June Tournament (tournament complete; scherbchen1 wins)

[Salbei]

Round 1
Match E:
Cognis vs Monopoman

playing as Cognis

2 early Tarmogoyfs + 2 Wild Nacatl just overran the Goblins.Bloodbraid Elf into Path to Exile finished the game a turn earlier.
1-0

simmilar to game 1 just a Kitchenfinks instead of a Nacatl and a bit more resistance. A couple 1/1 and 2/2s shouldn´t fight 4/5+ goyfs or Kitchen Finks.
2-0

note: nice and easy - superior creatures > slow AI swarm

---

playing as Monopoman

couldn´t get more than 1 goblin in play - nothing survived my EOT step. 2 Nacatl i couldn´t efficiently answer took me below 10 and as soon as Tarmogoyf hit play i was out of the game.Even Siege Gang Commander couldn´t help.After i´ve stabelized at 2 life (lol) the AI played Kor Skyfischer.
0-1

AI played 2 Skyfischer as their first creaturs. got a lucky draw and got 2 matrons while warchief is in play. fetched 2 Goblin piledrivers and won with a single attack.
1-1

got a solid swarming going . the problem is the ai played 3 Kitchen Finks turn after turn.After they where all gone AI was at 13 life and played a Wall of Reverence + Scute Mob with enough lands in play.Topdecked Matron, fetched for Incinerator to get rid of Scute mob.Couple turns later i got another Matron and could get rid of the Wall of Reverence.In the meantime Wild Nacatl stops me from attacking - i only draw land for a couple turns and nothing happens.Bushwhacker from the top + 2x Price of Progress finally seal the game.
2-1

Note: i was Manaflooded all 3 games. may want to cut 2-3 lands.Interesting attempt at Goblins (lots of tutors) to solve problematic situations, worked out well.But i doubt the AI would play it smart enough.

result
Cognis 2 wins, 1 AI win
Monopoman 2 wins, 0 AI win

analysis:
should be a favorable match for Cognis. Although i never got an explosive start off with the Goblin deck which it should be capable off,i didn´t want to mulligan aggressive because the opponent got superior creatures and starting with 1-2 cards less would be fatal. Felt like 1 card of Cognis was worth 2.5 of Monopoman almost every time.

[scherbchen1]

Match A:

as juzamjedi:

keep a hand with 3 mountains, wasteland, Vial and 2 goblins. AI plays Sensei's Divining Top x2 but never uses them in the first 5 turns. a Piledriver shows up making it 3 hasty goblins versus a lone Wall of Omens. AI clears the board with Wrath and drops 2 Baneslayers back to back while I continue to draw Mountain after Mountain. I really should have mulliganed and take the blame for this loss.

game 2 I keep a low mana hand and get set back a bit by 3 Walls and one Wrath but Ringleaders, Matrons and Lackeys just keep piling on the pressure while the AI helps out by netting me get basic lands.

game 3 has more hasty goblin goodness and the AI helping me get mana while the Aether Vial tries to keep up pounding out Ringleaders. cycled Gempalm takes care of a Baneslayer and it is gg.

playing as serbitar:

keep 3 lands, 1 global removal, 2 sword and a Baneslayer. AI does not put on a lot of pressure. Angels win. having my Wasteland be Wastelanded hurt, though.

game 2: again no pressure from the AI to speak of. turn 3 warchief, turn 4 Incinerator and lackey... remove the important parts and clutter the ground with Elspeth, reset the board, don't play wastelands in case of mountainwalk.... just a matter of time then. martial coup with indestructible tokens in play in order to speed things up.

match B:

playing as myself:

brainstorm 2 lands away for a second turn oracle bonus land, have Force to pitch Progenitus to, having the Primus in hand kinda stinks, though. Force an early Bitterblossom to hold off a bit of pressure and shuffle the Progenitus back into my library (whished that worked with the Primus) bit stuck on mana while the AI plays Phyrexian Arena. get to trade my Finks with a Nighthawk to prevent lifegain and sac the persistant Finks to Natural Order. no blue card to Force the Damnation, meh. play Garruk and make a token with the lone Spike Feeder in hand and nothing on the board for the AI save the Phyrexian Arena. Plan B then. 2 tokens get corrupted and I somewhat grudgingly force a Meekstone. plan B takes longer than plan A. plan B also only works due to a hardcast Primus and the Weaver fogging for three turns.

