Manalink Tournament (May) (tournament complete)

[jatill]

Just had my best game of the tournament...

cognis vs enigma Game 1:

I am land-screwed facing down an early vise, so I burn a wish to find Night's Whisper (less than optimal for sure). I dig and find no lands. Losing life rapidly, I chump block Tarmogoyf for 3 turns in a row to stay alive, and finally get the mana to disk, followed up with a non-crippling Blood Moon. Eventually I get a bidding and return all those dead goblins to play, but it's still only 16 points of damage when my opponent is at 20, so I can't attack or die on the counterattack. Come on 1 more Goblin... and then AI Wraths. I get the first attackers with my last 2 Goblin Kings, and the AI finds another Wrath. My next Sharpshooter mows down a Lion, but otherwise sits there looking dumb. AI plays a 2/2 Terravore which is too/too big. I am forced to use my last removal to Damn it. Ultimately Chandra shows up and flips out and kills everything, including my opponent.

Game 2 I get 3 Piledrivers (with the help of 3 Bolts) to noogie my opponent to death.

[aww1979]

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.

re: bugs: Just be glad I didn't use the cascade bug I found the day before the tournament. You can cascade into Darksteel Colossus :p (due most likely to there being no casting cost in the corner, as it is higher than 10, special things had to be done, as I understood it, so its csv cc is probably 0 :p)

re: Game 1: Yes, I definitely thought about balancing on the first turn, but my reasoning was that the discard deck had few turn one plays, and after I'd played my single land without thinking, I didn't want to sac it to balance. I expected the AI to play a land and pass, and I was going to balance the next turn, but after it played most of its hand, there was no longer any point. In retrospect, I probably should have gone mox mox balance, then the land. However, as I actually won the game, it isn't really an issue.

Game 2: Yeah, I was hoping I'd get removal first, so I could kill it with a plow and then have an unopposed attacker. I thought this likely, since Salbei's deck had way more removal than the discard deck (only 4 bolts)

I'm glad to see my deck actually beat a few people. I was going for style more than anything, since I had intended to submit three entries, but as I mentioned, I rejected two of them for being far too similar to other submissions, so instead of three fun decks, I was left with one fun deck :p It seems to either have explosive early games (wrecks you with hymn or blightning or something) or, if it doesn't do that, it just loses, hard

Anyway, going to play with Jatill's deck, now, so expect a report in the next hour or two, depending how it goes. I'm expecting good things from it, mostly from the Sphinx, which most of the decks have no good answer to.

[aww1979]

jatill's Zookiller performed as follows: (don't laugh!)

1) jatill 2-0
2) jatill 1-2 LOSS

Well :p Five mirror games later, Jatill comes out with six points for that effort. Every game came down to who got a shroud creature first, and I got the short end of the stick. jatill's Zookiller turns out to be the Zookiller zookiller!

Match 1:
Game 1: I got more Sphinxes than AI, so I won. Could have won even faster if I'd had a second blue mana to go with Mana Vault to cast an earlier sphinx.
Game 2: Opening hand contains Ancestral Recall and Time Walk, getting me off to a huge start. Turn 3 Baneslayer gets toasted, but Turn 4 Sphinx stays. gg

Match 2:
Game 1: AI tinkers for inkwell leviathan turn 2. Only Moat can save me, and I don't get it. 0-1
Game 2: We both screw around for a bit until I can hardcast Inkwell Leviathan, at which point it's gg again, this time for me. 1-1
Game 3: AI tinkers for inkwell leviathan turn 1. Repeat of Game 1, ending the match at 1-2.

http://rapidshare.com/files/387407270/jatill.zip.html

Yggdrasil up next. I'll split the video in half for this one, if it goes long enough, since I'll have to take a break if it lasts more than 4 or 5 rounds.

