickly. He made the mistake of casting a Ball Lightning when I
had an untapped Quicksand (he cursed himself when I killed the Ball
Lightning). It didn't look like anyone at this tournament was used to
playing against Quicksand. He attacked later with a Mishra's Factory when
I had another Quicksand untapped - he thought he would simply pump up the
Mishra's with his other Mishra's Factory that he had ready. I said I had
no effects, and then he pumped the the attacking Mishra's with the one
that was holding back, I of course, used my Quicksand in response, killing
his Mishra's before the pumping effect resolved. I got out a COP: Red
right after that and was holding him off nicely (countering Triskelions).
He then dropped a disk, and disked away my COP. Next turn I cast another
COP: Red, and eventually killed him with a Ghost Ship that he couldn't
kill.
Record after Match Three: 8-1 Game Wins. 3-0 Match Wins.
Round Four:
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Opponent: Mono Red Burn/Weenie. Goblin Tinkerers, Balloon Brigades,
Ironclaw Orcs, Orcish Artillery, Dwarven Miners, Gorrilla Shaman,
Lightning Bolts, Fireballs, Incinerates, Mishra's Factories, Fireblasts.
Game One: They had just cut to the top 8 after the third Swiss Round
(yuppers, those 3 rounds of Swiss really weed out the top players
efficiently). Mike, Mark and John did not quite make it in. Mike had
played the opponent I was about to face last round, and he won the first
game, but lost the next two after sideboarding in 3 extra COP: Reds (for a
total of 4). It turns out my opponent did not have a single way of
dealing with COP: Red in the main deck or sideboard, and Mike just got
incredibly unlucky (he had thawed out all his lands, and still couldn't
draw a single COP: Red). Anyway, the first game started pretty good as I
had a COP: Red in my opening hand. It took a few turns before I could
cast it (no white mana), but finally I drew my Thawing Glaciers and cast
the COP. She had out several weenies (Balloon Brigades and Tinkerers) and
was slowly weeding me down. I was at six life when I cast the COP, and
only had a few mana untapped. She attacked and I used my COP to prevent
all the damage (since she only had one card in hand, and not enough mana
to fireball me to death). She then sacked her only 2 mountains and
Fireblasted me, bringing me down to 2 life. This meant that she could not
activate her Mishra's Factory until she drew another land. This was kind
of nice, because I really couldn't effectively deal with that threat and
leave mana to COP her creatures. Eventually I drew enough land to hold
her off and start casting blockers, which meant it was just a matter of
time before she was toast. She conceded when she realized there was
nothing she could do.
Game Two: She came at me extremely fast with multiple weenies. I had two
COP: Reds in my opening hand and a Thawing Glaciers (I had sideboarded in
my COPs and Turtles). I had a Mishra's out, but couldn't get out land
fast enough to COP everything. I was rapidly losing life. I planned out
my mana usage carefully every turn so I would have enough to COP her
stuff. When she attacked I would use one mana to activate my Mishra's
Factory, block a 1/1 weenie with it, then tap the Mishra's during damage
prevention to use the mana to COP another weenie. This way I could deal
damage to the weenie I blocked but still use the Mishra's for mana (and
saving my ass). Eventually I thawed out more than enough mana to start
using my COP and casting things. I also cast a Disrupting Sceptre (I put
this in so she could not build up Ton 'O Bolts in her hand then swarm me
with them). She tried to cast some annoying creatures like Dwarven Miner
and Goblin Tinkerer which I countered. She then cast an Orcish Artillery
which I controlled and quickly killed her with (Orcish Artillery and COP:
Red is such a strong combo). The game ended quickly after that (I
protected it with a couple of counters). Since this was the single
elimination finals, we didn't have to play a third game.
Record after Match Four: 10-1 Game Wins. 4-0 Match Wins.
Round Five
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Opponent: Blue/White Counter/Post. Kjeldoran Outposts, Wrath of God,
Swords to Plowshares, Disenchants, Rainbow Efreet, Counterspells, Arcane
Denials, Dissipates, Mishra's Factories, Browse, Soldevi Digger, Force of
Will.
