June Tournament (tournament complete; scherbchen1 wins)

[taron]

I'd keep the dragonmasters. Scutemob would be better off being replaced by another dragonmaster.

Reverence isn't too bad, but in an aggro deck, better off with more creatures that can swing so you finish it before the wall even becomes relevant.

I have quite enjoyed the matchups so far, very good, and interesting, plus there were a couple of different style decks, even if the archetypes were similar, ie Progenitus, the core deck changed a bit, like mine was meant to get him out t1-3 and finish it, whereas jatills was slightly more a midgame style.

In fact, Jatills was quite nearly counter-top progenitus

And the different Naya decks, from Nyktorion and Yggdrasil were quite interesting, Nyktorion seemed to have the speed advantage, but not enough to beat out Yggdrasils mid-long game.

*thinking of asking for counterbalance to be added *

[scherbchen1]

*thinking of asking for counterbalance to be added *

you can ask all ye want but jatill said it was uncodeable if I recall correctly

[jatill]

*thinking of asking for counterbalance to be added *

you can ask all ye want but jatill said it was uncodeable if I recall correctly

I can code it, but you can't stop the top in response to spells, so it's kind of pointless.

[taron]

sadface =<

It's ok, I have a list of various cards I wouldn't mind
glassdust hulk
filigree angel
counterbalance
thopter foundry
Zur the enchanter
chalice of the void
Karn, silver golem
Mangara of Condor

I've used top plenty of times in response to spells... hm.
Also, smart counter top player can play around that easily enough. Just generic values based on what kind of deck you are vsing for example you keep 1-2cmc on top against zoo style decks.

IRL you keep 3 cmc on top, krosan grip

[juzamjedi]

Again my matchup is coming down to the wire, but this time it looks like I'm on the wrong side of it. To be honest when I played these games I thought it would end up much more in favor of scherbchen. The quick Progenitus is just so unfair when you're attacking for 2.

Since the results aren't official yet I will hold off congratulations for now with the off chance I might pull this out. I believe in the power of the cards.

[scherbchen1]

well both of our decks go for the nuts draw but seeing as the AI is so reluctant to trade critters Coiling Oracle, Finks, and Wall of Blossoms are actually quite decent and give my deck some extra draws to get the nuts. if the AI played a lot more aggressively it would be different. it would be very different if the AI actually used the Incinerator cycling.

this match-up is pretty much a coin-toss imho.

[discoransom]

Results for bracket EF:

Cognis 2-0
Jundinator 2-0

2 points for each


Both matches were fairly standard wins, though Jund required a good Bloodbraid Elf to steal game 1.

[monopoman]

Yeah I assume Counterbalance would work how counterspells in this game work. You can't cast a Ancestral Recall in response to a spell then counter it in this game.

Using Top in response should be the same thing it will ask you to activate counterbalance I assume and then if you don't you get no effect. So no window to activate the top unless you anticipate a spell coming then activate it beforehand.

It's kind of funny how its by far the most request card and Jatill keeps saying it won't work with Top.

[aww1979]

Bracket AB:
serbitar: juzamjedi +1 scherbchen +2
cognis: juzamjedi +4 scherbchen +0
taron: juzamjedi +1 scherbchen +2
juzamjedi: juzamjedi +1 scherbchen +2
aww1979: juzamjedi +2 scherbchen +2
jatill: juzamjedi +2 scherbchen +2
brandon: juzamjedi +1 scherbchen +1
monopoman: juzamjedi +2 scherbchen +2
yggdrasil: juzamjedi +0 scherbchen +5
discoransom: juzamjedi +2 scherbchen +2
nyktorion: juzamjedi +2 scherbchen +2
shantak: juzamjedi +2 scherbchen +1
scherbchen: juzamjedi +1 scherbchen +2
TOTAL: JUZAMJEDI 21 vs SCHERBCHEN 25

