Winnipeg 5-Color Tournament September 28th
Drew Ganske - 2008-09-30
In accordance with our new monthly tournament structure, this tourney lines up with the ones held at the end of every month. We will give this article thing at least one more try, and also accordance with tradition, the Perkins coverage by far overshadows the main event. This article has more pictures (even taken from my camera this time); better ìEngrishî and hopefully better match up stats and/or formatting.
The prerelease on Saturday started off as anyone could expect, being told to be there at a certain time because there is limited entry only to be waiting in the cold for an additional 20 minutes. Flash-forward to Sunday and its go time with everyone getting the decks ready for play, last minute changes and so on. Slivers is getting a manabase overhaul from a bunch of random basic lands to moneybags.
The tournament was delayed only a small amount of time, roughly three hours give or take twenty minutes because half our players were in a flight of sealed. The sad part it in the end we only scraped up nine players out of a potential seventeen I believe, when I last counted. This is due to several people misreading what day it was on, some people judging or running a store, a idiot who slept in 4 hours too late and a few who didnít just show up or left before it started.
First up let me go ahead and list off who attended and what they were packing today.
Curt with Cheaty Red
Mike (WeaponX) with Enchantress
Matt with Control
Dow (jared_dow_30) with Cheaty Green (did not play last tourney, has an incomplete deck but borrowed my spare)
Jessie with Slivers (also did not play last tourney)
Aaron (or4nge) with Cheaty Red
Ian with Control
Mark with Tokens
Drew (Chimaera) with Reanimator
Nine in total with the possibility for double that, dam eh? Too bad there were so many cheaty decks; all the people we were missing had normal decks too.
Hereís probably the best time to post the list that I played. I literally spent 4 random days during the week morphing one list into another, gold-fishing on Magic Workstation again and again seeing what worked and what didnít. I couldnít even get anyone to play me but I guess it didnít matter. I know I wanted to play Reanimator, so I started with my Dredge/Flashback/Madness ect list. Anyone not familiar with it can find it on the old forums. Made it mostly dredge and reanimation and basically found out it folded to any permission/spot removal, the card disadvantage the deck generated was inane and lost strait up to counterspells. I turned it more towards a control build and ended up with the below. Awesome thing is like all discard outlets are like blue draw spells.
Reanimator Control
White (20)
4 Angel of Despair
R Balance
R Enlightened Tutor
4 Eternal Dragon
2 Momentary Blink
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Vindicate
Blue (57)
R Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Compulsive Research
4 Counterspell
R Cunning Wish
3 Body Double
4 Evasive Action
4 Fact of Fiction
4 Flash
4 Force of Will
3 Frantic Search
4 Mana Leak
4 Remand
R Stroke of Genius
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Stifle
Green (24)
R Eternal Witness
1 Genesis
R Life From The Loam
3 Loxodon Hierarch
R Nostalgic Dreams
4 Pernicious Deed
R Regrowth
4 Symbiotic Wurm
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Woodfall Primus
Red (20)
4 Bogardan Hellkite
R Burning Wish
4 Chain Lightning
4 Fire/Ice
3 Firemane Angel
4 Lightning Bolt
Black (46)
4 Animate Dead
4 Buried Alive
4 Damnation
4 Dance of the Dead
R Demonic Tutor
4 Duress
4 Entomb
4 Exhume
4 Kokusho, the Evening Star
4 Makeshift Mannequin
R Mind Twist
4 Necromancy
4 Thoughtsieze
Artifacts (8)
R Chaos Orb
R Isochron Scepter
R Mox Ruby
4 Sensei's Divining Top
R Sol Ring
Land (76)
20 Fetchlands
4 Bayou
4 Badlands
1 Blood Crypt
2 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
3 Plateau
3 Savannah
4 Scrubland
1 Steam Vents
R Strip Mine
1 Swamp
3 Taiga
4 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
4 Watery Grave
And so the pairings were off set up, the computer knew what was going on strait from the start and proceeded to give the best player the bye for round one. That left me time to take some pictures and get some coverage from the other games. This is the opening square off as ordered in the picture.
Bye - Drew (Reanimator)
Front players - Matt (Control) on the left vs. Dow (Cheaty Green) on the right
Middle players - Jessie (Slivers) on the left vs. Aaron (Cheaty Red) on the right
Back players - Ian (Control) on the left vs. Mark (Tokens) on the right
And not included because no one cared - Curt (Cheaty Red) vs. Mike (Enchantress)
Control vs. Cheaty Green - The act of ìLaying the Smackdownî
Cheaty Red vs. Enchantress - Nice game stateÖmoving along.
Cheaty Red vs. Slivers - Could not salvage the picture of turn two Magus with a Simian Spirit Guide, kept 1 land opener and crushed slivers in game three.