before that something weird happens, though. my tripple-blocked Woodfall Primus dies and I get three copies back. for a moment I grin but this is not the way the card is supposed to work. I kill Sorin with the legit copy and two of my forests with the other two and use debug to kill the extra copies. wouldn't have mattered but I did not want the AI to go into concede-mode.

game 2 is a surprisingly long game with Damnations, Control Magic, lots of drainspells by the AI, little critters dying, and Jace on heavy duty, finally going ultimate while I kill with an exalted Coiling Oracle. was certain I would lose this one.

as Salbei:

keeping 3 Swamp, Arena, 2 Damnation and Corrupt. first oracle for the AI reveals Progenitus which is good. stall with tendrils. first Damnation gets Force but it doesn't matter. draw extra cards, drain lots of life. win

game 2 keep swamp x4, arena, nantuko and Nighthawk knowing that my deck will give me some time if it has NO. nighthawk gets the Force but Arena (played before) sticks. I draw into not much but Meekstone comes off the top the turn the AI plays NO (turn 4 or 5). I get whacked into single digits. but the second Nighthawk prevails and makes the fight between his Garruk and my freshly drawn Sorin decidedly unfair. alas, the AI plays another NO getting the second Progenitus (did not know it actually does that) with me at 5 life. I was counting on the fast win and charged a Nantuko into the opponent expecting his single beast to attack my planeswalker the next turn. doesn't matter, though. got a Tendrils for 7 life, a Sorin and a Nighthawk. end the turn at 16 life me to 11 for the AI. the Progenitus beats Sorin into a pulp and the skies are clear for a win. Kitchen Finks merely prolong it.

scherbchen +2 points
salbei +2 points
serbita +2 points
juzamjedi +1 point

[Yggdrasil]

Juzamjedi defeats Serbitar AI 2-0 (Juzamjedi +2 pts)
Serbitar defeats Juzamjedi AI 2-0 (Serbitar +2 pts)

Juzamjedi
Round 1 : there was a strange bug after summoning a Goblin Ringleader with Aether Vial. I had only 4 cards in hand but I had to discard at the end of my turn like if I have 8. AI interrupt my assaults with a wrath of god, but the goblin army was easy to cast again.
Round 2 : a quick win although AI had tons of removal.


Serbitar
Round 1 : 2 early walls of Omens and several removals hold the goblins, while a flying boosted soldier killed AI little by little.
Round 2 : a long fight. A monstrous goblin army killed 3 consecutive Elspeth. I used 2 wrath and one X=5 martial coup but AI managed to recompose its army everytime. Finaly a baneslayer came from heaven and won the match.


The scores are equals but it was a little more difficult to win with Serbitar's deck.

[Yggdrasil]

Salbei defeats Scherbchen AI 2-1 (Salbei +1 pts)
Scherbchen defeats Salbei AI 2-0 (Scherbchen +2 pts)

Salbei
Round 1 – LOST. had to mulligan, chose to start with 4 lands and... never draw one more ! Was stuck with 2 Sorin and 1 Corrupt in hand while AI brainstormed a lot with Jace's ability. A damnation saved me time but after that AI stole my Nantuko Shade and it was the end.
Round 2 – WIN. AI played a turn 3 progenitus by sacrificing a Hierarch. Hopefully I had a damnation in hand and topdecked my 4th swamp in my next turn (pure luck ). Next turn I draw a meekstone and the game was over.
Round 3 – WIN. I chose to start with only 1 land but with a precious meekstone in hand (25 lands in the deck, it should be OK). 2 force of will countered my early nighthawk and Shade. Finally meekstone was useless, 2 damnation wiped out the 2 progenitus.