Bracket CD:
serbitar: jatill +0 taron +5
cognis: jatill +2 taron +2
taron: jatill +5 taron +5
juzamjedi: jatill +7 taron +0
aww1979: jatill +2 taron +2
jatill: jatill +0 taron +6
monopoman: jatill +0 taron +4
brandon: jatill +2 taron +1
yggdrasil: jatill +2 taron +2
discoransom: jatill +0 taron +5
nyktorion: jatill +0 taron +5
shantak: jatill +0 taron +4
scherbchen: jatill +5 taron +0
TOTAL: JATILL 25 vs TARON 41

Bracket EF:
serbitar: cognis +1 aww1979 +1
cognis: cognis +0 aww1979 +5
taron: cognis +5 aww1979 +0
juzamjedi: cognis +1 aww1979 +2
aww1979: cognis +2 aww1979 +1
jatill: cognis +1 aww1979 +1
monopoman: cognis +5 aww1979 +0
brandon: cognis +6 aww1979 +0
yggdrasil: cognis +2 aww1979 +2
nyktorion: cognis +1 aww1979 +2
shantak: cognis +1 aww1979 +1
scherbchen: cognis +2 aww1979 +2
discoransom: cognis +2 aww1979 +2
TOTAL: COGNIS 29 vs AWW1979 19

Bracket GH:
serbitar: discoransom +2 yggdrasil +2
cognis: discoransom +0 yggdrasil +7
taron: discoransom +0 yggdrasil +7
juzamjedi: discoransom +3 yggdrasil +5
aww1979: discoransom +1 yggdrasil +2
jatill: discoransom +1 yggdrasil +1
monopoman: discoransom +0 yggdrasil +7
brandon: discoransom +0 yggdrasil +4
nyktorion: discoransom +2 yggdrasil +2
shantak: discoransom +2 yggdrasil +2
scherbchen: discoransom +2 yggdrasil +2
TOTAL: DISCORANSOM 13 vs YGGDRASIL 41

Round 3 (semifinal)
Bracket ABCD:
SCHERBCHEN vs TARON

Bracket EFGH:
COGNIS vs YGGDRASIL

Congrats to the winners. The above will be the semifinal pairings. Since there are only two games to play here, I'm going to make the deadline for this round Monday, June 21. It can easily be extended if anyone cannot make it in time, though. Note that everyone not yet eliminated will get at least one card to choose, even if you lose at this point. 1st gets 3 cards, 2nd gets 2, and 3rd/4th each get 1.

Note that I can be bribed to fudge results in your favour if you pick Chalice of the Void as your reward card! (well, not really, but that's one I'd probably have picked if I'd made it to the semis)

In regards to the rewards from the May tournament, they have not yet been coded, but this is expected, as jatill stated he would not have time until after this tournament. The rewards from the first tournament, which jatill ran, are already done, one of which was Coiling Oracle, which saw use this time. Do not choose Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, as that was asked for in May and jatill said it is not codable.

[taron]

Well if I can't have counterbalance, chalice might be next on the list. I will have a think about it, there are quite a few cards up there I have to eliminate.

I don't scream CONTROL PLAYER do I?

Also thanks for the congrats aww.

Just started doing the quarter finals. I tell you what, so far through this tournament, I hate losing to the AI, even if the AI is using my deck. Makes me feel kind of stupid, given the AI isn't the smartest chap

[aww1979]

You're welcome I thought I had the advantage in our matchup, but apparently not, since I lost by ten points :p

And do you scream CONTROL PLAYER? Hmm... DO YOU?
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc ... u_Are.html

Just found that, apparently I am a spike control player that likes rogue decks Not really too surprised, though; I like to win, but I also like to make my own decks, and I like control because I feel it takes more skill to play.

[taron]

I agree entirely with those sentiments. And here are the match results, I believe the points are correct (up near the names of each player in the match)

Round 3: (semifinals, guaranteed prizes)
ABCD:
Scherbchen 3pts vs Taron 3pts
Match1: Player as Scherbchen
Pretty good opening hand, Tropical Island, Forest, Heirarch, 2x Coiling Oracle, Garruk and a Natural Order. T1 Heirarch, t2 coiling oracle, and the stupid AI puts down a T1 Gaea's Cradle. I have this in the bag, trade an exalted Coiling oracle for his ESG and then get out progenitus from my other Oracle. Easy win for me.
1-0