[aww1979]

Yggdrasil's Vampires performed as follows:

1) jatill 2-1
2) brandon 2-0
3) scherbchen 2-0
4) cognis 2-0
5) enigma73 2-1

highlights (will be from memory due to camstudio crashing when I tried to save a halfway point video)
Match 1: I don't remember this at all.
Match 2: game 1 was easy, AI had only one land until the last turn. Game 2 was won easily, as well.
Match 3: AI got manascrewed game 1, and game 2 was won fairly easily too.
Match 4: Won both games without much trouble
Match 5: Game 1 was a loss; AI had an amazing start with black lotus and won by turn 4 or 5. Game 2 I win fairly easily. Game 3 I decide to risk all, and keep an opening hand with Dark Depths, Vampire Hexmage, Dark Ritual, and four other black spells. I topdeck a swamp, and on turn 3, Marit Lage pwns for the win. (no video for any of these )
continuing with game 6... hopefully with video this time.

6) shantak 2-0
7) kakodrilo 2-0
kakodrilo 2-0
9) shantak 2-0
10) yggdrasil 2-0 WIN

Match 6: game 1 easy win, game 2, win on turn 4 with marit lage
(crashed match): was playing jatill, won game 1 without any trouble. Game 2 was pretty exciting, jatill kept pulling tricks out to stave off my creatures, including a Chastise on Marit Lage :p (which, come to think of it, shouldn't have worked, lol, at least not the killing part, lifegain is legit though) It's an interesting game, but ends abruptly, though I think I would've won it.
Match 7: two fairly easy wins
Match 8: two wins, game 2 took a bit longer but the outcome wasn't ever in doubt
Match 9: game 1 marit lage wins, game 2 quick win also
Match 10: I have the cards to do turn 2 marit lage/turn 3 win, but I screw it up (kept hexmage for end phase to avoid gatekeeper killing it, but it played his own Dark Depths :p) I win game 1 anyway though. Game 2 goes pretty easily too.

http://rapidshare.com/files/387460255/y ... l.zip.html

So... 10-0 win for Yggdrasil's deck No more tonight, though, got an early morning tomorrow.

[Yggdrasil]

Game 3 I decide to risk all, and keep an opening hand with Dark Depths, Vampire Hexmage, Dark Ritual, and four other black spells. I topdeck a swamp, and on turn 3, Marit Lage pwns for the win.

I almost had a heart attack reading this.

Well, I'm happy you won, but what a risky strategy after losing the first game !

[scherbchen]

time for my own deck and I hope I don't meet jatill....

result for scherbchen

match 1 vs BR discard: no discard. first turn Volrath's Stronghold, Mox Jet, The Rack and another The Rack later on. mobs with green mana symbols in their casting cost get to do damage. all a late Blightning does is grow a goyf and roll back some Kitchen Finks lifegain.

match 2 versus Brandon: mull to 6. drop Loam Lion in order to draw a bolt though I have a green Mox for a Predator which I'd rather keep. Lion gets bolted. Black Vise does nothing. The Rack would have hurt. Predator gets a Char to the face which stinks but another promptly shows up. can I please have a third land for Fiery Justice to make him safe from burn? instead I get a Blood Moon. 2 bears on the board and the opponent is at 15 pre-combat. Mox Pearl rip off the top and the Predator is 7/7 and safe!

match 3 vs BR discard rematch: mull to 4(!). Loam Lion gets a Lightning Bolt. Niaxthid gets a Swords to Plowshares after Kavu Predator shows up. *sigh* he grows off of a second Swords to Plowshares to Cao Cao, Lord of Wei, though. pretty much all in now and haven't seen a The Rack yet so I drop a Loam Lion and go down to 1 card in hand (Fiery Justice) for which I am lacking red mana. Double Slavering Nulls for the AI next turn while I rip a Mox Ruby off the top. cheesy? sure. I'll take the win, though. AI dead in two turns from 24 life.