Game One: As soon as I saw the colours my opponent was playing, I decided
on a strategy. I got out 2 Excavations extremely fast, and I decide to
just put any card except for land on the bottom of my deck. I had a hand
full of counterspells and good stuff, so I just kept playing a land every
turn, and doing nothing else. My opponent had 2 Thawing Glaciers out and
used them every time he could. His deck was very reactive, so he had to
discard every turn. I was getting a huge advantage because my strategy
was just to mill him to death. I knew sooner or later he would probably
drop an Outpost, and I did pick up my 2 Political Trickeries to wait for
his Outposts. He cast Browse and kept Browsing and Thawing away at his
library. I just sat and waited for him to drop that Outpost as his
library got smaller and smaller. Finally he did drop an Outpost, and I
Political Trickeried it next turn. He countered, and we started a little
counterspell war. I won the war (half his land was white, and that didn't
help him too much when most of my land was blue). He had to use his Force
of Will when I could still cast double blue spells. So, I had an Outpost
(he probably didn't think I could use it since I didn't have a Plains on
the table). Next turn I used my Thawing Glaciers to get a Plains (first
time I used it all game), and started making the Outpost dudes. He cast
another Outpost, but it was far too late, and I killed him shortly
thereafter. Since I was being extremely careful about my playing, and
planning everything ahead of time precisely, the game had taken over an
hour. I was fine with that, but it didn't look like he was used to this
kind of play, and it looked like it was taking his toll on him. There was
no time limit in this round, by the way.
Game Two: I sideboarded out my COP: Red and 3 Control Magics. I also took
out all 4 Ghost Ships (to avoid Control Magic, and since I wanted to kill
him with his own Outposts and nothing else). I sideboarded in 4 Disrupting
Scepters (one of my favorite/most respected cards in the game), a Plains
(more Outpost fun), a Political Trickery and a Steal Artifact (I thought
he would put in Disrupting Sceptres). The game started slow (as before),
and I built up some counterspells and Trickeries, waiting for the Outpost
fun. At one point he cast a Rainbow Efreet (the only one in his deck)
and I had to counter it (or be dead, no doubt). He made a dumb move of
using all blue mana to cast it, and we started a Counterspell war. I cast
Dissipate, he Arcane Denialed it, I let the Arcane go through (to gain
card advantage) and re-targeted the Rainbow Efreet with another Dissipate,
he Arcane Denialed the second Dissipate and I let that go through as well
(nice fat card advantage), I re-targetted the Rainbow again with a
Counterspell, and then he said he cast Dissipate on my Counterspell.
Unfortunately for him, I knew he had no more blue mana available since
half of his mana was white. He had secretely untapped 2 blue mana nearest
to his hand when we were in a counterspell war. I was not going to sit
there and let him get away with it, so I showed him each spell he cast,
and made him recount which mana he used, and explaining to him that he had
no blue mana untapped. He was obviously upset about getting caught in
this manner, so I said, "You probably just accidently untapped it while we
were casting all those spells", since I didn't want to get into a big
arguement. The Rainbow was then countered, and I got to draw 4 more cards
from the Arcane Denials (strong). I then built up my hand again, and
Trickeried the Outpost he dropped next turn. I actually lost the first
counterspell war to Trickery the Outpost, but I promptly cast another one
the turn after, and cast a Disrupting Sceptre. I used the Scepter a good
10 times before he managed to get a Disenchant off. He dropped another 2
Outposts, and I had a lot of trouble holding him off (although I did have
a couple Mishra's and my own Outpost. He was not the most intelligent
about attacking, and would build up to 6 tokens then attack (getting a few
points through my defenses). I was forced to Disk his stuff away at one
point to kill a bunch of tokens and one of his Mishra's. I casted another
Sceptre, and was using the Excavations to try and find my last Trickery in
the deck. I could not managed to get that Trickery for the life of me.
In fact it seemed every time I used the Excavations I would see my Steal
Artifact! I was shuffling quite a bit with the Glaciers (I needed some
more land to keep control of the game). I eventually found myself at 2
life (not pleasant). At last I drew the Trickery and took his Outpost.
His library was looking slim (less than 10 cards). I was very careful to
keep my library larger than his at all times. I also noticed he had not
cast a Digger at all, so I kept a counterspell just for that. Two turns
later he cast his Digger, and I counterspelled it into oblivion. I was
out of counterspells, so I thought he might be able to cast something to
save him (like a Flying Creature for example). When he was very low on
cards I cast Inspiration on him, just finishing his library off, and that
was game. This game reminded me very much of playing Type 1 again, and I
felt very comfortable during the entire match (all 2 hours of it). My
opponent was really whacked out physically and mentally, which really
helped me win the match (he made several bad plays).
Record after Match Five: 12-1 Game Wins. 5-0 Match Wins.
Since It was around 7:00 AM by the time we were done, the other finalist
had to go to work. I kept the Beta Lotus, and the other gentleman (Mike
Guptil) kept the Beta Pearl. We are supposed to play off later to see who
gets which one. Most of the decks seen that day were either blue/white
counterpost or mono-red burn.