[TOURNEY RPT] JERRY'S CHALLENGE...
Dan Lewis
young...@aol.com (YoungBeard) wrote:
"On his turn, he binding grasps my Stampeding Wildebeests. On my turn,
I FORGET I HAVE STORMBIND OUT AND SUMMON A CREATURE INSTEAD OF
STORMBINDING THE WILDEBEEST TWICE! Doh*1000000!! Next turn, I
realize my mistake. He tramples me and wins. Game total 2-1."
Don't feel too bad. The Beests get +0/+1 from the Grasp, so you would have
felt even stupider 'Binding it twice and NOT killing the 5/5.
Dan Lewis
CT State Type 2 and Sealed Champion
DanL on IRC
dle...@tufts.edu
Seth Jaffee
How did he pay the upkeep for the Wildebeest? Was he playing U/G ?
- Seth
YoungBeard
Jerry issued the challenge, and I took it:
>Therefore, I issue a challenge to all newgroup readers. Play an original
>deck at your local tourneys this week. See what happens. If you win then
>maybe you have what is takes to be great.
>
>Jerry
So I did it. I built, tested, and refined an original deck, and
took it to its first tournament. Here is the deck and tourney
report. I didn't take notes, so forgive me if I forget names and
get the details wrong.
THE DECK: I call it The Llawnmower; aka "It's All About Saccing the
Veteran Explorer"
(all misspellings are supposed to be there for funniness so don't flame me
dammit!)
At first it looks like a bad green creature swarm deck, but it's
based on massive card and mana advantage. I'll discuss the idea
after the deck listing.
Creatures:
3 Arctic Wolves
1 Barishi
4 Llawnmower Elves
4 Llawnmower Sentinels
4 Queerion Elves
3 Queerion Rangers
3 Stampeding Beests
4 Striped Bears
4 Veteran Explorer (the sacrificial lamb)
Total: 30
Spells:
2 Disenchant
2 Natural Order
1 Phyrexian Vault
2 Stormbind (nice cleavage)
3 Stunted Growth
Total: 10
Land:
10 Forest
1 Plains
1 Mountain
4 Quicksand
2 Brushland
2 Karplusan Forest
Total: 20
Sideboard:
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Crumble
2 CoP: Red
1 CoP: Black
2 Disintegrate
1 Hurricane
2 Wind Shear
2 Elephant Grass
1 City of Solitude (the only one I own - my solitary city)
The theme of this deck is to get a lot of fast mana and swarm the
opponent with a large number of creatures. Unlike a lot of green
and red/green speed decks which sacrifice cards for speed, this
deck sacrifices card quality (using less than optimal casting cost
to power creatures) to gain card advantage. Using Veteran
Explorer, Arctic Wolves, Striped Bears, a Phyrexian Vault, Llanowar
Sentinels, and Natural Order, I try to pull as many cards out of my
library as I can. With Elves and Veterans for speedy mana, I then
try to cast as many creatures per turn as I can put out. In play
testing, this deck worked quite well against straight blue, which
couldn't keep up with my card drawing and multiple spells. The
Stunted Growths are key as they delay my opponent long enough for
me to really get things rolling. A lot of players won't counter a
Stunted Growth because they don't realize how much of a
disadvantage it gives them. The deck seemed to have the most
problems with Armor/Falcon decks and Winter Orbs. Since my deck
relies on having large quantities of mana, its worst enemy is a
Winter Orb, which is why I run 2 Disenchants standard and 2
Crumbles in the sideboard. Armageddon is bad, too, but the
Veterans and Queer Rangers help me out there. If my opponent is
playing Disks, Wrath, or other mass destruction spells, I always
wait to play my Sentinels until after he/she uses them. They are
an excellent recovery card. Barishi is in there for long games
when I have used up my Sentinels or my deck gets low (which it
tends to do in long, drawn out games). Finally, Stormbind is there
to fall back on when my primary strategies fail. During play
testing, I won a lot of stagnant games by putting out Stormbind and
finishing off my opponent. It makes a natural combo with Queer
Rangers, Beests, and any card drawing spell, plus it is an
excellent defense against weenie decks.
Favorite combo: Natural Order + Veteran Explorer. Pull out 2 land
and a Sentinel, then use the land to get another Sentinel (or more
if I have the mana on hand).
OK.. The tourney: A small Type II at Comics & Gaming Dungeon. The
prize was an UL Black Lotus, but only 14 people showed up, so the
owner changed it for a UL Mox Emerald. Counterpost and Forgotten
Orb were everywhere (at least 3 of each)! The Dungeon has a weird
Swiss format - you play all three games every time, and score by
game wins and losses.
