Manalink Tournament (May) (tournament complete)

[Nyktorion]

I just played the first batch of gauntlets.

Tarmogeddon by enigma73 went 1-1:
1) Cognis (2-0)
2) jatill (0-2)

Against Cognis, the deck dominated twice, using Tarmogoyf and Knight o the Reliquary. The first game against jatill was looking good for me at first: I made the AI discard three cards using an early Balance, and dealt some damage using a Qasali Pridemage. However, he gets out a Sphinx, which kills me pretty quickly. The second game, I manage to kill all four of his Baneslayer Angels using Wrath of God and Swords to Ploswhares. He did not do anything anymore, and even started discarding Moxen instead of playing them. The game was not finished due to a crash. In the repetition of the second game, I can remove a Sphinx (with Wrath) and a Baneslayer (with Swords), but then my own Tarmogoyf (afflicted by Control Magic) kills me.

Swift by stroggoi went 3-1:
1) karodrilo (2-0)
2) karodrilo (2-0)
3) aww1979 (2-1)
4) jatill (1-2)

In the games I won, Kor Firewalker was very nice. I could also often do lots of damage early on using Dragon Fodder, and then a kicked Goblin Bushwacker. I lost one game against aww because the two Racks of the AI (in combination with discard) dealt their damage faster than my creatures. Against jatill, both losses were inflicted by a Baneslyer Angel I could not answer in time.

Stall by Salbei went 1-1:
1) enigma73 (2-0)
2) stroggoi (1-2)

All wins were done by big fliers, while the AI could not get through on the ground. The first loss against stroggoi was due to getting manascrewed (I only had the two blue mana from my starting hand throughout the whole game). In the last game, I managed to stabilise the ground just before I died (I was at 4 life). At that point, I was finished by burn.

With my own deck, I managed to do my first really long winning streak (10-0):
1) scherbchen (2-0)
2) shantak (2-0)
3) Brandon (2-0)
4) stroggoi (2-0)
5) Yggdrasil (2-0)
6) karodrilo (2-0)
7) Brandon (2-0)
8) Cognis (2-0)
9) thedrigo (2-0)
10) Cognis (2-0)

Lifelink on Rhox War Monk often turned out very useful in this gauntlet. Also, having many Exalted creatures on the board was very useful when the ground was stalled.
Interesting games:
- in the first game against scherbchen, the ground became stalled. He got a Baneslayer Angel to fly over the stall, but luckily, I could counter it. Swords to Plowshares enabled me to kill 3 blockers of a Pridemage (who had 4 times the Exalted bonus) without losing the Pridemage. The game still became a close damage race, which I won because my Noble Hierarchs could chumpblock his 4/4 Figure of Destiny for long enough in the end.
- the second game against Yggdrasil, I was very light on mana in the beginning. However, I could counter a Demigod of Revenge at turn three. Three vampires beat me down, and a Rhox War Monk saves me at the last moment (likelink was essential here!). After that, he activates his Marit Lage combo - good thing I had Swords to plowshares ready. The War Monk finally won this game, using many Exalted boosts again.
- In the second game against karodrilo, I did not have access to green mana for a long time. However, my blue Sower of Temptation prompted him to do wasteful removal (he first sacrificed a Mogg Fanatic on it, and *then* Fireblasted it...). When I drew a Mox Emerald, I could finally play the four Noble Hierarchs in my hand, and later two Pridemages and a Tarmogoyf. Before I could win, the game crashed. In the repetition of this game, I clearly dominated, though.
- The second game against Brandon looked grim for a while. An early Blood Moon left me with only red mana, and a Mox Emerald. When I drew Noble Hierarch, and played Qasali Pridemage in the next turn (which promptly disechaned the Blood Moon), I could finally get into play, and win the game.

It seems that, even though we don't have a single Zoo deck this time, jatill's Zookiller deck is clearly looking the best up to now - probably because many decks are still very focused on creatures and removal. Salbei's deck has a quite similar theme, and might also take a few more wins, even though he got unlucky in my gauntlets till now (AI never played his deck, I managed to lose against the very opponent this deck likes to kill).

