Subject: Tourney Report Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 17:25:11 -0800 From: "Idoh Gersten" To: "Frank Kusumoto--The Dojo" Once again straight red has brought home the bacon, a whopping $20 bucks at a local tourney. Important note: Cursed Scroll never missed, as every time I used it I had made sure of the 1 card only, or 2 of the same card. It is really easy to work it out in this deck. Red has worked for me, and this is the beast I brought this week. It is not a sligh deck, as there is no curve. I guess in classification it is a Scroll/weenie deck. : 32 critters 28 1cc things 4 2cc things 4 3cc things 16 mounatins everything but sandsatlker can be potentially played on the second turn, how is that for resource speed? Everything can be played third turn. 4 each of: Jackal Pup Mogg Conscripts (very good) Mogg Raider (strong v/ knights) Mogg Fanatic (staple critter) Orcish Conscript (sucked, will replace w/...goblin soothsayer...I dunno) Keeper of Kookus (3/4 of my games were vs. straight red) Fireslinger (strong) Viashno Sandstalker (good, but sometimes anoying with cursed scroll) Fireblast (game winner) Incinerate Cursed Scroll (game winner) 16 mounatin (perfect amount...the deck ran tight, but I was never screwed) Sideboard: 2 Hand to Hand (vs. CoP) 3 Winter Orb (vs. Control) 1 Jinxed Idol (vs. Control) 3 Pyroblast (duh..) 4 Goblin Tinkerer (for artifacts, but actually used for Jackal Pups swap) 2 Song of Blood (vs. Humility/Orim's prayer...there is a good deck around here which runs that) 1st Match Lots of black things: I race him to 0, his shadows are just a bad deal when I have no intention of blocking anyway. Second Game: He gets out a 1st and second turn black knight, which is trouble for my deck. His shadows and flankers harm me while he holds back w/ knights beefed up w/ bad moon. The final plays of the game are really tight, involving Cursed Scroll dynamics that reminded me of a Duelist puzzle, but I lost anyway in a close match. I saw a necro hit the table, his necroing almost alowed me to win. 3rd Game: quick critter rush, then a many turned cursed scroll kill. Cursed scroll, just so good in this deck. The scroll w/ 5 land out is almost always game, as I can cast whatever I draw and still use the scroll. He really screwed himself, first turn 3/1 shadow, third turn, w/ three land swamps down, he lotus+ritual+coercion. Wow, he took an incinerate. Cast Knight that turn too, but had only one card left. Match 2: Dustin, Playing "Smart Sligh," or sligh w/ some white in it for disenchants + CoP: Red. He ran plains, not gemstones or undiscoverds for the white. That is most un-strong. 1st Game, he gets mana screwed, I throw my deck at him, he dies. 2nd Game, he gets "mana screwed" at 3 lands, and I outrun a CoP, fireblast for the kill. Sligh should be able to work at 3 lands, but he was so worried about the CoP that he refused to develop. 3rd Match: Dom playing some red burn thing. 1st game: I get in a few hits w/ critters, and my cursed scroll kills him, doing 6 points of damage, then double fireblast. 2nd Game: Pretty much the same as the 1st game, except less spectacular. 4th Match Finals: Sean playing 1cc red song of blood deck. He always plays interesting decks, this one was only 1cc red critters, 4 incinerates, 4 fireblast, 4 song of blood. 1st game: He gets mana flooded, Concedes after I get out the sandstalker. 2nd Game: He gets a nice draw, and does the 1 land beatdown. I could not stop his multiple Mountain Goats and Keeper of Kookus. 3rd Game: a longish game, and I wind up cursed scrolling him and his critters to death. We got into a rules debate about how Orcish Conscript attack and block...he knew I was right, just tried to freak me out I guess. If there are 3 Orcish Conscripts out, Sean said none could attack, I said they all could. We got the store involved in the debate, with bystanders joining in on both sides, but I called over the Judges, and when the judges ruled, i was vindicated. Oh well. Thus I win 30 buck. But through splits and deals, it was whittled down to 20. Thoughts: -Cursed Scrolls are very strong, they were game winners in a few matches -There was a lot of red, with 3 of the final 4 being straight red... -Side out jackal pups vs red... -Even w/ 32 critters, orcish conscripts still suck. -It is possible to win tourneys w/o an expensive deck...mine has 8 uncommons and 4 rares in it. 15 bucks for the entire deck. -There are no good sideboard cards for red to use...I didn't really need to sideboard in any game, I just rotated the pups out for Goblin Tinkerers a few times.