Subject: (report, typ II) tradewind 5CG
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 23:37:49 -0800
From: budde2@reichenau.gmd.de (Budde)
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Hi!

This weekend I played in the second regionals-qualifier in my region. In
the previous one I played BloomDrain and finished 2nd (6-1). Even though I
was already qualified for regionals I chose to play in this one for fun.
Okay, with a 2-5 finish I would loose the qualification but that was not
that likely. This time I didn't want to play Bloom because it's just no
fun. I had a 5CW and a Tradewind-5CG. In the end I chose the 5CG because I
supposed that everyone else would play WW, which was absolutely correct.
This is the deck I played:

4 Undiscovered
2 Gemstone Mine
2 City of Brass
11 Forest (I was afraid of Fanatics and so I played some extra lands.)
4 Birds
4 Ranger
-27

2 Guildmage (maybe one too less, but I'm not sure because most people
avoided creatures with toughness 1)
4 Boa
4 Centauren
1 Utan
2 Maro
3 Tradewind (one too much imho. In many situations I would have prefered a
maro.)
-16

3 Orb
3 Geddon
3 Incinerate
2 Terror
2 Giant Growth
2 Disenchant
2 Powersink
-17

Sideboard:
2 Pyroblast
2 Hydroblast
2 Passage
2 Tranquil Domain
2 Abeyance (I was afraid of Bloom ....)
2 Light of Day
2 Sleight of Mind (great! handles crusades/bad moons, maro-skin, perish,
nekrataal ...)
1 Terror

1. 5cg, with lotus Vale, Thalakos Lowlands
The deck was bad and the player not much better. He made some mistakes and
I won easily 2-0.
1-0-0, 2-0

2. Joerg Berentz, 5CB
A good player with a good deck. I lost the first duel quickly to some black
knights backed up by incinerates and nekrataals. I won the second with 2
geddons and a maro. The third duel was quite close. I played a Light of Day
on 2 life (he played with incinerate and kindle ...). It stopped two
shadows and a pumpknight but he hadn't played any DD yet and I had nothing
to defend against that. I played two geddons but he kept playing and
drawing lands. I beat him up with a boa while he kept drawing lands and
black creatures.
2-0-0, 4-1

3. Michael Huth, mono-blue bounce, a teammember
We chose to intentional draw because we didn't want to play.
2-0-1, 4-1

4. Daniel Alvarez, Uw-Howling Mine, Island Sanctuary, Peace Talks ...
I destroyed the howling mines on sight and he didn't have a chance because
he was slightly mana-screwed in the first duel and heavily screwed in the
second (orb+geddon really hurt his deck).
3-0-1, 6-1

5. Stephan Valkyser, BloomDrain
Stephan is a friend and played a Deck very similar to the deck I played in
the qualifier two weeks ago. The only difference is that he plays 22 land
and 2 lotus petals while I played 24 lands. I just couldn't convince him to
drop the petals because he believes that you need the speed against sligh.
I think that that's right and that you might win some games against fast
decks with them but on the other side you are often screwed with some
petals and without any land. That prooved to be right in the first duel. He
had a single city and two petals and died in turn 7 without drawing any
further mana. I  brought in the abeyances, the tranquil domains and the
red-blasts. My initial hand was like bird, 2 lands, 2 boas, abeyance,
tranquil domain. I went first and dropped both boas. I hit him for some
damage while he played only land. In turn 3 I drew a geddon. I chose not to
play it because I was afraid of a powersink. Then he started the engine
with squandered/balance. I played abeyance and he couldn't counter. He got
his lands and thought for a moment. He proceeded to tap out for a bloom. I
casted the tranquil domain during his discard-phase and geddoned during my
turn. He immediatly conceded.
4-0-1, 8-1

6. Jonas Siehoff, mono-red sligh
Jonas is a friend and we chose to draw. We played for fun and he screwed me
three times in a row (thanks to some fanatics and wastelands). Mogg
fanatics are the nemesis of 5CG!
4-0-2, 8-1

7. mono-black weenie, with disks, necro and bad moons
In the first duel he went second and third turn shadow backed up by 2 bad
moons on turn 4. I couldn't deal with that. I boarded the slights and the
light of days. The second duel was about as fast as the first. I went 1.
turn bird, 2. turn ranger, orb, 3. turn maro and then I killed his critters
and geddoned. Game. He had a good start in the third duel with a black
knight and 2 shadows. I managed to get rid of the knight and I played an
orb. He hit me with the shadows. I had 2 rangers, a bird and a boa. My next
draw was  a tradwind. Thanks to the rangers I could bounce twice a turn and
attack with the boa. The shadows went back to his hand and he could recast
them only each second turn. I powersinked a perish and killed him with my
critters.
5-0-2, 10-2

In the end I came in 2nd (57 participants) again, although I was the only
player without a loss. First was Thomas Menke with a red/white-control-deck
with staunch defenders (he played 6-1).
I believe that the 5CG is really good in the current metagame. Most people
aren't prepared for heavy mana-denial. I might play it again in the future.
It does have some problems with sligh and the matches against the
black-decks were close, but it just cannot loose against control. The
geddons and orbs are too much.

CU,

Kai

PS: I have some trouble with my e-mail. If you want to reach me, mail to
'Kai.Budde@magicvillage.de'.