June Tournament (tournament complete; scherbchen1 wins)

[juzamjedi]

Oh yeah, and congratulations to juzamjedi for beating me

Very gracious of you to say that. Obviously it was very close with the AI win making the difference.

I had also built a Fish deck instead of Goblins. It was an unconventional Fish list that I liked a lot. It played out OK, but the AI seemed to play Goblins better so I chickened out and submitted Goblins at the last minute.

It is very interesting to me that we don't have many "normal" Legacy decks in this competition. Where are the Fish? Not many Zoo decks either. Ad Nauseum is too hard for AI to play, but Reanimator can steal wins once in a while.

[aww1979]

One of my testing decks was a Fish deck, but it was one of the weakest decks I made, so it didn't make the cut. I didn't trust the AI with Ad Nauseum, so I didn't even try that :p I never thought of reanimating, but I consider that type of deck rather weak, though the AI might be good at it; I didn't try that one, either. The other issue with reanimating is that a lot of the cards I would normally put into such a deck are uncoded, though that could be my old fogeyness in the realm of Magic coming out :p

[scherbchen1]

missing Blazing Archon was why I did not consider reanimator more than a few test duels tbh though I only expected 1 or 2 Progenitus decks.

[Yggdrasil]

TheDrigo was defeated by aww1979_Jundinator AI 1-2 (aww1979_Jundinator +3 pts)
aww1979_Jundinator was defeated by TheDrigo AI 1-2 (TheDrigo +3 pts)

TheDrigo
TheDrigo
Round 1 – LOST : Had to mulligan but started with a great hand. Noble hierarch gave me a great tempo advantage and pumped up my tarmo. I had 11 lifes, AI had only 2, it had two 3/4 tarmo in play (while I had 1 tarmo (tapped) a cobra and a hierarch on the battlefield). AI played a bloodbraid elf and cascaded a lightning bolt on my cobra. I used force of will (and taped my 4 lands and my hierarch) but Force of Will countered nothing, nor the bolt nor the elf. My last blocker was killed by the bolt, all the tarmo became 4/5 and the two tarmos + the elf inflicted me 11 damage. I was really upset because it was a nearly 100% win and TheDrigo's deck lose this round only due to a bug.
Round 2 – WIN : two early hierarchs were the the key. A meddling mage in turn two targeted tarmo and dealed 4 damage each turn (with the hierarchs's help). Force of will countered a removal and it was a victory.
Round 3 – LOST : I summoned a hierarch on turn 1, tutored Natural Order and played a cobra on turn 2, and finally cast progenitus on turn 3. AI played bloodbraid elf (which cascaded a bolt on my cobra) then diabolically edicted Progenitus. A second bloodbraid elf cascaded in a sprouting thrinax sealed my faith.

aww1979_Jundinator
Round 1 – LOST : AI played two lotus petals and a hierarch on turn 1, then cast natural order in turn two. No edict in my hand, I was dead.
Round 2 – WIN : I started with a hand full of removals. It was a long game, I edicted a Progenitus, and finally won with two broodmate dragons.
Round 3 – LOST : AI cast Natural Order despite two early Blightning. I was lucky enough to topdeck an edict. I edicted another Progenitus after that, but I cannot do nothing against the third one. In the last turn AI had 8 life left. I bolted it, attacked with my thrinax and try a desperate move by casting a bitumous blast on my own creature, hoping cascading into a bolt or a blightning. It was a tarmo, Progenitus killed me next turn.


I was beaten twice by the AI but it was a fun duel. So far bracket A, B and F gave us the most interesting pairings imho. Really pleasant to play.

[thedrigo]

TheDrigo
TheDrigo
Round 1 – LOST : Had to mulligan but started with a great hand. Noble hierarch gave me a great tempo advantage and pumped up my tarmo. I had 11 lifes, AI had only 2, it had two 3/4 tarmo in play (while I had 1 tarmo (tapped) a cobra and a hierarch on the battlefield). AI played a bloodbraid elf and cascaded a lightning bolt on my cobra. I used force of will (and taped my 4 lands and my hierarch) but Force of Will countered nothing, nor the bolt nor the elf. My last blocker was killed by the bolt, all the tarmo became 4/5 and the two tarmos + the elf inflicted me 11 damage. I was really upset because it was a nearly 100% win and TheDrigo's deck lose this round only due to a bug.

This SUCKS.