Scherbchen
Round 1 - I used a force of will against a turn 1 meekstone and I had to cast a control magic on a faerie in order to protect my Jace. There was another meekstone countered, I brainstormed, and brainstormed again... I believed AI will kill himself with its bitterblossom and then, finally, I topdecked a Natural Order and the round was over.
Round 2 – easy win, AI was land short. 2 Bitterblossom and 1 Shade were no match against a beast-maker Garruk and a Kitchen Finks.



The 4 decks I played so far are impressive. I'm happy to be in the second half of the board.

[scherbchen1]

Juzamjedi
Round 1 : there was a strange bug after summoning a Goblin Ringleader with Aether Vial. I had only 4 cards in hand but I had to discard at the end of my turn like if I have 8.

hasty goblins added Vial counters in my games. very odd indeed.

[Yggdrasil]

Jatill defeats Aww1979_Cuddles AI 2-0 (Jatill +2 pts)
Aww1979_Cuddles was defeated by Jatill AI 1-2 (Jatill +3 pts)

Jatill
Round 1 : I had progenitus first
Round 2 : same

Aww1979_Cuddles
Round 1 - LOST : Started with 2 forests, a magus, a noble hierarch and a natural order in hand (and a naturalize and 2 crossroads). Wonderful hand ! But my Noble magus was exiled in the first turn (which gave me my third land anyway), my hierarch was sworded the next turn (but I draw a mangoose, so my green sacrificial creature was here) , and... I draw no more mana sources.
Finally AI had progenitus first and won the round.
Round 2 - WIN : I really wanted a Natural Order in my starting hand. I mulligan 3 time in vain, then I kept my 4-cards hand (with a mangoose and a drop of honey, not perfect but not so bad in a Natural-Order-first-drawed battle). So the drawing quest began. The Drop of Honey methodically destroyed all the green creatures controlled by AI and -miracle !- I finally draw THE card. I naturely ordered a Progenitus. Next turn, AI put its 6th land and summoned a wall of blossoms, then cast immediately Natural Order and chose... a Simic Sky Swallower ! Stupid AI, I won 2 turn later.
Round 3 - LOST : Started with a natural order and 2 creatures (an elf and a tarmo) in hand, good. Hmmm... Will I choose to summon the elf in turn 2 and try the natural order in turn 3 ? Or will I wait until I have 5 manas ? I tried the elf on turn 2 => AI sworded it. Ok, I'll keep the tarmo in hand until I have enough lands for playing tarmo and natural order in a row. I draw useless cards (no creatures) then put my 4th land, but next turn AI cast its progenitus first ! I put my tarmo in play, AI sworded it. I draw another tarmo, AI exiled it. And finally I lose.


Jatill and Aww made 2 another powerful decks. Natural Order + Progenitus is really a frightening sinergy. The key in this duel was the presence of a numerous removals in Jatill's deck.
Perhaps I should have play differently with Aww1979's, not focusing on having natural order first, but instead starting with a drop of honey in hand.



Edit - @ Scherbchen : you made me laugh twice.

having my Wasteland be Wastelanded hurt, though.

and

I kill with an exalted Coiling Oracle.

An unexpected way to win, I presume?

Edit 2 - you too Salbei

AI plays + activaes Pernicious Deed , destroying all its 4/4 Dragon Tokens + Piper along with my hardcasted Elvish Spirit Guide - nice trade AI

[aww1979]

Bracket B:
salbei vs scherbchen AI 2-0 (salbei +2 pts)
scherbchen vs salbei AI 2-0 (scherbchen +2 pts)

I lost the video for game 1 and half of 2 when I was using salbei's deck due to camstudio crash, and of course that was the most exciting game :p

Match 1 (as salbei)
Game 1: Don't remember much, except AI got manascrewed for a couple turns, and that I won easily. 1-0
Game 2: Used Damnation to kill Progenitus and friends, and a Meekstone kept the Finks tapped. Two Corrupt to the head sealed AI's fate 2-0

