I decide not to trade my Slith
Firewalker for his Triskelion, and just
summon an Arc-Slogger, threatening to win the game on the next turn.
Sam draws a card, grimaces and activates his Top. He shakes his head as he looks at the first two cards, and then
rearranges the cards so that the third card down is on top, and exchanges his Top for it. He then…
I’ve always loved the National Championships. My favorite of all was six years ago, when I finished second with the
first version of Red Deck Wins. That tournament qualified me for the World Championships in Yokohama, which was simply great in
spite of the fact that I ended up losing more than I won, and the report I wrote afterwards got chosen by Mike Flores as the first
Editor’s Choice on the Magic Dojo. I never thought, particularly recently, that I’d play in another Nationals which
could match that.
The extent of my preparation for Nationals this year was to play in two Regionals and do two drafts. These drafts allowed me to
master the Kamigawa block, as in the first draft I drafted Black/Blue/Green (roughly equal quantities of each), while in the
second, I drafted Red/White. This meant that I had experience of drafting all five colors and had developed a potent draft
strategy. More on that later.
The format for English Nationals was three rounds of Standard, followed by two drafts, followed by three more rounds of
Standard and a cut to Top 8. There were about 106 players, which was quite a lot fewer than in past years. This was in part
because there had been fewer opportunities to qualify through Regionals than in previous years, and partly because the venue was
difficult to get to (though perfectly acceptable as a tournament venue for those who did show up).
After careful analysis of the metagame and extensive testing of the various different options, I was still undecided about what
the best deck to play was. I was tempted by the Intruder Alarm combo deck, the Green/White Control deck and the top secret deck
which Mike Flores e-mailed me about two days before Nationals. But the Intruder Alarm deck was too inconsistent, the Green/White
deck had difficulties against Blue decks, Mike’s secret deck only won at least 75% of game ones against every other deck (and
was as low as 60% in the mirror) and everything in this paragraph is total fiction as I was obviously going to play a Red Deck.
Red Deck Wins 2005
4 Frostling
4 Hearth Kami
4 Slith Firewalker
4 Magma Jet
4 Seething Song
4 Arc-Slogger
3 Zo-zu the Punisher
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Sowing Salt
2 Genju of the Spires
2 Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]
1 Shrapnel Blast
4 Chrome Mox
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
15 Mountain
Sideboard:
4 Shatter
4 Vulshok Sorcerer
3 Culling Scales
2 Flamebreak
1 Shivan Dragon
1 Sowing Salt
The newer sort of Red decks without main deck Arc-Slogger and with Jinxed Chokers make a lot of sense to me. But
I hadn’t had time to test, and the first I really knew about Jinxed Choker was when I watched a game in the grinders on the
day before Nationals. The Red player cast it, and he and his Blue opponent passed it backwards and forwards for a few turns and
then the Blue player swept up his cards. I like cards like that.
I reckon, though, that there are three unfair things that the Red deck can do which usually win games. One is to attack with
one or more Sliths starting on turn 1, or two at the very latest. The second is to summon an Arc-Slogger and successfully untap.
And the third is to cast Sowing Salt against a
deck with Urza’s land. I added 2 Pulse and 1 Shrapnel Blast to the 4 Magma Jets
because I found at Regionals that it was hard to burn people out. Instead of Molten Rain, I had Sowing Salt, because any deck
which cares about Molten Rain is going to be more affected by Sowing Salt (particularly in game one before Tooth and Nail brings in
its anti-Sowing Salt plan). There’s always some kind of target for Sowing Salt, and 4 Chrome Moxes to imprint them on if there
isn’t anything appealing. The other cards in the main deck should be fairly straightforward and self-explanatory. The
sideboard has Shatters for Blue Tron and because
there are a lot of artifacts worth killing at the moment, Sorcerers and the Dragon against Green or White, Culling Scales against CoP: Red and White
Weenie, Flamebreak for Troll Ascetic and the third Sowing Salt is
obvious.
