Tournament Report...

.:The Tournament Report: April 30, 2006:.

Had another tournament last Sunday, and it was definitely fun, as unlike most tournaments, well, this one ended pretty early.

As usual, I was running my deck, Doomsday, although I think I've tweaked it quite a bit to a point that it has marked differences from the Meandeck build alread, although the moment 'Shop decks come back, I'm sure I'd revert to Meandeck again... heh.

Nigs is very happy over finally getting his hands on the Asian classic films I had for him. People also discovered some new videos I put in my PSP... ah, well.

So anyways, here's how the tournament panned out...

Round 1: Versus Osmond Go (Sui Black)

So from Landstill, Osmond decides to play one of the decks I least like to go up against, due to sheer amount of disruption.

Regardless, one thing Sui can't do anything about is the topdeck, and that's precisely what we're going to see here.

First Game:

He wins the die roll, and then he proceeds to go for disruption. Poof. First turn, Vampiric Tutor is gone. My only business spell in hand. I had lots of mana, though, so I just went and plopped down lands and any artifact mana I could get my hand on, although I did Unmask away a Hypnotic Spectre or something.

This whole disruption business went on for three turns, and he had Bob (With Jitte and four counters on him.) and Hippie in play already. On the fourth turn, he attacked, and I responded with a Mystical Tutor. I got Yawgmoth's Will for myself, and let him do his worst. By then, he realized that with all the mana I pitched into the 'yard courtesy of his discarding, I was definitely going to hit more than just 16 spells, so he just casually watched me combo out.

1-0

Second Game:

He goes first, and proceeds to disrupt me again. This time, I just couldn't do jack about the disruption.

Essentially, by the third turn, I was staring down Bob and a Negator, so I just scooped by the fourth turn, as I was definitely not going to squirm out of two Hymns hitting me and not nearly enough mana in the 'yard or on my board to save me via the topdeck.

1-1

Third Game:

I believe I mulled to six here because I didn't find any business on the opening. I opened with Duress, and removed his Dark Ritual, and saw he had no turn one play, except for Tormod's Crypt. So boom. He plays a land, Tormod's Crypt, and that's it.

My second turn, I topdecked a card I can imprint to Chrome Mox, which I used to play the Cabal Ritual and then the Doomsday in my hand. I passed the turn to him, fairly confident of my odds that he couldn't do jack to me, because he had only six outs against me in the rest of his deck. That's just barely over 10% of his deck, after all.

He then chanted the Yugi-Oh chant.

Osmond: I have to believe in the power of my cards, and my friends. Go topdeck!

I think he drew a Swamp. Ah, well. Plan B (The Beacon stack.) was waiting for him at the other end of the table, so he just casually watched me combo out, and that was it.

2-1

Tournament Standing: 1-0

Round 2: Versus Cheng (CS)

That was fast. I was hoping I didn't run into him until later....

Game One:

I knew he wasn't running Stax today, so I breathe easy. He won the die roll, and I do believe he had Mana Drain online from turn one via Mox Sapphire and land. So I walked into a Drain when I Duressed him, and he used it to cast a Sol Ring or something. On his second turn, he plopped down a Goblin Welder.

On my second turn, I Duressed him, and he Drained again. Okay, fine. I had a fairly okay hand, and since he's countered me twice already, I supposed Ancestral was safe now. It was. I had Plan A ready for the following turn, with Brainstorm after Doomsday, but I needed to make sure I was in the clear first. His turn, he topdecked something, then let me go take my turn.

My turn, I Unmasked him. Oh, crud. A third Mana Drain, and this time it's going to be huge. So I responded with Quicken, then cast Demonic Tutor, and got Force Of Will, promptly countering his spell. I Unmasked him and saw he had Mindslaver in hand. Good thing I countered that spell... I took out some other card. He had a Welder in play, after all.

So on his next turn, he topdecked, and I knew that even if it were FOW, he had no blue cards to support it, so I was fairly confident I wasn't going to walk into yet another Drain. On my turn, I hardcast Doomsday, then Brainstormed into the combo.

