Subject: report Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 14:29:44 -0600 From: pakrats@post-box.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com --------------------------------- January 20, 1997 First off there is a slight hint of swearing in here (Kind of on the order of South Park). If that offends you, then you should back arrow out of here. I started writing this 10:30 Sunday night, and then my wife wanted to jump my bones. Magic does not come before I do! She was my Bone Dancer that night. I finished this Tuesday afternoon. I just played in a type II tourney Sunday at a local store, with a deck built pretty much to spec, from the plans of architect Jamie Wakefield: 3 rituals 3 disks 4 stupor 4 drains 4 edicts 2 brothers very grim 2 necrosavants 1 commander G (I wanted to give him a try) 3 necrataals 4 bone dancer 4 carrionette 1 abysall spectre 18 swamps 4 quicksands 4 wastelands My sideboard hardly came into play, so lets just ignore that. (email me if you want to know what it is) This is about 99.9% Jamie’s world famous "Black FAT" deck. The only change was to toss in the Commander and sneak out a Necrataal. I also sneaked in the Abysal Spectre to get me to 61 cards, just in case someone complained about a worn/marked card. To be honest with you now, I just picked up Magic this summer. My 8 year old daughter asked me to teach her how to play. I just loved it, and got hooked. I have read probably about 20 printed books on M:TG, but this was my first tourney where I actually paid cashola to play someone. All my testing has been with kids in the neighborhood, and playing games before bed-time with my daughter. So I go into this place pretty nervous. I’m 36 years old for God’s sake. I must look like a fossil to the kids that are going to be playing here. This tourney was $5 to get in. 5 rounds. You play best of 3. 1 point/game. If you sweep the first 2, you get 3 points. I get there 1/2 hr. early. Tables already set up. So its just me and this dude (Aaron) who just moved here from Iowa. Asks to play for fun. I figure what the hell, I came to playtest and get a tourney feel for this deck. I am a rookie. We play. He is playing straight blue, and an awesome player! I am in control the entire practice game. The game goes 1/2 hr though. But a Morinfen does him in the end, And I am at 24 life. Tourney starts Round 1 ... guess who I get? Aaron!!! Man I am so stupid. If that first game would have counted I would have needed one more win for a sweep. Now he knows my deck. (Lesson 1 - never practice with your tourney deck. Bring a fun deck along for practice! I learned this lesson the hard way.) Game 1. He cant do shit about 3rd and 4th round Stupors and he is toast early. (I have now beat him 2 straight - This was a sweep as far as I'm concerned … but I am just so freakin’ stupid!) He sides in 2 disks. During the sideboard he tells me won the Chicago PTQ to play in the Pro Tour Ohio in ’96 (I think). This is before my time. But he said he got a huge-ass trophy. He said he finally won this PTQ at 5:30 a.m. Then he drove from Waterloo Iowa to play in it. He complements "Mr. Wakefield’s" deck! He said he prepared for sligh decks, and this is throwing him for a loop. He just moved to my area from Iowa. Game 2: We play an awesome game, back & forth. Probably the funnest game I’ve ever played. What sucks is that he dissipates both my necrosavants. Shit! Then keeps capsizing my summons, and he can pay the buy back. Game goes too long for me and he does me in eventually because of the capsize/buy back. I must have had 10 swamps out, and needed one Drain life to do him in. Got zero. (Lesson 2: Jamie tells me Monday that I should have sided in the Forsaken Wastes. I knew this, but the deck worked so good the first 2 games, I didn’t do anything. When a game is going to last a while, put in the wastes). This game lasted at least 45 minutes I’d guess. Game 3 I start with 3 drains, 2 swamps, a wasteland, a quicksand. I was wondering if I should take a Paris Mullligan here, but there was No Paris allowed. Guy running tourney doesn’t even know what a Paris is! How can he solve a dispute on the board if he doesn’t know something as common as this? No one else there knows what a Paris is except me and Aaron (the dude I’m playing). I start thinking ‘Wow, maybe I know this shit better than I thought’. My opponent gets out early islands and diamonds, then he is able to keep capsizing my swamps back to my hand. I just can’t do shit. I can’t get out a creature without a swamp. I can’t ritual without a swamp out. He hardly plays any creatures, just man-o-wars and Tims, and I die a slow cruel death. He just keeps hitting me with Tims and bouncing my swamps. What a bastard! (A compliment to him) My opponent sort of admits I really swept him. This guy actually does not lose a single game the rest