June Tournament (tournament complete; scherbchen1 wins)

[aww1979]

Please note: Updated the playdeck.zip to have brandon's and serbitar's decks with correct naming conventions. Either download that, or if you already have, download the two zips above, or just edit the files manually to correct them.

[Salbei]

Round 1:
Match A:
Juzamjedi vs Serbitar

playing a best of 3 as Juzamjedi
Quick win on turn 6 after the AI removes a couple Goblins, the draw was too strong and 2 Aether Vial + 2 Ringleader created too much pressure.
1-0

very swift game aswell(ended turn 5).AI key mistake was to remove a Goblin Ringleader over a Piledriver.
2-0

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playing a best of 3 as Serbitar

turn1 Goblin Lackey getting stopped by Wall of Omens.Elspeth hits play on turn4 while i got lots of removal on my hand.
I topdeck a Baneslayer Angel a turn later which went all the way.
1-0

slow start on both sides. i sword his Warchief.turn 4 Elspeth again while holding Wrath of God + Baneslayer Angel + Plains ... i play Wrath after the AI emptied its hand followed up with Baneslayer Angel- nuff said.Only other threat that hit the board was a Piledriver but he got shut down by Elspeth tokens while Baneslayer Angel took it home (even drew a 2nd).
2-0

result:
Juzamjedi 2 points
Serbitar 2 points

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Round 1:
Match B:
Salbei vs Scherbchen

playing a best of 3 as Salbei

I open up with Meekstone followed up with Bitterblossom on turn 2.Holding Damnation for Progenitus + Nighthawk to do enough pressure along with the Blossom in the meantime.AI plays Progenitus on turn4.I just attack with everything and play Damnation as planned - but the AI force of Wills it.AI attacks with Progenitus but is now unable to untap it.
AI using Spike weavers Fog during ITS OWN turn and attacks with its 2/2 (chumpblocked by fae).AI playing a couple wall of Blossoms but the Bitterblossom Army + Nighthawk just fly ovem them.Nighthawk nr2 seals the game.
1-0

Bitterblossom on turn2 with lots of land + Nighthawk on hand. AI is manascrewed while i am flooded.Phyrexian Arena from the top now pings me for 2 damage per turn - but i net another card and a 1/1 flyer each turn - AI is still at a single island while i got 4 lands in play.AI starts to discard while i got a solid 4 Faeries + Nighthawk in play along with 6 swamps.The faeries + Nighthawk won the game while the ai was stuck on a single land by turn8.
2-0

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playing a best of 3 as Scherbchen

Had to Mulligan to 6 (had no land).AI starts with Meekstone while i play Hierarch on my turn1.AI not doing anything but playing Swamps while i got Garruk + Jace in play.Meekstone shutting down the tokens so the only source of damage for a while was the Hierarch.
AI plays Nantuko Shade - i force it.AI plays Nighthawk - i opt to Control Magic that one.
AI playing Sorrin Markov - eats a Force aswell.Fact or Fiction reveals a Natural Order - os i get Progenitus into play.AI keeps Tendrils my tapped tokens, doesn´t worry me too much but its getting quite a lot of life.Progenitus+Nighthawk bring the AI down to 4 i keep the Weaver on my hand cause i expect a Damnation soon and i ran out of Counterspells.AI plays Phyrexian Arena - so i just attack with Nighthawk for 3 and the Arena kills the AI.
1-0

turn2 Bitterblossom meets turn 3 Progenitus (Natural Order).no Damnation or Meekstone -> game ends on turn 5.
2-0

result:
Salbei 2 points
Scherbchen 2 points

all games so far where extremly onesided.Human > AI.
So how am i going to decide who reaches Round2 ?Really don´t want to play 20 best of 3s untill the AI beats me once - could take forever.

[Nyktorion]

I have the same results for Bracket A:

Juzamjedi defeats Serbitar AI 2-0 (Juzamjedi +2 pts)
Serbitar defeats Juzamjedi AI 2-0 (Serbitar +2 pts)

As Juzamjedi, I killed the AI twice before it played a Wrath of God or a Baneslayer Angel. In both games, Goblin Matron and Goblin Ringleader were good at gaining advantage against the AI, whose Wall of Omens and 1-for-1 removal spells can only deal with a single creature each. In the first game, he managed to lay don an Elspeth, which was killed by a pumped up Goblin Piledriver in the same turn, though. In the second game, a Siege-Gang Commander gained me some additional card advantage by his 3 tokens (the AI actually wasted a Swords to plowshares on one of the tokens!).

