July Tournament (in progress)

[aww1979]

I'll test for round 2. Business trip, 'member?

Nope. You have me confused with someone who is smart! I'll make a note of it in the records so I don't ask another time though.

[Yggdrasil]

If I have enough time I'll play tonight and post the results.
If not, I should have more free time next week for the next round.

[juzamjedi]

I really don't want to lose with this deck, but it's looking real bad. AI plays Joraga Warcaller, gets a counter from the paragon, and swings for lethal. 0-2, but I can hardly believe it happened; I thought this was a guaranteed win.

I noticed the BP / Joraga synergy after playtesting and that was pretty awesome. I believe the reason people are surprised about this matchup is because the deck has a lot more mana sources than people realize. If the Pox deck goes first and plays Smallpox T2 then Elves is in trouble. Any other situation and Elves can most likely recover; Pox + Damnation is kind of too slow against my deck.

Game 1: AI plays two plains and no spells; I win on turn 4 because unlike the AI, I tap Priest of Titania for mana and on turn 4 I have 8 elves, and play a *big* Joraga Warcaller. I tap two PoT and two Elvish Archdruid to kick it a shitload lot of times and attack with the remaining elves, who are 20/20s. 1-0
...
2-0, and grats to juzam for the fastest match I've played this tourney, at 4 turns and 5 turns per game.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Do you know how much life the AI finished with in game 1? Joraga Warcaller is bonkers and I don't believe I ever had that many Priests / Archdruids in play at one time during all my testing.

I've got to say, I thought juzamjedi's elf deck was garbage on paper, but I'll be damned if it didn't kick some serious ass.

Ummm... thanks? it was a little bit of a random idea, but I had way too much fun playing it. There were only 2 real changes I made to the deck after playtesting: 1. modify the list to fit Charbelcher since the deck loses to Wrath and 2. take out Quirion Ranger for Elves of Deep Shadow. The deck is actually much better with the Quirion, but the AI played them pretty badly.

Example: T1 Forest Llanowar Elf, T2 (miss land drop) Quirion Ranger, tap Llanowar, untap and replay forest, Elvish Archdruid. GG?

OR

T2 Smallpox, -> human respond bounce forest from field, discard an elf, play land again next turn

[juzamjedi]

Group C
Match 6: Juzamjedi (Human) Vs. Discoransom (AI) 2-1 Win for Juzam

Game 1: AI overwhelms me eventually thanks to multiple Open the Vaults and removing my elves from play multiple times. Disco wins!

Game 2: This is a very close game AI again wraths quite a few elves and stops my beatdown but I do get Belcher and am able to activate it 3 times at the AI for the win just before he would have killed me. Juzam Wins!

Game 3: Once again Belcher saves my bacon as he again drops WoG turn 4 and wipes my board. Thank you Belcher you are a god! Juzam Wins!

This makes me happy. I know the Belcher plan was unusual, but I'm glad to see that it made a difference in this match

[jatill]

Sadly, the match I lost with your deck I belched 3 times in a row and only mustered up 14 damage :/

[aww1979]

I noticed the BP / Joraga synergy after playtesting and that was pretty awesome. I believe the reason people are surprised about this matchup is because the deck has a lot more mana sources than people realize.

That was actually the first thing I noticed when Joraga got coded, but I've tried quite a few Bramblewood Paragon decks already, so I had already scoured manalink for every 'elf warrior' and splashable warrior in the game already :p And yeah the deck does have more mana than it seems to on paper.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Do you know how much life the AI finished with in game 1? Joraga Warcaller is bonkers and I don't believe I ever had that many Priests / Archdruids in play at one time during all my testing.

I think about -40? I tapped four of the elves for mana, so they didn't attack, of course, and joraga had summoning sickness. One of the other elves I'd just cast that turn (to make the 4 'mana per elf' guys produce more) so I think I only actually attacked with two that turn, but if it hadn't been enough, I could've done roughly 160 damage the next turn. (~20x8) I probably could've done more damage by not pumping joraga to the max and attacking with a few more elves, but it was too much fun, and I knew I had way more than enough to do the job anyway.