Credit should be given to Jonny Chapman, who played the same deck as me and shared the panic as we changed the main deck and
sideboard about a dozen times in the hour before the tournament began.
Having constructed my deck (borrowing Swords from Graham Baker and Chrome Moxes from John, many thanks), the next thing to do
was to construct a Grid.
The Grid, for those who don’t know, is a way of making tournament Magic more entertaining and sociable. Down one side of
a sheet of paper you write the names of your team mates or friends, and you write the number of the rounds along the top, and then
fill in whether each person won, drew or lost each round. There are various sub games which can be played using the Grid —
for example I used to play the Weakest Link, in which one person was voted off the Grid each round and the Strongest Link at the
end used to be the National Champion (this was in the days when the Grid was the 12 best players in England).
For this year, I developed a slightly different sub game for the Grid:
Grid Wars
In grid wars, you have two teams, each with the same number of players. Each team is allowed one substitute, where they remove a
player and bring someone else in to replace them, and the aim is simply to score more points than the other team (three points for
a win, one for a draw just like in tournament Magic).
For this inaugural Grid War, the two teams were the Old Age Pensioners and the Good Players. The Old Age Pensioners was made
up of players who used to be good, had a tendency towards lengthy anecdotes about tournaments from long ago and who don’t
play or practice that much any more. The Good Players were the six of the currently most active and best players in England at the
moment.
By way of introduction, John is the defending National Champion and has numerous top finishes and deckbuilding accolades. His
first Pro Tour top eight was in 1997 and while he is not entirely inactive, he plays a lot less than he used to and is only an
occasional attender of Pro Tours these days. Ollie has played in every National Championship since the first one in 1995 and won
it twice. Ben won the Nationals in 2001 and was part of the best team in the world for a number of years (several years ago)
including a stint as Gary Wise’s landlord. Pete and Chris have been regulars on the Pro Tour for years and Chris made the
top eight of Nationals a couple of years ago.
None of my team had much knowledge of what the Saviors of Kamigawa cards did, having done few to no drafts with it. In terms
of Standard play, Ollie was the most active, because he had gone to two Regionals without managing to qualify at either (he
eventually qualified on rating). Ben, Pete and Chris owned up to playtesting for nearly two days before the event, but that was
about it.
On the Good Players team:
Sam Gomersall
Stuart Wright
Nick West
Dave Grant
Quentin Martin
Kevin O’Connor
Sam and Quentin are, of course, columnists here on Star City. Sam is the only British player to have played in the Magic
Invitational, and both he and Quentin are Pro Tour and Grand Prix regulars. Nick has a Pro Tour top four in the past year (and
made the top eight of Nationals last year). Stuart is coming back off suspension, but is rated as the best deck designer in their
group and is a Pro Tour regular and made top eight in the European Championships a little while back. Dave and Kevin are both Pro
Tour regulars. All six of these players test regularly and probably play more on Magic Online in a week then I’ve played
this year.
So as well as the National Championships, there is the small matter of the Grid War to settle — would play skill, natural
ability and endless hours of playtesting prevail or would the Old Timers manage to see off the young whipper-snappers?
Day One
For the Standard section, John and Nick were playing White decks, Ollie and Stuart were playing Gifts control decks, Sam and
Quentin were playing mono-blue Urzatron decks, Pete, Ben and Chris had Green aggro decks and Dave and Kevin had Red decks.
Round One vs James Ramsbottom
James was playing in his first Nationals, and I was slightly less than thrilled to see him cast an Auriok Champion on the second turn. I drew a
couple of Blinkmoth Nexuses to stop his
life total from getting out of control, and he didn’t manage to find a Glorious Anthem, though he did cast a Damping Matrix. We trade damage — me
with fliers and him with his Champions, while Samurai and Sliths stare at each other. I drew a Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author], which I used to finish
him off as he did not have Shining Shoal in
hand.