When I played Serbitar, the AI did not get an explosive start in either of the two games. Both times, my 1-for-1 cards could him him until I put down Elspeth and a Baneslayer Angel, which quickly ended the games.

Edit: Here are the Bracket B results:

Salbei defeats Scherbchen AI 2-0 (Salbei +2 pts)
Scherbchen defeats Salbei AI 2-0 (Scherbchen +2 pts)

As Salbei, I dominated game 1 by attacking with Bitterblossom tokens (mostly to his face, but once also against his Garruk Wildspeaker) while keeping his Kitchen Finks on the ground down with a Meekstone. I finish him right after he got his Progenitus with Natural Order. I quickly won the second game with two early Nantuko Shades.

As Scherbchen, I used my small creatures in both games to beat on the AI. Both times, my Kitchen Finks were kept down by a meekstone. I won the first game by getting a Progenitus with Natural Order, which attacked for 11, while the remaining damage was dealt by my small creatures and his own Bitterblossom. In the second game, Natural Order won again, but this time, I fetched a Woodfall Primus in order to destroy the Meekstone.

[Serbitar]

Wow, there are sure a lot of Progenitus decks. *g*

Match A:
Juzamjedi vs Serbitar

Human Juzamjedi vs AI Serbitar 2:1 [Juzamjedi +1pt]
1st game, I keep a sweet hand of Lackey, Vial, 2 Lords etc., but the AI removes them all and I get totally flooded (finishing with 11 Mountains, some Vials and useless Moons). The AI wins with Elspeth and a late Baneslayer. I also draw neither Matron nor Ringleader.
2nd game, I again have Vial and can waste two opposing lands. That, this time with Ringleader/Matron is enough.
3rd game, I mulligan a 2x Blood Moon, 2 Land hand into Lands, Piledriver, 2 Warchief. Again, they all are removed and the AI stalls with Elspeth. But AI gets really flooded and eventually Matron/Ringleader show up for the win.

Human Serbitar vs AI Juzamjedi 2:0 [Serbitar +2pts]
1st game, I am a little manascrewed early and do a lot of 1-for-1s, which isn't exactly great against 3 Ringleaders. But eventually my Top shows Martial Coup and thats enough.
2nd game, again I have very little land, but lots of removal. Walls stall, we trade some cards (2 Ringleaders and kin for 2 Wrath) and after ages I get the 5th land for Baneslayer, which wins, aided by Elspeth.

Match B:
Salbei vs Scherbchen

Human Salbei vs AI Scherbchen 2:0 [Salbei +2pts]
1st game, I play t2 Bitterblossom, the AI t3 Progenitus, but I have Meekstone and some lifegain for the win.
2nd game, I have BB and Arena. At sometime the AI gets Progenitus after forcing Meekstone, but Damnation>Progenitus. Sorrin and big drains finish him (AI gets Progenitus a second time, but too late).

Human Scherbchen vs AI Salbei 2:0 [Scherbchen +2pts]
1st game, I basically do t4 Jace for the win. [While Jace does his thing, I Natural Order into Primus, destroying Arena, second NO->Progenitus (Primus destroying Meekstone), but AI has Damnation.]
2nd game, I keep a sketchy one lander with mutiple Hierarch and Coiling Oracle. I Force t2 Bitterblossom, but AI resolves another t3. Meanwhile I have enough mana for Natural Order into Progenitus, which wins.

Match C:
aww1979 Cuddles vs jatill

Human aww1979 CUddles vs AI jatill 2:1 [aww1979 cuddles +1pt]
1st game, I mulligan a light mana, no action hand. I have Goyfs, but nothing is in grave. AI gets Natural Order into Simic Sky Swallower. I do have lots of guys, but cannot race past his walls (AI ends game at 2 life.)
2nd game, again I mulligan (this time lots of land) and get NO within my first draws. Progenitus wins [and Drop of Honey beats Walls]
3rd game, I play unimpressive dudes (Tarmogoyf and Nimble Mongoose seem really bad in this deck) and kill lots of Walls with Drop of Honey. The AI has nothing going on, and eventually, I manage to draw Natural Order.

Human jatill vs AI aww1979 cuddles 2:1 [jatill +1pt]
1st game, I keep a hand with NO. AI Natural Orders t4, I Natural Order t4, but AI is left with Goyf while my hand is lands and Sky Swallower. AI has a second Natural Order, while I'm flooded...
2nd game, I remove all his guys, but cannot draw a green guy for my Natural Order... Instead, again I draw land after land. But the AI does nothing either (we both have like 12 land), eventually when I NO, and the AI NOs too... and we continue doing nothing. After ages, I get Sky Swallower for the win (the AI does nothing all this time, probably scared by walls).
3rd game, AI's Magus accelerates my Sky Swallower. He gets a double exalted Progenitus with haste, the turn before he dies, but its not enough.

