Subject: Dublin new T2 report Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 01:06:03 +0000 (GMT) From: "Tadhg O'Higgins" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Frank, Here's a report on the post-Tempest tournament that Dave Kearney sent you the winning decks for, including a more correct listing of my deck... Tadhg -- Standard DCI Sanctioned Weekly, 1st November 1997 The deck: Delaying Blue 20 Island 4 Quicksand 24 4 Counterspell 4 Dissipate 4 Memory Lapse 1 Dismiss 37 2 Boomerang 2 Capsize 3 Time Ebb 1 Undo 2 Time Elemental 4 Manowar 51 4 Ophidian 55 2 Rainbow Efreet 57 4 Nevinyrral's Disk 61 SB 2 Mind Bend 2 Sleight of Mind (one of these should probably have been a Hack(!)) 2 Energy Flux 2 Hydroblast 2 Dream Tides 2 Ertai's Meddling 2 Chill 1 Propaganda (only had one...) The deck started out as an attempt at a Capsize-deck: survive to 12 mana and then take away two lands a turn. This simply didn't work for a lot of reasons (lack of Glaciers being a primary one...) but the deck still managed to win or come close to winning, so I changed it to something closer to Big Blue but based on delay to a much greater degree. Decks based on this kind of delay may, in fact, become the standard Big Blue in the current environment. I wasn't too confident going into the tournament, since I thought the deck was a little on the wacky side ('delay delay delay win' somehow didn't have the same ring as 'counter counter counter win') and I knew it wasn't tuned. Also, with all the anti-blue stuff out there (Choke, Boil, Scragnoth, as well as the ones we had already) and the loss of the Force I thought Blue might simply be very tough to play. Round 1: Ian Nolan, playing Baby Blue. His deck was a fairly standard pre-Tempest Baby Blue, with 18 land, and what looked like 4 Brainstorm 4 Portent 4 Impulse 4 Counterspell 4 Lapse 4 Dissipate 4 Waterspout, 1 Sage Owl, some Suq'Atas, some Rootwater Hunters, I think 2 Capsize. Game 1: As you might expect, a slow game... went back and forth. It was fairly even, but then he forgot to pay for the upkeep for a Waterspout. I managed to kill him with a Rainbow after that. I _think_ I would have been able to deal with the Djinn in that instance anyway, but you never know. Game 2: He _again_ forgot to pay for a Waterspout (I would have been able to kill it anyway with a Mind Bend) and I had control, I think, but we ran out of time. Analysis: It's a tough call. The library manipulation (something my deck really needs) helped him a lot. The Djinns (or any flyers really) are tough for my deck, especially before SBing. And I think he had more counters. On the other hand, the Time Elementals and the Disks helped me a lot. Hard to say who would win given no upkeep errors. 1-0, 1-0 Round 2: Thomas Grey, playing R/B speed burn Game 1: I had some mana problems at the start, and he rolled over me. Suq'Ata Lancers, Skulking Ghosts, Sandstalkers, burn, it was all too much... Game 2: I got out an early Chill, figuring I could safely tap out to do so. Once I had it out, I felt safe in tapping out to get down a Time Elemental, since he couldn't afford to kill it with burn (which had seemed to be the main creature control he had). He played Cursed Totem... ouch. I looked at the Rainbow in my hand, and looked at the Time Elemental, and decided I had a problem... He hacked away at me some more with a Black Knight that was 3/3 because of a Bad Moon, but eventually I got that off the table. He got me down to 3 life, but I stabilized there. I made a dumb error, in that I forgot about the Bad Moon and left him play the Knight again, thinking I could simply block it with an Ophidian... I had to lose the Ophidian before getting rid of the Knight. I countered several attempts on my life, got down a Disk, eliminated his damn Totem, and sealed the game. Game 3: He got a quick start. a Feral Shadow was key, hitting me for something like 12 I think. He got me down to 3 life, but I had 2 Chills on the table... I countered his burn, got board control, and beat him to death with a Rainbow. Analysis: I don't think that kind of R/B is too strong, and I think that the Shadow and Ghosts are weak in the current environment, but they're strong against my deck. I think if he added some new Tempest stuff it could be a lot tougher. 