match 4 versus thedrigo WW: early Figure of Destiny trades it's Sword for Plowshares. AI drops one of the same and the card I really like, Knights of Meadograin. I drop Finks and Predator with another Predator, goyf, Swords, Scute Mob in hand and 3 mana on the board. feeling pretty good right now. I think about suiciduing the Finks into the Knight to pump the Predator to 4/4 and go up to 26 life but I am greedy and want to get the other Predator on the board first. AI plays Honor of the Pure. sure. Predator grows to 5/5. Predator #2 drops, waiting to Swords to Plowshares the 3/3 Figure of Destiny till the opponent's turn to get both Kavu even bigger. AI attacks with knights, grows Figure, cast Swords and end up with a 13/13 Kavu and a 10/10 Kavu and Finks with the AI at 22.

match 5 vs Juzamjedi monowhite: take early flying token damage and get some creatures removed. I Swords to Plowshares a token to stem the ebatings. Elspeth comes down and the AI goes bonkers. pump a flying token and then Swords to Plowshares it to go up to 25. probably scared of my mighty x-spells. at one point the score is 25-8 and my Emeria, The Sky Ruin has been active for quite some time but there are no dead creatures in my graveyard because all of them are removed from the game. Ranger of Eos, please? a bit later the AI has 2 Worships in play and kills Elspeth with another Elspeth which is odd. I am down to 2 life and draw Kitchen Finks. trusty old Kitchen Finks.... Elspeth #3 pumps a guy so I have to let go of my last spot removal. Fiery Justice off the top clears the board and allows me to kill Elspeth #3. 30-3 for the AI. I wish I had a way to sacrifice creatures. 2 turns later the AI plays Kitchen Finks (not putting Skullclamp on them, thank the gods) so I can gain back some life! my Kitchen Finks come back over and over and over again after all. no need, though, Baneslayer Angel makes an appearance. Wrath of God doesn't matter, Emeria s up and running. Ranger of Eos even makes an appearance and gets his two best buddies whith 5+ lands out. Dragons and Angels and Insects get mad!

match 6 versus Nyktorian Bant: ice first turn with Predator and Loam Lion but the AI steals the Predator with Sower of Temptation before I even get to swing once. we race, bad AI blocks allow me to kill his first goyf at the price of a lion. I have two 2/3 goyfs on the board racing a double-exalted Sower of Temptation. can I get some removal, please? instead the AI gets Swords and I am a goyf short and his Kavu grows to 4/4. Predator #2 gets FoW'd. score is 15-15. second goyf turns his Sword in for a Plowshare and I have now one more turn to live with his Kavu at 7/7. I die.

nyktorian bant

match 1 vs schercbhen: Elspeth rules, holding of a Figure forever. I draw no spot removal however and the AI gets 2 Figures, one to 8/8 and the other to 4/4 (8/8 next turn), a 5/5 Scute Mob (off a Ranger I guess). I die to 8/8 flying first strikers.

kakodrilo burn

match 1 vs BR discard: Gorilla Shaman rules. he really does. Mogg Fanatic also rules by taking out a LIghnting Bolt. Reckless Charge takes care of the rest as the AI never plays a critter.

match 2 vs Cognis BR aggro: AI gets a mad start with Piledriver and Warchief on the first turn. I opt to take out the Warchief with a Chain Lightning and kill an AI mox instead of killing both critters (also have Lightning Bolt in hand). My Countryside Crusher gets A bolt Slith Firewalker fills the role of tiny angry man, though.

match 3 vs stroggoii swift: mull to 6. Mogg Fanatic takes out a Figure and Magus of the Moon tries to prevent Kor Firewalker shennanigans. Skynight Legionaire x 2 and Blood Knight still prove the better of me.


current standings after 7 runs of the gauntlet:
stroggoii 1+5+5
shantak tramp 1
nyktorian bant 5
yggdra vampire 5+5+5
thedrigo WW 7
scherbchen 5+5
kakodrilo burn 2

[aww1979]

Game 3 I decide to risk all, and keep an opening hand with Dark Depths, Vampire Hexmage, Dark Ritual, and four other black spells. I topdeck a swamp, and on turn 3, Marit Lage pwns for the win.

