Kicking It Up a Notch!
Kicking It Up a Notch
(11)
Hello and good morning! Well at least it's morning as I write this. If it's night when you read it, I hope you're having a good night too! Today we shift gears into some good ol' MTG! That's right Magic the Gathering. Why am I writing about this topic when I so brutally slayed it in issue # 2?
Well, I can't ignore it. I spent quite a few years of my life playing it. So I thought I'd talk about my first experiences with tournament playing. And how much I got killed......So here-we-go!
But haven't you said at one time in you're Magic playing life: Man, I just need to take it to the next level. I need to kick it up a notch? Well, if you have ever said that you aren't the first. And I want to mention a big part of your education is case you haven't received it yet. Tournament. That's right, tournament.
If you have never done it, guess what, it's time. I can't stress enough how much valuable education you will receive from playing in one. And just to prove the fact I thought I'd share with you my first two tournaments with all the highs, lows, tears, and joys that went with it. More tears than joy I have to admit......
I played my first tournament in the Legacy format. Basically this format is for people who want to use pretty much any card from the card pool but don't have $10,000 to spend. It is a variation on Vintage format. That is a format in which any card can be used with only 3 or 4 cards banned to date. Vintage is pricey though because the power 9 are all legal. Legacy is for us poor players. So anyway, my first couple of tournaments were Legacy.
I bring to the table a deck. It relies on quick counters and burns to win with only 10 creatures in the total deck. (I would give you the deck list, but it's not together anymore. You will see why. Keep reading...) My main kill creature is Wee Dragonauts . Got 4 of them on board. They mesh really well with a spell deck. My idea's are solid, but right off the bat I lack one vital thing.....I don't have a specific combo. Sure I have some nice stuff including two very sweet Cryptic Command ! But NO combos.
Here's our first lesson....that's bad. Legacy is all about the combos my friend. Part one of my education as you can see. The way it's set up you play four rounds of best two out of three. If you win you get to play in the final match to see who is the winner of the night. So you get at least four opponents with the opportunity to play in a big game. So here we go!
ROUND ONE:
My opponent is running a 5 color Zubera deck. He has pain lands and Ravnica lands too. His combo was that he used ones like the and the Zuberas to give himself infinite life & get an army of tokens. Examples of these: Silent-Chant Zubera and Dripping-Tongue Zubera . Nice combo. Would it work though?
Match 1: His mana base works nicely giving him access to all 5 colors in just a couple turns. He has pushed himself though and has lost some power as well. But unfortunately for my friend here he has too much mana and not enough creatures. Lucky him I'm not running that many either but it doesn't matter. First I hit him hard with some direct damage, then I counter B- smack my way to victory with my Dragonaughts. 1-0.
Alright! That wasn't so bad! Maybe my deck can do some serious damage!
Match 2: He does a lot better this time. Hits me for some damage then ups his life total. But the mana becomes a problem again for him. This time a little too few mana of the right color. He made a strong start but I come back with 2 pumped up Dragonaughts and knock him out easy. 2-0.Now the “rookie of the year” chants are coming into my head. Oh yeah going to be a good tournament!
Rounds: 1-0. Match: 2-0
ROUND TWO:
This time I'm paired up with a guy who is running a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker deck. How this works is he uses Tooth and Nail to dig up Kiki-Jiki and then sets it up in a combo with Sky Hussar. The two abilities play off each other and then you have to face down an infinite army of fliers! Nasty!
Match one: We trade early blows. I can't seem to get any creatures. And the ones I do he burns. Eventually he wins by wearing me down. 0-1.
Ouch. OK, I got one more chance.
Match two: He doesn't play any creatures at all till he tries to drop good old Kiki on turn 6 (I'm beginning to realize maybe my deck is a little bit too much on the defensive side...hmm). I Cryptic Command that sucker, only to fall to his later Tooth and Nail. Bam! 1 million Sky Hussars......sigh.0-2 Ow! Ok now things aren't going so hot.
Rounds: 1-1. Matches: 2-2
ROUND THREE:
OK, time to take the power back. This round I am playing versus a deck. He was a nice guy but his deck was down right brutal. Goblins my friend. Goblins. A deck he has spent 5 years perfecting. Hmm this might not be good. As in “help here comes the runaway rhino!” not good.
Match one: It's quick. It's brutal. No matter how many counters I throw or removal I drop he bounces back. Finally a Goblin Grenade puts my misery to an end. 0-1. This is not cool. I already know that I have no hope this round.
Match two: You know that dream you have where you are at school, then suddenly you are naked? Remember how embarrassed you are? Yeah....... 0-2.
Rounds: 1-2. Matches: 2-4.
Here's where we stand so far, I took the first round then haven't even won a match since much less a whole round! It's time to get serious! Got one last battle to go.
ROUND FOUR:
So I beat the Zuberas so far, but couldn't stop the or the Goblins. The next girl I am playing is the daughter of the store owner. She has a treefolk deck.
