ITALIAN NATIONALS:: Team Omega Tournament Report

[Daniele Monterisi]

Hello all! Here's my tournament report from Italian Nationals.
We formed for this occasion a 7-members Team, composed by players from our
town, Bari, in southern Italy, and travelled 900KMs to go to Milano.
Last year a member of the team (Raffaele "Lello" Intini) was the runner-up
of the championship, losing the finals to Paselli after knoking out top
players like Iavaroni and Andrea Redi.
This year we have 7 players in the finals among 78 total players.
That's a great percentage from a single area not in the big tournament
scene, and we heard someone complaining that we were there just because we
made too many tournaments with too few people and always the same winning.
I have to explain that the Italian rankings are not DCI-lik but more like
Formula1: you consider your best 7 results in the tournaments that are not
swiss-style but straight (direct?) elimination.
I was very upset at this rumors, feeling that to be untrue and I strongly
wanted to show that we're at least on the same level of other top players.
The finals were to be played in two days: saturday an 8-rounds swiss
typeII, with best 16 advancing to sunday's 4 rounds swiss booster draft.
Top 8 from the draft went to single elimination; winners of the
quarter-finals directly to Worlds Championship.
An outstanding performance from Team Omega brought 4 of us in the top 16
of typeII, but bad luck and a lack of enough experience in the draft saw
none of us in the top8. :-(
Anyway, here's our rooster with the deck we played in typeII:

Massimo Mola "Il Commerciante" (5 color green, see my deck below)
Giovanni Intini (idem)
Raffaele Intini (idem)
Andrea Petruzzelli ( 5 color green slightly different)
Tommaso Zenone(White-Red)
Giuliano Bellone De Grecis "Il Re dei Culi Rotti" (Counter-hammer)
Me, aka Daniele Monterisi (5 color green)

After playing many UR and MonoU decks, I decided they were too much
reliying on the initial draw for my renown bad luck, so I went for a deck
that performs well even with one land, and that is fun to play even 7
hours staight. We just feared Red/Blue control decks with Earthquakes and
Pyrokinesis, so we put 7 blasts in the sideboard that were, at least for
me, key to many wins.

Here it is:

TEAM OMEGA'S FIVE COLOR GREEN (Thanks to Matt Place for help!)

9 Forest
4 Undiscovered Paradise
3 City of Brass
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Granger Guildmage
4 Birds of Paradise
4 MARO!
4 River Boa
4 Whirling Dervish
2 Jolrael's Centaur
2 Armor of Thorns
4 Incinerate
4 Arcane Denial
2 Terror
1 Disenchant
2 Armageddon
3 Winter Orb

SIDEBOARD

3 Hydroblast
4 Pyroblast
2 Sleight of Mind
3 Disenchant
1 Terror
2 Simoon

On to the report now, mostly from memory:

1st Round: DAVIDE COLLARICH -Trieste- Monoblack
Game1: I know I can beat this deck, but I'm nervous as always at an
important tournament; he begins putting down a Skulking, I play a Granger
Gulildmage and a Dervish which gets up to 3/3. He also had a Feral Shadow
(2/1 Flying for 2B) in play which got pounded by my Guildmage. He then
blows a disk, but no problem: I play a Winter Orb, then a Maro 5/5, he has
to tap to play a drain life for 4 on my Maro, going to 16. Another Maro
hits the table and he plays knights to block it, which becomes bigger and
bigger... game over.
Game2: I side in a Sleight and a Disenchant to handle Dystopias. He begins
to damage me with knights, plays a Dystopia that just destroys a Guildmage
which causes great pains to his critters. Then I Disenchant it and play
something, probably a big fat Maro, 6/6 or so.
If I remember right he has another dystopia but fears my Denials so
doesn't play it soon. I play other green critters to sacrifice just in
case, and he goes: 19->15->7->die.
Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0 Points:3
In the meantime, Lello Intini and Tommy Zenone lose, all other team
fellows win.

2nd Round: CLAUDIO NEGRINI -Bologna- Red/Blue/green (for deadly insects!)
Game1: I get an early lead also due to mana problems from him, slo him
down with a Winter Orb and a Disenchant on his Fellwar stone,while he has
a Browse in play, but he plays Mystical Tutor on a Shatter!
Anyway I bring him down to 1 life and he browses like mad getting too many
counters and he kills me with an Insect. Ouch. Should have played this
game better, at one point he grasped my River Boa and I made a mistake: I
could have killed it with my Granger in response. I deserved to lose.
Game2: Well, I didn't deserve to lose in this way: again my W. Orb was
Shattered after a Mystical Tutor and with a Denial in hand, I just needed
a control card (praying for Armageddon) or good creature to keep control
of the game... but I drew 5 lands and then an Armageddon when he already
had an Insect: 2 attacks plus Incinerate and I'm dead.
Matches: 1-1 Games: 2-2 Points:3
Other team fellows: Zenone beats Redi 2-0!!! Lello Intini wins but the
other team fellows at 3 points area all paired with each other, talk about
luck...

