Subject: [Report] Eastwood 98-1-18 T2TE Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 14:21:27 +1100 From: Grant A Mitchell To: Frank Kusumoto Eastwood Tournament Report Date: Eastwood January 18th 1998 Format: Standard Rath Cycle Block (Type 2 Tempest) Venue: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW, Australia Head Judge: Grant Mitchell Judges: Skeeve Stevens, Andrew Pirie. 34 players turned up to kick off the New Year at the Eastwood Tournament Series, at the lovely venue of Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club (just keep remembering to dress neatly so we can continue to enjoy the air-conditioned comfort!). The surprising points to start the day was the single member of Team KINGS, the appearance of many guys from out of town (including Wollongong and the Central Coast - thanks guys!), and the fact that we started on time (10.30am)! The colour decks used during the day were: B - 1, BU - 2, U - 0, UW - 3, W - 4, WG - 2, G - 2, GR - 4, R - 1, BR - 2, BW - 4, UR - 2, RW - 3, BURw - 1, BUG - 1, BRW - 1, BGR - 1 I'll go through a couple of matches in the Swiss rounds, and then give a quick summary of the Top 8. Unfortunately, for all you deck scalpers, there are no full deck lists - I forgot to ask the Top 8 for their permissions, and we wouldn't want the Aussie secrets to break out before Pro Tour LA, would we!? ;) ----------------- Round 1 Nik Smith v Brendan Foong Nik is an irregular at tournaments, often turning up for the larger ones, but I'm always happy to see him because he always designs and plays differently. Today he was playing a funky deck. At first I thought it was a Merfolk deck, but he said that was just part of the concept. His WU deck involved the Rootwater Shaman and the Rootwater Matriarch as a means for stealing other people's creatures with Flickering Ward and Gaseous Form! Brendan Foong, of Team LIFT OFF (sponsors of the Eastwood tournaments), was playing UR, with the lock of Propaganda and Hand To Hand. (Upon discussion of this lock with the judges we thought that the ruling of when to pay Propaganda has no sensible reason - just that it was ruled that way). Needless to say, Brendan's lock won him the match. Brendan Foong 2-0. ----------------- Round 2 Daniel Godden v Andrew Corney Daniel is an Eastwood regular even though he lives 100km up the coast, but he always makes a creative deck, and he didn't let us down today. His four colour UR deck (with W and B) had the best of everything - burn, fast critters, creature control, counters, and recycling! Andrew Corney, of Team MAGAUS, is the man who introduced me to Magic back in the days of 1994, and his creativity and sheer will to win give him inspiration to put together a version of Adam Kemp's Monastery (which Andrew helped design) called "Revolting Monastery". This deck is basically creatureless, with Humility and Orim's Prayer as the creature stopping power, and some Spirit Mirrors and Nature's Revolts for the kill. Andrew won the first duel nicely, and then died to a horrible hand and good play by Daniel, but came back to win the last duel. Andrew Corney 2-1. ----------------- Round 3 Phil Jenson v Dan Turner Phil is a visiting Kiwi having lots of fun playing at our "larger" tournaments (or so he says!). He brought along a WW deck, with plenty of Soltari, some Knights and Soldiers, Gerrard's Battle Cry, and some of the buy back instants like Invulnerability and Anoint. Dan Turner is a Sydney regular and often performs well, with well designed and tested decks. Dan had a RG critter burn deck today. Fast red and green guys (Moggs, Slivers, Fireslinger), then some burn and utility (Rampant Growth and Overrun), plus a splash of black (with more black in the SB). Dan won the first duel, then Phil won the second; however, as with a few matches each round (maybe 45 minutes isn't enough for T2TE?), the last duel was unfinished. Draw 1-1. ----------------- Round 4 Ben Isaacs v Ben Seck Ben Isaacs, another Team MAGAUS player and one of Sydney's successful Junior players (going 7-0 in the Swiss