From: Carl Devos Subject: [report] type 1 without power cards Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 11:51:36 +0200 THE VISE FESTIVAL ----------------- Hi there, I've been to an unsanctioned type 1 held in Brussels yesterday. The staff was not aware of the restriction of the Vise, and so they ruled that there would be 4 of them. Of course I wanted to play necro... So, 10 minutes before the first round started, I changed my deck to the following: 7 Pump Knight 1 Ihsan's Shade 4 Skulking Ghosts 4 Hypnotic Specter 4 Gorilla Shaman 1 Tombstone Stairwell 2 Blood Moon 3 Contagion 4 Dark Ritual 4 Hymn to Tourach 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Vampiric Tutor 1 Zuran Orb (key against bolt decks) 11 Swamp 4 Badlands 4 Sulfurous Springs 4 Strip Mine 1 Library of Alexandria Sideboard 1 Tombstone Stairwell (bolt decks) 1 Contagion 3 Pyroblast 2 Ney's Disk 2 Ebony Charm (creature & twister decks) 3 Dystopia 2 Shatter (never used them) 1 Drain Life (don't ask why) Okay, there still was a LoA, but since I had it with me and since everybody and his Mum is playing with Twister and Wheel, I thought I couldn't let it in my binder... 7 swiss rounds, no finals. 3 points for a game won, 1 for a draw, play the 3 games each round. On to the tourney: Round 1: Patrick Van Den Bossche Five color newbie It's Patrick first tourney, and he already figured out that playing with 60 cards is optimal. Still some problems (he shuffled his sideboard in his main deck in game 1...) After game 1, I sideboard my Blood Moons out for 1 Disk and 1 Contagion. 3-0, I don't take a single damage... 3-0, 9 points, 1-0 in matches Round 2=20 Jean-Louis D'Hondt Twister deck If you don't know his deck, have a look in the newsgroup (or at deja-vu), look for type 1 stuff... In game 1, Jean- Louis is too fast for me. When I want to sideboard, I realize that I forgot to unsideboard, so my Blood Moons, my only hope to win game 1, were not in my main deck :( In come the Pyroblast and Ebony Charm, out 3 Contagion and 1 Hymn and Ihsan's Shade (too slow).=20 In game 2, I only have one land in my 8 first cards, I have to waste my Vampiric tutor on a Badlands instead of a Blood Moon.=20 Again a fast start from Jean-Louis who drops a City of Solitude. Duh!, I have 3 Pyroblast useless. At some point, I have my LoA untapped and 1=20 Shaman, Jean-Louis, at one life, casts Time Walk and is Tutoring and says, you are at 19, plus 4 from your 2 lands (Zuran Orb) and he counts his mana: 10 lands (there are 2 Mana Flare out, but 3 of the lands are City of Brass, so he can get 21 mana) and 3 Moxen, that's 23 damage, so you're fried. I know I can kill the 3 moxen, so I say 'go on'. He knows that there is sth wrong, but goes on. I kill the Moxen at the end of his turn, and he says 'I guess I am dead', smiles and Geyser for 19 cards and kills me later... I sideboard the Hymn for the Dystopia, but it proved useless as I win game 3 thanks to a Blood Moon he couldn't counter. 1-2, 12 points, 1-1 in matches Round 3 Eric Libert U/R Bolt deck I played Eric in friendly games with a Prosperity deck and his deck was not so good. So, for the tourney he trimmed it a bit and it seems better. But, still, it's a bolt deck: 4 Bolts, 4 Incinerate, 4 Psi Blast, 2 Fireblast, 3 Shaman, Wheel, and the blue spoilers... and 4 Vise. Game 1: I have more creatures that him bolts. I win. I sideboard out the 3 Contagion for 3 Pyroblast, the 2 Blood Moon for the Staiwell and the Drain Life :) Game 2: see game 1. The last game is a bit different, as Eric Managed to get more bolts than me creatures. Don't forget the Wheel backed by 2 Vise. Never saw the TOSTs... 2-1, 18 points, 2-1 in matches Round 4 ? from Li=E8ge, playing necro He also was ready for a 1 vise environment, with a mono-black Necro with HD (Hyppies and Hymns) and LD (Strips and Sinkholes). He draws 2 Factories and no Swamp in game 1. I run over him. He draws 1 Swamp, 1 Strip and 1 Factory in game 2. His first turn is:=20 Swamp, done. My first turn: Strip your Swamp, done. And that's game. Fortunately, he is not mana screwed in game 3 and goes into Necro/Tower mode, while I am slightly mana screwed. His LD doesn't help, but I am holding 3 Contagions, so I have a little hope to come back. But no lands to come, nothing but a 4th Contagion :) He finished me with a huge Drain Life. 2-1, 24 points, 3-1 in matches Round 5 Michel Devos (not from my family) U/R Bolt, Chang-like Michel copied the bolt deck of our National champ, Nicolas Fournier, tweaked it a bit, and won several tourneys. Of course he was happy to get 4 Vises for the last time. Game 1, First turn Vise. I manage to get under 5 cards and get more creatures than him bolts. Game. In the second game, 2nd turn Vise, followed by a Strip Mine, I've got a Shaman, but never get 3 lands on the board, as Michel draw a Strip Mine for each land I draw... In game 3, 3 early strips hurt me badly, but I had 4 Shaman in my initial hand, and I manage to come back and kill the 2 Vise I had on me. Michel didn't draw enough bolt to fry me while I pound him with 2 Shamans, followed by a Knight or Hyppie. 