Subject: Here's a tournament report Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 12:17:55 PST From: "Quad Damage" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hi there! This will be my first tourney report, and before I write it I'll warn you - it'll probably be quite long! I'll write a little bit of pre- tourney stuff first. ** The first few paragraphs were written before the tourney, skip on a little if you're just after the juicy details. ** Unfortunately, I've been unable to attend any tournaments since the introduction of Tempest. They've been too far away to get to easily. I have been following them on the 'net though, so I feel I have a fairly good grasp of the meta-game. I have been play-testing various decks furiously, and cannot find anything particularly amazing. I built a Sligh deck the day I got the Tempest list, and played about with that for a month and a half, but it seemed everyone else was playing the same - I decided that my opponent's meta-game would be well tuned to beat me (despite my attempts at 4-col red Sligh (Gemstone Mines killed me!), and Red splashed with blue (MoW, Sleight of Mind, for Chill and CoP)). I next tried out 5-col black - good, but seemed a little inconsistent against many decks and weak vs. Sligh and blue- red even with many Hydro's and 'Passages. Eventually, I decided to modify my favourite pre-Tempest deck - a very defensive (and creatureless) Counter-Hammer w/white for Plow's and Gerrard's. I thought about it for a while, and decided to try it out as a white-red deck, concentrating heavily on beating red and blue. I had to up the number of offensive cards in the deck, mainly because the loss of Thawing Glaciers meant I had no huge game-swinging card for later in the game apart from Hammer. Anyway, this is the deck I came up with, I name it "Stallboy Steel" :- "Stallboy Steel" ============== 4 Scabland 2 City of Brass 1 Undiscovered Paradise 7 Mountain 5 Plains 2 Quicksand 1 Reflecting Pool 4 Mind Stone *26 mana - 14 red, 12 white, plus a Reflecting Pool (a card I totally love)* 4 Steel Golem 1 Nevinyrral's Disk 4 Earthquake 4 Incinerate 3 Hammer of Bogardan 2 Kaervek's Torch 2 Boil (yes, that's right - 2 Boil main deck) "No Counters? YOU LOSE!" 1 Lightning Blast "Waterspouts suck!" 1 Aftershock "Waterspouts suck but so do Winter Orbs!" *17 red cards* 4 Gerrard's Wisdom "I hate burn" 2 Wrath of God 2 Disenchant 1 Icatian Town 1 Spirit Mirror "All I own" 1 Circle of Protection: Red "I REALLY hate burn" 1 Enlightened Tutor "Where's my CoP:Red?" *12 white cards* Sideboard:- 4 Pyroblast 2 Circle of Protection: Red 2 Circle of Protection: Black "Drain Life? So what?" 2 Nevinyrral's Disk 2 Serenity 1 Disenchant 1 Wrath of God 1 Hammer of Bogardan As you can see, I have meta-gamed very heavily towards red and blue. There's loads of removal in the side-board for artifacts (ie Propa-Orb), and some other stuff too, including plenty more for red and blue. I have only tested it against my friend's Mono-blue and it did OK, especially in the first game then I Boiled after he tapped out to Capsize a land (and face it, what's a blue player gonna expect first game from me anyway? They're bound to tap out at some point....then BOOM! I win). Hammers provided the main route to victory in the six or seven matches we played - often backed up by a Torch at the right moment (sometimes after he tapped too many lands to counter Boil at the end of his turn). Steel Golems did not like Legacy's Allure too much, plus it gave him a target for his Man-o'-Wars (apart from his own creatures). Waterspout was definately the main problem, that's why I have Lightning Blast and Aftershock. Tradewinds aren't really a threat, because how often are they actually going to have that many creatures against this deck? 1/4 flying isn't really a threat when I start burning them to death and Wisdoming to protect myself. So, I feel confident about blue (if I draw Boil first game or not :¬) ). I think red should take a heavy beating (Earthquake really hurts Sligh on turn two or three), and green and black weenies should have enormous troubles. I do worry about Necropotence a little, then decide that Steel Golems and burn should help plenty, with Gerrard helping against Drain Life. Prot. white only hurts my Spirit Mirror and Icatian Town after all. I think white will be the problem, specifically 5-col white. Prot. red will really sting, and if Uktabi Orangutan or Disenchant shows up then Disk is not going to be an option. This is why I have 2 Quicksands. But then of course there is Wasteland. I don't want to see this card to often. Another thing I'm looking to avoid is Cursed