How I screwed up the German Metagame
Daniel Brickwell
German
Nationals
Of course you already know that I placed 7th, after all the Dojo always
puts the final standing in the header. So there goes some of the
suspense,
right off. I did not qualify for Worlds for a third time in a row. On
the
other hand, I did place in the Top 8 for three times running and I guess
that is "nice". Excuse my bitterness, but in my last three big
tournaments
I placed 9th (Worlds 1998), 14th (GP Vienna) and 7th (German Nationals)
which is kind of frustrating, when we are talking about things coming in
threes. Did you know three is supposed to be my lucky number? At least
usually...
Of course some of you are not interested in what happened to me, but
just
in what deck I played, how to play it and how to sideboard. Cruel as it
may
seem. Well I like to play beatdown and I guess that's single-minded too,
so
I will give those of you the deck, the sideboard and some advice.
Deck Make-up, History and Performance
------------------------------------------------------
The deck I played (and several others, but that comes later):
Jenny (in honor of Jennifer Paige) aka Littleton High
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Jackal Pup
3 Goblin Patrol
4 Shock
4 Raze
4 Cursed Scrolls
4 Fireslinger
4 Mogg Flunkie
2 Hammer
3 Pillage
1 Arc Lightning
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Wastelands
15 Mountains
Sideboard
3 Goblin Lackey
3 Spellshock
2 Lightning Dragon
4 Ticking Gnomes
1 Shattering Pulse
2 Arc Lightning
This deck was designed to beat standard Living Death decks, which it
does
by controlling their mana creatures
And denying them green mana sources until they die... I tested
extensively
against Living Death decks and the more basic land they run and Yavimaya
Grangers the more chances they have, but I would say this deck averages
around 60 percent against Living Death. Of course not many people played
Living Death at the top tables, but that was the original impetus.
I had an early version called Littleton High, which contained 2 Viashino
Cutthroats, and lots of Ghitu Slingers, Avalanche Riders and of course
Mogg
Flunkies. It was kind of a theme deck built around that infamous school.
I sent it to the Dojo, but they never posted it. I guess it was bad, but
I
kept improving it. Perhaps it was not p.c. enough.
The decisive step came when I realised that Cursed Scroll was just to
slow
against Living Death and that I needed more and cheaper land
destruction.
So I put in Raze for Cursed Scroll (sacrilege!), of course Raze does not
even closely compare to Cursed Scroll in card advantage. Card advantage
can
be a mute point though if you let your opponent Avalanche Rider you
every
turn. I would rather have him get what he gives, to quote The New
Radicals.
Of course in the end I threw out the four Kindles and put the Scrolls
back
in, but I kept the Razes.
Speed Advantage is what the original Sligh Deck was built around and
contrary to many Sligh decks posted my deck does follow the original
mana
curve with 21 one-casting cost spells, eight two-casting-cost spells and
only six three-casting-cost spells. There are only two four-casting-cost
spells in the deck and they are in the sideboard and usually go in if I
take out the Razes (against WW and other Red Decks).
The deck draws very consistently. It is fun to play if you like playing
beatdown, but sometimes the choices are not simple, especially when to
Raze
and when to wait. When to attack etc.
The Lackeys in the sideboard are against Chill and I would have liked to
run them main deck, but I wanted Fireslingers and not Goblin Raiders.
The
Spellshocks probably should have been Megrims or Seismic Assaults
against
Mind Over Matter Decks. I would have liked to include Earthquakes in the
sideboard against Argothian Enchantress-Worship and against Suicide
Black
and, Stompy and other Slighs, but I had no room. I used my whole
sideboard
during the tournament and in the Top 8 which is a good sign btw.
The deck is basically my design, if you can call any Sligh deck
self-designed. There are some differences to the Sligh Decks Jay
Schneider
and David Price posted for instance, but of course their decks
influenced
my design. I would have liked to play a Legion deck, where I am a member
of
the mailing list, but they basically design combo decks and I played my
last combo deck in Pro Tour Paris. I almost played my team mates
Stefan's
Living Death Deck, but I had too little experience playing Living death
and
no time to get the experience. In the end he played my deck and fared
miserable with it going only 2:4 in Standard.
Others did better.
A lot of people did well with the deck, especially as I stupidly,
stupidly
played it in Hamburg while gunslinging for our sponsor, the magazine
Kartefakt. I played 5 games against Patrick Mello's Living Death Deck
and
beat him 5:0. This intrigued Patrick, and so he and his friend Christian
Luehrs played an old version of the deck with 4 Kindles instead of
Scrolls
at the Championships. Both made Top 8. Christian lost in the finals
against
Marco Blume the new German Champion. Patrick placed 5th.
My team mates Dirk Hein and Peer Kroeger both went 5:1 with the deck,
but
didn't make Top 8 because of poor
drafting luck. Peer placed 12th. Dirk had practised with the deck
against
other Berlin players and one of them Rosario played his own distinctive
version and ended up in the National Team in 3rd place. I don't know if
he
developed the version totally on his own or if he was influenced by
playing
against Dirk though.
I placed 7th of course.
This means that there were four (!) Slighs in the German Top 8 with 3-4
Raze.... I guess this is an improvement to last years record where my
old
Sligh deck Julie made Top 8 only three times. On the other hand last
year
Dirk and I made National Team with my deck, while this year two non-team
members Christian Luehrs and Rosario Maij reached the National Team with
similar versions to my deck.
I guess I should keep my tech closer to the vest....
My deck wasn't the best red deck in the Top 8 though. Marco Blume, our
new
German Champion, played a big red Land Destruction deck called Dr.
Death.
He developed it together with Kai Budde and Dirk Baberowski and it is
quite
good, especially against Jenny. He beat me 3:2, Rosario 3:0 and
Christian
3:2 to become our National Champion. He was lucky in so far as he did
not
have to face the two Mind over Matter Decks in the Top 8, which Jenny is
better equipped to face.
Thus the German Top 8 were made up of five Red Decks, two Mind Over
Matter
decks (which both didn't make National Team) and one 3-Color-WW. You can
probably look up the deck lists somewhere else on the Dojo.
I guess I screwed up the German metagame.... The other nations are
probably
going to think we Germans are all stupid beatdown players with five red
decks in the Top 8, while there were exactly zero in the Top 8 of the
French and Italian Nationals, but what can I say? Red decks win? I am
sorry
my tech leaked? I guess I am. Patrick Mello and Christian are both
really
nice guys though, so I am not too sorry. ;)
On to the....
Tournament Report
--------------------------
Day 1
-------------
The First Day of the German Nationals was Draft, which is my weak
format.
While I can hold a limited rating above 1800, this does not compare to
my
standard rating. My favorite format is probably Extended, at least after
they ban Yagmoth's Bargain in it. I didn't use to know why that was so,
but
I think I figured it out this weekend. I am good in the Standard format,
because my early magic mentors were great Standard players or deck
constructors. I used to read every word Steven Liu or Frank Schacherer
said
or wrote respectively, just as I try to catch every word Eric Taylor
writes
nowadays. His article on when to mulligan helped me several times during
the Nationals, for instance. Also, I accept what I hear. Many players
will
not listen to good advice. I used to listen to all advice, because I
thought for a very long time that I was a bad player. Today, I think
that I
am a pretty good player and have started to screen the advice I get, but
perhaps that is dangerous. Improving by yourself, through your own
mistakes, is possible but it is very slow. Often you don't realise your
own
mistakes. It is much faster to learn not only through your own
experience
but through that of others. I will give you a prominent example. I hope
Jamie doesn't take this the wrong way, but I know he is also always
looking
to improve his playing skills.
Jamie tells us in his New York Pro Tour Report how he tested with his
Big
Red Deck and decided to include Ticking Gnomes, because they can trade
off
with other 3/3 creatures like Paladins for instance and are additional
creatures as well as removal. On the way to New York a friend of his
recommends, that he use Ring of Gix instead. After some deliberation,
Jamie
decides to keep his deck the way it is.
He plays first round against Alex Schwartzman. During the duel Jamie
manages to trade off his Ticking Gnomes against a Paladin. Jamie is
happy
he included the Ticking Gnomes and that they work exactly like he
predicted. Two turns later Jamie has to Wildfire and clears the board,
but
then dies to a Skittering Skirge, I believe.