Terrible land, 1 island, no other land, lots of green cards. Forest + Island, better hand, with wall of blossoms in there to get me through. He plays a Heirarch and that's about it. Wall of blossoms for me draws me into a Tropical Island. Next blossoms draws progenitus. Still no NO in sight, at least I have Jace next turn for brainstorming...ohcrap, AI Natural orders. Brainstorm turns up nothing. Spike weaver comes up now, at least I have a couple of fog turns. Unfortunately no solution to Progenitus and I die a few turns later. =<
1-1

T1 Heirarch, topdeck my second land for coiling oracle and a swing. I kitchen finks, he goes for natural orders. Praying to topdeck an NO, hopefully life from Finks will keep me alive long enough. Final turn topdeck a brainstorm, it reveals an island, forest and a heirarch. Sigh, perhaps I should have mulliganed, the hand looked solid enough to me.
1-2


Match2: Player as Taron
Hand full of mana dorks, esg, cradle, forest and a eureka. Play a t1 Budgie + Heirarch. He plays a Kitchen Finks. I play t2 progenitus throwing away the budgie, and drop llanowar elves as well. He natural orders and swings with kitchen finks. I drop fyndhorn elves, and pass to him. He drops wall of blossoms and coiling oracle, there goes my offensive with the elves. Still got Eureka in hand, hoping for either a Plat angel or Progenitus. He drops Jace2.0 and brainstorms. He digs to a natural order, throws away kitchen finks for more life. Topdeck ESG, not good enough. I'm about to get beaten up. Damn. Topdeck forest. Game over for me.
0-1

T1 Fyndhorn elves, t2 llanowar elves and a bash with Fyndhorn elves. Throw away Llanowar elves for Natural order into progenitus. Holding Platinum angel, naturalize and Eureka in hand. Topdeck progenitus, bash. His kitchen finks won't help at this stage. Even if he topdecks NO, I can eureka to drop progenitus and angel down. How amusing, he actually did topdeck it LOL. He goes for a bash with kitchen Finks, let it through as my 4th mana is a Fyndhorn elves With Eureka, I drop Llanowar elves first, he drops Woodfall primus, my turn I drop Plat Angel, he drops Garruk, I drop progenitus, he tards it up and drops another Garruk. He drops Coiling Oracle, Wall of blossoms and Heirarch. He doesn't find a solution and I take the game.
1-1

No land hand, but ESG+Budgie+Llanowar Elves+Heirarch... and an NO in hand... Fuck it I'ma risk it. Topdeck Gaea's Cradle, Heirarch + Llanowar Elves for a T1 play. An amazing fluke into a turn 2 NO. Throw away Llanowar elves for Progenitus, and drop out Budgie from a topdecked ESG. He natural orders, throwing away a heirarch. Topdecked another progenitus, lovely. Start bashing with a 1/2 exalted budgie. He drops kitchen finks, this is going to be a bitch to race. He drops another Finks, I topdeck Plat angel. Hoping for a little more mana to plat angel. He NO's again, throwing away a kitchen finks, gains more life, and drops progenitus. Topdeck llanowar elf. Damn.
1-2

EFGH:
Winner of Match EF vs Winner of match GH
Cognis 1pts vs Yggdrasil 2pts
Match1: Player as Cognis
Foothills to fetch Plateau to cast a t1 dragonmaster, see if he will waste his removal on a tiny threat. He plays FoD, I play a savannah so I have WW for the Elspeth in hand. He refused to trade his FoD with my dragonmaster. Path his FoD, he drops Thoctar, I play Bloodbraid, roll into Path and path thoctar as well, bash for 4. He bloodbraids into swords, swordses my BBelf, and then bashes to keep me at 15. Play Elspeth, make a dude and pass the turn. He drops Thoctar + Pridemage and passes. I drop Sarkhan vol, take over Thoctar and pump him with elspeth. Bash for 8. Life totals are 14-6. He goes to swing @ elspeth with thoctar, helixes my dragonmaster and drops another thoctar. Chump the swing at elspeth with a soldier.
I drop Kitchen Finks, next turn I take over thoctar, pump it and swing for 8 out of his 9 life. Eternal Witness brings back Dragonmaster so I have some bodies to keep me alive a turn. He swordses my witness. Chump his 7/6 thoctars with a kitchen finks + soldier as they were going to take out elspeth. + Sarkhan, and swing with my 9/9 dragon for the win.
1-0

