2001)

Tournament Report – the Big Mean Bat goes to FNM, 5-18-01
Dave Andrews

Last Friday it was time to air out my newest deck, the Big Mean Bat, at Friday Night Magic. The deck has been updated a little bit since the tournament, and the latest decklist can be found along with some discussion about the deck in a separate article, but here’s the list I played on Friday:

3:Thieving Magpie
2:Crosis, the Purger

2:Force Spike
4:Counterspell
4:Undermine
4:Duress

4:Terminate
1:Urza’s Rage
3:Void

4:Fact or Fiction
4:Accumulated Knowledge

10:Island
2:Mountain
2:Swamp
1:City of Brass
2:Crosis’s Catacombs
4:Underground River
4:Sulfurous Springs

Sideboard:
4:Tsabo’s Decree
2:Teferi’s Response
1:Submerge
4:Hibernation
4:Rogue Kavu

Round 1 vs. Levi Danosky, U/W Control w/ Mageta & Blinding Angel

So much for starting off with an easy match – I got to start out the tournament playing against a friend and solid player, Levi. Levi was playing U/W Control with Mageta and Blinding Angel, which is a pretty good matchup for my deck. Game one I got to play first, and Levi had to take a mulligan, keeping his 6-card hand. I Duressed early, took some form of countermagic and saw Mageta and Blinding Angel in his hand. A few turns later I had a Thieving Magpie on the table, and he got out his Mageta, but I was able to use Duress to ensure that Void would keep the Magpie in sole control of the board as well as knock the backup firepower out of his hand. The frequent peeks at his land let me know the way was clear for Crosis to come out, and Levi scooped.

In game 2 I slid out a Thieving Magpie, to which Levi responded with a sideboarded Story Circle: Blue. I followed with my sideboard technology: Rogue Kavu! The Rogue Kavu was very disruptive, forcing him to do things like Fact or Fiction during his own turn and play into my countermagic hoping to find an answer to the fast clock. He did eventually get a Wrath through, but I had another Rogue Kavu in hand to take the first one’s place, and it went the distance.

Round 2 vs. Stan Rutkowsky, U/W Control w/ Nether Spirit & Millstone

My deck didn’t come out too strong for game 1, and Stan intentionally skipped a land drop early to discard a Nether Spirit into play. The Spirit pressured me into playing a Magpie before I had a Duress or good countermagic to back it up, and it was met with a Last Breath. I continued to Accumulate Knowledge and Fact or Fiction into more Accumulated Knowledges and Fact or Fictions, but didn’t draw anything real to stop a Millstone from hitting the table after getting a Magpie to stop the Nether beatings. I ended up scooping to the Millstone after it hit all 3 of my Voids.

Stan had to start game 2 with a mulligan, taking away his early Nether Spirit discard option. I got out a Rogue Kavu before he could put up a defense and had just enough Duresses and countermagic to let it go the distance. Game 3 was once again about Rogue Kavu beatings, but was much closer, as I was within the last few cards of my deck facing down 2 Millstones when the Kavu finished it off. I did have the extra security of a Submerge in hand (sided in to clear a Nether Spirit off the board) at the end, which could have put a Magpie on top of my deck to give me a draw step when I had no cards left, so I felt pretty safe.

Round 3 vs. Matt Smith, W/U Rebels with Static Orb and Opposition

Matt started out game 1 with a Meddling Mage naming Recoil which got Terminated. My Voids and Duresses worked on his hand until a Magpie could come out to build me up a collection of countermagic, and Crosis eventually showed up to seal the deal. Game 2 was all Matt as he started with a turn 1 Ramosian Sargeant, turn 2 Steadfast Guard, and then recruited more Steadfast Guards from there. I thought I might come out of it when I cast Void for 2 while at 7 life since I had a Tsabo’s Decree in hand for next turn to finish of the Sarge and any friends he might have found, but when he revealed his hand for Void there was a Static Orb, which he dropped to prevent me from casting my Decree before I succumbed to the Rebel assault. During game 3 I Decreed some Rebels away, gave my opponent a peek at my hand when he Misdirected another Decree at me, and traded some Duresses and countermagic with him. I was starting to feel in control of the game, with Decree and a counterspell in hand to his Worship and Opposition with no critters, but couldn’t find a Crosis to swing with before time was called. This round ended as a draw.

Round 4 vs. Anthony Colbert, Static Orb & Kill Switch combo deck

Anthony’s deck featured Static Orb, Kill Switch, Howling Mine, and Millstone to lock down and deck his opponents. During game 1, it was working pretty well, as both of my Crosis’s were in the graveyard and I was forced to race Magpies versus his Millstones and Howling Mines after he had used Gerrard’s Wisdom to gain an extra 12 life. I was getting close, as I had Urza’s Rage in hand with kicker mana in play and counter-backup in hand for the Misdirection he didn’t have, but he used Orim’s Chant to Wrath away my Magpies when he was at exactly 11 life, leaving me with no way to deal more than 10 damage with 6 cards remaining in my library. Nevertheless, I played on, checking the Crosis in my graveyard, adding up damage, seeing if I could kill him before decking myself if it was the next card in my deck, even though I knew there was not another Crosis in the deck. When I drew my next card, I did my best to look excited without looking like I was trying to look excited, and cast a Duress to “clear the way”. He bit the bait, casting Orim’s Chant to stop whatever I was trying to slide out after the Duress, and I happily Undermined it, bringing him below 11 life. He ate a kicked Urza’s Rage during my next upkeep, which left him with only 12 minutes to deck me in game 2, which was not enough time.

Round 5 vs. Joe Brott, R/B Blazing Specter, Void, Duress, Tahngaarth, etc.

There were quite a few draws at this tournament with all the U/W being played, which guaranteed that Joe and I could draw into the Top 4 single elimination rounds. So I drew with Joe and got paired up in the Top 4 against . . . Joe Brott.

T4 Semifinals vs. Joe Brott, R/B Blazing Specter, Void, Duress, Tahngaarth, etc.

I start out with a little Duress action, but Joe soon gets a Blazing Specter knocking cards out of my hand. However, I played several early Fact or Fiction and 3 early Accumulted Knowledge, and it was only a matter of time before I took over. Eventually I was able to Void his Tahngarth and the Void he was holding in his hand, Terminate his Blazing Specter, and cast a Magpie with a Counterspell for the Terminate that was his last remaining card. The Magpie built me up a grip of counters to stay ahead until Crosis came out to finish the game. Game 2 went similarly, with me taking early hits from a Nightscape Familiar until my blue card-drawing gave me too much advantage and I took over the game, eventually winning with 2 Magpies and a Crosis swinging. He did make 1 mistake in game 2, when he ran his Blazing Specter into the Force Spike he had seen earlier when he Duressed me, but I don’t feel that it would have made a difference, as my deck had all of his deck’s best weapons, but with Accumulated Knowledge and Fact or Fiction to let me play more of them.

T4 Finals

The prize is typically split in the finals on Friday Nights at The Outpost, but I really wanted to play this match. I really liked my deck, and felt I would be able to crush my opponent’s Fires deck, but Travis wasn’t feeling well, and it was getting late, so my opponent and I split a box of Planeshift and each took home a foil Llanowar Elf. All in all, not a bad run with my fun new deck.

Dave Andrews

Rate Article

5 (best) 4 3 2 1

Discuss Article

Click here to discuss this article in forum or leave comments for the author.

RSS Feed

This article is provided to you by CardShark.com - A Better Way to Buy and Sell Collectable Games Online. Please check out the rest of our site - you won't be disappointed.

View More Articles