Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 22:52:02 +0200 (CEST) From: Eric Hanuise Subject: tourney report TI 16/8 turnhout + TII 17/8 oostende Double tournament report Type I in turnhout 16/8/97 and type II in oostende the next day. By eric hanuise - ehanuise@hebel.net -------------------------------------------------------- Hello everyone. We've had a type I tournament this saturday and a type II sunday, and as the title says, I bothered to write a report for both........ Errm, enough bandwidth wasting ;-) So I went once again to jean-louis d'hondt house in brussels this friday, who invited me for the whole weekend. We had spent thursday night chatting on IRC (we knew we'd be checking the worlds cybercast, so we made an appointment. JL had never used IRC before, so I took some time to explain him the nooks and crannies of #mtg undernet and MIRC. He eventually picked LouMaster as nick. Mine's Doc_Ido, by the way for those of you who happen to hang on IRC undernet #mtg channel) I arrive around 15:30 and a friend comes with some mirage starters and boosters so we play a sealed deck together as a warm-up for the weekend. We then made decks and playtested with JL's brother, Alexandre. Alexandre has quit magic for a while, so he uses other colors than jean-louis to build his decks. This means he often plays black/red, fast and burn decks. We had been to a type I event last week, and there were some players from li=E8ge playing discard/rack decks (not your basic discard deck, something much more control-oriented.) They had fared well, and we expected to meet them again in turnhout saturday, and were on the expectative to see if they'd play those decks again. On the other hand, we knew that players in flanders use to play U W and R, we had some serious metagaming goin' on. Jean-louis opted for his amnesia deck which earnedhim a mox emerald last week in charleroi (sorry folks, he won't let the recipe go ;-) and I wanted to play storm cauldron/ankh of mishra/manabarbs/power surge=20 (I played it before, and it's quite fun to play. This deck just screws up the mana curve and once it's set up, you look at your opponent killing himself :) I had guerilla tactics instead of bolts, just in case the guys from liege did play discard again. after playtesting, I opted for a lighter version of the deck, dropping the cauldrons, manabarbs and power surges and playing only ankhs, copper tablets, one vise and two miser's cages (since the stuffed doll grinder's restricted nowadays...) We went to sleep relatively early (that's 4AM anyway), 'coz JL got a bit pissed off playing against my deck and his brother's (blast/discard Br with 3 bloodmoons standard :-) Type I event in Turnhout --------------------- So we woke up saturday at around 10:00 and went to turnhout. The event was scheduled for noon, play beginning at 13:00 and they began just in time (this sadly is rare enough to be noticeable ;-) We met the players from liege, and learned that Joseph petrarca has opted for a new twist on the twister deck (couldn't help that one, sorry ;-). I figured out that there wouldn't be that much discard decks, so I replaced the tactics by bolts before the event. This is the organiser's first event, so he ask people some advice before the event begins. He announce we'll play 5 rounds of swiss, and three games per round (not best of three, all tree games must be played). points are 3 for each won duel, 1 for a draw and 0 for an unfinished. After that, the first 4 will have half finals and finals. (there's a mox pearl for #1) Round 1 Alexandre D'hondt .... Br discard/blast I just had it coming ... that's a double illustration of the murphy's law : I took the tactics out and begin with a discarder, and we played plenty of games together yesterday and drove more than 100 Kms, just to play one each other. I sit down and take a deeeeeeep breath. Zen ... Game 1 I lay two copper tablets. He puts a knight and skulking ghost. I balance them off. He then plays a sengir vampire, so I recall the balance. We then exchange some bolts and he eventually drops a second sengir that kills me. Game 2 I open on a strip and meekstone. He plays a zuran and a strip. Then, he plays an hymn and strips my volcanic