Match 2 (as scherbchen)
Game 1: I get Natural Order in opening hand, and Progenitus on turn 3, but Damnation kills it before it attacks. I 'chump' Nantuko Shade with Kitchen Finks, but AI foolishly doesn't pump it, and then drops Damnation again, which was premature. Garruk starts making Beasts, and I get Jace out. AI prefers to attack Garruk instead of Jace with Bitterblossom faerie tokens, which is fine, since I have another Garruk in hand :p AI plays Sorin Markov, kills my 3/2 Finks, giving me a 2/1 Finks that laughs at Meekstone. (the first time I have EVER seen AI use sorin on anything but me directly, and it was a dumb play :p) AI then never uses sorin again all game. I draw Fact or Fiction, get another Fact or Fiction, and I end up with pretty much everything this deck has either in play or hand, except Natural Order :p The win comes a few turns later, even without Progenitus. 1-0
Game 2: My first hand isn't that great, but I have Brainstorm and Wall of Blossoms, so I'm hoping it gets good. I draw Natural Order with Brainstorm and grin. I discard my extra Progenitus to Force of Will a Nantuko Shade, which oddly shuffles my Progenitus into library and exiles my Brainstorm in graveyard instead. (indicating that if the Force of Will exiling can be made to somehow trigger before Progenitus shuffling, this bug will be fixed) Progenitus gets two hits in, but Vampire Nighthawk lifelink and Drain Life has kept it going, and AI topdecks Damnation when at 6 life, so I finish the job with a horde of Kitchen Finks. 2-0

http://rapidshare.com/files/395781495/bracketB.zip.html

[aww1979]

Perhaps I should have play differently with Aww1979's, not focusing on having natural order first, but instead starting with a drop of honey in hand.

No, I'd have done the same. Against jatill, you *need* the Progenitus asap since Drop of Honey can only kill his walls; it cannot target anything with shroud. It might have been a good idea to keep green creatures back in hand so they can't be removed, then slap one down and play Natural Order immediately, but that isn't always an option. AI still gets a window in which to cast removal, but with luck it might be too stupid to take it, or be tapped out. The Cuddles deck could have been made a lot better (I'd have preferred blue over white, but that works too) but I wanted to keep it dead simple for the AI. It was just meant to be a cheapass deck, and I wouldn't even have submitted it except that it had the most AI wins in my playtesting. (Jundinator was 2nd and MalcolmX 3rd, and Jundinator usually beat MalcolmX in testing, so I'm expecting that result in Bracket F)

[monopoman]

I love 3 color decks against mine Price of Progress baby pay for those lands!

Yeah I have yet to be mana flooded with my deck it only has 22 lands and fetches which lower its count a bit as the game goes on.

[Serbitar]

Drop of Honey should not be able to kill shroud creatures, but it can in this version. I killed some Wall of Denials while playing that matchup. I'm not sure, how Protection (in computer game) works with it though.

[Yggdrasil]

Brandon defeats Taron AI 2-0 (Brandon +2 pts)
Taron defeats Brandon AI 2-0 (Taron +2 pts)

Brandon
Round 1 : turn 3 Progenitus
Round 2 : AI played 1 swamp and no more land after that. It discarded a piper and reanimated it, but with no forest... Easy win.

Taron
Round 1 : an early Pernicious deed wiped away all the opponent's little creatures. Then a Lord of Destruction did the job.
Round 2 : same process. Pernicious Dead cleaned the battlefield and a pipered Overlord consumed AI.

No, I'd have done the same. Against jatill, you *need* the Progenitus asap since Drop of Honey can only kill his walls; it cannot target anything with shroud.

Yes, but if Drop of Honey methodically kills all the green walls, AI would be unable to sacrifice a creature with Natural Order, no ? (At least, until AI have enough mana to play a green creature AND Natural Order in the same turn, which give you more time).