of the day, and sweeps the next 4 rounds, and takes first. His only 2 losses were to me. I get second place. (Which I am extremely proud of for a rookie). What is cool is that this guy treats me like the best player there other than himself. Even asks for my phone number to practice sometime. That made me feel great! Let me tell you about other rounds: Round 2 - Another Blue deck. Game 1: Opponent gets all land. He all land mulligans, and gets 0 land. Do you want to know what a Paris is now? Have a nice day. I get out an early Bone Dancer. My opponent has to discard early and drops a 4/4 Flier in his graveyard. He does not have a clue what my boner can do. My boner says, "I’ll dance on over and take that from your grave". Take a smack for 4 and 4 more, and 4 more … Won this game on turn 5 or so. Game 2. The guy gets out a Rainbow Efreet. He keeps phasing the bitch, and I can’t get rid of it. Couldn’t disk it, edict it nothing! Game is close, and I play my only Abysal Spectre. The bastard Desertions it. And it beats the shit out of me. I am discarding like crazy, and the bitch keeps smacking me around too. Getting beat by you own creature really blows. But I guess its fair, as I did it to him last game. Game 3. Long game. Gallowbraid wins it for me in the end. Phasing again drives me crazy. Can’t blow a disk against it. Phases out. (Lesson 3: Jamie Wakefield tells me Monday that I should have sided in terrors, instead of the edicts. If your opponent has no black … take out 4 edicts and put in 4 terrors) Round 3 - Sweep! Some guy playing green/blue with only 16 land and a bunch of elves. 2 stupors in both my opening hands. Diabolic Edicts do in the elves. He is pretty much holding nothing but his peter when I ritual in the Commander (both games) and both games last only 5 minutes each I’d say. The stupors were just kicking major ass all day. Round 4 - A fifteen year old kid with a burn deck. Both games he hits me early with 2 sudden impacts. Both for 5. I waste his reflecting pool. This really helped. Then I Stupor the shit out of him, and 1 game I ritual in Commander, and the other game I ritualed in the Necrosavant. See YA!! Just couldn’t stop them big fat backhands. Round 5 - A dude from Poland. Cool guy. Playing a red/black deck. I stupor him both games early. Game 1 I actually double ritual in the necrosavant on my second turn. I was holding 2 disks, but he only had one land in play. What could he do? Very fast game. Game 2 sees the necrosavant rising from the grave, and he makes my opponent go down like a $2 whore! On the day I go 9-3, and get 12 points because of the 3 sweeps. --------------------------------------------------------------------- So I get second. Nothing to show for it. But I am still proud. Carrionettes got through for 1 all day. No one would kill ‘em. Bone Dancers were freakin’ guys out left and right. They served as great creature standoffs to more powerful creatures. Guys might only have 1 biggie in play, and wouldn’t attack as I’d raid their graveyard next turn! Love ‘em. The commander was kinda fun to play with. Once in play - it was game over. Fun to sac a carrionette to bring in the commander. Then next turn yank the Carrionette and my opponents creature from the game. Those two were a nice combo. Every guy in this tourney was great! They did not make a 36 year old fossil feel out of place in the least bit. Thanks. I also realized that all reading is paying off. If you are new. Pick up some books. Get a subscription to the Duelist, Inquest, or Scrye. Two people I really need to thank. First - Jamie Wakefield. I picked up his book : "Tournament Reports" and honestly could not put it down. I wrote him an email after I read it, and he answered. That was cool! A guy who authored a book actually wrote back to a peon like me?!!! After reading the book, I understood a lot more about local tourneys and the PTQ’s. He has been great to me. I have asked some really dopey questions in emails over the last few months. He could have written back "Get a Clue!" But he didn’t. Awesome guy! Thank You. And second. Jack Stanton. Jack wrote a chapter in one of the best books ever printed on M:TG. The book is Totally Unauthorized M:TG -"The advanced players guide". We also conversed via email, and he has been extremely helpful. Thanks. Both Jack and Jamie have sections on the Dojo. If you find this before theirs, you should seek theirs out. P.S. - I have a web site that lists all the books I have read. I review them for you. If you want to see some honest book reviews: http://www.post-box.com/magic That site is me paying back my debt to all you great people out there who dedicate their time to write reports, design sites, and respond to e-mails for the benefit of others. I have not met one guy associated with this game who is an asswipe. Thanks. Bill Gill pakrats@post-box.com