[monopoman]

Match F:

TheDrigo Bant vs. Aww1979 Jundinator

TheDrigo vs. AI 1-2
Aww1979 vs. AI 2-0


(Aww1979 as the Computer)
Game 1: Get out some early beats but the AI removes everything then proceeds to beat me down with 2 copies of Bloodbraid Elf AI wins.

Game 2: 3rd turn Prog off Natural Order is fairly backbreaking and proceeds to win me the game.

Game 3: Jund just runs me over since I can't get any creature to stick and only really have mana and more mana. Needed a natural order to have any shot to win tihs game.

(TheDrigo as the Computer)
Game 1: A lot of back and forth AI countering threats and me removing them eventually I get the Thrinax+Tarmo combo to kill him off.

Game 2: More of the same AI never combos off and just sits there putting up a mild fight until Tarmo duo finishes him off. AI counters quite a few threats and removal spells but I still overwhelm him.

Match H:

Nyktorion vs Yggdrasil

Nyktorian vs the AI 2-0
Yggdrasil vs the AI 2-0


(Yggdrasil as the AI)
Game 1: Kird Ape and Wild Nactal get the AI low as it stumbles on mana. Remove its only creature and start swinging in. AI starts to make a comeback but Grim Lavamancer starts doing his dirty work and Path to Exile finishes off the only creature Lavamancer can't kill. Proceed to swing in for the win with Sword of Fire and Ice.

Game 2: Similar game to the first but AI is doing better mana wise some early removal on both sides clears the board. I start to get some beats in with a Pridemage during which the AI casts a Ranger of Eos and a Figure of Destiny to slow me down. I remove both and then swing in to start smashing some more face. Sword of Fire and Ice finally seals the game though as I keep removing any creature he tries to play.

(Nyktorian as the AI)
Game 1: Lots of back and forth early on I start to mount a sizable horde though that the AI is having trouble with. Eventually I start to overwhelm the AI though since it is unable to remove my Kor Firewalker, Figure of Destiny and Wooly Thoctar.

Game 2: An even easier win then the first game AI continues to remove my threats but I have way too many of them eventually Thoctar+Balefire Liege = GG.

[Salbei]

Round 1
Match F:
aww1979 Jundinator vs thedrigo

playing as Jundinator
early goyf took the AI down to 10 while i got removal for every creature, following creatures got countered untill a Bloodbraid Elf showed up to finish the game(revealed Lightning Bolt).
1-0

mulligan 1 (5 land 2 bituminous blast - not what i want)
mulligan2 (no land at all)
mulligan 3 (1 land 2 thrinax goyf + blightning ... guess its not getting better)
AI starts with a turn1 Pridemage (Lotus Blossom).i remove it with topdecked Lightning Bolt - still waiting for a second land.AI does nothing aswell - i get my 2nd land on turn 5 but can´t play anything but Terminate with it.I topdeck a Taiga and play Blightning - ai discarding Counterspell + Natural Order.I get another land and play Tarmogoyf + Terminate on the AIs new Pridemage, but the AI paths my goyf.at least there is no mana issue anymore.the following turn i play 2(!) Sprouting Thrinax i still got from my opening hand.Ironicly just drawing land now - but at least i got a good board position with a solid clock of 6 damage/turn.A topdecked Lightning Bolt saves a turn and the 2 Thrinax won.
2-0

note:was short and painless.AI could never get more than 1 creature into play.

---

playing as thedrigo

I start with a turn 1 Meddling Mage naming Diabolic Edict, while holding Goyf Counterspell Tundra and Natural Order - should be GG.I play 2 Goyfs the following turns and had to discard Counterspell and Progenitus for Blightning - still holding Natural order, just need mana.Ground is stalled now with Thrinax goyf on AI side and 2 goyfs + Meddling Mage on mine. I just need 1 mana to play Natural Order but the AI Blightnings 2 turns in a row - so i had to discard Natural Order and draw the 4th land i needed to play NO now ... bah.AI playing Lighning Bolt to my Face and Bloodbraid Elf revealing Diabolic Edict (i named that with Meddling Mage so i debug the old state back).Down to 7 Life things look grim.AI attacks and gets 6 token while i trade Bloodbraid Elf for Meddling Mage, struggling to stay into this game.
I drew a Land again - nothing left on my hand and the AI plays Broodmate Dragon.I topdeck Brainstorm and it reveals Pridemage Mystical Tutor and Path to Exile. I had to pick the Path cause i am at 7 life so i can remove one of the 2 4/4 flying Dragons i can´t block.AI just Terminates one Goyf and runs me over.
0-1

