Subject: R/G, PTQ, Top 8, Nor-Cal Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 22:13:19 -0700 From: Alex Saltzberg To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Brief Introduction; This was my first DCI Constructed tournament ever, and I went there to have fun with a deck I and a friend made the night before. It was a complete pile, but it was fun. I went to have fun, cheer on local people, and practice some real life saga drafting. R/G Turbo-Scouting 4 Metallic Slivers 4 Muscle Slivers 4 Spined Slivers 4 Mogg Flunkies 4 Skyshroud Elite 4 Shock 4 Elven Rite 4 Jackalope Herd 3 Sonic Burst 2 Maniacal Rage 3 Mox Diamond 4 Mogg Hollows 9 Forest 7 Mountain Sideboard: 3 Portcullis 3 Goblin Bombardments 3 Scargnoths 1 Boil 2 Tranquility 3 Torture Chamber -60 Cards, 12 Slivers, 7 Burn, 6 Giant Strengths, 4 Herd Round 1 vs. CounterPhoenix, playing Eddie My opponent recieved a game loss for deckregging late. Game 2- I played random slivers and Skyshroud Elite and Flunkies. He burned my stuff, but I got in some damage. Then Herd came down. He was doing everything in his power to stop the beatings of the Herd, but I just bounced it whenever it got into trouble. We play another couple of games for fun, one with sideboard. I crush him with 3 or 5 toughness creatures. Counterphoenix can not handle Jackalope Herd. 1-0 in matches, 1-0 in games Round 2 vs. Mono-blue, playing Steve Game 1- I laid a random 2/2 Sliver, then played another Muscle Sliver, and never looked back. The score sheet was 18-13-7-1-game. He dealt 1 point of damage to me that game. Game 2- This game, Herd came out to play. I think I also did some random burn. No damage to me this game. 2-0 in matches, 3-0 in games Round 3 vs. 5 Color Slivers, playing Tony This deck would have been scary if it was tuned, but it was playing Rolling Thunder and Reclaims. My opponent also never split the damage from the Thunder. Game 1- Respite slowed me down for a turn, and Tranquility took away both my Maniacal Rages, but Slivers, Herds, and Flunkies go all the way. Game 2- This game was even more interesting. He starts off with some early attacks, getting me down to 12. Then the Herd came out and started rampaging across the board. I was doing Herd tech at this point, casting a Herd to keep one always untapped. Then Flunkies came out after the board was cleared by a Torture Chamber... then he played Sliver Queen. I freaked for a second, but Sonic Bursted it after he blocked the Herd, took out the tokens with random Torture Chambers. After that, I let my Spined Sliver be pumped up by a Giant Strength and his Barbed Sliver go through for the kill, killing the Barbed Sliver for random goodness. 3-0 in matches, 5-0 in games Round 4 vs. Hatred, playing Mike Having scouted all the top tables (beatdown techs are great for that), I knew exactly what my opponent was playing. Of course, my deck killed so quickly, he had no clue what was happening. I resolved to mulligan to a burn spell every game, and play the game. Game 1- No mulligan, Shock stays in my hand until the kill. An Elven Rite did kill a Spinal Grafted Carnophage for random goodness. Game 2- My deck could hold back one mana for Shock, but not 2 for Sonic Burst. I go to slow, he lays shadow dudes, and I die from 6 points of damage a turn. However, he did have a Hatred in his hand. Game 3- Shock is good, as is the fact Hatred decks play too much land. I take a few hits, Metallic Slivers deal a few blows, then Muscle Slivers and Elven Rites joined the party. I shocked a Spinal Grafted creature when he didn't have the mana to cast Hatred, then came across to where it didn't matter anymore. 4-0 in matches, 7-1 in games At this point, I was pretty confident of making the top 8. Round 5 vs. W/R Shadow, playing Sutee Scouting works wonders, as I sat down to a known matchup. Oh, and he didn't draw. Game 1- No red mana for him = easy kill for me. His Priests did annoy me, but I was sitting on a hand of burn. Game 2- Torture Chamber tech (I drew all 3, so whenever one was Disenchanted I played another) took out all his creatures. I also got rid of his Reaping the Rewards with a Sonic Burst. Supposedly, he had something in his hand that would have given him the game, but I couldn't figure out what it was. (Probably a Paladin en-Vec, but my herd and chamber eats those for breakfast). 5-0 in matches, 9-1 in games Side note; In another game, Dan Clegg played Dan Dubois. With 3 Dominating Licid and 2 Legacy's Allure's crowding the board, no one knew what to do. There was a half-hour given for rules disputes and questions, then Dan Clegg played slowly enough to draw out Dan Dubois. Round 6 vs. Mono-Blue, playing Dan Clegg Game 1- I lose because Flunkies don't play well with Legacy's Allures. He gets Tradewind lock and Mawcor, I draw Giant Strengths. Good thing I have 6 anti-blue in my sideboard. Game 2- First turn Metallic Sliver, 2nd turn Spined Sliver, 3rd turn nothing. On my 4th turn, he Capsizes (no buyback) my Spined Sliver. I respond with Boil. I almost felt sorry for his mana-screw, but I remembered he played a land each turn. Game 3- Herd and Scragnoth has some words with Clegg. He chose to save his Mawcor to tradewind me, so I Sonic Bursted for the last point of damage. This was also the longest match of the day, taking about half an hour. Side note; I asked the head judge to watch Dan's shuffling, because he was shuffling in a way that he could see the face of his cards. As this was the last round, it didn't mean much, but Dan got in an argument with the head judge about shuffling face-up. 6-0 in matches, 11-2 in games Finals; Top seed- Me with R/G slivers Everyone else... 3 Mono-blue decks (beatdown style) Hatred Living Death B/R Portcullis with 20000 removal spells Mono-green spike goodness with Erratic Portal I play a mono-blue deck, and lose horribly to color-screw. I feel bad about losing, but hey, it's all about going 6-1 in your first constructed tourney. I did get it over with in only 11 minutes. 6-1 matches, 11-4 games The mono-blue decks all win their games, Hatred wins its matchup, then 2 mono-blues win the quarters, with Dan Clegg winning the whole thing, beaitng Neeme Lorrits. Side note 3; Untimed last 3 rounds is not fun. Especially when they take half an hour, and your ride includes the head judge. Props and Slops (because it is required in all reports) Props: Brian Foster for giving me all the cards, building the deck at 11 at night, and showing the power of the Herd. Elven Rite for being better than a Giant Strength. It also takes out Spinal Grafted stuff. Jackalope Herd for being a 4/5 creature that you just can't handle. Everyone else from Berkeley for being cool. www.planeswalker.com for teaching me how to play Magic. Slops: 2 Color decks that aren't playtested for proper color balancing. Skyshroud Elite for never being a Kird Ape. Foreign Boosters for their undraftability (I know no pictures). That's all for a pointless tourney report on a dead format. Hoped you liked it. -copernicu on EFNet (www.mirc.co.uk)