Manalink Vintage Competition (winners posted)

[Salbei]

Come on bunny.dck! Make me proud
(the deck is named after my 2 bunnies ^^)

<wall of text inc>

Here is my thoughtprocess while building the Deck:

It was out of a question that due to the point-rating system the AI had to play the deck almost flawless to net some extra points.This was a major factor i kept in mind during the design.
So i went through a couple decks i´ve build a while ago that i knew the AI can play decent.Figured out most are Creature based and came to the conclusion that this was pretty much the Meta.

So to play the Metagame i was looking for either a combo deck or very good Creature hate (The Abyss,Moat etc. but soon found out the AI rather keeps those cards on their hand, so this was not an option anymore).

So it had to be a comboish deck to beat them before they beat me.Belcher was one of my first thoughts - obviously not the standard 2 Land version with the alternate Empty the Warrens kill. The AI just won´t attack with the army of Goblin tokens.So i had to work around that and design something decent enough to get to at least to round 5 in a gauntlet against others and more importantly a deck the AI can play well enough to beat other decks.
Of course i could have made the deck more Belcher heavy, but the main issue was that i can´t tell the AI to get the Belcher over a stupid Sol Ring.

So i went for a aggro/combo hybrid with a few solid Beatsticks + a better matchup against a Human played Control Deck (read: more cheap threats) at the cost of Belcher consistancy.This build also buys some time against most expected Creature Decks and the beasties might draw out a Force of Will here and there.

So the Belcher was set - along with the thin-out-pseudo-engine of Land Grant and the recently unrestricted Crop Rotation. 8 Lands(added 3 Lands after the first playtesting-all mountains for obvious reasons ->Tropical Island is NO Mountain and could ruind my day if the 11th card would be it),5 Moxen,4 Chrome Mox, Sol Ring as the Manabase seems to be solid enough to work around early dual Wastelands and/or a Strip Mine.

Creature Choice was pretty straight forward.Green was set (Landgrant/Crop Rotation) prolly won´t have much mana available so 3 mana should be tops. Tarmogoyf was an auto-include.
Tattermunge Maniac was great as a turn 1 drop - might save a goyf from Edict + its also a great imprint on Chrome Mox.Also this guy means a lot of buisness to Manascrewed people or Decks that start at CC4+.

Nimble Mongoose was there to be a pain against burn decks (expected at least 1),although the draw 7 spells would most likly kill me - Goyf + Mongoose should be a showstopper against burn.
The Covetous Dragon (s) are a semi optimal choice i have to admit - but i needed a quick game ender (with evasion) in case i don´t see any Belchers early enough. This choice might have cost me a couple games.

Filled it up with Restricted Goodieness and thats pretty much it.I was very aware that the draw 7 spells might backfire very hard, but the low manacurve hopefully nets me enough pressure on the board (creatures) to stall at least 2 rounds to activate a Belcher.

After a few games i ran into one of my Decks with a couple Blood Moon effects - didn´t hurt me at all and i´ve started to think about adding them to the deck when i realized how many times i´ve scooped to that card. Originaly i´ve played Magus of the Moon for a Gauntlet just to figure out that they are way to easy to get rid of.So Blood Moon it was.One of the last changes i´ve made to the Deck was adding Manamorphosis (mainly because of the Blood Moon) + its always good to play a virtual 56 card deck.

So i went through a 50game Gauntlet TWICE like a Hot Knife through butter and was quite happy with the result.But this doesn´t mean the AI can play it...

Then i´ve tested a couple aggro based decks (played by myself) against the Deck to see how the AI handles the interactions.Just made like 10 games with all kinds of Decks and the AI got lucky quite often - so i was happy with the result and submitted the deck without tweaking it any further (still 5 days left to tweak, but didn´t have much time spare so it had to be either this version or none).

couple AI flaws i have to live with:
i´ve tried to keep the known bad interactions out of the deck and even had to remove superior cards
-AI keeping Moxen on their hand even if they could play additional spells with them.
-unbelievable bad timing with draw 7 spells
-Belcher activation wasted on creatures (this flaw was the main reason i´ve included Creatures myself - let Belcher clear the path so its at least a bit usefull and might end the game this way)

AI flaws "abused"
knowing how the AI handles Combat i´ve tried to use it as an advantage aswell
-ai HAS to attack with Tattermunge Maniac (con aswell but usually you are making an early crap vs quality trade, fine for me)
-ai won´t attack with the Goyf when blockers would kill him - means he will hold the ground and buying me time.

