Manalink Tournament (May) (tournament complete)

[Salbei]

Well the AI cheats with the Cunning Wish and takes a 2nd Ancestral Recall. If i knew that was allowed i would have playd a couple myself ^^
Its 4 mana for 3 cards (Wish 3,Ancestral1), both instant can and will be played EOT.For the same effect + mana i could only think of Concentrate doint the same for the same mana,but beeing a Sorcery.

So i guess you can think of it as Concentrate in a way.

---

Please check the turn5 play i made with enigmas deck and let me know if you think it was the right play.


AI 3 cards in hand, 9 Life, 3Lands in play (actually it was 4 before he played Balance,would have been 5 if you count my Turn1 Wasteland into this aswell) you know your opponent needs 3-5 Mana to do anything.
AI held its 3 card for several turns (so it either Removal or something he can´t play).

I got Mox Diamond, 3 lands, 1 Black Vise in play. you know you need 2-4 mana to do anything.
Wrath of God,Armageddon,Swords to Plowshares in my hand.

Do you play the Armageddon now or wait ?

play
-AIs next 3 turns are definatly gonna be safe
-AIs next 5 turns prolly gonna be safe, should give you enough time to get threats into play.
-you are ahead in mana (Mox Diamond), you lose less lands than he does
-unlickly he is going to recover from that (board is empty and only 3 cards in his hand)
-your hand is going to be weak, just got to play Swords for eventual creatures.(you know his threats cost 5 mana)
-AI might get into Black Vise range again

wait
-you could theoreticly kill more lands with the armageddon next turn
-AI could play a creature. (you still got swords/wrath)
-you could play a creature (don´t have it,but could draw into it),and play the creature then (by that time it is likly the creature gets Sword/Pathd.

i still think it was the right play for that situation to play Armageddon.

[Salbei]

stroggoi

1)aaw1979
decent hand, 2 lands 2 figure, path,helix , firewalker -> keep.

turn1
plains-> figure go
AI play BloodCrypt (tapped)
turn2
fetch, play figure,pump 1st figure 2/2 -> attack
AI swamp ritual,rack,blightning. i discard helix,land / keeping firewalker,path
turn3
pum figure nr2 2/2 , attack with both for 4 (draw path) AI down to 14
AI plays stronghold, hypnotic specter.i path it end of turn (hope i draw land to pump a figure to 4/4).AI down to 3 cards.
turn4
i draw Figure of Destiny nr3 , play and pump it (2/2). then attack with both figures for 4 again.ai down to 10.(playing the Firewalker would have been the right play there).i´m down to 2 cards - haven´t seen Mind Twist / hymns yet , expect to not keep any of the durin my next turn.
AI plays swamp Nixathid, Nulls.
turn 5
take 1 from the rack (down to 13).draw lightning helix , path Nixathid , attack with figures. ai trades nulls for 1 figure - and loosing 4 life again (down to 6).
AI draw go
turn 6
take 1 from the rack (down to 12). attack with both figures and play helix to face
1-0

2)enigma
i keep a very mana heavy land with almost no threats. lotus, 3 land, mox ruby, helix, Skynight Legionair

turn1
AI starts with Forest,Mox Pearl,Black Vise,Savannah Lions. - no threat with this hand^^
I topdeck Blood Knight, Play lotus,Mox,Land, skyknight + Blood Knight.+ attack with skynight turn1 - nice
turn2
AI draw go
draw dragon fodder and play it ,keeping both lands + helix in my hand. attack for 4 with the knights -> ai down to 14
turn 3
AI draw go
i draw Plains , keep it and attack with everything.AI trades a token with his Lion ,5 get through, AI down to 9.
turn4
AI draw go. (EOT i helix his face -> AI down to 6 life)
i topdeck Lightning Bolt, attack for 5 and play Lightning Bolt for the win.
2-0

3)Cognis
Hand is Figure, Helix, Firewalker, Path, plains, 2 mountain. i keep

turn 1
AI plays mountain, Mogg Fanatic
I draw mountain (nr3... need 2nd white). and not play the Figure (gonna die to the Mogg).
turn2
AI attacks with Mogg,plays Swamp go
Drew BloodKnight from the Top - can´t play it since i played turn 1 plains. i play mountain Figure and try to pump - AI reacts with Lightning Bolt to Figure. go
turn 3
AI plays lotus for red + Goblin King and attacks with Mogg for 2.
I draw Firewalker nr2 (still missing my 2nd white mana). play mountain, Bloodknight go.
turn 4
AI attacks with Mogg (mountainwalk), i path his Goblin King and block the mogg with my Knight.AI sacs mogg to my face (i´m at 16).go
Draw Lightning Helix (nr2) , attack go (AI down to 18)
turn 5
AI play Goblin Warchief. I helix it when he tries to attack with it. (i´m back to 19)
i draw + play Figure of Destiny and pump it(2/2), attack with knight for 2 again (ai down to 16).i´m still keeping 2 firewalkers cause i don´t get a 2nd white mana.
Turn6
AI Lightning Bolts my Blood Knight.
I draw Path to Exile- pump my Figure (4/4) and attack. AI down to 12.
turn 7
AI plays Goblin King. i path it.
I draw,play and pump Figure of Destiny (2/2) and attack with my 4/4. AI down to 8 and needs a blocker in order to survive the next turn.
turn 8
AI plays Starstorm for 2 - killing my fresh Figure. go
i draw,play and kicker Goblin Bushwacker. attack with my 5/4 figure+2/1 bushwacker for 7. ai is down to 1 . i play my Lightning Helix i still got from my starting hand ... still keeping both Firewalkers at turn 8 cause i got not 2nd white mana.
3-0