[scherbchen]

aye jatill's deck is giving me headaches. used to casually play some gauntlets without recording them or playing them seriously while rewatching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip today. not only mine but some others as well in order to get to know them better.

one casual game with my deck versus jatill's was epic. my first 6 creatures were exiled and I was almost pounded into a pulp when I thought I had just managed to turn it around when the game crashed due to taking forever....

some problems: Keiga steals a creature when exiled from the game. Control Magic on Kitchen Finks returns the killed Finks to the stealer's side and gives him an extra two life. Wall of Reverence only targets itself at end of turn instead of a higher power creature.

[thedrigo]

This sucks! I played a few games against my own deck, and the stupid AI doesn't play Ajani Goldmane. I even put Ajani in play on the AI's side and it doesn't activate him!!! If it had, I woulda been dead a lot faster than I killed it!

I was originally going to run an Affinity build for this tournament (I love that archetype) but the AI doesn't equip Cranial Plating on its creatures when it's in play, turning potential turn 3 or 4 kills into losses.

Grrrrrrrr! Oh well...

Have fun with the testing!

[scherbchen]

hmm, I have seen the AI play Ajani and even use the "pump my dudes" option.

[Brandon822]

Playing with Salbei_Stall. Best of three.

Game 1:
Versus Yggdrasil. Round 1(1-0): 2 Baneslayers was the key.
Round 2(2-0): Baneslayer + Control magic for Demigod of Revenge.

Game 2:
Versus Jatill. Round 1(0-1): 2 turn Inkwell Leviathan was too much to handle for me.
Round 2(1-1). Marathon game. I won because AI's library run out faster. Game was in lockdown because of Moat and all Shroud creatures.
Round 3(2-1). Stole BA and cast my own and rode to victory.

Game 3:
Versus Juzamjedi. Round 1(1-0): Very long game because of AI's Worship. Finally get rid of his last creature and killed him.
Round 2(2-0): Another very long game. Finally beat him with Baneslayer Angel.

Game 4:
Versus Nyktorian_Bant. Round 1(0-1): AI countered my 2 Baneslayers and plowed another and rode to win.
Round 2.(1-1). Got slow start and AI pounded me to 10. Got Keika and with the help of two Coffins protected it from remove spells and rode to victory.
Round 3.(2-1). Very long game. Finally beat him with Baneslayer. Got +100 life at the end and 8 cards left in library.

Game 5:
Versus Brandon_RedForce. Round 1(1-0): AI got first turn Blood Moon out and I was in trouble without any basic mana.
Oh well, AI didn't want to burn me and only burned my creatures and Threw Hidetsugu's Second Rite to me when I was at 20! without effect offcourse. Finally beat him with two mulldrifters.
Round 2(2-0): AI didn't have a chance against two Baneslayers. Threw only couble of bolts against me. Guess I'm going for that last place again:)

Game 6:
versus aww1979_Discard. Round 1(1-0) AI got four racks! and Mind Twisted me to 1. Baneslayer kept me alive and rode to victory.
Round 2(2-0): Second turn Baneslayer Angel was a key.

Game 7:
Versus Jatill. Round 1(0-1): Third turn Inkwell Leviathan was too much to handle for me.
Round 2(1-1). Very long game. AI pounded me about 20 turns with Inkwell Leviathan but I got too much life. Finally beat him with Coffin protected Baneslayer.
Round 3(1-2). AI got third turn Inkwell Leviathan. I balanced it out, but next turn Sphinx of Jwar Isle I couldn't get rid off. I only got two mana's in my starting hand and didn't drew any more. AI Oblivion Ringed my Sol Ring.

[aww1979]

I've seen the AI use Ajani Goldmane before; I use it in a lot of decks on my computer, and it will pick 'pump creatures' about 90% of the time, and nothing the other 10% of the time. (even if it has no creatures in play, it will choose pump creatures :p)

I've also seen the AI equip Cranial Plating, but *only* if it has BB in play, never with (1). I tried a black affinity build, with disciple of the vault and cranial plating for the last tournament, but the blue one I submitted did better.

