Subject: Tournament report - Standard tourney, Edinburgh, June 28th 1998 Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 01:41:35 +0100 From: "Mark Hughes" To: Tournament report for Standard tournament in Edinburgh on 28th June 1998. Announed kick off is 11:30am, so its nice to see that some things never change as when we arrive at 11:40, I have time to pick up some cards and register my deck, then socialise for a good twenty minutes before the draw for the first round is made. I've played relatively little magic - even casually - since about November, due to university exams, and other distractions. Perhaps only four or five tournaments in the last eight months, so I'm a little out of practice, but I figure its now time to get in training for GP Birmingham in October. I decide to go with Two Pints, for various reasons. I figure it will ease me back into magic gently, should be reasonably tolerrant to player-error, and besides, the thought of fitting in two pints and a packet of crisps between rounds has a certain appeal. I'll list the deck - there are few real changes to Jule's original, but its here for the sake of completion - 3 Freewind Falcon 4 Soltari Priest 4 White Knight 4 Warrior en-Kor 3 Nomads en-Kor 4 Mogg Maniac (22 Creatures) 4 Earthquake 3 Firestorm 2 Terror 2 Disenchant 4 Tithe 3 Empyrial Armour (18 Spells) 4 Undiscovered Paradise 4 City of Brass 2 Gemstone Mine 10 Plains (20 Lands, 60 Cards) Sideboard: 1 Disenchant 2 Propaganda 3 Pyroblast 2 Light of Day 3 Honourable Passage 3 Sleight of Mind 1 Phyrexian Furnace On to the report... Round 1 - Graham Thomson, playing Hermit Druid/Living Death ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Graham is the highest-ranked player here. My hopes of being eased back into magic out the window, I know I'll have to give it my all to get a result here. Duel 1 I manage to do some minor damage with priests, nomads, and the like. Graham plays the druid and a few other creatures - mostly Man O' Wars, the 3-casting cost green spike which converts tokens to life, and hermit druid. There are a few creature skirmishes, all the while Graham is trying to burn through his deck with the druid. However, he keeps turning up basic land, and I manage to get an armoured preist out. It does seven damage, but is man o' war'ed. I get in for a few more points of damage, before finishing him off with either a firestorm or an earthquake (I forget which). Duel 2 starts out the same way, we each come in and do a few early damage with our weenies. However, the druid is doing its thing this time, and the creatures are mounting up in Graham's graveyard. I curse myself for leaving the Furnace in the sideboard. But I succeed in getting an armoured preist out again, and whittle Graham from 18 life to 6 in three turns. Unfortunately for me, the pary is put on hold by a Living Death which leaves Graham with, amoungst other things, Tradewinds, Fallen Angels, and Spikes. I have a Nomad en-Kor. Uhhh.... right. The Angel puts my lights out the next turn, having eaten up the majority of her comrades. By the time duel 3 gets started (we both did extensive re-sideboarding) there are only fifteen minutes left. In theory, thats plenty of time for both our decks, but things dont quite work out that way. This duel is a replay of duel 1, but Graham succeeds in getting Living death off. Its to no avail, however, as the duel times out before Graham can kill me with his creatures, or I have drawn enough cards to kill him with Firestorm, and we are left with a draw. Duel Score - 1-1-1, Match Score - 0-0-1 (1 point) Round 2 - Kamal Abdulah, playing Blue Weenie ----------------------------------------------------------------- Duel 1 is a nightmare of bad luck and bad choices. My opening hand has only one land - a plains - but I decide to keep it since I also have a Nomads en-Kor, and the rest of my hand costs no more than two mana to cast - surely I'll draw the second plains before long? Unfortunately it wasnt to be, as six turns later, I'm dead, without dealing Kamal a single point of damage. Duel 2, the deck does its thing, as weenies come in early, and in the later game a three-point earthquake reverberates amoung my en-Kors and Mogg Maniacs, dealing Kamal a total of 9 damage - enought to kill him. Duel 3 starts well. I have two priests out, Kamal has two 