Subject: Sligh Deck / Type I Tournament Report (Long) Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 03:06:04 EDT From: MahamotiDj To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Tournament Report - April 18, 1998 (*LONG*) Mandeville, Louisiana Classic Format Before I start, let me just make sure everyone knows that I took all of zero notes throughout this event. Things like names, the number of cards my opponent had in his hand on turn #4, etc. just aren't important enough to remember, and therefore shouldn't be important enough to put in a tournament report. Also, I have a little tendency to ramble on inconclusively for hours on end, so if you want to skip my pre-tournament thoughts and my deck, scroll down until you find a bunch of asterixes. Now, on to the good stuff... I hope... If there is one thing I've maintained throughout my Magic "career" it is an absolute hatred for Type I tournaments. So when I found out the first major tournament in this area for nearly a year was going to be Type I, I was more then a little upset. But quickly, that anger turned into excitement, as I started to grasp all the possibilites for deck construction. Arcane Denial and Force of Will wieghed heavily on my mind, as did Ernham Djinn, and come the night before the big event, those were the three cards I was determined on exploiting. The first deck I playtested was little more then your average control deck. It ran a bit slow, and depended too heavily on Wrath of Gods to deliver a finishing blow. Scratch idea #1. Then I tried an Ernhamgeddon deck. This makes three times I've attempted to build and use such a deck in a tournament, and it also makes three times I've ripped it apart in frustration. It just lakes any kind of consistancy, and relies too much on the large creature/Armageddon draw. Scratch idea #2. Moving on in what seemed to be a reasonable evolution, 5CG was my next victim in the playtesting circle. And it faired much better then the previous attempts. A few snips here and there, and I felt confident enough that the deck could defeat the somewhat scrubbish compitition. Thus, with Birds of Paradise and Cities of Brass in my head, I went to sleep. I woke up in the morning a bit groggy, but otherwise excited about what was to come. I drove out, picked up a friend and headed off to the community center, where this shin-dig was taking place. After some trading, I sat down to playtest my deck a bit against Rich, my afformentioned friend, who was playing a near-Stompy deck. I sat down and let myself get beaten up a bit, and pulled off two very close wins. Then, just for kicks, I ran my Type II Sligh deck against his deck. Not only did my deck win, but it thrashed through him like... umn... a knife through butter. So I ran it against my 5CG, and lo- and-behold, it won a consistant 5 out of 5 times. Thinking I may have been wrong on my 5CG judgement, I grabbed 4 Lightening Bolts, tossed them in the Kindle spots for the Sligh, plopped down my $2 and registered the following deck: (* Denotes MVP) 4x Mogg Conscripts 4x Mogg Fantastics 3x *Goblin Vandal* (Only used the ability twice, but both times won me the event) 4x Mogg Flunkies 4x *Fireslinger* (Pump-Knights? Not a problem!) 2x *Ball Lightening* (Never hit for less then 4 points of damage) 2x Lava Hounds 4x Lightening Bolt 4x Incinerate 4x Fireblast 4x Cursed Scroll 18x Mountain 4x Wasteland SIDEBOARD: 4x Pyroblasts 3x Flashfires 3x Jackal Pups (To replace the Vandals, if I needed to get going quicker) 3x Jinxed Idols (Against creature-slim decks) 1x Sirroco (I only used it once, and it forced my opponent to burn a counter) 1x Rathi Dragon (To replace Lava Hounds against non-bouncing decks) Can you tell I'm not a T1 guy? No power cards at all. But I figured "Hey, why even think about making this deck more complex then it needs to be?" Announcements were made, players were frantic, and the games begun. ************************ YES, THIS IS MY TOURNAMENT REPORT *********************** Match #1 (0-0)/(0-0) (Playing a scrub with a mono-red pure DD deck) Game #1 - First turn he hits *me* with a Lightening Bolt. My Conscripts and Flunkies cruise to an easy win. Game #2 - I get creature-screwed early and he manages to destroy everything I control, and hit me for a bit. I get him to 8, and blow up two Fireblasts in his face, but he hits me back damage then the life I had remaining and we draw. Game #3 - Perfect mana curve. Conscripts, Flunkies, Ball, Rathi, and DD to win it. Match #2 (1-0)/(2-0-1) (Playing some big annoying guy with an in-tact "Deep Freeze" preconstructed deck) Game #1 - I get creature screwed again, and by the time I can refill my hand with worthy spells he's applying Avenging Angel beatdown. I try to wade through the counters, btu I run out of time. Game #2 - Perfect mana curve. Conscripts, Flunkies, Ball, and 2 Fireblasts for an early win. Game #3 - I drop 3 early weenie creatures and a Cursed Scroll. On his fourth turn, he casts, get this, a Conversion. I hope and prey that he can't cast any creatures to get