Round 1: Justin playing his G/U weenie-counter deck. Elves, boas,
archers, rogue elephants, arcane denials, binding grasps - not too
bad for a newbie deck. Justin's about 10 yrs old and this is only
his third Magic tournament (it's about my 45th). The first and
second games I won. His deck gets off a lot of fast damage
with weenies, but once he had cast his hand, my card advantage was
too much for him. I just overran him with creatures. The third
game, I made a bad playing mistake. He had me down to 1 (he was at
10 life or so), but by then, I had more creatures on the board. On
his turn, he binding grasps my Stampeding Wildebeests. On my turn,
I FORGET I HAVE STORMBIND OUT AND SUMMON A CREATURE INSTEAD OF
STORMBINDING THE WILDEBEEST TWICE! Doh*1000000!! Next turn, I
realize my mistake. He tramples me and wins. Game total 2-1.
Round 2: Alex with a Forgotten Orb deck. I don't really like
winning because my opponent is manascrewed, but vs. an Orb, I'll
take any win I can get. Forgotten Orb is like my "most feared"
deck for what I am playing. Game 1 he gets 2 Undiscovereds and a
City of Brass. I wisely don't play any Veteran Explorers, and hit
him with elves and stuff. Eventually he gets land, so I cast
Explorer, then next turn, Natural Order, Sentinel, Sentinel,
Sentinel. Over the next few turns, he Nekrataals and Man-o-Wars a
couple of my creatures, casts a couple Winter Orbs which I luckily
get Disenchants for, and gets a Shadow Guildmage/Nekrataal combo
going. He starts eating away at my army. Annoying, but I keep
casting creatures until I topdeck a Stormbind and shoot him (I'm at
about 2 life). Game 2 was even worse. He has 1 land (a Swamp, I
think), and I just beat him down with elves and a Wildebeest (again,
not casting the Veteran Explorer I had). Game 3 he's all over me.
I can't keep up with his Nekrataals and Manowars, he gets a Winter
Orb and it's game. Now if the Dungeon used a NORMAL Swiss style,
my record would be 2-0 and I wouldn't have had those two
losses. Beats me why he uses this weird system. Game total 4-2.
Round 3: ??? playing White Weenie. Game 1 I win, game 2 he wins,
game 3 he wins. Nothing much to say. Armageddon hurts my deck,
even with Elves and Quirion Rangers. Geddons kill Arctic Wolves.
Plus, my stormbinds were nowhere to be seen. I think I got one
in Game 3 that promptly got disenchanted. Game total 5-4.
Round 4: Nathan with Forgotten Orb. I get swept. It's the
standard "Nekrataal your creature. Manowar that. Shadow Guildmage
pings the elf. Memory Lapse your fattie. Winter Orb." Nathan
suggested I put in Jolrael's Centaurs. Sounds like a good idea to
me. I'm beginning to think Arctic Wolves really suck and I should
replace them with something. Game total 5-7.
Round 5: ?? and a Counterpostish thing with Rainbow Efreets. Game
1 I am manascrewed and get creamed. Game 2 he counters all my good
stuff and runs me over again. Game 4, he draws nothing good, and
I get an elf, elf, elf, stormbind and just keep smacking him till
he's dead. Game total 6-9.
I didn't get into the final 4, obviously. The final 4 was the guy
I played in Round 2, the guy I played in Round 3, a guy with a real
Counterpost deck (not my Round 5 opponent), and I don't know who
else. I didn't watch the semis, the finals were a very close 3
games that Alex (Forgotten Orb) won vs the Counterpost guy.
Post-tourney thoughts: I didn't do too bad for this deck's first
tournament. I'm definitely too vulnerable to mana denial and
Forgotten Orb type tricks. Arctic Wolves was a bad choice. Sure,
it lets me draw, but it ties up too much mana with 3GG casting cost
and 2 CU. Winter Orbs and geddons kill them. So I took them out
for Centaurs (can't Manowar them or Nekrataal them!) Stormbind was
THE key card. When I got it out, I usually won. I traded for one
more (still want a 4th) and a [fat]Maro, and added them to the
deck. If anyone has any other comments/suggestions, let me know...
chris
Bennie Smith
YoungBeard wrote:
>
> Jerry issued the challenge, and I took it:
>
> >Therefore, I issue a challenge to all newgroup readers. Play an original
> >deck at your local tourneys this week. See what happens. If you win then
> >maybe you have what is takes to be great.
> >
> >Jerry
>
> So I did it. I built, tested, and refined an original deck, and
> took it to its first tournament. Here is the deck and tourney
> report. I didn't take notes, so forgive me if I forget names and
> get the details wrong.
>
> THE DECK: I call it The Llawnmower; aka "It's All About Saccing the
> Veteran Explorer"
> (all misspellings are supposed to be there for funniness so don't flame me
> dammit!)
> At first it looks like a bad green creature swarm deck, but it's
> based on massive card and mana advantage. I'll discuss the idea
> after the deck listing.
>
> Creatures:
> 3 Arctic Wolves
2 might be better, maybe add another Barishi
> 1 Barishi
> 4 Llawnmower Elves
> 4 Llawnmower Sentinels
> 4 Queerion Elves
These guys are negligable in Type 2; try a few Walls of Roots for mana.