[Salbei]

Round1
Match C:
aww1979 Cuddles vs jatill

playing as Cuddles
strong start with vineyard turn1, Natural Order turn2.AI just playing 2 Wall of Roots so its dead on turn4.
1-0

drop of honey taking care of his walls, the AI still manages to Natural Order before me so it gets one attack with Progenitus before Drop of Honey should kill it so i played a 2nd drop of honey just to get sure - AI plays 2 walls during its turn so i am dead.
1-1

match3 takes a lot longer - AI stalls the ground with walls, i got nothing to get pass them. Drop of Honey slowly kills the walls but for every wall i kill the AI plays another2 of them while i only draw stuff i can´t play or don´t want to play (Crossroads will kill me).Mongoose + Goyfs do nothing cause of the Walls. AI removes everything from Llanowar Elves to Tarmogoyf with Path to Exile / Swords to Plowshares.
AI finally plays Natural Order on turn 9 an brings Progenitus in play (i am at 21 life cause of the Swords).i didn´t draw Natural Order but Progenitus instead(yay). AI plays a second Natural Order for Simic Sky Swallower.I draw another Concordant Crossroads and die.
1-2

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playing as jatill

AI starts with turn1 Vineyard into turn2 Natural Order - while i don´t even have a creature in play.My turn2 Wall of Roots doesn´t bother the AI.I didn´t topdeck Natural Order so i died on turn4.
0-1

AI seems to be Manascrewed while i build up walls and never miss a landdrop.turn 4 i play Natural Order.AI responds with Natural Order during its own turn (so both Progenitus die).AI got 2 1/1 Mongoose in play + Llanowar Elves while i got a couple Walls (none of them are green).I path to exile one of my walls EOT to hardcast Skyswallower during my turn.
AI keeps playing unimportant 1/1 creatures and looses to the Skyswallower.
1-1

I keep a solid hand with fetchlands and Wall of Blossom ´ish cards. AI does Natural Order on turn 4 but i topdeck Natural Order and remove his Progenitus with mine.AI plays a 2nd Natural Order during its next turn for another Progenitus and i´m dead.
1-2

result:
Cuddles (1 win=2 points, 2 AI wins = 10 points) 11 points
Jatill (1 win=2 points, 2 AI wins = 10 points) 11 points

Personal note : both decks are uncreative and focusing on stealing games.
Been thinking about to play this "1 card combo" aswell but thought it was just to lame and luck based.
i favor jatills version since it has got a better design but as you saw pretty much every game was just won by the guy who played Natural Order first ... was as boring as expected.

[aww1979]

all games so far where extremly onesided.Human > AI.
So how am i going to decide who reaches Round2 ?Really don´t want to play 20 best of 3s untill the AI beats me once - could take forever.

You won't have to. Once everybody plays Bracket A once, then the points will be added up, and it will be 20-15 or whatever it is. Whether this method is better than the last one remains to be seen, but people seemed keen to try something other than gauntlets, so I came up with this.

[Nyktorion]

Bracket C:

Cuddles defeats Jatill AI 2-0 (Cuddles +2 pts)
Jatill defeats Cuddles AI 2-1 (Jatill +1 pt)

As aww1979 Cuddles, I won both games by playing Natural Order into Progenitus rather quickly. One oddity I noticed in the first game: when I attacked the AI with two Llanowar Elves, it did not use its Wall of Roots to block either of them (the Wall had no -0/-1 counters yet, so it was still 0/5).

In the first game as Jatill, lots of early Walls, and an Overgrown Battlement allowed me to hard cast a Simic Sky Spirit rather quickly. However, in the turn after that, the AI played Concordant Crossraods, and sacced its Noble Hierach to Natural Order, bringing out a hasted Progenitus, which is too fast for my 6/6 flyer. In the second game, the AI was again quicker at getting out a Progenitus. However, after its first attack, I brought out my own Progenitus, and thankfully, the legends rule killed both of them. I was the first one to bring out the next Progenitus, winning the second game. In the third game, an early Simic Sky Spirit (powered by Overgrown Battlement mana) won the game for me.

PS: @Salbei: shouldn't both Cuddles and Jatill get 3 points from you, instead of 11? (not that that would change anything about who finally advances, because both scores are off by the same amount...)

