Well Lincoln is always a nice venue to play at, with a very social bunch of players but also there are players of not inconsiderable skill. The event got off to a controversial start as it was revealed players had wanted to pre register but had to be turned away due to lack of product. Indeed it was the first time we had hit twelve players as before it had been solidly ten players so Magic is growing in the town and Future Sight will have space for twenty four players, which will be great.
I opened my Tournament pack first as I feel this will be where the core cards come from and the planar chaos will make up the balance, having seen the online spoiler list it is not as if I will be going ohh ad arrghh over any cards I find. Scan past the land, hit my first time shifted card and it’s a foil, OMG it’s a Squire, lurking behind him though is Jon Finkel so I aren’t that unhappy. Then I find Sengir Nosferatu and I smile inwardly as today may not be as long a day as normal, I remember using him in the past to devastating effect verses Prof once in Oldham. I open the Planar Chaos and find a Timbermare and am now getting confused as the card pool being thrown up is actually very good in most of the colours, a few more cards and something quite special could be forming. And then it comes out Akroma, Angel of Fury with battering and Spitting slivers looking back at me. I scan the card pool and by now am wondering what fortune has come my way, yeah I can play these cards and it will suit my style of play.
Land x 16
Swamps x 8
Mountains x 8
Spells x 9
Dash Hopes x 2
Treacherous urge x 1
Curse of the cabal
Feebleness
Strangling Soot
Dark Withering
Rift Bolt
Brute Force
Creatures x 15
Big game Hunter
Vampiric Sliver
Deadly Grub
Spitting Sliver x 2
Sengir Nosferatu
Blood knight
Keldon marauders
Needlepeak Spider
Battering Sliver
Shirk Shaman
Blazing Blade Askari
Akroma, Anel of Fury
Ghostflame Sliver
Well I was actually nervous going into round 1, well I always am but realistically I had two bombs in Akroma and Sengir in the creatures with a solid supporting cast of creatures with tricks and removal. My friend Sonny said afterwards he knew the deck was strong without seeing it as he was still scratching around to find cards for his deck as I had my deck sleeved and was goldfishing.
The Sideboard was the following cards
Timecrafting, Plunder, Ancient Grudge, Fire Whip, Flamecore Elemental, thick Skinned goblin, Cyclopean Giant, Null Profusion, Evil Eye of Urborg, Chronatog token, fungal reaches, Ashcoat bear, Gemhide sliver, tromp the domains, thrill of the hunt, green seeker, Savage Thallid, Timbermare x 2, utopia vow x 3, mire boa x 2, vitaspore thallid, pschotrope thallid, citanul woodreaders, fa’adiya seer, watcher sliver, forisian interceptor, momentary blink, castle raptors, gaze of justice, amrou seekers, pentarch ward, squire (foil), mycologist, shad of trokair, whitemane lion, revered dead, aven riftwatcher, saltblast, sinew sliver, dawn charm, dementia sliver, shadowmage infiltrator, dreadship reef, walk the aeons, stromcloud djinn, shadow sliver, ophidian eye, screeching sliver, fathom seer, slipstream serpent, viscerid deepwalker, snapback, tidewalker, merfolk, thamaturgist x 2, gossamer phantasm, wistful thinking, aquamorpth entity, shaper parasite, piracy charm, reality acid and synchronous sliver.
Okay, could I have done anything different with my deck, splashing several colours as I had the reef and the reaches? But in the end decided to go with the raw power of the two colours.
Louis gets off to a beat down and creatures are dropping at an alarming rate and I have a handful of high cost spells and not enough mana to cast them. Though I try to come back a last ditch gambit is thwarted by Claws of Gix and some shifty permanent sacrificing. I am one down and worried, my mana curve may be screwed and what was I thinking of playing 16 land, who did I think I was Katsuhiro Mori ?
Game 2 and its all doom and gloom again as those little creatures just keep coming and I can see my day collapsing around my ears and then I manage to drop a spitting sliver, the first strike stops my opponent in his tracks, this is followed by the vampiric sliver, battering sliver and the ghostflame sliver. I unmorph Akroma to a groan but he top decks removal and she is in the graveyard. The second spitting sliver is dropped and I have the board locked down. He cannot attack me without losing any creature he sends at me and I can press home my advantage. I swing for 23, he blocks one sliver and then sacrifices Children of Korlis to regain the 18 life he took. He daren’t swing as he knows he will be wide open on his turn and what few creatures he has will not deal me enough damage. I swing again and he is down to 1 life. He draws, sighs and scoops. The deck is back on track as it is one one.
Game 3 and I manage to drop a turn 4 curse of the cabal, this proves to be the key play as unwilling to sacrifice a permanent to slow the curse Louis has to lose two land. A relentless beat from the Askari comes in and without ever taking damage the advantage is pressed home for the win.
Paddy O Reilly has won as well, Paddyo on Twincast, and he confirms that he is still dressing to the left (see The Magic Link). But only 1-0 against my Rochelle and he is pleased not to have suffered the same fate as last time he played her.
Martin is a newcomer to Lincoln or at least hasn’t been coming in the six months I’ve been coming to town and he has certainly been talking a good game after his first round win despite seeing his Evil Eye of Urborg temporally isolated to effectively lose him a game last round.
Game 1, Sometimes Magic is a cruel game and today was to be no exception a turn two blood knight against a deck running mainly white creatures it not pleasant and when it accounts for pretty much 11 points of early beats it is even crueller. However, my opponent's deck is too slow out of the traps and weenie creatures blast home for the win.
Game 2, and again it is curse of the cabal that drops turn 4, this time my opponent is more careful and sacrifices permanents to keep it at bay, unfortunately for him its also land as nothing else in play and the land swing allows for a horde of creatures to beat down into oblivion without taking a scratch of damage.