I almost had a heart attack reading this.

Well, I'm happy you won, but what a risky strategy after losing the first game !

Edited the post to update the games I played later.

Yeah, it was awfully risky :p But, I reasoned that 1) drawing a swamp in the next two cards is good odds, and 2) All I needed was a one turn window in which the Marit Lage didn't get exiled. The other option would have been to mulligan, and, well, I hate doing that!

[Brandon822]

Playing with Kakodrilo_Burn. Best of Three.

Game 1:
Versus Nyktarian. Round 1(1-0): I burned his early creatures and then cast Magus of the Moon and he didn't get to cast anything else after that.
ROund 2(2-0): Easy win.

Game 2:
Versus Brandon_RedForce. Round 1(0-1): Had to mulligan to 6. Got only one mana, but three lightning bolts. AI casted first turn Black Vise off course(it has only one). Didn't drew any more mana and lost the burn war.
Round 2(1-1). Won burn war easily. AI just burned my creatures and not me. He even didn't throw back my chain lightnings! I must say AI is behaving very wierdly with that deck. First round he played it ok.
Round 2(2-1). Easy win. AI got only one mana and I strip Mined it.

Game 3:
Versus Brandon_RedForce(again). Round 1(1-0): AI played early Black Vise. Burn burn burn...Then he Decided to Shatterstorm his artifacts! Finally beat him with Slith Firewalker(which he didn't burn, even when he had incinerate in his hand). This time I got those Chain Lighnings back at my head.
Round 2(1-1): Hidetsugu's Second Rite got me completely from nowhere.
Round 3(2-1): Close one(had to burn myself of fear of round 2, then peeked at his hand and there was Hidetsugu's Second Rite). Slith Firewalker + Reckless Charge x2 got him finally.

Game 4:
Versus Cognis. Round 1(1-0): Wasteland to AI's only mana in the game.
Round 2(2-0). Early Countryside Crusher + Burn was the key.

Game 5:
Versus aww1979. Round 1(0-1): Didn't have much chance. Big Nyxathids got me at the end.
Round 2(1-1): AI almost got me at the end, but my fast start was the key.
Round 2(1-2): Didn't have much chance. Discard and Nyxathid's got me.

[Cognis]

Aww1979; BR Discard went 1-1.

Match 1 vs Enigma73 Tarmoggedon 2-0.
Game 1: I put 3 Nyxathid in the 3rd round into play. Followed by next round Hymn to Tourach.
Game 2: Turn 1 Hymn to Tourach gets rid off two Wrath of God. Quickly after that two Hypnotic Specter decimated the AI.

Match 2 vs Yggdrasil Vampire 0-2.
Game 1: Mulligan to 6. AI played two Vampire Hexmage on the 1st turn followed by another one. Close match but I lost.
Game 2: I have 2 lands and 3 Rack. Overwhelmed at first but stalled with Hypnotic Specter. Bligthning was to give me victory the next round, then the AI plays Urge to Feed killing my Hypnotic Specter and giving +1/+1 counter to Vampire Hexmage and Gatekeeper of Malakir. On the AI’s turn I’m attacked by 3 vampires for 8 and I’m down at 1. The AI sacked Vampire Hexmage and activated Kalastria Highborn to put me at -1. Nice matchups, very close. Would have one on the next round in both games. I like the deck. It should have gone far. This matchup was worthy of Match 10.


Brandon; Redforce went 1-1.

Match 1 vs Jatill Zookiler 2-0.
Nice match altogether. Hidetsugu's Second Rite won the 2nd game.

Match 2 vs Kakodrilo Burn 0-2.
Game 1: A very close match. AI was down to 2 but was able to clench the victory with a better topdeck.
Game 2: Another close match but the AI played surprisingly well. It bided its time and when I thought I was going to win with Hidetsugu's Second Rite it fired a bunch of burn spells and sent me well into negative life. A fun deck but unfortunately lost the battle of the burn.