How bad could it be? In my defense had just came out so I wasn't aware of how much danger I was in!
Match 1:
Before this match I would've said that goblins were the absolute fastest creature
type decks ever. Right. What about treefolk? Turn one she drops the Treefolk Harbinger which gets Doran, the Siege Tower on top of her deck and gives her a 0/3 blocker. Turn 2 comes another harbinger. Then on turn 3 here's Doran! I take 16 damage on turn 4 alone. Turn 5 is all it takes. Ok, so treefolk are the scariest. I'm not winning again tonight am I? 0-1
Match 2:
Her deck doesn't work as fast this time, but I fall into a situation every Magic player dreads! The field is open for me to take my revenge! But where the heck is all my mana!?! Yes my friends mana drought! Really it's the salt in the open wound by this time.....I'm done. I don't even bother to stick around to see who wins the main thing. What's the point you know? 0-2
Rounds: 1-3 Matches: 2-6
So much for rookie of the year! Ok though so where did I go wrong? What can we learn from this dismal start? Well a lot actually.
Right off the bat as I already stated I didn't have any specific combos. Sure I was using the Wee Dragonaughts with a ton of support spells, but that's not really a combo! A combo deck works by setting up a win condition. And all good combo decks have an alternate strategy if plan A doesn't go well. Having no combo is murder on your deck in legacy. That or you need a strong beatdown. You have to have a plan! I had none! I completely left my wins up to chance. The sub par Zubera deck I played fell to me but let's face it, it's a week combo in my opinion.
Another thing we can all learn reflects on the issues raised in my blog on Beatdown and Control. See I based my deck on the fact I would run low creatures and a decent amount of counters to keep the board clear till I dumped the Wee Dragonaughts out. Now compare that idea to the rules of beatdown/control. Counter spells are obviously control. But Wee Dragonaughts would work better with burn (beatdown) spells. Why do I say this? Well think about it. The Dragonaughts work best when you play a lot of cheap spells then attack with them. That's when they receive the buff. Hmm. How are you going to use a lot of counter spells on your turn? Burn works better. Burn off their cheap chump blockers while beefing your flying men. If no blockers are in sight, you still can burn the other player! Perfect! It uses a beatdown set of spells with a beatdown creature. Now that makes a whole lot more sense! And my deck would've been loads better!
So a sad day for me loosing so bad. But at least I learned so much. I decided to bring that knowledge to my next tournament. This would be two weeks later.......
To Be Continued in another blog.....
(11)
Hello and good morning! Well at least it's morning as I write this. If it's night when you read it, I hope you're having a good night too! Today we shift gears into some good ol' MTG! That's right Magic the Gathering. Why am I writing about this topic when I so brutally slayed it in issue # 2?
Well, I can't ignore it. I spent quite a few years of my life playing it. So I thought I'd talk about my first experiences with tournament playing. And how much I got killed......So here-we-go!
But haven't you said at one time in you're Magic playing life: Man, I just need to take it to the next level. I need to kick it up a notch? Well, if you have ever said that you aren't the first. And I want to mention a big part of your education is case you haven't received it yet. Tournament. That's right, tournament.
If you have never done it, guess what, it's time. I can't stress enough how much valuable education you will receive from playing in one. And just to prove the fact I thought I'd share with you my first two tournaments with all the highs, lows, tears, and joys that went with it. More tears than joy I have to admit......
I played my first tournament in the Legacy format. Basically this format is for people who want to use pretty much any card from the card pool but don't have $10,000 to spend. It is a variation on Vintage format. That is a format in which any card can be used with only 3 or 4 cards banned to date. Vintage is pricey though because the power 9 are all legal. Legacy is for us poor players. So anyway, my first couple of tournaments were Legacy.
I bring to the table a deck. It relies on quick counters and burns to win with only 10 creatures in the total deck. (I would give you the deck list, but it's not together anymore. You will see why. Keep reading...) My main kill creature is Wee Dragonauts . Got 4 of them on board. They mesh really well with a spell deck. My idea's are solid, but right off the bat I lack one vital thing.....I don't have a specific combo. Sure I have some nice stuff including two very sweet Cryptic Command ! But NO combos.
Here's our first lesson....that's bad. Legacy is all about the combos my friend. Part one of my education as you can see. The way it's set up you play four rounds of best two out of three. If you win you get to play in the final match to see who is the winner of the night. So you get at least four opponents with the opportunity to play in a big game. So here we go!
ROUND ONE:
My opponent is running a 5 color Zubera deck. He has pain lands and Ravnica lands too. His combo was that he used ones like the and the Zuberas to give himself infinite life & get an army of tokens. Examples of these: Silent-Chant Zubera and Dripping-Tongue Zubera . Nice combo. Would it work though?
