Tournament of the Five Civilizations
Dark Tide
Lee Sandow
T&T Toys
Duluth, GA
12-11-04
Ladies and Gentlemen, today is the big day. The tournament of the five civilizations is finally here. I’ve been waiting for this for weeks, and I went in planning to win. I also wanted the chance to duel new people from this store. I picked my friend Austin up, and we traveled to T&T. We arrived at 12:40, then idled and hanged out with Flametropus and Matt #2 until tourney time. I filled out my decklist, which looked something like this:
Dark Tide!! (45 Cards) |
DARKNESS CREATURES: 92x Writhing Bone Ghoul 2x Wailing Shadow Belbetphlo 3x Horrid Worm 2x Zagaan, Knight of Darkness |
DARKNESS SPELLS: 84x Terror Pit 4x Death Smoke |
|
WATER CREATURES: 18 4x Corile 4x Aqua Hulcus 4x Hunter Fish 2x Aqua Jolter 2x Aqua Guard 2x Crystal Paladin My personal savior. |
WATER SPELLS: 104x Spiral Gate 2x Crystal Memory 2x Teleportation 2x Brain Serum |
I was in the fifteen and up division, along with all of my friends. We formed team GQ (Galactic Quest), and vowed to all go to the top for our store. Further, Austin and I had formed the R3 (Righteously Rampaging Retards), and had vowed that one of us would go all the way to the finals. Did it happen… wait and see.
TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE:
People 14 and under were in one division, 15+ were in the other. The first four rounds used the swiss scoring system, then the people with the 4 most points dueled in a single elimination tournament for their places. Matches are played 2 out of 3. First place got a box and a plaque (we wants it…), second place gets half a box, third and fourth both get six packs.
Pairings were announced. My first opponent was (as usual) Matt #2
FIRST ROUND: LEE vs. Matt #2
I go to a completely different store, and I STILL have to face this nincompoop in the first round. He was using that old shield trigger deck of his, and I wasn’t worried at all.
DUEL ONE: I used Corile on his Bronze-Arm Tribe three times in a row, which gave him plenty of mana, but each time he used it, he sent something he desperately needed to the mana zone. He had some decent shield triggers waiting in the shields, but nothing I couldn’t handle. 1-0. Nice try.
DUEL TWO: He summoned several Barkwhips (not all at once thank goodness), but Terror Pits and a Crystal Paladin suicide were able to deal with them. He had a TON of shield triggers (mostly Terror Pits), but I was able to overcome them simply due to advantage in numbers. 2-0 L is for Loser.
Flametropus was using his usual Mono-Light Diamond Cutter with four Terror Pits splashed in. I had Crystal Paladin, so I wasn’t worried one bit.
DUEL ONE: I drew both my Crystal Paladins in my opening hand. I dropped one early on to send about 3 blockers back to his hand while I had a sizable army on the field, but my very first attack shield triggered his Terror Pit. Later on, I summoned Zagaan, and dropped the second Paladin. That was game right there. 3-0
DUEL TWO: He kept Holy Aweing/Sumbursting all my creatures early on and killing them. I finally managed to drop a Paladin for a quick rush, but Flametropus summoned a Larba Geer to suicide into it next turn. In the end, I used teleportation to clear my way to victory. 4-0
I come all the way to this new store and I get stuck dueling the same people I always duel. Go figure. Austin was using the same (highlight to read the expletive) darned (fooled you) deck he always used. Despite the fact I helped him design it, I hate it more than any deck I have ever faced. It’s a red/black control that just LOVES to kill ANYTHING you try to summon. As it turns out, we were the only ones left undefeated. R3 had succeeded.
DUEL ONE: Austin’s deck has one nasty weakness. Corile. Fate was kind to me again this wound, and I was able to use Corile many turns in a row. I broke all the shields with little difficulty, so I put him out of his misery. 5-0
DUEL TWO: This game was much like the first, but he had better shields. My paladins helped open a can of hurt on all his creatures, and I simply bounced anything he summoned. 6-0 This would come back to bite me later.
I was the only one left undefeated, but we still had one more swiss round to go. I decided to guarantee myself a place in the finals by winning.
At last, an opponent I have never played before! Vince was using a deck full of shield trigger creatures and a few Natural Snares. It looked to be a threatening deck, and I would have to break shields with care.
DUEL ONE: Every single shield was a shield trigger, two were nexuses, which placed creatures, one was a Torcon, one was Hunter Cluster, and one was Cannon Shell (eek). Fortunately, I was able to keep a blocker presence on the field, which stayed his monster attacks and protected my Horrid Worms, which decimated his hand. 7-0
DUEL TWO: Once again I managed to decimate his hand, and he once again had a huge number of shield triggers. Two of them were Natural Snare this time, which did me no favors. I managed to hold him off by using Corile on his creatures. Luck truly was the only thing that helped me win this duel. 8-0
As of this point, I was now the only person undefeated, and had the best record in the whole store. The top four was announced, and team Galactic Quest was strongly represented. Actually… all four of us were on team GQ. Austin, Flametropus, Matt #2, and myself were the only duelists left. We all were happy for one another, and then pairings were announced. Once again, I would be facing Flametropus.
