2001)

Winning, Losing, and Whining. A Grumpy Old Man’s Adventure in Niles, IL
Dave Andrews

As the August 25th Invasion Block Constructed qualifier in Niles, IL approached, I stepped up my IBC playtesting. That is to say, I went from not playing at all, to showing up at Troy Skinner’s house one evening for a few random games. For several weeks before the event, I had been spending a lot of extra hours at work, and Magic temporarily had fallen pretty low on the priority list. So, even though I didn’t have nearly as much preparation as I normally like for a tournament, I was pretty happy just for the opportunity to be playing Magic, even if I was just using a deck I had received from a friend (I normally like to work on my decks myself, at the very least giving it a few unique touches if not building it from the ground up).

Here’s the decklist I played, which is 1 maindeck card and 5 sideboard cards off from a list I got from Troy:

4:Blurred Mongoose
4:Galina’s Knight
4:Questing Phelddagriff
4:Mystic Snake
4:Exclude
4:Repulse
2:Rushing River
4:Absorb
1:Eladamri’s Call
4:Fact or Fiction
4:Coastal Tower
4:Elfhame Palace
4:Yavimaya Coast
6:Island
3:Forest
4:Plains

Sideboard:
4:Gainsay
2:Samite Elder
4:Meddling Mage
2:Sunscape Master
3:Aura Mutation

Round 1 vs. Matt Spreadbury w/ BRU Control

I started the tournament with a second turn Galina’s Knight that didn’t swing too many times before it was Maliced into the graveyard. I got a Questing Phelddagriff swinging early but Matt had a Void to take care of that, as well as a Mystic Snake from my hand. I kept drawing hippos like a champ, and soon had a second Phelddagriff on the table, with a third on-deck in my hand. However, Matt cast Lobotomy, and removed the remaining hippos from my deck. Matt followed the Lobotomy with a Void the next turn, and I thought I would be placing my last Phelddagriff into the graveyard, but Matt chose to call “three”, which wiped out my entire hand of Repulses and Excludes, which he had seen with his Lobotomy. He was able to strip five cards from my hand with that Void, but passing up his opportunity to eliminate the Phelddagriff turned out to be fatal, and the hippo finished him a few turns later.

During game two I played a second turn Blurred Mongoose and began swinging. Matt wasn’t able to draw black mana in this game before I had my counter-magic ready, and soon he fell to the Blurred Mongoose and a Mystic Snake.

Games: 2-0
Matches: 1-0

Round 2 vs. Mark Herberholz w/ GUr

Both of us started with some mana problems this game, with Mark lacking red and myself lacking blue. Blue is a more central color to my deck than red is to Mark’s, so he came out to an early lead with Gaea’s Skyfolk swinging in the air, but I drew into my blue much sooner than he drew into red, and was able to recover. We were racing down to the finish, playing very carefully to a very close finish. If Mark had drawn into red mana any sooner, he certainly would have won, but it didn’t arrive until the last minute, and even when it came it was a Shivan Oasis that came into play tapped. In the final turns of the game I had a Blurred Mongoose and Questing Phelddagriff in play, with a Mystic Snake and two lands in my hand. I was at four, and Mark was at nine. Mark finally untapped with red mana in play, drew and played a second Shivan Oasis, and threw a lethal Prophetic Bolt at my head, which I countered with Mystic Snake. Mark dropped a Blurred Mongoose and passed the turn, and I was able to attack with my Mongoose, Snake, and Phelddagriff (with flying), and tap all but two of my green mana to finish Mark off. If Mark had waited until my upkeep to cast the Prophetic Bolt, I would have had to spend a green mana to counter with the Mystic Snake, and the Snake would have had summoning sickness so wouldn’t have been able to contribute to that attack phase, meaning I wouldn’t have been able to finish Mark that turn. He had a Rage in his hand that could have brought me down to one next turn, so if he had played it different, he could have won by either drawing another burn spell or if I tapped a pain land. It was a subtle difference that probably would not have changed anything, but it’s something I’ll keep in mind when I’m in a similar situation in the future.

In game two, Mark’s deck came out fighting and my draw just couldn’t keep up. An army of Gaea’s Skyfolk pecked away at my life total, and some burn spells finished me off.

In game three, Mark was once again short on land, which really hurt him in counter-wars. An early Blurred Mongoose on my side of the table pecked away at his life, and Mark stayed behind on mana until the game was over, leaving him unable to keep up.

Games 4-1
Matches: 2-0

Round 3 vs. John Pehlke w/ Go-Mar

I started game one with a two-land hand that included no blue mana, and drew no blue mana for far too long in this game. By the time I had the mana to try to get into this game my opponent had cast multiple Fact or Fictions and had more than enough counter-magic to keep me locked down until his Spectral Lynx finished me off.

In game two, I took a mulligan and kept the six-card hand with a Meddling Mage and Samite Elder from my sideboard. I dropped the Mage on turn two, naming Spectral Lynx, and the Elder on turn three. With the Elder hanging around preventing Dromar’s Charm from being used as removal, the Mage attacked again and again. I figured Rout was my opponent’s only chance to get around the Elder, but my opponent surprised me with a Spite/Malice. However, by this time I think my opponent was a bit flustered from how troublesome my first two plays of this game had turned out to be, and he elected to eliminate the Elder instead of the Mage, even though he did not have another removal spell ready for the Mage. Unable to cast the Spectral Lynx in his hand or draw another removal spell, my opponent fell to my second turn Mage a few turns later.

I think the third game was just a matter of my opponent not getting a very good draw from his deck. He didn’t seem to have the counter-magic necessary to keep me contained, which I think is rare for his deck. Questing Phelddagriff brought an end to a largly non-strategic battle.

