Tounament Report: Type II
Elliot Fertik
Type II Tournament Report
or
"I'm finally aquitted of being a scrub!" (for one weekend anyway).
It seems rather odd to be doing a tournament report for a Type II
tournament, when everyone is (rightfully obsessed) with Extended right now
because of the LA Qualifiers. But in my neck of the woods (Philadelphia)
there haven't been any qualifiers within reasonable distance yet (there
was one last week in Pittsburgh, but as a regular working stiff I really
can't afford long road trips...). So this past Saturday, Grey Matter was
running a regular $1,000 tournament. I decide to attend and play Type II,
mostly because I enjoy playing in the new format; there are quite a few
interesting new decks, and I wanted to do better than I did in my last
Tyep II tournament in Edison (I scrubbed out there; check out Mike Flores'
old report there for details).
However, I'm afraid before I get to the juice of the tournament report
you'll have to suffer through a few ramblings of my own. I'm a lawyer,
but on the Friday before the tournament, I had a somewhat odd experience -
I was picked for jury duty. Unlike a lot of states, in Pennsylvania
lawyers are not automatically excused from jury service, and so I had go
downtown to the criminal justice center and wait with everyone else. On
the bright side, my employer gives me the day off and I get to catch up on
re-reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga (I'm reading through all
seven books for about the third time; I highly recommend the series for
anyone who loves fantasy). Anyway, I get down to the jury center and all
of the prospective jurors, including myself, have to fill out a form which
asks us basic questions that are intended to catch biased jurors. It's
pretty amusing to fill this out, knowing I could quote the exact rules
that require each question to be asked.
Anyway, I get called to be part of the panel for a criminal trial. As it
turns out, it is a murder trial, and the prosecution is asking for the
death penalty. The judge then asks questions to see if anyone is morally
opposed to the death penalty. I'm not, so I stay on the panel. I'm then
told that my half of the panel are excused until after Lunch.
Now, I have almost three hours to kill. I could go back to work (my law
offices are downtown), but instead I head over to a local comic store (Out
of Time Comics) where I know a lot of the local Penn magic-playing crowd
will be hanging out (Mike Flores, Charlie Hwa, Al Tran, etc.). I have
with me a five-color white weenie deck that I've been working on. Some of
the Penn crowd are there, and we play some decks. They look at my deck,
and help me revise the decklist (I discuss the deck below). After a
while, Mike Flores walks into the store. I ask him if he is going to the
Grey Matter tournament tomorrow, and he says he isn't because he has to
take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). I ask him why he isn't
studying for it, and he tells me that he hasn't studied for it at all! My
draw drops, and then I ask how he expects to get into any law school if he
hasn't studied at all. I then give him a blood curdling description of
the LSAT, which has its intended effect: Mike is scared enough to go out
and actually buy a practice book. Unfortunately, he looks at it for a few
minutes, says he'll do fine, and goes back to playtesting Magic. Sigh -
Mike, you certainly have your priorities straight.
Anyway, I have to go back to the courthouse after lunch. I go back to the
jury room, and very quickly I am called as a prospective juror. The
defense attorney questions me about my background. He finds out that not
only am I an attorney, but that I was also an intern at the local District
Attorney's Office during law school. Needless to say, the defense
attorney used a preemptory challenge to get rid of me.
Anyway, I go back and playtest some more at Penn. Major thanks go to
Charlie for helping me tweek the deck.
Anyway, enough rambling about my non-magic life. As I said before, I
decide to five-color white weenie. I do it primarily because I think
white weenie is the most consistent deck, and with the right meta-gaming
can easily beat sligh. Playing with five colors means that you can not
only be more versitile, but also play with a better sideboard that can
help the deck defeat its biggest weaknesses.