Standings - Round 1
Drew (Reanimator) Bye Matches 1-0
Matt (Control) Win 2-0 Matches 1-0
Curt (Cheaty Red) Win 2-0 Matches 1-0
Aaron (Cheaty Red) Win 2-1 Matches 1-0
Ian (Control) Win 2-0 Matches 1-0
Dow (Cheaty Green) Loss 0-2 Matches 0-1
Mark (Tokens) Loss 0-2 Matches 0-1
Mike (Enchantress) Loss 0-2 Matches 0-1
Jessie (Slivers) Loss 1-2 Matches 0-1
And on to the next round
Bye - Jessie (Slivers)
Matt (Control) vs. Aaron (Cheaty Red)
Ian (Control) vs. Curt (Cheaty Red)
Drew (Reanimator) vs. Mike (Enchantress)
Dow (Cheaty Green) vs. Mark (Tokens)
And this brings us up to the actual report of whatís going on, hereís Round 2. You get to see the cool playmate I got for showing up at Nationals this year, its mouse pad quality this time which is a giant step up from the shitty fabric of previous mats.
Game 1 - And this game was off to the lightning fast speed of land go for-ev-er. I popped some fetchlands down to 18, cast a Brainstorm which shuffled away Swords and Damnation. Both are effectively almost useless verses Mike and I just kept drawing lands. The first relevant spell I played was an Angel of Despair hitting an Enchantressís Presence. So far my deck was playing out as 1-7-8 Timmy but it was winning me the game. Next turn Mike tutored for another Presence and then I proceeded to crack for 5. Following turn I saw some awesome Primus action ready to go one in the yard and Necromancy in my hand. I decided not to hardcast my Force of Will and let my Angel get plowed and cast Necromancy on the Primus at instant speed to nuke the Presence and hit a land when he persisted.
Primus ran over a Wall of Blossoms to 14 and passed the turn, I did something to dick around with my mana, Mike goes and casts a Zur, seeing that being incredible problematic and the fact I got rid of my Swords I had to use 2 bolts to get rid of the guy. Primus comes and visits Mikeís life total again down to 9 and I pass. Mike brings out the Mesa Enchantress to get countered by the hardcast Force, he blocks for 2 points, canít have that. Primus comes in again and Mikeís down to 4 but he does have an Overgrown Estate out. I crack again next turn and mike has to sac two lands and stay at 2 life and I hardcast my 8-drop Hellkite which seals the deal. He was 1 mana short from casting Ideal next turn hehe. Gotta love that Cadbury Mini Egg counter, got 24 dollars worth of those things at 8 cents a bag, best money I ever spent. Four months later, I still have 1/3 my supply.
Game 2 - This game was pretty much a farce. It started off with Mike breaking a fetch to 19, getting a Savannah for who the hell knows why (He had 2 basic Plains in his opening hand) and sticking Wild Growth on it. I say ok, draw my card, which is Wasteland. I then get an Angel of Despair going which I may have hardcasted again, cause my deck is pro like that. She starts swinging at his life total and I draw a blink to make sure Mike has no permanents and I won the game with Mike being unable to talk.
Game Won 2-0
Elsewhere poking around there was some picture material.
I hear a 16/16 Super Saiyan Primalcrux and two backup tramplers are good vs. tokens.
This pic is courtesy of Aaron (or4nge). Yah you guys are so right, clamp is a piece of garbage; we should be able to run eight. /sarcasm
Standings - Round 2
**
Drew (Reanimator) Win 2-0 Matches 2-0
Matt (Control) Win 2-0 Matches 2-0
Ian (Control) Win 2-0 Matches 2-0
Jessie (Slivers) Bye Matches 1-1
Dow (Cheaty Green) Win 2-1 Matches 1-1
Curt (Cheaty Red) Loss 0-2 Matches 1-1
Aaron (Cheaty Red) Loss 0-2 Matches 1-1
Mark (Tokens) Loss 1-2 Matches 0-2
Mike (Enchantress) Loss 0-2 Matches 0-2
**
By now there was strong rumors circulating of an abomination existing in the bathroom. We all got together as a group and decided how to tackle the situation.
Long story short, we ripped that thing off the wall, took it outside and curb stomped into dust, there may have also been some pissing on it as well. Wisconsin is not allowed anywhere near our 5-color community, not even in paper towel form.
Announcing Round 3
**
Bye - Mike (Enchantress)
Drew (Reanimator) vs. Ian (Control)
Jessie (Slivers) vs. Matt (Control)
Aaron (Cheaty Red) vs. Dow (Cheaty Green)
Curt (Cheaty Red) vs. Mark (Tokens)
**
Thereís that Ian character, go figure me forgetting to take pictures of my game states and interesting card interactions and manage to get more of other peopleís games than my own. Hereís Ian and his inferior fabric playmate though.