Anyway, I tested Salbei's deck, and these are the results:
1) cognis 2-0
2) scherbchen 2-1
3) aww1979 1-2 LOSS

I'd like a couple people to take a look at the video for this one, since I lost to my own deck (which is a bit of conflict of interest) but I think I played optimally except for possibly the mulligan decisions. Salbei's deck is a good one, but I got manascrewed a lot, even though it has plenty of mana. (26, including fetchlands, is what I counted)

highlights
Match 1) Game 1 mulled to 6, both sides manascrewed for the first few turns, but I draw land first. (AI discards a Demonic Tutor instead of tutoring for something like a land :p) I'm in no danger this game, and except for a bit of a shock when I get mountainwalked after a blood moon (forgetting I had mountains at this point, or I could have tapped tundras in response for path to exile :p) it went smoothly up until the win.
Game 2 I exile everything I see, get a baneslayer (which is then starstormed with black lotus) At this point I have completely stabilized and have a fistful of removal/theft, but it takes me forever to draw into another baneslayer; when I do, I win, though. (the game crashed during the final attack phase, AI at 2 and unblocked baneslayer, but I counted it as a win)

Match 2) Game 1, two control magics result in my smashing the AI with his own Figure of Destiny and black lotus powered Baneslayer :p Very quick win.
In game 2, I mulled to 6 because I had no blue mana (but I did have ancestral recall, which may have been a mistake) I end up manascrewed even after mulliganing, so I lose.
Game 3 looks a lot like game 1, only this time I steal a 12/12 Kavu Predator and smash with him and my own baneslayer. 2-1 match.

Match 3) Game 1 I get a good opening hand. I thought about playing a turn 1 balance, but decided against it. Turns out I should have (it nearly emptied its hand on its turn 1), but I end up winning easily anyway despite The Rack, due to the walls.
Game 2 I keep what looks like a good hand, but hymn takes my two best cards in hand against the deck, wall of denial and baneslayer, and it's a downhill battle from there, losing to an unavoidable Blightning in the end. 1-1
Game 3 I keep a hand with one tundra and a swords and path, being unwilling to mulligan against discard. Mind Twist for 5 early on owns me, and I never recover. The Rack and Nyxathid do the dirty deed. 1-2

http://rapidshare.com/files/387027064/salbei.zip.html

[aww1979]

Tested Nyktorion's deck, and it performed as follows:
1) thedrigo 2-0
2) brandon 2-0
3) scherbchen 2-0
4) brandon 2-0
(split video into two parts here, part 1 has matches 1 through 4)

Of the decks I have tested so far, this one was the most enjoyable to play, because it has more decisions to make during play. It's doing well so far, too.

Match 1: Both games against thedrigo went well. Early Tarmogoyfs went the distance, protected by countermagic until the game was done.
Match 2: Both games went well. Mind Sculptor is such a fun card Counterspells usually beat direct damage, so this was a favourable matchup.
Match 3: Game 1 opening hand looks a bit iffy due to no green mana, but I topdeck a fetchland and all is well, though the game is very close and quite long. Game 2 is a bit long, as well, but far less tense.
Match 4: Game 1 AI gets turn 1 blood moon with black lotus, but I get turn 1 pridemage with black lotus and destroy it :p Then I play Ponder and see Pridemage 2,3 and 4! (odds are somewhere around 3000:1 to see that, given about 50 cards left in the deck!) End up winning that game fairly easily, and game 2 plays similarly, only getting tickled a bit by The Rack.

http://rapidshare.com/files/387070622/n ... 1.zip.html
Rest of matches coming up...

[aww1979]

5) salbei 2-0
6) yggdrasil 2-0
7) cognis 2-0
stroggoi 2-0
(camstudio crashed at this point, so the recording of games 5-8 was lost, but I made the highlight notes at least)
9) enigma73 1-2 LOSS

Match 5: Had two good hands against salbei, and won without much difficulty.
Match 6: Two victories over Vampires without any trouble.
Match 7: Game 1 = tarmogoyf black lotus elspeth stompstompstomproflstomp gg. Game 2, AI never played a creature. gg.
Match 8: Game 1 was easy. Game 2 was a great game, won primarily due to all the lifegain I had; otherwise it would have likely been a loss.
Match 9: AAARGH camstudio just crashed on what was the best game I've played all tournament. Game 1 vs enigma I won easily.