decks i´ve expected to play against:
Tier2:
Sligh (Weenie+burn)
Goblins (well Goblins duh!)
Burn (straight forward burn to face)
Sui Black (can theoreticly beat any deck)
Zoo (fast semi-big creatures mixed with removal)
Homebrew Control (Wrath of God,Damnation,Maze of Ith,Force of Will)

Tier3
Merfolk (ai sucks playing it)
Stompy (just a bad deck)
Slivers (wrath effects just pwn this deck - so prolly no)

Literally forgot about affinity and didn´t think anybody would actually WANT to play staxx with all these creature decks around (beat down> staxx).
Pretty much the same for Control decks.The AI just can´t play them well enough.
"Fish" is a metagame Deck to beat Control and Combo, but is fragile against Creatures - so i will definatly not see this (and god do i hate Daze).


So i guess i was amazingly accurate with my prognosis, but unfortunatly the magic gods don´t want the bunny deck to take it home

[scherbchen]

well the problem with sliver decks are not wrath effects but that the AI is so terrible at protecting the good slivers (and doing combat math) just as the AI is terribly bad at evaluating the value of a creature. trading Virulent Sliver for anything is just plain bad. attacking for 3 in the air because your 3 1/3 slivers fly is just plain bad if you get hit for 10 on the ground next turn.

wrath ain't got nothing to do with it. anything other than power/toughness or evasion the AI will ignore. of course a deck like slivers will either get the nut draw or fall prey to 101010000011010111

[discoransom]

Now that the decks are all in I'll divulge the best deck Goblins, and I think it's not even close. The card advantage over Zoo is overwhelming, and the AI plays the deck well enough to beat zoo about 1/4, maybe 1/3 of the time. I didn't want to run Goblins myself because it's been done to death and requires no deck building ability- everyone is smart enough to pick the right goblins.

I noticed that everyone clearly put a bit of effort into making meta decisions in their builds, which is cooler than "Goblins Just Freakin Win".

[discoransom]

4 more results, all of them quick ones.

Warrior Stompy

1. 2-0 vs Quirion

Armadillo Cloak races well

2. 0-2 loss vs STAX

Golems early followed by spheres were too much to handle


Slivers

1. 2-0 vs yggdrasil aggro

Winged Sliver was an all star in both games

2. 1-2 loss vs Nyktorion Zoo

Lots of Slivers came down, but got one-for-oned, and no Crystalline Sliver this match


Haterator

1. 0-2 loss to Nyktorion Zoo

Lords got removed even after Blood Moon and Counters. Just lots and lots of removal.


STAX

1. 2-0 vs yggdrasil aggro

Not close.

2. 2-0 vs yggdrasil aggro (2)

Su-Chi and the gang came out real quick in both games and opponent got locked out with spheres game two.

3. 1-2 loss vs Juzam Zoo

Losses were just brutal- Zoo hit every land drop and kept pace with spheres to hit all its removal. Nothing STAX could do about it.


I'm bad luck right now so I'm stopping for the evening

[juzamjedi]

My results tonight were interesting. Tonight's lesson: put in cards the AI can play well, but give your own deck enough ways that you can outsmart the AI in the mirror. Since, you know, you'll probably have to play the mirror. Imperial Zoo really hit the mark here.

Imperial Zoo 10-0. This deck has a ton of synergies that you notice after playing. Kor Skyfisher returning Reveillark is pretty sweet (and happened a couple times in Zoo mirrors). Kor Skyfisher + Imperial Recruiter = lots of cheap flyers. Mox Monkey was a great tutor target. At times I wished there was a Grim Lavamancer target though. I love Bob too glad he was there to tutor. And obv. Jitte = game over for most AI opponents (mirror or otherwise).

Warrior Stompy 1-1. Lost to Cognis. Both the games I lost were reasonable keeps, but he stuck 1 (maybe 2?) early creatures, countered all my early drops and proceeded to crush me. I did steal 1 win with Sarkhan Vol.

Juzamjedi Zoo 2-1. Lost to Juzamjedi Zoo. It was a long, ugly attrition war. AI got Ancestral Recall in both of its wins which is one of the few ways to get ahead in this mirror (Dark Confidant dies too much)

Karodrilo 2-1. Lost to Karodrilo. One of the games AI got an early Hymn to Tourach that blew me out of threats. The game I won was turn 1 Hypnotic Specter turn 2 Hymn to Tourach. The deciding game was a fun gamble. I kept a hand that powered out turn 1 Hypnotic Specter and Hymn, but only had 1 Mox for permanent mana. AI goes Swamp, Paralyze, and I don't recover

[juzamjedi]

Note: Salbei is right Magus of the Moon is very fragile. Tip when you are playing Zoo decks: in response to Magus on the stack you can float white mana. Then you set a phase stop so you keep priority and send that Magus farming.

