Report of Magic-League Invitational finals

prometheus · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 28

Hey all

I saw that there were some questions as to how my deck, without jitte or pro guys, was able to repeatedly handle the bw mirror. To this end, I've written a report of the final match, and perhaps I will write more reports if response is positive.

For reference, the lists:
http://www.magic-league.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2865

Finals Coverage by prometheus

Game 1 starts pleasently without mulls. I lead off with Shizo and rusalka against a deck without one-drops. Stryfe's turn 2 play is hand against my bob, who's nice enough to give me a land. Things look favorable as the board begins to clutter, but even a husk and isamaru are not worth running into his hand. Turn 4, after Stryfe sets up his arena, I castigate seeing jitte jitte paladin bob bascillica. With rusalka on the board, taking paladin forces him to draw more guys to carry the equpiment. Predictibly, the hand comes crashing over with jitte and I chump with Isamaru, then feed it to husk. Pontiff leaves the board bob and husk vs nothing, and I beat Stryfe down to 9. When his turn is only mortify on bob, I immediatly cash Isamaru and a second husk for 6 damage. Stryfe excitedly rips paladin en-vec off his deck and equpis it, but his phyrexian arena kills him before it matters.

Game 2 is likewise without mulls; a highlight of both decks is their consistancy. On turn 2, I trade my rusalka for his koala, and play a second rusalka. When it attacks, Stryfe mortifies it signaling bob, but unfortunaly for him I've drawn all 4 rusalkas. So I play the third and castigate him. I see: descendant bob 8.5 and hand. I'm holding an 8.5 myslef, but also some rusalkas. I was waiting for the third white source to play him, but now I'll have to wait until either I can remove Stryfe's or I draw another castigate. I take hand due to lack of white creatures. The stereotypical weapons pile-up begins with descendant, then husk. Koala for stryfe, koala and rusalka for me. Happily, Stryfe plays a paladin. On his next turn, he draws the third white and forces my hand with his 8.5, and I play bob. Stryfe's next draw puts him securly in the game, as Ghost Council comes down alongside the confidant he was holding. The board is like:
Prometheus
bob husk rusalka rusalka koala (shizo)
Stryfe
bob council descendant koala paladin

Bob flips castigate, and I draw promise. There's a good rip. Promise comes down, and on my turn rusalka tries to trade with bob. This is a small mistake; I should have done this trade on my endstep to try and delay council's attack one turn. Koala tries to target promise, but I sac my koala at the same target to get tokens. Ghost dad eats bob and phases out. After weighing his options, Stryfe sends in Council and descendant- this is where I knew that castigate on hand was the correct play. Husk blocks council, token blocks descendant. Two tokens trade for council, and Stryfe plays his second one. After I draw and pass, Stryfe sends in the pair again. Confidant and a token trade for descendant through council, leaving the board:
Prometheus [4]:
husk token rusalka
Stryfe [24]:
Council paladin

Castigate on Stryfe reveals two lands. Stryfe draws jitte, equips paladin, and sends both his guys in. Token blocks paladin, token and rusalka pump husk, and Stryfe correctly lets council die. My next draw isn't pontiff or 8.5, however, so paladin becomes unkillable and lethal.

Game 3

Starting game 3 (again without mulls) we trade shizos. That's fine with me, as my hand contains 2 lands and bob while stryfe's deck has a much higher curve. Bob comes down, then hand. My deck is obstinate, however, in prividing a third (fourth) land, so I castigate revealing: descendant mortify koala swamp swamp needle. I take descendant- his deck is a little light on creatures- and pass. Mortify, swing, and I play another bob I was holding. Stryfe swings in and plays kami. I drop Isamaru and the rusalka I flipped. Stryfe swings with both to put me at 8, and plays paladin. Finally, my third land finally shows up, I play koala while shrine comes into play tapped. The board is:
Prometheus[8]:
Bob isamaru koala rusalka
Stryfe[16]:
koala paladin hand

Isamaru and koala team up to trade a 1-drop for paladin, bob trades with koala, and hand connects for 2. 8.5 comes down for me off a painland, without mana to protect him. Stryfe swings in with hand and beats me to 3, then needles 8.5 and plays paladin. The pontiff that bob flipped a while ago comes down and, along with 8.5, removes both pro guys using rusalka as the sac outlet. Koala and rusalka beat Stryfe down to 11. Stryfe rips ghost council, but I have a twin to reply with, beat for 3 play the second rusalka. When Stryfe has no play, I play pontiff and pump my guys for exact lethal (7) damage.

GG's to all the t8 competitors, and congratulations to you all.

synch987 · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 256

well played

scurvy · Joined: 01 Sep 2004 Posts: 119

So the key to swinging the match is Pontiff + sac outlet?

prometheus · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 28

The key to winning the match is to pick your battles. Unless you're forced to do something by jitte or council, don't trade. Eventually all your cards will trade up, and the hand in hand decks don't run that many creatures to begin with. Or you can just draw pontiff and blow them out.

Husk is the control deck, the long game favors me because of pontiff. I just want to wait until as many creatures are in play as my opponent will allow.

Korniswins · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 31

Well played, and well written. Good job Prometheus! What were some of your other matchups during the day?

buda · Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Posts: 47

well played and nice deck, Cry of Contriction should fit well in your deck!

Stryfe- · Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 72

Good games 1 and 2 but game 3 was horrible. I drew 8 lands :/

prometheus · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 28

@ Korniswins
t8 matches were
Stryfe hand in hand
Yatre hand in hand
kaesh GW fat

other matches were:
Insomnia ID
Asamodious ID
Streakz UR tron
Roar Boros aggro
Kev UGb critical mass thing (meloku, north tree, jitte)
Bye

@stryfe
Yeah, land happens. I think it's a deck construction thing though, since I run 1 less land and like 12 more creatures. You even got to turn one into a wasteland and slow me down.

Stryfe- · Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 72

I think in these major tournaments. Playing 1 more land than 1 less land is always beneficial. Becuase better flooded than screwed.

And i only played 23 land total, which isent bad

ChaseQueen · Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 1

Great Job Prometheus! Could u possible give me you macthups in the trial and master and game records. Also how did u sideboard against youre macthups? Thxs in advance!