Welcome to a Pro-Tour Paris Qualifer, Type 2 Tourney report!


Akron Ohio - Pro-Tour Qualifier Paris Tourney Report - Feb 1997
Type 2 - November 1996 Deck Construction Rules

I decided to play my own creation. I did not see or here of anyone else playing it the qualifier, though I have been told that someone else somewhere played it. I call it my Forsaken Wastes deck. It is basically a Black/Red bolt deck with a very important change. I found bolt decks generally lose because someone can draw a zuran orb or ivory tower and just shut the deck down. With the addition of Forsaken Wastes the deck is vastly improved. Forsaken wastes was a key card especially against necro throughout the tourney.

Forsaken Wastes, B2, Rare, Mirage, Enchant World.
Players cannot gain life.
During each players upkeep, that player loses 1 life.
If Forsaken Wastes is the target of a successfully cast spell, that spell's caster loses 5 life.

Notice this is loss of life not damage so it is also good versus COP black also. If someone disenchants or boomerangs it (turbo stasis) then that player takes 5 loss of life also. It totally shuts down the broken ivory tower and zuran orb cards. It also help immensely against drain life that necro players rely on. This card is incredibly strong versus necro.

Here is the deck listing:

Black Red Type 2 Forsaken Wastes deck.

4 wildfire emissaries
4 hyppies
4 pump knights (sideboard these out to dodge arrows)
=12 creatures

4 Lightning Bolts
1 incinerate
1 guerilla tactics
1 contagion (can use it to toss wastes vs sligh)
2 fireballs (for pump knights - not torches)
1 earthquake
2 hammer of bogarden (strong but slow)
1 pillage
2 detonate
=14 red

1 zuran orb
=1 artifact

2 forsaken wastes
=2 black spells

4 Rocky Tar Pit
4 Sulfurous Springs
7 swamps
6 mountains
3 mishras
1 strip mine
1 thawing glaciers
4 dark ritual
=30 mana sources (some are creatures and some are rituals though)

Sideboard:
1 black vice
2 red elemental blasts
3 terror (sligh and green)
2 subteranean spirits (vs sligh, slow though)
2 forsaken wastes
3 dystopia (cops, ehrnams etc)
1 pyrokinesis
1 builders banes


Round 1
Red/White - outposts, hordes, swords, torches, volcanic geysers
The first game I ritualed a hypnotic spectre and he drew the red mana he needed to kill it much to late. A lot of times throughout the tourney my hyppies got plowed but when they didn't it was more than worth it to take the risk. It will change the environment when spectres leave in fifth edition. Every deck will no longer need to deal with a first turn spectre. Second game was a bit better for him, he got out a hordes, discarding a land. I double bolted it so that my creatures could get through. He got out an outpost that I ignored because all my ground creatures have protection from white and my hypnotic spectres fly. I don't think I took more than 2 points of damage both games. I sideboarded dystopias and subteranean spirits in but never drew one.
My deck was working great so far.
2-0 games, 1-0 matches

Round 2
G/W Erhnam/Armageddon - Erhnams,centaurs,dwervishes,swords,wrath,geddons
I was playing against someone named Jeremy. I recognized his last name too, I think he posts on the newsgroups or something. He has these great life counters made from well painted zombies and skeletons, all constructed and painted by himself. The wierdest looking skeleton he had put the head of a skeletal horse on. He had a pretty good, but fairly standard W/G deck. His centaurs were good attacks but poor blockers. I was always happy I had the contagion in my deck because in the event of armageddon I could still use it.
He did some damage to me but I just kept attacking and using direct damage on him instead of his Erhnams, and eventually pulled out a win. I sideboarded in my 3 dystopias and 3 terrors. I removed artifact destruction and incinerate and tactics (this is what I normally removed). I bolted his first turn elf, slowing him down. He had only a forest and a thawing glacier and didn't draw any land for a while but thawed out enough to wrath eventually. Before that I managed to hit him repeatedly with my hypnotic spectre (he plowed atleast one spectre). At one point he had 2 erhnams, 1 centaur and 1 dervish out. I had a pump knight and a spectre but he was only at 7 or so life and I was at 16 or so. I feared he was going to geddon next turn so I earthquaked away his centuar and dervish (and my pump knight). I could kill him next turn with a fireball if he didn't armageddon, and he had 1 card left. (I had a fireball and a contagion in my hand, and a black card). He didn't armageddon, so I attacked with my hyppie and fireballed for the rest.
2-0
4-0 games, 2-0 matches