island. He then summons a hippie which I eventually get rid of using a nevynirral's disk. I play a few bolts, discarding to 3 cards in hand and play a balance. I then topdeck a zuran orb and copper tablet. He lays two knights, I then do a wheel of fortune and play a vise. He smiles and kaervek torches me for 5 - I'm toast. Game 3=20 Alex has an early knight that grinds me down to 10 lifes. I tutor a balance and clean the table. He lays a hippie which I sword then kills me with another knight. LLL - 0 points. Round 2 Mario Pauwels RG with howling mines, anvils, and island sanctuary. Game 1 I guess he was trying some sort of millstone deck, but it doesn't seem to work. I open with a mox monkey, then rapidly lower my hand by bolting him, play a balance, two copper tablets and a miser's cage. He then tries to recover, but dies a painful death. Game 2 I have a first turn vise and second turn copper tablet. He draws one land, then later on a glacial chasm. His deck denies him any more lands and I watch him die. I'm such a good player... :( Game 3 He opens with a mana vault and howling mine, then plays a galcial chasm. I've two cities of brass and a plateau, then draw bolts and incinerates. I draw a zuran orb and balance from which he never recovers. (magic's easier with lands, Y'know ;-) WWW - 9 points Round 3 Anthony Vandenbossche prosbloom Game 1 I don't have the time to see what he plays as he's fatally surprised by the ankh/copper/vise infernal trio. Game 2 The game stalls somewhat, and he eventually plays a squandered resource. I'm lost in an ocean of probabilities when he plays a cadaverous bloom. I smile cheerfully and allow it. He then plays a 8 cards prosperity, then a 15 cards one, then a drain life which I arcane denial. (and I had two FoW in hand thanks to his prosperities :-). It's my turn, so I play a vise, and watch him die. Game 3 He attempts a drain life which I counter, regrowths it, and later plays another drain life. We've both worked our magic pretty well so we stare at each other for a while, he's at 3 and I'm at 1. He plays an underworld dreams and, err, I died. I haven't seen a single bolt, incinerate or copper tablet that game ... Gasp ! WWL - 15 points Round 4 Olivier Delcambe Bu Discard/rack/control We've a small trash talking joust to get in shape before the game begins (explaining each other it's cool to play with you, it's like getting a bye :-) Game 1 I open on a land, vise and then play a second turn ankh. he hymns, I bolt (I explain him it's the pavlovian reflex method - when he's got the hymn-bolt relation in mind, he won't hymn anymore) He keeps hymning, so I discard to only a balance in hand, and play it. I then proceed to kill him with a mishra factory. Game 2 I get a mana flood, almost no spells. I hopefully quickly recover and the game is quite tight. He eventually kills me with a serendib, I'd have killed him next turn. We both agree that the winner of the third shall have WWW so he stands a chance to go in final rounds. Game 3 I watch him play two racks, then hymn, stupor, hymn, and die a horrible death. WLL -> LLL 15 points. Round 5 Sander Hendricks Ru blast Game 1 he lays a mountain, island, then two more mountains. I lay two miser's cage, and he discards by bolting me. I bolt him three times, then twister and it's game. (the cages are still there :) Game 2 I open on a strip/vise, then a second strip. He just doesn't recover. (I think that type I is more and more a game of putting the opponent in mana dead to control him.) Game 3 He lays 3 islands, an iceberg, then a mountain which I strip. I play two ankhs and proceed to bolt him down to 4 lives. I discard to one balance which I play and he doesn't recover. WWW -> 24 points. The breakdown is at 33 points, but olivier didn't win thrice so he isn't in. I watch the half finals, between jean-louis d'hondt (amnesia, contrul, erhnams and 'dibs) and steve clarys (UW control that focuses on mirror universe kills), which jean louis wins, and the other half between alexandre d'hondt (BR knights/bolts/blood moon) and fabio mathese (Bu hippie, 'dibs and control) which fabio wins. We're a bit disappointed that jean louis and alex didn't both made it to the finals as last week in charleroi, but