[Brandon822]

Thanks to everybody who is reporting. This sure is fun.

About my deck(GreenForce):
- Build it with more heart than brains.
- I expected lots of flyers so thats why 4 efreets and I have seen AI using them pretty well. Sometimes burning to victory or to kill more bigger creatures.
- I should have used Terra Stomper instead of Force of Nature as suggested.
- Only one Berserk. Was restricted about 15 years ago. Should have updated my knowledge
- And mainly should have updated my creatures to more better. Like archers to Tarmogoyfs as suggested.
- Expected lots of blue thats why the snakes. Should probably put 4 there instead of 2.
- Maybe more Garruks too. Had only 1.

Some other notes:
- I saw first time Tarmogoyfs in action. Yep, should have CC something like 1GG.
- Very few flyers in anyones deck.
- Nobody used white or black(Black in one deck only?). White was only for removal spells. Actually I am quite okay with that I didn't have to see any White weenies(or goblins).
- Garbelcher was fun to see in action. First time I saw it was when I played one casual game against it with JuzamDeck(?) and got 24 vs 2 ahead in lifepoints. Next AI turn: Kaboom! and I'm at -22.
- Can we restrict Tarmogoyfs in future
- The deck with Imperial Recruiters was most fun to play.

We definetly should have more of these tornaments in future!

[Nyktorion]

I have 4 more results.

Imperial Zoo by discoransom went 6-1:

Salbei (two quick wins, in both matches, the AI made suboptimal moves. First game, AI played a badly timed Wheel of Forune, second game, AI imprinted Blood Moon into a Chrome Mox when it could have badly screwed me by just playing it): 2-0
stax (First game, Trinisphere + Golem + Amethyst manascrewed me with 3 lands. In both of the next two games, it still managed to lock me, but not until I had enough stuff on the table to finish the job): 2-1
mirror match (In both games, I just applied m removal more efficiently. Particularly in the second game, the AI got badly screwed by my Jitte): 2-0
Salbei again (Two rather easy wins. Note: in both games, I got Gaddock Teeg out very quickly, which immediately shut down Salbei's most dangerous win condition): 2-0
thedrigo Zoo (both games were decided by early big Goyfs on my side): 2-0
juzamjedi Zoo (heavy removal used on both sides in both games. However, in both games, I somehow was the first to keep a non-removed creature): 2-0
warrior stompy (First game, AI got manascrewed. Second game, Armadillo Cloak won the game for the AI. Third game, I feeled forced to take a rather weak hand after mulliganing to 5, and just fell behind.): 1-2

Evil Clone's Warrior Stompy deck managed to win all 10 games:

Imperial Zoo (First game, I won thanks to Armadillo Cloak. Second game, I had to mulligan to 5, and then got hit particularly hard by removal. I even managed to stall that game a little in the end, but Revillark finished it for good. Third game was an easy win, though): 2-1
jatill slivers (two straightforward wins. In particular, one of these games showed again that the AI does not know anything about Death Touch): 2-0
Green Force (two wins powered by Armadillo Cloak again): 2-0
Aggro BG (First game was an easy win. Second game, I had to mulligan to 4, and the few things I had left were hit by removal. Third game was a win again; in that game, I noticed that Sarkhan Vol is particularly effective against Ravenous Baloth): 2-1
blue4u (two straightforward wins. Note: in one game, AI blocked a Rancored Tattermunge Maniac (4/1) with a Tinkered Platinum Angel, leading to an exchange of the two creatures - ouch!): 2-0
awwfinity (First game, AI got manascrewed. Second game, AI pumped out many early big artifact creatures, as you would expect from affinity, and won. Third game, he got some early fatties, too, but this time they were too few.): 2-1
Green Force (two straightforward wins): 2-0
Aggro BG (First game, his combination of creatures and removal hit me too hard. Second game, it hit less hard, and I won. Third game was very interesting: on both sides, many threats get removed. Sarkhan Vol was clearly the gamewinner here, when he first made a Ravenous Baloth selfdestruct, and then attacked the AI with its Vampire Nighthawk, which it blocked with its Visara, the Dreadful!): 2-1
Imperial Zoo (two straightforward wins): 2-0
Quirion (two straightforward wins): 2-0

Juzamjedi's Zoo deck managed to get 10 victories in a row, as well!