2-0, 3-1 Round 3: David Kearney, playing U/r/b/? Five-colour Blue, really, but I didn't see any Orbs... Sapphire Medallions and Capsize and some splashes for creature control (and presumably Disenchants also), a Torch, and some SB surprises. Game 1: A long game. I felt I misplayed some things in this, but the important factor was: he was at 2 life, I was at something like 20. I was hitting him with a Rainbow. I had just returned a Rainbow and a Suq'Ata to his hand. I was trying to push the kill, because I felt the momentum was slipping away. I played something (can't remember what it was now) to try to hold that momentum (I think it was a Disk) and decided to gamble that he didn't have creature kill in his hand. I only left 1 blue free after casting the Disk. In his turn, he Torched the Efreet, and proceeded to make a good comeback. Ouch. Game 2: I can't actually remember the details of this one spectacularly well, but I got out an early Efreet. He came out with a Scragnoth (!) but I had 2 Quicksands so I wasn't too worried-though I did strongly dislike his playing with the damn card! I was able to keep the Rainbow out and kill him with it. Game 3: We didn't finish because of time. It's hard to say who would have won it. Analysis: I think Dave's deck may have been a touch stronger than mine, at least in a direct face-off. Though the Disks did give me a strong edge, the Medallions and his splash colours gave him a stronger one. I think. The Medallions were especially strong in allowing him to out-counter me even when we had the same amount of mana out. I think that his deck has a lot of potential, but might seriously suffer when people get their hands on 4 Wastelands. Wasteland is one of the reasons why I didn't go for any splash colour. 2-0-1, 4-2 Round 4: Gavin Kearney, playing 5CG I thought 5CG would be strong in the post-Tempest environment, and Gavin (Dave's younger brother) was undefeated, and anything with Green in it worried me, so I had my doubts about this one. Game 1: He got an early good start, but I was able to stay alive. The key point came when he had 3 BoPs, a City of Brass and a Gemstone Mine out (I had returned Rogue Elephants to his hand through various means). He cast a Lhurghoyf three times - I lapsed it twice and the Dissipated it, I think. That lost him the mine, and then I Disked away his Birds. Game Over. Game 2: He got a Choke past my counters. I was a turn away from putting out a Disk (my Quicksand would untap) when he Geddoned. I Lapsed it, but to no avail as I simply couldn't counter it again... Game Over. Game 3: I can't remember the start, but I took early hurt from a Rogue Elephant before getting a Disk down, again taking some BoPs with it. Then I got down Propaganda. I had a lot of mana at this stage. He had a Quirion Ranger and Karoo Meerkats out, and 1 Forest and an Undiscovered Paradise. He paid to attack with the Meerkats. Fine, this put me on something low. Then, however, when he only had the Forest out, I Capsized it back to his hand, buying it back. I kept doing this, locking him at one mana, slowly getting some more mana myself. I got 8 mana out and was able to counter his next BoP. After that I just waited for more mana and smacked him to death with a Rainbow. 3-0-1, 6-3. Analysis: As I said, 5CG is strong. And Choke is pretty lethal... But the Disks were huge in the game, and the delaying nature of my deck take some of the sting out of the 5CG approach. The semi-finalists were myself as tope seed, Dave Kearney, Gavin Kearney and Ian Nolan-three Blue decks! Maybe Blue isn't dead after all... Peter Fitzgerald, playing a White Weenie with some splashes, was 3-1 but lost out on OMP. Semi-final: Ian Nolan Game 1: I made two really dumb errors in this game. The first: He had 2 land untapped. I had 5 untapped, and a Time Elemental in my hand. I also had a Boomerang. All I had to do was Boomerang an island and lay a Time Elemental, and that could well have meant game. But do I? No. I simply play the Elemental, which he counters. Duhh.... Then, I Disk when I have a Boomerang in hand, and forget to bring back the Disk... a long time later, he wins this game; he started putting his Waterspout-island on top of his library to make sure he couldn't forget. Game 2: This is another long game. He gets the upper hand, beating me down with various stuff. I think I got a Disk out to gain a brief respite, but then he gets out a Sage Owl. He gets me to 1 life. I play a Rainbow. I have 3 mana to spare. He has, among other things, a Capsize in his hand. He plays a Suq'Ata. I hesitate, but decide I have to counter. This leaves me with one mana. He has 5 left. The game is hi. He doesn't see it - maybe he's gotten too used to treating Capsize as a 6 casting cost spell. Anyway, instead of Capsizing my Rainbow he attacks with the Owl. I block, both die, which is fine by me. Then he plays a Waterspout Djinn. I Mind Bend it to swamps, untap, and proceed to take control of the game, eventually beating him to death with... yes, a Rainbow