How I'm Killing Magic

[Killer Joe]

Date: Oct. 27, 2000
Tournament at Exit 13 in New Kwnsington, PA
Format: Extended
Players: 14

1st. Round
Tradewind/Survival (the culprit)vs. Blue "Beats"
Game 1:
*He gets a good start, within a couple of turns he has 2 seal of Removals and a 2/2 Flyer out, he starts to beat me down.
*Eventually I get out a Spike Weaver and then next turn a Tradewind Rider.
*By now, I'm down to like 2 life but I have the Weaver/Tradewind thing going and several Wall of Roots and the nasty creature Quirion Ranger.
*About 30 min. after the start of the game I finally have control of the board and I beat him down with a pair of Feeders.
*He can't seem to keep a Masticore or a Morphling out, go figure?
*I win. But my opponent looks "Bummed-Out"
Game 2:
*I plop down a 2nd. turn Survival of the Fittest, he conceedes,
2-0
1-0
==============================
2nd. Round
Tradewind/Survival vs. G/W Armageddon
Game 1:
*He starts out quick with a couple of Elves and 2 Mother of Runes and commences to beat me down.
*I get out a 5th turn Survival and go get Squee, I have a lots of work to do.
*I'm way down in life, but I got a Spike Weaver and a Tradewind in play and the stalling begins (you may remeber me telling you all that my nickname at the shop is "The Stallmonger").
*Somehow, I think out of frustration, he taps out the Mom's and (BOING!) they go back to his hand never to stay in play againg.
*Once I get the Quirion Ranger out, things go back to his hand quickly and I before I can do it again next turn, he conceedes
Game 2:
*I get a litle mana screwed, and he Swords to Plaowshares my Birds of Paradise and that pretty much ended game 2, it took him only 6 turns to kill me. note: My first and only loss of the night.
Game 3:
Within about 5 turns I have a Survival and a Tradewind in play and he conceedes
4-1
2-0
===================================
3rd. Round
Tradewind/Survival vs. White Weenie
Game 1:
Before we even start the game, my opponent says to me, "I hate playing you." What a blow to my friendly ego. I played this guy with this deck two weeks ago and crushed his Hatred deck, he looked pissed-off.
*He gets a quick start and has shadow creatures in play and I'm taking damage like there crazy.
*I do manage to get several Wall of Roots and Mana Birds, but I can't seem to get a Survival and Tradewind out.
*I at one Life and guess what? I get a Spike Weaver out and then next turn a Survival and then Squee and the Survival engine is running at full blast.
*I have a lot of work to do because by now his has like 10 lands in play and several creatures to boot.
*I'm not kidding, 45 min into the first game and I have him locked down and he turns back to his friend and says, "I'm NOT conceeding to THIS deck!", I also hear him saying he'd rather draw, (ding!), so I start to pump up one of my Tradewinds and start attacking him, he conceedes.
Game 2:
*His friends convince him not to play me in a second game, he does and I polp down a 2nd. turn Survival of the Fittest, he conceedes
6-1
3-0
=================================
4th. Round
Tradewind/Survival vs. Sligh
Game 1:
*This guys opening move starts out with a Shock to me. He KNOWS I'm playing T/S with loads of low toughness critters, WTF!?!
*Anyway, he keeps burning me and I figure I'm going to lose soon.
*He runs into a clump of land and that's gives me the the chance to plop down the old combo; Survival/Squee/Whatever I want.
*I send everything back to his hand and I win.
Game 2:
*I drop a turn 2 Survival and he conceedes.
8-1
4-0
I win the Tournament and the prize is.....well, let's just say that there is never any money awarded and that store credit is it. But hey, at least my TS deck has new sleeves to be covered in.

I have never had so many folks conceede to me before. The deck is far more superior than my game play, in other words, I suck and the deck won the tournament. And yes, it's a net deck (da-da-da-da-daaaa, evil music). Here's the list:
5x Forest
4x Tropical Island
3x Island
4x Land Grant
4x Tradewind Rider
4x Survival of the Fittest
4x Force of Will
4x Birds of Paradie
4x Counterspell
4x Impulse
4x Spike Feeder
2x Spike Weaver
3x Wall of Roots
2x Wall of Blossoms
2x Quirion Ranger
1x Man-o-War
1x Masticore (never saw game play this night)
1x Sqquee, Goblin Nabob
2x Fyndehorn Elves
2x Uktabi Orangutan
SB: I would list it, except, I never used it at all this night, weird, huh?