Haterator (First game, AI locked out itself with a Magus of the Moon: I had a Mox Diamond as a countermeasure, the AI did not have anything. Second game, I just had an explosive start): 2-0
Aggro BG (Twice, I just win at the classical creature + removal game): 2-0
karodrilo juzam (First game was a quick win for me. Second game, he had a quick start with a specter, which my removal could take care of. After my Wheel of Fortune, I could overwhelm him): 2-0
Quirion (two quick wins for me): 2-0
Imperial Zoo (First game, he has a quicker start than me, but the card advantage given by my Bob quickly turned the game around. Second game, an early big Goyf won for me): 2-0
Aggro BG (First game decided by the card advantage given by two Bobs. Second game, AI had the better start, but finally I stabilised with my own removal and creatures, and won): 2-0
Aggro BG again (this time, I won twice quickly): 2-0
Salbei (First game, I managed to build a good advantage on the board. However, the Belcher finished me just in time. Second game, I overran him, Third game, I had to defend against his early big Goyfs. I managed to stabilise and turn the game around, though): 2-1
karodrilo juzam (First game, heavy removal was used on both sides. In the end, a Juzam Djinn remained on his side, which finished me with him at 1 life. in both of the next two games, an eary Ancestral Recall + Dark Confidant gave me enough cards to overwhelm him): 2-1
Quirion (two quick wins): 2-0

Finally, karodrilo's Juzam deck went 6-1:

jatill slivers (two powerful starts finished these games quickly): 2-0
blue4u (again, two nice starts. In the second game, he had assembled the Vault+Key combo, but he did not use it for the 2 or 3 turns I needed to kill him!): 2-0
blue4u (two more wins with nice starts): 2-0
Quirion (two slower games. Still, in both I managed to slowly but steadily kill him while removing his creatures): 2-0
Quirion (First game went similar to the last two games. In the second game, he managed to build up a dangerous Quirion Dryad and an even more dangerous Lorescale Coatl. I managed to stall on the ground until a Hypnotic Specter finished the game): 2-0
Quirion (sic!) (First game was another standard win. Second game, I had a quick Specter, but no other creatures followed. Two Mongooses with Threshold managed to win the race against the Specter. Third game, I won again): 2-1
juzamjedi Zoo (With Dark Ritual and Black Lotus, I managed to get out a quick Juzam Djinn and Hypnotic Specter. However, I was in manascrew afterwards, the Juzam got plowshared, and the Specter was too slow for the zoo creature hordes. Second game, I won a close game with lots of creatures and removal on both sides. In the end, a Juzam remained on my side, and a big Goyf on the AI side, I won with 3 life left. Third game, a fast Dark Confidant made the AI overwhelm me pretty easily): 1-2

[Cognis]

Juzam Jedi Zoo went 4-1.

Round 1: 2-0 vs Karodrilo Juzam

Round 2: 2-0 vs mirror. Game 1 I had 1 land for mox diamond, lots of removal and tarmogyf. Won with no lands Game 2 I also had no lands but was able to stabilize later on. AI played Wheel of fortune and no creatures after that although it's hand was full with them. A victory because of horrible AI.

Round 3: 2-0 vs scherbchen blue4u. Game 2 turn 1 2x Dark confidant. It was over quickly after that

Round 4: 2-0 vs Quirion

Round 5: 1-2 vs Jatill Haterator. Game 1 Magus of the moon dominated followed up with Force of will. Game 2 won with a very aggressive hand. Game 3 again lost to Magus of the moon early on.

Yggdrasil's Aggro BG went 6-1

Round 1: 2-0 vs thedrigo zoo. Game 1 Visara the dreadful dominated. Game 2 was aggro

Round 2: 2-0 vs scherbchen blue4u. Game 2 Scute mob got real big.

Round 3: 2-0 vs juzamjedi zoo

Round 4: 2-1 vs awwfinity. Game 1 lost to Broodstar and 4 Myr enforcers. Game 2 controlled with 3 Gatekeeper of Malakir. Game 3 turn 2 Maelstorm pulse to kill 2 Su chi.

Round 5: 2-0 vs thedrigo zoo

Round 6: 2-0 vs quirion. Scute mob made the difference both times

Round 7: 1-2 vs jatill slivers. Game 1 was controlled by Crystaline sliver, but after it hit Vampire nighthawk, 2 Maelstorm pulse cleared the table. Game 2 slivers flew over and poisoned me. Game 3 turn 1 Might sliver, add two Daze to that and you have a turn 4 kill.