> 3 Queerion Rangers
> 3 Stampeding Beests
> 4 Striped Bears
> 4 Veteran Explorer (the sacrificial lamb)
you could definitely use a few Centaurs!
> Total: 30
>
> Spells:
> 2 Disenchant
> 2 Natural Order
> 1 Phyrexian Vault
> 2 Stormbind (nice cleavage)
> 3 Stunted Growth
> Total: 10
I think this a pretty solid set of spells.
>
> Land:
> 10 Forest
> 1 Plains
> 1 Mountain
> 4 Quicksand
> 2 Brushland
> 2 Karplusan Forest
> Total: 20
>
> Sideboard:
> 2 Swords to Plowshares
> 2 Crumble
> 2 CoP: Red
> 1 CoP: Black
> 2 Disintegrate
> 1 Hurricane
> 2 Wind Shear
> 2 Elephant Grass
> 1 City of Solitude (the only one I own - my solitary city)
Yeah, some more Cities would be better. Maybe some Pyroblasts since
counterspells gave you such trouble. Add some Uktabi Orangutans for
those Forgotten Orb decks!
Congradulations with designing and playing a cool original deck. If
nothing else, did you get any satisfaction from your opponants' trying
to figure out what you were playing ;) Now, you are on to the tweaking
stage. Keep going with it, I think you have some cool ideas in there.
By the way, I also built a wacky deck and took it to a type 2 tournament
this past weekend. R/G Didgeridoo/Dense Foliage Minotaur deck, did not
lose a game in 3 rounds of Swiss, lost to Necro deck (and bad karma) in
the first match of elimination. Oh well, it was fun to play and every-
one thought it was great I was playing Didgeridoo ("Release the bulls!")
--
--Bennie, Richmond Task Mages
"It's all about the Withering Boon."
====>NOTE: To reply, remove NOSPAM from return
YoungBeard
>Don't feel too bad. The Beests get +0/+1 from the Grasp, so you would have
>felt even stupider 'Binding it twice and NOT killing the 5/5.
Oh yeah. I forgot all about that. I guess I should read cards that I'm
not familiar with. So I had that round lost either way. Imagine that. Doh!
chris
Frederick Scott
young...@aol.com (YoungBeard) writes:
>Jerry issued the challenge, and I took it:
>
>>Therefore, I issue a challenge to all newgroup readers. Play an original
>>deck at your local tourneys this week. See what happens. If you win then
>>maybe you have what is takes to be great.
Frankly, I don't think even pro players do that. Not a completely originally
deck. Not without test-playing it a bunch of time against good sparring
opponents using solid tournament decks.
I don't know who this "Jerry" is, but he sounds like a lot of talk to me.
Fred
YoungBeard
>> Creatures:
>> 3 Arctic Wolves
>
>2 might be better, maybe add another Barishi
I took'em all out. They tie up way too much mana, and die after a 'Geddon
or WOrb. They were definitely the worst card - every time i drew one, I
went "doh!"
>> 4 Queerion Elves
>These guys are negligable in Type 2; try a few Walls of Roots for mana.
I need the multi-color ability. If I had them, I would play Birds of
Paradise, but there seems to be a huge shortage of mana birds in my area (I
can't trade for them)!
>you could definitely use a few Centaurs!
I put in 3 for version 2.0 of this deck.
>> 1 City of Solitude (the only one I own - my solitary city)
>Yeah, some more Cities would be better. Maybe some Pyroblasts since
>counterspells gave you such trouble. Add some Uktabi Orangutans for
>those Forgotten Orb decks!
I don't own any more Cities. Another hard to come by card. Pyros are a
possibility. The problem with Orangutans are they cost 3 mana to cast.
When the orb's out and he's pinged my elves with a Shadow Guildmage, that's
kind of steep and very counterable. I think I'd rather play a Disenchant
with a Centaur in my hand.
>Congradulations with designing and playing a cool original deck. If
>nothing else, did you get any satisfaction from your opponants' trying
>to figure out what you were playing ;) Now, you are on to the tweaking
>stage. Keep going with it, I think you have some cool ideas in there.
Yeah.. I loved the look on a couple people's faces when I cast Llanowar
Sentinel. They would look at it, see 2/3, and say "uh-huh". Then I'd pull
out one or two more.
>By the way, I also built a wacky deck and took it to a type 2 tournament
>this past weekend. R/G Didgeridoo/Dense Foliage Minotaur deck, did not
>lose a game in 3 rounds of Swiss, lost to Necro deck
Cool! I still prefer the R/U Didgeridoo/Aether Storm/Soul Barrier etc.
variant, though. Hmm... Aether Storm and Soul Barrier would work pretty
well with Call of the Wild and Brainstorm, wouldn't they? anyone have four
Calls of the Wild to trade? <grin>
chris
YoungBeard
>How did he pay the upkeep for the Wildebeest? Was he playing U/G ?
Yeah... i believe i said that in the report. He had lots of green
weenies, plus Arcanes and Binding Grasps.
chris