that's part of the game :) The final was won by Jean Louis D'hondt. The damn kid got hold of another mox, the second in two weeks. Maybe he deserves his #1 place in the belgian players DCI rankings (TI and II, mind you) after all ;-) this is the list of the deck I played, it's quite easy to play. 4 each of tundra, tropical island, plateau, strip mine, mishra factory 1 plain, island and mountain 2 mox monkeys 1 zuran orb 4 incinerate and lignthing bolts 2 disenchant 1 black vise time twister, time walk 4 copper tablet 4 ankh of mishra 4 arcane denial balance recall 4 mystical tutor 1 sol ring 2 thunderbolt ('dibs) wheel of fortune 2 fellwar stone 2 miser's cage. Side : Thunderbolt, 2 swords to plowshares, 2 disenchant, tormod's crypt (twister decks are popular here :), 2 meekstone, earthquake, 3 hydroblast, 3 pyroblast. We then came back to brussels, took lunch in the city and came back to JL and Alexandre's house. Gilles granjean and Damien Karnas joined us and slept there too, since they'd come to the type II with us. (Gilles has lend most of his type I cards to nicolas fournier and vincent gieling who were part of the belgian team at the worlds this weekend,=20 so he didn't play the type I. Damien has quit magic for a while and is restarting a collection, so he lacks the cards too.) We build decks, which takes me a while since I don't know what to play. I try a Rwu deck with big critters as Orgg and balduvian hodes and control/gueddon but just doesn't feel it so I rebuild another deck at around 1 AM. Alexandre wants to play buried alive, So I lend him some nether shadows and a bad moon, Gilles plays stormbind and damien has a weenie/protection from sleight deck. Jean louis is tired, and spends most of the evening thinking and building his deck. He wanted at first to play stormbind, but when he learned that gilles would play that too, he spent most of the night thinking and building his deck rather than playtesting. I eventually decide I'll play control, with elemental augury and millstone. Elemental augury is bur so I don't play white. I have countermagic, direct damage, frenetic efreets, wildfire, terrors and animate deads. I then remember of the 1187 deck, so I add man'o wars and one nekrataal for extra board control. I've no disenchants so I put in nevynirral's disk in the sideboard. The others tell me it's stupid since it breaks my lock, but I eventually found i should have played at least one in the main deck. (it seems that the lock's main utility in this deck is to turn the attention of the opponent away from the fact that you're killing him with direct damage :-) Type II event in Oostende ----------------------- The event is 6 swiss rounds, best of 3, with resistance points used to separate ex-aequos. the points are per match, not per duel, and W=3D3, D=3D1, L=3D0. Round 1 - Kim Hoffman I've played kim several times, and we're always happy to meet. Today he plays sandsipoise, which I also considered playing but felt that would be too dangerous in type II. Game 1 he's manascrewed, drawing only plains. I've 2 thawings in my starting hand. He eventually lays out 2 diamonds (blue) and an equipoise. I beat him down to 3 but he then geddons. I incinerate, he Force of wills it (down to 2), then plays two more diamonds and eventually kills me with a breezekeeper. Game 2 round 3 equipoise, round 4 sands of time. It's gonna be hard ! he lays a breezekeeper, which I pyroblast (twice - he arcane denied the first). we then watch each other for 10 turns, he plays a feldon cane, then another breezekeeper and kills me. LL - 0 points Round 2 - Mike Koeck Game 1 I beat him down to 7. He then plays a kjelkdoran and I grab he's playing counterspost. He eventually binding grasps my wildfire and tokenfloods me. I side out the man'o wars and terrors and in the disks and earthquake/torchs Game 2 the game is a long drawn out affair which I win with some fireworks (that's a torch of 11 mind you :) Game 3 is unfinished since game 2 ended 10 minutes before the time limit. LWD - 1 point (I just hate this system, draws are too much of a handicap) Round 3 - Frederic Van Kappel Game 1 I quickly see he's playing mono-red, the 'stains on the wall' variety. He blasts me, and attacks with