Subject: T2 Report: Atlanta, GA, 9/12/98 Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 15:45:54 -0400 From: Sol Malka To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com HEY YO! It's Sol again, with a Type 2 report from Peachtree City, GA, just outside of Atlanta. The event was held at K&B Sportscards. Entry was $20 with $150 going to first place. Format was 4 rounds of Swiss cutting to top 4. This tournament should be subtitled "You've got a girlfriend...I don't...you have to die." You see, ALL of my opponents had girlfriends (a couple brought them), and well, ...I don't. I played my version of Survival, which I've used in a few events now: 4 Survival 4 Recurring Nightmare 4 BoP 4 Wall of Blossoms 4 River Boa 4 Spike Feeder 2 Hermit Druid 2 Spike Weaver 1 Spirit of the Night 1 Verdant Force 1 Fallen Angel 1 Coffin Queen 1 Nekrataal 1 Man-o'-War 1 Cloudchaser Eagle 1 Army Ants 2 Hump Monkey 11 Forest 4 Swamp 3 City of Brass 2 Gemstone Mine 1 Undiscovered Paradise 1 Volrath's Stronghold ...60 cards SB: Best left to the imagination Round 1: Bradley Ray King, Sui-Black Game 1: He gets me to 8 or so before I get a Weaver with mana open, and I hump his scroll before he can use it. Game 2: No scroll, O/W see game 1. 1-0, 2-0. Bradley was playing in his first tourney in about 2 years. Round 2: Matt Ranks, weird G/U/w with Treasure Hunters, Disks, and Booty Gnomes; otherwise flagpole-ish Game 1: I get birds, survival, and all kinds of early critters, including a Boa. I have a humpmonkey in hand. With 5 lands in play, Matt lays a Disk, leaving a quicksand open. I waste the quicksand and apply with everything, then survival for a monkey and hump his disk. Shortly thereafter he lays another in desperation. I hump it too. He gets out a wall, but EOT I survival for a 'Taal and kill the wall and attack for 11 (he was at 11). He had just laid disk #3. Game 2: I get 2nd and 3rd turn boas and get lots of beatdown going, finally he gets an active tradewind and returns a boa EOT with him at 6. Next turn he counters it and t-winds the other boa on the end of my turn. He counters every other threat thanks to a Forbid, and I can't draw a Stronghold soon enough or anything else to stop him from taking control, and 1 boa can't get through thanks to the tradewind. He prepares to cap me with about 15 cards left in my deck, and I concede. Game 3: Matt lays a first turn Flood Plain after I go forest-bird. He doesn't use it on upkeep and lays a Plains on his turn 2. I Lobotomy him turn 3 and get 2 basic Counterspells, leaving him with a wall and 3-4cc stuff with no 3rd land. He never gets it and gets run over by boas. Crappy way to go. 2-0, 4-1. Round 3: Brooks Rhodes, U Forbidian. Game 1: He gets a medallion turn 2, I get a turn 2 boa and hump the medallion. I get another boa and start the beating. He is able to capsize and counter the boas some I think, but not until he is low on life. I recur something at some point so he knows I have the nightmare, but he taps out one turn with no tradewind active, allowing me to survival for the spirit and recur it for the win. Game 2: This one was pretty similar to the first, I get the boas again and he holds off 1 with a Suq-Ata Firewalker since I haven't drawn a Spike. A lobotomy gets countered; he drops a Furnace and immediately furnaces the bottom card (lobotomy), allowing me to recur a monkey and hump the furnace. Ultimately he legacies a boa, I manowar it, he dies. 3-0, 6-1. Round 4: Pedro Carrillo, G Battlebrooch-ish thing Ever since Dragon*Con last week, when Pedro (age 15) picked up a really hot girl about his age, he's been bragging about it. Game 1: He drops a Vineyard! Woo-hoo! Party at Pedro's! I go nuts, humping artifacts, recurring stuff, finally get out an Angel, it serves with Spirit jumping in for the final 6. Game 2: Evidently he couldn't find enough stuff to side in 'cause he puts out another vineyard this game! Recur for 1 black mana is some good. I hump brooches and scrolls, get out like 20 verdant force tokens (represented by Orim Samite Healers courtesy of Matt) and finally decide to get serious, using manowars and nekrataals to keep wildebeests out of play during his upkeep so he can't recur weavers. I have him dead in 1 or 2 more turns when time is called. 