Games: 6-2
Matches 3-0

Round 4 vs. Matt Montgomery w/ Kowal

I was curious to see how this matchup would go, since I hadn’t really done any significant playtesting, but unfortunately I would not get a chance to find out. Games one and two both found me taking a mulligan into a two-land hand, and not drawing any more land for far too long. In game one, I could only stare at the Exclude in my hand as my opponent dropped Spiritmonger while I had only two lands. In game two, I managed to get to three lands before my opponent drew his Spiritmonger, but unfortunately he had enough mana to cast Plague Spitter as bait before dropping the monger. Overall, not a fun match.

Games: 6-4
Matches: 3-1

Round 5 vs. Josh Allenbaugh w/ BUR

Josh’s deck packed more low casting-cost critters than most of the black-blue-red decks. During game one, he came out with an early Vodalian Zombie followed by a Shivan Zombie. After taking some hits, I drew into both a Repulse and an Exclude. I Repulsed the Shivan Zombie at the end of his turn and drew a Galina’s Knight, which I would have been happy to trade with his Vodalian at that point. However, when I dropped the Knight, Josh used Ice to tap one of my three remaining lands, leaving me without enough mana to counter the Shivan Zombie if he replayed it on his turn. I was worried about not finding an answer to that Shivan Zombie before I was in burn range, but for some reason, my opponent decided not to replay it even after he had used the Ice to prevent me from having mana for a counterspell. On his turn he just drew a card and said go. I was perplexed, and thought maybe he was hoping I’d drop more bears so he could gain some card advantage from Void, but that never developed either. For some reason he just decided to let up on the pressure, and I was able to stabilize and eventually win the first game.

At this point I was feeling pretty confident about the remainder of the match. I had been playing good Magic throughout the day, and my opponent was making some pretty shaky decisions. I was looking forward to winning one of the next two games and moving on to the next match, but it wasn’t to be. The next two games saw me taking mulligans and combating very aggressive bear-and-burn draws with noticeably very flat draws from my deck. I don’t remember the exact details, because frankly I was extremely frustrated at the end of this match. My opponent just kept pulling pressure from the top of his deck and tossing it on the table, and I couldn’t draw into answers. So, pissed off and grumpy, I put an X in my drop column, and headed for home.

Games: 7-6
Matches: 3-2

I hope my description of the last round doesn’t convey any disrespect for my opponent. He was an excellent sportsman and seemed like a nice enough guy, and I’m not trying to call him a bad player. There very well may have been a reasonable plan behind letting up on the pressure in game one that just never developed, and by saying he just kept tossing his pressure on the table in the next two games, I only meant that he just had some of those draws where you just smile and throw them out there, because your deck’s on cruise control. If my description made it sound like I’m a frustrated with the IBC format, well then it is right on the money.

Warning: Severe pissing and moaning ahead. If you’re just interested in the match descriptions and deck list, this report is over for you, thank you for reading. If you’re interested in some good old-fashioned whining, read on.

Recently while waiting for the start of a Grand Prix Trial, I was asked why my friend Travis hadn’t come to the tournament with me as he usually does. I responded that both he and I were not too thrilled about this format, and he just decided to find something else to do with his Saturday instead. The idea that IBC was not the best format to hit Magic in years brought quite a reaction from those I was talking to, some in agreement and some in complete disagreement. The supporters say that there is such a wide variety of decks you can play, so the format is healthy. The problem is, no matter what deck you build (or receive from a friend, the Internet, or whatever), you are going to win or lose based first on whether you get a good mana draw, second on the matchup you’re in, third on the relative strength of your draw, and least on play skill. Just review this tournament report for the deciding factor in each game:

First match:
Game 1: W - Opponent’s error
Game 2: W - Opponent color-screwed

Second match:
Game 1: W- Opponent color-screwed
Game 2: L – Opponent has the aggro draw
Game 3: W – Opponent doesn’t draw enough land to compete

Third match:
Game 1: L – I am color-screwed
Game 2: W – Opponent Fact or Fictions halfway through his deck, never sees Rout to deal with the first two cards I played
Game 3: W – Opponent gets poor draw.

Fourth Match:
Game 1: L – I am mana-screwed
Game 2: L – I am mana-screwed

Fifth Match:
Game 1: W – Non-aggressive play by my opponent lets me stabilize and win
Game 2: L – Opponent gets the aggro draw.
Game 3: L – Opponent gets the aggro draw.

Now, I am definitely one of those players who tries to find a better play for every situation. When I lose to mana-screw, I ask myself “Should I have taken a mulligan? Could I have played differently and played my way out of the mana screw?” Unfortunately, all too often in this format, the answer is that nothing could have been done different. I also fully understand that Magic involves random luck of the draw, and that sometimes you will just lose no matter how good you or your deck may be, just on a bad matchup or bad draw. Unfortunately, that just seems to happen far too often in this format. Just compare your average IBC tournament report with a tournament report from other formats, and you’ll notice that the report is much less interesting to read, as there are fewer good plays, risky bluffs, and intensely close games for a report author to write about. I have a hard time getting excited about going to a Magic tournament when I am more likely than ever to randomly lose to a player half as skilled in this game as I am.

So, I’m not particularly fond of IBC. Does that mean I’m going to quit this game? Hell, no -- Magic is still way more fun than frustration. Does that mean I think Wizards R & D sucks? Not at all. They are doing a fantastic job of making each new Magic block to come along fresh and different – it is only natural for some formats to be favorites and others to be duds. I just think that it is always important for players to voice their opinions about the current state of Magic, so that we can continue to move towards the Magic Utopia, where no deck is broken, many decks are viable, and success is based on a well-tuned deck and razor-sharp skilled play.

Feel free to berate or support my opinion by contacting me at crazy_monkey1@msn.com. With any luck, I’ll have time to reply by the year 2010. :)

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