Subject: Type 2 tourney report. Draw-Go. (Joe Oxford) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 12:23:14 EDT From: GHQOKC@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Saturday, August 15th I played in a sanctioned Type 2 tournament at Game HQ in Oklahoma City. 31 people showed up for 4 rounds of swiss with the top 8 making the playoffs. I played Draw-go with a couple of minor changes. Fellow Team Oklahoma member Aaron Emshoff has been playing and winning with Draw-Go so I decide if I can't beat 'em to join 'em. Deck list at the bottom. Round 1 : Ryan White (WW) -------------------------------------------------- Ryan is a young guy who has only played in a few tournaments but any speed deck has the potential to beat Draw-Go and he is playing his namesake white speed. Game 1: His weenies beat me down to 2 but finally a disk clears the board and it's smooth sailing as a Steel Golem cruises in for the kill. Game 2: A nightmare for him as he stalls at 2 lands and I produce an early Suq'ata Firewalker. The game ends with me having 13 lands, an animated Stalking Stones, a Suqata Firewalker and a Steel Golem out and him with no!! permanents in play. Capsize can be soooooo good! 1-0, 2-0 Round 2 : Sean Trosper (U Draw-Go) ------------------------------------------------------- Sean is another young guy but plays very well. He is playing standard Draw-Go. Game 1: Sean burns through his deck with Impulse and Whispers, and I lose a major counter war over a disk I needed badly. A Stalking Stones does me in. Game 2: A very close game, but my sideboarded Rainbow Efreet arrives and he has no answer. Exactly why it's there. I win. Game 3: I never see the 6th land this game which is the breaking point for this deck. (Hence 26! land.) He also seems to have one more counter than me and wins. I was quite frustrated after this loss as I knew that I would win this match most of the time. This type of deck is my speciality and Sean is still rather new. Still, Sean played well and deserved the win. Congrats to him. 1-1, 3-2 Round 3 : Steven Massie (B/R) ----------------------------------------------- Steven is another fairly new face but seems to do fairly well and finishes in the middle of the pack usually. Game 1 : He is too fast.Black and red weenies get me low and direct damage seals it. Game 2 : Sideboard comes along with Bottle Gnomes and Hydroblasts securing the win for my Steel Golem. Game 3: Again my sideboard is too useful. He does get me to 6 with a Price of Progress! I have 5 non-basic land out and realize another will kill me. I reach for the one in his graveyard and yes, it's an instant. Crap... I never tap out again and keep a counterpsell handy as finally my Firewalker goes the distance for the win. Come to find out, he only had 1 Price of Progress so I was safe anyway. 2-1, 5-3 Round 4 : Richard Fink (U Counters and utility creatures) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------- Richard is probably the best player under 16 (with the exception of Ron Schubert) in the state, and needs but a draw to make the playoffs. I can't draw due to my earlier loss so we play it out. Game 1 & 2 : Both games go badly for him... he has few threats that I must contend with and I can almost always out-counter him. He needed a 1st turn Spindrift Drake to put early pressure on me but didn't get it either game. I win fairly easily. 3-1, 7-3 So I make the playoffs at the 5th seed. Quarterfinals : Scott Ingerson (B/G) ------------------------------------------------------- Scott is playing the best creatures from these two colors and maindecking Scragnoths! Which is bad.... Backed by a Volrath's Stronghold I could be in trouble. Game 1: He draws land after land and does nothing for the first 10 turns. Still, my deck cannot beat anyone quickly so he eventually gets going. His lack of card quality turns out to be too much though and I win easily with a Stalking Stones and Steel Golem. Game 2: I can't handle recurring of 3 Scragnoths... I lose badly. Game 3: He doesn't draw a Stronghold and I can handle Scragnoths once. My sideboard tech Dream Tides also comes in handy. I win with Steel Golem. 4-1, 9-4 Semi-Finals : Ron Palmatary (G, SGD) ------------------------------------------------------------ Ron is the owner of Game HQ, my boss and one of my best friends. He is playing the deck I lent him. He did well with it only losing to Suicide Black. Game 1 : He has no chance as I have learned against Draw-Go in game 1. I win very easily. Game 2 : I know how much I have sideboarded against blue and worry. He cannot get going as a disk wipes away all of his non-land mana. He has a whole hand full of hosing cards but can never play more than one at a time which I can counter. I win again. 5-1, 11-4 Finals : Michael Cravens (WW/R for Firestorm) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael's first Type 2 tourney here in some time. He prefers Type 1 but has amazing success to get this far. $100 is 1st prize $25 is 2nd (store credit) We split the prize more because my wife wants me to and I like Michael. I am pretty confident I can win though, as I have a huge experience advantage. Game 1: I win despite two! Cataclysms. His creatures simply cannot get by a Steel Golem and I counter the Shadows or Quicksand them. I also never allow an Empyrial Armor to hit. Game 2: A far easier win, as Bottle Gnomes are good against his deck. I also manage to counter the Cataclysms and use Argivian Restoration to good effect. The end comes when I start Capsizing at the end of his turn. 6-1, 13-4 So I win $62.50 in store credit! Not bad for $5. I also get a few packs for my son's birthday. A good night for me, and I think Draw-Go is dominant in Type 2. At least here in Oklahoma it is..... looking forward to seeing the World's decks. Deck List: Draw-Go, Joe Style. --------------------------------------------------------- 4 Counterspell (no real need to explain counterspells!) 4 Dismiss (I think they made this card for me!) 4 Steel Golem (How I win) 4 Nevinnyral's Disk (Stop the early threats. Usually will win if one of these goes off.) 4 Whispers of the Muse (More cards!) 4 Impulse (I am going to miss you!) 2 Suqata Firewalker (Another way to win, and good against Sligh which is bad for this deck.) 2 Argivian Restoration (You read right! Very strong in this deck!) 2 Capsize (Potential Lockdown.) 3 Dissipate (Good against recursion) 1 Forbid (Good, but I like my cards in this deck! I think Dissipate is better) 4 Quicksand (A must! Wonder if Maze of Shadows might be a replacement.) 3 Salking Stones (Another way to win.) 3 Sylveunite Temples (Gets by Choke and Boil, and can be emergency counters) 16 Island Sideboard: 1 Stalking Stones (Other Draw-Go; slower decks) 1 Rainbow Efreet (Can be an absolute winner against some decks) 1 Suqata Firewalker (Sligh, weenie decks) 3 Hydroblast (Sligh, any deck that uses red) 3 Bottle Gnomes (Sligh, speed decks) 2 Undo (Suicide Black, other weenie decks. Will probably remove) Secret tech: 2 Touchstone (Winter Orb, Other Draw-Go) 2 Dream Tides (GREEN! Especially Scragnoth) Last thoughts: This deck is just dominant in Type 2 right now. It's only real problems are against speed decks with stellar draws. It also depends very heavily on getting to 6 mana, which is sometimes difficult. With these being the only real weaknesses this deck is very hard to stop. It's been a juggernaut here at GAME HQ and apparently around the world. Sideboards will be loading up even more against blue I think. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome! Joe Oxford DCI #3177 Co-Captain Team Oklahoma Oklahoma State Champ (Standard format)