4)Ygdrasil
I keep a manaflooded hand cause of Path to Exile + Bolt against Dark Depths.well not the Bolt^^.

turn1
Mox Pearl, Plateau go
AI playing Mox Jet go (no landdrop)
turn2
fetchland into Mountain to play the Blood Knight i just drew.couldn´t get a basic Mountain with it so-> plateau nr2. Play Blood Knight go.
AI playing Dark Depths go
turn3
Drew land,played it , attack for 2 - go. (ai down to 18)
AI plays Urborg, Vampire Hexmage - not bad.Hexmage -> Dark Depths. I Path to Exile Marrit Lage.
turn4
fetch into mountain, attack with knight, ai down to 16 (i´m at 18 cause of the fetchlands). still keeping 2 lands + Bolt in my hand. go
AI plays Urge to Feed on my Blood Knight, followed up by Kalastria Highborn ... stupid AI.Thinking about throwing a Bolt at it, but decide i got more that enough mana to do it later aswell - maybe a better target shows up.
turn5
Draw Lightning Helix (would be 6 burn to face , but AI is at 16 ... so i just pass the turn after playing Sacred Foundry tapped.
AI attacks with Highborn . i don´t want to Bolt it - so Helix it is. AI gains 4 life by using Kalastria Highborns ability twice for god knows what reason, i know its a bug but don´t have the debug mode on.so i have to remember i´m at 2life more and he got 2 life less.
turn6
Sacred Foundry from the top doesn´t do anything - played it tapped and now got a whopping 6 lands + Mox in play... time for some threats.
AI playing Demigod of Revenge ... i knew it was a missplay to waste removal for that Highborn... - AI beats for 5.i´m at 12 (should be 14).
turn7
i draw Plateau - whoopie! go
AI beats for 5 again with the spirit. -> i´m at 7 (should be 9).AI plays Drain Life to my face (not tapping Urborg for some reason) and i´m down to 3 (should be 5).
turn 8
I draw Skyknight Legionair ,play it and don´t attack (gonna chumpblock and shoot down the demigod with my trusty Lightning Bolt).i play Mountain , with just 1 card left in my hand (Lightning Bolt)... now at a whoping 8 lands + mox... at turn 8 while the AI is at 24 life (should be 22) with a demigod in play.
AI plays Demigod of Revenge - attacks with both , i shoot down 1 , still get 5 damage and am dead(with and without that bug).
4-1 loss

memo -> review the Kalastria Highborn for that bug.AI also had 2 of them in its graveyard after he used its ability twice.
So even with that missplay of wasting Removal for the Highborn - the 2nd Demigod would have brought back the first one either way and killed me anyway.Was badly manaflooded and couldn´t do too much about it.

5 decks left to play and running out of time.

[aww1979]

Looking at your situation, Salbei, I probably would not have played Armageddon until the AI played a fourth land. You were obviously fearing the walls. A Wall of Reverence wouldn't have been a problem for enigma's deck (it can be exiled) but Wall of Denial would have been a thorn in the side, and evoked Mulldrifter would have been awful, so I can see why you did it. I don't think you had any creatures in play on turn 6, but if you had, I'd have played the Armageddon right then, too, fearing land+Control Magic as well as walls. Still, regardless of whether Armageddon is played turn 5, turn 6, or never, it's probably unwinnable; I'll let you work out whether it is or not, if you really care :p Sometimes, it just doesn't matter what you do, you lose.

[Yggdrasil]

i still think it was the right play for that situation to play Armageddon.

Unlike Aww1979, I think I took the risk (but I'm a coward, I usually choose the safest route ).
Playing armaggedon killed your wrath of god for several turns, but stall deck have no cheap creatures and the sword was still available, just in case.
(Be careful though, AI had much more mana sources in its library than you. Horrible scenario : AI can summon a baneslayer before you have recovered enough mana to play wrath.)

[aww1979]

I don't think salbei had the plow at that point, but I could be wrong. Even if the play was a mistake, though, I don't think it can be faulted, in that it was a very difficult choice, and I'll bet if we polled fifty Pro Tour veterans, we'd get half on each side of the fence :p

[Salbei]

playing jatill

1) enigma
i keep a manaflooded hand with just 2 chastise beside mana. -> no clue why, but i expect a win anyway.

Turn 1
Mox Pearl,Tundra go
AI Plains,Savannah Lion go
Turn 2
Plains go (drew Swords)
Ai plays forest , attacks with Lion, i Sword it (still 2 Chastise left in my hand i can play).AI plays Werebear.
Turn 3
I draw Control Magic ... don´t exactly want a 1/1 bear ... don´t wan´t to waste removal for it either - go
AI plays Wasteland and kills my Tundra (back to 3 mana available, still 1 land in my hand) and plays Knight of Reliquary.
Turn 4
I Control Magic his Knight after playing my land . go
AI plays Savannah + Knight of Reliquary go
Turn 5
drew Baneslayer Angel, but miss a Mana (damn Wasteland).So i tapped a Plains, used the Knight to search for a land and got my 5th mana like that -> played the Angel.
Ai plays Terravore + ISamaru. eek, ai is not wasting time ^^
Turn 6
drew Baneslayer Angel nr2 and did the Knight trick to generate the 5th mana again.attack for 5 go
Ai play Armageddon - pumping his Vore to 11/11. i´m not too scared and take the 11 with 2 Baneslayer Angels + Knight of Reliquary (7/7 in play) and take the damage like a man.
turn 7
Attack with everything Baneslayer Angel and just Time Walked into a cheesy win.
1-0

2)Yggdrasil
Relative tough Mulligan decision .
Hand is : Ancestral Recall, Island, Wall of Denial, Swords, Swords, Mystical, Threads of Disloyalty.