Game 1 - This was quite the busy game, I will try to recount everything that happened but it may be slightly out of order, my bads. I kept my opening and Ian Parisíd to 6. We both broke a few fetches and played lands saying go. Ian has a Yavamaya Dryad and I have a Tarmogoyf. He then tries to play a Kodama of the North Tree, which I counter, feed da Goyf. I then on my turn proceed to Animate Dead his Tree and grin as he recoils in horror. He has a repeal to bounce back my Animate Dead end of turn, he plays his own Animate Dead and passes. I then decide itís a good time to attack through his team with Goyf and connect to his lifetotal then cast my Damnation. I didnít have enough black to reanimate him again. On Ianís turn he casts Gaeaís Blessing to shuffle his Tree and Dryad back in, so much for my fun.
I then proceed to do something with my Reanimate, to get my Tarmogoyf right after I drew this Momentary Blink. He tries to swords it end of turn and has that oh crap look in his face again when I blink it in response. He finally gets another swords and gets that Goyf when Iím short on blink mana, he is at 5 life. I play a Hierarch a say go. Ian gets an Etched Oracle going, I have to run my dude into his, I blink my Elephant for pressure and go to 28. He breaks a fetch along the way to 4 life, and gets another Oracle, I run my Elephant into him again, in response to drawing the cards I hardcast a Hellkite and smoke him for 5 down to -1.
Game 2 - Again like my last game 2, this was hardly a game to watch. We play draw-go for a while; I believe I counter his end of turn four Fact or Fiction. We say draw go a bit more and by then I have a few spells including five mana on the board, two Kokusho in my hand, a Flash, an Exhume and a Primus in the yard. I bust out Flash end of his turn expecting it to get countered which in reality all I had was a lousy Kokusho, not something cool like Primus or Symbiotic Wurm. He took the bait and countered it, and then I told him it was bait hehe. Exhume came in and Primus smoked his clamp with no guys in play. I played Strip Mine to hit a land and over the next few turns to Blink the Primus attacking and so on brining his lands down to 4. When he was at 5 life I had drawn a second Flash but not a sixth land, Flashed out Kokusho for the drain 5.
Game Won 2-0
Standings - Round 3
**
Drew (Reanimator) Win 2-0 Matches 3-0
Matt (Control) Win 2-0 Matches 3-0
Curt (Cheaty Red) Win 2-0 Matches 2-1
Dow (Cheaty Green) Win 2-1 Matches 2-1
Ian (Control) Loss 0-2 Matches 2-1
Mike (Enchantress) Bye Matches 1-2
Jessie (Slivers) Loss Matches 1-2
Aaron (Cheaty Red) Loss 1-2 Matches 1-2
Mark (Tokens) Loss 0-2 Matches 0-3
**
With two cheaty decks in contention it seems like the spirit of 5-color is failing to achieve the proper effect but then again the other like 8-9 players that arenít here have real decks so its more of just who was were than good representation of our meta.
Announcing Round 4
**
Bye - Mark (Tokens)
Drew (Reanimator) vs. Matt (Control)
Ian (Control) vs. Dow (Cheaty Green)
Jessie (Slivers) vs. Curt (Cheaty Red)
Aaron (Cheaty Red) vs. Mike (Enchantress)
**
Go figure both being 3-0 we draw. I was at the top of the standing anyways. Few interesting game states that I witnessed:
Slivers are pounding on the Cheaty Red deck,
Too bad the red deck untapped and drew Price of Progress. Just 1 more swing from that thing would have won the game.
Yah that is not Ideal or Demonfire or even Fireball, but it does do X to the face I guess and thatís all that was needed.
Standings - Final
Drew (Reanimator) Draw Matches 3-0-1
Matt (Control) Draw Matches 3-0-1
Ian (Control) Win 2-1 Matches 3-1
Curt (Cheaty Red) Win 2-1 Matches 3-1
Aaron (Cheaty Red) Win 2-1 Matches 2-2
Dow (Cheaty Green) Loss 1-2 Matches 2-2
Mike (Enchantress) Loss 1-2 Matches 1-3
Jessie (Slivers) Loss 1-2 Matches 1-3
Mark (Tokens) Bye Matches 1-3
By the way, this is the perfect time to point out that going in to this tournament I strait up called that I would lose to some gay Blood Moon / Magus Cheaty red in the Semi Finals.