Anyway, here is the deck:
4 White Knights
4 Order of the White Shield
4 Freewind Falcons
3 Soltari Priests
1 Knight of the Dawn
4 Man'o'Wars
2 Wildfire Emissary
4 Empyrial Armour
4 Incinerate
2 Terror
2 Disenchant
2 Aura of Silence
2 Armageddon
4 Tithe
4 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Cities of Brass
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Reflecting Pool
9 Plains
Sideboard:
2 Honorable Passage
2 Disenchant
2 Aura of Silence
4 Pyroblasts
2 Boil
3 Perish
This deck is certainly not perfect. However, it take this base of white
weenies that have always existed (the knights, etc.) and put in the best
cheap cards from other colors (incinerate, man'o'war, terror). If it were
to change it now, I would drop the Wildfires (too expensive for this deck)
and the Armageddons (everyone is playing winter orbs or their own
'geddons) and put in one more priest, one honorable passage, and maybe two
slights. The sideboard is pretty good (and, as you will see, my sideboard
won me at least two matches) but probably could use more anti-blue - I
might even go up to four boils, and I might put in a few Serenities -
these things are massive card advantage).
As for the local metagame, I was expecting mostly red and blue. I knew I
coudl handle red, but I knew blue would be a tough fight until I
sideboard, particularly against the blue Propoganda/Orb decks that are so
popular around here. The night before, I played against a mono-green
stompie deck that ripped me a new one. Because of that, I put perish in
the sideboard - which by far was the best decision I made all day.
Anyway, on Saturday, I went to the tournament itself. Because of teh low
turnout, it was only four rounds of Swiss for the Type II bracket. The
top three, along with three from the sealed bracket and two from the
sealed bracket would play in the final eight for the big cash prizes.
BTW, I want to say that everyone I played against was very nice and
friendly. Thanks for being such good opponents!
Round 1: Justin St. John
Justin is playing a five color green deck, a deck I did not expect to see
a lot of.
Game 1: I get a Soltari Priest out on turn two, an Armour on it turn
three. Three turns later he is dead. He incinerated a few of my knights,
but all I saw was red removal, and I didn't see much of his creatures, so
I just sideboard in another disenchant on general principle (I was
expected orbs, etc.)
Game 2: Again I get out a weenie on turn 2, armour it on turn three, and
hit him twice. Unfortunately, this game I see his man'o'wars for the
first time. Next thing I know, he's laying down some winter orb, and a
couple of propagandas. Oops! Meanwhile, he is slowly but surely killing
me with a centaur that I simply cannot deal with. The only real way I
have to deal with it is Wildfire or an armour, and both are hard to when
your opponent has man'owars and an orb on the table. He gets me down to
three and then Incinerates me.
Game 3: Well, this time I know a lot more about his deck and can use my
sideboard better. In go the perishs, another disenchant and the two aura
silences. Out go the armours, the 'geddons, and the wildfires. This
proves to be very wise. He draws three (!) propogandas during the game,
but I am able to get rid of all of them, and kill his winter orb for good
measure. It may not be as spectacular as an armour kill, but it does the
job.
Record: 1-0
Round 2: Ed Hsia
Ed is playing a monoblue deck, with Waterspouts, Air Elementals,
Firewalkers, mano'wars (of course!) and propoganda, as well as Sapphire
Charms
Round 1: Unfortunately, Ed is mana screwed. It doesn't help when I
armour up a white knight and apply beat down. I don't like winning this
way, but still, blue is my toughest challenge, and I'll take what I can
get.
I sideboard in the blasts and the Boil.
Round 2: Unfortunately, Ed gets what he needs this game - namely
Firewalkers. He gets out one, which makes my priests and birds fairly
useless. I do manage to do some damage with white knights, but he then
draws another firewalker. I'm in trouble, and I know it. I've got him
down pretty low (thanks to a few Incinerates) but he has an Air Elemental
out. I pyroblast it, but I expect worse soon. He kills off my white
knights with his firewalkers. I manage to get out a Knight of Dawn, and
he is at four life - but he has two waterspouts on the board. Game...
Round 3: This time, Ed draws nothing but land. On the other hand, I draw
shadow creatures (useful for getting around man'o'wars) and a few 'blasts.