Game 2 was absolutely epic. (I'm doing this all from memory, that's how epic it was) AI got first turn Mox Diamond/Black Vise. I had one land in my first hand. Eventually I got a second one, a fetchland, but I still couldn't cast anything. (I am annoyed that I must now choose between saccing the fetchland for a mana now to prepare for Mana Drain, or keeping it in order not to thin the deck of land, unlike real life, where you can respond to a spell with the fetch, and then mana drain; this doesn't work in manalink. I sac the land.) AI didn't play any land for a few turns either, but the Vise was squeezing for 3 a turn. At one point, I'm begging for the AI to cast -anything - so I can Force of Will it and drop down two cards, which finally it plays a land (its first besides the one pitched to diamond) and Werebear, which I gleefully FoW. (only one blue at this point, so mana drain is uncastable) I end up getting a Mox Sapphire (I still have no white mana, just Tropical Island, as my Tundra was destroyed) and a Mana Drain, while AI gets Werebear (before I had the mox). So I am at 4 life, with 7 cards in hand, and looking at Werebear and Black Vise, thinking -please play ANYTHING - and it plays Mox Diamond. *groan* Not knowing if another spell is coming, I have to counter it to get down to six cards, so I Mana Drain the Mox Diamond! AI then attacks (down to 3) and plays a second Werebear. Vise squeezes (down to 1) and then I draw a fetchland. I play it, sac it (down to 0 can't do that in real life now, making up for the previous fetchland case where the old rules went the other way) and play one of the *four* Kitchen Finks I have in hand. (up to 2) I have five cards in hand. AI plays Balance making me sac one of my two lands. He discarded a couple cards and sacced a Werebear, giving his other werebear threshold, which then attacked! The finks chump block. I'm at 4 life. I play a second finks, 6 life. AI plays Knight of the Reliquary, which is 4/4 or 5/5, I think. I topdeck a 6/7 Tarmogoyf! Then AI topdecks Swords to Plowshares, and I'm at 12 life! I play Finks #3, up to 14 life, not bad for a guy who was actually at zero at one point! AI plays Armageddon; we each lose 2 lands. Knight is up to about 7/7, but doesn't attack. The next couple turns we recover from that, each getting a land and I also got my mox, and I also got a Noble Hierarch out. (finks #4 is still in hand since my 3 mana doesn't include GG or WW) AI plays a 5/5 Terravore, next turn another 5/5 Terravore, and then plays Armageddon with Black Lotus; we each lose our one land, and his guys grow; he attacks. One 7/7 terravore is blocked by all the finks 2/1 3/2 3/2, and the 9/9 knight is blocked by the hierarch; I take 7 from the other terravore, 4 from the werebear, and 2 trample from the blocked terravore. I'm at 7 life, though, since I gained 4 from my Finks dying. So now, I have 2x 2/1 Finks, AI has Werebear, Knight, Terravore. I draw Sword to Plowshares, kill the Terravore, since it tramples. I get a land, which lets me finally play that fourth Finks. Two finks trade with the werebear, and the other finks chump the knight. Next turn, they chump the Knight again. We are both in topdeck mode, and I'm staring at a 9/9 Knight at 7 life. I draw Noble Hierarch, who chumps. I draw Tarmogoyf, who chumps. I draw a pridemage, who chumps and then blows up AIs Mox Diamond. Then, -finally-, I draw a misty rainforest, and the AI pounces for the kill! Match is 1-1 now.
(some of that I might've gotten in a slightly wrong order, but it went pretty much like that :p Damn camstudio to hell for losing that match!)
Game 3 (I got this one in video! :p) Rather boring game, really. Sucked it hard on two black vises, and lost without much of a struggle. 1-2
http://rapidshare.com/files/387109240/n ... 2.zip.html (this only has one match, and it's not a very good one, but it does have the end scene from the previous game captured)

[aww1979]

Decided to play one more before calling it quits for the night, and, unfortunately for scherbchen, it was a very quick round.

