Subject: Type 1.X- U/R/W- Tourney Report Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 11:52:53 -0800 From: Rajinder Koul To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com I was really, really bored with Necropotence, so I decided to make another deck for an Extended tournament this weekend. I figured I might not win a lot of games with it, but I knew I would irritate a lot of people.... Here's the deck: "Turbo-Nothing" (It does nothing, but it does it quickly!) Blue: 1 Air Elemental 2 Azure Drake 2 Control Magic 2 Counterspell 1 Dissipate 3 Force of Will 3 Mystical Tutor 2 Waterspout Djinn Red: 2 Earthquake 3 Incinerate 3 Lightning Bolt 1 Shivan Dragon 2 Wildfire Emissary White: 2 Disenchant 2 Invulnerability 3 Swords to Plowshares Land: 1 City of Brass 4 Gemstone Mine 7 Island 4 Mountain 2 Plains 3 Quicksand 3 Thawing Glaciers 2 Undiscovered Paradise Sideboard: 1 Anarchy 1 Dream Tides 3 Hydroblast 1 Library of Leng 2 Lodestone Bauble 1 Perish 2 Red Elemental Blast 2 Sand Golem 2 Warmth The tournament was four rounds of Swiss, with top 4 making the championship rounds. Round 1: vs. Kirby- R/W- Land Tax/Land's Edge Game 1: I've played this deck before, so I have an advantage...until he tries to Armaggedon fifth turn(?!?). Hmmm...I don't remember this. I use a Force of Will that I had just Tutored for, using another Tutor to pitch. That stinks. It's even worse when I get smacked with a Ball Lightning. However, his deck starts to choke and I get my Glaciers going. His Land's Edge attempt is Dissipated, and my Wildfire gets in 5 points of damage before getting Fireblasted. No problem, I have a Waterspout waiting in the wings and I beat him down with that. I have Invulnerability in my hand but don't want to show it, so I just counter his last desperate Fireblast attempt on me. After the game, he shows me his other five cards. Three lands and two Disenchants. Ouch. Out: 2 Control Magics, 2 Earthquakes. In: 2 Hydroblasts, 2 Warmths. Game 2: His deck, usually scary, is playing like crap today. I get Glaciers going from the first turn, and top-deck another when he Wastelands the first. I throw out an early Wildfire and force him to spend two of his four land Fireblasting it. He plays Land Tax, I tutor for a Disenchant (this deck is so versatile!) and blast it. Another Waterspout beatdown, backed up by Invulnerability, a Force, and two Hydroblasts, ensues. He plays a Land's Edge with one card in hand. That's fine, since I'm holding four land at the end.... Matches: 1-0, Games: 2-0 Round 2: vs. Chris- R- Heavy Burn Game 1: This match is frightening. I'm at 8 life by the fifth turn and he has an Emissary on the table. Top-deck a Control Magic. He responds with a Keeper of Kookus to block, but I send that farming with one of my two Plows. I'll use another on a Talruum Minotaur soon. My mana-machine is rolling, and Invulnerability, plus a few choice counters to protect my, uh, his Emissary is enough. I love letting the first Bolt go, then countering the second.... Out: 2 Earthquake, 2 Disenchant, 1 Shivan Dragon (I'll never cast it) In: 3 Hydroblast, 2 Warmth. Game 2: I decide that I'm not going to live long enough to sit back and play, so I go for broke with a fourth-turn Waterspout. I never see anything to give me white mana, so the Invulnerability I Tutored for early to scare him is useless. With the help of two Bolts, an Incinerate, and two Hydroblasts I hold off the celerity rush and beat him to 12, but he decides to ignore the Waterspout and cook me instead (knowing I'm stuck at four mana), and gets me down to 1. I have no counter in hand and he draws...a Keeper of Kookus. Whew. I use the Tutor I just drew, grab a Bolt to go with the one in my hand, attack, then fry him. Live by the burn, die by the burn. Matches: 2-0, Games: 4-0 Round 3: vs. Mark- R- Celerity/Burn (notice a pattern here?) Game 1: I draw one Plains and one Island. Enough said. I die to a Viasino, Suq-Ata, and Eron the Relentless while holding two Bolts, an Incinerate, and a Counterspell. Ugh. Out: 2 Contol Magic, 2 Disenchant, 1 Shivan Dragon, 1 Earthquake. In: 3 Hydroblast, 2 Warmth, 1 Lodestone Bauble (I know he has LD) Game 2: His deck is just too fast...I draw no counters, and my Bauble sits in my hand useless since he TOOK OUT ALL HIS LAND DESTRUCTION. I hate when I screw up sideboarding. I hate dying to 3 Bolts and a Fireblast, too. My previous two matches took about a half-hour each. This one lasted ten minutes. Sigh. Matches: 2-1, Games: 4-2 Round 4: vs. Josh- R/B- Fatties Game 1: Anyone watching this would've died of boredom. We did nothing for about twenty