[aww1979]

Sadly, the match I lost with your deck I belched 3 times in a row and only mustered up 14 damage :/

Just out of curiosity, did you Land Grant the forests or the taigas? When I played that deck, I grabbed the forests, since nothing needs red mana, and belcher likes the mountains in the deck, not in play. I never used the belcher a single time, though; the games were over too fast.

[jatill]

Sadly, the match I lost with your deck I belched 3 times in a row and only mustered up 14 damage :/

Just out of curiosity, did you Land Grant the forests or the taigas? When I played that deck, I grabbed the forests, since nothing needs red mana, and belcher likes the mountains in the deck, not in play. I never used the belcher a single time, though; the games were over too fast.

I got the Forests, for that reason. I thought it was pretty funny that the deck had all those red mana sources with no red spells. Perhaps one improvement could be to replace the Forests with Fetchlands (maybe leave 1) to get the lands out of your deck twice as fast.

[Shantak]

Group C:

Discoransom vs Shantak (AI) - 2-0 (Discoransom +2 points)
Started with two Plains and a Mind Stone. Ai gets soon two Bloodghasts, I respond with Lodestone Golem. AI can't block, I give Bottle Gnomes to Innocent Blood, I cast Juggernaut... Nothing can save AI. 1-0

This time AI can control the tempo much better with land destruction and I think that this will go badly unless I can manage to get mana for Open the Vaults. I can't do it before AI makes me discard it. However, I get a Lodestone Golem in play again while AI's low on cards. It does the trick. 2-0

Discoransom vs Juzamjedi (AI) - 2-0 (Discoransom +2 points)
AI starts quickly, but I put my hope in stalling and casting a strong Martial Coup when the time is right. When I have 6 mana, I cast Juggernaut to do some blocking. Unless AI can get another elf lord to boost I should still get to cast the Coup next turn. AI casts Bramblewood Paragon and I survive with 2 life. Then comes Coup, elves go down and I get 5 soldiers. AI gets more paragons and so I alpha strike, sac Bottle Gnomes and Mind Stone - but don't draw a card due to a bug. Then I blow my Nevinyrral's Disk and cast Lodestone Golem. AI has only two lands so I feel pretty safe even in 5 life. I soon can cast Open the Vaults and strike the AI down to -6 life. 1-0

I feel lucky when AI starts with two non-kicked Joraga Warcallers, but can't do much early damage. I keep elves under control with Wrath of God and AI soon empties its hand and I'd feel still lucky if it wasn't for that Goblin Charbelcher... AI belches me for 6, I try to stay alive for Open the Vaults... then I cast it and get an artifact army on my side. Triskelions kill the elves and I attack for 20 in one strike. 2-0

Juzamjedi vs Shantak (AI) - 2-0 (Juzamjedi +2 points)
I decide to take 1 land + 1 mana elf hand as I get to start the game. This seems to work as I have mana even after Smallpox, though The Rack is eating my life steadily. I think I can do enough damage and empty my hand, attacking with 3/3 elves. It works. 1-0

Another 1 land + 1 mana elf hand and I'm starting, so let's try out my luck. AI destroys my land but I can get two Priests of Titania to stick. They do the job and I empty my hand again. AI has no Damnation and I'll strike him to -20! 2-0

Juzamjedi vs Discoransom (AI) - 2-0 (Juzamjedi +2 points)
I can get AI to 11 life until he plays a Masticore. I empty my hand and finish him with a big jolly elf attack next turn. 1-0

The next game is even faster, I can kill AI before emptying my hand and he just gets one soldier from a small Martial Coup. 2-0

Shantak vs Discoransom (AI) - 2-0 (Shantak +2 points)
I start with land, three Sinkholes and a Pox so AI starts to discard due to being manalocked while I swing with Bloodghast. I then complete Bloodchief Ascension, cast Hymn and Pox and that's it. 1-0

This one starts slower, but I can take control pretty soon after denying some land from AI. It's pretty close with AI's soldier against my Bloodghast, but as I ascend again, the rest is easy. 2-0


Shantak vs Juzamjedi (AI) - 1-2 (Juzamjedi +3 points)
AI gets soon an elf mob out and I have only Bloodghast who can't block. AI then kicks a Warcaller with four counters and strikes me down to 1 life. Nothing I can do short of Damnation (oh how I would be sideboarding more of them in now). 0-1

