Get the MTG
Interactive Encyclopedia
from Amazon.com

Spike (Peter Bayless)
Rachel.dec
March 10, 2001
Saturday Night Type 2
The Battlezone -- Overland Park, KS

Since Scott has put out the call for tournament reports, and since I like to write them anyway (most of the time) I figured I'd stick up this little report for your reading pleasure. Anyway. This tournament was smaller than the one last week-- still fairly large by our standards, I thought, but only 20-25 people. I had anticipated that excitement over Planeshift would drop off sharply, and I was right-- half of the unfamiliar faces who showed up abruptly last week had just as abruptly vanished.

I played the same deck as I did last week, with only a few changes in both the deck and sideboard. Mostly, I added a ton more burn.

RACHEL.DEC (R/b/g NeoSligh)

4x Kris Mage
4x Flailing Soldier
4x Mogg Toady
4x Chimeric Idol
3x Lava Runner
3x Kavu Aggressor
1x Fallen Angel
1x Crypt Angel

4x Shock
4x Rhystic Lightning
4x Scorching Lava
2x Hammer of Bogardan

4x Geothermal Crevice
2x Archaeological Dig
2x Darigaaz's Caldera
1x Keldon Necropolis
13x Mountain

Sideboard:

4x Tranquility
4x Agonizing Demise
3x Blaze
3x Void (What the hell are these doing here??)
1x Terror

The additional burn made for a DRAMATIC increase in the performance of the deck. Not only could I reliably kill stuff, I found myself burning people out all evening. I don't know why I thought only 8 instant-speed burn spells were good enough, but I guess I know better now.

Round 1: Nick Knight (U/W Control)

Nick's version of U/W was somewhat different than most of the others I have seen. It had Angels and Wraths, just as we've all come to expect, but it also packed Air Elementals and some nonstandard counterspell choices such as Thwart and Foil. I haven't seen this deck in action enough to know how the changes in the build affect its performance, but I believe against my deck it is probably worse. First game is probably the shortest. I get him down to 7, but he drops an Elemental, then an Absorb gets him back out of danger range. My attempts to burn the Elemental down are countered, and it swings five times for the win. I side out my 2-point burn spells for Blaze, Tranquility and Agonizing Demise. The second and third games are more complicated, with him using Seals of Removal, Wraths, and even Wash Out to frustrate my assault, but I gradually wear him down and burn him out. I Demised an Angel with kicker somewhere in there. He gets a Teferi's Moat: Red down at one point, but my Idol is not red, and after I show him a Hammer with him at 6 life he scoops.

Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1

Round 2: Oren Gamble (Fires)

Now this is a deck that I have no business winning against. But luck is luck. In the first game, he answers my Idol with one of his own. I attack a few times and he does not block, preferring instead to swing back at me on his own turn. He gets another Idol after a while, seemingly running light on land to produce bigger threats, and I decide to hold my own Idol to leave my land untapped. On his turn, he sends over both Idols. I Rhystic Lightning one and take three. I untap, draw, play a random 1- or 2- drop, and say go again. Again he attacks with his remaining Idol. Again I burn it up. Now I can start attacking again. Finally I get him down to 8, but he has started to produce threats. He tapped out on his last turn to play something big-- a Burst, I think. I Rhystic Lightning him and pass, thinking for some reason that he was at 5 life. He says that he may have something to do at the end of my turn, and thinks for a few moments. I happen to notice his die at 4. "Huh. You're at 4 life? I guess I win, then." Shock, Lava. Boom. Second game he keeps a 1-land hand because it has 2 elves, I guess. I burn one, Mage the other, and he never gets to 3 mana before he dies.

Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-1

Round 3: David Brannan (Fires)

I really wanted to play George Carstens, who is also 2-0, but I get paired against this dude instead. As I've said, the computer hates me. As demonstrated, I can beat Fires if they get a substandard draw, but it was not to be-- he gets massive draws both games and smashes me. When your opponent has 4/4s, 5/5s, and 7/7s, and you have 2/2s and 3/2s that can't block, it's not like the outcome is in question. 