[aww1979]

@salbei: Since both your matches were 'lost' 1-2, each deck gets 3 points. (the scoring system is different from last time) It's not particularly relevant since it was a tie in that case, but if different resules had been obtained, it would be.

And yes, I thought the Natural Order / Progenitus was pretty lame, too, but I found the AI actually does it right, so I went with it. I'd put in blue for brainstorms, ponders, and that kind of thing, but the AI never used them properly, so I scrapped them. I was totally banking on AI having Natural Order in hand; the entire deck design assumes it gets that card right away. I tried to make sure if it did get Natural Order, it did as well with it as possible, so it occasionally gets that turn 4-5 kill, but the rest of the time Cuddles just bends over for you. I was pretty surprised nobody else used Magus of the Vineyard in their Progenitus decks though :p

[scherbchen1]

if it still burned the opponent for mana not used I might have thought about it, since that change the card went down in value a lot for me, though.

[Salbei]

Round 1
Match D:
Brandon vs Taron

playing as Brandon

went fast as expected. turn 3 Progenitus Racing a Broodmate Dragon and Stinkweed Imp.
0-1

kept a solid hand with pernicious Deed + Diabolic Edict. went down as expected - turn3 Progenitus got an answer this time so turn 5 Lord of Extinction followed by turn6 Broodmate Dragon won the game.
1-1

i mulligan twice to get rid of the 5mana+ stuff or to get a solution for Progenitus.
the game is surprisingly slow. i´m slightly manascrewed but got board control with the 3 Stinkweed Imps i drew into.
Finally get the 4th mana for Elvish piper so i can get Lord Of Extinction + Broodmate Dragon into play (while dredging an Imp to pump the Lord).The lord doesn´t do much cause the AIs board is full with 1/1 Manacreatures.Animate Dead on Hellkite Overlord along with 4 Stinkweed Imps and 2 Broodmate Dragons won the game before Progenitus showed up.
2-1

note: interesting deck and fun to play - props for not going the lame way like others did.

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playing as Taron

i mulligan twice to get buisness - getting rewarded with a turn 3 Natural Order played with Spirit Guide.Progenitus strikes twice and thats it.
1-0

had to hardcast Spirit Guide on turn3 to play Natural Order on turn4, but the AI Putrefy s it EOT and plays Elvish Piper during its turn - this is going to get interesting afterall.I hardcast another Spiritguide to repeat the plan - AI putrefies it during its turn and brings Lord of Extinction into play via Piper.I draw Progenitus .. holding 2 Platinum Angel, Natural Order and Naturalize - got not target for Natural Order so things look grim.
AI plays a 2nd Lord of Extinction via Piper.I draw Noble Hierarch - but lack one mana to play Natural Order. AI Edicts my Hierarch then Fetches to attack with 2 7/7 Lord of Extinction - nothing i could do so i am dead.
1-1

Mulligan to 5 again (either all or no land ...) holding a weak hand of 3x Forest 2x Naturalize + Eureka.
My topdecked Fyndhorn Elves meets Edict.Hardcast Spiritguide sticks to beat once and gets Putrefy ´d. things looking bad - i got Eureka + Naturalize in my hand and keep drawing Forests - AI is at 5 Lands now and is starting to throw big mean creatures on me.I topdeck Platinum Angel and Eureka it into play.
AIs board is really scary now - 2 Broodmate Dragon , 2 4/4 Dragon Token, 1 Elvish Piper and 1 Lord of Extinction. As soon as my Platinum Angel dies i´m gone.
AI plays + activaes Pernicious Deed , destroying all its 4/4 Dragon Tokens + Piper along with my hardcasted Elvish Spirit Guide - nice trade AI
Lightning Greaves from the top save my life. just Diabolic Edict left to kill me.AI plays Stinkweed Imp . So i can´t attack anymore.Couple turns later i Eureka Progenitus into play and win with that.
2-1

result:
Brandon (2 win, 1 AI win)
Taron (2 win, 1 AI win)

[Nyktorion]

Bracket D:

Brandon defeats Taron AI 2-1 (Brandon +1 pt)
Taron defeats Brandon AI 2-0 (Taron +2 pts)

As Brandon, I won the first game using a Lord of Extinction. When I attacked with it, and the AI blocked with 3 creatures, I cast Putrefy on another creature of the AI, growing the Lord too big for its blockers, and turning the Putrefy into a 4-for-1 exchange card. After that, the Lord was big enough to win the game on its own. In the second game, I get killed by a Progenitus. Even the Hellkite Overlord my Elvish Piper brought into play afterward could not help anymore. The third game was a win again, powered by Elvish Piper and Hellkite Overlord.