Well I am 2-0 for the day now and even better I’ve had two whitewashes, proving the deck's awesome potential if it can lock.
Oh great, have never beaten Ollie and I know he has drawn a Damnation.. I take heart though that he is only 1-1 so must be beatable.
Game 1, it’s a close swinging battle but I am always behind the race, even with a Sengir Nosferatu out I am still taking beats, then I stupidly attack without sufficient mana held back. I over extend and Ollie exploits the situation perfectly for the win. I am really annoyed with myself as I look through my sideboard to see if I can pull any tricks.
Game 2, Well the deck appears to actually have a curve and a good one at that, blood knight, shirk shaman and the beats hammer down in on my opponent as he has no real response, strangling soot, feebleness, removing the opposition in my creatures path and then it comes after I drop the third creature, Damnation is played. The board is clear but my opponent has lost half his life total, the ploy worked it drew the Damnation if he had it in hand. At which point I have plenty of mana in play and out come the slivers. The slivers pummel the unlucky Ollie. The loss of the first game was actually a positive as it steeled my resolve and I knew I couldn’t afford any more mistakes.
Game 3, again the curve works like a dream and creatures drop like flies but my hand keeps filling with removal and then on my fourth turn I draw curse again. I lay the curse at the expense of the creatures and it provides to be too much. Suffering from a slight mana screw the curse just makes matters worse for my opponent and stunningly for the second game in the match I don’t take a point of damage as I win 2-1.
It’s a double over the brothers and amazingly I now lead the standings at 3-0. I am on cloud nine as I am going home with a winning record. Then the pairings are announced for round four and of all the people with 2-1 records I get paired with Andrew “Bloody” Leeder. Now I know they say to improve your game you have to play better players and we are in my favourite format, sealed, but Andy is the best player in the area and I can't even remember winning a game off him in previous encounters.
Game 1, Andy mentions his car parking runs out soon so hopes its not too long a match, being ever the opportunist I offer him an Id to save himself from a £40 fine. Andy laughs and we roll the dice, hey I win a dice roll and that makes a change. And that is the good news as I mulligan to five cards with mana screw. Andy starts off quickly and within six turns I am down to six life and on the precipice of defeat, but top deck magic time is about to make a visit as out comes Sengir Nosferatu, say goodbye to them flying beats as daddy is here, the ground force are held up by the first striking slivers and it is fly over for some serious beats before dropping the battering sliver for the trample from hell. I’ve got a game off Andy, whoa nelly when did my game actually become decent.
Game 2, and mulligan to five yet again and this time it is mana flood one creature in hand and one spell drawn all game, it sucks to be me.
Game 3, and now the pressure is on us both as Andy can feel the tiebreakers and chance to scoop the Pre release. I draw my hand, and you have got to be kidding me as I have to mulligan again but this time stop at six cards but what Andy doesn’t know is that this time I have a the draw I can live with, two mountains, two swamps, burning blade askari and curse of the cabal. I bitch about the mulligan and Andy must think his luck is in, he doesn’t really mind too much when I drop the flanking Askari but next turn when I suspend the curse he does. Then I am surprised as Andy gets to second turns upkeep and doesn’t sacrifice a permanent to delay the curse, inside I am beaming and then Andy comments on whether he should sacrifice a permanent. It is with irony I have to inform him that he is too late as he has drawn his card, upkeep has long since gone. The curse is going off unless he has some chicanery to fall back upon. Andy now feels the pressure and passes the turn, the curse goes off and Andy is down to two land sacrificing his fungal reaches and only creature. Now is my time and the Askari comes in for the beats but I am still stuck on four mana and spitting slivers and battering slivers in hand. Andy is feeling the strain and suddenly something comes all over me, even if just for a day, maybe even for just a few minutes I become a pro, I remember something Craig Stephenson said on Moxradio about his run to the English Title in the last eight that he knew his opponent could crack under pressure so applied it all the more and used it to his advantage. I knew Andy was suffering and started pushing the game at Andy, pushing him into tight corner after tight corner making him squeeze every ounce of life out of his deck and sweat from his brow.
My mana stabilises and out come the slivers one by one to groans from the other side of the table but I am playing it so cool, keeping several cards in hand, mana open and pushing home. Take two, Take two becomes the norm for several rounds as I nibble away at his life total as mine stays in tact. I keep attacking and its tricky nonsense from brute force on first striking sliver to clear away his biggest blocker. I push again and then Andy animates the chronatog totem and pumps to block and it’s a stand off. However, Andy is now skipping his next turn passing the initiative to me and comments my turn again, I smile and say “Second main phase” .. play big game hunter targeting chronatog totem. The game has become the feature match and even the onlookers admire the play, the battle swings even closer my way but there are still obstacles in my way. I untap, I draw and smile as I see my feebleness looking back at me. I play the feebleness on his goblin token removing it from the board. Andy has no answers he picks up his cards and shakes my hand.. I’ve won, I’ve won “YEEESSSS” and then muffle so as not to disturb those people still playing.
Played 4, Won 4, The smile on my face is broad beyond belief. I wander over to my girlfriend who is in a titanic battle with Louis and asks how I am doing as she has gone to time every match and not had chance to really talk to me. I stutter “4-0 I just won the event.” She smiles and then declares an attack and sweeps Louis. Rochelle had 2 wins and a draw for seven points to finish fifth and is very happy.
Results come in reverse order and there is a big round of applause as I pick up my boosters and collect my T shirt. I am delighted as don’t normally do this well, sure I won a Store Team Challenge qualifier, made a PTQ Top 8 but the Pre Release win is something really special to identify good cards at the first attempt and play them so solidly was extremely pleasing.
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