Salbei; Stall went 10-0.

Match 1 vs Brandon Redforce 2-1.
Game 1: Had 4 Baneslayer Angel in hand when Wheel of Fortune made me discard them but I got 3 Control Magic, Black Lotus and 3 fetch lands then drew another one. I stabilized and was down at 10 when AI played Hidetsugu's Second Rite to finish me but I played Swords to Plowshares on my Mulldrifter (which for some reason I like to call muffdiver) to save myself from defeat but next round AI played Disintegrate helped by Mana Flare to dispatch me.
Game 2: Wall of Reverence and Keiga, the Tide Star helped with Time Walk and another Wall of Reverence put on the early pressure. I lost Keiga, the Tide Star but 2 Baneslayer Angel finished the job. I finished at 59 life.
Game 3: Stalled with Wall of Reverence. Keiga, the Tide Star and another 2 Wall of Reverence helped me finish at 69. This was a bad matchup, had to use Path to Exile to fetch lands.

Match 2 vs Nyktorian Bant 2-1.
Game 1: Nice match but I stalled and finished at 60.
Game 2: Had to mulligan to 4 cards which were 3 lands and Control Magic. Had to keep the hand and proceeded to draw another 3 lands. Needles to say I lost, although just barely.
Game 3: AI had no lands until turn 5 because it doesn’t mulligan.

Match 3 vs Enigma73 Tarmoggedon 2-1.
Game 1: Control Magic on Terravore after Armaggedon. Then AI started topdecking. First saved by Balance, then by Wrath of God, then by Swords to Plowshares but there was no stopping the 3rd Baneslayer Angel that entered the field.
Game 2: AI played 2 Armaggedon with 4 Tarmogoyf and 2 Terravore.
Game 3: Nice match, but stalled and won.

Match 4 vs Nyktorian Bant 2-0.

Match 5 vs Schreben TinyAngryMen 2-1.
Game 1: I played Balance which cleared the field and our hands then topdecking helped with card draw ability gave me victory.
Game 2: Mana screw.
Game 3: Strip Mine to mana screw AI. AI removed 3 Baneslayer Angel but took control of Figure of Destiny and Tawnos's Coffin on Kavu Predator gave me victory.

Match 6 vs Jatill Zookiller 2-0.
Game 1: Lured the AI into removing a creature 5 times and then proceeded to save it with Tawnos's Coffin.
Game 2: I have 4 Control Magic in hand and all the creatures have shroud >:( But then AI Control Magic on Mulldrifter and I take it back together with AI’s Baneslayer Angel. AI stalled me and played very few spells. I’m down at 7 cards in my library and 3 of those are Baneslayer Angel. AI is down at 2. 4 cards left, 2 of which are Baneslayer Angel. 3 angels attack and do some damage. Left with 2 cards, one of those is Baneslayer Angel. I finished with 319 life. This deck might use Felidar Sovereign or Test of Endurance as an alternative win condition because some matches just last forever.

Match 7 vs Stroggi Swift 2-0.

Match 8 vs Shantak Tramp 2-0.
Game 1: Had to mulligan to 5 cards. I was down at 1 life but Baneslayer Angel and Tawnos’s Coffin kept me alive. AI finished with 0 cards in its library because of Oath of Druids when I took it down to negative life. A very nice match.
Game 2: AI had 3 Oath of Druids in hand but didn’t want to play them, probably because of the last matchup. Then AI proceeded without playing moxes or anything else. It only played Berserk on my Baneslayer Angel which I saved with Tawnos’s Coffin after it hit for 10 life.

Match 9 vs Schreben TinyAngryMen 2-0.

Match 10 vs Yggdrasil Vampire 2-0.
Two surprisingly quick wins. This deck is great but it took me forever to finish the gauntlet. I just hope other decks are faster or I’ll be playing this gauntlets till next year.