-Deck Top-
Lion's Eye Diamond
Black Lotus
Yawgmoth's Will
Ancestral Recall
Tendrils Of Agony
-Deck Bottom-

I'm sure you know how the combo works by now with an arrangement like that. :)

1-0

Game Two:

This time, things were going horrible for me. He opened with a Mox and a land, then passed to me. On my turn, I played a land, and Pithing Needle for the Welder. He let it go through. End of my turn, he cast Ancestral Recall. I was at a severe card disadvantage, and it would only get worse.

On his turn, he then played a land, go. On my turn, I tried to cast a Defense Grid, which he Forced. I had no disruption in hand, whatsoever. His turn, he played another land, then passed to me.

On my turn, I tried to cast Pithing Needle, which he drained. On his turn, he cast Mana Vault, played a land, then Tinkered the Vault into Slaver. He took my turn, found a Doomsday with the Slaved turn, and then I lost from there, obviously.

1-1

Game Three:

This was a slow game. He mulled to five, and when I Duressed him, I discovered that he had two Spheres of Resistance, a Welder, a land, and Mox Emerald. I took Mox Emerald, then passed the turn to him. Predictably, all he did was Welder, go.

My turn, I couldn't combo out, so I tried to set things up by plopping down a Lotus Petal, a Chrome Mox, and a Chromatic Sphere. Passed the turn to him, and he topdecks a land. Just my luck. He hardcasts Sphere of Resistance, and I had no outs in sight.

After the second Sphere, I managed to cast Necropotence, but couldn't find an out, thanks to the Spheres. I got killed by the Welder after knocking my life down to three with Necro. The Spheres really did me in, boy.

1-2

Tournament Standing: 1-1

Round Three: Versus Mike Juan (Dragon)

It's been a while since Mike and I had a match, and the Dragon-Doomsday matchup has always been unpredictable because neither of us usually have outs against each other (Except for permission) in the first game.

Game One:

He won the die roll (Again...), and went first. He fetched for a Tropical Island, and played a Xantid Swarm.

My turn, I topdecked a Demonic Tutor with a hand like this: Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Fetchland, Lotus Petal, Black Lotus, Doomsday, irrelevant cards. So I went Lotus Petal, Black Lotus, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Demonic Tutor.

He didn't counter.

From there, I figured he had no permission, so I went for the Plan C combo out by fetching Yawgmoth's Will, and won the first game.

1-0

Second Game:

He opened with a Bazaar, and two Moxen, and when I cast Duress on him, I took out Force Of Will. He 'Zaared two Squees and a Dragon. Next turn, he plopped down another Bazaar, passed the turn to me.

My turn, I found nothing of consequence, and next turn, he 'Zaared once, then proceeded to Animate the Dragon. I knew the drill, and scooped.

1-1

Third Game:

First turn, I played a land, done. He played his land, same thing. I Braintormed, then found lost of mana. I figured I could win via Yawgmoth's Will again, as I had Demonic Tutor, and lots of Rituals in my hand. So I drew my card, played a fetchland, then held still as I had an Echoing Truth ready for the Dragon this time.

On my turn, I topdecked an Ancestral (I fetched, after all.). I cast it, then drew a Ritual, a Yawgmoth's Will, and a Duress. I Duressed him to make sure it's all smooth-sailing, then proceeded to combo out.

2-1

Tournament Standing: 2-1

Fourth Round: Versus (I Forgot... Elfclamp)

I had a problem in this match because I had no idea what my opponent was running.

First Game:

So I played a hand with no business. I won the die roll, and played a land. I had no Brainstorm, no card draw, no nothing.

The Elves goldfished. 'Nuf said.

0-1

Second Game:

I played a land, and passed the turn. I had a plan B in hand, but I needed to find a way to cast Doomsday first. His turn, he played Skullclamp.

On my turn, I topdecked a Lotus Petal. Perfect. Played a second land, hardcast Doomsday, passed the turn to him.


His turn, he played an Elf, go. My turn, I just comboed out via Plan B.