This is an amazing deck. The Land Grants are fabulous and it really seems to play itself. I have always been a fan of control and this deck takes the cake. Was it right to play this deck? I did want to win. But I realize that this deck is NOT a friendly deck and I'm sure I didn't make anyone feel like they wanted to trade with me or talk to me after each of the matches. I knew the risks.
We'll this is how I'm killing magic Maybe next week I'll enter with my 5-Color White deck, I'll be sure to make friends then



[Edited by Yellowjacket on 10-28-00 at 07:19 AM]

 

[Gizmo]

(Cut, Paste, Print)

Okay, I`m done.

 

[Killer Joe]

I forgot to mention that during the course of game play I used the "Wakefield Six" idea, and it really helped me to focus, I still suck, though.

And one last thought, one of my opponents, G/W Geddon guy, is a superior player than I, I know he felt frustrated in knowing that I fumbled, tripped over and basically was 'in the dark' with this deck and STILL beat him.

 

[Gizmo]

Can you REALLY only run 12 land?
Tradewind locks are the best!
I`d want another Quirion Ranger, though.

 

[Killer Joe]

This is the deck that Rui "Hountus" Oliveria (man, I hacked his name so bad, I'm sorry), posted in his article at Starcity during the first week of Oct.
I figured since I had all of the cards, I'd try it. And "Yes" 12 land pretty much does the trick.
I only had to Muliigan three times out of 9 games.
Something to consider about my opponents though, all but one may have been average to below average players and my deck being superior to theirs, may have been why only 12 land did the trick. I'm sure a "Pro-Tour" player would have ripped me to shreds.
If anyone wants to try this deck, by all means, BE MY GUEST! But beware, if you take it to a tournament, don't expect anyone to root for you.
You are the ENEMY!

 

[Neil Rigby]

This is extended, why doesn't anyone play mono-blue (the really hated deck)and just beat everybody. Mono-blue rules!!! I can't think of anything that can consistently beat it, but hey i'm boring as sin and don't mind playing one game in 45 mins.

 

[Apollo]

*start semi-rant*
Hey, YJ, it's a tournament. The goal is to win. If you pay the entry fee, and then use anything other than your best deck, you're practically throwing your money away. You want to win the prize. That is why you are playing. If you are playing for fun, then I wouldn't use this deck. But once you pay that entry fee, you are not playing for fun. Like Wakefield once said, the hardest thing about succeeding at tournament Magic is learning that there is no such thing as cheese or an unfair deck. You play the best deck you can.

Anyway, the goal at a tournament is not to make friends. You should never play a deck in a tournament just to make friends.

Congrats on winning the tournament.

 

[Duel]

[me] grins[/me]

Would you belive I copy-pasted that deck when Mr. 18 mountains posted it originally, and proceeded to win about 12 games online in a row? No? Well I did.

Glad to see someone made it and it actually worked.

Oh, and the coolest trick in the deck: Land grants are actually 4 more tropical islands. Yes, they DO fetch them.

 

[Killer Joe]

The only all Blue extended deck I know of is "Stasis" and I'm not sure if that is the all-time hated deck. This Tradewind/Survival, I bet, comes in close to the top of most hated decks for this month, I know no one at MY shop likes it.
Yes, I DO want to win at tournaments, however, it does make a difference to me how I do it. Demoralizing my opponent is hard for me to handle, but it's also hard for me to choose the alternative: Sligh/Stompy/Hatred/White Weenie. I absolutly HATE the notion of sitting down to a match of magic and have it be over within 10 min, yeech!
Duel, was that you that posted a similar deck based on his article? When I read that article I was about a few cards short of completely having it (I think I needed two Survivals and everyone was glad to trade them). The deck worked, but it'll be weeks before I can come close to mastering it. The possibilties are seemingly endless, I practically had an answer to everything my opponents put out. And the Land Grants were practically Tropical Islands.
Last thought, at my shop, I am very random, meaning that you cannot count on me winning or losing consistantly. I love to play VERY sub-optimal decks (I need psyche help), but once in a while (like my "Rising Waters" dilemma back in Aug), I like to play "NET" decks. And so, I am random, you just can't count on me winning or losing.
Hey, there's no secret as to why the guys down at the shop call me "The Stall Monger"

 

[Duel]

Probably was me, Yellowjacket. Sorry to spoil your surprise, but I didn't know you were playing it.

I, personally, think that pissing your opponent off is underrated. I try to get almost all of my decks to do that, which is why I like control decks.

And the deck is TOUGH to play. The only reason I'm good at it is because I practice with 4 or 5 netdecks whenever I can. Right now I've got this one, a living death deck, turbozvi (I love that deck), evil fish (Which I am constructing), and my own personal deck, 10,000 maniacs, all on my computer.

