From: U Stroinski Subject: $5000 Mox a Month in London - the first major post-restriction tournament - all top UK players present Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 10:33:01 GMT Wizards ban IA and FE (who cares about FE) and give younger players a chance to compete in type II. The rumors about DCI not sanctioning future swiss (ko, double ko, ..) tournaments seem to be wrong. (IE "their" swiss+ko format will only be compulsory for "their" events). Matthew Jiggings plays at reasonable speed. Stephen Roche gives me a handshake. The MtG world seems to be in order and there is nothing to write about ... if not ... ahh, yes there was this $5000 Mox a Month tournament in London. All the top UK players attended, ie (just to name a few) UK#1 Jason Nicoll UK#2 Graham Thompson UK#3 Jokohomo K. Masutra (sp?) UK#4 Matthew Jiggins UK#6 Oliver Schneider (probably even joint UK#4 Graham Baker, but I don't know him ...) and many more top players .... Steve Lamb, Steve Easton, the scottish national team, Daniele Muto (from Italy), Chriss Manners, Amit Arora ... and many, many more. All in all 256 players competed for $5000 prizes. Only the Swindon team and the Cardiff Cartel refused to show up. They played CRUSADE VIII in Bristol. Well knowing that after the restriction of Hymn and Strip they had no chance with their Strombind decks :-) But THE ASSASSINS anticipated that and sent Julian Wiffen to Bristol. Julian played NecroX and finished 5th. Back to London. Paul Barclay played G/W (? IIRC ?) and I played NecroX. NecroX (while the name is stolen) is a post-restriction NewNecro which was jointly developed/discussed by Julian, myself and Christoph Berg (a german player). We expected lot's of Outposts and "presideboarded" against them. The format was nothing for weak nerves. 256 players were grouped in groups of 4 and had to play round robin. The top 128 players would then proceed to a 7 round ko. This makes MaM effectively a ko tournament. Personally I like this format. Not in every tournament, not at the nationals, not at ProQualifiers, but once a month :-) Margret McCarthy R/G Big Creatures 2:0 Dave Thompson Necro 2:1 Dave played Dystopia in the main deck ... even more ... his deck was a straight copy of NewNecro :-). In game 1 a first turn Hippie gave me trouble and an Ihsan finished me off. Andy Paul PowerStasis 2:0 He didn't see Howlers in both games. That made me advance to the final 128. At that stage we had already lost Amit Arora and Steve Lamb. last 128 Robert Hallett U Control Magic 2:0 In game 1 he used 3 Control Magic, but Necros card advantage was too much. In game 2 he was low on mana. Here Jason Nicoll and Graham Thompson went home. That made Jokohomo K. Masutra the highest ranked player remaining in the field. (Couldn't figure out what he was playing, never saw him). last 64 Jade Jayasuriya Necro 2:0 In game 2 I had a Necro, Mishra, 4 swamps and Warbeast. He was low on life and had a Sengir and Serrated Arrows out. The Sengir had to go. I attacked with my Warbeast, forgetting ;-) that the Sengir gets a Counter. Jade blocks. Warbeast goes, Sengir is 5/5. Big mistake ... but lucky me ;-) (I am always lucky) I had an Aeolipile in my hand. I used it and Sengir went. With a Mishra and a Swamp left I thought it might be a good idea to Dance the Sengir now. Jade conceeded. At the tabel near to me Matthew Jiggins Dystopias made short work of a WW. last 32 Mike Tingay PowerStasis 1:2 In game 1 he got a great start, 1st turn Tower, 2nd Turn Howler. Game 2 was in my favour and I "Ordered" him to death. Game 3 I started with a Mishra as only land in my hand. He had a bad start too and I could make it a close game. In the end he totally locked me and I conceded. Well done Mike. No entry in the Hall of Fame though, it was "only" 1:2. The new Master Assassin is now Paul Barclay. IIRC Matthew Jiggins and Jokohomo K. Masutra dropped out in this round and therefore Oliver Schneider the highest raked player remaining. .... Semis Tony Dobson WW - Mark Wooten W/R/G Erhnam/Stormbind 2:1 Oliver Schneider WW - Chris Manners R/W/G Erhnam/Stormbind 2:0 FINAL Oliver Schneider WW - Tony Dobson WW 2:1 The (deserved) winner of the $5000 Mox a Month tournament is Oliver Schneider. They call him now "Outpost Ollie" ;-) His WW was actually very similar to a WW run by a friend of mine Andy Smith who finished on a split 5th at CRUSADE. Since this was Andy's first sanctioned tournament we all know what that means. PREPARE FOR A KJELDORAN WINTER. MtG reminds me more and more on Populous (the computer game). The player is GOD and his people have to erect Outposts everywhere ;-) Is Necro dead? No, but severly ill. Probably no longer the strongest deck type. Give us time. I had interesting discussions with Daniele Muto and Matthew Jiggins. We'll strike back. See you next week at the Alice ProQualifier in Nottingham and probably in Reading. Uwe Stroinski uwst@maths.bath.ac.uk