rounds of the Oz Open Type 2 with a G deck), decided to stick to a good thing. Ben was playing a G Vineyard deck with Cursed Scrolls, lots of critters and plenty of Overruns. He even had Tranquility in the main deck, plus 4 Maze of Shadows. Ben Seck, sole rep for Team KINGS on the day, had a BW deck, with black supplying most of the creatures and recycling, and white providing the artifact and enchantment control. Plus 4 Bottle Gnomes to boot. Ben Isaac's deck served him well again in this match, taking the first and third duel. Ben Isaacs 2-1. ----------------- Round 5 Tim Nheu v Matt Champion Tim (Team QUEST?) has showed his face a little more often lately, which is good to see. Tim was playing another RG critter deck, with heavier burn (incl. 4 Thunders), and less green guys, concentrating mostly on the red mana curve of creatures. Puppet Strings was also thrown in for control. Matt, the cousin of the known Sydney player Mark Champion, had a WW deck. I was impressed with how well he knew the way his deck worked, with Cursed Scroll and Invulnerability taking a big part alongside the knights, soldiers, and soltari. Tim lost the first duel with the speed of WW and those Soltari Priests and Invulnerability being too much. However, with some SB skill and good play he won the second and third duel. Tim Nheu 2-1. ----------------- Round 6 Jim Bandas v Ian Taylor Jim, a great guy (and always has an opinion of the latest rulings!) had a BR kill deck. When asked "What do you do about artifacts and enchantments?" he said "I just kill them another way." With a great amount of creatures and creature control, a bit of burn, and then Goblin Bombardment to boot, the deck worked surprisingly well on the day. Ian "Infinite Monkeys" Taylor was yet another RG player, though he claimed to have designed the deck himself. Actually I'm sure he did (people thought him unoriginal after his Extended efforts with Goblins, but when you're on a good thing, burn them some more!) With slivers making the main content, and then Elvish Fury and a touch of burn and enchantment control, it performed well. Jim romped the match in, winning the first two duels. Jim Bandas 2-0. ----------------- The finals proceeded as follows: 1 Ben Isaacs ---. > Ben Isaacs ---. 8 Nik Smith ----' \ > Daniel Morgan . 4 Gerard Fong --. / \ > Daniel Morgan ' \ 5 Daniel Morgan ' \ > Daniel Morgan 2 Ben Seck -----. / > Kim Brebach --. / 7 Kim Brebach --' \ / > Kim Brebach --' 3 Brendan Foong . / > Brendan Foong ' 6 Jim Bandas ---' Thus the final top 8 standings (plus brief deck descriptions): 1 Daniel Morgan (Rw CritterBurn) 2 Kim Brebach (RG Fast Critter) 3 Ben Isaacs (G Vineyard Overrun) 4 Brendan Foong (UR Lock Burn) 5 Ben Seck (Bw Living Critter) 6 Gerard Fong (WR CritterBurn) 7 Jim Bandas (BR CritterBurn) 8 Nik Smith (UW Merfolk Control) Congratulations to Daniel, Team LIFT OFF, another junior player, for finally winning a tournament! Props: Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club - it was 42 degrees C outside (108 F), but it was a lovely 23 degrees C inside (73 F). Skeeve - getting close to the elusive Level 2 Judge! Daniel Morgan - for finally winning an Eastwood tournament (and making the Grand Final nice and short) Jim Bandas - for some good rules arguments Kim Brebach - for some entertaining play with Pallimud Lift Off - for continued support and stock, even if we the tournament isn't just around the corner anymore. Slops: Team KINGS - your only player was your worst constructed player!? Drafters - you guys take SO LONG! Me - the report is a little late, but I finally got off my backside and finished this report, since the next tournament is this Sunday! See you all on Sunday 8th February (a week early due to the Melbourne Grand Prix) for the next tournament, which will be regular Standard. ------- name://grant.a.mitchell/ mtg://the next eastwood mtg tournament email://grant@magic.net.au/ mtg://is on sun 8th february and is t2 http://www.myinternet.net/grant/ msg:// phone://+61.412.167.234/ irc://scrixer/ judge://dci.level.3/