3rd Round: VETTORI ANDREA - Red/Blue with big critters
Game1: I see him playing R/U and I soon know I'm losing again.
After playing some small creatures he gains control of the game and
finishes me with 3 7-dmg shots of a SHIVAN!!!! I've also seen an Air
Elemental in this game.
Game2: I side in my 7 blasts and 3rd Terror and pray it's enough.
At one point I succeed in playing a Winter Orb, but he has a SUBTERRANEAN
SPIRIT (!!!) in play. This kills almost all of my creatures. He then plays
a Wilfire Emissary, and still has some untapped lands. I have an
Incinerate in hand, but the spirit has prot. red :( I have to draw a
terror... and here it is!!!!
I terrorize his spirit and he makes a crucial mistake: uses it to deal 1
dmg to ground critters, killing mine but also letting me incinerate his
wildfire emissary killing it. Next turn I have a 6/6 Maro which beats him
down in 3 turns.
Game3: I don't remember much of this game, in the paper I wrote life
totals I'm still at 20. I only know that my pyro- and hydroblast were the
key, I countered each attempt he made at stopping me.
Matches: 2-1 Games: 4-3 Points: 6
Fellow team members are going well, but I can't reconstruct the exact
results.

4th Round: CERASARI ANDREA -Roma- (5cgreen)
I lose the first game then win the other two (thanks, sideboard!). I just
can't remember this games, just that he has already lost to two other Team
Omega members with the same deck as mine (Mola and Intini).
Hey, we're starting to be a name!
Matches: 3-1 Games: 6-4 Points:9

5th Round: GIANLUCA GIANFERRARI -Trieste-(5cgreen with 4 Simoon
standard!!!)
This is the bane of my deck: 4 Simoon standard means my critters won't
live long. Anyway, Gianluca is a nice guy, it's a pleasure to play with
him.
Game1: I win this in some way, even after he double simoons to kill my
centaurs!
Game2: I lose.
Game3: I'm so close to killing him when time is called. I only can finish
the current turn. I'm at 8, he's at 2!!! I have a Maro but he has a River
Boa.
I have an Incinerate and a Denial in hand. He has an undiscovered and 2
cities of Brass, as well as some forests in play.
I Incinerate, he denials, I denial and he denials again taking 1 point of
dmg, he's at 1 and I can't win. I don't remember if at this point he had
untapped lands other than the 2nd City of Brass. Maybe I could have
attacked with Maro: if he regenerated he would end up having to tap both
cities and losing... who knows. Hadn't I qualified for the 2nd day I'd be
thinking of it yet, but now it doesn't matter.
Matches: 3-1-1 Games: 7-5 Points:10

6th Round: RICCARDO VALMORI (Black/red)
Game1: win this easily and become maybe a little overconfident.
Game2: Lady Luck goes for a walk as I cannot draw a forest.
Game3: She's still out: I have 3 lands in play and 3 Maros and an
Armageddon on hand, then die to a crypt rat bomb.
Matches: 3-2-1 Games: 8-7 Points:10
I'm probably out now, but making some reasoning we see that at 16 pts
someone may still be in. I'd have played till the end anyways.

7th Round: DANILO CALONGHI from Torino (Red/Blue)
Game1: I can't resist his control and die to 2 Rainbow Efreets.
Now I feel out of it, I still think that I can't beat a R/U deck.
Talk about Mind Over Magic and such: when I feel I can win I lose, and now
see what happens:
Game2: He can't do a single dmg to me and I win with a 5/5 Dervish.
Game3: Don't remember much, I won with a Fat Maro, I think.
Matches: 4-2-1 Games: 10-8 Points:13
It seems that 16 points might make it in, so my hopes start raising.
My fellows are placed high too: Mola at 13 and Giovanni Intini and
Giuliano Bellone at 15.

8th Round: MASSIMO CUTER from Brescia (Mono Red)
He's at 12 points, so he won't make it even if he wins. At least that's if
everyone who's at 15 draws. Eventually fromer Italian Champion Ivan Curina
and his opponent, both at 15 pts, play and Ivan loses.Too bad, he's such a
nice guy and he deserved to be in the top 16. Anyway, I win 2-0 this match
and start waiting for the final results. My friend Massimo Mola wins and
is at 16 too; but all of my 3 teammates at 16 have better tiebreak than
me.
They call the first 16 players with the microphone: no.1 Cristino
Luca...no.2 Morena Alberto... etc. first at 16 points is no. 10 Giovanni
Intini, then no.11 Massimo mola, no.12 Giuliano Bellone De Grecis. Great!
3 from Team Omega are already in!
No. 13 is Gianluca Gianferrari, the guy I drew with. Only 3 places left...
no. 14 is... Daniele Monterisi!!!!! I'm in!!!!

It's 9 p.m., I've been playing for 7 hours, now I rush to my hotel room to
wash and change my clothes because a freind of mine living in Milano is
coming to take me out.
We go to a Spanish restaurant, eat Paella and drink Sangria and he pays...
today I'm lucky!!!
Going back to the hotel I find my friends have already begun a
Weatherlight killer booster draft I'd have liked to play; I stay there a
little more and then go to sleep. They come back shortly after with all of
the drafted cards: another win for Team Omega!