i keep it mainly cause of the Ancestral ... hopefully gonna draw into a mox + land - mystical for Tinker soon and thats it.

turn 1
Island go
AI play Swamp, Mox Jet,Kalastria Highborn. i respond with Ancestral Recall - better know now where iam at and got Island, Tundra Sphinx .. not exactly what i wanted but thats gonna do it aswell.
turn2
Draw Baneslayer Angel from the Top (meh). play Tundra + Sword his Highborn - 7 cards left and can still play Mystical.
AI plays swamp Nights Whisper (going back to 20).I opt not to play mystical EOT . next turn gonna be land + wall of denial.
Turn3
Said and done , drew Fetchland and played Wall of Denial go
AI plays Swamp Vampire Nocturnus, not too scard about it with my current hand + wall in play.
Turn4
Draw Threads of Disloyalty (nr2) fetch for Tundra + go
AI playing Dark Depths - ok go ahead ^^ Threads are waiting for you ^^
AI plays Bloodghast AND Vampire Hexmage - whow that was a bit of a surprise.AI activates Hexmage for Dark Depths and says go.
Turn5
i got a brand new Marrit Lage ^^ draw Path to Exile , play Threads on the 20/20 go
AI Urge to Feeds the 20/20 during its turn (could have saved him if played during MY turn ... whatever.
AI plays Drain Life for 1 ... setting him to 21 life (surviving the next turn).
I path his Vampire Nocturnus to prevent Chumpblocking.
Turn6
I play Mystical Tutor for Time Walk during my upkeep and win again during the Time Walk turn.
2-0

3)Brandon
First hand got no manasource whatsoever -> mulligan.second hand got 1 land + Ancestral Recall - but the land is a Plains ... should mulligan this aswell.said and done.
Mulligan to 5 leads me to Mox Jet , Sol Ring , Moat and Mystical Tutor ... well its not getting any better so i have to keep it.

Turn1
Mox Jet, Sol Ring go
AI starts with Mox Ruby, Sol Ring go (no land)
Turn2
I draw Control Magic . can´t do anything -> go
AI Mountain go - at least no Blood Moon jet ...
Turn 3
Chastise from the top ... the shufler really doesn´t like me today.
AI playing Mountain go
Turn 4
Baneslayer Angel from the top ... still no play since turn 1 with a hand full of cards i cannot play.
AI Mountain go ... omg
Turn 5
Path to Exile from the top - go
AI Mountain go ... still 6 cards in his hand , 4 mountains , Sol Ring + Mox Ruby in play - i think my game is broken.
Turn 6
Black Lotus from the top... leading me to be able to play Mystical Tutor (pointless w/o mana), Moat (pointless against his deck) and Baneslayer Angel ... so i went with the nobrainer and played the Angel.
AI Disintegrates my Angel for all his mana. go
Turn 7
Mox Sapphire from the top ... now we are talking. go
AI does his Mountain - go thing again... alright. EOT Mystical Tutor for Ancestral Recall .gonna be able to play that no matter what and there has to be at least 1 land within these 3 cards.
Turn 8
Play Ancestral Recall , draw Wall of Denial, Sphinx of Jwar Isle , Island ... you must be fucking kidding me... Island go
AI disitergrates me for 8 ( i´m down to 12).
Turn 9
Draw Tundra from the top and play Sphinx of Jwar Isle ... its gonan be over soon.
AI plays Blood Moon (cut me off my white mana again) + the Rack ... big deal i´m at 6 cards.... go
Turn 10
I draw Plains - and play Wall of Denial, and attack for 5 with the Sphinx (ai down to 15).
AI plays Lava Axe to my face.i´m down to 7 ... don´t tell me i´m loosing to this dear god.
Turn 11
Fetchland from the top - doesn´t do much as a mountain. i keep it on the hand since i already got more than enough mana - 2nd white would at least be usefull. attack with Sphinx for 5 -> AI down to 10. go Disintegrate and its over...
AI plays Mountain go - we know this by now.
Turn 12
Tundra from the Top. just to remind you my hand is Swords,Moat,Control Magic, Chastise, Path to Exile, Flooded Strand,Tundra. i play the Tundra , attack for 5 (AI down to 5), me at 7 while the AI got 5 cards .... tons of ways i could die next turn including LavaAxe mixed with other burn,or very likly just a lethal Disintegrate). go
AI making it interesting and plays a Wheel of Fortune.... 3x burn for 1 and i´m dead (AI discards Blood Moon,Hidetsugu´s Second Rite , Lavaspike (WTF?) ... and then play lightning Bolt to my face followed up by Lava Axe (first time ever i lost to that card).but wait ... i see a cunning wish flashing, got a white mana aswell so i could just fetch something like healing Salve to save my ass and win anyway .Made a screenshot in case nobody believes me ... so i end up LIVING afterall with 2 life
Turn 13
Sphinx attacks and i win ... OH MY GOD.
3-0

4)Brandon (again) ... lol

Keeping a Solid Hand this time that can pump out a turn2 Baneslayer Angel

Turn 1
Plains , Mana Vault. go
AI Mountain, Sol Ring go
Turn 2
Tundra , Baneslayer Angel ... this should be over soon.
AI Blood Moon
Turn 3
Play Fetchland(mountain),Mox Emerald and attack with the Angel for 5 - AI down to 15.
AI plays Lava Axe - I´m down to 19 ^^
Turn 4
Play an expensive Mountain (Library of Alexandria), beat for 5 again - AI down to 10.
AI does nothing
Turn 5
i untap the Mana Vault , and attack for 5 again - AI down to 5
AI does nothing
Turn 6
Beat for 5 again with the Angel and win
4-0

5)Brandon (again) ... ok something is seriously messed up.
i keep an average hand , 2 lands , nothing fancy.