Taiga + Nacatl on my T1, drop a plains, another nacatl and bash for 3. He goes to helix a nacatl, so I path it from under him, get a land, and deny him the life gain from helix. Drop a goyf and bash for 3. Swords figure in response to him playing another one, he pumps the second one. Crack wooded foothills to pump goyf a bit, and cast a BBelf, play a path off BBelf then swing for 8. He plays Thoctar + Figure of destiny. I bash with Nacatl + BBelf. Dealing 3 to him as he blocks and kills nacatl with thoctar, now Goyf is 3/4. Damn he helixed bbelf and pumped FoD, need to topdeck some removal, and typically Murphy's law dictates I get a plains. Drop plains, pass. He swordses goyf then swings out with thoctar and FoD. Topdeck kitchen finks, play it, giving me some hope to survive a turn.
I see he has 6 mana untapped of red/white colouring so I block FoD with kitchen finks before he has a chance to finish me. Topdeck another plains and it's game. I can't stop the FoD.
1-1

I recruiter for a wall of reverence. He drops a thoctar, so I bbelf. And drop an eternal witness. He bolts BBelf and swordses witness and bashes with thoctar. I path thoctar, then play witness to return BBelf to my hand. A ranger of eos by him turns out a FoD and he pumps it with his other budgie. I path FoD, bloodbrait into eternal witness and bring a path back to my hand. Trade my bloodbraid for his ranger of eos and end dealing 2 damage to him. He gets out balefire liege, I path it. Drop wall of reverence, bash with 2x witness and gain 2 life. He gets another Liege, so I path it, then drop a Goyf and a Nacatl. Can't do much about his firewalker. Trade a witness with his firewalker, bash for 2 and gain 3 life.
He trades another firewalker with my witness, and takes 6 from goyf and nacatl. He trades 2 of his budgies to stay alive from my next swing while I move up to 30 life.
He can't handle the next swing and I win.
2-1


Match2: Player as Yggdrasil
A mountain in a hand with nothing red, mulligan. Lots of assorted lands, playable. T1 budgie, t2 kor firewalker and FoD. Skyfisher bounces his scute mob. Make FoD 4/4 and swing. He drops another skyfisher, swings for 2, then drops scute mob again. Swords skyfisher, and swing with firewalker and FoD. Call up a Pridemage and end turn. FoD becomes 8/8, he chumps firewalker, blocks and kills pridemage and takes 8.
He bloodbraids into eternal witness returning scute mob to hand. But was dumb enough to swing with both of his fliers giving me the game.
1-0

He t1 nacatls, I bolt. He skyfishers, I helix, sending him back a turn. Fetch for Savannah, pass. He finkses, I swords. Mountain, pass. He goyfs I swords. I drop balefire liege. He paths, I get a plains. I drop a kor firewalker. At the moment life totals are 22-27. Forest, bash for 2, pass. He bloodbraids into swords and gets rid of firewalker. I bloodbraid into thoctar... mines bigger!!
He skyfishers and passes, I swing with BBelf and Thoctar, he double blocks thoctar, I trade 2:1 and hit him for 3. I topdeck another balefire Liege, life totals are 21-15. He bbelves into recruiter and passes. I swing with bbelf and trade with his. He puts out a wall of reverence and ends. I topdeck another balefire, making a 6 point life total swing and end my turn. I FoD, making a 12 point total swing and with a starting value of 5/5 on the FoD you know it's going to tickle. He paths FoD when it's 8/8. Shame. I get another land to thin out the old library. Topdeck firewalker for another 6 life. He swordses a Liege. He nets Elspeth and makes a dude.
I swing with firewalker, bolt it for the extra 3 to kill, then deal balefire damage to elspeth. He swings with a 4/4 recruiter and leaves me an opening. I BBelf into Thoctar, burning off the last of his Elspeths loyalty, then swinging out, he chumps the 4 from bbelf and is left with 6 life, and a recruiter. He drops nacatl, i helix him and deal the last 3 damage with Liege. Game.
2-0

[Serbitar]

Round 3:

ABCD:
Winner of match AB vs Winner of match CD
Scherbchen vs Taron

As Scherbchen (2:0, Scherbchen +2pts)
1st game, AI plays four Elves, while I play Natural Order with Force of Will backup.
2nd game, AI does nothing (partly because it has Gaea's Cradle, which it declines to play t1, then plays it on t2, still not being able to do anything), I have t4 Natural Order.