At least in his report, Jamie ignores what Ring of Gix would have done
in
this situation. The Ring would have stopped the Paladin and then after
the
Wildfire it would have stopped the Skirge. The Ring would have been much
better than a Ticking Gnome in this game, yet Jamie quotes this match as
an
example how the Ticking Gnomes were the right choice!
I used to hang around people all the time, who would point such things
out
to me. Even now, I love to talk my games through with my team mates
after
the fact. Not only does this help you realise your mistakes, but
admitting
your mistakes to others makes them more painful and thus less likely to
be
repeated. But, I have almost no one to talk through my limited plays
with.
If I could only hang around Kai Budde or Gary Wise for a few weeks, I
think
my Limited Skills would improve dramatically. I no longer think that
Limited and Constructed require different talents, thus making it
impossible for a talented constructed player to be equally good at
Limited.
They just require different sets of experience, thus making it harder to
require the necessary information.
I had two weeks to acquire this information for these Nationals, as I
did
not want to spend more time away from my Ph.D. thesis. That enabled me
to
draft exactly five times. Luckily I had drafted Urza's Saga already, so
I
only needed to learn the Legacy cards and to acquire the feel again of
how
to play Limited. Before I stopped playing, I had the impression that my
limited skills were finally improving. And after losing three drafts I
finally won the fourth and had gained some of that knowledge back. I was
still woefully underprepared though... The whole first part of the
weekend
I listened to the good limited players talk about their draft decks or
watched them play. It felt like old times. I was the scrub with the
lucky
deck with almost no thought behind it, listening to the experienced
players
with their carefully constructed decks and slowly but ever more faster I
was learning.
Draft No. 1
------------------
I had blue to myself early, so I decided to leave the question of my
second
color up to the card themselves. I knew that I did not want to Draft
Green
or Black as a lot of players will jump on to these colors if either a
spoiler comes along in the case of black or if they creature light in
the
case of green. Also I learned in my practice drafts that I like to play
red/blue or red/white in Urzas Saga/Legacy. A little later in the draft
two
people jumped on the blue wagon especially the player to my left. We
were
already in the second Urzas Saga booster when the booster containing my
third pick is opened. It contains a Horseshoe Crab. I already have a
Study,
so I am thinking that I will most probably get the crab as third pick,
when
the player to my left takes it as his first blue card and his second
pick!
The next booster is opened it contains a Hermetic Study and Barrin,
MASTER
Wizard. I cringe will random drafter to my left take Barrin or will he
just
see the Gun.... His hand hovers over the blue section of the booster and
------ he picks the Study! Yes I get Barrin!!! The Gun is quite good, b
ut I
have lost my last two sanctioned limited matches to Barrin, I know how
good
he is. All in all I draft a much to expensive deck. My creatures all
start
at casting cost 3. My only cheaper spells are
1 Shower of Sparks
1 Annul
1 Hermetic Study (not really cheaper as I only have CC-3 creatures)
1 Pendrell Flux
The deck is also somewhat weak in removal, though I do have
1 Thornwind Faerie
1 Ticking Gnome
1 Barrin, MASTER Wizard!!!
And 2 Vigilant Drakes to go with the Study.
In the deck construction I almost make a mistake, playing 2 Dromosaur
instead of 1 Dromosaur and 1 Shivan Raptor. I hate toughness 1
creatures,
which is probably one of the reasons my draft decks tend to be too high
in
casting cost, but I realise my error, as First Strike is very strong if
you
have Ghitu War Cry and a Launch in your deck. I talk to some other
players
and find out that I should have drafted some Slow Motions and definitely
a
Ghitu Slinger over a 2nd Vigilant Drake, as I have a Wizard Mentor.
I will not bore you with the match details, as I don't get much feedback
on
my tournament reports anyway, but I will give you some highlights...
First Draft: Round 1:
Game 2: I have already won the first game with Barrin, Master Wizard,
when
my opponent plays a Opal Titan. I have red ground blockers who are big
enough to handle him like a Viashino Bey and a Viashino Outrider. So I
decide to play a Pendrell Drake, and the Titan gets protection from
blue.
Then he plays a Rancor on it, which I knew he had and a Brilliant Halo,
which I didn't know about. Ouch! The really bad thing is that I could
have
Rewound his Rancor, if I had not played the Drake. He would have
probably
played it on his next creature to put on pressure, to force me to
activate
the Titan. Then I would have not looked as stupid as I did when I drew
Barrin, Master Wizard next against a Brillant Haloed, Rancored
Protection
from Blue Opal Titan....
I die.
Game 3: I sideboard in a Falter and an Outmanouver to be able to win
faster
as we are nearing the time limit. I don't draw them and time is called
and
we get the three rounds extension. I am beating him down, but it looks
like
I will need four rounds not three. It is my last round. Peer and Dirk
are
watching me. I knock on the tp of my Library and say Barrin, MASTER
Wizard.
I turn the card around. Guess who came to the rescue?
Barrin, MASTER Wizard!!! Holy Pikula! Of course I could have also drawn
the
Outmanouver or the Falter to win, but it would have not been the same.
I win. I can smell the Top 8. Sometimes I think that Magic is just a big
field experiment to discover if there is something like making your own
luck or psychic phenomena whatever you want to call it. Sometimes I can
feel my luck and I just know that I will do well today. Of course next
round I get crushed by a G/B/w color deck which just overruns me, as he
has
black removal for my late expensive blockers and Rancor. My deck is too
slow. I do manage to win round 3 though and finish the first draft with
a
respectable 2:1 record.
Second Draft
-----------------------
My table features Dirk Baberowski and one or two other good players and
drafters. Dirk is sitting in eighth position I am sitting on two. Dirk
gets
the best deck with Pestilence Gaea's Embrace, Vile Requiem, Expunge,
Befoul, Black Fliers, Green Fatties, Cycle Lands. He has it all. I get
some
good blue early, Horseshoe Crabs, three of them (I should have drafted
an
Annul over the third one though...), one Hermetic Study, 1 Stroke of
Genius, some red one Arc Lightning, one Steam Blast and several good red
weenies, three Bravado, which nobody wants and 2 Sage Owls. I am not
sure
about Sage Owl-Bravado beatdown, but then in Legacy the person to my
right
jumps to Blue, Dirk is drafting green/black, and so I get all the broken
red, 2 Ghitu Slinger, 2 Parch and 1 "sixth pick" Molten Hydra and an
Avalanche Rider, did I mention that I got a Wizard Mentor? I also get
one
Snap and two Miscalculation on the way back.
My deck is pretty good and much cheaper than my first one. I am
learning...
I just outspoil my first opponent and then I am matched against Dirk.
The
first game is very close, but in the end I can Ghitu Sling, Arc
Lightning
Steam Blast him out of the game. Game two he is mana screwed and my
Avalanche Rider does not help...
Dirk is despondent and talks about quitting magic for good. I try
calming
him down and play two more games "for fun" in which he just crushes me.
Btw., this is the third time in a row I have kicked Dirk Baberowski out
of
the contention for Top 8 in the German Nationals, but the last two times
were in constructed. You'd think he'd be used to it by now... ;) (sorry
Dirk!)
In the last round I am so happy about my 4:1 run in Draft that I commit
horrible, horrible mistakes. I win anyway because of my deck, but it is
close. Worship can be pretty tough if you have drafted a third Horseshoe
Crab over an Annul (I was Steam Blast happy.) But I managed to
kill/bounce
all his creatures twice! Wizard Mentor--Ghitu Slinger is some good!
So I end the day with 5:1 in Draft. Everyone who knows me, can't believe
it. Everyone thinks I am a safe bet for Top 8, as know I only have to go
only 4:2 in Standard. I am elated and afraid simultaneously as I know
that
I can go 4:2 in Standard but I also know that it can now happen that I
gloriously embarrass myself, by going 0:3 or 2:3 the next day.
My team mates have not fared as well as I. Peer has a chance at 3:3, if
he
can go 6:0, Dirk Hein, our old, 16 year old German Champion is two and
sour
and Stefan Funke the Berlin Regional Champ has a minute chance of making
it
at 2:2:2, but only if he wins everything from now on. Some famous
Germans
who are no longer in competition after the Draft are Dirk Baberowski,
Andre
Konstanzer and Oliver Krebs. Oliver has almost stopped playing though.
