G
Gizmo
Guest
I played in a PTQ: Nice today - which is Odyssey/Torment Sealed.
On opening my deck I found construction in the most part quite easy - I had a lot of very powerful Black and Red removal spells, a few marginal creatures ... oh and Kamahl and Laquatus`s Champion
... my only question was which color to splash for a few spells, I settled on white mainly for Hallowed Healer and Shelter.
My deck was:
SPELLS
Sonic Seizure (R, Discard a card at random: Bolt)
Firebolt
Flame Burst
Fiery Temper
Ghastly Demise
Chainers Edict
Afflict
Patriarchs Desire
Screams Of The Damned
Shelter
Morgue Theft
MONSTERS
Rotting Giant
Gravegouger
Fledgling Imp
Laquatus`s Champion
Longhorn Firebeast
Halbardier
Pardic Lancer
Kamahl, Pit Fighter
Hallowed Healer
Aven Flock
Patchwork Gnomes
LANDS
Cabal Pit
3 Plains
7 Swamp
7 Mountain
I`d never played this format before (not even pre-release) so I wasnt sure if a deck light on creatures and high on removal was good or not, but I felt that my deck should certainly be good enough to make Top-8.
Round One: Dougie Pensmore (multiple PT attendee)
Game one he gets flooded.
Game two I get screwed.
Game three we play some magic, he pays 5 to kill my Longhorn, then feels foolish when I play my Laquatus Champion to put him on 9 life before I even attack him. Game over.
Round Two: Scott Wills (multiple PT attendee)
Game one he gets flooded
Game two he gets screwed, stabilises the board with a Thought Devourer and Aven Prot:Red guy... unfortunately for him I draw all my burn and go to the head with 2 Firebolts, Sonic Seizure, and Fiery Temper to win.
Round Three: Kev O Connor (multiple PT attendee)
Game one he gets flooded.
Game two I get screwed.
Game three he Mulligans twice, but I get stupidly flooded (my first 7 draws are land) and Im forced to frantically hold off a Pardic Collaborator (how good is HE?!?!) by blocking and regenerating with my Patchwork Gnomes... he is kind of slow to play more threats though and I hold out until I start to see spells.
He makes a Soul Scourge. I draw an Aven Flock
He makes a Faceless Butcher on my Gnomes (eek). I make a Kamahl (mwahahaha!)
Kamahl destroys all his creatures, gains Prot:Red from Shelter when a Firebolt heads his way, swings for 6, then finally dies to the flashback of Firebolt.. having already won the game singlehandedly for me. This was the one and only time I drew Kamahl - the Champion won me lots of games, but Kamahl was hding all day.
Hmmph, so I`m 3-0 and I`ve only had to play one real game of magic...
Round Four: Teammate Mark Wharmby
Game one I destroy all his monsters with Screams Of The Damned, cast Champion, serve.
Game two I destroy all his monsters, he plays Carrion Wurm which is too big to burn and too black to Demise. I die.
Game three he gets screwed.
So at 4-0 I can ID in to the Top-8, which I do. Finish on 4 wins and two draws, into the Top-8 draft.
(THIS SEEMS FAR TOO EASY FOR A PTQ, BTW, SOMETHING US ABOUT TO GO VERY WRONG I CAN TELL)
The top-8 draft is 6 multiple-PT attendees, me with only one attendance, and a random nice guy who we all know but who`s never come close to a PTQ win and is looking pretty downhearted at his prospects. I know zip about drafting this format, what I figure is to avoid black because it will be fought over, and in fact to sit in red because red Torment is pretty good, and I`d rather avoid green if I can. I also want to repeat my succesful Sealed strategy of taking removal ahead of creatures if possible.
First booster, first pick... Thought Devourer. Nice, that`ll do.
First booster, Second pick ... Thermal Blast. Looks like mission accomplished and I`ll play RU - I pick up a very small black splash, careful to get the mana sources to play it.
SPELLS
Crackling Club
Firebolt
Sonic Seizure
Temporal Insanity (red Ray Of Command)
2x Thermal Blast
Peek
Predict
Syncopate
Liquify
Concentrate
Restless Dreams
Shadowblood Egg
Sandstone Deadfall
MONSTERS
Cephalid Scout
Puppeteer
Dreamwinder
Thought Devourer
Scrivener
2x Halberdier
Pardic Arsonist (FTK wannabe)
Grotesque Hybrid
LAND
Bog Wreckage
Seafloor Debris
1 Swamp
7 Island
7 Mountain
Quarter Final: Kev O Connor
Game one he gets flooded.
Game two I get screwed.
Game three he gets screwed and I finally conspire to kill his Mongrel and win.
Semi Final: Scott Wills
Game one he gets flooded.
Game two he gets screwed, but I am flooded and cant capitalise. But eventually I have literally no lands left in my deck and as the game goes on I power to a comfy win because I have card drawing.
Final: Sam Gomersall (mutiple PT attendee)
We agree a prize split - he wants the invite to the PT more than me, and I wasnt the money. We walk off with me getting £300 (about $450), 60 boosters (I give 24 to Scott because I feel very bad about how much I`m fluked this win) and two packs of Euro lands. He gets £200 (about $300) and the invite. So we are both happy.
Well... better lucky than good I suppose. Although I do like both my decks and think they are good.
Playing tips - unless you are a fast deck, or have no cheap removal and playing against a fast deck... you should Draw not Play. It was true that over the day my opponent did mulligan twice as much as I did, but each time I mulliganed I did so when I was going to draw, and they always seemed to be Mulliganing and then playing, which instantly put them two cards down and was virtually impossible to come back from.
Oh, the only ther advice is to attempt to force your opponent to draw either all land, or no land. Winning is much easier when your opponent cannot play any spells.
