Here's my tournament report from the monthly Type I held this past weekend at the Green Dragon in Charleston, SC. I was playing Parfait for the 2nd month in a row. I was a bit more comfortable with it this time thru eventhough I still made a few mistakes. I apologize if the games are a little fuzzy on details. After playing a deck like Parfait the day is long and the games kinda bleed together.

4/5/02 - 27 Participants, 5 Rounds of Swiss, Cut to the Top 8. Prizes for te Top 4. Mox Emerald for First.

Round 1 - vs. Jeff K. playing Nethervoid.
Game 1 my opening hand looked good but he won the roll and played a first turn: Swamp, Rital, Ritual, Negator, Hymn pulling my Swords. He proceeded to pound me with the loan Negator over the next few turns casting little else. I was able to get Land Tax & Ivory Tower out but by then i was only gaining 1 or 2 life and not drawing into what i needed.

For Game 2 I brought in Masticore, Spiritual Focus, 2 Abolish, & Replenish but all was for nought as I failed to draw enough answers to his threats. In the end, we were under the 'Void, he was pounding me with 3 critters and paying 4 for a Swords wasn't terribly effective when I was also sacking lands to stay in the game.

M: 0-1
d: 0-2

Round 2 - vs. Kevin Miles playing what looked to be a Odyssey/Torment Preconstructed deck (?!)
I didn't see anything other then Odyssey/Torment cards the entire match and he had no sideboard so I have to assume that's what it was. Both games I gained boo-koo amounts of life and locked the game down before dropping the Mesa. 2nd game I brought in Thran Lens & Aegis of Honor but already had the game well in hand before playing the Aegis.

M: 1-1
d: 2-2

Round 3 - vs. Dave Brown
Dave was playing a funky Suicide Black deck with a Tombstone Stairwell & Altar of Dimentia combo. He'd sac his creatures to the Altar to mill himself and get more Zombie Tokens to sac. so on, so forth. Unfortunately my Ivory Masks & Tormod's Crypts snubbed his chances of doing anything but decking himself and once I got a Mask out he'd generally concede the game.

M: 2-1
d: 4-2

Round 4 - vs. Jason Breeze
Jason was playing a White Weenie deck with gobs of life gain. Soul Warden, Sacred Nectar, Healing Salve, Ivory Cup. After several turns of going back & forth gaining life I finally was able to start making a dent in his life total with the Pegasus tokens.

2nd Game I sided in Masticore & drew into him in my opening hand with Land Tax & Scroll Rack. After setting up the Tax/Rack combo and baiting a Disenchant with an Ivory Tower I played Masticore with sufficient lands to feed it. Even with that it still took me forever to beat him down. Every turn he cast a life gain spell then feed off of the Ivory Cup. Masticore & the Pegasi eventually came thru for the win.

M: 3-1
d: 6-2

Round 5 vs. - Chris Trahan
We were both 3-1 and decided to take an Intentional Draw to guarantee a place in the Top 8. This is a good thing as after the final round of swiss there are 8 people with 3-2 records viaing for the last 2 seeds

M: 3-1-1
d: 6-2-1

THE TOP 8:
1. Jeff K - Nethervoid (4-0-1)
2. Evil Bill - Reanimator (4-0-1)
3. Matt Powers - Black Land D. (4-1)
4. Marek - White Weenie (4-1)
5. ME - Parfait (3-1-1)
6. Chris Trahan - Patriot (3-1-1)
7. Chi Kaufman - Turbo Land/Oath (3-2)
8. Darren Dew - Dark Keeper (3-2)


Quarterfinals vs. Marek playing White Weenie
Fortunately Marek wasn't playing with any life gain save for Soul Wardens. The majority of his creatures are 2 casting cost Knights, Soltari Monks/Priests, En-Kors and Powder Keg made short work of his threats. I dropped Humility to guarantee nothing got out of hand and come over with the Pegasi. Game 2 after setting up the board with Auras, Tax, Rack, Humility, Mesa & Wrathing away his creatures I drop Masticore & kill the Humility on my next turn and proceed to the Semi Finals.


Semifinals vs. Darren Dew playing Dark Keeper
I was looking forward to this potential match throughout the tournament. The previous tournament, my first go with Parfait, I played Darren in the Swiss and ran into the worse draws during the entire tournament. It was an utter squash and I wanted to do better against one of the better players in the area.