I start with Innocent Blooding an elf and Wastelanding a Taiga, trying to empty AI's hand as soon as possible. It works, as AI has no land after three tries and I start improving my position. Then I get Bloodghast to play and AI still has nothing. While it swings, I hoard two Sinkholes in my hand and AI's battlefield is empty. It stays that way (after a Pox) when I win the game. 1-1

Third game I start with two Bloodghasts in my hand, but if AI starts beating me faster, they don't help me much. Obviously, that happens. 1-2

Too bad I only lost with my own deck in this group But the elf deck is a tough one unless Pox gets an excellent opening hand.

Total points:
Juzamjedi +7
Discorandom +4
Shantak +2


Group D:

It's getting late and I want to finish group D today, so my notes will be brief.

Brandon - Serbitar (AI) - 2-0 (Brandon +2 points)

Spreading Seas and AI's own Smallpoxes keep his lands in control while I can get a Master Transmuter who trades my Nevinyrrals's Disk for Inkewll Leviathan. 1-0

Baneslayer won the second game. 2-0

Brandon - Aww1979 (AI) - 2-1 (Brandon +1 point)

Deft Duelsit did almost all my damage, thanks to shroud. 1-0

AI dealt with my Baneslayers too fast and hit with his Sphinx. 1-1

Hardcasted Inkwell Leviathans for the win. 2-1

Serbitar - Aww1979 (AI) - 2-0 (Serbitar +2 points)
Kitchen Finks and Smallpoxes were the key (and the fact that AI didn't use Elspeth one turn). 1-0

A far too long and far too hard game. I gain upper hand by destroying AI's lands with Death Cloud (I have 4 remaining). Finally, Sakura-Tribe Elder deals the last points of damage. 2-0

Serbitar - Bradnon (AI) - 2-0 (Serbitar +2 points)
Long game. Garruk, Death Cloud and Smallpox were keys to victory. 1-0

The second game was thankfully shorter, if similar. 2-0

Aww1979 - Serbitar (AI) - 2-0 (Aww1979 +2 points)
After AI's Death Cloud that probably damages him more than me, Jace gets counters and exiles his library. 1-0

Elspeth-boosted Knightof Meadowgrain did damage and Psionic Blast was finisher. Before winning I peeked to opponents hand and saw that Meddling Mage had protected me from Damnation. 2-0

Aww1979 - Brandon (AI) - 2-0 (Aww1979 +2 points)
Bribed Inkwell Leviathan wins the game for me. 1-0

I Control Magic a Master Transmuter in case AI has Inkwell Leviathan in hand. Boosted with Ajani, it and Deft Duelist win the game. 2-0

Total points:
Aww1979 +4
Serbitar +4
Brandon +3

[Yggdrasil]

If I have enough time I'll play tonight and post the results.

In the end, I spent my evening playing with the editor. I can feel the Jatill spirit flowing in me now, so if you have interesting level 0 cards in mind, please feel free to post your suggestions. I'll train myself with your suggestions and share the result with the community.

[Cognis]

Is Festering Goblin a level 0 card?

[Yggdrasil]

If a card with the same abilities already exists in Manalink yes, but I don't think it's the case for this one.

[aww1979]

A level 0 card is any vanilla creature or any card that is basically a copy of an existing card. For instance, Scaled Wurm is a level 0 card. (the only one I ever did when I was learning this) Capture of Jingzhou is another example of one, because you can modify either Time Walk or Time Warp very easily to create it, even though its affect is more complicated.

[Cognis]

Ok, I get it, I think, so Cunning Sparkmage would be a 0 level card because you could copy the ability of Prodigal Sorcerer or just copy over Jeska, Warrior Adept entirely.

[aww1979]

Yeah that's exactly right, Cunning Sparkmage would be a level 0 card. A card like Suq'Ata Firewalker would be much harder to do without using approximations on the protection from red spells/effects ability. That's one reason I asked for Stroke of Genius in the last tournament when I was given a card choice (I forget by who now :p) because it was a level 0 card as it is easily made from Braingeyser.