in the way of my 3 weeners, and miraculously, he doesn't. A few turns of Mogg beatdown for the win. Match #3 (2-0)(4-1-1) (Playing a guy with a large monoblack deck) Game #1 - Sligh mana curve + DD wins. Game #2 - Big Sengir Vampire takes the table before I can get the balls to Fireblast it. By that time I'm just Drain-Life bait. Game #3 - I get a bit creature-screwed, but I manage to pull him down to 16 before he casts... a Lord of the Pit. I kill of all his other creatures and take 7 points of Lord damage but by the time he's done that he's take 14 of his own and a pety Lightening Bolt finishes the job. Match #4 (3-0)(6-2-1) (Playing another scrub with a 72-card black/red deck) Game #1 - He gets mana-screwed. Game #2 - He gets mana-screwed. How fun is that? 4th of 5 Swiss rounds and my opponent mana-screws twice. Just for fun I try out the 5CG deck and it takes a beating as always, but still survives. Match #5 (4-0)(8-2-1) (Playing Wally Warren and his big White Weenie deck) Game #1 - If there is one guy I didn't want to see, it was Wally. He is undoubtedly the best player in the area, and he manages to win many small in- store tournaments all the time. Not only that, but he's playing the only deck I minorly feared about when I chose Sligh -- White Weenie. I take a deep breath, and dive in. White Knight - Incinerate. Order - Lightening Bolt. Knight - Incinerate. Reinforcments - Now's my chance. I hit him with the weenie force I've been building. White Knight - I attack again. White Knight - I attack again. Surprisingly, most everything goes through unblocked, and that sets him up for the dasterdly Bolt, Bolt, Blast combo. Game #2 - I know Wally hates red, so I'm expecting a lot of big red hosers, but surprisingly, I only see one Honorable Passage. Game 2 flows like the first and I burn my way to another win. End of Swiss - (5-0)/(10-2-1) WooHoo! I'm in first place! Due to time constraints, the organizer cut the Top 8 to a Top 4, so I figure, hey -- Only 2 more matches for my title... Semifinals (5-0)/(10-2-1) (I'm playing a guy who has a huge Red/Blue deck) Game #1 - I get some early weenies and win up facing Sibilant Spirits and Shivan Dragons. Chump-burning gets rid of the first wave, but I'm left defensless for the second. A cloned Mahamoti Djinn does me in. Game #2 - I weenie around for the early game, knocking him to 12. I then turn my burn on him instead of to his critters. Bolt, Bolt, Incin, Blast knocks him cold. Cheesy, but nevertheless effective. Game #3 - Nearly the same as game #2, except for the fact that I Scrolled him to death instead. Hey! Whaddya know! They are good for something! Finals - (6-0)/(12-3-1) (Playing Wally Warren. Again.) Game #1 - I know I can beat him, so I just pull no stops and go for it. Of course, I get mana-screwed and lose ungracefully. Game #2 - I know I can beat him, so I just pull no stops and go for it. And hey! This time it actually works. When it comes to Weenie vs. Weenie, expect Sligh to win. Always. Game #3 - This is probably the best game I have ever played in my life. The early game is filled with Knights, Lions, and Armageddons, and to make a long story short, I'm left with 2 Flunkies, a Conscripts, 3 lands, and 1 life, and he's got a Plains, a Mox Pearl, a Sol Ring, a Warmth, a CoP:Red, a Knight, and 2 life. That's right, the score was 28-1. I Incinerate his Knight. 30-1. I cast a Vandal. 32-1. I Vandal away his artifacts. We both sit in deadlock for 2 turns. I'm praying he doesn't find that Honorable Passage, as well as hoping for that Mountain to cast the Flashfires I'm looking for. His turn... Armageddon. So we deadlock for a bit more. He cast more weenies, and I somehow draw the DD to off them. 2 Mountains. Nothing. 3 Mountains. Nothing. And then I wait... All the while holding back the white onlslaught that I knew was just inches away from killing me. 4 Mountains. Poof. That's what all his land did. It went poof. 31-1. I hit him for 6. 25-1. I cast a Ball and hit him for another 10. 15-1. I hit him for another 9. 6-1. Bolt, Bolt, Blast, Blast. Crude. Inefficient. Game-winners. I breathe a sigh of relief. Shake his hand, and take home my prize in a daze. Final Record (7-0)/(14-4-1) What I learned: Sligh is effective. You don't need the Power 9 to win at T1 tournaments. Having fun is always good. Mogg Flunkies suck. Props: Wally, for being a wonderful sport, and a great guy to boot. Skye, for helping me out with my deck problems. Paul, for popularizing such a strong deck. WotC, for printing the terribly overpowered Fireblast, and the dreaded Mountain. Josh, for not showing up, and thereby not playing with "his" version of my deck. Rick, for teaching me everything I know about tournament Magic. Slops: Loud, annoying people. Yes, you know who I'm talking about. Me, for writing such a lengthy tournament report. And that's it. Thanks to Frank for maintaining the Dojo, by far the best Magic resource any player could have! -Brad Ryan "Team Masters" MahamotiDj@aol.com *All hail the 48th ranked Limited player in Louisiana* =D