Subject: Prerelease report, Trondheim, Norway Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 13:11:39 +0100 From: "Thomas F. Gundersen" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hi! I'm writing a little report on the Stronghold Prerelease in Trondheim, Norway, the 22. of february. The tournament was held at Lade University, and had a good showing of about 40 people. We were to play 6 rounds of swiss, culminating in single-elimination for the best eight. I got handed a great deck, don't have the complete deck listing, but some highlights were : Several big green creatures, including Heartwood Giant, Spike Colony, Rootwalla, Spike Warrior (? The 3/3 one), and some others. I also got a Fireslinger, an Acidic Sliver, a Spike Feeder and a Bellowing Fiend, and several other good creatures. For creature destruction, I got Dark Banishing, Lightning Blast and 2 Shocks. But a game-winner for me was Bullwhip. This card was absolutely huge in this environment, removing small creatures, forcing small power ones (like the Basilisk) to attack, allowing me to attack back), and killing creatures by forcing them to attack and blocking. As you may understand, my deck was G/r/b. Anyway, on with the report : Round 1 (Don't remember name) This guy had a really good deck, and started out with a 2nd round circle of protection : green. I quickly got out a couple of fatties, but couldn't attack because of the circle. However, I had the enchantment Tortured Existence, which allowed me to recycle an Acidic Sliver, killing most of his creatures. In the end, I got out the Sliver, put a couple of spike counters on him and killed the guy. Second round was much closer, him getting out some fatties, including the 5/4 Trample Regenerating guy. However, he made a fatal mistake, putting the green licid on him and saving only two mana to regenerate. He killed some of my blockers, but I had a basilisk, which made it die twice, and killed it. After that I cruised in with my own fatties, including a bellowing fiend. Matches : 1-0 Duels : 2-0 Round 2 (Øystein Rønning) While waiting for the second round, I talked with my friend Endre who had played this guy. He told me that he had a really strong deck, which was true. So I hoped that I would not meet him in the next round, but I did. His deck was black/blue/red with lots of removal and Tradewind Rider. First round was really close, both of us getting out a lot of good stuff and removing the other one's stuff. My creatures were bigger than his, but he got me down to 1 life with a knight of dusk in play. I had an acidic sliver and a spike feeder (2/2), and he was at 4 life. I blocked the knight and shot him with the sliver, and on my turn attacked with the feeder for the kill. The second round was all about beatdown and mana screw. He got no blue mana until late in the game and popped down the 'Rider, which I Lightning Blasted and killed him with my fatties. Matches : 2-0 Duels 4-0 Round 3 (Don't remember this one very well ...) Matches 3-0 Duels : 6-0 Round 4. Thomas Vordal I hate meeting up with my friends... We found that since both of us were at 9 points, we would make it into the final eight with one victory and a draw. So we drew. As it turned out, we should maybe have played, as I crushed in three games in a row for fun... Round 5. Hans-Christian This guy was top seed (12 points), but I wasn't worried as I had seen his deck. It was all about small creatures, which my fireslinger and bullwhip had no problems with. First round I got out a second-turn fireslinger which killed 5 or 6 of his creatures. He couldn't cope with my fatties, which ran all over him for a confident victory. After the round, he told me that the first thing he would do was kill the fireslinger ! Second round was similar, although the Bullwhip did the beating this time. I also got out an acidic sliver and a fireslinger, which he promptly killed with rolling thunder. In response to that I killed both of his creatures and beat him down. Matches : 4-0-1 Duels : 8-0 Round 6. Kjetil Friden Kjetil and I were both at 13 points and were playing for top seed. Whoever won would have an easier way into the final. His deck contained many small creatures, so I thought my bullwhip and fireslinger would get the job done. First round was a bit slow for me, although I got out a bullwhip and Wall of Razors and seemingly got control at six life. However, he pumped a 3/3 creature with the +3/+0 buyback spell and slinged it on me. Second round was good, me killing his small creatures and getting out some fatties. As in the first round Third round I had a god draw, with second-turn fireslinger and lots of creatures. As he was mana-screwed, it was a short one. So I'm top seed ! Matches 5-0-1 Duels 10-1 Final Eight : Quarter-finals : Kjetil ? This round was a blur, I just remember winning it 2-0. Semi-Finals : Thomas Harris Thomas is a good player which I seldom see at tournaments. Not sure if he actually lives here in Trondheim, as he is from Oslo, I think. He played a blue/red deck with some really good creatures, including the silver wyvern. First round was an easy win for me, as he got out mostly small creatures, while mine were big. He got out a Mogg Flunkies, but didn't get much else, so they were useless. Second round was a really exciting game, though, as we were trading blows back and forth, and he was low at life, but got out the Silver Wyvern and a Telethopter. I had nothing to block his flying creatures with, but he had to hold them back to block my fatties. I had a Spike Feeder in play and three other creatures, including another Spike Creature. He had telethopter and the Wyvern, Mogg Flunkies and two shadow creatures, but was 1 or 2 points away from killing me with his unblockable creatures. I then attacked with all my creatures and put the +1/+1 counters on an unblocked one, killing him. It was a real Rosewater ! Finals : Håvard Bakke Håvard had a super-quick white/black deck with lots of 1-cost weenies and Cursed Scroll (!). He did not have much creature destruction, so I know my Fireslinger and Bullwhip would be big. However, my deck was kind of slow, so it would be an intense battle. In addition, it was already about 12 o'clock when the finals started, and we were both getting tired. Håvard was joking about how his die was bigger than mine, and how much caffeine was in his Urge bottle. According to him, this would give him the advantage he needed to pull this out. First Game : We rolled the dice, he won. Hmm... there might be something in that big die advantage after all. His weenies swarmed me as a result, me never recovering from his fast start. Second Game : I start, and he gets nothing out in the first two turns. I got out a skyshroud archer and a lowland basilisk, blocking most of his weenies till my biggies got out. I beat him down. 1-1. Third Game: He starts (starter wins ??), and gets a god draw. First round swamp, mox diamond, Imp (2/2 Flying), Cursed Scroll on the second round, easy win for him. 1-2. Fourth Game: Now I start, and have the edge from the beginning. He gets me down low, but I control his game. I have a lowland basilisk and a 4/4 Spike Colony which are beating on his weenies. He blocks my 3/3 with an Imp and a 1/1 Kor. I kill his Imp, the Kor lives and my basilisk kills a creature as well. At the end of my turn, he Shocks my Colony, and I respond by tapping six mana and moving 3 counters over on the basilisk .... No wait !!! The judge says that only one counter is moved, as it dies when it is 3/3 with 3 damage. He is right, of course, and I take four mana burn. Oh no, I think, is this going to cost me the victory ? He starts Drain Lifeing me with buyback, which puts me on the clock to get some beatdown. My deck serves, and I kill him with a 3/3 Spike. 2-2. Fifth Game: This game had my opponent mana screwed, while I had the god draw. Using fireslinger and Skyshroud Archer, I killed all his creatures and beat him down with spikes, Telethopter and Bellowing Fiend. Victory is mine! In retrospect, I think the spikes were really great in this format, because : 1) They are big. 2) They make other creatures big. 3) They confuse your opponent. Also, the Bull Whip was GREAT, won me many games, as I could 1) Force creatures to attack and block them -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thomas F. Gundersen (thomasg@idi.ntnu.no) Homepage : http://www.idi.ntnu.no/~thomasg ----------------------------------------------------------------------