2-1, 30 points, 4-1 in matches. At this point, I am happy with my score. Not for long, since I'll soon meet my buddy Vincent, the luckiest Magic player ever (TM). Round 6: Vincent Gieling R/W/U Red for Blood Moon and Shaman, white for 4 Plows, Disenchant, 1 Spirit Link, Moats and Serra Angels, blue for counters and Dibs. I tease him about a game I won yesterday with the necro I had, where he lost 20 due to 2 Contagioned Serendibs and we start. In the first game, I draw 21 cards: 10 lands, 2 Dark Ritual, 6 various spells and... 3 creatures. Needless to say I lost. I sideboard out my Contagion and Blood Moon for Pyroblast and the mighty Dystopia. This game I get a normal draw, drop creatures and start pounding. Vincent stops me with a Moat and a Serendib that he's keeping to hold my Skulker. His life total is dwindling, he has to Recall a Mystical and a Enlightened Tutor to get a Spirit Link and a Arcane Denial. I am holding a Pyroblast and a Vampiric, waiting for sth to throw at him as a bait. He's gaining 1 life a turn (3 from the attacking spLinked Serendib, minus 2 from my Skulking Ghost). While we are both a 8 life, I draw a Dystopia which is countered, so the Pyroblast on the dib gets through. Vincent casts another Serendib. I cast my Vampiric tutor, and think: he's got no disenchant since he countered the Dystopia and has few cards in hands, so better get a disk and clean the board to cast the 2-3 creatures I am holding. I drop the disk next turn. Vincent is in trouble. What does he need to draw? hm? a Disenchant. And guess what he draws? Yeah, you got it. Dis the disk, 2 more turns and I am dead... In game 3, First turn hyppie gets plowed, but nothing can stop a pump knight and I win. 1-2, 33 points, 4-2 in matches Final Round: Laurent Biernaux, U/R/B bolt Another cheese man, this time with some originality: Bosium Strip and Doomsday. Also Juzams and... 4 Vise. Game 1: Laurent wins the die roll and starts: - Sulfurous Springs, done - my turn: Ritual a hyppie - his turn: Sapphire, ritual a Juzam He is mana screwed. I am holding a Contagion, a Hyppie and a Shaman. I drop a land, the Shaman and kill the Mox. Attack with the specter and grab a thunderbolt :) He attacks with the Juzam, I let it through. - I cast the 2nd hyppie, and attack with the hyppie, forget to attack with the Shaman. - he attacks again with the Juzam. I block, since next turn I won attack anyway. - I drop a land and attack with the 2 Hyppie - Laurent attacks and it goes through - I drop a land and contagion the juzam, attack with who you know. - he's at 3 (me too), takes 1 from the Juzam draws, and smile: tap the Sulfurous Springs (1 life left) for a Bolt. I am dead. If I had attacked with the Shaman, this would have been a draw. I curse myself and rush to my sideboard: swap Blood Moons for TOST and Disk Game 2 sees Laurent mana screwed as well. A timely Strip took care of him. In game 3, we both get a slow start. Laurent drops a Bosium Strip and a Juzam, I cast the Disk, and get rid of everything, taking a hit from the Juzam. Creatures start pouring but Laurent fry me with his heat. 1-2, 36 points (out of 63), 4-3 in matches Winner is Michel Devos with 45 points. 2nd Vincent Gieling with 42. 3rd Laurent Biernaux is tied with a guy playing an U/W Equipoise Sands of Time, killing with guess what? Vise :) They play each other to see who wins the 3rd prize. We left before the end (boy, is this Equisands tiring to watch). All in all, I was happy with the performance of the deck. Could have won against 2nd and 3rd and beat the winner. See that no power cards are needed to make an honorable tourney (BTW, I used my LoA in 2 games and it didn't help that much). About the restriction of the Vise: I am happy they did it. I lost 2 games to the Vise/strip combo. Shouldn't happen with such a fast deck (with 24 lands and 4 Dark Ritual). If anybody is interested, I might post a tourney report of the same tourney from my brother's point of view, playing a Hurkyl's Recall/Prosperity deck (with 3 Vise :) Comments welcome as usual. Hope you enjoyed the report. Cheers, =09Carl |_| (*,*) [`-'] ------------------"-"------------------------------------------------------= -- Carl Devos | http://student.ulb.ac.be/~cdevos/ | cdevos@ulb.ac.be | In the beginning, there was nothing. And God said: | "LET THERE BE LIGHT." | And there was still nothing, but you could see it.