turn1
Tundra go
AI Mountain go
turn2
Island go
AI Mountain go ... spectacular ^^
turn3
Fetchland into Tundra go - Oblivion Ring is lighting up - but no valid targets are available... whatever go.
AI Lightning Bolts my face so he doesn´t have to discard , go
turn 4
Drew a Baneslayer Angel from the top - can´t play anything - go
AI plays Mana Flare
Turn 5
i play Baneslayer Angel - go
AI Disintegrates the Angel (dejavu)
turn 6
I Oblivion Ring his Mana Flare , am afraid of X-burn
AI plays Mountain, Blood Moon ... could bite me for fetching for that tundra....
turn 7
Draw Plains from the top . could play Oblivion Ring and remove his Blood Moon , but all i got in my hand is removal - Swords,Threads,Moat - everything is just dead even if i could play it.
AI plays Black Lotus and Ryusei ... wee a removal target , yay. i sword it EOT.
turn8
Draw Mox Pearl - still no buisness. could play Moat, but that would eventually hinder the Inkwell Leviathan. -> go
AI plays Lava Axe - leaving me at 11 life , close to that Rite.
turn 9
draw a fetchland from the top and decide to Oblivion Ring his Bloodmoon - so i could just fetch to NOT have 10 life.
hand still filled with removal - nothing left to do -> go
AI draw go
turn 10
Ancestral Recall from the top, reveals Sphinx , Path , Cunning Wish ... not too horribly exiting. discard Moat,go.
AI does nothing again . i obt to cheat with Cunning Wish and get another Ancestral - if the AI is allowed to do it then so am i. -> recall nr2 reveals Mox Ruby , Chastise, Threads .... yay.
Turn 11
Fetchland from the top , i can hardcast Sphinx now and do so. go ... not feeling good at 11.
AI does nothing
Turn 12
I draw + play a fetchland , hand still filled with unneeded removal (7 cards). attack with sphinx for 5. ai down to 20 (yay)
AI plays Smoke - go
turn 13
draw and play Wall of Denial , attack for 5 again (ai down to 15). go
AI aiming Lava Axe to my face again - i´m down to 6.wheep wheep burnrange!
turn 14
Draw Lotus , doesn´t do anything along with the rest of my hand so i play it to avoid having to discard . attacking for 5 again, AI down to 10. while i am dangerously low at 6 life (ai got 5 cards in his hand)... please don´t tell me i´m loosing this because i´ve played Swords instead of Chastise.
AI does the nobrainer and burns me out with 2 incinerates ... well after 3 tries in a row this feels so wrong.
4-1 loss

screenshot of that funny game 3
screenshot of game 5

[Brandon822]

Playing with TheDrigo_wweenie. Best of Three.

Game 1:
Versus Mirror. Round 1(1-0): AI got only one mana for 5 rounds and I get easy victory.
Round 2(1-1): Remove after remove and AI gets upper hand with Reveillark and I don't have an answer to it.
Round 2(2-1): Very long game. Worship keeps me alive, I destroy his and attack with Reveillark.

Game 2:
Versus Scherbechen. Round 1(1-0): Pretty easy victory. Reveillark 's fly over defenses.
Round 2(2-0): Early Ajani Goldmane + Reveillark.

Game 3:
Versus Nyktorion_Bant Round 1(1-0): Flying FoD.
Round 2(2-0): Nothing special, Reveillark raced to win.

I made a mistake here: AI plays Fact or Fiction and I get these choices: Misty Rainforest x 2, Mox Emerald, Rhox Warmonk x 2. I somehow manage to give him option to pick Mox Emerald OR all the rest and he picks Mox Emerald in a situation when he got enough mana already. Not a bug, but I think AI has real problems choosing the cards.

Game 4:
Versus Juzamjedi. Round 1(0-1): AI does his thing Spectral Procession > Baneslayer Angel and I don't have answer to those.
Round 2(1-1): I was all the time behind, but somehow managed to beat AI with last possible turn. Next turn 8/8 FoG plus tokens would have killed me.
Round 2(1-2): AI gets second turn Baneslayer Angel. I don't have removal, but lots of mana and three FoD hoping to pump to 8/8 in time, but AI removes them all.

Current Standings after 13 Gauntlet's:

Tarmogeddon enigma73 6+5
Swift stroggoi 0
Stall Salbei 6+5+5+5
Bant nyktorian 0
TinyAngryMen scherbchen 0
Zookiller jatill 0+5+5 NOT PLAYED YET
Vampire Yggdrasil 5+5
Burn Kakodrilo 4
BR Aggro Cognis 5
Monowhite JuzamJedi 10+5
Wweenie thedrigo 3+5
BR discard aww1979 0+5+5
Tramp shantak 3
redforce Brandon 2

[jatill]

Jatill your deck is ridiculous.

Thanks! In my own testing it only took 10th place, though

Check turn 5 and please reply if you would have made the same play.I´m sure it was the right play in that situation with all the given informations.

I would have waited until the AI had 4 lands to Geddon, since the worst it can do until then is Wall of Reverence, which is not a big deal for the Terravore deck. Definitely a judgment call, though.