Andre is a real upset as is Dirk performance, especially as his decks
were
pretty damn good....
Day 2:
The whole Team has decided to play my deck, again. We don’t know about
the
other üeople playing it yet though. The team definitely needs another
deck
designer! Or at least one who can keep quiet about his decks. It would
be
nice to play someone else’s deck for a change. In fact, at first I
really
wanted to play Stefan’s Living Death deck with which he became regional
champion here in Berlin, but I did not want to play the deck everyone
was
testing against. It would have been like playing Green in New York.
Hmmh,
come to think of it, Christian Luehrs did make Top 8 with Green in New
York. Perhaps you should always just play the deck you tested most with,
which you like the best. That's what I do anyway. Living Death seems
dead
right now, as it made Top 8 once in the last three nationals (Italy,
France
and Germany), but I think it could make a comeback, perhaps for the
European or American Nationals, as soon as the metagame shifts.
Over breakfast we discuss sideboarding. I am suddenly afraid of
untargetable creatures with Worship. The others decide to include
Apocalypse in the sideboard. I think that it is way to expensive for the
deck. I am also afraid of other Sligh decks and want to include
Earthquakes, but the others tell me "Nobody is going to play sligh." Of
course I listen to their advice. What do I know about the metagame? In
the
end I decide to leave the deck as it is. If I meet an Argothian
Enchantress
Worship Deck I will just lose, I guess. After all I only have to go
4:2...
Round 7. Jim Herold, Hamburg
Game 1: He plays a Forest. He plays a Swamp. He plays an Argothian
Enchantress.....
COME ON! This must be a joke. I think that I am probably still
dreaming....
While I rub my disbelieving eyes he play a Vampiric Tutor and later a
Worship... I die to Uktabis.
He has Oath of Ghouls and Engineered Plague, which is not really a combo
with Oath of Ghouls...
Game 2: He plays 2-3 Enchantresses, Engineered Plague on Wizards killing
2
Fireslingers. Oath of Ghouls, Worship. I have nothing in my deck or
sideboard for that matter to remove the Enchantresses.
So You lost, right?
Yes, I lost, but I could have won... In fact I should have won, if I had
learned my sixth edition rules better in the 10 days I had to prepare...
And no, I could not have decked him. There is unfortunately a third way
of
winning.
All Pro Tour Players know it, I guess.
I just know, he will forget about my Fireslingers, so I wait until he
retrieves the first creature from his graveyard, the only creature from
his
graveyard and get a Judge. Jim gets a single warning. Janosch Kuehn
looks
over at me and smiles. He knows what's going on. I am not smiling. I am
just silently hating myself, but I can not help it. I am too competitive
to
not wait and see if he does not do a few more mistakes. After all if
this
were a Tennis match and my opponent steps on my side of the field he
would
also be awarded a penalty. Perhaps the system is wrong here. Why are
there
not more gradual punishments. How about awarding loss of life or loss of
draw phases instead of immediate game losses? This would enable the
Judges
to better mete out punishment equal to the offence. Anyway, with Echo,
he
manages to reach four creatures in his graveyard (He is careful by now.)
Of
course I have already moved to watching him record the damage from his
Cities of Brass, still hating myself...
He retrieves his Avalanche Rider, plays it. Next turn he doesn't pay the
upkeep, retrieves his Avalanche Rider, plays it.... I lose. But I could
have won.
You see under sixth edition rules, at the beginning of upkeep, the Oath
of
Ghouls effect goes on the stack. The upkeep decision of the Avalanche
Rider
also goes on the stack. But as far as I now know, the player has to
decide
which creature card he targets with the Oath of Ghouls when he puts it
on
the stack. As the Avalanche Rider is still in play at that time, he can
not
target it.
So Jim misplayed the Oath of Ghouls again, but this time I was not firm
enough in sixth edition rules to catch it. (Btw. the myth that sixth
edition rules will make everything easier was dispelled for me during
the
German Nationals.) He would have received a second warning for the same
offence (misplaying Oath of Ghouls) thus probably winning me the game.
But
I knew all the time during preparation that 10 days would probably not
be
enough time to relearn how to play limited, construct and test a
standard
deck and learn sixth edition rules perfectly.
Round 2: I am paired against Ralph Ristedt, but a mistake has been made.
Ralph lost against Kai Budde last round, but a win was recorded, so I
play
against Kai instead.... Great! ;)
I think I had a unbeaten record against Kai Budde in sanctioned play but
every series has an end. He is playing the Big Red Land Destruction
Deck,
which will win the Nationals and I have no chance in both games.
Especially
as I Pillage the Cursed Scroll and not the third land Kai needs to pay
the
echo for his Ticking Gnomes. Pillaging the land would have definitely
saved
me more damage than Pillaging the Scroll. I have often wondered why I
sometimes make these huge mistakes and if there will ever be a time when
I
play flawlessly. Sadly, I don't think so. It is not in my character. I
used
to play a lot of chess in school, up to 10 games a day. I realised that
I
did better the faster the game was played and the more I could rely on
my
intuition and the less I would have to think out. That was my only
chance
to beat Felix really, my hunches. Felix was my best friend at the time
and
is probably one of the two smartest people I know. (He just finished his
Ph.D. in quantum chemistry in Cambridge.) In fast chess I had a chance.
In
long ch
ess I would usually lose like three games in a row, to my blunders.
Then my competitive instinct would set in and there would be some very
close games, where Felix would try to methodically destroy my position
and
I would try to gain some form of strategic advantage which I could
translate into a win. Of these games I would win a few, but they left my
head aching usually. Magic is often like fast chess. I rely on my
intuition
to win, the rest I do by experience and I did not have enough experience
with echo creatures, yet. I don't think I will ever make that particular
mistake again though.
So I lose. I am now 0:2 in Standard. The last time I was down 0:2 in a
Standard tournament was probably Pro Tour Paris 1997. I was playing a
combo deck at the time. Now I have to win four matches in a row. I know
my
deck can do it. We have had two bad match-ups in a row, but there are
enough, Slighs, Suicide Blacks and Mind Over Matter Decks out there
which I
have much better chances against. The problem is, I am not motivated. I
feel like I am swimming in pudding. I just don't have that beatdown
feeling. I know, that how I feel should have nothing to do with how I
draw
or who I am paired with, but my own subjective empirical evidence does
not
support this, perhaps it is just subjective observation, perhaps there
is
really some psychic field around everyone which influences his
fate/luck.
Well whatever it is, my field was low. I try to motivate myself. I go to
the bathroom, look in the mirror, drink some orange juice and try to get
angry about losing. I tell myself that I drafted 3:3 and that I am up
2:0
in Standard like last year.
Nothing works...
Round 3: My opponent is playing MoMa stroke. I like playing against MoMa
or
other combo decks about as much as I like eating one day old McDonald's
french fries. I lose the first game. Will I lose to cold fries?
NO, I --- WILL -- NOT --- LOSE!
The feeling is back! Yes! I win the next two, even though I make another
mistake with sixth edition rules, as I forget that he can stroke me out,
in
response to lethal damage, but his combo stalls. My luck is back.
Round 4: Gunnar Refsdahl, playing Sligh, as he is on the same Team as
Patrick Mello and Christian Luehrs. He is probably playing the old
version
(Team NMA version of Jenny). I do not lose to my own deck. Cursed Scroll
is
stronger than Kindle in the mirror match-up.
Round 5: I am paired against Ralph Ristedt again I think, and again we
are
repaired. This time because Table One misrecorded the match last round.
This time contrary to Round 2 everyone is repaired. (See my luck is
back. I
later find out Ralph was playing Untargetable-Worship). I get a suicide
black deck, much better. I win.
Round 6: I play against Stephan Valkyser, playing Stompy, it is a
feature
match.
Game 1: Stephan takes as many Mulligans as I draw Fireslingers during
the
game. I draw three Wizards.
He had to Mulligan his first draw as it contained two Wild Dogs, two
Forests, one Overrun and one Gaea's Cradle. The next to mulligans were
no-land mulligans.
Game 2: I keep a hand with one Mountain and one Wasteland. I don't draw
another land for six Draw Steps. He has two Skyshroud Elite. I die... I
guess luck equals out in the end.
Game 3: I draw a control hand. His first two Creatures die to amazing
Arc
Lightning, the rest to Hammer recursion.