I keep a hand with 2 Brainstorm 1 land Natural Order Lotus Petal Lotus Cobra and Pridemage.Turn 6 (i still havent got a second land after digging deep with Brainstorm twice) ai plays Bloodbraid Elf -> Tarmogoyf and i can do absolutly nothing about it.Meanwhile i´m holding 2 Natural Order Progenitus Lotus Cobra Meddling Mage and 2 Pridemage and can´t play any of them.AI strikes twice with Goyf+Elf and plays Blightning - i´m down to 2 life and topdeck Progenitus ...
0-2

note: sorry dude! did my best but the shuffler didn´t seem to like me.Also 3 Blightnings in 6 turns isn´t an easy thing to recover from.

results:
aww1979 Jundinator 2 wins, 2 AI wins
thedrigo 0 wins, 0 AI wins


----

Round 1
Match G:
Discoransom vs Shantak

playing as Discoransom

i keep a solid hand, turn 2 Gerrads Verdict countered AIs turn 1 Ivory Tower.We both drop lands untill turn 4, i play Simulacrum, AI Maelstrom Pulse it.Grotesque + Tidehollow Sculler cripple the AI even more - AI reveald Damnation and 2 Maelstrom Pulse so i hold on to the Tombstalker a bit.AI Maelstrom Pulse the Sculler so its got its Damnation back.I hold my Tombstalker back,knowing there is a Damnation coming - AI Maelstrom Pulse #3 the Grotesque.I topdeck Hymn to Tourach -> AI down to 0 cards and now its time for Tombstalker (i´m holding Swords + Edict).AI playing Eldrazi Monument (without having Creaturs).Tombstalker didn´t get answered so it strikes 4 times for the win.
1-0

i opt to keep a manaflooded hand with 5 land Baneslayer Angel and Diabolic Edict.AIs turn 2 Bitterblossom gets answered with a topdecked Vindicate before any damage was done.AI just played another Bitterblossom - meh.i keep doing landdrops while holding Baneslayer Angel and Tombstalker by now along with more lands and Edict.AI plays Phyrexian Arena.Verdict + Sculler get rid of Damnation - but things are going south rapidly - Phyrexian Arena / Blossom providing a lot of pressure , even though the AI is already at 13 life in the long run it will beat me. My threats just get removed one by one via Maelstrom Pulse or Tendrils of Corruption while the small Faery army is going to work on me.I´m down to 0 handcards vs AIs 5 handcards in a very bad position when Maelstrom Pulse removed my Tombstalker i´ve just played.Topdeckmode isn´t exactly a good thing when you are up against somebody with Phyrexian Arena.AIs Corrupt was the Nail in the coffin - no way i can recover unless i get a Baneslayer Angel.I just drew a Plains and a March Flats and the Faeries killed me.
1-1

Turn2 Hymn counters turn1 Ivory Tower.AI does a very odd move by playing another 2 Ivory tower (down to 2 cards) - alright .Grotesque lets him discard one (Forest) and 2 Solum Simulacrum during my following turns put me in a very good position.
AI playing Phyrexian Arena (at 12 life, no creatures or handcards) so things look good but getting worse since the odds are hes drawing into removal faster now (Damnation would be bad).As expected he Tendrils my Grotesque (back to 15 life).Simulacrums attack + Arena take him down to 10 again.AI playing 2 Bitterblossom - so hes taking 3 damage per turn now and can´t block my Simulacrums this turn.I keep the Baneslayer Angel to reduce Damnation casualties.AI Maelstrom Pulse my Simulacrums, but the AI is at 3 life now with Arena + 2 Bitterblossoms in play.
2-1

Note: intersting games, was fun to play.Kinda funny how close Shantaks deck is to my own.