As Taron (2:0, Taron +2pts)
1st game, I mull to 5 (still no action). AI has Garruk, but cannot kill me before I get Greaves on a hardcast Platinum Angel.
2nd game, I keep a sketchy hand, but draw into Natural Order (while the AI stalls on one land).

EFGH:
Winner of Match EF vs Winner of match GH
Cognis vs Yggdrasil

As Cognis (2:0, Cognis +2pts)
1st game, AI has quicker creatures, but my double Finks (and the AI swords on it) let me stay in the game. Crucially, the AI removes Recruiter instead of Scute Mob with me on five lands. Skyfisher/Witness creates lots of card advantage, too. I win.
2nd game is epic. I mulligan a two-forests-red-and-white-spells hand, but promply have to mull to 4 before I find another land (this time mountain and green spells)... Luckily the AI doesn't have too much action (2 Figures, which I eventually remove, and burn). Its third Figure is already 8/8 though, and I find my 2nd green for Witness->Path just in time. Then I play Ajani and Elspeth while the AI has lands and birds and manage to win (Ajani Avatar + Wall of Reverence is sick xD, I end the game at 90 life with an 90/90 avatar).

As Yggdrasil (2:1, Yggdrasil +1pt)
1st game, I curve t2 Thoctar into t3 Bloodbraid (cascading into removal for his guy). I win.
2nd game, I mulligan into a slow 6. After early removal, the game stalls. The AI recruiters for Scute Mob and I don't draw removal...
3rd game, again I have to mulligan into a slow 6. My Thoctars on t3 and t4 get plowed, and the AI Bloodbraids into Witness returning plow. It also has two more Bloodbraids and another Witness. Eventually, I have an 8/8 figure and birds to AI's 7 mostly 3-power creatures (AI is at 18, so I can't race, even though I'm at 30 from all the plows). I then draw Bloodbraid into Firewalker, so I can get two attacks in, but the AI has another Witness for Plow. It mistapped its mana tough, and next turn rather plays Kitchen Finks (again tapping all white sources). Guess I take it.

[This match seems much harder from Yggdrasil's side, because of all the two-for-ones in Cognis deck.]

[Brandon822]

Round 3:

ABCD:
Winner of match AB vs Winner of match CD
Scherbchen vs Taron

As Scherbchen(2:0, Scherbchen +2pts)
Game 1: Turn 4 NO and next turn FoW his NO. 1-0.
Game 2: AI plays turn 4 NO. I play mine next turn and next turn new NO. 2-0.

As Taron(1:2, Scherbchen +3pts)
Game 1: I play AI down to 2 with two attacks by Progenitus. Then he plays it's own. AI has 3 Coiling Oracle + Noble Hierarch + Kitchen Finks. I have only 2 BoP. My hand is Eureka + Naturalize and lifepoints 12. AI plays Garruk, I kill it. AI attacks I'm down to 8. I draw NO. AI don't attack his next turn(would get me to 4). Next turn Proggis attacks. 1-0.
Game 2: I play AI down to 10 with Progenitus. Then he plays it's own. Next turn I play Eureka and Proggis, he does the same. I'm stuck at four mana and Platinum Angel. AI plays creatures constantly with help of FoF. I can't do nothing. 1-1.
Game 3: 2 Lightning Greaves and forests in my hand -> I mulligan to six. Three Forest + creatures in my hand. I ponder a bit and decide to keep. I draw NO and get to attack once before AI throws it's own. Next turn I draw another NO, but so does AI. After that AI's Garruk + Finkses quickly destroy me. 1-2.

