From: "Chris Warren" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Subject: [Tourney Report/MVW deck] She wore Blue Velvet... Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 07:23:37 PDT Greetings all! As usual, here's my post-tourney report. Living in Chicago, I've decided to try to give one more crack at qualifying for Chicago. I posted the new deck, "Blue Velvet" a couple weeks ago. It's undergone really minor changes since, but apart from playing online I haven't got a chance to pound away, so I decided to take it to a small sanctioned T2 at Hansen's Hobbies 2 in Des Plaines, IL (Chicago Suburbs) last night. Shortly after I got there, a fellow named Jim, who's relatively new to the game (a few months) showed with his proposed deck for the qualifier saturday. R/U and a complete mess. Dwarven Berserkers, Tolarian Entrancers, 4 Desertions, no Ophidians, no Man-o-War, maybe 1 Incinerate. I helped him out go with a more reasonable U/R deck ... the standard U "guts" with some burn and lancers, as well as a couple Frenetics and some Lancers. Nothing shocking, but very solid. He decided to also play his MiViWl deck for the tournament. Just before we got started, I made one concession to trying to win something by replacing my 4 Memory Lapses with Counterspells. There was one other concession I should have made but didn't that didn't hit until round 4. The deck: "Blue Velvet" 18 Island 4 Quicksand 1 Winding Canyons (may up to 2 if I find one) 4 Ophidian 4 Man-o'-War 4 Vodalian Illusionist 4 Azimaet Drake 2 Serrated Biskelion 2 Sage Owl 1 Floodgate 4 Memory Lapse (replaced by Counterspells last night) 4 Dissipate 4 Power Sink 2 Impulse 1 Boomerang 1 Dragon Mask Sideboard: 4 Manta Ray 3 Disrupt 3 Boomerang 2 Suq'Ata Firewalker 1 Shimmer 1 Serrated Biskelion 1 Floodgate 10 Players, format was swiss, 4 rounds. Prizes for first and second. Round 1: Rainer Hochenburg(?) B/G/R Rainer's a new player and it shows. On turn 2 of game one, I play a Sage Owl. He says he doesn't understand why people use them. He rituals out a Murk Dwellers. I quicksand it the next turn which makes him read the quicksand. Ahh. Basically he sees no red mana which lets me pop out an Illusionist, control the board. 14 turns later, the Sage Owl's beaten him down to 6. I add an Azimaet to finish the job. Sideboard is minimal... I believe I add the firewalkers and the other Floodgate, maybe the Biskelion as well. Drop the Boomerangs. Turn 2, with me having 1 mana on the table, he drops Cursed Totem. Uh-oh. The next turn, an Abyssal Specter finds its way onto the board. ack! Then he fire-whips it! ugh! I draw a Man-o-War, but not enough mana for the counter afterwards. After 2 or 3 hits, I bounce it then counter. Counters are enough to control the board and his smaller creatures (including some poisoners) die to an onslaught of Snakes and Jellyfish. After the games I suggest he drop some of the stuff like Howls from beyond, as he often won't have creatures to cast them on. 1-0/2-0 Round 2: Jim! Ugh. U/R Not a good matchup for Jim as I'd just helped him make his deck and I've made mine to whoop red and handle other blue decks. In game 1, a turn 2 Sage Owl does about 14 points of damage, and an Illusionist controls the board with the help of the Floodgate. An Ophie eventually pops in to help draw. I side in 9 or 10 cards, the usual anti-blue stuff. Game 2, a Manta Ray pops out early, hits a little and draws burn. Ophidians stare at each other until I can get an Illusionist out and control the board. He wins a counterwar at the end, but it's too little, too late as I have about 5 creatures that are hurting him and he can only kill 1. Jim says he'd like to go mono-color as he had some colorscrew problems round 1, and he likes the Illusionist. 2-0/4-0 Round 3: Missed the name G/R Pretty stock G/R deck with Boas, Nettletooths, Scrybs, Centaurs, various burn, and Hurricane and Earthquake. Lots of critter pumpers tho -- giant growths and blood lusts. Game 1 he comes out fast, I see 3 mana all game and get overrun. whee. In come the bisk, firewalker, disrupts, and a couple boomerangs for CoS (which never shows). Game 2, I boomerang his first forest on turn 2, which lets me put out an early ophie without much oppoisition. A firewalker comes out and controls his weenies, and a disrupt stops an earthquake from clearing the board while netting me a free card. Illusionist finally hits and clears the way for a horde eventually consisting of 3 attacking Ophies and a Jellyfish. I counter a Tsunami at some point. Game 3, he drops a turn 2 scryb. I man-o-war it after a hit. he incinerates the man-o-war. I man-o-war the scryb. he incinerates the man-o-war. I man-o-war the scryb. He casts a 2-point earthquake. With that sillyness over, I drop a firewalker, save a little mana, and add an Illusionist. I disrupt an earthquake AND a hurricane (yip) and gain control and card advantage as the Firewalker pops him or his creatures for a long time until I finally put down a drake to do a little damage. Small creature rush backed by about 6 counters to stop a fog does the trick. 3-0/6-1 Round 4 (The finals!) Doug Leonhardt mono-U counter/Rainbow Doug and I agree to play for all the marbles. He's running a nice mono-U with 12 counters, a lot of manipulation (Brainstorm and Impulse), 4 Disks, Rainbows, Man-o'-Wars, and Vanishing Floodates as defense (don't do much good here!). Just after I start game 1, I ask him if he has a T2 rating, and he tells me "oh, 1900-something". He's rated 1905 in T2, about 88th in the world, and in Chicago for a week on business. Great. I soon realize the other change I should've made if I wanted to win -- Glaciers. He basically glaciers the heck out of me both games, making my Power Sinks (and Disrupts in game 2) useless, drawing all his counters thanks to manipulation, and Disking 3 or 4 times in game two after I'd gotten him down to 3 via some early Manta Ray action. Congrats, Doug, and good luck qualfying Saturday. He's a good opponent and nice to play against. Besides, I don't lose many points, no matter WHAT the k-value. heh. 3-1/6-3 Second place, possibly third, I don't stick around for the tiebreakers since if I'm second, Doug gets my goodies, anyway. Good showing for effectively a Mirvlite deck in a t2 tournament, so I can't complain. We'll see what happens saturday. Any comments/suggestions/ideas gladly accepted any flames miss me due to my Vodalian Illusionist. --Chris ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com