1) jatill 1-2 LOSS

Game 1: Opening hand had one mana, and it was emeria, so I couldn't even play a one-drop turn one. I mulled it, getting a hand that is marginally better, but still not very good. AI cheats with a Kavu Predator, but if it had played its cards in the reverse order, would have accomplished exactly the same thing, so I don't worry about it, but I did report it in the bug thread :p (and a bug with Keiga from when I played the unrecorded match with nyktorian vs. salbei) Anyway, I don't draw enough creatures, and Sphinx and Inkwell kick my ass.
Game 2: I get one mana in opening hand again, but I have four one-drops I can cast with it, so I keep it. I get a second plains, but I still can't cast anything besides the one-drops. I lose one Loam Lion to a plowshares, but the rest of my 'angry men' go on a rampage. AI plays baneslayer, and I promptly send my opponent's baneslayer farming with plowshares, but not before playing Kavu Predator, who is now 7/7 I topdeck Savannah in time to accelerate my killing blow by one turn (pumping the loam lions) and win, despite the manascrew. 1-1
Game 3: My opening hand has one mana AGAIN. I end up mulling down to 5, and even though I still have only one mana, I refuse to go to 4. I drew Black Lotus and a land, letting me get out Tarmogoyf (Chastised; played it first to bait any removal. Its use made me suspect no plows or paths were in AIs hand) and Baneslayer Angel (hoping no more removal was around), and then Kavu predator. Kavu gets Threads of Disloyalty cast on it. I attack with Baneslayer anyway, hoping to race, since it seems to be out of removal. AI draws Control Magic for my Baneslayer. (I assumed it topdecked that, or it would have taken BA the previous turn instead of Kavu Predator) I play Figure of Destiny (no mana to cast Fiery Justice in hand) and AI plays its own Baneslayer. Game loss quickly followed. 1-2

Apologies for failing to win any matches, scherbchen, but I got manascrewed all three games, so there wasn't a lot I could do. Your deck did only have 21 mana sources, which is a bit low, though. Hopefully others do better with your deck than I did

http://rapidshare.com/files/387121936/s ... n.zip.html

[Yggdrasil]

Aww1979, the king of chumpblocking !

Here's my results so far :

thedrigo - 1 win
Scherbchen 2-0 (Match 1 : turned into a trench warfare, won with the Soltari Priest. Match 2 : worship saved my life, turned into a trench warfare too, flying reveillark won the game)
Nyktorion 1-2 (Match 1 : easy win. Match 2 : lost. Sower of temptation, mana drain and a lot of removal kept me away from the battlefield. Match 3 : lost. Have to mulligan twice, start with only 1 land and was mana short until the end.)

JuzamJedi - 0 win
JuzamJedi 0-2 (Ouch ! Mirror match was awful for me. First match : very great start, AI's life was reduced to 3 and I had 3 soldiers and a Kitchen finks in play, but AI played two Baneslayer Angel in the next two turns and finally won the match. Match 2 : again, AI had an early baneslayer and I had no response against it. At least, JuzamJedi scored 5 points by beating me with his own deck. )

Brandon - 0 win
JuzamJedi 1-2 (match 1 : won, wheel of fortune was the key card. Match 2 : lost, hadn't enough removal against 2 early spectral procession. Match 3 : again, spectral procession was a pain in the ass. Draw two bloodmoon, shatterstorm and Hidetsugu's Second Rite, all useless in this situation. Very frustrating, guess JuzamJedi_monowhite was perhaps the worst deck to play against)

Nyktorion - 10 wins
Kakodrilo 2-0 (Match 1 : started with an excellent hand, easy win. Match 2 : easy win)
Scherbchen 2-0 (two easy wins with a great hand)
Brandon 2-0 (Match 1 : easy win. Match 2 : AI played a mana flare while I was short of lands. Fatal mistake !)
Aww1979 2-0 (Match 1 : the discard cards came too late. Match 2 : was short of lands, but an early non-destroyed tarmo protected by three Force of Will won the game)
shantak 2-0 (Well, the AI did almost nothing during the 2 matchs)
Nyktorion 2-0 (Match 1 : a loooooong fight between the same defensive decks, Jace's brainstorm ability was the key. Match 2 : a little bit shorter than the first one (but still too long) Rox monk was the beater.)
enigma73 2-0 (Match 1 : AI kept destroying my lands, but I had the tempo and Force of will needn't land. Match 2 : AI made the worst possible piles with fact or fiction.)
enigma73 rematch 2-1 (Match 1 : a terravore followed by an armaggedon won the match. Match 2 : no big terra this time, Elspeth helped a Rhox monk to fly over the battlefield for the victory. Match 3 : boring. Jace's brainstorming shortened the match)
Thedrigo 2-0 (Match 1 : AI was short of lands. Match 2 : easy win)
Brandon 2-0 (Match 1 : easy win. Match 2 : blood moon came too late.)

