Subject: Report!
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 1998 23:40:39 -0500 (EST)
From: EDGE Collectibles
To: webmaster@classicdojo.org
NEUTRAL GROUND ANNUAL TYPE 2 TIME WALK TOURNAMENT 1998
By Alex Shvartsman
Another year has gone by. Metagame changes, new sets are
introduced and many new faces are seen around New York
tournament scene. One thing remains the same however -
Neutral Ground is holding its annual type 2 tournament
for a Time Walk on January first.
I did not have much time to prepare for this event, as I
have been dedicating all my "magic" time to playtesting
Extended and working on my book ("Tempest Revealed", to
be released by WordWare Publishing in a few months). Still,
I felt that a strong performance is in order here since
I won this same tournament on January 1, 1997.
Having examined the local metagame and studied the Dojo
reports I decided that a counterburn deck should perform
well in the current type 2 environment. I build the deck
and took it for a spin this Saturday playing in a weekly
type 2 for a box of Tempest. The deck did very well as I
was the only undefeated person with a 3-0 record. Since all
of us wanted to play in the about-to-start booster draft, we
split the box in top 4 and I haven't tweaked the deck since.
Here is the deck I used (as with Steel Curtain, I let my
friend Toby name this deck btw :)
Fire, Ice and Steel
4 Incinerate
3 Hammer
2 Earthquake
1 Fireball
4 Counterspell
4 Dismiss
2 Power Sink
2 Disrupt
4 Impulse
1 Whispers of the Muse
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
3 Steel Golem
1 Jayemdae Tome
3 Mind Stone
3 Quicksand
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Undiscovered Paradise
8 Island
8 Mountain
Sideboard
2 Shatter
2 Energy Flux
3 Binding Grasp
4 Pyroblast
4 Hydroblast
Note that this deck hasn't been playtested much and can use
some minor tweaking. Still, I was confident in a respectable
performance.
As I got to Neutral Ground, the first thing that caught my
eye was a number of people present. Most local type 2 tournaments
get around 18-26 participants. By the time this tournament started,
almost fifty people signed up to play! Many of the top NY players
such as Steve OMS, Mike Pustilnik, Zvi Mowshowitz were on hand.
The tournament was to run 5 rounds of swiss followed by top 8 single
elimination.
Round 1 - Joe Flynn - U/G Slivers and Untouchables
Untargetable creatures backed up by counterspells is not a particularly
good matchup for me in general, but Joe is a fairly new player, and
while his deck concept is viable there were minor flaws in deck
construction and play that I was able to capitalize on to achieve a
2-0 victory. His deck consisted of Pincher Beetles, Centaurs, Muscle
Slivers, green trampling Slivers, artifact Slivers and I even saw one
Winged Sliver. All this was backed up by a considerable number of
counterspells.
In the first game I forced through an early disk, blowing away a couple
of untargetables and playing a second disk after Joe tapped out to cast
a couple more creatures. After the second disk went off, I got out
a Steel Golem which pretty much held back whatever creatures got on
the table while I went recursive Hammer on Joe.
Game two was somewhat similar to game one. Joe drew a few Dissipates
and even managed to Dissipate one of my Hammers, but the four Pyroblasts
I sideboarded in proved too much for him to handle, and a large Fireball
finished the game.
Matches 1-0. Games 2-0.
Round 2 - Hogan Long - Sligh
Hogan is an excellent sealed deck player who, until recently, neglected
constructed play. For this tournament he chose a standart Cursed Sligh
deck.
Game one Hogan gets an excellent start, casting a first turn Jackal Pup
and a second turn Wildcat before I can counterspell anything. I am
holding lots of counters but no burn so I tap out turn three to cast a
Steel Golem. Hogan takes this opportunity to drop a 6/1 trampler and
I eat a Ball Lightning for breakfast as well as 2 more damage from
the Wildcat. I am dangerously low on life and Hogan hasn't even used
any of his burn yet. By the time I finally draw an Incinerate I am at
1 life and Hogan has a summon-sick Fireslinger in play so I am forced
to bolt the thing and leave back a Quicksand I just played to deal with
the Wildcat. Being a good player, Hogan draws and uses a Wasteland,
allowing the Wildcat to deliver the final blow.
We chat a bit while sideboarding and Hogan takes this opportunity to
inform me that his type 2 rating is BELOW 1500. (like 1495 or whatnot).
This is really cheerful since I am at 1900 and now stand a good chance
of loosing 30+ points to him.
Game two is direct opposite of the first. Hogan's draw isnt nearly
as fast and throughout the game I draw all four of my Hydroblasts,
driving Hogan insane in the process as I seem to have an answer to
everything he casts that game. My Steal Golem is offering "service
with a smile" (tm) and deals 18 points of damage. A Hammer finishes
the game.