I brought in 3 Scales, 4 Sorcerers and a Dragon for the Sowing Salts, Zo-zus, Genjus and 1 Sword. In the second game I
mulliganed to six and kept Frostling, Magma Jet, Magma Jet, Slith, Seething Song, Chrome Mox going second. My opponent started
with a Lantern Kami and I failed to draw a
land, so played a Mox (imprinting the Song) and a Frostling. He played a Jitte and attacked me. I
again fail to draw a Mountain and attack him back. He played a third land and attacked, before casting Damping Matrix. I still
had no Mountains, so just attacked again, somewhat in awe of the synergy of his equipment + Matrix draw. My opponent just had
another land and no play. On the fifth turn, I draw a Mountain, which let me Magma Jet the creatures that he did eventually draw
and scry into more land, finishing him off with a Shivan Dragon.
Matches 1-0, Games 2-0
OAP Grid: 5 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw, 16 points (we all win except for Chris, who draws)
Rising Star Grid: 5 wins, 1 loss, 15 points (Kevin loses)
Round Two vs Quentin Martin
This is not the last time that I find myself playing against the Blue Urza deck. Both games are uncomplicated, as I draw a
steady stream of creatures and Quentin doesn’t get very good draws — getting seven land in the course of two games,
drawing an Island and 4 Urza’s Power Plants in the first and getting stuck on two land in the second.
Matches 2-0, Games 4-0
OAPs: 3 wins, 3 losses, total 25 points (John and Ollie both won in a poor round for us)
Good Players: 2 wins , 4 losses, total 21 points (only Sam and Stuart won in an even worse round for the supposedly good
players)
Round Three vs Stuart Wright
Stuart has a Gifts control deck which is mainly Green/Blue splashing Black for creature removal and white and red for sideboard
cards. In the first, I draw a hand of 2 Mountain, Shrapnel Blast, Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author], Chrome Mox, Seething Song, Magma Jet, which
I mulligan. My new hand is much better and I play a turn 2 Arc-Slogger going first.
Sadly, he Terrors it, leaving me with one card
in my hand and him with six. The card disadvantage from that should mean I lose, but I then draw something like Slith, Hearth
Kami, Slith, Magma Jet, Genju while he doesn’t get anything very good, so I win the first.
I know that his plan is to bring in CoP: Red (for all his qualities as a player, Stuart is still one of those who believes that
it is acceptable to have a bad matchup against Red in game one and then bring in CoP: Red and that will be sufficient). I get
beaten comfortably in the second by a steady stream of Eternal Witnesses, with his counter magic and removal stopping me from
resolving anything which might be annoying for him.
Game three, however, I play a first turn Hearth Kami, a second turn Zo-zu. I Magma Jet his Elder and continue to beat him.
When I draw a Slith and then a Genju, he can’t keep up and I move on to 3-0.
Matches 3-0, Games 6-1
OAP Grid: 4 wins, 2 losses, total 37 points (Ollie won to join me on 3-0, John lost to Sam, Chris and Ben won and Pete lost)
Good Players Grid: 5 wins, 1 loss, total 36 points (everyone but Stuart won)
So, both in terms of Nationals and the Grid War, things had started well. Sadly, it was time to put away the Red cards and
draft.
What I had learned from my two drafts which were the sum total of my practice was that if I tried to draft reactively and just
take whichever colours seemed to be coming to me, then I would get slaughtered. I didn’t have the experience to make correct
picks for each and every archetype, so I needed to be forcing particular colours.
I asked around about what the best color combinations were, and the general consensus was that Green/Red, Blue/White, Blue/Red,
Green/Black and Green/Blue were probably the best. I decided that I would try to force Green/Red. If, for whatever reason, this
proved impossible, I would draft Blue/White, with Blue/Green and Blue/Red as backups. I had a rough idea about what I needed to
get to make a good Green/Red and Blue/White deck (in terms of which spells were important to draft, which creatures were
particularly important and so on), which was more than could be said for most of the other possible archetypes.
With this in mind, I first picked a Sakura-Tribe Elder, take Moss Kami
second and a Kami of the Fire’s
Roar third. I then doggedly take the best Green or Red card in the booster, ending up with some pleasant surprises in Saviors
such as the third pick Elder-Pine Jukai.