the recurring viashino annoyance. I lay a wildfire emissary, and eventually kill him with earthquake. He responds by fireblast, calling it a draw. (now, that pisses me off. But, I'd have done the same ;-) Game 2 he blasts, blasts, blasts, then fireblasts. i'm toast. I had 4 arcane denials, 1 FoW and a soulburn but just couldn't cope with him. Game 3 He plays a volcanic dragon, and a keeper of kookus. then a taalrum minotaur. I play a wildfire to get rid of the taalrum, and hydroblast the dragon. He torches me for 6, down to 1. I get rid of the keeper while he's tapped out. I then proceed to kill him in a few turns with two frenetics, the wildfire and an incinerate. DLW - 2 points (Aaaaaargh !!! two draws, that's in my face. I know I stand no more chances by now.) Round 4 - Hugo Deryck It's been a while that we haven't played together and we're glad to meet again. Hugo's a casual player, a very nice guy to play with. Game 1 he plays a turn 2 longbow archer, and I say 'white weenie ? cool :-)' but I know that won't be easy, and he knows it well too. I get a wildfire, man'o war, some blast and a nekrataal. I kill him rapidly, but that's more luck than skill. I'm such a good player ... Not ! Game 2 I'm land flooded. He's pounding me with his weenies. I torch him for 9 and tap out. He tutoprs a helm of obedience and mills me down 'till he gets a wildfire. He also plays an outpost. I then fireball him for 13 and we both talk about the importance of luck in type II :-) WW - 5 points Round 5 - Frederick Baerk he's 14, and I've played him several times before. I don't see him often in tournaments, but I know he usually makes solid decks, very consistent and does usually not make mistakes. We kid each other 'coz we had been paired together two rounds before, but the organiser eventually changed the pairings so that two guys hadn't to replay each other. Game 1 I'm lucky again, and end up with a wildfire and nekrataal on the table, and will kill him next turn. Frederick plays tariff, so I sack the nekrataal. Then he tells me he's been stupid coz he had a swords in hand and concedes. I appreciate it that he didn't ask to take it back (which I'd have allowed him, of course) it's cool to see players that can live with their mistakes. Game 2 He takes a revenge and floods me with weenies. Game 3 He plays an early CoP red, CoP black, and karma. I've plenty of lands but only one swamp. My topdecking skills give me a disk, and I animate dead a wildfire. I grind him with it, then fireball for 10. Not subtle, but efficient :) WLW - 8 points Round 6 - Peter-Jan Baerk he's frederick's older brother (16). He plays Uwr Game 1 Is a long drawn out affair, with plenty of blast, and frenetic efreets battling it out in the air. He eventually kills me, de justesse. Game 2 I've a mana dead, he starts with two thawing glaciers. Need I say more ? He killed me quick with a wildfire and earthquake. LL - 8 points. The first place was for Kurt Foket, and the second one for Alexandre D'hondt. (there just had to be a d'hondt in the first places, y'know ;-) We then bought some boosters, ride back to brussels, and played a booster draft (Mi/Mi/Wea) to cool of after such a long weekend. Whaddayamean addicted ? This' the list of the deck I played sunday : 3 thawing glaciers 2 gemstone mine 2 sulfurous spring 2 underground river 5 swamp 5 mountain 6 island 2 elemental augury 2 millstone 1 charcoal diamond 1 sky diamond 1 fellwar stone (most ppl play red anyway ;-) 4 frenetic efreet 3 man'o war 2 mystical tutor 4 arcane denial 2 force of will 1 nekrataal 3 terror 1 animate dead 1 crypt rats 1 soul burn (I'd play 2 next time, it's just too cool.) 1 fireball 2 earthquake 4 incinerate 2 wildfire emissary Sideboard 2 hydroblast 3 pyroblast 2 kaervek's torch 2 nevynirral's disk 2 dissipate (hammers) 2 phyrexian furnace (hammer and buried alive) 1 earthquake 1 serrated arrow As usual, comments are welcome. just mailto:ehanuise@hebel.net ------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Hanuise - ehanuise@hebel.net - Fax (32)67 340 351 Check my magic page http://www.hebel.net/~ehanuise/mtgbel Check my company page http://www.hebel.net/~ehanuise/touchy ------------------------------------------------------------