 

[Spiderman]

Like Apollo said, when you're in a tourney and PAYING to play to boot, anything goes. I wouldn't feel too bad. Personally, if this is a Net deck then it's available on the Net, right? (Duh... I hope). The others would then have access to it and would have ideally prepared to beat it. If they couldn't, especially since by your own words you had no clue what you were doing , then it looks like their decks need some work.

If it was a casual-type game with no prizes or entry fee and no one knew Net decks were allowed, THEN I think your title applies. But since it's not... it's merely a tourney with a successful ending... (for you... )

 

[Mundungu]

This is also my deck for almost a month now. I posted it - or a very similar version - in the deck related forum a while ago.

I dont own 4 FOW or 4 trade wind but even close to that deck is real excellent.

I find that gilded drake is an exellent addition.

1U take control of their creature, bounce the drake back to your hand with the tradewind. Shuts down all creature based decks.

I played the match up against another guy and it is basically up to who plays the tradwind first.

It is a GREAT deck to play.

 

[Baskil]

I can not stand TS (to play or play against). It's turned testing this season into a chore. This is coming from an admitted Draw-Go/Forbiddian/Stasis player: TS is boring as hell.

Watching/playing a TS/TS mirror match is like watching grass grow on a cricket field.

Not commenting on you, just the deck itself

 

[Chaos Turtle]

Just wanted to say, I like lock decks.
Why?
Well, once you learn to play them well, and can establish a lock early (or convince you opponent that you have) the opponent often rewards you by conceding?

"What!?" you cry, "Conceding is good? Blasphemer!"

Settle down. It's been said often enough that if you Pay to Play, you should play your best deck. In tournaments, I'd much rather my opponents concede early than make my sit through the full 50 minutes.

Now, if you show up at your local Arena League or fun group and play your sick lock decks, then I understand why you don't make many friends.

 

[Baskil]

At least in extended, I think that if Lock Decks are the rage, they've banned the wrong cards. If TS becomes as popular in the ptq-going community that I think it will be, this will be the worst extended season ever. Things you'll see if 5-color survival and TS catch on: tons of ties, low attendance, and a Survival/Anti-Survival metagame.

Just something to think about next time you Land Grant for a Tropical Island.

 

[Mr_Pestilence]

Yep, I hate this deck. Before Morphling came along, Tradewind Rider almost made me quit Magic altogether.

Why hasn't Survival of the Fittest been banned? This deck makes for boring games, and really dull tournaments.

In general, I think control decks should be sligtly inferior to aggro decks. WotC obviously doesn't agree - they've allowed control and combo decks to dominate extended, and killed Hatred, one of the best aggro decks in extended.

 

[Chaos Turtle]

Hatred was a combo deck.
The aggro was just something to fall back on if for some reason the game went past turn 4.

 

[Istanbul]

4x Arrest
3x Disenchant
3x Abolish
4x Crusade
2x Reverent Mantra

2x Devout Witness
3x Steadfast Guard
3x Diving Griffin
3x Ardent Soldier
2x Benalish Trapper
4x Razorfoot Griffin
3x Angel of Mercy
3x Tundra Wolves

19x Plains
2x Ruins of Trokair

Arrest shuts down Tradewind, and Disenchant can work on Survival if you have enough permanents in play. You can even pitch a Plains to Abolish if a Tradewind lock is taking place. This deck is filled with mid-sized weenies, with Crusade sticking around to pump your critters. Reverent Mantra makes for a great kill card, and while this deck lacks things like the White Knights of old, it can easily make up for the loss with other undercosted weenies.

...and just think, the deck can even go over to work in Type II, if you like.

I could post a better version for Extended, if you'd (collectively) like?

 

[Chaos Turtle]

If someone tries bouncing your land with Tradewind Rider, you could use Teferi's Response on it.
Surely you can manage to keep two mana open for this.

Hmm... if I think of anything actually useful, I'll share it.

 

[Spiderman]

Mike Flores wrote an article last week mentioning that in Extended, black, despite losing Dark Ritual, has not made a bad or poor showing in.... whatever pro-type or tourney stuff is going on now (States? Championships? Whatever... it WAS last week ) Take a gander over to the Dojo and see what he has to say. I can't remember much more than that or otherwise I'd tell you

Self-correction: Whoops, it was Adrian Sullivan, not Mike Flores and he was just talking about how Trix was still viable (or at least made a decent showing) in the whatever tourneys. Here's the link if you're interested:

http://www.thedojo.com/column2/col.001025asu.shtml

[Edited by Spiderman on 10-31-00 at 08:36 AM]