Scroll - I have only 2 Disenchant, 1 Aftershock and the 1 puny Disk. But I should pull through with faster damage and Wisdom. Propaganda Orb is going to trouble me (I think), but I don't have the time to test against it as I built this deck Christmas Eve (Wednesday) and the tournament's on Sunday! The sideboard (and possibly Boil!) should help. We'll see anyway. Overall, the deck seems fairly strong, one of the main quibbles I have (meta -game aside) are the fact that I've only got 22 land - drawing 1 land and 2 Mind-Stones really hurts and Wasteland will add to my troubles. I hope I don't mana-screw too often, 26 mana just doesn't seem enough (??). Also, still talking about mana, I may have trouble with Wrath and Wisdom because I need lots of red for Hammers. On the other hand, do I have too much white, and not enough for the Hammer? At least with Thawing Glaciers you could play mainly white, and have five or six red lands so you could eventually setup Hammer recursion later in the game. Still talking of mana, Armageddon will probably kill my deck totally. It's REALLY bad. I don't think I'll see it though, so I'll just have to rely on Steel Golems if it does happen. Sometimes you really have to ignore some decks or cards totally and go headlong on beating the rest. Anyway - enough talk, on with the report! ** Now for the REPORT ** Round 1 - David Hong - Blue/Red =============================== Game 1 ------ He drops an early Fog Elemental, then slaps Vanishing on it the next turn and starts attacking and phasing. After three attacks I realise he can't do the combo (Fog dies after combat, so no time to phase it), but the judge tells me I can't undo the damage. I don't really care - my hand is pure control, and Steel Golems hit him quick. I Boil him when he taps down to 1 mana (he has just 5 land - 5 island!!!). He conceeds. Game 2 ------ He calls a No-Land Mulligan, I see 3 Incinerates (EEK), he calls another one but I inform him he can't. David top-decks plenty of land. I only sideboarded anti-blue, took out the CoP:Red as I saw no red at all. He burns me to a crisp because I draw no Wisdoms and can't do it quicker. Game 3 ------ CoP:Reds back in, I win very easily. He Mystical Tutors for Hammer when I have out CoP, and then casts it on me. He Fireballs me too and I prevent it. In all, he burned me four times while I had CoP out for no reason at all. Eventually, he Steal Enchantments CoP, but I Pyroblast it and Torch him for lots. 3 Points (1-0 matches/2-0 games) -------------- Round 2 - Chris Manners - The Trap ================================== Game 1 ------ If you're reading this then you've probably read his report of the same tourney too. I was the guy who sideboarded 60000 cards against him :¬). Anyway, I pull a Mind Stone but quickly get locked and Mind Stone is soon destroyed. Game. Game 2 ------ Sideboard looks very strong (2 Nev's Disk, 4 Pyroblast, 2 Serenity, 1 Disenchant), but I only drew 1 Pyroblast and he Wisdomed twice, disabling my burn. Two or three Auras of Silence protect him, and my Disenchants just weren't there. I lose after a much longer game than the first. 3 Points (1-1 matches/2-2 games) -------------- Round 3 - Unknown - Mono-Black ============================== Game 1 ------ His deck is quite eclectic (much like mine), using Funeral Charms, Coercion, Stupor (yep - lots of discard), Abyssal Specter, Stalking Stones and Darkling Stalkers (I think 4 of both "stalkers"). I Wisdom quickly before the discard destroys my hand, I drop the Mirror and a Golem. He foolishly Edicts me while I have a Reflection in play, and is forced to do it again to kill my Golem. I cast Icatian Town and he is swamped by tokens and burn. Game 2 ------ I think about 'boarding out the Wisdoms but instead remove the Golems due to the Edicts. If he manages to draw enough discard to nullify my Wisdoms, he won't have any cards left to kill me with anyway. I draw both CoPs and only one gets blown up with his Disks (I destroyed most of them). However, in my effort to quickly kill him before he draws some Disenchants (he has some Salt Flats in play), I tap too much mana, and when I stop his Drain Life, he just casts another (drew all four). Game 3 ------ Time is running short, but I draw all four Hammers and recursion begins quickly. He Jester's Caps my CoPs and a Wisdom, but I am holding two Wisdoms anyway. His discard hits my Hammers (that's why I sideboarded the fourth one in), so I'm pretty safe. I Incinerate his first few Darkling Stalkers, but the third comes out with too much mana untapped. I get a little flustered, but drop a Nev's Disk so I prevent it damaging me for a turn. He Drain Lifes me twice in this game too, so I have to Earthquake to draw the match. Time is called before I can take my turn to cast it anyway. I look at the top card of my library, and it isn't a Torch. Too close! 