As Taron, I won twice by a third turn Progenitus.

Ad Natural Order/Progenitus: I am surprised that this combo actually works in the AI's hands. Last month, I considered including this combo into the Bant deck I submitted, but in my test runs, the game crashed whenever the AI was about to cast Natural Order. Good to see that this works now

[Salbei]

if it still burned the opponent for mana not used I might have thought about it, since that change the card went down in value a lot for me, though.

Well afterall its never good to give the opponent mana. Especially since the meta is infested with Natural Order - you play Vineyard , opponent plays Natural Order
Pretty much the same with the Crossroads - you play it and the Opponent uses it to kill you.

left out the scores . last thing i´ve read was 1 human win = 2 points / 1 AI win = 5 points so i used that system. doesn´t matter anyway since they both got the same points.

[scherbchen1]

Ad Natural Order/Progenitus: I am surprised that this combo actually works in the AI's hands. Last month, I considered including this combo into the Bant deck I submitted, but in my test runs, the game crashed whenever the AI was about to cast Natural Order. Good to see that this works now

latest patch that introduced Wall of Omens fixed that for me again, had the same problem before.

if it still burned the opponent for mana not used I might have thought about it, since that change the card went down in value a lot for me, though.

Well afterall its never good to give the opponent mana. Especially since the meta is infested with Natural Order - you play Vineyard , opponent plays Natural Order
Pretty much the same with the Crossroads - you play it and the Opponent uses it to kill you.

well not giving an AI that will keep a 1-land-hand extra mana definitely plays into it as well, nevermind the meta-game which I did not think would be this slanted.

[Salbei]

hehe check the bugreport thread (page 50). my prognosis was pretty accurate

->

whow that was fast. good job.

we are definatly going to see this during the next tournament.so don´t forget to bring your Edicts ^^

Hmm Meekstone looks a lot better now

----

btw do i get style points for using Meekstone ?
It was a Meta Gamble and it seems it was a good choice. Nantuko Shade + Vampire Nighthawk go along with it pretty good aswell. Especially like the shades in the deck. Even though the AI isn´t using Bitterblossom tokens to chump block it is still a gamebreaker and fits perfectly to the "Theme". I would still classify my deck as a long term strategy.The longer the game goes the more favorable it is for me since almost all cards in there just get stronger instead of weaker.Even the Swamps ^^

I also like the "burn" taste of it. Even if the AI is wasting removal on poor targets you will still gain quite a lot of life to buy another needed turn.
Sorrin Markov is also very potent along with the "burn", was in there against massive Lifegain and as Weenie hoser or just to compensate lifeloss ... turns out its not as strong against the meta as i thought it would be.

[Brandon822]

Bracket A:
Juzamjedi(human) vs Serbitar 2-0(juzamjedi +2 pts)
Serbitar(human) vs Juzamjedi 0-2(juzamjedi +5 pts)

Match 1:Juzamjedi(human) vs Serbitar
Game 1: Long game. AI used tons of removal, but finally Siege Gang Commander came and goblin tokens rushed to victory. 1-0.
Game 2: Fast and brutal win. 2-0.

Match 1:Serbitar(human) vs Juzamjedi
Game 1: I survive about ten rounds, but I don't draw Baneslayer or Elspeth and I can only stall AI. 0-1.
Game 2: AI's early lackeys are the key. I don't get that fourth mana to Wrath of God them away. 0-2.


Bracket B:
Salbei(human) vs Scherbchen 2-0(Salbei +2pts)
Scherbchen(human) vs Salbei 2-0(Scherbchen +2pts)

Match 1: Salbei(human) vs Scherbchen
Game 1: Ai got turn 3 Progenitus, but Meekstone keeps it from untapping. Nantuko Shade pounds him to 8 and I Drain Life Spike Weaver. Another progenitus takes me down to 1, but AI doesen't have other creatures and I kill him with Nantuko Shade. 1-0.
Game 2: Again early Progenitus, but Meekstone and faeries keeps opponent under control and I drain him with spells and Sorin Markov. 2-0.

Match 2: Scherbchen(human) vs Salbei
Game 1: Long game because of Meekstone and I don't draw Natural order. I slowly kill AI in about 15-20 turns. AI had only two Nantuko Shade s in game and didn't even pump them when I blocked them with Wall Of Omen s. 1-0.
Game 2: I counter first turn Meekstone and turn four Progenitus ends game quickly. 2-0.