playing as Shantak

start out with turn 1 Ivory Tower into Nights Whisper.Turn4 Garruk>AIs Sculler. He Swords my token and kills Garruk, but i got another.in the meantime the AI got 2 Simulacrums into play and plays a Shrieking Grotesque - not good.I waste Corrupt to save Garruk.AI does nothign since i got a 3/3 in play, holding Eldrazi Monument but don´t want to play it.Unfortunatly just keep drawing lands while the AI got buisness - swords my token and kills Garruk with Simu and i continue to just draw land.Grotesque and Verdict got rid of my last hand Cards making the Ivory Tower useless.Topdecked Duress gets rid of Hymn to Tourach (just had 2 lands beside that) and i slowly get beaten down.AI with 2 Simulacrum and Grotesque in play now while i´m still in draw land mode ...7 lands in play, discarded 3 and taking 6 damage/turn by now.Topdecked Maelstrom Pulse getting rid of 2 Simulacrum *phew* .I topdeck Maelstrom pulse - i decide to keep it for Baneslayer Angel/Tombstalker and take the beats ... didn´t count the AI in whos got another verdict.I topdeck Bitterblossom (at 11 life vs 27) - got no choice and have to play it.AI plays Sculler - i got no cards left in my hand so its a 2/2 vanilla.Swamp from the top doesn´t help and the AI edicts my Token EOT , beating me down to 4 - 3 after blossom.Topdecked Regrowth getting me back to 7 life + a 1/1 token after Corrupt gets rid of the Sculler ... bought a bit time but things still look bad.AI swords my token and attacks with Grotesque - down to 6 (5 after blossom).AI playing Tombstalker.I topdeck Fetchland, Monument and Nightswhisper while the Blossom kills me.
0-1

turn4 Gravepact after 2 Nights Whisper the turns before followed up by Bitterblossom a Topdecked Garruk and Eldrazi Monument provide a solid hardlock but the AI isn´t going easy on me removing Tokens left and right leaving me at 0 creatures , blossom and Garruk in play.Grave Pact getting rid of Baneslayer Angel, but i´m dangerously low on hp.I got 3 4/4 Garruk tokens by now and keep sacrificing 2/2 faeries - i´m down to a dangerous 4 life but the Gravepact lock kept the AI board empty so i could win "easy"... another edict would have been lethal though.
1-1

turn 2 and 3 Bitterblossom are a very deadly start. followed up with turn 4 Garruk to setup a Turn 6 overrun with my Faery army.AI could´t keep my faery count low or get rid of Garruk so it was a fast game.
2-1

very nice and close games

results:
Shantak 2 wins , 1 AI win
Discoransom 2 wins, 1 AI win

[aww1979]

Bracket D:
brandon vs taron AI wins 2-0 (+2 pts brandon)
taron vs brandon AI wins 2-0 (+2 pts taron)

No video this time; Camstudio was being stupid :p

Match 1:
Game 1: I get 3 Diabolic Edict in opening hand, and with that I stall long enough to put out Elvish Piper, who puts out two Hellkite Overlord, and it's game. 1-0
Game 2: I get a whole bunch of edicts, putrefies, and deeds, but no threats, so I play control style until I draw a Lord of Extinction, hardcast, and stomp to the win, notably 'wasting' three cards (2x edict and a Deed vs empty AI board :p) on my last turn to fatten the Lord up just big enough to make the kill one turn faster. 2-0

Match 2:
Game 1: I have Natural Order in my opening hand and AI gets manascrewed. Thanks for playing! 1-0
Game 2: I mulligan to 6 because I don't have NO. I get it in my hand of 6, but my lands are Forest and Gaea's Cradle x2. I keep it, figuring I might not even have the order if I try again. I struggle to draw Forests, but fortunately AI plays no threats. Eventually I play Elvish Spirit Guide and slap Greaves on it, attack for 2. At end of turn, AI edicts it :p Then he uses Animate Dead on it, and I Naturalize that. I draw Birds of Paradise, slap the greaves on it, and suddenly I go from 3 Forest and a useless Cradle to 2 untapped Forest, a hasted Birds, and a one mana Gaea's Cradle. Natural Order comes down, and Progenitus goes into cuddly hug mode, winning 2 turns later. 2-0

[Salbei]

Round1
Match H
Nyktorion vs Yggdrasil

playing as Nyktorion

relative long game with lots of creature trading (usually bad for the AI).only "real" threat was Wooly Thoctar but i still had a Path to Exile i drew 3 turns earlier.
1-0

my turn2 goyf vs AIs turn3 thoctar pretty quickly stalled the ground on both sides.both were gone at turn3 (removal on both sides). then had to deal with another thoctar via Chain Lightning and Lightning Helix.I was flooded with mana (didn´t miss landdrops till turn 9).Wasn´t much better for the AI - after the initial Thoctar it only played Birds or lands aswell.So a turn10 Kird Ape was still relative "good", got removed EOT so it doesn´t matter anyway.AI is up to 31 life while i am at 12 ... but now i start to see a couple threats - was about time at turn 15.Had to Lightning Bolt a Figure of Destiny after the AI pumps it (abusing the AI,knowing it won´t pump again).Grim Lavamancer on my side took control of the match while i was hording burn spells for the finish.Bloodbraid Elf removed my Lavamancer with a Lightning Helix and we where both next to where we began.A Kird Ape and a Lavamancer took control of the match again while i´m still holding 1 Path to Exile for Thoctars and 2 Chain Lightning to finish the game.Two Wild Nacatl i drew after that just speed up the process of the AI slowly getting pwnd by Grim Lavamancer.Removed the AIs Wooly Thoctar with Path to Exile and my 2 Wild Nacatle and the Kird Ape took it home while the Lavamancer removed all blockers.
2-0