Match 1: His mana base works nicely giving him access to all 5 colors in just a couple turns. He has pushed himself though and has lost some power as well. But unfortunately for my friend here he has too much mana and not enough creatures. Lucky him I'm not running that many either but it doesn't matter. First I hit him hard with some direct damage, then I counter B- smack my way to victory with my Dragonaughts. 1-0.
Alright! That wasn't so bad! Maybe my deck can do some serious damage!
Match 2: He does a lot better this time. Hits me for some damage then ups his life total. But the mana becomes a problem again for him. This time a little too few mana of the right color. He made a strong start but I come back with 2 pumped up Dragonaughts and knock him out easy. 2-0.Now the “rookie of the year” chants are coming into my head. Oh yeah going to be a good tournament!
Rounds: 1-0. Match: 2-0
ROUND TWO:
This time I'm paired up with a guy who is running a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker deck. How this works is he uses Tooth and Nail to dig up Kiki-Jiki and then sets it up in a combo with Sky Hussar. The two abilities play off each other and then you have to face down an infinite army of fliers! Nasty!
Match one: We trade early blows. I can't seem to get any creatures. And the ones I do he burns. Eventually he wins by wearing me down. 0-1.
Ouch. OK, I got one more chance.
Match two: He doesn't play any creatures at all till he tries to drop good old Kiki on turn 6 (I'm beginning to realize maybe my deck is a little bit too much on the defensive side...hmm). I Cryptic Command that sucker, only to fall to his later Tooth and Nail. Bam! 1 million Sky Hussars......sigh.0-2 Ow! Ok now things aren't going so hot.
Rounds: 1-1. Matches: 2-2
ROUND THREE:
OK, time to take the power back. This round I am playing versus a deck. He was a nice guy but his deck was down right brutal. Goblins my friend. Goblins. A deck he has spent 5 years perfecting. Hmm this might not be good. As in “help here comes the runaway rhino!” not good.
Match one: It's quick. It's brutal. No matter how many counters I throw or removal I drop he bounces back. Finally a Goblin Grenade puts my misery to an end. 0-1. This is not cool. I already know that I have no hope this round.
Match two: You know that dream you have where you are at school, then suddenly you are naked? Remember how embarrassed you are? Yeah....... 0-2.
Rounds: 1-2. Matches: 2-4.
Here's where we stand so far, I took the first round then haven't even won a match since much less a whole round! It's time to get serious! Got one last battle to go.
ROUND FOUR:
So I beat the Zuberas so far, but couldn't stop the or the Goblins. The next girl I am playing is the daughter of the store owner. She has a treefolk deck.
How bad could it be? In my defense had just came out so I wasn't aware of how much danger I was in!
Match 1:
Before this match I would've said that goblins were the absolute fastest creature
type decks ever. Right. What about treefolk? Turn one she drops the Treefolk Harbinger which gets Doran, the Siege Tower on top of her deck and gives her a 0/3 blocker. Turn 2 comes another harbinger. Then on turn 3 here's Doran! I take 16 damage on turn 4 alone. Turn 5 is all it takes. Ok, so treefolk are the scariest. I'm not winning again tonight am I? 0-1
Match 2:
Her deck doesn't work as fast this time, but I fall into a situation every Magic player dreads! The field is open for me to take my revenge! But where the heck is all my mana!?! Yes my friends mana drought! Really it's the salt in the open wound by this time.....I'm done. I don't even bother to stick around to see who wins the main thing. What's the point you know? 0-2
Rounds: 1-3 Matches: 2-6
So much for rookie of the year! Ok though so where did I go wrong? What can we learn from this dismal start? Well a lot actually.
Right off the bat as I already stated I didn't have any specific combos. Sure I was using the Wee Dragonaughts with a ton of support spells, but that's not really a combo! A combo deck works by setting up a win condition. And all good combo decks have an alternate strategy if plan A doesn't go well. Having no combo is murder on your deck in legacy. That or you need a strong beatdown. You have to have a plan! I had none! I completely left my wins up to chance. The sub par Zubera deck I played fell to me but let's face it, it's a week combo in my opinion.
Another thing we can all learn reflects on the issues raised in my blog on Beatdown and Control. See I based my deck on the fact I would run low creatures and a decent amount of counters to keep the board clear till I dumped the Wee Dragonaughts out. Now compare that idea to the rules of beatdown/control. Counter spells are obviously control. But Wee Dragonaughts would work better with burn (beatdown) spells. Why do I say this? Well think about it. The Dragonaughts work best when you play a lot of cheap spells then attack with them. That's when they receive the buff. Hmm. How are you going to use a lot of counter spells on your turn? Burn works better. Burn off their cheap chump blockers while beefing your flying men. If no blockers are in sight, you still can burn the other player! Perfect! It uses a beatdown set of spells with a beatdown creature. Now that makes a whole lot more sense! And my deck would've been loads better!
So a sad day for me loosing so bad. But at least I learned so much. I decided to bring that knowledge to my next tournament. This would be two weeks later.......
To Be Continued in another blog.....
Hmmm i cant wait for the ending...
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