Announcing Top 4
**
Drew (Reanimator) vs. Curt (Cheaty Red)
Matt (Control) vs. Ian (Control)
**
Round 1 - This game started off with me winning the dice roll, a good sign. I break open with Duress and take a Char and see a bunch of dudes. I end up taking a pair Izzet Guildmages against my life total to 11 (Chain Lightning out a Vexing Shusher). Somewhere along the way I get out a Remand Stick going to slow his tempo and to maybe draw me some nonland cardsÖwhich doesnít happen like at all. I Dance of Dead out a Kokusho.
I attack with it on my turn when I drew a Blink and go Offence/Defense with my tricks. I manage to crack him down again little by little remanding spells and he was taking Barbarian Ring ping damage. That ring would have killed me if it was a Counterspell stick. I had a Bodydoubled Genesis and a Kokusho team facing 4 guys. I attack with my dragon and take him down to 6. He comes at me with 4 guys and I use my blink again that he probably forgot about, block and go down to 2. He had no blockers, no burn in his hand and only 6 cards in the yard for the Barb Ring thanks to Remand Stick. Only burn he drew all game was Char!!
Round 2 - I play Basic Foil Unhinged Swamp and Duress him again, taking Magma Jet or Lash Out I forget. Basically he topdecks Strip Mine takes out my turn 2 Tropical (at this point I write on my play by play sheet ìLand D, Lose Gameî) and plays Fulminator Mage a few turns later that I could have Forced but didnít end up being that relevant, had no more blue sources. I also think this was the game where I forced his spell in the endgame and removed a Flash keeping a Remand, but topdecked Primus. If I kept the Flash I would have been ok but I didnít know I was topdecking Primus. Lose.
Round 3 - I mulligan and Paris like infinite times and find a keepable 6, one land hand with Underground, Brainstorm, Careful Study, Duress, Dance, and Compulsive Research. I break the turn 1 Duress again and take either that Lash Out or Magma Jet, and say go into Brainstorm 3 landsÖWoot!!. I was going to Compulsive discarding Primus into Dance (which if you havenít been reading closely would be my only real reanimation all day besides stupid Goyf and Ianís North Tree) but he topdecks turn 3 Magus of the Moon and plays it. I lose. *%#$. At that point I wanted another Wisconsin tissue paper dispenser to beat on.
The farther on we go the fewer pictures I got eh? Well thatís fine I guess. At this point my camera said it had no power and both sets of spare batteries didnít work. The original batteries ended up regenerating and I took several more pictures so yay.
Finals
For 1st and 2nd -Ian (Control) vs. Curt (Cheaty Red)
For 3rd and 4th - Drew (Reanimator) vs. Matt (Control)
This is also the point when we find out you get squat all for finishing out of the top two. Good times had by all huh?...
Ended up playing Matt anyways because we both felt extremely bad about out last games, this was more for just fun. Games ended up sucking anyways lols.
Game 1 - I ended up keeping a terriblish hand with no business and drawing lands and a second Deed. His whole game plan was Bitterblossom and Bolts/Helix so I managed to hold him at bay with Double Deed for a bit but he starting casting relevant things. I Balanced to still lose the game.
Game 2 - He apparently kept an extremely sketchy hand, I turn two Duressíd him and he scooped, better then Flash eh? Banz0rs!
Game 3 - This game I looked like an extreme pro at magic. I kept this terrible land with 2 mana sources that didnít do anything or have a black source. Matt kept three lands that added blue but no green source for Voidslime. I ended up drawing a Demonic tutor and he Duressíd me and took Compulsive Research as I had no black source and was going to go to town with that card. I drew Flash and a Black source back to back, tutored for Primus and Flashíd him out. Matt was representing three blue but Voidslime says you canít cast me, and Primus wins (he had a Force Spike but I could pay). My deck finally did what it was supposed toÖgo figure. Third place again.
On the other table of note, Ian used Pact of Negation to counter a turn 6 Goblin Patrol. He ended up winning the whole thing. I use a few of or4ngeís pictures again; his are the grainy ones with the date lol. Apparently there is a trophy this time in addition to being first, a trinket to be sure but I really wanted it being the most senior 5-color player there, sad panda.
(These pics side by side if possible)
And now we traveled off to Perkins just like after the last tournament. There was more rousing games of dice magic, we two people with us who played in the last 5-color tourney but didnít play in this one with us as well. There was a good argument about whether there was a spell in Oydyssey that allowed you to do 7 damage for 7cc. Now that I look it up its Cinder Storm from Starter.
This is why Pancakes are better then Waffles, enter the Tremendous 12.
Aaron was complaining standard rice was too lame. He demanded his rice to have better graphics and 3D rendering and shoot lasers. Donít ever play Dice or Memory Magic with a guy who works at a card store full time by the way, get destroyed every time.
//Drew Ganske signing off