EFGH:
Winner of Match EF vs Winner of match GH
Cognis vs Yggdrasil

As Cognis (2:1, Cognis +1pts)
Game 1: Well, let's say that AI should have bolted my Dragonmaster Outcast instead of Soldier tokens. 1-0.
Game 2: I was too long stuck at three mana and AI pounded with Kor Firewalker and Balefire Liege. 1-1.
Game 3: Had to mulligan to 5. Two Kor Skyfisher was the key to my early game survival. Then AI got turn after turn three Woolly Thoctar and I played Dragonmaster Outcast and again AI didn't think it is huge threat. Well despite AI's ~10 creatures I flyed over with dragons. AI didn't get his sixth mana so two FoD weren't threat. 2-1.

As Yggdrasil (0:2, Cognis +5pts)
Game 1: AI always one step ahead and removes my threats. 0-1.
Game 2: Argh, frustrating game. I'm at 33 life and I got Balefire Liege and Woolly Thoctar at field. AI has Scute mob(four mana) and bunch of other creatures and 5 life. I need only one red spell to win. Well, I draw 5 lands in a row and AI's now huge Scute Mob is quickly draining my life. Well one chance left until I'm dead. What is sixth card, not a land I hope....Birds of Paradise, game over. 0-2.

[Shantak]

Bracket ABCD:
SCHERBCHEN vs TARON (AI) 2-0
When I used Force of Will on a Platinum Angel, removing Progenitus from my hand, it seems like it was shuffled to the library - or at least it didn't turn up in the out-of-play cards, where instead a Brainstorm had gone from my graveyard. Didn't seem like a rematch-worthy bug though. I did most of my damage with thrice-Exalted Beast, but then AI got plenty of blockers so I started saving loyality counters for Garruk-Overrun. AI got another Platinum Angel that I unsummoned with Jace and then trampled to the victory. AI went down to -31 life.
1-0

Next game, I got a third turn Natural Order. gg.
2-0

TARON vs SCHERBCHEN (AI) 1-2
AI had mana problems, was many turns with just one island and started discarding. I did only minor damage with elves. I could have cast Eureka for Progenitus and Platinum Angel, but since I was winning, why risk it. Once AI started playing walls, I hardcasted Platinum Angel which won the game for me.
1-0

AI got a fourth turn Progenitus while I had mainly mana. Couldn't do anything.
1-1

This time I decide to mulligan, trying to avoida hand like in the last game. One mulligan does it and I get a third turn Progenitus. Then AI respons with its own. Soon AI gets another NO. I can't topdeck my own so I'm done for.
1-2


Bracket EFGH:
COGNIS vs YGGDRASIL (AI) 2-0
I soon start playing with planeswalkers, having both Elspeth and Ajani in play. AI has Bloobraid Elf and three Birds of Paradise. Elspeth + Ajani combo starts doing damage and I have three Path of Exiles in my hand for any threats.
1-0

AI gets Balefire Liege pretty soon but I stop it with StoP. I have two Tarmos an a Dragonmaster Outcast in hand. Kor Firewalker slows my advances but can't stop the dragons.
2-0


YGGDRASIL vs COGNIS (AI) 2-1
I can't get my Balefire Liege to stick on the battlefield, but Bloodbraid and Firewalker deal damage. AI is at 2 life when it starts emptying its hand of creatures and prevents my attacks. I have only Firewalker and two Birds while it has a literal army. I think I've won it when AI only leaves red creatures behin to block, but then it casts a Wall of Reverence. I get a Figure of Destiny to help me and get it fully leveled, but then AI ruins all my hopes when it gets Ajani in play, pumps its guys and runs over me. I lose, but it was very close.
0-1

AI starts next game by removing my Birds of Paradise and Figure of Destiny from game. Luckily it runs out of removals when Woolly Thoctar and Bloodbraid Elf enter the game. Fifth turn victory.
1-1

Again all I begin with gets removed from the game instantly. This allows my Balefire Liege to stick. AI shows a nice trick by returning persisted Kitchen Finks when Kor Skyfisher comes to play. AI gets Ajani and pumps its dudes but I have plenty of life and a flying 10/10 Figure of Destiny. AI can't get another flying blocker after Skyfisher, so the Figure wins the game for me.
2-1