The highlight of this match was the "Simoon debate." He apparently sided in Simoon against me (it only kills four creatures in my entire deck, unless you use more than one of them) and cast it to kill a Kris Mage or something. The next turn, he attacked me with something (having not yet hit his flashpoint, I guess) and I mentioned that I was at such-and-such. He goes "no, you're at such-and-such (1 less than my figure)." I'm like "No, I took a hit from that, and that, and that." It wasn't that it really mattered (1 life is academic versus Fires, usually) but I was not going to let him misrepresent my life total… Then he claimed that the Simoon had dealt 1 damage to me! I attempt to tell him that it deals 1 damage to each creature I control, not to me. He's like "It deals 1 damage to your creatures and to you." Keep in mind that he is READING THE CARD as he says these things! The kid has an expensive Tier 1 deck, he's beating me, and he CAN'T INTERPRET THE TEXT ON A MAGIC CARD! So I have to call a judge and have him tell David that Simoon does NOT deal damage to me.

*sigh*

Did I mention I lost to this guy?

Matches: 2-1 Games: 4-3

Round 4: Some Guy (R/B/U discard)

I apologize for forgetting the name of my opponent. It wasn't someone I knew, and I forgot to get his name off the sheet. By the time I realized my mistake, he had vanished. If you read this report and you recognize yourself, write to me and I'll mention your name somewhere.

Anyway. His deck was interesting, but I don't think it can win against mine very well. All of his threats are easily burnable. He also plays with Doomsday Specter, which isn't a very good card in Constructed. The only thing I really have to watch out for are massive amounts of removal along with Nightscape Familiar, which can block for a while until I Scorch it.

Game one I follow my standard plan and rush him. I don't remember what I used to rush him, but it's probably irrelevant. He keeps killing my creatures, but I get him down to 2 before he wipes out my side of the board. So now I have to wait to draw a burn spell. He starts the process of beating me down with a Pyre Zombie and a Familiar, and I am thinking of how much it would suck to lose now, but fortunately I don't have to find out-- I pull a Rhystic Lightning and send the final 2 points to his head. Second game it's more of the same. He burns my Toadies and Lava Runners, Terminates my Idol. He starts to play threats, but I have burn and he is at 8 life. End of your turn, Shock, Rhystic Lightning (he pays.) Untap, Blaze you for 4. 

Sometimes red just wins.

Matches: 3-1 Games: 6-3

I make it into the Top 8. Somehow, I still do not get to play George, who has eluded me all evening. I'm coming for you next week, George.

:)

In the Top 8, I am matched up against Daniel Perdue. (Apologies if I misspelled that-- I seem to have lost my notes and am writing this report from memory.) He is with Fires, so I know my hopes are small. The match confirms this knowledge.

Daniel: I play a SAPROLING BURST

Spike: I eat 12.

Daniel: I play a SAPROLING BURST

Spike: I scoop.

*shuffle* *shuffle* *shuffle*

Daniel: I play a SAPROLING BURST

Spike: I eat 12.

Daniel: I play a SAPROLING BURST

Spike: I stare.

Daniel: I play a SHIVAN WURM

Spike: I scoop.

Paul Sligh never had to deal with 7/7 hasted tramplers, did he?

I drafted. I'd tell you how the draft went, but I really don't want to. Suffice it to say that I played first round against Nick Knight, who couldn't have done a better job of hosing my deck if he'd tried. I still manage to drag the match to 3 games, but in the end he gets his revenge. I go home.

Hmmm…

Props!

Props to Battlezone and to everyone who plays there.

Props to my opponents, especially the ones who lost to me. I know how humiliating it must be to lose to this deck. Sorry, guys. :(

Props, as always… to my Fallen Angel. I didn't have occasion to play her at this tournament, but just knowing she's there makes things better. :)

Slops… um… Slops to WOTC R&D, for ever thinking Saproling Burst was fair. If attacking for 12-19 on the fourth turn is balanced, then why the hell can't Jackal Pup be in 7th Edition? Red needs instant speed enchantment removal, please.

Slops also to David Brannan. Not for being wrong, but for refusing to admit being wrong. Dude, you really need to learn what your cards do, mmkay?

That's all from me for right now… I'll be trucking this same deck, with virtually no modifications, back to Battlezone in a week's time, and you'll hear about that shortly thereafter.

Peace out!

-Spike
spike@pojo.com