[Salbei]

yggdrasil

1)yaggdrasil (mirror)

solid hand , 2 lands,mox and a couple beatsticks.

turn 1
ai starts with swamp go
i start with swamp,mox, Highborn go
turn2
AI plays Bloodghast
i play swamp , highborn , attack for 2 , go (ai at 18)
turn3
AI plays Swamp Dark Ritual Demigod of Revenge and attacks for 5 (down to 15) ...ouch.
i draw a Demigod aswell - but miss the mana to play it. i just attack with both vampires for 4 (ai down to 14) and played Nights Whisper (hope to either outrace or stop his demigod).found swamp, ritual - so next turn i should be able to play one myself.
turn4
AI attacks with Bloodghast + Demigod.i´m down to 6 , AI plays Highborn aswell.
decided to play it safe and just stall the AI. -> played demigod go
turn5
AI plays Gatekeeper, i sac a Highborn and activate it once.(ai down to 12, me at
Nocturnus from top pumped my leftover Highborn and i attack with it. keeping the Demigod back to scare off the AI.
AI blocks with Demigod , i pay B and suddenly we are both at 10 life.
turn 6
AI Drain Life´s me for 1 (lol) and passses the turn.
I topdeck another Vampire Nocturnus and just fly over his blockers to end it.(demigod 5/4 + Nocturnus 7/5)
1-0

2)Salbei
the notes for this match are long enough to fill 2 pages - was a looooooooooong game.
Board was stalled with 1 Wall of Denial , 2 Wall of Reverence - AI had anything between 12 and 140 life when it was about to run out of cards soon.(even discarded the remaining Wall of Denial when it had a full hand ...)

Highlight was an early Control Magic on a early Demigod. took me down rapidly untill i could stabilize with a Vampire Nocturnus attacking into it to remove the threat.
Traded 2 Demigods for each other later to get a few points of damage through with the 2 Vampire Nocturnuses (usually ran into Wall of Denial) At some point i held all 3 Drain Life in my hand and was just hoping for another land so i can kill him 3 turns later with a maxed out Drain Life each turn -> game got completly locked after the AI played his 2nd Wall of Reverence ... this 2 life/turn and me now completly unable to race anymore.A Mulldrifter i could only remove a turn later net the AI 4 life instead of the 2 and that was game over to the Drain life plan.The AI then played a Baneslayer Angel 3 turns in a row -> all my hopes where gone for that Drain Life kill a long time ago and i had to use the Drain Lifes to get rid of the Angels.So i couldn´t beat it anymore and was hoping for the deck to run out of cards before i do. Couple turns later Keiga hit the table - my only answer to it caught a Control Magic just speeding up the kill.Last highlight of the game was me removing the last counter on Dark Depths praying for a Swords to Plowshares - but it got Path to Exiled before i could even declare the block.
1-1 loss

really tired after this game and gonna do the remaining 3 decks later.

[aww1979]

Current Standings after 13 Gauntlet's:

Tarmogeddon enigma73 6+5
Swift stroggoi 0
Stall Salbei 6+5+5+5
Bant nyktorian 0
TinyAngryMen scherbchen 0
Zookiller jatill 0+5+5 NOT PLAYED YET
Vampire Yggdrasil 5+5
Burn Kakodrilo 4
BR Aggro Cognis 5
Monowhite JuzamJedi 10+5
Wweenie thedrigo 3+5
BR discard aww1979 0+5+5
Tramp shantak 3
redforce Brandon 2

My records for you all agree, except that I must have missed a post somewhere, because I don't I have no record for shantak or Brandon, and consequently I have 5 less points for Cognis and salbei, who must have defeated those two decks. I'll go back and look for it.

[aww1979]

Found it. Turns out I missed the last several posts on page 8, which included those ones from Brandon, and several from Salbei, so I recorded those. My numbers agree with Brandon now.

[aww1979]

couple random things:

Emeria, the Sky Ruin: salbei bashes this card a lot, hehe. I agree to a large extent; comes into play tapped hurts white weenie bad, and it does nothing until turn 8 minimum, whereas something like Windbrisk Heights is usable sooner. I could perhaps see Emeria as a one-of in white control decks, something somewhat like jatill and salbei did, but even there, seven plains is a lot to get out, even for control, and it's probably not worth it.

Oblivion Ring: salbei mentioned that this card showed up as castable with only land in play. Technically, it *is* a legal play even then, assuming you have 2W, since the target is not chosen until the Ring has already come into play. (it's just a really stupid play in that case :p) I realized this one game when AI played Oblivion Ring, and I had no clue whether it was targeting my Nevinyrral's Disk or my Blood Moon while Ring was on the stack. The correct answer is it was targeting *neither* while it was on the stack. It chose a target once it resolved.

re: luck factor, salbei, jatill: When the tournament is over, I'm going to poll whether people are happy with the current system or not. I think it works the way it is, since while there is a luck factor, it will tend to average out between all the players. Some people went 10-0 with a deck, while other players went 0-1 or 1-1 with that same deck.

Feel free to criticize any plays/choices I make in my games, as long as it is constructive criticism. 'aww1979 sucks at magic and life' is not constructive. 'aww1979 should have mulliganed because of reason X' or 'aww1979 should have used his Goblin Sharpshooter because of reason Y' is constructive.

@salbei: Just checked my records. You stated you have '3 remaining decks', but my records say 5, they are nyktorian, kakodrilo, cognis, juzamjedi, shantak. I couldn't find a post where you tested any of those, but I could have missed it.

Regarding 'wishes': Do you think we should ban those? In real life tournaments, you can only wish for sideboard or exiled stuff, but here you can get any darn thing you want, like a second Ancestral Recall, second Yawgmoth's Will, a Contract from Below (!), and so on.

[juzamjedi]

Please check the turn5 play i made with enigmas deck and let me know if you think it was the right play.


AI 3 cards in hand, 9 Life, 3Lands in play (actually it was 4 before he played Balance,would have been 5 if you count my Turn1 Wasteland into this aswell) you know your opponent needs 3-5 Mana to do anything.
AI held its 3 card for several turns (so it either Removal or something he can´t play).

I got Mox Diamond, 3 lands, 1 Black Vise in play. you know you need 2-4 mana to do anything.
Wrath of God,Armageddon,Swords to Plowshares in my hand.