2/1 fliers, and we trade 4 damage off against each other each turn. Soon, we are both on 6 life. Kamal is forced to sacrafice one of his two creatures to block a Warrior en-Kor to avoid taking lethal damage, and goes down to two. I feel certain of a win, as he is now on two life, but I play another Warrioir en-Kor so i can block - I am on only 6 life, after all, and dont want to be caught out by a cursed scroll. Unfortunately, it was to be my undoing, as Kamal decided to not pay the upkeep on his fliers, then cast Reigns of Power - exhanging our creatures for the turn. He attacks for 6, and kills me. NOT happy, but it could be worse - last match, Kamal did a MesaCraft 2,001 damage using the same trick. Duel Score - 2-3-1, Match Score - 0-1-1 (1 point) Round 3 - Amanda Liptrot, playing Stompy ---------------------------------------------------------- Things are starting to look desperate now - its the third round, and I'm still clutching only 1 point. Duel 1 sees Rogue Elephants, Harvest Wurms, and the like swinging in to do me damage early. However, an earthquake followed by armoured priest secures me the victory. Duel 2 starts similarly, and I drop to 11 life before my deck kicks in and my creature army decides to turn up. I make way for them with a swift earthquake, and start to attack. Stompy recovers quickly, as ever, and wears me down 6 life. I neednt worry, however, as I top-deck a firestorm to win. Duel Score - 4-3-1, Match Score 1-1-1 (4 points) Round 4 - Stuart (sorry, I dont recall your sirname), playing White Weenie ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- After this draw is made, we both have food arrive at the bar. We put off starting until we have finished eating, and chat about magic, decks, and life in general. Turns out this is Stuart's first tournament, and he is playing White Weenie. I feel quite confident - either because I figure Two Pints has enough subtleties to beat basic white weenis, or because I've just eaten - and am looking forward to seeing what happens. Duel 1, I start feeling less confident as Stuart lays a *massive* army of weenies, and a crusade too. Fortunately tho, I draw earthquake, falcon, and armour in quick succession, and kill him in no time. Duel 2, things start off much as before. This time, though, i draw my weenies, and we have a creature battle, which brings me 11 life. I get an armoured priest (again) and lower Stuart to 11 life also. However, just as I'm about to swing in and kill him, he plays Humility followed by Orim's Prayer- where did that come from?!? I wait to draw a disenchant, and the cards in my hand mount up... the disenchant never shows. Fortunately, earthquake and firestorm do, and I win the duel and thus the match. Duel Score - 6-3-1 Match Score - 2-1-1 (7 points) Round 5 - Ben Sanders, playing Living Death -------------------------------------------------------------- Another good, high-ranked player, Ben is always a threat. This one will be tough, even though Ben is only on six points. Duel 1, Ben's opening hand has only 1 land, a City of Brass, and he chooses not to mulligan. This proves to be a fatal mistake, as four turns later, he hadnt drawn another land, and was dead from armoured nomads. Duel 2, Living Death goes off, and I get smacked around by a Sliver Queen. Ouch. Duel 3, no Living Death - Ben actually *casts* a Sliver Queen. I get some damage in against ben - lowering him to 3 life - but there is little to be done against a 7/7 with a horde of 2/2s. My scoresheet reflects this well - I went 20 life, 13 life, death. Duel Score - 7-5-1, Match Score - 2-2-1 (7 points) Round 6 - Douglas Penman, playing Mesa Craft ------------------------------------------------------------------ Duel 1, I do myself a few damage with City of Brass, and do Doug a lot of damage with a weenie horde, while he messes around with deck manipulation in an effort to turn up the combo. It never shows. Duel 2, I get early preists, who get Doug down to 15 life. I ricochet a 5-point firestorm off two mogg maniacs to kill him. Duel Score - 9-5-1, Match Score 3-2-1 (10 points) I placed about 15th, and while I am disappointed with my match record (I had hoped to do at least 4-2), I am pleased with my duel score and the fact that I lost only to decent players. Time to go work on a Rath Cycle deck.... -- Cheers, Mark Hughes