I have three one-drops, four two-drops and overall quite an aggressive deck, including two Shinka Gatekeepers which I thought were
quite good because they attack for three and only have the same drawback as Jackal Pup, but apparently are meant to be bad.
For removal I had a Barrel-Down
Sokenzan, a First Volley and a Spiralling Embers, as well as an Inner Calm, Outer Strength and a
Ronin Warclub which was above average. It
helped that the general power level of cards on the table was quite low. I don’t think that there were any particularly
difficult or contentious picks (another advantage of my strategy), with the exception of having to choose between Barrel-Down
Sokenzan and Kami of the Tended
Garden at a time when I only had First Volley for removal. I (obviously) took the Red damage spell, but could easily be
persuaded that the 4/4 would have been better.
While I had a couple of games over the next three rounds where I got overpowered, I managed to win my first two matches,
against a White/Green deck played by Paul Evans and a Black/Green deck played by Crispin Moakler. Several of these games were
decided when I managed to get something like a Child of Thorns or a Goblin
Cohort, then a two-drop, then a three-drop and then a Kami of Fire’s Roar. Others I won with early beats followed by
some combination of Lava Spike, Flames of the Blood Hand (both of
which I brought in against slower decks), and Spiralling Embers.
Round Four saw the OAPs manage 5 wins out of 6, taking us to 52 points, while the Good Players only managed 3 wins, leaving
them on 45 points. Kevin had gone 1-3 and dropped out. I asked Stuart Wright, who chose Richard Moore, a player who had managed
to qualify through the Grinders on the previous day and who was struggling along on 2-2, as his substitute. This proved to be a
good choice, and the Good Players closed the gap in the fifth round, managing 4 wins while the OAPs only won 2, leaving the points
score 58-57 in the favor of the OAPs.
Round Six vs Calum Stevenson
And so to round six. Calum had a Kami of the Vanishing Touch on the second turn and a Callow Jushi on the third. It seemed that he
was colour screwed, until I realised that in fact he was mono-blue. I realised this at about the time I was getting beaten up by a
flipped Callow Jushi with Phantom Wings on it, another Callow Jushi (unflipped) and a Shape Stealer.
As a matter of pride I felt that I had to defeat any draft deck which is so debased as to contain only Blue cards. I won the
second comfortably and managed to reduce him to five life in the third, with six cards, including a Spiralling Embers in my hand.
I think for a bit, worried that he might have countermagic, and resolve to wait for him to tap out. He duly activates his Descendant of Sotamaro, leaving only
one Island untapped, at the end of my turn, and I am just about to slam down the Embers when I happen to notice that it is a, er,
Sorcery. Happily he does not draw a counterspell, and I manage to finish him off to go to 6-0. Not that I imagine Tsyuoshi,
Masashi, and Olivier were quaking in their boots at this display of Limited Magic.
6-0, 12-3
As for the Grid War, the OAPs recovered from the previous round to record 4 wins and 2 losses, and the Good Players matched
them, leaving them still a point behind with 69 to the OAPs’ 70. Not what was expected.
As for the individual standings at halfway, I was one of two players on 6-0, Sam and Nick were on 5-1, John, Ollie, Stuart and
Richard were on 4-2, Chris was on 3-2-1 and Ben, Pete, Dave and Quentin were on 3-3.
Draft Two
I had Nick passing to me for this draft. I first picked Kodama’s Reach as per the plan, passing
lots of good black including Horobi. Nick passed
me a Glacial Ray. I settled into Green/Red,
Nick into Blue/White and Mark (the other 6-0 player who was sitting next to me) into Black/White and a good time was had by all. I
ended up with the following:
10 Forest
8 Mountain
Glacial Ray
Torrent of Stone
Spiralling Embers
2 Inner Calm, Outer
Strength
Unchecked Growth
Kodama’s Reach
Genju of the Cedars
Child of Thorns
2 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
Shinen of Life’s Roar
Hearth Kami
Elder-Pine Jukai
Kami of the Hunt
Gnarled Mass
Kami of the Fire’s Roar
Burning Eye Zubera
Heartless Hidetsugu
Arashi, Sky Asunder
Earthshaker
Nightsoil Kami
In my sideboard I had Blood Rites, Hearth Kami, Traproot Kami, Scaled Hulk, Sokenzan Bruiser, Glitterfang, Soul of Magma and Sakura-Tribe Scout, each of which could
make a plausible case for inclusion (I should probably have had Blood Rites over one of the Inner Calm, Outer Strengths, for
instance). This was the kind of deck which, if offered the option, I would have chosen to draft when 6-0 at Nationals.