Do you play the Armageddon now or wait ?

I wait to cast Armageddon until I have at least 1, preferably 2 threats on board. I would be more excited to go for it there if AI was already at point of taking 2-3 damage per turn from Black Vise. In that situation I am more inclined to hold back on Armageddon a few more turns because you have the right removal for any threat(s) they play and no lands / threats to play for your own board.

[Salbei]

wall of text inc - just say something if you don´t want to read my notes about the games.
If you don´t want to see how the games got played, then i´ll just keep it short as everybody else.
i think especially in a best of 1 it is important to see where the game went down the hill and if it was the players fault or just bad luck.

---

playing as shantak

1)Brandon
Mulligan away a hand with 1 land and 3 Oath of Druids -> mulligan to 6
Mulligan away a hand with 1 land ,living wish 2 hellspark elemental -> mulligan to 5
Keeping a hand with 1 land worse than both before.

turn 1
taiga go
AI starts with Mountain Black Vise , go
turn 2
Fetchland from the top -> i pick a Taiga (found no Forest) but it didn´t get into play ...
i restart the gauntlet cause i´m mad at this bug and don´t want anybody to get punished for it.

- restart
playing as shantak

1)Yggdrasil Vampire.
Keep a hand with 3 land, 1 mox and Living Wish.

turn 1
AI plays Dark Depths, Black Lotus, Gatekeeper Of Malakir.
I start with Mox Ruby, Taiga go.
turn 2
AI attacks me with Malakir for 2 (i go down to 18)
i play Living Wish -> Maze of ith (fear Marrit Lage) - not exactly a good play. + Lotus
AI attacks with Gatekeeper again but i use Maze.
(note after i´ve played the gauntlet - just laughed at this play - had literally no clue how this deck is supposed to be play and i´m sorry for gimping through game one figuring out what to do.)

turn 3
i play Stomping Ground , go
AI trying to attack with Gatekeeper again , not gonna write it down anymore ^^
Turn 4
i play Forbidden Orchard, go
ai does nothing (still just at its Dark Depths without any land + a Mox Jet in play along with the Gatekeeper that gets untapped every turn.
Turn 5
Playing Hellspark Elemental , attack , AI blocks and trades Gatekeeper with it.1 trampe -> AI down to 19.Stomping Ground comes into play tapped - go.
AI plays Swamp + Kalastria Highborn
turn 6
I play Spark Elemental + Unearth Hellspark Elemental , attack with both. AI blocks one and goes down to 15.
Forest go
AI plays Swamp + Kalastria Highborn again.
turn 7
Mountain Go
AI plays Bloodghast ,Maze stops Highborn.
turn 8
i draw Burning wish and play it (for Harmonize) and play it.i catch an oath of druids, ball lightning and Blood Lust . playing the orchard. next turn should be lethal. go
AI attacking with everything , i maze Bloodghast since it can´t block anyway.
turn 9
Orchard gave me Groundbreaker - i crack lotus for red,Bloodlust it 3 times,everything resolves -so i play Berserk and suddenly the AI decides to respond with Urge to Feed...Groundbreaker dies and i´m left with a Ball Lightning in my hand ... don´t even bother to play it when its not lethal.well who didn´t see that one coming ? i actually did ^^
AI attacking again - Bloodghast getting Mazed.AI drain Lifes me down to 9 (ai is at 16 again).
turn 10
Oath into a 1 mana creature ... don´t see that a lot do you ? - i add the Ball Lightning this time for whatever reason.and attack for 9 (AI down to 7)
AI attacks again - same game. i loose 3 and go down to 6.
turn 11
Oath found a Primal Forcemage . i play Ball Lightning and want to attack for 9 - ai can´t block, but Urge to Feeds it back to 6/1 - so the ai goes down to 1.
AI not attacking cause i got a 2/2 ...
turn 12
Oath up another Ball Lightning and draw a Giant Growth -> no combat tricks this time so the AI is dead.
1-0

note: i played this one absolutly horrible - had literally no clue what the deck is about , its getting better after this. was a bad game but i won anyhow.

2)stroggoii
Keeping a 3 mana hand.
turn 1
Taiga go
AI starts out with Plateau Bushwacker.
turn 2
Spark Elemental from top - i play it and the AI blocks as expected.
AI playing Sacred Foundry + Lotus for Kor Firewalker.
turn 3
I play Primal Forcemage - go
AI played Plateu, Path to Exile my creature + Dragon Fodder.and attacks me with his Firewalker (down to 18)
turn 4
Play Hellspark Elemental -> attack got blocked by token ai goes down to 18.
AI attacks with both Firewalker and token for 3 - i go down to 15.
AI plays Blood Knight.
turn 5
Current Hand: Ball Lightning, Groundbreaker,Burning Wish, Berserk, Berserk. but just 4 mana. Playing anything now against that first striker is pointless so i just play Burning wish . thinking about getting Pyroclasm - but the firewalker would survive it - i pick it anyway.AI gonna attack next turn anyway , but i need mana.
AI beats me down to 10 and plays Figure of Destiny.
Turn 6
Pyroclasm during my turn , Unearth Hellspark Elemental.attack for 3 (ai down to 18 ... damn firewalker)
I´m still missing a lot of mana to play either Ball Lightning, Groundbreaker + 1/2 Berserks.
AI attacks me down to 8 with firewalker.
turn7
I drwa Oath of Druids , way too late too be usefull . i go with Groundbreaker and attack with it - (missing G to play Berserk, and can´t play Ball Lightning cause i miss a 3rd red.-> AI down to 12.
AI attacks me for 2 again , down to 6.
turn8
i topdeck a mountain and play Ball Lightning -> Berserk -> Berserk for a 24/1 Ball Lightning ^^ AI lets it hit it and thats game.
2-0