Stephan's Deck is really more of a Suicide Green than a Stompy. His only
fat are four Albino Trolls, that is not enough against a Sligh with
Cursed
Scrolls, Arc Lightnings and the totally amazing Mogg Fanatics. Not to
mention Fireslingers, Hammers and Shocks...
I am totally elated I did it! I made Top 8 in the German Nationals for
the
third time in a row. Then I hear that Christian Luehrs and Patrick Mello
have also made Top 8 with Jenny. Is that good or bad? I decide that it's
good, as Patrick and Christian are definitely belong to the nice guys of
the German magic scene.
We head over to the Players Party. The Top 8 is sitting around in front
of
the restaurant. Team NMA has equalled the last years feat of Team Istari
(then called Team Highway to Hell). They have three people in the Top 8,
Christian Luehrs, Patrick Mello and Marco Blume. The funny thing is,
that
Marco is spending a year in Cologne right now and therefore decided to
test
with the CCC. Therefore Marco did not know what Patrick and Christian
were
playing and vice versa. Yet all three of them ended up playing red.
We listen to Marco explain the Magic World to us, especially about how
broken Yagmoth's Bargain is in Extended. Some of us are literally
sitting
at his feet like disciples before a prophet.
"The ability to immediately draw 19 cards for no mana to find an
I-win-situation in Extended... Come on, how easy is that! If I was
playing
red in extended I would probably start with Mountain Bolt you right now,
over Mountain Jackal Pup. How wrong is that?"
I think Marco will make a great German National Champion.
The Top 8:
Of all the people I could have to play against, I have to play against
Marco in the quarterfinals. What can I say. I try my best. I committed
no
mistakes I realised. I did some good plays. I even tried one or two jedi
mind tricks. (I think they are OK if you use them on someone who uses
them
himself. A battle of Jedi against Jedi is sometimes mighty to behold.)
In
the end it was only enough for a 2:3. His magic/force was simply
stronger
than mine.
Then I lose to cold fries in the second round of the double Elim. Third
round kills are some good. At least no deck not legal in Type II in two
weeks made National Team. I want to say nothing against the players just
the decks btw! In fact I am glad Markus Bell and Sasha Blank reached the
Top 8. Too bad they forced Cold Fries down other peoples throats to do
it.
I committed no huge mistakes this time in the Top 8, in fact I think I
played pretty well. I was just not as lucky as I was good. I guess, I
would
still rather be lucky than good, to quote Preston Poulter.
Well that's it. In closing I would like to thank the Sponsor of Team
Istari, the german magazine Kartefakt for their support, my team mates
for
believing in the deck, the members of the Legion mailing list for
various
deck lists, Team NMA for also believing in my deck and you the audience
out
there for reading.
Friendly Greetings
Daniel
"But you, you're not invited. What an unfortunate sligh(t)"
Alannis Morisette, Uninvited
PS: Some of you, who read all my reports, probably want to know how I
came
up with the name Jenny and what song is associated with the deck and
what
omens lead me to it. (Not that I really believe in omens or psychic
fields
or the force or whatever some people call it. At least I don't when I am
not playing magic. I am a scientist after all. It's just magic that
talks
to the superstitious side in me...)
Well like I said originally I wanted to play my team mates Stephan's
Living
Death Deck. This belief was strengthened by sister playing Eurydice in
the
Opera Orpheus and Eurydice right now. So of course I named the Living
Death
Deck Eurydice, just as I named Julie after the piece Ms. Julie my sister
Sophia was playing in last year before the Nationals. But as Ms. Julie
Sophia was wearing a mono-red dress in the first act. As Eurydice her
dress
was Black and Blue, not green and black at all...
Then three days before I left for Nationals I was training in the
fitness
club, when this amazing girl walks in wearing a mono-red training suit.
Being male, I thought to myself, " What a (edited) ... She is certainly
well trained. Hmmh, my Sligh deck is also pretty lean and tough, could
this
be a sign?"
Two days later I go to the Alannis Morissette concert. (Too bad she only
has Garbage as her guests in the American part of her Tour.( The sound
is
terrible in the Berlin Arena, the guests are so lala . Then she walks on
stage... in a red dress of course.... The concert is saved.
The next day we leave for Nationals. I put in my Jennifer Paige CD. I
look
at the cover. She is wearing red. The cover is red. The first song is
called "Crush". What more signs could you want? Like I said three is my
lucky number .... usually!
David Chapman
news:376A1D33...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de...
> Jenny (in honor of Jennifer Paige) aka Littleton High
>
I'm not surprised the Dojo didn't post your deck - this name is what we call
a *troll* around here, and even more offensive than the usual morons yelling
insults.
Tell you what; I'll just nip round to your place and shoot your kids,
alright?
--
Restate my assumptions: 1. Mathematics is the language of nature.
2. Everything around us can be represented and understood by numbers.
3. If you graph the numbers of any system, patterns emerge.
Therefore, there are patterns everywhere in nature.
sent...@globalnet.co.uk
Chad
Chad
A1B2C369
>Jenny (in honor of Jennifer Paige) aka Littleton High
Wow, I am amazed at your name for your deck. Why would you be such an ass that
you would try to find humor in a school shooting? I know that not all Germans
are dicks but you sure are one. I am glad that you didn't win the tourny and I
hope that your tourny record only heads downhill from now on. And also, this
deck is similar to sligh decks created by little 12 years olds who played in
regionals in my area. It is hardly "your" creation. Also, it is one of the
weaker versions of sligh that were out there at the time. I guess in Germany
there isnt much competition.
Brendan
_.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._
Remove "nospam" from my email address to mail me..
If you want you can catch me on EFnet in #mtgtrade if
you want to talk or trade sometime.. I go by |Spike|..
_.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._
GLDNPLAYA5
>that
>you would try to find humor in a school shooting? I know that not all
>Germans
>are dicks but you sure are one. I am glad that you didn't win the tourny and
>I
>hope that your tourny record only heads downhill from now on. And also, this
>deck is similar to sligh decks created by little 12 years olds who played in
>regionals in my area. It is hardly "your" creation. Also, it is one of the
>weaker versions of sligh that were out there at the time. I guess in Germany
>there isnt much competition.
>
>
>Brendan
First off look at it a little better i believe it says in honor of jenny paige
one of the kids killed in the littleton school hardly an insult
and to call he wasnt trying to find humor im sure if he wanted to make it
humurous he would by putting quotes by the cards you just arent looking at it
right plus the germans are probably the second best magic nation behind the us
for numerous reasons but people like Kai budde 3 time grand prix winner and he
is just a damned good player i saw him play in new york pretty calm guy.
brickwell took 9th in worlds last year himself janosch kuhn took second at
worlds in 97 i believe dirk baberowski won pt chicago ealier this year and
there are even more numerous german name players so saying they have no
competition is to the contrary and i find it insulting that you compare his to
taht of a 12 year olds.
Frederick Scott
gldnp...@aol.com (GLDNPLAYA5) writes:
>First off look at it a little better i believe it says in honor of jenny paige
>one of the kids killed in the littleton school hardly an insult
>and to call he wasnt trying to find humor im sure if he wanted to make it
>humurous he would by putting quotes by the cards you just arent looking at it
>right plus the germans are probably the second best magic nation behind the us
And a much better punctuating nation, I guess.
Fred
Air Ron
>>The deck I played (and several others, but that comes later):
>
>
>>Jenny (in honor of Jennifer Paige) aka Littleton High
>
>Wow, I am amazed at your name for your deck. Why would you be such an ass that
>you would try to find humor in a school shooting? I know that not all Germans
>are dicks but you sure are one. I am glad that you didn't win the tourny and I
>hope that your tourny record only heads downhill from now on. And also, this
>deck is similar to sligh decks created by little 12 years olds who played in
>regionals in my area. It is hardly "your" creation. Also, it is one of the
>weaker versions of sligh that were out there at the time. I guess in Germany
>there isnt much competition.
>
David Price is the master of Red Beatdown. He's won a (fairly) recent
PT and done pretty well at other stuff too. He's played decks similar
to those 12 year olds in the effect that both contain mountains,
scrolls, burn, Goblins. Does this make him a bad player? no. For PT
Rome, a large population of the players that weren't sure on what to
play said they'd play Sligh if they couldn't find anything else
because it is so damned consistent. Same with last year's Worlds.