I kill his one big creature and overrun him.
Record: 2-0
Round 3: Matt Shirk
I'll explain Matt's deck as I go along.
Game 1: Matt gets out a bird of paradise first turn. I get out a priest.
Next turn he casts a shadow guildmage. Odd, but fortunately I have an
armour in my hand. I armour the priest and hit him twice, getting him
down to six. Unfortunately, he then man'o'wars the priest, and starts
putting out more mages. I play a white knight and an Order, but both are
incinerated. Meanwhile he manages to get out a centaur and starts putting
even more pressure on me. However, I have an incinerate in my hand. I
put out a few targets for him to nail with his Shadow Guildmages (priest,
freewind) and he takes the bait, getting him down to four. Unfortunately,
I'm starting to go near the dangerous zone in life myself. I get out a
white knight, but he has a Shadow guildmage and a man'o'war on the board,
as a well the centaur that is slowly killing me. I attack with the
knight, and he blocks with the man'o'war, then uses the guildmage to put
the man'o'war on top of his library. Next turn, he man'o'war the knight.
I recast the knight, then next turn I terror the man'o'war. He puts the
man'o'war back on top of his library, but I attack and incinerate him for
the win.
I haven't seen that much of his deck, so I stupidly don't put in my
Perishes.
Game 2: Unfortunatley, this time I don't get the armour beatdown like
last time, and he 'geddons early and often. I never get started and die
to a centaur.
Game 3: I sub in the Perishes. Unfortunately for him, he only draws two
Paradises as his land. I win fairly easily, as I incinerate his bird to
prevent him from getting started.
Record: 3-0
Round 4: Jethro Hiken
I try to figure out if I can tie in to the playoffs, but unfortunately
there are four people with 3-0 records, and only three stops. Looks like
we have to play it out...
Jethro is playing Marogeddon, with centaurs, elves, walls of roots, and
Dirtcowl wurms.
Game 1: I get out a few smaller creatures, but he disenchants the armour
on my priest before I can use it on him, so I have to attack him the hard
way - and he out big creatures. I manage to double-incinerate the
Lloygorf, but he playes a Dirtcowl wurn and then 'geddons. I don't have
an answer, and I lose.
In go the three Perishes.
Game 2: He gets out a large force agian, including centaurs, elves, and a
Maro. I only have a few creatures, but then I draw my Perish. It's
amazing how a one-sided Wrath can win the game quickly.
Game 3: In my oppoening hand I saw land, a city of brass, two wiennies
(one priest and one white knight) and a Perish. I knew that I was
probably going to win, and sure enough, after letting him get out about
four creatures or so, I cast Perish. It took a little longer this way
(and I Incinerated two Maros along the way) but I killed him.
Record: 4-0
Well, it had been a long time since I was in the top eight of a Grey
Matter $1,000 tournament! Charlie Hwa was also in the top eight. We then
played Tempest draft for the top prizes.
Well, I'll make a long story short. I managed to draw a fairly decent
deck, including Fevered Convulsions, one Rolling Thunder, and a decent
amount of black and green weanies. Unfortunately, I had to play Charles
in the first round - and he had drafted a deck that was designed to beat
my deck. First game, I got out Fevered Convulsions, but he got out a
Guardian Angel, gave it Hero's Resolve - and put Flickering Ward on it set
to black which made the Convulsions useless! I topdecked an Aftershock,
but he rescued the Ward, and played it on another creature. I died. Next
game, he played, Cop: Red, Cop: black, and again used the flickering ward
to kill me. He then showed me the light of day he hadn't even bothered to
sideboard in...
Fortunately for me, we had agreed ahead of time, since we are friends,
that the loser would get $25 from the winner (the prize for the
semi-finalists was at least $50), so I got something. At it turns out,
Charles lost the next round, and so I got as much he did. Still, at least
I got my money back...
