Subject: Texas Game Company T1.5 tournament report Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 00:22:22 -0500 From: "JMCRider" To: Hello again from Texas Game Company in Allen, TX (just north of Dallas). This weekend was yet another sanctioned classic-restricted tournament. Total participants was 12, but again it was yet another competitive field with all the regulars. Everyone is looking for that all-important #1 rating in the store. Mad Hatter's Texas Semi-Pro tournament is fast approaching again, and Frank Woods(owner of Texas Game Company) gives the top rated player in the store an automatic spot into the finals for the semi-pro qualifier. I already locked up the standard #1 slot 2 weeks ago. I always look forward to the classic-restricted tournaments cause ya never know what you are going to see. Plus Stronghold is now legal so who knows what crazy things could be out there. I am sitting pretty low in the store ratings in 1.5 and could use a quick boost. The top players were all close and it made for a great tournament. This week I wanted more practice with necro decks. I want to get more familair with it and its uses. So cruizing threw the Vault magazine web page I run into...Dark Side Necro by Alex Shvartsman. I had just played Alex's Steel Necro a couple weeks ago to victory and so I figured, 'why not' and tried out his extended version. Even thou this was 1.5 and I could use hyppies, I wanted to keep the deck relatively close to t2. Here's how I played it... 15 swamp 4 wasteland 3 mishra factory 2 lake of da dead 1 stronghold 4 disks 3 steel golem 1 serrated arrows (never saw) 1 choking sand 4 icequake 4 dark ritual 4 hymn 3 necro 1 infernal tribute (so good) 4 drain life 1 L'Ombre d'Ihssan (hehehe...) 2 sengir vamps 3 contagion sideboard 1 contagion 3 choking sands 3 dystopia 3 dread of night 2 perish 2 spinning darkness 1 mind warp (never used) Differences between Alex and this one is no consultations. Why? I hate em! I cannot understand why...I mean I know you get the card ya need in your hand but I can't stand watching 2 drains/disks/etc. float out of game. I have lost matches because of decking myself which I don't like. In their place I added another ritual, contagion and disk. Also I subbed out one necro for infernal tribute. I love that card. It's so good and it even makes necro go away. Aww...isn't that sweet. Here we go! 4 rounds of swiss, followed by final 4 playoffs. Round 1 vs. Lucas Moody playing NEW COMBO DECK OF DEATH! Listen up everyone, another turn 2 kill deck has been born. The scary part is that it's not that hard to get. Lucas is playing a B/G Hermit/Haunting Misery combo. Here's the deal for those who don't know. The trick is this...first turn: mox diamnond + land=hermit druid. Second turn: swamp, activate hermit ability, lose alot of critters into graveyard, cast haunting misery. Take 20+. Simple and effective. He playtested it with our playgroup on thursday and it was pretty nasty. Scary part is he hasn't even worked on making it tighter. Anyhow luck was with me this round. First game I get out some early disruption with land kill and hymns. I necro some cards and lay some fatness. He gets almost gets his combo but he was one land shy. (Whew!) Second game I dump out some of the critters and sub in all the extra landkill. He is only playing with a few basic land (i.e. so hermit can send LOTS of critters to grave) so I figure I'll deny him his mana early and beat him down with a fatty. Just as planned I land kill him early enough to stall him, I lay a disk + necro while he has a diamond out. I then wait for a wall of blossoms to hit, blow it then lay a fat vampire that goes all the way. To be honest I was LUCKY. That deck could and should stomp me. Even with all the disruption, mulch makes up vs. land kill. What makes the deck even more evil is the fact that killing his critters HELPS him. You are making his job easier. Thanks WOTC, way to make graveyards abusive. Oh and thanks for not reprinting tormod's crypt either. Sure furnace is good but it ain't no crypt. Games: 2-0-0, Matches: 1-0-0 Whew. I'll take my free win. Very lucky I am. I pray that someone will beat that deck down so if I make finals I won't have to see it again. (oh I jinxed myself....) ;) Round 2 vs. Curtis Floyd playing 4 color necro? maybe 5? ;) Curtis is probably looking for revenge after our last tournament when I swept him pretty easily. Curtis is a cool guy and we have a great match. First game is ugly for me as he goes necro first. Luckily on the next turn so do I. I dump the land kill on him as wastelands and icequakes come up off the necro. Curtis bolts away on me and disenchants a disk. He then lays a serendib on me. Thats four colors alright. Ok so I contagion the serendib and he tactics the dib to avoid damage. Ok so he has tactics standard. I can deal. Luckily I am able to let steel golem hit him a couple of times and 2 drains finish him. Second game I sideboard in a contagion for something. Probably arrows. Curtis roars to life this game slapping down a knight of stromgald and bolting away. I finally am able to disk him away after necroing. I get three wastelands and start working on his land. I contagion a hyppie to death and then another one a few turns later then big hombre shows up. L'Hombre d'Ihssan beats down and then a knight and quicksands finally drop him. Sengir comes out the next round for the finish with drain back up. Games: 4-0-0, Matches: 2-0-0 I'm doing pretty good. I really think I am getting used to this type of deck. I hear that two mono-burn decks are doing really well and I might have to play them. NOOOOO! Round 3 vs. Keith Aulston playing Steel Necro 1.5 modified. Keith and I have become good friends in a short-time. We have been furiously playtesting for weeks and pretty much know each