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 Winning Indirectly: The Key to Success
The Title seems very fitting, if I do say so myself. Though,
I didn't even place well enough to get any prize, I still ended up with the best
rares (just like at the last tournament). How was this incredibly skillful feat
accomplished? Well, it was my carefully thought out analysis of
probabilities involving a complex sytem of eqations, and er...agreeing to
split with Adam no matter the outcome. After all, with only a few
cards different between out decks, it seemed very reasonable. For a
full deck list, here is what I had:
Super Gro
4 Brainstorm
3 Sleight of hand
4 Quiron Dryad
4 Werebear
4 Meddling mage
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
2 Foil
3 Winter orb
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Living Wish
4 Gush
4 Land grant
3 Windswept heath
1 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
1 Savannah
Wish targets:
1 Guilded Drake
1 Mystic Enforcer
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
There you have it. first, I was going to play with flood plain because I lacked
flooded strands, but I later realized that Windswept heath can also get every
land in the deck. I also have only one mystic enforcer, so I ended up
with wishes instead. Now that I have procrastinated enough, here is
my tournament summary:
Round 1
Chris
Chris is playing his B/W control deck with vindicate, arena, masticore, hymn,
verdict, etc. etc. For the first game, I begin with a mulligain. yay. I
wrote down in my notes that I got an "Adam land draw", which basically
means I drew too much land. Too make things worse, Chris hymns into
two of my few nonland cards early on. With me stuck with no offence
and Chris with only a few threats, the game turns into topdeck mode. I
lay down a few threats, but I can't stop the disk that he draws in addition to
the edicts. What I really needed at some point was a gush, but I
found none. Factorys start picking at me until I lay down a Dryad. Then,
a masticore joins the field. Fortunately, I do get a swords. During
the times before Chris drew answers to my werebears and dryads, I managed to get
him down to twelve (after lifegain from swords). Near the end of the
game, I had an advantage with a short clock. However, the single
necropotence happened to be at the top of his de!
ck. He happily drew seven cards, and there was little I could do
after that.
Fortunately, my draws during game two were much more up to par. I go
first and play a land, but it gets destroyed by a first turn wasteland. I
do however, have two more mana sources in hand. I start with a
werebear which gets edicted. Then I lay a mage wich gets vindicated. The
next threat was a Dryad. This "little guy" turns out to be
a much better investment, staying around for more than a turn or two. After
that, I start searching and gushing to find more of the team and just overwhelm
the control deck.
Game three starts out with about as much fun as the first. This time
my draws are land light. I guess one land, two brainstorms, and a
sleight of hand aren't enough. Anyway, chris starts with early
discard. I draw and say go for a while. I'm starting to be
picked apart by 2/2s, until I get a second land. I can now actually
do something. My mage, once again, meets vindicate, but I have more
creatures. Between Chris's two Death grasp and my swords to
plowshares, chris finds himself with a relatively high life total peaking at 30. For
a few turns, both of our decks suddenly decide to quit. We both find
clumps of land. Fortunately for me, mine can't last for too long with
only thirteen land in the deck. I start to draw more threats. I
remember thinking that I could still lose easily, fearing a winning death grasp. However,
I was informed later that he had used them all up in the early to midgame. I
find myself picking away at his high life total for a whiile until!
time is called. I could almost manage to win it, but Chris draws
enough answers to stop me from winning in time. Game three is a draw. That
sucks.
Round 2
Andy
Andy is playing a REAL type 1 deck. I actually recalled reading an
article about it on the internet in the middle of game one. Obviously,
I had my work cut out for me. Game one starts with a first turn triskelion on
andys side! I play a meddling mage naming ancestral recall on the off
chance that he has it. I didn't really take too much time to think of
what to name because I was planning on chump blocking during his next attack
anyway. With little resistance on my part, Andy dumps his hand with
Juggernaut and The Triskelion as attackers. He draws into Wheel of
Fortune, which I can't counter. he discards no cards. I
discard 5. We both draw seven. The Wheel basically sealed it. On
to the next game please...
Andy had absolutely no explosion for this game. I daze a threat early
on, swords a creature, and destroy a survival of the fitest early on, as I
recall. Meanwhile I had layed a few unanswered threats which ended up
winning it. That's about all that happened.
The third game was pretty close, though Andy had an early advantage. He
starts out with a workshop and a mox for an early Juggernaut. All I
can really do is soak up the damage and answer the rest of his threats. Towards
the end of the game, I can only wish for a Guilded drake to stop the juggernaut,
but this only really buys me a turn or two because of the drake. My
only chance is to race him, so I try to play out my hand. I'm in a
position to win next turn, but Andy had Wheeled. Thanks to that and a
survival, he puts a Juggernaut in play with Anger in the graveyard. I
scoop.
Round 3
Andrew (suicide black)
After two close matches, I'm ready for something more simple. While I
got my wish, it wasn't in a good way. All three games were basically
the same on Andrews side. The first game gave me land light draws,
but the second and third were ok. However, without drawing multiple
swords and lacking legacy's allure in my sideboard, I can't win the race in any
of our games. It was as simple as that.
Round 4
Ian
Ian is playing Pandeburst, the old replenish combo deck. The first
game was rather simple. I layed an early unanswered mage naming
replenish. By the time he finds an answer, I have established a good
hand and board position. Werebear ends up winning it.
Game two starts with an early mage on my side once again, but Ian has answer
this time in the form of powder keg. I have no counters. Actually,
the mage was the only reason I kept my opening hand. Anyway, he
starts utilizing Attunement turn after turn. I eventually find a second wave,
but can't answer his replenish with double-counter back-up.
During the third game, I search for a while until I get a mage into play along
with a Dryad. In addition, I have counter backup. I start
adding to my side while Ian's Attunement fails to find enough answers.
Round 5
Ed (Oath)
Damn. I feel like Chris or something right now, typing late at night. I
don't plan on staying up till four a.m., though. Anyway, without
ranting too much, we have reached the final round. I didn't actually
play right away because I'm in no contention even if I win all three games. When
we finally get too it, I start out with an early mage which is countered via
Force of Will. Ed then plays the oath on his turn. I
decide to sit back and build up on counters until I play living wish for mystic
enforcer. He plays powder keg. I knock him down to twelve
with my 6/6, because he decides not to block with a morphling once and he still
takes two when he gets a feeder. Then he oaths up a weaver. He
fogs for one turn. I force through a winter orb and attempt to swords his weaver
during his turn. He removes all of the counters. I swing
for six. When he blows the keg, I swords my own enforcer and wish it
back next turn. I replay the enforcer. He oaths up a
morphling. He !
has to block with it because he is at six. Next turn I play out my
hand with the orb still in play. He can't keep up because it and
scoops.
Second game is much easier for me. I force a keg. He finds
no early oath. I search and gush to find multiple creatures. When
he does get an oath, I have a seal ready. With a swarm on my side, I
deplete his life total to zero.
The third game wasn't played because neither of us were interested in this
playing another slow game for "fun". Instead, I do some
trading. I then found out that Adam placed second, so he tossed me a
couple of packs. They turned out to contain Living wish and Genesis. I
smiled. Chris bitched. I laughed. someone else bitched. I
laughed again. It was great.
Thus concludes my "successful" tournament report. If you
want to find a childish props and slops section, go look at the bottom of one of
Chris's or Adam's tournament reports. As for me, I'm pro sleep....
[Editor's Note: Yes, I'm so childish in fact, I didn't even bother editing
Eric's mistakes - grammar or otherwise :D ] |