Hell, Finkel played Sligh because it is just that good. Don't diss it
just because it is a good deck for a beginner to start with. It is
definately not brainless. If you read the report you would notice
that he mentioned that some stuff is hard in Daniel's version because
you have to decide what to Raze, etc. I would suspect that a large
amount of testing went into finding the optimal configuration for what
the *expected* metagame would be.
As to it being an suboptimal version? maybe in your metagame. At PT
Scroll, Giant Strength was huge Tech because it negated most kinds of
removal in the environment. Don't diss something just because it
won't necessarily clean up in your area. Some areas are more prone to
a proliferation of different deck types. I *know* I've read reports
where people mentioned that they expected and saw a _lot_ of White
Wheenie winning because it was popular in that area. All over the
rest of the world, WW was getting crushed because it was a different
metagame. BTW, as has already been mentioned, Daniel made 9th at
Worlds last year...I wouldn't be ranging on him too much if I were
you.
Gosh, that's a lot more than I expected...
Air Ron
Patron Saint of Jackalope Herds
Charter member of the Rue the Day Fellowship Institute
"I can only show you the door, you have to open it yourself"
Member of the Department of Stupid Ideas
Thief #2 of DJ Shagz and the 40 Thieves
Daniel Brickwell
David Chapman schrieb:
> Daniel Brickwell <br...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de> wrote in message
> news:376A1D33...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de...
>
> >> Jenny (in honor of Jennifer Paige) aka Littleton High
> >>
>
> >I'm not surprised the Dojo didn't post your deck - this name is what we call
> >a *troll* around here, and even more offensive than the usual morons yelling
> >insults.
> >Tell you what; I'll just nip round to your place and shoot your kids,
> >alright?
Isn't that sort of violent reponse exactly the thing you oppose? In fact you
argue so strongly against it, that you insult me because of a little black
humor?
I think, that we should laugh about those things, we can't cry about, because
they hurt too much.
Did you ever see La Vita e bella by Antonio Benigni for instance?
Nice quote from the movie Pi, btw.
Friendly Greetings
Daniel
Daniel Brickwell
David Chapman schrieb:
> Daniel Brickwell <br...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de> wrote in message
> news:376A1D33...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de...
>
> >> Jenny (in honor of Jennifer Paige) aka Littleton High
> >>
>
Daniel Brickwell
David Chapman schrieb:
> Daniel Brickwell <br...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de> wrote in message
> news:376A1D33...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de...
>
> >> Jenny (in honor of Jennifer Paige) aka Littleton High
> >>
>
Daniel Brickwell
A1B2C369 schrieb:
> >The deck I played (and several others, but that comes later):
>
> >Jenny (in honor of Jennifer Paige) aka Littleton High
>
> Wow, I am amazed at your name for your deck. Why would you be such an ass that
> you would try to find humor in a school shooting? I know that not all Germans
> are dicks but you sure are one. I am glad that you didn't win the tourny and I
> hope that your tourny record only heads downhill from now on. And also, this
> deck is similar to sligh decks created by little 12 years olds who played in
> regionals in my area. It is hardly "your" creation. Also, it is one of the
> weaker versions of sligh that were out there at the time. I guess in Germany
> there isnt much competition.
>
> Brendan
>
> _.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._
> Remove "nospam" from my email address to mail me..
> If you want you can catch me on EFnet in #mtgtrade if
> you want to talk or trade sometime.. I go by |Spike|..
> _.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._
It still astounds me sometime how underrated some good decks are.
Sligh is a great deck, such a great deck that even 12 year olds can play it
and win with it. Of course this does not mean that a given 12 year old
can win a tournament with it. Constructing a good sligh deck and playing
it well is another ball game.
Anyway it seems like I did step on some persons toes with my little black
humor, so as retribution or just for fun I am going to go a little deeper into
why and how Jenny came to be. Judge for yourself, if any 12 year old could
have done the same.
Of course to do that I have to start out with the oroginal deck, which started
the whole controversy:
Littleton High
Warning: If you do not like black humor skip the next section. This section means
no disrespect to the families or the individuals involved. In fact they have my
deepest heartfelt condolences.
>Littleton (Sl)High (Yes that infamous School)
>4 Mogg Fanatic (The Trench Coat Club Fanatics)
>4 Jackal Pup (They were kids, just kids...)
>4 Shock (Ohhh, the Shock!)
>4 Cursed Scroll (No anti-gun legislation...)
>4 Fireslinger (They carried guns...)
>4 Mogg Flunkies (I guess they would have, if they had survived...)
>4 Githu Slinger (They carried a lot of guns...)
>4 Hammer of Borgardan (The force of the law, suspended in mid air...)
>4 Avalanche Riders (and bombs...)
>2 Viashino Cutthroat (guess who?)
>4 Wastelands (What a waste it was...)
>18 Mountains
>One of my team mates suggested using Lightning Dragons instead of
>Cutthroats, I guess he didn't understand the deck. Littleton has to use
Cutthroats...
O.K. when you look at this Sligh deck and ignore the humor. You realize
several things.
1) It's not really a Sligh deck as it's mana curve is totally off.
It really only has 12 1-CC spells the 4 Mogg Fanatics the 4 Jackal Pups
and the 4 Shock. Of these the Mogg Fanatics and the Shocks are so strong
that probably every red deck even the controllish one should run four.
Jackal Pups are also staple cards but you could argue that they do not
belong in a red control deck, especially as red control should use
Earthquakes or Faultlines or even Crater Hellion and Wildfire.
Cursed Scrolls really cost 5 Mana in a Sligh as you wnat to be able to
scroll and drop your 1 and 2-CC creatures. In this version with all the Echo
creatures it's even more a 6-7-CC spell and therefore off the curve.
Might as well play Shivan Dragon. (Ohh, that's right I can't because he didn't
make 6Ed. O.K. Shivan Hellkite then...)
2) This deck does not really now if it is a control deck or not.
On the one hand, it has offensive creatures like the Flunkies, the Jackal Pups, the
Cutthroats.
On the other hand it has solely defensive cards like the Avalanche Riders, the
Fireslingers and the 4 Hammers.
In other words the deck needs more focus.
3) This deck is much too slow.
Cursed Scrolls and Hammers will not kill by themselves in a an enviroment with
Mind over Matter and Living Death Decks, not to mention WW. The funny thing is
the deck of the German Champion Marco Blume did kill with Hammers and Cursed
Scroll. They took the control way and opted for Pillages and Stone Rains thus
enabling
them to slow down the opponents play enough to kill them with Avalanche Riders,
Cursed Scrolls or Hammer.
I took a different way. I took the way where the best board control is a dead
opponent.
There fore I had to up the amount of 1-CC spells.
I went up to
1) Step
- 4 Ghitu Slinger
+4 Goblin Patrol
Now Ghitu Slinger is a better card powerwise if you can get it out. Probably
Goblin Raider is a better card in an environment with Mogg Fanatics, Earthquakes
and Fireslingers, Sicken etc. But I asked myself, when is Goblin Patrol a better
drop than
Goblin Raider?
The answer ofcourse is, when you play Raze.
So I took out
- 4 Cursed Scrolls
+ 4 Raze
Now anyone who knows me knows that that hurt. I love the brocken scroll.
Cursed Scroll is a lot of card advantage and the often only way Sligh can deal with
such nasty creatures as Paladin en Vec or Soltari Priest.
But I was testing against Living Death and against Living Death I sometimes had 2
or 3
Cursed Scrolls out doing absolutely nothing, because I either did not have the land
anymore
or my opponent was already recursing Radiant's Dragoons and Verdant Force.
Raze on an early Forest did a lot. In fact against some Living Death decks it was
often game as you could usually wasteland the other green source. Firesling his
mana creatures and just overrun him with Jackal Pups and Goblin Patrols.
Before adding the Razes I could only win if my opponent did not draw Survival of
the
Fittest now I could win even with SotF on board as long as I could control the
green mana.
Now to minimize the mana costs and to remove various blockers and to leave open
the burn you to death option:
- 4 Avalanche Riders
+ 4 Kindle
Avalanche Rider is just to expensive for a Sligh Deck if you can Avalanche Rider
his
mana so that it hurts your probably winning anyway. Multiple Kindles could win
you games you were loosing.