SUNDAY
We are to draft 2 Vision and 1 Mirage boosters. I end up in a table with 2
good and experienced players before my in 2 of the 3 rounds of drafting. I
haven't seen a decent creature in any of the boosters I had.

THese are the cards I drafted:
DECK:
2 Undo
2 Man'o'war
1 Shrieking drake (good to play multiple man'o'war)
1 Shadow guildmage (idem)
1 Azimaet drake
1 Bay falcon
2 Suq'ata Assassin
1 Kukemssa Serpent
1 Ovinomancer
1 Crypt Rat
1 Knights of the mist
1 Diamond Kaleidoscope (good for creating blockers aka "parakazzi")
1 Ashden Powder
1 Reality Ripple
1 Kaervek's Torch
1 Rock Slide
2 Inspiration
1 Matopi Golem
1 Basalt Golem
2 mountains
8 islands
7 swamps

OTHER CARDS:
2 Funeral charm (should have put this in?)
1 Jamuraa lion
2 vision charms
1 raging gorilla (and this?)
1 cloak of invisibility
1 dream tides
1 desolation
1 meddle
1 painful memories
1 wicked reward
1 mire shade (this?)
1 elkin lair
1 sirocco
1 talruum minotaur
1 blanket of night
1 sisay's ring
1 lion's eye diamond
1 matopi golem
1 peace talks.

I think it missed a biggie like breezekeeper or waterspout djinn.
The engine man'o'war/undo/guildmage/knights/shrieking drake was very good,
ewhen I had the chance to draw man'o'wars. But you also need to deal some
serious damage in the meantime!

1st turn GIANLUCA GIANFERRARI - white/blue and a splash of red
We play again, and joke about the fact that the draw we took the day
before wans't so bad after all...
Game1: he never can keep a creture on the table as I always put them back
in his hand. Key play: I have 4 critters and he has none, I still have an
undo in hand and he has an untapped mountain and many lands. Fearing a
rock slide I only attack with a man'o'war and something else. He has the
slide and must use it, then he's defenseless for the rest of the duel.
Game2: I draw no control, he runs over me with white flankers.
Key play: I use a ashen powder to animate a white flanking knight; he
plays knights of the mist to kill it; I play knights of the mist to kill
his misty knight; during his upkeep he bone harvests his knight of the
mist on top of his deck again, regaining advantage.
Game3: it had to happen: I draw an island for the entire game. Useless to
say I lose. THis is really hurting, I hate losing in this way, without
having a chance at all. But that's the way this game is. Gianluca conforts
me by congratulating for my attitude at the game (meaning sportivity, not
skill). I still have some chances, but I can't lose another match.
All of my teammates lose. We should have practiced more, indeed.
Matches: 0-1 Games: 1-2 Pts:0

2nd Round: team fellow GIULIANO BELLONE DE GRECIS
He's sure he'll lose because he feels he has a crappy deck.
Actually, he still has more critters than me.
Game1: another of those duels I hate: I draw 6 lands and one spell in the
opening hand, then proceed to draw another 8 or so lands and only 2
spells, one of them being Shrieking Drake!!! (no other creatures of
course!). He swarms me easily.
Game2: this was very close, I was at 3 and he had a crypt rat on the table
with 2 black mana free. I torch his rats and he blows them. I'm at one and
he's at 18. Then my unsummoning engine begins and I win, also Ovinomancing
his creatures.
Game3: He plays Desolation and an Ogre Enforcer while I' already at 9
life. I have 4 lands, including a mountain and a torch in hand. Of course
I don't draw another land and I'm forced to summon something to survive.
He then plays... Army Ants!!! Shit!!!!
Matches: 0-2 Games: 2-4 Pts:0
Massimo and Giovanni lose again. We're all out except Giuliano.
We play until the end the same, both for DCI points and for pride.

I win the following 2 rounds against teammate MASSIMO MOLA and DAVIDE
TOLLE from Trieste, which manages to put down a tramplin' Taniwha which I
promptly torch to his total disappointment.
I then unsummon everything, even undong his creature and my man'o'war so I
may use it again. Real fun. If only it had happened before too...
Anyway, Giuliano loses the 3rd round so he's out. Final results:

ITALIAN CHAMPION: Morena Alberto from Torino (?)
2nd: Pisicchio Gabriele from Rome
3rd: Cristino Luca from Milano
4th: De Matteo Massimo from Napoli (Naples)
...
10th: Daniele Monterisi, Team Omega, from Bari
11th: Giuliano Bellone, Team Omega, from Bari
...
15th: Massimo Mola, Team Omega, from Bari
16th: Giovani Intini, Team Omega, from Bari.

After being out of the quarter finals we dedicated to more drafts and
sealed with top players like Ivan Curina, Andrea Redi, "Zak" Negrini etc.

So far for our experience. Thanks to everyone who read so far!!!

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