Efreet... Game 3: I figure I just have to win now, even though I played appallingly in the first game. He gets out a turn 2 Sage Owl, which ain't all that easy for me to deal with, but later I Manowar it, Time Ebb it twice, Lapse it, and finally counter it. I get an Ophidian working, and that pretty much sealed the game. Analysis: I felt really lucky to get out of that one, for sure. I neglected to mention that I was actually mana screwed at the start of all three of those games, having to discard at least once each time. Anyway, I think a key point between these decks is the amount of mana in them. Even with the library manipulation, over the course of the game it's seemed that I was more likely to get out more land. Having mana advantage is now incredibly important for Blue-Blue battles, possibly just as important as card advantage. That being the case, it seemed like my deck had a better chance once we reached the midgame. Maybe this won't be true when a more modern version of Baby Blue (possibly with Medallions and Lotus Petals) comes along, but it's something to keep in mind. Apart from that: Disks. Disks are just huge. Also, Ertai's Meddling helps quite a bit in counterbattles - but you all knew that already. Final: Gavin Kearney I think I can take this one. Unfortunately, I don't count on playing like an imbecile in the first game... Game 1: I take early damage from a Rogue Elephant, then we settle into midgame to-ing and fro-ing. Dumb play no. 1: he attack with an Armor of Thorns-ed Guildmage. I block with my Manowar, and Capsize the Armor, thinking that it was a smart play to get rid of the creature. This works, but only because Gavin didn't notice that _he had mana free to cast the Armor again_. Soon after this, he gets off a Geddon; all I can do is Capsize 2 Islands back to my hand. I play them and draw a Counterspell... and then a little more land and a Dissipate... I stay in it, and gradually gain control again. I'm on one life, with an Ophidian and a Rainbow out, a Manowar and Ophidian in hand. He has 2 BoPs and a Quirion Ranger, and is on 4 life. Dumb play no. 2: I attack with both. He blocks the Rainbow. I draw. I now have a Manowar and Ophidian in hand. The smart play: Manowar the BoP, so he can't Armor it and attack next turn, and also so I can block the Quirion. What I do: I say "I'm done" and then immediately take it back - but he won't let me get away with that. Dumb play no.3: I say "Okay, instead of vociferously arguing with that, and let him take his turn. He attacks and kills me. Scrub plays. I'd played really well in a lot of games, but made such total scrub plays ina lot of others. I am _not_ happy with myself. Game 2: I get almost no mana. He kills me. Now I'm _really_ not happy with myself, because it should have been 1-1, and instead I'm up against the wall. Game 3: I can't remember this one too well, but key is a Disk that blows up some BoPs (I think) and very importantly a Winter Orb. After that I take control. Game 4: He gets really bad mana, and I can get stuff out before he can do anything. Game 5: He gets bad mana again. Turn 3 he draws a BoP, casts it. I Lapse it. Turn 4 he casts BoP. I Lapse it. Turn 5 he casts BoP. I Manowar it. Turn 6 he casts BoP. I Time Ebb it. Turn 7 he casts BoP. I Lapse it. Turn 8 he casts BoP. I Dissipate it. The game is mine from there. Analysis: My deck is stronger than I expected, and also stronger than I expected against 5CG. The returning to top of deck stuff is just extremely strong. He misplayed a few things, and when he had to discard from mana shortage he at least twice discarded Winter Orbs. On the other hand, my deck proved more robust than I expected. The Disks were just so important, against every opponent. I didn't face pure burn though, which could hurt, and I didn't see any Boil. I really am thinking about changing at least one and possibly both Sleights in my SB to Hacks. Seriously. I need more library manipulation; I got stuck on 2 mana far too many times. 4 Impulse have just gotta go in somewhere. I'd also like some Suq'Atas, but don't know if I can fit them. I'm unsure about some Medallions - would they be worth it? I didn't actually feel that good about winning this tournament-my deck was good but I made so many mistakes I felt I didn't deserve it. Since I've lost so many tournaments that I (IMO) deserved to win, this shouldn't bother me, but anyway... Lastly, I apologise for the shifting between tenses in this report, but it's kinda late and I'm very tired... As always, I'd appreciate any comments, on the deck or on how the post-Tempest environment is shaping up, especially for Blue. email: tadhg@netsoc.ucd.ie