Subject: Tourney Report Type1.x Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 14:47:18 -0500 From: "J. A. Tony Mullins" To: SUBJECT: DATE: FROM: TO: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hey Frank, Just a short report on our recent Extended tourney here in Cookeville, TN. It was a small affair at the Merchant Gamer with around 16 or so showing up. EXT is very popular around here with a tourney every other weekend and many of the locals boast ratings in the top 20 in the state. Having only recently returned from Savannah, GA, where there are no sanctioned tourneys of any type, I was excited to get the opportunity to work on my lowly rating. I have enjoyed much success with various versions of the current WW decks and despite the loss of Land Tax, I knew it stood a good chance of seeing me into the finals. Here's the deck: Mullins 4CWW Critters: Sky Spirit x 2 Soul Warden x 3 White Knight x 3 Soltari Priest x 4 Paladin en-Vec x 3 Soltari Visionary x 1 Spells: Disenchant x 3 STP x 3 Firestorm x 2 Cataclysm x 3 Armor x 4 Bolt x 4 Tithe x 4 Mana Sources: Mox Diamond x 4 Wateland x 4 Tundra x 4 Plateau x 4 Plains x 2 Undiscovered x 2 City of Brass x 2 Sideboard: Pyroblast x 4 Knight of the Mist x 3 Tranquil Domain x 1 Aura of Silence x 2 Honorable Passage x 3 WOG x 2 The sideboard reflects basic tendencies in the local environment which is heavy red and black, with a splash of control. In retrospect the earlier versions of the deck with 2 main deck Wildfires is actually a little better. The deck currently sets at 61 cards but I am wavering on the extra plains as I was mana flooded on more than one occasion. In terms of utility, the Knights of the Mists should have been upped to 4 as they were brought in almost every match and almost single handedly turned the tide of the match. Another addition I am considering is the inclusion of a third main deck Firestorm as it is potentially more optimal than either the third STP or the fourth bolt. On to the tourney… Round 1 Chris Legion Land Loss Chris and I have been play-testing this deck for several weeks and found it to be quite viable. Now that Land Tax is gone, the only thing to slow it down is WW with Tithe, Dohh!!! Bad Match up for Chris. Game 1 Chris lays elf and prepares for 2nd turn LD, I have 2 tithes on the draw as well as, mox, armor, priest, and firestorm. After a long game (his timely Icey held back the beatings) I eventually prevail. Game Game 2 Again Chris with 1st turn elf and me with virtually the same opening hand as game 1. I sided in the two Auras for Icey control and delivered shadow beatings. Game 1-0 2-0 Round 2 Jesse CounterPost Jesse loves control and tends to play it in every environment. Unfortunately, 4cWW seems to give him fits as there are way too many threats for him to deal with. Game 1 I start out with a mediocre hand of land, disenchant, Priest, and armor. The priest gets out receives armor and is promptly sent farming. I suffer through about three or four draws of a mana flood with Jesse in cruise mode. I finally draw a threat which he of course counters and am setting around thinking I've lost this one. Jesse senses my frustration and hunts desperately fro a threat of his own to no avail. Somehow the cavalry finally shows up in the form of consecutively drawn Cataclysms. One of them goes through and an Armored Priest eventually goes all the way. Game. I believe this game clearly illustrated to young Jesse how futile Gerrard's Wisdom can be IF you don't maintain control. The nature of Extended is that the beatings are often VERY severe and unless you can control the board, a quick death is just around the corner. By this time I'm thinking I was an idiot for packing the Knights of the Mist as I hadn't seen any enemy Knights in 2 matches. Oh well patience is a virtue… Game 2 This was generally a quick beating due largely to an early priest and armor followed by a pyro assisted Cataclysm. Game. 2-0 4-0 Round 3 Bobby WW Bobby is one of our better young players and has been essentially playing my WW deck since I walloped him with it about 2 months ago. The biggest difference being that he doesn't own enough cataclysms, tithes, firestorms, or moxen to run an exact copy. Still his deck is very dangerous as he does have more creatures and an on board WOG. Game 1 Bobby muligans down to 5 cards as I serve up 2nd turn armored Priest beat down. Game. In got the Wrath and the All Star Knights. Game 2 Bobby sees not one but 3 Wardens one of which eventually puts on the "Military Issued" Fat pants and goes large after a timely Geddon. I lose. Where in the Hell are my Knights and WOGS??? Game 3 A good back and forth game until the All Stars show up killing a 'Bronco' and a super Knight. Eventually they and the 'Bashful' Sky Spirit carry the day. Game. 3-0 6-1 Round 4 Some Dude SRB I didn't know this guy but he was the only other undefeated at the time. I was quite happy to see his 1st turn Mog as 4cWW usually eats Red's lunch. Game 1 An early armored Priest along with 2 bolts serve massive beatings. Game Game 2 A second turn armored Priest and 2 Honorable Passages spell doom for straight Red Dude. Game. This match only took about 5 minutes and I was surprised that this guy had made it undefeated. 4-0 8-1 Round 5 Bobby again!! This was the single elim round and as the #1 seed I ended up playing Bobby again. Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, see Round # 3 as essentially the All Stars show up to carry the day once again. 5-0 10-2 Round 6 Another Dude SuiBlack Turbo version I didn't know this guy and unfortunately can't remember his name. He seemed like a really nice guy but was dreading a WW match up. I couldn't see why as I knew all of his pro white guys (12 or so in the turbo version) would be a major problem for me. Game 1 An early Bronco with Armor was very bad as none of his Black guys could get in the way. I managed to hold his dudes off with bolts and the occasional STP and the White Knight went all the way. Game. In go the All Stars, WOGs, Auras, and the Tranquil Domain. Game 2 I get what I think is a decent draw with a WOG and a firestorm but his hordes just keep coming. The local turbo version has only creatures, rituals, and 2 hatreds and he drops critter after pro white critter, shrugging off what should have been crippling firestorms and WOGs. I get mid game mana flooded and see only one All Star, eventually losing to a ritualed pump knight. I lose. This was a long game and I determined that his only sideboard against me were the edicts; no GLOOM no DREAD???? Huhhhh??? Game 3 See Game 2 : ( I lose to a deck that I thought I stood a really good chance of thumping). In retrospect maybe I should have brought along those Light of Days I was considering…. 5-1 11-4 Round 7 Jeff WW Jeff and I got to play for the 3rd place prize, which suited me just fine as Jeff is the highest rated guy in the State with about an 1800. I thought I stood a good as I had thumped Bobby twice already and Jeff's deck was not as prepared for WW as mine was. Game 1, Game 2, Game 3 See the above matches with Bobby. The biggest advantage I had was the main deck Wardens (so much better than Lions right now at least locally) which gained me usually around 3-8 points of additional life and drew removal spell which could have been better used on other dudes. Additionally the sideboard All Stars destroyed Jeff's dudes in game 3 when all 3 of them decided to show up. 6-1 13-5 Not a bad day really. I would have liked to have won the tourney( Turbo Suicide and SRB dude from the 4th Round split the prize),but sometimes lady luck is a bit fickle. Changes that might help if you play this little jewel would be an additional Knight of the Mist and possibly Storm Bind in the SB. I think it's hard to rely on Light of Day as BLK WEENIE defense as the gloom usually shows up earlier than the LOD. So far this deck has only struggled with both BLK and WHT weenie so a pair of main deck ernahms or ,even better, wildfires could be of some assistance. Let me know if you play it and do well. Props for all and slops only to my bashful All Stars (should have been 4). Any sideboard advice or deck crits can be sent to: Scadgrad@multipro.com All the Best!! Tony Mullins