playing as Yggdrasil

turn 2 Firewalker shut down Figure of Destiny, Kird Ape + Burn.Turn 3 Wooly Thoctar took out 2 Kird Apes with the help of Lightning Bolt - to die to a Lightning Bolt aswell during my 2nd Mainphase.AI then played Tarmogoyf - left me with a serious problem since it was 4/5 and i couldn´t handle it at the moment.AI played a Pridemage aswell so goyf hits for 5 now.I topdeck Lightning Helix - netting 4 life (with the Firewalker) and decided i should be able to race the goyf since i was still 10 life ahead and can still block with a Birds of Paradise if needed.AI now tries to burn me , but with the Firewalker on the table it was futile.All his fresh played Kird Ape did was netting me one life.The AI speed up the process by playing Chain Lightning , i happyly threw it back and got 2 life. Then the AI killed itself during the same turn by playing another Chain Lightning - i copied and got 2 life.
Would have lost without the AI using Fetchlands.
1-0

we both start with turn 2 Quasali Pridemage, but i manage to attack with mine before it got removed.Bloodbraid Elf + Lightning Helix it reveald put the ai down to 9 life while i was at 22.AI Lightning Helix it so i was left with just a Birds of Paradise and a ton of lands.AI then played a Swords of Fire and Ice - i started to get worried but topdecked Pridemage the next turn.Figure of Destiny for 4/4 the turn i played it ended the game as 8/8 the next turn.
2-0

Results:
Nyktorion 2 wins,0 AI win
Yggdrasil 2 wins,0 AI win

[juzamjedi]

Reading these reports has reminded me that Bloodbraid Elf is even more broken in Manalink than she is in real life. I never get the chance to counter / respond to the cascaded spell from the elf

Reading these reports has also reminded me that Figure of Destiny is the biggest beating when playing against the AI. They never see the pump effect coming, blowout every time at any stage of the game.

EDIT: maybe I should play a deck that curb-stomps the Natural Order combo for the next tournament. The AI can actually play the deck well too. Hmmmmm...

[taron]

Next time hopefully I have more time to think up a deck, I went for the extreme cheap and nasty with NO-Progenitus. I would just love counterbalance / open the vaults made, will open up a LOT of options, especially the OTV, given Time Sieve is already in, and the variety of artifacts we have here .

Counterbalance might actually go over reasonably well with the AI as well, given that it can't "waste" it like it does with spells like FoW. Granted I'm not sure it would be smart enough to play counter-top with any margin of success. but should get a few free counters, no?

[Cognis]

TheDrigo
TheDrigo
Round 1 – LOST : Had to mulligan but started with a great hand. Noble hierarch gave me a great tempo advantage and pumped up my tarmo. I had 11 lifes, AI had only 2, it had two 3/4 tarmo in play (while I had 1 tarmo (tapped) a cobra and a hierarch on the battlefield). AI played a bloodbraid elf and cascaded a lightning bolt on my cobra. I used force of will (and taped my 4 lands and my hierarch) but Force of Will countered nothing, nor the bolt nor the elf. My last blocker was killed by the bolt, all the tarmo became 4/5 and the two tarmos + the elf inflicted me 11 damage. I was really upset because it was a nearly 100% win and TheDrigo's deck lose this round only due to a bug.

This SUCKS.

Then Thedrigo should get the win or at least a rematch, the tournament should emulate real rules and if a certain card is bugged, well, that's why you have debug mode, wining by exploiting bugs is not winning so losing because of one shouldn't be counted IMHO.

[scherbchen1]

agreed.

[discoransom]

I'm fine with theDrigo getting a bye.

[aww1979]

Recorded all the results up to this point. I changed the one result where yggdrasil said the game was bugged, so instead of +3 points to jundinator (me) for a 1-2 AI win against thedrigo, I credited thedrigo as having a 2-1 win, for +1 points to thedrigo instead.

It's one thing to 'trick' the AI with something like Figure of Destiny, as it's a mistake a n00bish human could make, but a situation like the Bloodbraid Elf one above could never arise in real life, so I have no problem taking the points from myself and giving them to thedrigo.