4 Points (1-1-1 matches/3-3-1 games) ---------------- Round 4 - Unknown - Scrub White Weenie ====================================== Game 1 ------ He plays Mtenda Herder, Tundra Wolves, Benalish Hero, some other 1cc critter and a Crusade during the first few turns but I drop a 2 Steel Golems (first one is Disenchanted) to stop all his creatures. A two-point Earthquake clears his side of the board, and I beat down until Disenchant #2 shows up. He plays two prot. red critters, but I Wrath. I look at my hand and get a little hysterical when I realise that my Icatian Town tokens will be 2/2 due to his own Crusade! I draw a land to cast it, and Incinerate every blocker he produces. Eight damage every turn, thanks to his own cards! WOO-HOO! Game 2 ------ 'Board in all the prot. red destruction. I'm still laughing at the Town, and it seems he got so worried he sideboarded out the Crusades (he asked how many 'Towns I had so I lied and said three). Anyway, I Earthquake, Disk, Wrath and Earthquake two critters at a time every turn, and then Disenchant his CoP: Red to start a Hammer loop. Hah hah. 7 Points (2-1-1 matches/5-3-1 games) ---------------- Round 5 - Unknown - Squandered Chronatog Stasis =============================================== Game 1 ------ I saw his deck as he was sitting next to me last round, so I am fairly well prepared. His deck plays like a Prospy-Bloom using Meditate/Infernal Contract/Squandered Resources/Natural Balance to draw cards and then drop the Root Maze/Chronatog/Stasis lock. I get locked quickly and just can't burn him in time. Game 2 ------ The sideboarding is very good (similar to what I switched against Chris Manners). I have a Disk in play, and a Steel Golem while his life swiftly drops. Eventually he goes for it, but can't kill the Disk so I blow it and take two turns from his Meditate to Earthquake him to death. Game 3 ------ My hand looks good - Disenchants, Pyroblast, Boil, Serenity, etc., but he casts a Drain Power on me so I end up surrendering all my mana, allowing him to drop the lock. There are only fifteen minutes left, so I slowly proceed to take the rest of my turns. All the London crew are watching, making comments about my stalling powers (they refer to me as "Stallboy Roy" after a match a couple of months back when I didn't bother Hammering my opponent, killing him with five minutes to go). I decide to start counting my library, look at my sideboard, examine my graveyard, then start counting his libarary too. He gets very stroppy, complaining I should conceed, that it was the right thing to do - and that I can't kill him unless I draw two Fireblasts. I call the judge to count his library (my opponent actually mentioned earlier that his deck seemed to only be 59 cards). When he comes over my opponent starts arguing that I should conceed and that I have taken 8 minutes on the current turn. Eventually he storms off in a mood, and I am given the win because he deserted the match. Wow! I really didn't deserve that one, but I tell him it's his fault for not using any "kill" cards such as Miser's Cage. Heh heh. Dumb ass. 10 Points (3-1-1 matches/7-4-1 games) ----------------- Round 6 - Phil Norris - Strange 5 Colour Black ============================================== Game 1 ------ I draw just three lands after five turns, so cast Enlightened Tutor for Mind Stone. I then draw four more lands (AAARGH!) and die to an Abyssal Specter, Ophidian, Man-o'-War and Tradewind Rider. Game 2 ------ Phil seems overly-confident after the match, but I am sure I can take him down (he's never beaten me in both our previous matches). Pyroblast goes in (seems to have a hell of a lot of blue), plus some other stuff. I draw a good hand, double Wisdom, and blow up all his stuff with Disks and Quakes. He starts arguing with me about my life total, I can't really understand his point. It turns nasty and eventually I blow my top and tell him to shut the ^&*% up or something like that. It seems he wanted me to show how much damage I'd taken, for whatever for I don't know. Basically, I didn't have enough life beads after all the Wisdom! Anyway, I crush him with burn. He taps his last land to try and Hydroblast my Torch. NO! Three mana Phil? Don't have three mana? Damn. Game 3 ------ He's decided to write my life total down this game, and mentions that no- one's ever done this to him before. Anyway, I Wisdom twice, and despite him casting Disturbed Burial about six times and drawing one or two from Ophidian, I burn him to bits - Quaking his critters for seven twice in a row and Torching for the finish. He is really bitter, and I feel great. I'm through! 