Round 3
G/W Erhnam/Armageddon deck - same deck as match #2
This was Jeremy's friend. He was playing the same deck except he changed the 1 icy to a serrated arrows. I beat him both games pretty easy, dystopia helped a lot, even killing centaurs. Terror was a strong sideboard card here too.
He told me at the end that he was impressed with my deck and that Jeremy had told him all about it after playing me (not knowing his friend would have to play me I am sure). After the match he asked to look through my deck (I let him).
2-0
6-0 games, 3-0 matches

Round 4
Mono Black - Standard necro
This was the type of deck my deck was built to beat. I really liked playing my deck because it is very aggressive and very damaging. A nice break from the blue decks I have been using in new type 2 lately. The game went the same way it always does against necro. I got out some early creature, then he got out necro and necros to around 10-13 life. I then cast forsaken wastes before he has a chance to start using drain life or ivory tower. The necro player is now paying life to draw cards and taking loss of life every turn and can not gain life and I am bolt and fireballing him. He brings out a disk to clear out my creatures and the forsaken wastes (and let him draw without paying life). I have been holding a detonate just for this :). I detonate his disk before it untaps and finish him off next turn. I sideboard in 1 more wastes and 1 vice and a builders bane. The second game goes almost exactly like the first as he (like most necro players lately) refuses to take out the necro second game. My deck performed exactly like it was supposed to, I am happy about that.
2-0
8-0 games, 4-0 matches

Round 5
Mono White Knight deck. Lots of knights, wraths, swords etc. I was glad to find out I am playing white. White fears a few cards - Wildfire emissary, earthquake, fireball, lightning bolt, black pump knights. These are all great versus white knight decks. The emissaries can block and kill any white creature without fear of dying. My typical game is me playing an emissary and possibly using it as a blocker if the opponent has a lot of knights out. Then getting out a second creature to attack unblockable (pro-white or flying). If he gets out lots of knights I fireball them (1 defense) or earthquake. Dystopias help in the second game. I win both decisively taking close to 0 damage.
2-0
10-0 games, 5-0 matches

Round 6
Mono Black Necro
Eric Taylor (AKA Eric Plus)
Another mono-black. Eric and I know each other and he knew I was playing black/red anti-necro though he had never seen my deck play. I knew he was playing necro and he really didn't want to play me this round (only 5 undefeated people).
I told him before the game how much I love to detonate disks.
Detonating disks is possibly the most fun thing I can do to a necro deck. It is like taking their last hope for salvation and blowing it up in their face (too evil?). I also told him I had 4 guerrilla tactics (I only have 1 actually).
First game he got out an early hypnotic spectre. When he attacked I pondered outloud, what is the chance of him pulling one of the tactics in my hand. I believe Eric was not completely convinced I ran tactics standard in the deck at this point, but I then used geurilla tactics to kill the hypnotic spectre before it dealt damage. I could see he was very unhappy because it backed up my statement that I played 4 tactics standard in my deck.
Then he casted necro. I was glad that I had a forsaken wastes in my hand. I dropped a wildfire so I could start doing some creature damage to him, holding my wastes because I figured he was a too low on mana to start wasting drain lifes yet (turn 4). Next turn the ivory tower comes out. And he necros to 10 life or so. I bring out the forsaken wastes, and start attacking and bolting him or his creatures (I try to bolt him more). He consults, but instead of consulting for a disk to clear everthing out he goes for lake of the dead. He has 2 drain life and 3 dark rituals and plans on killing me. He drains me for about 10 (3 rituals and lake). I then get him down to about 4 (remember forsaken wastes is doing damage every turn to both of us). He drains me for another 6 getting me down to 2 life exactly. He had calculated it to be 1 life so that the wastes would kill me during my upkeep. A slight miscalculation, perhaps forgetting the swamps being lost to the lake. I then finish him with a hammer (all my creatures were contagioned by this point).
The second game was not nearly as close. I added vice and wastes from sideboard. He never casted necro and died around turn 6. He had drawn a lot of land he mentioned.
2-0
12-0 games, 6-0 matches

I now had the highest game wins and highest opponent match record. Only 3 people were left undefeated - A sligh deck, a white knight deck and my Forsaken Wastes deck. I planned to draw if I played sligh (forsaken wastes and sligh don't mix!). I knew I could beat a mono white knight deck. And would gladly play him. I could draw both my next 2 matches and still be in. I could even lose one and draw the other and still be in. I was however paired against someone with 1 match loss. A prison deck.