1-1

Third Game:

He opens with an Elf. I open with a Doomsday.

'Nuf said. :D

2-1

Tournament Standing: 3-1

Fifth Round: Versus Erick (Confidagony)

Second Ruthless member I went up against on this day. There's one more member (Glen), and I'd find him after Swiss.

I might've switched the results of the first two games here, but they're generally accurate.

First Game:

I played Duress, plucked out a key card from him, mainly, his Vampiric Tutor. He had nothing but Rituals in hand now.

On his turn, he played Ritual, and cast Bob. Topdecked the critter, I can tell.

So my turn, I played a land, then just passed the turn to him.

His turn, he topdecked from Bob a Brainstorm, then he drew. He attacked, then did nothing of consequence.

My turn, another land, go.

So on his turn, he unveiled another blue card, then drew. He attacked, then at end of his turn, I cast Quicken. I was a sitting duck at this point, as this was my only other blue card in hand. I had no Force Of Will ready. All I had left in hand was a Ritual, and Doomsday.

He let it through.

A silent Yugi-Oh Chant later, and I topdecked: Force Of Will. I cast Ritual, then cast Doomsday EOT. He used Force Of Will, and I Forced it back. He brainstormed, then let me resolve. I set up the basic Plan B stack, and took my turn. He didn't have a counter anymore, so it was smooth sailing from there.

1-0

Second Game:

He opened with Duress, and took my Vampiric Tutor this time. Fie. I played a fetchland, and was stuck with mana. His turn, he played a Sol Ring, done.

My turn, I did nothing of consequence again. I really had no plan in sight. No business spells to set anything up at all.

The draw-go went on for a few more turns, until he finally comboed out by plopping artifacts down, Rebuilding them, then hitting me with Tendrils for 18 life. I was down to 18 because I fetched twice.

Sloooooowwww game. Eww. I had only one card to side out against him, after all: Necropotence.

1-1

Third Game:

We both mulled to six before the game began.

I managed to disrupt him here and there, and eventually, I was down to just casting Doomsday, and then getting away with it. However, his advantage was that he had the Negator on his table as a clock.

So I finally went and cast Doomsday. He let it through, then at end of my turn, he cast Ancestral and tried to find answers. His turn, he cast Demonic, then thinked his options over. Apparently, he felt he had no option but to Twister. He did the right thing, in my opinion, because I had tons of rituals in hand, and a Black Lotus. Topdeck was, in fact, a Tendrils. My plan was to just survive that turn, cast Tendrils for non-lethal damage, then pass to him again. He'd then attack, and I'd topdeck Ancestral (Second card in my stack.), and he'd prolly counter it. If he did, I'd let him take one more turn, and I'd topdeck (Third card in my stack.) Yawgmoth's Will.

However, that never happened because of Timetwister. Had he Ancestralled me, he might've actually won... ah, well.

So Timetwister gave me this hand: Ancestral, Duress, Two Dark Rituals, Black Lotus, Tendrils, Yawgmoth's Will. I played Duress, found he was wide opened, and proceeded to combo out.

2-1

Match Standing: 4-1

After five rounds, I made it to the top eight.

Top 8: Versus Glen (Ravager)

Game One:

He mulled to four, and I opened with a land, and passed the turn to him. His turn, he cast Skullclamp.

On my turn, I cast Doomsday via Cabal Ritual. He scooped.

1-0

Game Two:

He mulled to six, then opened with a few artifacts again. My turn, I played a land.

He plays another land, and plays Frogmite on his turn. On my turn, I played another land.

His turn, he attacks. I cast Quicken, Doomsday, EOT. He scoops again.

2-0

Top Four: Versus Cheng

Cheng drops out to put me and Lauren in the finals.

Finals: Versus Lauren (No idea what his deck was.)

I dropped to give Lauren the championship, giving Lauren his first asterisked tournament win ever. How many people scooped to him, anyways? I know his opponent in the Top Four scooped for him, too.

Congratulations to Lauren, kahit na ginamit niya yung ropes at humawak siya ng tights para manalo. :P