turns but Glacier and draw more land. All of our creatures were hiding. He threw out two Will o' the Wisps and joked that he had 4 of those and 4 Bad Moons and that was it. I knew he was lying and waited for the creatures. Bam! Balduvian Horde. Control Magic. Bam! Sengir. Plowed. I drop an Azure Drake. I need one more creature or an Incinerate. Please.... Bam! Nightmare. Countered. I finally draw a Waterspout, and I had about fifteen lands to feed to Invulnerability and four counters in hand. After I drew an Incinerate for a Wisp it was all over. So were most of the other matches, so we drew a little crowd for Game 2. Out: 2 Disenchants, 1 Lightning Bolt, 1 Earthquake. In: 2 Hydroblasts, 2 Warmth. (Might as well have only brought a six-card sideboard) Game 2: This one was more fun, if just as long. He followed up a second-turn Wisp with a third-turn...Royal Assassin? I refused to waste a Plow on it for about six turns, but finally sent him farming when I couldn't draw a Quicksand. I did away with a Sengir the same way, and Hydroblasted a Balduvian Horde. After a while (and much Glaciering) I got a Warmth (should've seen the look on his face; for some reason, he didn't expect it) and an Emissary. He wasted five spells on the Wildfire before I graciously allowed him to kill it. My Air Elemental was first Pyroblasted (nope) then Dark Banished. He dropped another Assassin, which I Bolted, and I came up with a Shivan for the kill. Yes, that's right, I killed him with a Shivan Dragon. I don't know if he was more surprised or embarassed. Matches: 3-1, Games: 6-2. Into Top 4 as #3 seed. Semi-Finals: vs. Nick- U/R- Counterburn (no Hammers, though) Game 1: A fast Blue/Red deck? Yep. I certainly wasn't expecting it. The power of the Wildfire Emissary was really shown this game; he outcountered me for two of them and I couldn't Plow 'em. One weakness to Mystical Tutor: you can't look for a Control Magic.... Out: 2 Disenchant (almost completely useless today), 1 Earthquake, 1 Swords to Plowshares. In: 2 Red Elemental Blast, 2 Hydroblast. Game 2: I figured I had a better chance this game, since he wouldn't be able to outcounter me as easily as I had 10 now instead of 6...but my deck had other ideas. Thanks for the one Gemstone Mine for four turns, I appreciate it! I really hate getting mana-hosed; by the time I could do anything he had way too many counters- especially Force of Will on a Bolt for a Viashino Sandstalker that had me at 8 after five turns. My last desperate Azure Drake blocker was Controlled and he Blue Blasted my Red Blast. Bleah. Third straight touranment I've lost in the semi-finals. Matches: 3-2, Games: 6-4 Third-Place: vs. Mark- R- Celerity/Burn (Round 3 opponent) Game 1: I held up pretty well this time, but the creatures just kept coming. Viashino-Quicksand. Suq-Ata-Bolted. Viashino-Incinerate. Lava Hounds hit me once before I can Plow them. Another Suq-Ata gets through two turns and that's all he needs to turn on the burn. I counter one Fireblast when I'm at 2, but he just draws another Incinerate. This deck is just too slow sometimes. Out: 2 Disenchant, 2 Control Magic, 1 Shivan Dragon. In: 3 Hydroblast, 2 Warmth. Game 2: I've never actually seen someone draw eight land in a row before, but that's what happened in the middle of the game. One Earthquake cleared the board of his small attackers, I plowed a Lava Hounds, then decided to let every burn spell that wouldn't kill me go and see if I could get the Invulnerability lock going. He emptied his hand to get me to 2 while I did absolutely nothing. When he hit his huge land pocket, I was able to build a hand full of counters and IV. His deck had run almost perfectly against me 3 straight times, I figured it couldn't happen again. I was right. Waterspout appeared right after he drew his sixth straight land and finished the job. Game 3 (My first one!): He draws two land for the first five turns and that's all the time I need with a god draw of Glaciers, Island, Mountain, Bolt, Counter, Plow, Hydroblast, and drawing a Gemstone Mine, Invulnerability, and another Bolt while he's stuck. Only three or four turns later I play a Warmth and actually get up to 26 life while killing every creature he plays. An Azure Drake beats on him a little, and I cast an Air Elemental to finish when I feel safe with land. Final Matches: 4-2, Final Games: 8-5 Conclusions: 1. Three color decks are fun, but fragile. 2. Disenchants suck in an environment full of burn. 3. Invulnerability rocks in an environment full of burn. 4. "Turbo-Nothing" may have potential if I can sort out the mana ratio. Thanks for reading.