[Brandon822]

Playing with Cognis_BR_Aggro. Best of three.

Game 1:
Versus Thedrigo_WWeenie. Round 1(0-1): I only could stall AI's creatures. Reveillark got me in the end.
Round 2(0-2): I didn't have real chanche this round either. Reveillark got me again. AI used Ajani Goldmane quite well.

[Nyktorion]

I just went 10-0 with scherbchen's deck:

1) Brandon (2-0)
2) Shantak (2-0)
3) aww1979 (2-0)
4) Brandon (2-0)
5) thedrigo (2-1)
6) juzamjedi (2-1)
7) aww1979 (2-0)
karodrilo (2-1)
9) aww1979 (2-0)
10) thedrigo (2-0)

Notable games:

- In the very first game, I keep a rather floody hand with a Baneslayer Angel. However, Blood Moon and Wheel of Fortune then cripple me. Luckily, I had a basic Plains, and he played Mana Flare, so I had two white mana to play a little stuff. When I finally draw Figure of Destiny (which quickly becomes 8/8 und Mana Flare and Blood Moon), I win.

- In the first game against thedrigo, I only have 2 mana sources for the entire game. A Black Lotus allows me to power out a Baneslayer Angel, but when it was plowshared, I was defenseless and lost.

- The first game against juzamjedi was also lost due to still being limited to 1 mana after mulliganing down to 4.

- In the last game against juzamjedi, I could put up some nice pressure in the beginning. Just before he died, the assault is stopped by two Baneslayers played in subsequent turns. I thought I had no chance to win now, until I noticed that the Baneslayers' lifelink ability pumped up my Kavu Predator, which decided the game in my favor, after all.

- In the second game against karodrilo, I was again limited to two mana, with the exception of a Baneslayer powered out with a Black Lotus. He removes it with two burn spells and an (unnecessarily) sacrificed Mogg Fanatic. His Countryside Crusher then beat on me. At the last moment, I got some Kitchen Finks to chump block with, and finally a Swords to Plowshares. Down to 1 life, and with a stalled ground, I started beating him with an 8/8 Figure of Destiny. He then killed me by surprise using a Slith Firewalker's haste, which gave him one more attacker than I had defenders.

- The first game of the finals (against thedrigo) pretty much became a race. He had a Soltari Monk (powered by two Honor of the Pure) on th board, while I had some normal ground creatures. He was winning the damage race, but I could exile his Priest just in time; however, the ground was clogged up now. He then brings a Reveillark into the game, but my Dragonmaster Outcast starts creating Dragon tokens before it can attack (a single attack would have been fatal). I also relied on the AI's stupidity here: in the decisive turn, he playec a Ring of Oblivion, and took... my Kavu Predator! Had he taken my first Dragon token and attacked, he would have won! Still, he got another threat: a Paladin en-Vec (Protection from Red!). My Dragons can finish him before I run out of chump blockers for the Paladin, though.

[Salbei]

Would really prefer a best of three with each deck against each other.
Just sucks that some decks got 10 opportunities to beat someone while others just got 2.

Played fricking twice in 10+ gauntlets

[Stroggoii]

Would really prefer a best of three with each deck against each other.
Just sucks that some decks got 10 opportunities to beat someone while others just got 2.

Played fricking twice in 10+ gauntlets

I agree, some decks are seeing very little play.

By the way, where can I download the .dck's from? how long much time do I have left to play and is there no problem if I don't have video capture?

[Cognis]

Yeah, I didn't meet my or Salbeis deck once. I met yours a few times. Yggdrasil and Enigma73 seem to get most play with me.

[aww1979]

The *.dck files are in a zip file were posted in the thread awhile back, on page 3 or 4 I think. You don't need to bother recording the games; I just did that in case anyone was interested. You do need to record the wins/losses, of course, but that's the only absolute requirement.