I've been trying to play Schrebens Blue4U deck and it's fun but Helm of obedience doesn't work all the time. After I overwrite all files with the ones in the update Helm works, but after each match I have to do it again which sometimes doesn't work. I want to run the deck through the gauntlet and it would be a waste not to be able to play it to its full potential.

[discoransom]

Three more results:


JuzamJedi Zoo went 3-1

Win over Blue4u, Nyktorion Zoo, and Greenforce

Loss to STAX


Kakodrilo Juzam went 2-1

Win over Quirion and Monty Muck

Loss to Yggdrasil Aggro


Nyktorion Zoo went the full 10-0

Wins over Monty Muck (x3), Awwfinity (x2), Kakodrilo Juzam (x2), Quirion, JuzamJedi Zoo, and thedrigo Zoo


sorry no match reports, but all decks were fun and made for very interesting games. Nyktorion Zoo is cleaning up on my card, with STAX and Yggdrasil Aggro next. Still need to run yggrdasil, thedrigo zoo, and Blue4u.

[Yggdrasil]

My first report.
I play best of 1 matches (wish I could play best of 3 but not sure I'll have enough time this w-e)

Aww1979 - 5 wins
1 Yggradsil (was hot. Fortunately AI wasted 2 gatekeepers of Malakir)
2 JuzamJedi (AI played very bad)
3 Thedrigo (powerful finish !!! AI's life was -57)
4 slivers (easy win)
5 Cognos
6 Kakodrilo - LOSE (sorry Aww1979, that was my mistake. Miscalculated the total damage, failed to kill the opponent by 1 point and be killed the next turn. Shame on me )

Thedrigo - 5 wins
1 EvilClone
2 stax
3 Cognos (AI was very weak)
4 haterator
5 Aww1979 (was lucky, started with a killswitch)
6 Nyktorian - LOSE (never had the tempo, AI played the right card everytime)


greenforce - 4 wins
1 Yggdrasil
2 Salbei (I had a very quick start, AI couldn't match)
3 Salbei (platinum angel saved my life ^^)
4 Cognos (synergy might of the oaks/berserk won the game)
5 stax LOSE (impressive start from AI : turn 1 lodestone golem, turn 2 another golem + sphere of resistance. I had only forests, no mox nor lotus, I couldn't play any card)

Salbei - 2 wins
1 haterator (Covetous Dragon did the work)
2 JuzamJedi (charbelcher rulz)
3 Slivers - LOSE (had to mulligan, sacrifice a black lotus to be countered by the AI, and finally surrounded by slivers)

JuzamJedi - 10 wins
1 greenforce (AI wasted a berserk)
2 Disco (turned into a trench warfare, wheel of fortune saved my life, and AI ceased to play in the end)
3 greenforce
4 Yggrasil (AI was short of lands)
5 haterator (AI played very badly)
6 JuzamJedi
7 Aww1979 (had to mulligan twice but AI had a worst hand than mine)
8 stax (exiled two lodestone golem)
9 Thedrigo (a fastidious game, two much removal on both sides)
10 EvilClone

[scherbchen]

2 more in

Warrior Stompy

4 wins versus
slivers
stax (Maniac slips through AI's first turn Lodestone Golem and races him for the win)
thedrigo zoo
affinity (dragons, whoohoo!)

loss to
yggdra BG

Yggdra Aggro BG

4 wins versus
juzam jedi zoo
warrior stompy
thedrigo zoo
green force

loss versus
warrior stompy rematch. LOSS due to a misplay on my part and a lucky top-deck for the AI. sorry. fun deck to play, though.

[aww1979]

6 Kakodrilo - LOSE (sorry Aww1979, that was my mistake. Miscalculated the total damage, failed to kill the opponent by 1 point and be killed the next turn. Shame on me )

No worries. It balances out the game I screwed up with his deck :p

[juzamjedi]

Last night Nyktorian Zoo went 10-0. The basic lands + Figure of Destiny saved my bacon against Blood Moon effects. The Stax game I played was VERY close, I stole a win with Qasali Pridemage blocking one attacker + killing a second attacker and my next attack killed the AI.

Actually, I played two other decks last night also, but it seems that I did not save those results on my spreadsheet so I will have to replay them.

[thedrigo]

Hey Awww, is there any way to slow down the videos? My DivX Player plays them super fast and I can't see any of your comments! Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any help...