13 Points (4-1-1 matches/9-5-1 games) Quarter Finals - Unknown - White Weenie ======================================= Game 1 ------ He pulls four Knights and a Crusade, but my Steel Golem stops them all just like the other white deck. Three point Quake and I have control. I drop a Spirit Mirror after he pulls another Crusade, and quickly destroy him with a 4/4 Reflection backing up with burn. This was my fastest game of the day. Game 2 ------ I burn his early Knights, but two Freewind Falcons keep pounding on my back. He kills my first two Disks, so I am forced to Wisdom for 12, then 12, then 14 to stay alive. Eventually a Wrath shows up and I take the offensive. I Hammer him every turn, and he goes down soon after. Apparently he had Geddons, just didn't draw them - I wouldn't have survived if he had. Lucky me! 16 Points (5-1-1 matches/11-5-1 games) Semi-Finals - Dan Paskins - Sligh w/Forsaken Wastes, Disks and Glooms ===================================================================== Game 1 ------ I know his deck, so I am fairly confident - Earthquake, Steel Golem, Gerrard's Wisdom and CoP:Red in deck should serve me well. I draw two Wisdoms, but he Wastelands my Scabland and drops a Forsaken Wastes before I can cast them! AARGH! I am a land short of Torching for the win, so I take his Fireblast and die. Game 2 ------ I keep drawing CoPs, and he can't kill them all. I pull a couple of bluffs, forcing him to Disk my Golem (pretending I had the burn to win), so I can drop another CoP. He drops 2 Goblin Vandals, so I pretend I don't have the burn to kill the second one. He attacks, I burn one and block the other. YAH! Eventually I burn for the kill. Game 3 ------ I draw two Steel Golems, and kill all his Disks to protect CoP:Red. He kills the first Golem, but the second deals him eighteen damage (his four Ironclaw Orcs couldn't block!). I Incinerate and win the match. 19 Points (6-1-1 matches/13-6-1 games) Finals - Chris Manners - The Trap ================================= Game 1 ------ I feel I will lose this duel, but hope my 'board can overcome him the next two games. Golem doesn't quite go all the way and the lock drops quickly. Game 2 ------ My draw is strong, but unfortunately I cannot draw any Golems and I am relying on just the burn. Armageddon slows me down, especially when my hand is 3 Nev's Disks, 1 Serenity and he has two Auras (DAMN IT!). My first Serenity gets Disenchanted and I never draw the mana to pull any of the destruction. DOH! Again, two Wisdoms shut off the burn, I didn't even get close because I couldn't cast Hammer until the turn after I'd recurred it. I tap out to return the Hammer, so he drops the lock in a single turn. I couldn't even cast my Mind Stone!!! Still, I can't complain, losing only to Chris (twice) the whole tourney. 19 Points (6-2-1 matches/13-8-1 games) I'd like to congratulate Chris Manners on creating such a great deck and using it to wipe out my whole team (he played three of us - just see his report). I'd just like to say - "I couldn't draw those Disenchants!!" :¬) Hopefully I'll play you in Reading or maybe next Swindon? I'll look forward to destroying your ranking!! Heh heh :¬) Ah well, I think I'll drop a Serenity for a fourth Disechant because it can't touch those damn Auras if you don't have the mana. Also, the Boils just weren't useful - the environment seemed to be full of more black than blue. The CoP:Red main deck was great however - even when I was against non- red decks (it worked great with Earthquake and Aftershock). Feel free to copy the deck, I'll be changing it anyway. Just don't play it up against me OK? :¬) Seriously, I really think the deck has a lot of potential. I suppose you could compare it to decks such as CounterPost - although I sometimes mananged to draw a hand full of burn or just batter them down with the Golem, it does tend to play very slowly - using it's heavy control until they get "within range". The Mind Stones were frankly amazing - I didn't realise how useful they really are until I played with them. Except in one game, I never ever got mana-flooded at all - normally a problem in similar decks. If you start to draw too much, you can just burn the Stones off. If you're thinking control is dead, then you'd better think again! -"Stallboy" Roy Williams, member of team "Quad Damage" roywilliams@hotmail.com Team Address:- quaddamage@hotmail.com Please E-Mail me if you have any comments, queries, etc. about the deck!