Flametropus knew that he had a poor chance of winning this round, but I made sure I didn’t get too confident (every time I do, I regret it).
DUEL ONE: I don’t remember this game very well, because I was getting really nervous at about this time. In the end, Paladin did his magic and I attacked for the win. 9-0
DUEL TWO: Diamond Cutter has nothing on my deck, and my Crystal Paladin got to strut his stuff one last time before the finals. 10-0
I was in the finals, and I was still undefeated. Austin and Matt #2 had faced each other, and to no surprise to me at all, Austin won. So I would be facing him the final match. Team R3 was the ultimate force to be reckoned with.
FINALS: LEE vs. Austin (Again)
Austin and I shook hands before these duels began, each knowing that the outcome of these games would determining which of us got that sexy plaque we both wanted so much. Since we were both going to go home in the same car, we promised that we’d try to not to be sore losers/gloat too much. The games began.
DUEL ONE: I won this game because Austin fell victim to my Coriles once again. Unfortunately, near the end he had a revelation. If he didn’t summon, I couldn’t use Corile. And if he was able to focus all his attention on destruction… I was able to win this first game, but the damage was done. 11-0
Austin had finally found the solution to beat me. It couldn’t have come at a worse time. I decided I’d have to do everything I could to win. I needed to win this game to keep a perfect record, and I couldn’t chance Austin winning. Kettou Da!
DUEL TWO: Crap. Austin tried his new ‘don’t-play-any-monsters-just-kill-everything-Lee-summons-so-he-decks-out’ strategy. It worked… So I couldn’t keep a creature on the field. I managed to break all his shields though, but it didn’t matter. 11-1
My record was ruined, and the whole tournament now came down to this final game. My pulse was up; Austin and I were both nervous as (expletive) hell. Austin was going to keep trying his strategy, and I couldn’t think of a way to beat it. Here comes the final duel, the destined duel, the clash of titans, and the one duel to decide the fate of the world… Ok, I’ll stop.
DUEL THREE: He tried the same cheap strategy, and once again I managed to break all his shields. But in the end, I had only three cards left in my deck, a useless hand, and no shields. Austin had one creature left on his field, no shields, and only two cards left in his deck. I know for a fact I have two Spiral Gates in my deck, and one other card. If I draw a Gate, I win. I draw my card, and it’s…
(Highlight below to read)
Wailing Shadow Belbetphlo
And then it was over.
I had lost the tournament, one card short. 11-2
THE AFTERMATH:
One card. I was off by one card. I couldn’t believe it. Austin won the event, the plaque, and the box. One card. I still got half a box, which was OK, I guess, but still, I was mildly upset about my loss. So close. One card. ONE CARD! Still, I managed to smile it off, and I congratulated Austin. He promised to take good care of the plaque, and he managed to keep his gloating to a minimum, for which I was grateful.
Now, to slops and Props.
PROPS:
Half a box is a nice prize (got four mediocre foils)
Got a another darkness hat, and a deckbox
For trading for three extra foil Holy Awes (so sexy)
My opponents being good sports
Making it to the finals
Austin for letting me keep the Crystal Paladin I had borrowed for the event
DCI sanctioned
SLOPS:
ONE CARD!!!!!
THAT’S ALL!!!!!
Well, you can’t win ‘em all. Got any questions, comments, or complaints for me. Feel free to e-mail me or talk to me on AIM. Matt #2, if you e-mail me to laugh at me again, I WILL hunt you down and destroy you. Anyone else, feel free to contact me.
Lee Sandow
AIM: Skywalker1187
Cost: 5
Civilization: Water
Card Type: Creature
Creature Class: Cyber Lord
Power: 2000
Mana Generated: 1
Rarity: Common
Card Number: 14/55
Constructed: This card is downright sexy. For a measly five mana, you can remove one of your opponent’s creatures from the field, and place it on top of their deck. This provides field advantage, and it prohibits them from drawing a new card into their hand on their next turn. Plus, this bad boy is a Cyber Lord, which combos well with Illusionary Merfolk, and his power for 5 mana is well balanced by his killer effect. You’ll want to be careful with how you use this effect though. Don’t send an Aqua Hulcus to the top of their deck if you can help it! Still, this card is a beast, and control decks like mine love him to death. 4.5/5
Limited: Here, he’s just as good. Destruction of any kind is a great boon in this format, and Evo-Crushinators of Doom suffers from a painful lack of it. He might not kill it entirely, but he can buy you a good amount of time to strengthen your defense/prepare a counter attack. This guy is also a good way to deal with any evolutions your opponent may have been lucky enough to draft. He’s a little weak on the attack, but that’s not why we’re using him anyway. 4.5/5
ONE CARD!!!!!