Round 7
White/Blue prison
I figured I could beat prison, especially after sideboaring more forsaken wastes and dystopias in. I had beaten blue/white decks in play testing. But prison is like necro, it has so many good cards in it that you never know what will happen. The first game I just kept attacking and bolting him. I had him saccing lands to the zuran orb to stay alive for many turns. Then he drew balance and killed everything. I did however discard guerilla tactics to the balance causing another 4 damage. The balance killed all my land and creatures while he had 2 icy and a worb out. I still managed to ritual out 2 forsaken wastes but one was countered and the other disenchanted. I wish I had drawn them earlier when he was just struggling to stay alive. I get decked on turn 50 or so.
Game 2 I put in 2 dystopias to kill karma and cops, and added 2 red blasts and 2 forsaken wastes and builders bane. I left the contagion to kill mishras in since it could be cast without mana. I drew only 1 mountain as my land. And started discarding - though I bolted him twice first. Then he drew a strip mine and stripped my only land. By the time I had 2 mana to cast anything he had about 8 and some icys etc. Oh he also casted karma when I played my first swamp. It was kind of a pointless game but I played till I died, never drawing a dystopia to kill the karma. I only actually have 6 swamps. I die from karma eventually.
0-2
12-2 games, 6-1 matches

Round 8
Sligh - Intentional Draw
0-0
This guy had just played my brother and had convinced the judge that a rule existed to make it impossible to COP mana barbs. My brother was playing prison though and only used his diamonds, eventually killing the sligh player with mana barbs damage. The time ran out on game 3 though and they got a tie.
12-2 games, 6-1-1 matches

On to the finals:
Top 8 decks:
My Forsaken Wastes deck
1 White knight deck
3 Sligh decks (including my friend Patrick playing anti-sligh sligh)
1 Necro deck (Eric Taylor)
1 Prison deck
1 other deck that I never saw

I really wanted to be paired against the mono-white, my second choice was necro. I did not want to play against sligh.
As it turns out I was paired against the mono-white knight deck.
I was happy because I always win to mono-white knight decks.

Game 1: It went like most of my games go against mono-white. I bolt his knights unless I have a wildfire to block in which case I bolt him and I attack with my black pump knights and hyppies. Fireball and earthquake are great in this battle. I win the first game.

Game 2: I sideboard in 3 dystopias and a pyrokinesis. He starts off with land tax. I start with 1 mountain. (26 lands +4 rituals in the deck by the way). I discard a few times because I have no land. He casts ivory tower on turn 2 (after turn 1 land tax). He sits there gaining life rather than laying land to kill me. This is in a way good for me because atleast it gives me time to draw lands. I pretend I am not mana screwed I just don't want to let him use land tax. Eventually I draw a land and start casting things. He is at 40 life or so. I end up not getting enough lands when the battle finally does start and die in a very close game. I think he was at 5 life or so. (I never did get a second black mana the whole game and died holding 2 dystopias and 3 pump knights). At one point during this game he tries to activate his mishra's factory, block, and tap it to become 3/3 even though it has summoning sickness. I tell him he can't and he goes I don't block then. I say it is the finals so I won't let him take it back, also because I think he knew he was cheating but tried to get away with it. After the match I ask him about it and he admits he knew the rule but tried to do it anyways.

Game 3: I am confident I can still win, I just need average draws. I get average draws but he gets perfect draws. He draws all 4 of his aeleopiles very early and kills 3 knights and 1 spectre. He swordsed another spectre and wrathed my wildfire. He had all the cards he needed. It ends up pretty close but he wins.

I get 8 boosters and 1 starter for placing 5-8.
I can't believe I was knocked out by mono-white knights.

Other people in the top 8:
Eric Taylor playing necro lost to a sligh deck I believe.
Patrick playing anti-sligh sligh beat 2 other sligh decks in a row and qualified for Paris. I believe the other person to qualify was the prison deck. It was very standard, with about 2 of each tutor and 3-4 arcane denials. Something out of a book or off the internet.


Mail Mike Donais