3)Brandon (revenge for the bugged game i guess)
i keep a 4 land hand

turn1
Taiga - Spark Elemental -> ai down to 17
AI plays Mountain go
turn2
Stomping Ground go
AI plays Mountain go
turn3
Fetchland-> Forest go
AI playing Blood Moon - not really surprised this time.
turn4
I play another fetchland aka Mountain and Ball Lightning puts the opponent down to 11.
AI mountain go.
turn 5
I play another Ball Lightning and attack.AI throws a Lightning Bolt at it - i Giant Growth.Ball Lightning strikes for 9, ai is down to 2 and Lightning Bolt i topdecked finished the game.
3-0

4)Jatill
i keep a 1land hand with mox and a few drops.

turn1
Taiga Mox, Hellspark Elemental -> ai down to 17
AI starts with Library of Alexandria - not bad either.but follows it up with Mox Emerald + Sol Ring (facepalm)
turn2
topdeck Fetchland , i use it to unearth Hellspark Elemental and Giant Growth it. AI down to 11 turn 2 - not bad.
AI plays Tundra go
turn3
draw and play Oath of Druids. go
AI plays Tundra(fetch) go
turn4
draw another Oath of Druids and play it (notice a pattern ? )go
AI plays Mox Sapphire, an put down a Baneslayer Angel .... meeeeh and i thought i had him.Ai fetches and goes down to 10.
turn5
Oath triggers and reveals a Groundbreaker.i´m not giving up that easy and Blood Lust his Baneslayer Angel + Bolt - AI responds with Path to Exile on Groundbreaker ... alright need mana anyway for my next turn ^^
AI plays Island go - 3 cards in his hand left while i keep Giant Growth + Ball lightning.
turn6
Topdecked Stomping Ground doesn´t do anything. so i do the nobrainer and play Ball Lightning and try to Giant Growth it.
no removal -> beat for 9 and thats the game.
4-0

5)stroggoii (again)

No land -> mulligan to 6. Land, Mox + Oath -> keep.

turn 1
Forest, Mox Ruby Oath go - so far, so good.
AI fetches into Plateau (19)
turn2
Hellspark Elemental -> AI down to 16
AI playing Mountain + Blood Knight ... meeeh first strike.
turn3
Oath of Druids reveals Primal Forcemage (YES!), i unearth Hellspark Elemental and attack - ai takes it and goes down to 10. nifty.
AI plays Plains +Skyknight Legionair and attacks with both creatures for 4. i go down to 16.
turn4
Oath reaveals Hellspark Elemental - i´m starting to like this - and draw my 3rd Berserk. attack with Hellspark elemental and Berserk it once -> ai can´t block or remove it (tapped out) so it strikes for 12 while the AI got 10 life.
5-0

6)Aww1979
i keep a 4land hand with oath + orchard.

turn 1
i start with the orchard - go
AI is not wasting time and plays Hammerheim,Mox Ruby and Slavering Nulls. not the worst start .
turn 2
Mountain Oath of Druids.
AI attacks with nulls + token for 3 and i discard a groundbreaker.
turn 3
Oath reveals a Groundbreaker. i topdeck a Primal Forcemage , play+use the fetchland to bring it into play and attack for 6. (ai got another token)
AI play Cao Cao via Ritual + a new swamp.
turn 4
Oath revealed a Groundbreaker (9/4), i fetch for a Taiga and add a Ball Lightning.and attack with both - AI blocks with Ball Lightning with everything . i stick to the new rules and kill everything instead of just one and trample over with the rest. AI is down to 3 with an empty board and a Oath activation coming up - while i hold another Ball Lightning.
AI got Hypnotic Specter via Oath. and does the worst possible play - by putting a creature into play -> Nixathid.
turn 5
Oath reveals Hellspark Elemental.i add my Ball Lightning to the party and attack with both creatures.AI blocks both - but trample kills the AI
6-0

7)Shantak (mirror)
I keep a hand with lotus , mox oath.

turn 1
Mox Lotus - go ...i´m bad.
AI starts with Mox Ruby - go
turn 2
I topdeck a stomping ground and take 2 for playing it , also putting a hellspark elemental into play and attack.(ai down to 17, i´m at 18)
AI plays Orchard ... hmm somehow i don´t want to play my Oth now for some reason.
turn 3
i unearth Hellspark elemental, sac lotus for green, play giant growth, berserk, berserk. and attack for 24. - whow that was fast.
7-0

thedrigo
keeping a not that broken hand this time with 3 lands and a mox.

turn1
fetch into taiga. mox go
AI playing Stirring Wildwood -> go
turn2
taiga -> Ball Lightning AI down to 14.
AI playing Stirring Wildwood nr2 - go
turn3
i topdeck Oath of Druids and play it with the Forbidden Orchard from my hand. go
AI playing Qasali Pridemage.and attacks me with the token for 2 (exalted) - i´m down to 17.
turn 4
Oath reveals Ball Lightning.AI is tapped out and i grin. this time its Blood Lust, Giant Growth , Berserk. (26/4) - AI blocks it but it doesn´t matter.
8-0

9)Juzam Jedi
4 land hand with a berserk and a forcemage. keep

turn1
unspectacular fetchland -> taiga go
AI starts with plains -> sol ring go
turn2
Taiga Hellspark Elemental - AI down to 17
AI plays Spectral Procession - not bad
turn3
Forest Primal Forcemage - preparing for a big trample turn
AI swords my mage and plays Elspeth, pumps a token and strikes me down to 15 meh.
turn4
i play Groundbreaker and berserk it,ignore Elspeth and take the AI down to 5.
AI pumps his token and takes me down to 9. then plays another Elspeth (and thus kills its own planeswalker)
turn5
i draw mountain and play it - unearth Hellspark elemental , and play 2 Spark Elemental from my hand.
AI is tapped out , no blockers available - GG
9-0