[Brandon822]

Bracket C:

aww1979_Cuddles(human) vs Jatill 2-0 (aww1979_Cuddles +2 pts)
Jatill(human) vs aww1979_Cuddles 2-1 (Jatill +1 pts)

Match 1: aww1979_Cuddles(human) vs Jatill
Game 1: I am badly mana flooded(I end up with 13 Forest s). I have 2 Nimble Mongoose in play and AI has 2 Wall of Denial s. Drop Of Honey is killing the rest. I managed to make 12 damage before the second Wall Of Denial. Then AI casts Simic Sky Swallower and starts beating me. I am at four life and AI is at 8. Last possible moment i draw Natural Order and attack with Progenitus and win. Fortunately Concordant Crossroads was in play. 1-0.
Game 2: Third turn Natural Order + Progenitus. 2-0.

Match 2: Jatill(human) vs aww1979_Cuddles
Game 1: Early Natural Order. 1-0.
Game 2: This time AI gets his Progenitus out first and I draw it in my hand. 1-1.
Game 3: Early Natural Order. 2-0.


Bracket D:

Brandon(human) vs Taron 2-0(Brandon +2 pts)
Taron(human) vs Brandon 2-0(Taron +2 pts)

Match 1:Brandon(human) vs Taron
Game 1: I got a bit of slow start and AI starts fast with three elves. But then he gets just stops playing. He doesen't even bother to attack with elves and destroys it's own Lightning Greaves. Well I play Elvish Piper + Broodmate Dragon and game ends quickly. 1-0.
Game 2: AI plays elves and fourth turn Progenitus. I answer by using Pernicious Deed to kill elves and Diabolic Edict to kill Progenitus. After that I got easy win. 2-0.

Match 2:Taron(human) vs Brandon
Game 1: A bit shaky hand put I decide to keep it, because all the elves + Platinum Angel. AI starts slow as expected and I build up my mana base. AI slows things down with three Diabolic Edict s. I am hesitant to use Eureka for Platinum Angel because I "know" that he has big creatures in hand and decide to wait until i got my Natural Order. Finally it pops up and I win before he can slowly kill me with his imps. 1-0.
Game 2: First game crashed when I played Eureka. Second game ends quickly for my favor, third turn Natural order. 2-0.

[taron]

Round 1:

Match A:
Juzamjedi vs Serbitar
Match1- Player as Juzamjedi:
Beast hand, 2x mountain, wasteland, lackey, chieftain/warchief, siegegang commander. Steamrolled by t5 after a path on warchief.
1-0
Fair hand, 1 mountain, 2 wasteland, assorted goblins. Went the long game and won by tricking out with a siege-gang commander after multiple wraths.
2-0

Match2- Player as Serbitar
Fair hand, O-rings, elspeth, plains. Goblin piledriver, goblin piledriver, goblin chieftain, goblin warchief all get O-ringed. goblin piledriver gets Journeyed. Wrath'd with 2-3 random goblins on the board while building up elspeth, chumping just enough to keep her alive while putting more troops out until hitting walletslayer. Pump walletslayer twice and it's game over. AI needs to lern2siege-gang.
1-0

Slight bug popping up, wall of omens seems to be a wall of wood. Very strange given that I have the latest update. Bad omen for the wall of omens. Still, the hand is good, 2 plains, wasteland, walletslayer, elspeth, top and wall of woody omens. Play error not playing walletslayer on T5 and instead playing wrath into
siege-gang with crew and a warchief. Significant pain ensues when he builds up. Blood moon over my wasteland gives him mountainwalk to bash for lethal. Sadface.
1-1

Super plains, 5 plains, Walletslayer. Keep hand. Topdeck swords to deal with early piledriver, and disenchant to deal with aether vial already on 2. Bit of play back and forth, current life totals at 12-21. Pump walletslayer and swing for 8, changing lifetotals to 20-13. 2 soldiers on the board to make a pretense at saving Elspeth's life. Double block a goblin chieftain, and topdeck a martial coup. Swing with walletslayer then martial coup for 7. Walletslayer comes back with super plains, and another topdecked. Board position looks absolutely fantastic.
2-1

