Newsgroups: uk.games.trading-cards.misc,rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy From: U Stroinski Subject: Shrewsbury - a short report To: mtg-strategy-l@oracle.wizards.com Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 11:38:17 GMT I can hear it everywhere: Necro is dead, Necro is dead. How often have we heard that? ... and Necro always came back! For my Necro this means of course overtime. I actually planned to play a mono-G deck (I call it : The Hamburger, since it won a tournament in Hamburg (Germany)), but after DC(I)'s announcement I HAD to play my Necro deck. Remember: 2 Dystopias, 4 Contagion in the main deck. This weeks tournament was in Shrewsbury a very quite town (actually too quite) near Birmingham. A good opportunity to meet players you don't see every weekend on the curcuit. The format was 6 round swiss with the final 8 ko. I keep on asking: Why do organizers bother with the added ko. Simply add 2 more swiss rounds. The organizer (I forgot his name, shame on me) was very competent and experienced, only ... the venue ... it was a VERY smoky pub. I HATE to do sports in smoky pubs. Nevertheless we started on time and my first opponent was ... David Maher (aka Ms C M Brookes, Cardiff Cartel) Baublebind There is trouble ahead .... but I pulled myself together .... let's face the music and dance. David's face wasn't expressing joy either. Remember when he finished split first at TVX, I was the only one who could beat him that day. Game 1: He thought he had me, when he played an Erhnam with Stormbind on the ground. I countered that with a Necro+Dystopia. David: "Dystopia in the main deck? You ." I contagioned his Erhnam and went on to win this game. Game 2: He started with 2 Mishras and a Plains in his hand. Turn 1 Mishra, I play Swamp. He plays Plains, attacks with Mishra. I consult for a Contagion and kill Mishra. That hurt him. Next turn I played an Aeolipile to nail his second Mishra. That left him him without Mana and allowed me to develop and finish the game with a 8 point Drain life. 2:0 Seth Wheeler WW That was a classical WW without U. With Dystopia in the main deck and Gloom in the sideboard I could win that 2:0. Paul Evans G/W I played Paul at TVX with my PowerStasis (he played Necro) and was not really happy about having another strong opponent. He didn't get G mana in game 1 and my Dystopias together with a Necro/Ivy combo did the job in the second game 2:0 After three matches we had a little lunchbreak ... only I forgot my lunch, which meant starving. OK at 72kg (180cm) I took it as part of my diet plan ;-) My forth opponent was Sam Roads G (Hamburger) Sam is a member of the Cardiff Cartel and of course he knew about my Dystopias in the main deck (I told them after the game against Dave). It was a very long drawn out battle. 58 min. In the first game he overwhelmed me (even the Dystopias didn't help). In the second game I got a Sengir out and attacked him 3 times. The only problem was that he could easily kill me next turn with 2 Derwishes out (I was on 4 life). I drew a land attacked with my Sengir (he 4 life) and Drain him for 4. That was a surprise for him, since he really thought he had me (I actually thought that too) Game 3. He again got an early Derwish, which was supported by a Hearts of the Yavimaya and I had 3 Mishras. It was a tight game all about whether he gets counters on the Derwish or not. Eventually (after 55 min) he broke the stalemate and attacked. Loosing his Derwish and I my Mishras. Next round I played an Ihsan's and proceeded to win this match 2:1 Daniel Muto (Italy) Necro with Icequakes What can I say, you know this games Necro against Necro. In the first game he got the Necro/Icy combo, but never gained enough life to become a real thread and in the second (very close) game I could kill him with an Ihsan. At that stage of the swiss round there were only 2 unbeaten players. Clint Oldridge and me. We had to battle it out. NewNecro vs BaubleBind. 3 weeks of playtesting. Clint Oldridge BaubleBind (Cardiff Cartel) Game 1 he killed me with Mishras. Game 2 I got a 2nd turn Ihsan. Decider. Game 3 was a real thriller. We played all our tricks. He started with a cheesy Bauble/Balance combo which left me without cards (Ban Baubles, they are worse than Hymns ;-) Somehow I managed to come back. When we were both out of resouces (I had 2 Dystopias and a Drain in my hand) he played a Blinky. I could't get rid of the Blinky (at least that was what I wanted to make him think). He attacked, I took the damage. He Lodestone Baubles me for 4 Swamps (I lost them when he balanced). I counter that by playing the Dystopias to keep his Blinky busy ;-) meanwhile I built up my land which eventually allowed my a big Drain Life to win this match. Afterwards we were not sure whether the Lodestone Baubel on me was a mistake. I don't think so. Without the second Dystopia his Blikny would have killed me. After 6 round of Swiss I was on 56 points and qualified for the final 8 round. Quarterfinal Pete Daniels Necro with Racks, Withering Wisps and Abysmals Necro against Necro. He hymned my Necros and Contagions and Contagioned my blockers and did the same in game 2. 10 min. The end 8-( Pete Daniels enters the Hall of Fame by beating the current Master Assassin 2:0 in a sanctioned tournament. Well done Pete! That's MtG. The semifinals were James Frasier - Daniel Muto and Pete Daniel - Gary Hooley. Is BaubleBind dead? I don't think so. First of all Cardiff still had a player (Gary) in the semis. They seemed to be surprised about me being so well-prepared to take on their deck. Was a good feeling. Especially when beating Clint (top 8 UK) ;-) During the semis I played Andy Liles (Birmingham) who showed me his "new" anti-Necro deck. He slaughtered me 2 1/2 : 1/2. Guess what it was ... R/G/W Stormbind See you next week Uwe Stroinski uwst@maths.bath.ac.uk PS: Thanks to Tom and Derek (team Swindon) who gave me a lift home.