Subject: Normandie regionals (France) Top 8 Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 21:26:57 +0200 From: Nouveau To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hello Frank Last Saturday, april 18th, I was head judge at the Normandie regionals, in France. It was a 120 players type 2 tournament with stronghold, 8 swiss rounds, with single elimination in rochester for the top 8. Here are a few comments about the metagame and the listings of the decks. With 4 weenie decks and 4 control decks in the top 8, we had a healthy field of different strategies. It's worth noting that two of these decks were rogues decks, played by three members of the same team at the tournament, two of them making it to the top 8. (the third one withdrawing after a night without any sleep) Heavy Blue and sligh decks were expected, so the players sideboarded heavily against them. As a result, no sligh in top 8... Here are the results: Florent LINQUETTE (Zombie Team) champion de Normandie. playing a very control oriented deck, it reminds me of weismann days. Only sources of damages: his three thumbscrew. 4 counterspells 4 dissipate 3 mana leak 4 wrath of god 4 Orim's prayer 2 Humility 2 Whisper of the muse 3 Gerrard's wisdom 2 Scroll rack 4 Impulse 3 Thumbscrew (only way to victory) 3 Aura of silence 2 disenchant 4 Adakar waste 3 Flood plain 2 reflecting pool 6 islands 6 plains Sideboard: 1 Aura of silence 1 disenchant 1 gerrard's wisdom 2 CoP red 4 Chill 1 mana leak 1 feldon's cane 1 thumbscrew 3 disrupting scepter Nicolas MELIOT (Abyss RTJ team) finalist with a G/W vineyard/ensnaring bridge/cursed scroll deck This is the rogue deck, wich was developed by Nicolas and other members of the Abyss RTJ team. This deck usually gains a lot of life with the spikes and gnome, killing with vineyard mana burn, and cursed scrolls. The ensnaring bridge, wich works well with the scrolls, provides a good defence , especially with the wall of root around. The jester cap is used to remove the buyback spells and X spells, while the vineyard mana is, when necessary, dumped into the spikes to move the counters on themselves. Very interesting to play against, this deck is, in my opinin, a "deck to beat" 4 cursed scrolls 4 bottle gnomes 4 ensnaring bridge 2 jester cap 2 disenchant 2 enlightened tutor 2 Gaea's blessing 3 Sylvan library 4 bird of paradise 4 eladamri's vineyards 3 wall of roots 4 feeding spikes 3 Uktabi orangutan (spelling ? anyway, you know what I mean, those artefact breaking sex monkeys) 3 wasteland 3 gemstone mine 3 brushlands 10 forest Sideboard 2 CoP red 3 CoP black 3 Cursed totem 2 disenchant 1 Ukatabi orangutan 4 Scragnoth Franck Dubus (Apat'eam) ,Semi finalist and last year champion. playing a mana control oriented deck, winning by decking or Nature revolt. 2 Feldon's cane 1 sky diamond 4 Gerrard's wisdom 3 Pendrell mist 3 disenchant 3 Mox diamond 4 wrath of god 3 Propaagnda 4 howling mine 4 armageddon 2 Aura of silence 1 Nature revolt 3 winter orb 3 Marble diamond 4 gemstone mine 8 plains 4 quicksand 4 undiscovereed paradise Sideboard 4 chill 2 emerald charm 4 pyroblast 1 disenchant 1 aura of silence 3 mana leak Frederic Mauger (zombie team) semi finalist, last year finalist. Playing a 5CB deck, without mana control. 3 Uktabi orangutan 2 Necratog 3 DAuthi Horror 3 Fallen askari 4 black knight 3 erg raiders 2 nekratal 4 bottlr gnomes 3 diabolict edict 3 incinerate 2 shock 1 earthquake 1 goblin bombardmet 1 cursed scroll 2 disenchant 11 swamps 3 undiscovered paradise 2 city of brass 2 gemstone mien 1 sulfurous spring 3 wastealnd 1 Volrath stronghold Sideboard 3 dread of night 3 perish 2CoP red 3 pyroblast 2 mind bend 2 scragnoth Florent Lefranc, (Abyss RTJ team) Quarterfinalist: Playing exactly the same rogue deck as his teammate Nicolas Meliot Richard VINCENT (also from Abyss RTJ team) quarterfinalist his B/R living death deck went undefeated in the swiss, giving him number one seed. 10 swamps 4 mountains 4 sulfurous spring 2 undiscovered paradise 4 black knight 3 nekrataal 4 shadow gildmage 4 sukata lancers 4 bottle gnomes 3 dauthie horror 4 incinerate 4 diabolict edict 2 dark ritual 4 cursed scroll 2 living death 1 firestorm 1 goblin bombardment Sideboard 4 perosh 4 coercition 4 pyroblast 3 adakar waste Patard Guillaume, quarterfnalist 5CG deck, nothing special 4 Man o war 4 bird of paradise 4 quirion ranger 2 sukata firewalker 3 maro 2 river boa 2 bottle gnome 2 jolarael centaur 4 tradewind rider 3 armageddons 1 winter orb 4 propaganda 4 mana leak 2 fellwar stone 4 undiscovered paradise 1 city of brass 1 gemstone mine 9 forest 5 islands Sideboard 3 chill 2 winter orb 2 terror 2 pyroblast 2 emerald charm 2 uktabi orangutan 2 disenchant Lesage Arnaud, quarterfinalist Playing an old fashioned WW, with a touch of red. It has been a long time since i last saw benalish heroes ina tournament deck... 4 orders of the white shield 4 white knight 2 tundra wolfes 2 benalish heroes ! 4 longbow archer 2 zahlfirin crusader 2 freewind falcon 4 crusade 2 wrath of god 2 armageddon 4 disenchant 2 earthsquake 4 incinerate 2 terror 3 city of brass 3 undiscovered paradise 14 plains Sideboard 2 wrath of god 2 aramgeddon 2 serenity 2 terror 3CoP black 2 honorable passage 2 CoP red Congratulations to the champion and finalist: they got the best average tournament results in the area this year, and I'm happy they won. Congratualtions also to the two semifinalists, who were also last year finalist. It shows that magic is not only a agme of luck. And last, thanks to my judge team, Guillaume Thiery and Marc, and to Thierry St Saens who organised this tournament , they did a very good work as far as I'm concerned. That's all, I hope it will help you to get ready for your own regionals Sorry for any spelling/grammatical mistake, but keep in mind that english is not my native langage and that the card lists I get were in french... Questions and comments are welcome, but It may takes some times before I answer Cedric NOUVEAU nouveau@nol.fr