others style of play. Well he is playing a version of Steel Necro with 1.5 cards. Hymns, sinkholes, Ihsan, etc. Oh well. We all know how this goes: Whoever slaps necro down first will usually win. Except last round I slapped mine after and still won...hmmm... First game I go really offensive on Keith as I get an early sengir courtesy of lake o dead. He kindly edicts it. Next turn I top deck necro and go to work. I manage to lay out fat ihsan and get enough disruption that Keith can recoup. For the second game I realize that I have nothing to deal with that deck. So I sideboard nada. Second game is ugly for me as Keith unloads the first turn double ritual hymn maneuver on me. Luckily I had like 5 land in my opening hand. I build back up and it becomes a seesaw battle as I drain him for 5, he drains my sengir for 4, I beat on him with golem, he drains it for 4. I think he ended me with a fat ritual drain. Third game we go around a bit and I take advantage with mishra and steel beat. I necro, he necros and it comes down to a drain battle again. Luckily I had the lake of the dead and he didn't. It made the difference. We play a few for fun and we go about 50/50. I think my critters/mishras made a big difference. Games: 6-1-0, Matches: 3-0-0 Well as the top seed at this point I pretty much know I am in the finals. But my nextr game I think I will lose as both burn boys were next to us playing. Oh joy! Round 4 vs. J.T. Haverman playing mono-red burn with splash of black for ??? J.T. is in the running for the top 1.5 seed going into this tournament and he really wants that spot into the finals. I offer him an intentional draw. I figure it would help him out. He still wants to play it out. I say thats fine. (Looking back it probably seemed as thou I knew my deck was gonna get whooped. True, but it honestly wasn't my intention. Really. No really.) First game I go off on him. I get my first turn golem and start to beat the tar out of him. He lays his scroll, chains me here, bolts me there. I am going to beat him on my next turn. I see he has 3 cards in hand. I hymn him. I discard 2 red alliances' cards. I don;t even realize that they were tactics and then it dawns on me. "Uh...were those both tactics?" J.T. smiles, "Yup." My response I take 8. I was at 9. He of course smiles and drops and itty, bitty one point earthquake. ARGH! Ok I sideboard out my necros and contagions for spinning darkness and some sands. This one was ugly as I have to block an early ball with my golem. I get some good land destruction on him and keep him low enough on land that he can't scroll me. Then he puts me out of my misery with bolt/fireblast. It was close each game but his burn + scrolls were too much. Games: 6-3-0, Matches: 3-1-0 What could I expect? It's straight burn. I never even got to spinning darkness. Oh well. I was lucky to drain for 3. Oh well at least I am in the finals. So I make the finals and it looks like J.T. and his burn, Lucas with his Hermit/Misery combo, and Curtis with his 4 or 5 color necro are in too. Dang. I already played these guys. Semi-Final vs. Lucas Moody with B/G Miserable Hermit deck (cool name eh?) I felt pretty good going into these games. I knew if I could deliver enough disruption I should easily take these games. At first I was awed by the deck but after winning I realized that if I could delay him long enough I could probably slip by him. Well as it turns out both games his deck turned into weenie horde. Boa after boa showed up along with mr. fallow wurm. I threw all my land kill at him but he kept coming up with the right cards. In the end his critter damage with mini-miseries did me in twice. He never needed his combo. I might of made a mistake as I tried for early beatdown and cast a perish while he only had a boa out. But hey it's a risk type deck. I played J.T. for third place and to be honest it wasn't so much a contest. First game he just fried me with help from my necro, second game I got the draw of death. Check this: lake of the dead, swamp, swamp, ihsan, sengir, ritual, ritual. Uh ok. Second turn Ihsan and third turn sengir. He died. Third game I couldn't land kill him. He got to 6 mana with scroll. Burn, scroll, burn, scroll. La de da....I die. So I won my first 3 matches, then fell off the last 3. Lack of concentration or simple luck. Perhaps it was something else, in the twilight zone...err sorry. I played well and had a good time. I was just there to tune-up my skills. Curtis went on to win the tournament. Props to him. He deserved it. Decks that were present other than those I played: Fish with dibs, stompy and white weenie w/serra. 3 necro decks were present, 2 made the finals with one just missing it. Hmm makes ya think eh? As always I want to thank everyone at Texas Game Company. Frank, the owner who puts on these great tournaments. Everyone has a blast and we are all becoming fast friends. We all used to just play at the tournaments. Now we all playtest and help each other to get to another level of play. We owe it all to Frank who sticks to his ideas and to his visions of how he wants the game to be played. It's really coming together now. Here's the shout out to da boiz: Curtis....congratz, it's been a long time huh? J.T....don't stress it...you'll make the MVW finals. Brian....what happened? Either way you are STILL the 1.5 king. Keith....why do ya have to leave? Quit that damn job! Lucas....whatever you do, don't play that deck again! ;) Except regionals ;) CHoDa....show me how to play dead lands and aliens/predator you freak! ;) John....I told you to play that burn deck... David....Start making the playtest sessions! Skip work! ;) Nate, Dave, Eric, Bob, Mike, Pete: Uh where the heck were you? To anyone I missed out...sorry...take it easy and see everyone at regionals! Keith Williams (JMCRider on IRC)