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North Jersey Veteran Mages: June Tournament

Started by grizzledmage, 08-06-2009, 09:47:05 PM

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grizzledmage

The North Jersey Veteran Mages (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/njveteranmages/) held its monthly tournament this past Sunday, 7 June, and the format of choice was Highlander. Attendance was small by normal standards, but about average for us (7 participants).

I decided to take a break from my WW deck, opting instead to try my BU Control deck.

Round 1: MGA

He has a so-so start with a Llanowar Elves, followed by an Elvish Piper and a Hag Hedge-Mage. I, meanwhile, am slowly building up my
mana resources and keep pinging with a Shadowmage Infiltrator. I Diabolic Tutor for Hideous Laughter to mostly clear his board (his Treefolk Harbinger stays in play). I play Bribery and select Verdant Force, and keep his creature count low with follow-up counterspells, finally swinging in for lethal damage courtesy of the Force, a few Saprolings, and the indefatiguable Infiltrator.

1-0

Round 2: RG stompy

Unfortunately for him, he suffered from early mana screw which allowed me to get the needed resources on the table and in hand to keep the board under control. Along the way I Smothered his Thornweald Archer and then took it with Animate Dead; he Shocked it (or something) afterwards. Combat damage was dealt mostly by Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir; the final attacks were helped with an animated Chronatog Totem.

2-0

Round 3: BW... aggro/control??

Poor mulligan decision may well have cost me this one. First hand, no lands and all expensive spells; went to 6 right away. 4 lands and 2 mana artifacts, BUT I
FORGOT that I could then trade cards in at that point!!  ::) So I kept. The only real interaction I had with him was the turn he attacked with his Nantuko Shade. I made no moves during early combat; at Damage Dealing he tapped Black to pump his Shade; in response I played Dominate targeting his Shade; with his remaining one mana (white) source, he Path to Exiles his Shade, getting the extra Plains he needs (you'll see). Next turn he plays Visara the Dreadful (now you saw); meanwhile all I have in hand is Teferi and more mana sources. I keep
drawing more lands, he plays more creatures, and he has his way with me.
Somewhere in there I do get a Phyrexian Totem onto the table, but it's too little too late.

2-1

Round 4: BU light control

He also suffered from some early mana screw, even having to discard at the end of his turn once or twice. Somewhere in there he plays Sower of Temptation; I kill it with... Devour in Shadow? I end up with a few creatures on the board and am looking fairly good; he plays Dread which I can't stop - ouch. I am looking at my own Sower in hand but figure I can't steal his Dread with impunity. So I play Diabolic Tutor to
fetch Pact of Negation; then play Sower on his Dread so I can attack into a clear field and not lose any of my creatures; he tries to play Incremental Blight on his next turn but the Pact is good and he forfeits.

3-1

Round 5: RU Artifacts

Very anticlimactic. He sees 2 lands for the first 5-6 turns, and forfeits in disgust while I am sitting there with a table full of lands and artifacts and Lilliana Vess and a handful of spells. I feel his pain.

4-1 in the end. Note that THREE of these wins involved opponents' mana screwage and my own loss involved mana floodage; truly this is an interesting game... The other person who went 4-1 was the guy I played in Round 3 (BW aggro/control)