10)salbei
this is going to be an autowin.the wall do next to nothing against the deck and the game should be over before lifegain kicks in. especially with oath against the walls.
startinghand with 3 lands , Lotus, Forcemage and Oath - i definatly keep.

turn1
Stomping Ground (tapped), lotus into Primal Forcemage .
AI plays Plains and Path to Exile and Mox Jet.
turn2
Taiga, Oath of Druids
AI plays balance (with 1 land and mox) - ouchy.i keep the taiga- and laugh when i saw the AI discard Ancestral Recall and Path to Exile.i´ll trade this everyday ^^
turn3
taiga go
AI does nothing
turn4
Forest + Mox Ruby from the top. go
ai does nothing.
turn 5
Oath of Druids from the top -> played it
AI does nothing.
turn 6
Spark Elemental from top - i play it. ai down to 17.
AI playing island and plays a Wall of Denial . meeeh.
turn7
Oath of Druids reaveals Groundbreaker - not bad.i draw a fetchland and use it.attack with the groundbreaker AI blocks it - i Giant Growth trampling over for 1 and destroy the annoying wall. ai down to 16. so far so good.
AI evokes Mulldrifter.and passes the turn, still at 2 lands 1 mox.
turn8
Stomping Ground from the top doesn´t do much - comes into play tapped and i end my turn.
AI does nothing and discards a Wall of Reverence.
turn 9
Berserk from the top - good for the future.go
AI evokes another Mulldrifter, and Strip Mines one of my taigas - no big deal. discards COntrol Magic.
turn10
Fetchland into Mountain , almost no lands left so there should be quality coming in soon.
AI evokes Mulldrifter nr3 ... and plays Mox Pearl + Plains - about time he gets some mana.
turn11
i play Spark Elemental , do the math and i miss 1 point of damage , also the AI got an untapped plains so i just attack.Ai takes it and goes down to 13. looking damn good so far.
AI plays a Baneslayer Angel - usually i would be a bit scared now - but not with Berserk+ Giant Growth in my hand + Oath in play.
turn12
Oath Reveals Groundbreaker - i can´t pump it high enough to kill the Angel, and attacking with it would just give him 5 life - so i do nothing (drew Oath btw).
AI plays Baneslayer Angel nr2 ... oh come on ... at least i got 2 oath in play - lets see how this plays out.
AI attacks with Angel nr1 and goes up to 18 again (i go down to 13).
turn13
Oath reveals Ball Lightning and Ball Lightning - damn. i go for it since even if he blocks he is going to get damaged by the other.i giant growth + berserk the unblocked Ball Lightning.and it deals 18 damage (ai is at 18 life) - but the baneslayer angel blocking the other giving him 5 life - so he is down to 5 life - gaining 10 back next turn ... i play Forbidden Orchard + Oath of Druids NR3
AI hardcasting Mulldrifter this time - good , no more Angels blocking and messing up my combat.AI attacks for 10 - i´m down at 3. AI is up at 15 .
Now it all comes down to my 3 Oathactivations....
turn14
nr1 - Primal Forcemage , AWESOME
nr2 - Groundbreaker (9,4) , hmkay
nr3 - Primal Forcemage - RATS.
i draw a Mountain from the top ... sooo unfair - i had this game in my pocket and these stupid Angels just steal it.
i attack with the Groundbreaker for 9, AI replies with Swords to Plowshares to Primal Forcemage nr1 (the 2/2)
AI down to 6 and beats me to death with both Angels + Mulldrifter while i am at 5 life... even played Control Magic on my Forcemage just to taunt me. grrrr
9-1

its a fun deck to pilot and i definatly underestimated it.really a shame i couldn´t go all the way with it.

screenshot of the AI taunting me

[Salbei]

cognis

1)Yggrasil

keeping what looks like a solid hand , 3 lands , few beatsticks + Blood Moon.

turn1
AI starts with Swamp, Mox Jet go
I start with Mountain, Mogg Fanatic.
turn2
AI plays Swamp and wants to Drain Life my mogg - i fling it to his face.
i fetch into Mountain (got a Swamp in my hand) and got nothing to play this turn.
turn3
AI plays Swamp and Vampire Nocturnus,revealing a Drain Life
i play Swamp , Blood Moon - safe from Dark Depths now .
turn4
AI attacks me for 5 (revealing Demigod of Revenge), then drain lifes me down to 11.looking grim.
My hand after drawing is Goblin King, Lightning Bolt,Blood Moon, Chandra Nalaar, Patriarchs Bidding, Goblin Sharpshooter ... looks like i´m doomed - anyway, i play the Sharpshooter in anticipation of the Demigod - but even if i kill it i´m dead.
turn5
AI of course had the swamp - why not ... plays the Demigod and continues to reveal Black cards , Kalastria Higghborn this time, bringing me down to 1 life.
I´m considering to do what every good goblin would do - activate the Goblin Sharpshooter to my own face in order to get to lunch earlier, but i control the urge .
Facing next turns Demigod (5/4) and Vampire Nocturnus (5/4 for 3 turns ...) literally nothing can save me. Badlands from the top doesn´t change it.so i pass the turn after playing Goblin King.
turn 6
AI reveals Nights Whisper - OF COURSE ... another nonland card - what are the odds ? i could have blocked the Nocturnus, shot Demigod and killed Demigod with Lightning Bolt - buying another turn. but under this circumstances he is flying and i Sharpshoot myself to death before the Nocturnus does the same.
0-1 loss

quick and dirty , sorry dude - nothing i could do.

just Kakodrilo left to play , coming up next.