Game three I draw all the burn in the world. Unfortunately so does
Hogan. As I sit with a Hammer and 2 Incinerates (but no counters) in
my hand waiting for his creatures, Hogan proceeds to burn me with
everything he's got. I think throughout that whole game he drew one,
*maybe* two creatures but drew about 70% of all his burn. I drew
no counters and melted away under his burn like a snowman in Africa.
Matches 1-1, Games 3-2
Round 3 - Kevin Chen - 5 color Black
I havent played Kevin before but he was a pleasure to play against
and I hope to see him at NG in the future. We had a lot of fun during
the games. His deck was a black weenie with some burn, a couple of
Disenchants and other stuff that goes into that type of a deck.
Game one leaves me with a less then favorable mana draw. I have a
Quicksand and a Reflecting Pool. Ah well - I guess if you want to
reap the benefits of the Pool you must be prepared to face the
consequences. I lay both lands down while Kevin goes crazy casting
one Skulking Ghost after another (total of 3 in a row). Later in the
game I manage to draw a mountain and kill a couple of Ghosts but the
game is over as Kevin fries me with 2 Kindles.
We sideboard and I bring in a few Hydroblasts even though Kevin isn't
playing much red - if nothing else I can use it to kill Skulking Ghosts.
I get a decent draw game 2 (surely enough targeting a second turn
Ghost with a 'blast) and have no trouble holding Kevin off long enough
to establish a Hammer lock. Third game is similar to the second, as
my Earthquakes, other burn and counterspells are too much for his deck
to handle. If Kevin was playing Winter Orbs, I haven't seen them.
Matches 2-1. Games 5-3.
Round 4 - Ken Kuaner (sp?) - Monoblue Tradewind
Another very cool guy and a good player, Ken is running a Tradewind
deck variant with your usual Satans (Ophidians), ManoWars, Sapphire
Medallions, Capsize and a ton of counterspells.
Game one I have a good hand but not too much land. I am not
manascrewed but I have 4 mana while Ken has like 8 and a Medallion.
I Incinerate him twice at this point just to prevent myself from
discarding. Neither of us is casting anything relevant, afraid
of each other's counterspells. Ken drops a couple of Propagandas
and a Legacy Allure so I just discard my Steel Golem figuring its
really not worth the trouble.
At this point Ken starts Whispering and each turn goes something
like this:
Ken: I Whisper.
Me: I counterspell.
Ken: I counter your counter
Me: Doh. Not enough mana to counter again.
This goes on for about four turns but I have a LOT of counters
and Ken's draws off the Whispers arent that great, because
eventually he runs out and I get to Dismiss the damn Whisper.
Realizing that Ken has no counters I take this opportunity to
play a Disk and destroy his whole setup (2 Gandas, medallion,
legacy allure and a Tradewind) and go into Hammer mode. Having
killed all those permanents makes up for the card advantage Ken
gained with the Whispers and I manage to pull out the game I
virtually considered lost.
Game 2 Ken almost manages to get 3 creatures on the table but
Pyroblasts are just too good :) I manage to control the game,
force all counterspells out of him and finish it with a large
Earthquake.
Matches 3-1 Games 7-3
Round 5 - Joe Miroe - Burn/Celerity
This round determines which one of us makes top 8, and I am rather
relieved to be facing a non-Sligh monored deck. Joe has a lot of
burn combined with Celerity creatures (aka creatures that have no
summoning sickness) such as Ball Lightning, Viashino Sandstalker,
Minotaur. He also plays Mogg Fanatics.
This deck is far slower then Sligh and I have plenty of time to
set up and stop the silliness by Incinerating his celerity guys
and countering any serious burn. Steel Golem serves as usual.
Game two is nothing to talk about as it replicates the first,
except this time around I have Hydroblasts.
Matches 4-1. Games 9-3.
Time for the top 8. I am like 7th seed. Top 8 (from memory) are:
Mike Pustilnik - 5-color-green
Rich Fein - 4-color-black
Hashim Bello - Red/Green
Zvi Mowshowitz - Necro
Hogan Long - Sligh
??? - Burn
Alex Shvartsman (me) - CounterBurn
??? - ???
Round 6:
Mike beats Hogan
Hashim beats Zvi
??? Burn beats ???
I am paired up vs Rich Fein, a good friend of mine (as many others
in the top 8) so we know we will enjoy the games whatever the outcome.
Rich starts off with some Knights but they meet a hot and painful
death through a variety of burn. I quickly set up a Hammer lock
and manage to counterspell his Necratogs.
I counter or burn a couple of early creaturs game 2, then gain control
of a Black Knight with my Binding Grasp and start serving. I am
holding several counterspells and an Incinerate with a Reflecting Pool
and an Island untapped (Island and Mountain to pay for the Grasp) so
I am ok stuck at 2 land for a while.