Game 1 I over Tax'd and he takes full advantage using his own Tormod's Crypt to eliminate my mana base/recursion in the graveyard & then Timetwistering. I conceded shortly there after.

Sided Out: 1 Story Circle, 2 Wraths, 2 StPs, 1 Ivory Tower
Sided In: 2nd Crypt, 2nd Replenish, Jester's Cap, 2 Abeyance, 2nd Mask

Game 2 was a very long drawn out affair. Darren was starving for lands early on and my Wastelands weren't helping any. I dropped an Aura and killed his Sol Ring with a Seal of Cleansing. I get the Tax/Rack combo rolling and play conservatively pecking away at him with Pegasi but using the brunt of my mana to repeadidly Cap, Dig, Chant. He finally kills my Soldevi Digger and I'm forced into aggro mode pumping more & more pegasi a turn & scrolling to keep from decking myself.

Game 3 starts out similar to the 2nd Game with me hitting his first few lands & killing his artifact mana. I drop a Sacred Mesa early and begin pumping out Pegasi with all my might & laying lands to keep them coming. He drops the Abyss and I'm making two Pegasus on Upkeep to feed the enchantments while still keeping the pressure on. He plays a Tower, Zorb, & Morphling near the end but it's already too far gone in my favor.


Finals - vs. Chris Trahan playing a Patriot style deck.
First game I get my defenses up early and am able to take out his creatures & set up the Tax/Rack Combo with Ivory Tower. Mesa & Pegasus tokens follow, news at 11...

After the 1st game I side out the Tormod's Crypt & an Aura of Silence siding in Masticore & a 2nd Ivory Mask. 2nd Turn he drops a Rootwater Thief. I'm able to stall with Orim's Chant but he still gets my Mesas & I'm in "Run Him Outta Cards" Mode. Unfortunatley the Force was not with me as he continued the beats even after I got a Humility into play.

Game 3 I sided the Masticore back out for Cursed Totem & actually had it in my opening hand along with both Ivory Masks. Sadly the Totem didn't do too much against 2 Meddling Mages that hit the board early (naming STP & Wrath). I Scroll Rack for several turns but only seem to be able to draw the named cards. With no Tax and me feeding the Zorb to stay in the game the pressure was too much and Parfait the day with 2nd Place.

In retrospect I did a really bad job of sideboarding in the Finals. I was worried about not only the burn he was throwing 1st game but also stuff like Rootwater Thief - which does not target a player

This is Chris's third tournament win in a row. Each time a different Mox. Each time with a different deck. Congrats to him. The next tournament will more then likely be referred to as the Chris Trahan Open

Coming into this tournament I played around with a few cards but ultimately stayed true to K-Run's current version. For a long time I thought the 2nd Ivory Tower wasn't necessary but after this tournament I'm convinced otherwise. Parfait doesn't need both out but it needs to get to one so it can hold off the aggro decks and be able to race the control deck's Morphling. Overall I was happy with the way the deck performed. I'm getting a better feel of how it's games play out. My matches in the swiss were not against any of the better players/or decks of my area. With such a huge turnout the regulars actually got to play some new blood.

PROPS
To the huge turnout of people. 27 participants. Our biggest Type I ever!

To Darren, Jeff, & Hill for making the trek up from Savannah for the event. Anybody in the Savannah area should go to Morning Star Games for all their general gaming & Magic needs! (plug, plug.)

To Chub Toad for keeping the tournament running quick & smoothly even after we got started late.

To K-Run for coming up with a great deck that neuters Morphling!

SLOPS
To the people who know these tournaments start at noon and still show up late & unprepared. Come on guys get with the program! It's not like we spring this on you the night before. First Saturday of every month. Registration at 11; start time of noon. How hard is that to remember? We've been doing it since May. And if you have your deck built ahead of time make the decklist ahead of time as well.

To myself for initially screwing up the tie-breakers for the Top 8. Thanx to Dave & Darren for checking my math. Yes, even with a calculator don't trust a graphic artist to do basic math. :P


Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the little Type I pond that is Charleston. Until next time...

Skull Catapult