Subject: Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 18:08:36 +0930 (CST) From: "Russell Lee Barlow" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com The second Adelaide invitational qualifyer was held on the weekend and I've finally gotten around to writing a report. There was about 30-40 players at Tactics for the invitational which was run very abley by Michael doecke (thanks doof). The field was the usual adelaide weenie crowd with a few of the good players playing so called netdecks. After having read buelers report I dragged out doecke's and Jakes and Georges and my version of counterpheonix and removed the goblin bombardment reigns of power and other stuff. The Deck 4 pheonix 4 intuition 4 forbid 4 counter 4 leak 4 shock 1 dismiss 1 searing touch 1 scroll rack (with pheonix an infite deck and a way around lobo and cop) 4 whispers 3 capsize 4 pools 3 maze of shadows (i wanted some chance of winning the first game against white weenie) 1 caldera lake 11 islands 7 mountains side board 3 thalakos deceivers 4 hammerheads 3 allures 3 torture chambers 2 grindstones Basically I expected no death as very few people have the cards and heaps of trade awakening and weeenie decks. 1 st round George (Michael Kazantis) He was playing mikes death deck which he had just picked up and played. First game he draws a mox a land and a bunch of two cost spells which he keeps I capsize w/buyback the mox the turn after he draws the second land and he dies miserably. Second game he sides in 3 scraggys to add to the one he has main and thrulls and oaths. He smashes me with scraggy's and we don't finish the third. 2nd round Tim Fisher (no not the dep prime minister) He was playing a black anti creature brooch bridge deck that kills with evincars buy back and touch with death buy back or decking with gnomes recursion. He has 4 threats in brooch and bottomless pits and with no dark rituals was just to slow. Dark ritual is very strong in this environment against blue or against speed. He actually gets a pit out against me but i whispers and pheonix it into uselessness until I can capsize it. 3 rd neil ??? Playing black blue counters lobo evincars touch of death eidct and taskmasters. Basically plan is to cast fat taskmasters and counter anything in the way. I win the first game easilly as he is playing 4 dismiis 4 leak and 4 counter and I am playing forbid and pheonix. Second game he rituals out a lobo on turn two when I have one land in play but only have a counter a leak and a whole bunch of land in my hand. he makes mistakes allowing me to buy back my forbid and dies because of it. 4 the round Dale Aitken playing blue red counters tims and bolts. He can't deal with pheonix and so dies because of it. Round 5 burn In the first game I am at about 10-12 when I pheonix and all he has is a flunky. This is where I find out my mistake. I had early intuition for a pool to get the 3rd blue and the third red. Anyway he draws his second waste and kills my pool and lays a whole bunch of creatures and I fail to draw another land. A bad play ion my behalf costs me a game. In the second game he gets another double wasteland 4 mountain and a gozillion creature draw and I die screaming. In the playoff I play white weenie In the first game he lays a pro red creature and a bunch of other creatures so I cast a pheonix he cataclysms but I draw a maze and win that game. Maze is amazing against black and white even better than maze of ith as you can get mana. I proceed to draw land and pheonix him out. @nd game he casts pro red weenies and I cast thalakos deceiver. He cataclysms but He can't deal with the deceiver and I win easily. I think the deck should play the cop sideboard but it makes the mana more dodgy and makes playing the mazes bad. That way it beats red and scragnoth easily but should lose to white weenie in the first game. Russell