I start Serving, but soon regret stealing the damn Knight as I am forced
to counterspell 2 Derelors in a row. Having taken like 10 points from
the Knight Rich finally edicts it and I let him. I think I am more
relieved then Rich to see it go as I only drew one more land.
The game goes on for a while, Rich managing to Boil away my 2 Islands.
This leaves me with 2 Mountains and 2 Reflecting Pools. I use this
opportunity to drop a Disk and a Book as I wait for the Islands (Rich
has nothing on the table and I already had a Disk out when I drew the
Book). Rich chooses to Disenchant the Book over the Disk (which I agree
with). I finally draw an Island and quickly finish the game, as I had
some Dismisses accumulate in my hand.
Note that Rich went undefeated through the swiss rounds and hasn't lost
a single game until this match. I think he could have won this one too,
but I did have very good draws.
Matches 5-1. Games 11-3.
Round 7
Mike beats Hashim
I play ??? with a burn deck. (sorry, I didnt write down the guy's name
and my memory for names isnt that great).
This guy is playing a deck very similar to Joe Miroe's deck I faced
earlier, but this one seems to have even less creatures. Instead he has
loads of burn, some disks and Apocalypse to reset the game (which I never
saw).
We go damage for damage early on, as he gets a lot of early mana and
starts recursing his Hammer. I bolt him with some Incinerates and finally
get my Hammer. At some point both of us are at 8 and I end my turn with
3 mana untapped. He taps out to Incinerate me and I disrupt it, drawing
another Hammer (one less turn as I dont have to recurse the one in the GY!).
He untaps, and taps out again to Fireball me for a lot. I disrupt again,
drawing an Earthquake! He now has no cards in hand and I have the perfect
amount of mana to first Hammer him down to 5 and then Earthquake for 5
winning the game.
Game 2 goes perfect for me. First I get to Time Walk once because his
only land is a Visions bounceland and he cant play it (I think he played
like 2 of them, I have no idea why). He does draw a couple of lands so
he isnt mana screwed after turn 1, but a free turn is amazing. I
got out a 3rd turn Golem and my opponent made a mistake of not being
able to kill it while I was tapped out. From that point on it was:
attack with a golem, counter the second of the two Incinerates. Attack
with the Golem, bolt the creature he blocks with after he had bolted
my Golem. Attack with the Golem, Hydroblast the Fireblast. It was
over before it began.
Matches 6-1. Games 13-3.
FINALS
Me vs Mike Pustilnik
Me and Mike spend a little time trying to figure out how to split
the prize (there is no second place prize offered). We finally
agree that a winner will give the loser a beta dual land and start
playing.
First game I manage to kill off Mike's early Birds and Elves, leaving
him manascrewed with a Paradise and a Gemstone Mine. Mikes runs out
of mana and my Steel Golem serves the beatdown.
Game 2 is the complete opposite. Mike drops a Winter Orb early and,
while I cannot deal with it, assaults me with a horde of green weenies.
At this point Sean Fleischman, who was judging the tourney, walks by
and tells us finals are to be played best 3 out of 5. Since we are
1-1, no harm done and neither of us complain.
Game 3 Mike drops a second turn Worb and I do not see a Shatter or
an Energy Flux, ever. He drops a few weenies and forces a Geddon
through.
Game 4. Mike is manahosed as I establish early control and counter
everything he casts, while Mike is tapping 2 Cities of Brass almost
every turn. As soon as I run out of counters, I tap out to Fireball
him down to 4. If he Geddons now he will be at 2 and I am holding
a Fireball and a Hammer. If not, I kill him next turn.
Surely enough Mike casts Armageddon.. We draw for a few turns, and
eventually I play a Mountain. A turn later he draws a land and it is...
another City of Brass. He goes down to 1 to cast a Ranger. I topdeck
another Mountain and Fireball for 1. Well, no matter who wins now, we
took it all the way to game 5.
Game 5 is totally unimpressive. Mike gets an Orb out again. I never
see Shatters or Fluxes in any of the games. Ah well - I may not have
won the tournament but my total game record is 15-6.
Overall the deck is good. Sideboard needs work though - Binding
Grasps didn't work too well and I definately could use more Earthquakes
vs decks like Mike's. Overall it was a very enjoyable tournament and
I hope to write more reports for you guys in the near future.
Props:
Mike Pustilnik for well-played finals.
Rich Fein for a load of fun we had playing EXT games in between rounds.
Andew and his dad for giving me a lift home at 2am.
Steve and Stan Hirsch for taking me with them to the Rhode Island
qualifier tomorrow - hopefully I will be writing a report on that one
(but only if I qualify)
Hogan Long for fun and non-insulting trash talking we exchange each
time we play.
Slops:
Hogan Long's 1500- DCI rating
My Shatters for not showing up.
Kieren for managing to piss off BOTH people he played in NG
championships top 8.
Happy New Year everyone.
Alex Shvartsman
Team "The Legion"
EDGE Collectibles
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