On opening my deck I found construction in the most part quite easy - I had a lot of very powerful Black and Red removal spells, a few marginal creatures ... oh and Kamahl and Laquatus`s Champion
... my only question was which color to splash for a few spells, I settled on white mainly for Hallowed Healer and Shelter.My deck was:
SPELLS
Sonic Seizure (R, Discard a card at random: Bolt)
Firebolt
Flame Burst
Fiery Temper
Ghastly Demise
Chainers Edict
Afflict
Patriarchs Desire
Screams Of The Damned
Shelter
Morgue Theft
MONSTERS
Rotting Giant
Gravegouger
Fledgling Imp
Laquatus`s Champion
Longhorn Firebeast
Halbardier
Pardic Lancer
Kamahl, Pit Fighter
Hallowed Healer
Aven Flock
Patchwork Gnomes
LANDS
Cabal Pit
3 Plains
7 Swamp
7 Mountain
I`d never played this format before (not even pre-release) so I wasnt sure if a deck light on creatures and high on removal was good or not, but I felt that my deck should certainly be good enough to make Top-8.
Round One: Dougie Pensmore (multiple PT attendee)
Game one he gets flooded.
Game two I get screwed.
Game three we play some magic, he pays 5 to kill my Longhorn, then feels foolish when I play my Laquatus Champion to put him on 9 life before I even attack him. Game over.
Round Two: Scott Wills (multiple PT attendee)
Game one he gets flooded
Game two he gets screwed, stabilises the board with a Thought Devourer and Aven Prot:Red guy... unfortunately for him I draw all my burn and go to the head with 2 Firebolts, Sonic Seizure, and Fiery Temper to win.
Round Three: Kev O Connor (multiple PT attendee)
Game one he gets flooded.
Game two I get screwed.
Game three he Mulligans twice, but I get stupidly flooded (my first 7 draws are land) and Im forced to frantically hold off a Pardic Collaborator (how good is HE?!?!) by blocking and regenerating with my Patchwork Gnomes... he is kind of slow to play more threats though and I hold out until I start to see spells.
He makes a Soul Scourge. I draw an Aven Flock
He makes a Faceless Butcher on my Gnomes (eek). I make a Kamahl (mwahahaha!)
Kamahl destroys all his creatures, gains Prot:Red from Shelter when a Firebolt heads his way, swings for 6, then finally dies to the flashback of Firebolt.. having already won the game singlehandedly for me. This was the one and only time I drew Kamahl - the Champion won me lots of games, but Kamahl was hding all day.
Hmmph, so I`m 3-0 and I`ve only had to play one real game of magic...
Round Four: Teammate Mark Wharmby
Game one I destroy all his monsters with Screams Of The Damned, cast Champion, serve.
Game two I destroy all his monsters, he plays Carrion Wurm which is too big to burn and too black to Demise. I die.
Game three he gets screwed.
So at 4-0 I can ID in to the Top-8, which I do. Finish on 4 wins and two draws, into the Top-8 draft.
(THIS SEEMS FAR TOO EASY FOR A PTQ, BTW, SOMETHING US ABOUT TO GO VERY WRONG I CAN TELL)
The top-8 draft is 6 multiple-PT attendees, me with only one attendance, and a random nice guy who we all know but who`s never come close to a PTQ win and is looking pretty downhearted at his prospects. I know zip about drafting this format, what I figure is to avoid black because it will be fought over, and in fact to sit in red because red Torment is pretty good, and I`d rather avoid green if I can. I also want to repeat my succesful Sealed strategy of taking removal ahead of creatures if possible.
First booster, first pick... Thought Devourer. Nice, that`ll do.
First booster, Second pick ... Thermal Blast. Looks like mission accomplished and I`ll play RU - I pick up a very small black splash, careful to get the mana sources to play it.
SPELLS
Crackling Club
Firebolt
Sonic Seizure
Temporal Insanity (red Ray Of Command)
2x Thermal Blast
Peek
Predict
Syncopate
Liquify
Concentrate
Restless Dreams
Shadowblood Egg
Sandstone Deadfall
MONSTERS
Cephalid Scout
Puppeteer
Dreamwinder
Thought Devourer
Scrivener
2x Halberdier
Pardic Arsonist (FTK wannabe)
Grotesque Hybrid
LAND
Bog Wreckage
Seafloor Debris
1 Swamp
7 Island
7 Mountain
Quarter Final: Kev O Connor
Game one he gets flooded.
Game two I get screwed.
Game three he gets screwed and I finally conspire to kill his Mongrel and win.
Semi Final: Scott Wills
Game one he gets flooded.
Game two he gets screwed, but I am flooded and cant capitalise. But eventually I have literally no lands left in my deck and as the game goes on I power to a comfy win because I have card drawing.
Final: Sam Gomersall (mutiple PT attendee)
We agree a prize split - he wants the invite to the PT more than me, and I wasnt the money. We walk off with me getting £300 (about $450), 60 boosters (I give 24 to Scott because I feel very bad about how much I`m fluked this win) and two packs of Euro lands. He gets £200 (about $300) and the invite. So we are both happy.
Well... better lucky than good I suppose. Although I do like both my decks and think they are good.
Playing tips - unless you are a fast deck, or have no cheap removal and playing against a fast deck... you should Draw not Play. It was true that over the day my opponent did mulligan twice as much as I did, but each time I mulliganed I did so when I was going to draw, and they always seemed to be Mulliganing and then playing, which instantly put them two cards down and was virtually impossible to come back from.
Oh, the only ther advice is to attempt to force your opponent to draw either all land, or no land. Winning is much easier when your opponent cannot play any spells.