aww1979 - 1 win
Brandon 2-0 (discard cards and several racks did the job)
Thedrigo 1-2 (first match : Nyxatid and the racks rules the battlefield, second match : oblivion ring took the rack away, third match : draw no rack. AI had no cards in hand, but there was no way to inflict damage.)



So far, Nyktorion is the most impressive. OK, I was probably lucky with it (very few mulligans, topdecking a lot). But each time I gained a tempo advantage in a match, it was a victory.

[Brandon822]

Playing with Nyktorian_Bant. Best of three.

Game 1:
Versus Jatill. Round 1(1-0): Fairly easy win.
Round 2(1-1): AI removed my creatures and won with two Sphinx of Jwar Isle.
Round 3(1-2): AI was always one step ahead and stole three of my Tarmos.

[stassy]

The vids are very instructives (especially the audio), thank you.
I can host them on a youtube channel if necessary.

[Brandon822]

Playing with Scherbechen. Best of three.

Game 1:
Versus aww1979. Round 1(0-1): Nyxathids, racks and blightnings got me.
Round 2(0-2). Had to mulligan to 6. Game was very similar to first one.

[jatill]

I'm glad to see that my deck has finally showed up and started cracking some skulls I've noticed several bugs during this tournament, but in the interest of fairness, I won't fix them until I've tested all the decks. After all, if I knew about the Keiga bugs, I might have used them in my deck!!

Edit:
Aww- I reviewed your game with Salbei. You made a couple different deciusions than me, but I don't think you could have won. Overall, I think the discard deck is the hardest matchup for control decks.

Game 1:
Turn 1 you could have gone mox mox balance to snag 3 free cards out of the AI's hand. I probably would have done that. If not, at least keep the Mox Ruby in hand until you need it to protect against discard / The Rack. Not that is matters, since you won that game.

Game 2 you should attack your Nulls into the AI's, since they will trade on defense, but not usually on offense. Again, the outcome would have been the same, though.

Game 3 I would have kept that hand too. Sometimes the land just never comes.

[Brandon822]

Playing with Yggdrasil_Vampires. Best of Three.

Game 1:
versus Enigma's Tarmogeddon. Round 1(1-0): AI plowed my Marit Lage(+20 life) and got two big tarmos out, but my little vampires were faster.
Round 2(2-0): Early DoR was the key.

Game 2:
Versus Stroggoii_Swift. Round 1(1-0): Easy win with DoR.
Round 2(2-0): This time Kalastria Highborn was the key because AI exiled my Marit Lage and DoR's.

Game 3:
Versus Juzamjedi_MonoWhite. Round 1(0-1): Very close game. Drain lifed three Baneslayers, but AI managed to win with FoD who was pumped by Elspeth. AI had one life left.
Round 2(1-1): Another close one. AI used WoG and my Marit Lage left alone in the battlefield! He had three flying tokens left to chump block my Marit Lage. Propably I would have won either way.
Round 3(2-1): I lured AI's exile spells with little vampires and then two DoR's ruled the day.

Game 4:
Versus Kakodrilo_Burn. Round 1(1-0): Fast and easy win.
Round 2(2-0): Demigod of Revenge ruled again.

Game 5:
Versus Cognis_BR_Aggro. round 1(1-0): DoR ruled.
Round 2(2-0): Fourth turn Marit Lage.

Game 6:
Versus Salbei_Stall. Round 1(0-1): Didn't have an answer to Baneslayer Angel.
Round 2(1-1): Marit Lage + DoR.
Round 3(1-2): I got second turn DoR, but AI stole it next turn. Marit Lage was coffined and finally Baneslayer Angel got me.