Match B:
Salbei vs Scherbchen
Match1- Player as Salbei:
1 swamp. Mulligan. 4 swamps, bitterblossom and chickenhawk. Keep. Topdeck tendrils to deal with the only Heirarch. Corrupt for 6 and constant bashes. Finish on 34 life.
1-0

Fair hand, keep, Tendrils a wall of blossoms, bash jace2.0 for 3 to kill. Spike weaver fog. Game crash. =\

Restart Match B:
Match1- Player as Salbei:
Bitterblossom, chicken hawk, coiling oracle, Game crash. =\

Last try, match B:
Match1- Player as Salbei:
2x kitchen finks, Nantuko shade, trick him out to deal 7 damage. His turn, game crash. Ragequit.
1-0-1

Match2- Player as Scherbchen:
Huge damnation, saved him on 5 life from progenitus cheated out with natural order. Bl2him I had Finkseseses that couldn't untap due to meekstone.
1-0
No lands, min cmc 4, mulligan.
Deck stacking action with brainstorm = happy coiling oracles for massive card advantage, 5 mana on t3, 2 coiling oracles and a wall of blossoms out. Suicidal garruk drops opponent down to 6 life. Opponent stabilised, constantly stealing life. He wins.
1-1
Pretty standard game, progenitus bashes for 10 and tapped down by meekstone. damnation wipe. Garruk accelerates into a woodfall primus destroying meekstone. Garruk ready to overrun with primus. Bash for lethal.
2-1

[Brandon822]

Bracket E:

Cognis(human) vs Monopoman 2-0 (Cognis +2 pts)
Monopoman(human) vs Cognis 2-0 (Monopoman +2 pts)

Match 1: Cognis(human) vs Monopoman
Game 1: Early goblins but i stabilize the board soon with Wild Nacatl s and Wall Of Reverence and attack aggressively and AI draws only lands(I checked his hand after the game, there was 5 mountain). 1-0.
Game 2: Easy win. I control the board and bound AI with Kor Skyfisher. 2-0.

Match 2: Monopoman(Human) vs Cognis
Game 1: I control the game from start to finish. Cycled Gempalm Incinerator s kills AIs creatures and i rush to win. 1-0.
Game 2: Same story.


Bracket F:
aww1979 Jundinator(human) vs aww1979 MalcolmX 2-0(aww1979 Jundinator +2 pts)
aww1979 MalcolmX(human) vs aww1979 Jundinator 0-2(aww1979 Jundinator +5 pts)

Match 1: aww1979 Jundinator(human) vs aww1979 MalcolmX
Game 1: I killed three nights and started playing my own threats and eventually won easily. Something was wrong with Bloodbraid Elf, first time it played ok, but second elf didn't go to battlefield after cascading spell, it just stayed in my hand and mana pool didn't empty so I could cast it again and cascading to another spell...Just tried what would happen, because it's this matchup. 1-0.
Game 2: Easy win. Same as first one. 2-0.

Match 2: aww1979 MalcolmX(human) vs aww1979 Jundinator
Game 1: Had to mulligan for 5 to get two lands. AI destroys my four first creatures and the kills me with his own. Went just like previous match. 0-1.
Game 2: Well, this time I put up a fight but blightning destroys me. Just got battlefield stabilized with Meekstone and Jitte. One more round and I propably would have won. 0-2.

[scherbchen1]

1-0

Fair hand, keep, Tendrils a wall of blossoms, bash jace2.0 for 3 to kill. Spike weaver fog. Game crash. =\

Restart Match B:
Match1- Player as Salbei:
Bitterblossom, chicken hawk, coiling oracle, Game crash. =\

Last try, match B:
Match1- Player as Salbei:
2x kitchen finks, Nantuko shade, trick him out to deal 7 damage. His turn, game crash. Ragequit.

I suspect that you are not playing with the latest patch by jatill. those crashes occur when the AI wants to play Natural Order (not even getting to the pay mana for the spell stage) with some of the older installations.