The next day, I participated in a local Tempest sealed deck tournament. I
did much better there, splitting the prize for first. (I took away 18
Tempest packs, an uncut DCI card sheet, and a Magic the gathering
mousepad). All in all, not a bad weekend of Magic.
Now, I just hope I haven't used up all of my luck for the upcoming LA
PTQ's!
Any comments, questions, etc. please feel free to email me at
efe...@netaxs.com
-Elliot Fertik
Charles C Hwa
Elliot Fertik (efe...@netaxs.com) wrote:
I cut out all of Elliot's analysis, tourney report, whatnot. Thanks for
the ups, by the way- I don't get written about much, and your mention of
me three times in this sucker gives me some short term insignificant
noteriety (spelling?) of sorts.
Just some comments about the deck: If I could do it over again right now,
I might have derelors over the wildfires- those guys apply beatdown so hard
it isn't funny. Second of all, the Philly area is geared heavily
towards multicolored decks- I think it might be a weakness in the area
that we like to play sideboards with too many colors. The resulting
factor is that since most green based decks are completely hosed by
perish, that the green deck is extremely weak in area. Also, red suffers
due to the fact that a second turn chicken is so heinous- Ball Lightnings
get ulcers just watching them hit the table on turn 2. Propaganda is just
as bad.
I think T2 has sorted itself out so that red and green have
firmly entrenched themselves as the easy decks to play (much akin to
erhnamgeddon of last year) but also as decks that tend not to win the
whole canola bar. They suffer the weakness that any shitty deck with
either the pro-red chicken or perish can beat them with a good draw- that
sucks balls in my book, as I don't like losing just because an opponent
got lucky two games outta three. On the other hand, decks with a lot of
promise include 5CWW, 5CB, and PropaOrb. Why? They tend to have the
really cool sideboard solutions, as well as the ability to win game one
due to superior deck strategy- WW and B both have first strike and the
ability to deal an amazing amount of damage through the shadow creatures.
This is extremely important, though people don't realize how powerful
shadow is in this age of Propaganda. The mana you tap needs to count.
WW and B have the ability to defeat sligh and stompy variants in game 1,
and crush both after sideboarding. Red and Green, on the other hand, do
not have the same sideboarding capabilities- both of the colors creatures
are inferior to those of White and Black. PropaOrb has been discussed
adnauseum. As such, I'll leave it alone.
Therefore the current spread, from my point of view, is this:
Teir 1 decks: (no particular order)
5CB
5CWW
PropaOrb
Teir 2 decks: (no particular order)
Sligh
Stompy (variants)
Undetermined:
Bouncy Blue
Necro
MaroGeddon
R/U wierdness
_____________________________________________________________________________
|**-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-**| En Mourning |
| |-------------------------|
| till shade is gone | char...@seas.upenn.edu |
| till water is gone |-------------------------|
| into the shadow with teeth bared | Hulk, Trone, Fish, Cam, |
| screaming defiance to the last breath | Faroth, Falas, Syro, |
| to spit in sightblinder's eye on the last day. | Big-Man, Josh, and Sun- |
| |Ten Losers and a Stud. =P|
| -The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan |-------------------------|
| |Clue for above: Stud has |
| Unranked and Unrepentant, Creator of Kryptonite | girlfriend his age. |
| The Thief of Dreams |-------------------------|
|**-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-***-**|mike flores toadie 3 of 4|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ian Ryan
Elliot Fertik wrote in message <66ifuh$h...@netaxs.com>...
>Type II Tournament Report
>
>or
>
>"I'm finally aquitted of being a scrub!" (for one weekend anyway).
>
<snipped story about getting picked for jury duty>
> I get to catch up on re-reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga >(I'm
reading through all seven books for about the third time; I highly
>recommend the series for anyone who loves fantasy
OK, all other things being unimportant, you read Robert Jordan, therefore
you are cool. great series. i'm not exactly certain what this has to do
with magic strategy, but probably more than a lot of the basking that goes
on. great books. read them. devote your life (such as it is) to them.
and magic. and bathing too.
Ian