Of course I still needed some control cards so I kept:
2 Hammers
and took out
-2 Hammers
-2 Viashino Cutthroats
and added
+3 Pillage
+1 Arc Lightning
Pillage gave you a way to remove 2 lands round 4 either via wasteland or Raze.
This usually crippled your opponent enough to win by round 5 or 6.
Arc Lightning was simply sometimes better than Hammer as it could remove
an echo blocker like Bone Shredder or Yavimaya Granger and still do
damage to the opponent. It could also get card adavantage against other weenie
decks. My best strike was 3 Mother of Runes with one Arc Lightning.
Last year I had a Firestorm in this slot.
I also took out 2 Mountains and put in 2 Ghitu Encampments to up the number
of creatures in the deck.
The resulting deck was Jenny I so to speak. The deck I played in Hamburg
against Patrick Mello's Living Death Deck:
Jenny I
4 Goblin Patrol
4 Jackal Pups
4 Mogg Fanatics
4 Raze
4 Shock
4 Kindle
4 Fireslinger
4 Mogg Flunkies
2 Hammer of Borgardan
1 Arc Lightning
3 Pillages
16 Moutains
2 Ghitu Encampment
4 Wastelands
60 cards.
If you look at the decks Patrick Mello and Christian Luehrs played in the
Top 8. You will see that they are practically the same except they played
-1 Raze
+1 Pillage
-1 Arc Lightning
+1 Hammer
+1 Mountain
61 cards instead of 60 cards.
We never talked about sideboards so our sideboard look a lot different.
Christian made 2nd place, Patrick 5th place.
After Hamburg I considered a few more things. First I thought about
playing Goblin Lackey main deck, especially against Chill and because
the Lackey is good with Raze and even with Cursed Scroll if I wanted to
put them back in.
The problem was I thought I still needed Fireslingers against Living Death.
(In fact I did need the Fireslingers against other Slighs, Suicide Black and
Stompy,
but I did not now that at the time.
Secondly, iwanted more creatures, but did not have enough room. I also wanted some
kind of mana sink, should I draw too much land except my 2 Hammers.
So I put in 2 more Ghitu Encampments and removed one more mountain and 1 Goblin
Patrol
as I really don't like Goblin Patrols. I just realized that they were good in the
deck. In retrospect I think That I should have played 2 Ghitu Encampmets 16
Mounatins and
4 Goblin Patrols, but not every change you make is a good one.
The last change I made was on the eve of the nationals. I realized that much more
people
wouuld be playing beatdown decks than I had originally thought. I also realized
that there
would be less Living Death decks.
Therefore I took out the Kindles and put back the Cursed Scrolls. This decision was
a mixed blessing it definitely helped me during the swiss but it hurt me against
Marcos deck
in the quarterfinals.
All in all I would say that the deck contains a lot of thought, at least for a deck
I had only
2 weeks to work on.
Jenny (final version)
3 Goblin Patrols
4 Jackal Pups
4 Mogg Fanatics
4 Raze
4 Cursed Scrolls
4 Fireslinger
4 Mogg Flunkies
3 Pillage
1 Arc Lightning
2 Hammer
15 Moutains
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Wastelands
Sideboard
3 Goblin Lackey
3 Spell Shocks
1 Shattering Pulse
4 Ticking Gnomes
2 Lightning Dragons
2 Arc Lightning.
Now I have 4 days left to modify this deck for the European Nationals
or to come up with another deck. Wish me luck.
Friendly Greetings
Daniel
"Better Lucky than Good", Chris Cade
David Chapman
> > >Tell you what; I'll just nip round to your place and shoot your kids,
> > >alright?
>
> Isn't that sort of violent reponse exactly the thing you oppose? In fact
you
> argue so strongly against it, that you insult me because of a little black
> humor?
Don't they have sarcasm in Germany?
The thing about black humour, Daniel, is that when you apply it to things in
the *real* world it becomes *sick* humour. "In honour of one of the
Littleton massace victims, I'll name a deck after her that - kills lots of
people!" hy didn't you call it Harris-Klebold? It would have been a bit
more honest and accurate, don't you think?
>
> I think, that we should laugh about those things, we can't cry about,
because
> they hurt too much.
>
> Did you ever see La Vita e bella by Antonio Benigni for instance?
Yes I did, and thought exactly the same as I thought about your little essay
into humour; if someone had killed *his* whole family just because they
didn't like his race, colour or religion, would he find the Holocaust so
amusing then?
>
> Nice quote from the movie Pi, btw.
>
Three...
--
Daniel Brickwell
David Chapman schrieb: >
> > Isn't that sort of violent reponse exactly the thing you oppose? In fact
> you
> > argue so strongly against it, that you insult me because of a little black
> > humor?
>
> Don't they have sarcasm in Germany?
>
> The thing about black humour, Daniel, is that when you apply it to things in
> the *real* world it becomes *sick* humour. "In honour of one of the
> Littleton massace victims, I'll name a deck after her that - kills lots of
> people!" hy didn't you call it Harris-Klebold? It would have been a bit
> more honest and accurate, don't you think?
>
> >
> > I think, that we should laugh about those things, we can't cry about,
> because
> > they hurt too much.
> >
> > Did you ever see La Vita e bella by Antonio Benigni for instance?
>
> Yes I did, and thought exactly the same as I thought about your little essay
> into humour; if someone had killed *his* whole family just because they
> didn't like his race, colour or religion, would he find the Holocaust so
> amusing then?
>
If you are putting me in the same corner as Antonio, well then to quote the
movie In Dreams:
"I can live with that."
I think we have a basic difference in philosophy here. I think that humour can
heal.
You tote the banner of p.c. somberness.
Billy Wilder made a movie comedy about the separated state of Berlin in 1959/60
just before The Wall was built, called One, Two, Three. It bombed because no one
could find
humour in East-West relations, when there were tanks staring each other down.
Years later, but before the fall of the Wall the movie was a great success,
especially
in Berlin. It's all a question of time.
Friendly Greetings
Daniel
An Thi-Nguyen Le
} David Chapman schrieb: >
} > > I think, that we should laugh about those things, we can't cry about,
} > because
} > > they hurt too much.
} > >
} > > Did you ever see La Vita e bella by Antonio Benigni for instance?
} >
} > Yes I did, and thought exactly the same as I thought about your little essay
} > into humour; if someone had killed *his* whole family just because they
} > didn't like his race, colour or religion, would he find the Holocaust so
} > amusing then?
}
} If you are putting me in the same corner as Antonio, well then to quote the
} movie In Dreams:
}
} "I can live with that."
}
} I think we have a basic difference in philosophy here. I think that humour can
} heal.
} You tote the banner of p.c. somberness.
But then again something like this strikes a very deep part of many people
around and about. Perhaps it's P.C., but you can't expect droll humor
from people who are, in one way or another, quite frightened. You can
expect a lot of other things, like vitriolic remarks or vague persecution
in an attempt to stamp out the root of the problem, whatever it is.
That's just people for you. You can't say "It's too P.C. somber; you gotta
live with it" because emotions were never very logical parts of human beings
to begin with.
It's all a bit like having a jolly laugh at Dilbert during a funeral at
this moment. OK, if it's a bit after, like during the wake, fine. Everyone's
more or less gotten to a certain stage of shock/grief. But not now.
Not when we're still fairly sure that tragedies like this will repeat, for
reasons that seem going farther and farther beyond our control.
I suppose one just has to have patience instead of dogma.
--
An Thi-Nguyen Le v^.
Silent Death of Viper House ; <,
http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~anle/HOMEPAGE ====
Daniel Brickwell
> }
> } I think we have a basic difference in philosophy here. I think that humour can
> } heal.
> } You tote the banner of p.c. somberness.
>
> But then again something like this strikes a very deep part of many people
> around and about. Perhaps it's P.C., but you can't expect droll humor
> from people who are, in one way or another, quite frightened. You can
> expect a lot of other things, like vitriolic remarks or vague persecution
> in an attempt to stamp out the root of the problem, whatever it is.
>
You are right, I should have expected it. I have to admit that I am too far
removed from the problem. In Germany we have a pretty strict gun control.
It is impossible for persons under 18 to own guns for instance. To get
a gun permit you have to fulfill several criteria and go through a typical
German extensive bureaucratic process. Thus effectively only some criminals
and the police carry guns.
