Subject: Rome PTQ - Limerick, Ireland Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 04:50:51 -0700 (PDT) From: Diarmuid Quirke To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com First thing I want to say is that the numbers were very low - only 28 players. I believe this is due to the fact that it was Rath Cycle constructed format - most players prefer Type II. I played a modified version of a Type II deck that got me second place in two tournaments the week before. The main difference been the dropping of Phyrexian Furnace and Goblin Tinkerer. "A Kick from the Ghoulies" Creatures 25 4 Mogg Fanatic Quick damage 2 Thrull Surgeon Great against most decks 3 Acidic Sliver Not that useful. 2 Coffin Queen Excellent 3 Vampire Hounds Good 2 Bottle Gnomes Great against most decks 1 Stronghold Assassin Brilliant - worked much better than I thought it would 3 Mindless Automaton Best card in the deck 1 Shard Phoenix Useful to have. 3 Skyshroud Vampire Can be a game winner on its own. 1 Verdant Force If this is in play, its usually a game win Spells 14 4 Oath of Ghouls Not as useful as in Type II 4 Dark Ritual Extra speed 2 Recurring Nightmare Great 2 Diabolic Edict Great. 1 Helm of Possession Didn't get it much 1 Goblin Bombardment Great against opposing Helms and Allures. Land 21 1 Volraths Stronghold 2 Cinder Marsh 11 Swamp 7 Mountain Sideboard 15 3 Dread of Night Versus WW 1 Thrull Surgeon Great against control 1 Bottle Gnomes Stops Prot. Black, life versus Sligh, suicide 1 Diabolic Edict WW, Suicide black 1 Slaughter For Tradewind control decks 2 Boil Against blue. Actually not great against Surival decks 1 Reanimate Should have been a third Coffin Queen 1 Goblin Bombardment Against Humility/Prayer decks 2 Perish 2 Spike Cannibal Ideal use is when opponent has cast Living Death - discard to an Automaton and kill those returning Spikes! My main problem was that there is no effecient graveyard removal in this format. I really needed the Phyrexian furnaces - most games I found I couldn't play the Oath of Ghouls. This is also due to the fact that most Rath decks have at least 20 creatures. The theory is beatdown with Vampire Hounds or Skyshroud Vampire - discarding a creature for +2/+2 and then keep discarding that creature due to return to hand via Oath of Ghouls. Also, I now realise that enchantment removal is vital - I'll be adding Cloudchaser Eagles and Disenchants. The Acidic Slivers were not useful - WW creatures have procection against either Black or Red and the mana requirement for sacrifice was sometimes slowing the deck. Also, I should have had Shattering Pulses in the sideboard. If I'm adding white, I think I'll add Peace of Mind - it gets a creature into the graveyard and I gain life. ROUND 1. Stuart Shenkins. White Weenie First game - turn 1 Vampire Hounds, turn 3 Coffin Queen, discard Verdant Force on turn 4 and bring in to play. Game to me. Game 2 - shadow rush followed by a catlyasm finished me. Game 3 - Visionary kills my Dread of Night, Helms my Skyshroud Vampire to kill me. Helm of Possession destroys me this game - my only defense against it is Goblin Bombardment. Again, Oath of Ghouls is useless to me. Round 2. Ed Moynihan. Counter Phoenix Game 1. I have Coffin Queen and Vampire Hounds in play. I attack with Vampire Hounds. He taps to buyback Capsize the Hounds. I play Thrull Surgeon and sac him immediately. He has Capsize, Forbid, Whispers and 2 islands in hand. I make him discard the Capsize, and keep his hand under control with the Coffin Queen/Thrull Surgeon until I draw enough land to play the Hounds for the beatdown. I was lucky he didn't draw a Shard Phoenix. Game 2. I play Mindless Automaton. He has a Shard Phoenix in play.On his turn he blows the Phoenix. I discard a card to make the Automaton 3/3, but he buybacks a Searing Touch to kill the automaton. However, on my turn I play Recurring Nightmare and a Fanatic to put Automaton back into play. The attack with a 6/6 Automaton quickly finishes him. ROUND 3. John Kearney. Suicide Black. Both games I mulligan down to 5 cards, with a swamp as my only land. Both games he Rain of Tears my swamp. Both games I end up with only a mountain in play when I die. AHHHH! At least hatred on turn 4 of game 1 puts me out of my misery quickly. Unlike game 2 where the slow torture of Warlord beatdown kills me before I draw a third land. ROUND 4. Liam Frost. White Weenie Liams a friend of mine and is another Cork player. Game 1 he beats me quicky down with shadows. Game 2 - out with 2 Thrull Surgeons, 1 Oaths, 2 Acidic Sliver - In with 3 Dread of night, 1 Edict and a Bottle Gnome. Early dread of Night ensures I emerge unscathed. Game 3 - Early Verdant Force beatdown gets me another victory. ROUND 5. Gary Cummins. Humility/Prayer My only real hope was a Goblin Bombardment! Humility on turn 3 of game 1 finishes me quickly. My Boil in game 2 destroys 2 islands but ensures he has lock by turn 7. So I lost badly. Without the Phyrexian Furnace, I lost a huge advantage. Urzas Saga will bring in Carrion Bettles, but I wonder will these be quick enough. The top 8 decks were mostly Tradewind Awakening and Surival of the Fittest. Thanks for reading. P.S. Frank - whats happened the decks to beat? I rarely play copied decks, but they are useful to play against. == Diarmuid .\\agic addict Visit my website at http://www.geocities.com/heartland/woods/6672 DNRC Minister for the Freedom of Fish _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com