4-0, 7-1. Top 4 are: Me (Sol Malka) 4-0 Survival Jody Dunville 3-1 Survival Brooks 3-1 Forbidian Bradley 2-2 Sui-Black (did I mention it was a small tourney?) Semis: Bradley again, this time joined by his GF...Prepare to die. Game 1: He goes Swamp-rit-rit-Phage-Erg-Black knight. I go land, bird. I take 6 and he lays a 'Phage. I lay land, bird, wall. He attacks for 6 and lays a Sarco. I get Survival and am done. He forgets to pay the life and draws, so the 'Phages watch the next attack from the sidelines. He attacks with 3 dudes, wall and bird block, I use the bird to survival for a weaver and lose the bird, taking 2 to drop to 6. Next turn I lay land #4 and the active weaver. I am at 6, out of spite range, with an active weaver and survival in play with recurring in hand. Game over. Game 2: His draw isn't quite as amazing, I get weaver and elephant grass which is some good vs. ergs. :-) I get a druid going to let me pay upkeep and finally 'chaser his bad moon, the 'chaser and erg damage kill him. 5-0, 9-1. Finals: Jody Dunville, Survival Game 1: Long, drawn-out game. It takes both of us a while to get the survival (at least, after I 'chaser his) and I get 3 recurring nightmares. Finally we both get it, but I have a main deck queen and he doesn't. I manowar his tradewind every turn and finally Nek/Queen/Farm it. I am gradually assuming control with the queen when he 'cedes; I got the first Stronghold too, and he had no answer for it. Game 2: He lays a first turn Stronghold. I TD mine. Whatever. He puts out a Settler, but I'm not mana screwed and he stalls at 4 (has all his colors though). He Neks a Bird, I get a Queen but he 'Storms that and another critter in response to my queening my 'chaser to destroy his survival (net card economy in this sentence: +2 for me, since the 'chaser sticks around). But it was to no avail, as I drew few critters, 3 survivals, and about 12 lands, finally getting a Nightmare when I had no critters in play or in hand. He kills me by Queening my Verdant. Game 3: I get no bird but get Survival and Recurring. I get out the Force quick, followed by a Spirit. He has five mana and has Survivaled a little, but doesn't Death (I am tapped out) so I figure he doesn't have it. He instead survivals for a weaver and lays it. I tap out again, he Top Decks a Death (whatever) after I had hermited and milled no creatures. I get back a Druid and a Chaser (killed his survival), he gets Fallen Angel, Verdant Force, some random critter, Coffin Queen, and Order of the Sacred Torch. I think for awhile, hermit (milling 10+ creatures this time...whatever), mill Shauku, Endbringer, and recur it. I have a bird as well. Jody goes, Queens his Manowar, bounces Shauku, Firestorms my remaining blockers, attacks with the Angel and Force, and sacs enough creatures to do 20 to me (I was at 20). So instead of winning $150, I settle for the Migraine (Stronghold preconstructed deck) and 2 Portal II decks (not the white one, no geddon). Portal is good for about one thing...teaching your girlfriend to play. AARGH!!! A lot of good that does me! Props: Partners II Pizza in the same plaza as K&B--the waitresses there are BA-Roken! It's like Hooters, only more subtle. the pizza ain't bad either. Slops: Jody, for topdecking the death...and for leaving them in to begin with. I've got a 1.5 report to write now so I'll call it quits. Sol Malka nWo Hollywood (Florida) gs11slm@panther.gsu.edu