This does not mean that there is no violence at German schools. It just takes
place with fists and knives not with guns.
> That's just people for you. You can't say "It's too P.C. somber; you gotta
> live with it" because emotions were never very logical parts of human beings
> to begin with.
>
> It's all a bit like having a jolly laugh at Dilbert during a funeral at
> this moment. OK, if it's a bit after, like during the wake, fine. Everyone's
> more or less gotten to a certain stage of shock/grief. But not now.
>
> Not when we're still fairly sure that tragedies like this will repeat, for
> reasons that seem going farther and farther beyond our control.
>
> I suppose one just has to have patience instead of dogma.
I find the wake a very fitting simile. Some cultures find that the dead arebest
remembered fondly with laughter. That hurt can be stilled through
joy.
Other cultures believe in the somberness of death. That hurt should be carried
within
until it slowly heals with time.
I think that fighting pain with joy is the much healthier concept.
Friendly Greetings
Daniel
Eric Taylor
: removed from the problem. In Germany we have a pretty strict gun control.
: It is impossible for persons under 18 to own guns for instance. To get
: a gun permit you have to fulfill several criteria and go through a typical
: German extensive bureaucratic process. Thus effectively only some criminals
: and the police carry guns.
: This does not mean that there is no violence at German schools. It just takes
: place with fists and knives not with guns.
Guns are not purely evil. An armed civilian population is not purely
and merely violence. An armed civilian population can also protect the
will of the people.
Shortly after World War II, Hungarians rose up against their masters.
Why not? They didn't think that it was right for them to be ruled by
the Soviet Union. A free democratic government was declared.
And crushed ruthlessly by Soviet military force.
Not very long ago in Tianamen square. Students espouse democracy in
China.
Chinese people aren't allowed to carry weapons you know. Only the
army.
There is still no democracy in China.
When the people are armed it becomes very difficult to impose the will
of a foreign government on the people. Even the mightiest military
nation on earth, the United States, was unable to subjugate the
Vietnamise.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
infringed."
That's what the constitution says.
It's not a simple issue. The writers of the constitution were after
all revolutionaries, and wanted to protect the American people's
rights. They realized that the first thing a despotic government wants
to do is take away any weapons the citizens might have.
This is heady stuff.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
That's the Declaration of Independance. You read those words and you
have to realize it's not just some old fashioned document. It's as
relevant today as it was over 200 years ago.
It is very hard for me to imagine the day when no American citizen is
allowed to carry a gun. It's hard to imagine the day when the only
people in America who have guns are the government or the criminals.
It doesn't seem like Americans need the protection of the second
amendment now-a-days. The people are much too used to their liberties
and freedoms and it is inconcievable that it could be taken away, with
or without the citizens having the right to bear arms. They are much
too used to a democratic system and don't need to worry about a
military despotism. I also think Americans are much too used to the
right to have weapons, and a system that takes all the weapons from all
the citizens and allows only the government to be armed, well it might
work elsewhere, but not here.
--- edt
Daniel Brickwell
> Guns are not purely evil. An armed civilian population is not purely
> and merely violence. An armed civilian population can also protect the
> will of the people.
>
> Shortly after World War II, Hungarians rose up against their masters.
> Why not? They didn't think that it was right for them to be ruled by
> the Soviet Union. A free democratic government was declared.
>
> And crushed ruthlessly by Soviet military force.
>
> Not very long ago in Tianamen square. Students espouse democracy in
> China.
>
> Chinese people aren't allowed to carry weapons you know. Only the
> army.
>
> There is still no democracy in China.
>
The chinese people were never allowed to carry guns or weapons, that's whythey
developed Kung-Fu. This sound like a joke, but is a historical fact.
I believe the reason that there is still no democracy in China is, that China is
not a Western culture with the greek and roman roots our culture nourishes
from. Democracy was developed by the old Greeks. The Romans had a Senate.
In old chinese mythology there is the heavenly bureaucracy. Communism
is the height of bureaucracy.
The right to bear arms may well have outlived it's relevence in a modern society.
Where wars seemingly can be won in the air.
It should also be outdated in a modern culture where the word should be
mightier than the gun.
> It is very hard for me to imagine the day when no American citizen is
> allowed to carry a gun. It's hard to imagine the day when the only
> people in America who have guns are the government or the criminals.
>
It is not hard for me to imagine. I am living it. I have tried to think of any
friendsor friends of friends which I know here in Germany which own a gun.
I came up with two. One is an American and his guns are in the States and one
is training to become a policeman and is not yet allowed to carry his gun home
with him.
Realizing this made me feel safer not more threatened.
> It doesn't seem like Americans need the protection of the second
> amendment now-a-days. The people are much too used to their liberties
> and freedoms and it is inconcievable that it could be taken away, with
> or without the citizens having the right to bear arms. They are much
> too used to a democratic system and don't need to worry about a
> military despotism. I also think Americans are much too used to the
> right to have weapons, and a system that takes all the weapons from all
> the citizens and allows only the government to be armed, well it might
> work elsewhere, but not here.
>
That I can not judge. I can only say that it feels much safer to me to livein a
society where guns are scarce.
Friendly Greetings
Daniel
Brian Trosko
: The chinese people were never allowed to carry guns or weapons, that's whythey
: developed Kung-Fu. This sound like a joke, but is a historical fact.
Actually, not really. Kung-fu was developed by Shaolin monks, which
hardly constituted "the chinese people." What you're talking about sounds
more like what was developed amongst the rural peasantry of Japan, who
when denied the freedom to carry actual weapons, developed styles of
martial art utilizing implements they were allowed to carry, like grain
flails.
Want to know another nifty fact? The guy with the gun usually kills the
guy with the stick. There's an old joke about people so dumb they bring a
knife to a gunfight.
: In old chinese mythology there is the heavenly bureaucracy. Communism
: is the height of bureaucracy.
You mistake the system of government in China for Communism. Another
nifty fact: It's not.
: The right to bear arms may well have outlived it's relevence in a modern society.
Yes. Just like the right to free speech, or freedom of religion. They
don't seem to have either of those in Germany, either.
: Where wars seemingly can be won in the air.
The 2nd Amendment ain't about wars.
: It should also be outdated in a modern culture where the word should be
: mightier than the gun.
What are you talking about? You've got words, I've got a gun. I can make
you do whatever I want, or else I shoot you.
: That I can not judge. I can only say that it feels much safer to me to livein a
: society where guns are scarce.
That's certainly your prerogative. Me, I'd think you actually feel safer
because you live in a society where there's a lot less violent crime.
Brian Trosko
: Don't they have sarcasm in Germany?
I don't think so. There's an old joke:
If you tell a joke to an Englishman, a Dutchman, and a German, the
Englishman laughs once, the Dutchman twice, and the German three times.
The Englishman laughs when he hears the punchline. The Dutchman laughs
when he hears the punchline, and again when it's explained. The German
laughs when he hears it, when it's explained, and when he gets it.
: The thing about black humour, Daniel, is that when you apply it to things in
: the *real* world it becomes *sick* humour.
Disagree. Humor's not an objective thing, and for any given joke, I
guarantee you there's someone out there who will be eager to brand it as
"sick." Just like everyone considers himself an excellent driver,
everyone thinks he has a great sense of humor, but most folks are
humorless gits. You've no more authority to tell someone a given joke
shouldn't be laughed at because it's sick than you do to tell someone they
shouldn't eat liver because it tastes bad.
: Yes I did, and thought exactly the same as I thought about your little essay
: into humour; if someone had killed *his* whole family just because they
: didn't like his race, colour or religion, would he find the Holocaust so
: amusing then?
Doesn't mean you can't construct an amusing joke about it. Doesn't mean
the topic is off-limits for humor. Just means it's harder to construct an
amusing joke about it.
At the same time, though, naming the deck after one of the victims really
isn't funny. Where's the joke? Jokes work because they lead your mind
down along one path, and then hit you with something you didn't expect,
something out of proportion to the rest. This didn't do that.
Michael Winckler
up until this reply I tried to ignore ths OT thread, but there
are some statements floating around that I feel I have to tell
my view about.
Brian Trosko wrote:
>
> Daniel Brickwell <br...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de> writes:
>
> Want to know another nifty fact? The guy with the gun usually kills the
> guy with the stick. There's an old joke about people so dumb they bring a
> knife to a gunfight.
[uncommented]
> : In old chinese mythology there is the heavenly bureaucracy. Communism
> : is the height of bureaucracy.
>
> You mistake the system of government in China for Communism. Another
> nifty fact: It's not.
Help me Brian, Mr.omniscient: either you give us some facts or you
leave these 'nifty facts' at home. It's about the same as saying
'Smokestack is a good card' 'No, it is not'. Either you talk facts
or you don't.
> : The right to bear arms may well have outlived it's relevence in a modern society.
>
> Yes. Just like the right to free speech, or freedom of religion.
> They don't seem to have either of those in Germany, either.
This is where I would laugh out loude, would it not be such a
pathetic comment. The argument about Swiss (was it your's) carring
weapons was a far fetched one (Swiss men are allowed to have *one*
weapon *at home* as their army weapon.! They are neither allowed to
carry it in public nor use it on some private property for some
fance weekend training camp).
The comment you make about freedom of speech is so rediculous that
I leave it uncommented.
The one about freedom of religion seems to point towards our concerns
about Scientology. German supreme court has ruled that Scientology is
*not* a religion but a profit organization. Now there might be another
attitude towards Scientology in the US, but don't tell me that the
American Supreme Court is any better (or worse) than the German one.
> : Where wars seemingly can be won in the air.
>
> The 2nd Amendment ain't about wars.
What Daniel tried to tell you was that no matter how many weapons
the American people store at home: a political fanatic that makes it
to the White House will have air superiority and a gun under your bed
will help you *zip* to turn the tide.
> : It should also be outdated in a modern culture where the word should be
> : mightier than the gun.
>
> What are you talking about? You've got words, I've got a gun. I can make
> you do whatever I want, or else I shoot you.
Welcome to the stone age!
> : That I can not judge. I can only say that it feels much safer to me to livein a
> : society where guns are scarce.
>
> That's certainly your prerogative. Me, I'd think you actually feel safer
> because you live in a society where there's a lot less violent crime.
This is distorting the facts: There are 3 times more firearms killings in the
US (per person!!!!) than in Germany, so don't tell me about less violent
crime (wait: American criminals just shoot their victims instead of beating
them up -- this might actually be less violent [SARCASM OFF]).
BTW: I lived and worked in the US for shorter periods of time [months]
and I still prefer living in a major German city where I can walk downtown
even in the middle of the night without fear for myself.
[OT] (meaning: off topic in this OT thread): Shouldn't we talk about
Magic again? I built a T2 variant of the Secret Force deck. I know,
it has been done before, so I will go into details and post it along
with my ideas about the Magic of Green ... but not buried in this thread!!
--
Michael
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(o- Michael J. Winckler Michael....@iwr.uni-heidelberg.de
//\ http://www.iwr.uni-heidelberg.de/%7EMichael.Winckler/
V_/_ Praktikumssprechzeiten: Dienstags,Freitags 11:oo-12:oo
"One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see" John 9:25
Daniel Brickwell
Brian Trosko schrieb:
> At the same time, though, naming the deck after one of the victims really
> isn't funny. Where's the joke? Jokes work because they lead your mind
> down along one path, and then hit you with something you didn't expect,
> something out of proportion to the rest. This didn't do that.
Hmmh, if you read the report, you should realize that the deck has two
names, independent from each other. Jennifer Paige is not a victim of
the Littleton High massacre, but a singer. Her single releases are the+
songs "Crush" and "Sober". The cover of her CD is red and she is wearing
red dress. This prompted me to name the deck after her, as I always like to
give my decks personal names.
An earlier version of the deck was called Littleton High. I wrote about
that deck and the changes to it in my article Deconstructing Jenny also
in this thread somewhere. You can also find it on the Dojo in the strategy
section. I found the name fitting because a the Sligh deck contained
Pups, Fantics, Flunkies, Cutthroats, Fireslingers, Shocks all cards
you could possible associate with a school shoot-out Not a really
good joke, perhaps tasteless to some, but funny for someone who
is really removed from school violence, living in nice safe Germany,
where your car might get broken into but where you don't see any guns
except on T.V.
I have one last closing remark. I posted my tournament report and the
deconstructing Jenny article to further magic strategy in this group.
It is not my responsibility if I get almost no strategy related responses
to it, but tons of off-topic responses. I guess noone wants to talk about
strategy here.
Friendly Greetings
Daniel
"Ich wollte natuerlich nicht aufgeben. Aber es war sehr deprimierend,
darauf zu warten, dass sie beginnt Fehler zu machen."
Steffi Graf ueber ihre 3. Runden Spiel in Wimbeldon
Laurent Cassaro
Daniel Brickwell a écrit dans le message
>I have one last closing remark. I posted my tournament report and the
>deconstructing Jenny article to further magic strategy in this group.
>It is not my responsibility if I get almost no strategy related responses
>to it, but tons of off-topic responses. I guess noone wants to talk about
>strategy here.
Hey ! Remember that there is a silent majority reading you out there ...
What I mean is that I *really* liked your report, and the "deconstruction"
of the deck, but I didn't have anything interesting to reply (...). I just
hope that all these off-topic responses you've received won't refrain you to
post such good strategy posts in the future !
BTW, props to you for making top 8 ! Good luck for the Euros !
Laurent "French Scrub" Cassaro
Lewis B. Himelhoch
> I have one last closing remark. I posted my tournament report and the
> deconstructing Jenny article to further magic strategy in this group.
> It is not my responsibility if I get almost no strategy related responses
> to it, but tons of off-topic responses. I guess noone wants to talk about
> strategy here.
>
> Friendly Greetings
>
> Daniel
Well , I enjoyed the original post and the follow ups OT or not. The point of
news groups should
be to stimulate discussion. Congratulations, you succeeded. As far as your
mono-red deck goes,
a lot depends on the meta-game. It seems to me that in an environment with a
lot of living
deck with Dragoons and Feeders and U/W control with Chills in the
sideboardyour deck would not do as well. Happily for you that is not what
you had to face.
L. Himelhoch
Trevor Barrie
<br...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
>He retrieves his Avalanche Rider, plays it. Next turn he doesn't pay the
>upkeep, retrieves his Avalanche Rider, plays it.... I lose. But I could
>have won.
>
>You see under sixth edition rules, at the beginning of upkeep, the Oath
>of Ghouls effect goes on the stack. The upkeep decision of the Avalanche
>Rider also goes on the stack. But as far as I now know, the player has to
>decide which creature card he targets with the Oath of Ghouls when he puts
>it on the stack.
I haven't checked Oracle for the latest wording on Oath of Ghouls - if
they have actually errataed it so that it targets the creature card, you're
right. But based on the wording on the card itself, you're wrong - it
doesn't target, and under Sixth Edition rules the only decisions which are
made when playing a spell or ability are targeting and modality; everything
else is decided on resolution.
>So Jim misplayed the Oath of Ghouls again, but this time I was not firm
>enough in sixth edition rules to catch it. (Btw. the myth that sixth
>edition rules will make everything easier was dispelled for me during
>the German Nationals.)
How so? If you're going to say that a bunch of top level players who've
spent years mastering the old rules had more problems with the ~1 month
old new rules, and this proves that the new rules aren't simpler, I have
to say that I find that argument less than credible.
Ingo Warnke
: On Fri, 18 Jun 1999 12:19:34 +0200, Daniel Brickwell
: <br...@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
: >He retrieves his Avalanche Rider, plays it. Next turn he doesn't pay the
: >upkeep, retrieves his Avalanche Rider, plays it.... I lose. But I could
: >have won.
: >
: >You see under sixth edition rules, at the beginning of upkeep, the Oath
: >of Ghouls effect goes on the stack. The upkeep decision of the Avalanche
: >Rider also goes on the stack. But as far as I now know, the player has to
: >decide which creature card he targets with the Oath of Ghouls when he puts
: >it on the stack.
: I haven't checked Oracle for the latest wording on Oath of Ghouls - if
: they have actually errataed it so that it targets the creature card, you're
: right.
The card is errataed to target the card to retrieve, so Daniel is correct;
Oath of Ghouls/Avalanche Riders now works only every other turn if you need
the echo cost to bring the Riders into the graveyard.
Ingo Warnke