Round Seven vs Mark Knight
This was Mark’s first Nationals and he was also undefeated. He had a black-white deck (he was sitting on my left during
the draft). I won the first by simply playing a Heartless Hidetsugu, a Shinen, some other big creatures, letting him hit me with
some fliers for a bit and then just activating my Hidetsugu once and attacking him for thirteen.
In the second game I used Glacial Ray splicing Torrent of Stone to leave him with a Bile Urchin against my Child of Thorns and Elder Pine Jukai. I had three cards in hand, which were Mountain, Torrent
of Stone, Arashi, so things were looking good again, with Mark on 12 life and me on 11. He had 2 Swamps and 2 Plains in play and
three cards in his hand, and I had three land in play (having sacrificed two Mountains to the Torrent).
There are various good plays, but none as bad as the one I choose, which is to attack with both of my creatures. He falls to
nine, and then attacks, and turns his Bile Urchin into an Okiba-Gang Shinobi. This leaves me on
eight life to his nine, and with one card in hand to his five. I have to discard a land and Arashi, and I don’t manage to
recover from that. In the third game I get a pretty poor draw and he has an Opal-Eyes, which is not a card which I had had the
pleasure of getting defeated by before, but which is pretty well impossible for a green-red deck to beat. He also has Kabuto Moth and multiple Scuttling Deaths, all of which combine to
hand me my first defeat.
6-1, 13-5
With the OAPs flagging, the Good Players win 5 and draw 1 to surge into the lead for the first time with 85 points, three clear
of the OAPs who manage four wins and 2 losses.
I go for dinner with Ollie, John, Ben, Pete and Chris and then go back to my hotel to sleep. Playing seven rounds of Magic and
doing two drafts is pretty tiring, though nerves keep me awake for quite a long time. We worked out that eight wins and one draw
would be enough to make top eight, and at 6-0 that meant that I only had to win two of my next five rounds.
Day Two
For the second day the OAPs chose to make a substitution, as Pete had dropped out after going 3-4. We chose to bring in Neil
Rigby, who was 6-1. While Neil is a veteran with three previous Nationals top eights, it turned out that he actually plays and
practices quite a lot, and is therefore a sketchy inclusion, but he is quite old and we hoped he would help us catch the youngsters
up again.
Round Eight vs Nick West
Nick’s Blue/White deck had no fewer than 13 fliers, including 2 Teller of Tales. And I have 2 Snipers and
Arashi.
In the first game his Kami of False
Hope turns into a Ninja of the
Deep Hours, which trades with my Elder Pine on the following turn. He casts a Shimmering Glasskite and then Sakashima the Impostor to get another.
I play a Sniper and decide to play Arashi rather than channel him. This is possibly a mistake, as my life total is decreasing
quickly. He bounces my Sniper once, and makes more fliers — a Teller, a Cloudskater and a Shinen are three that I remember,
and he manages to reduce me to 0 the turn before I can finish off his fliers. One misplay from Nick and I would have stabilised
and gone on to win, but he played some excellent beatdown Magic.
In the second game he has the Ninja again, but I had Glacial Ray for it. He then has a steady stream of fliers and my Sniper
cannot keep up, particularly when he bounces it.
So all of a sudden, my amazing Green/Red deck is 0-2 and things are looking a bit dubious.
6-2, 13-7
Neil manages to win, as do Ollie and Ben, who beats Quentin, but John loses to Richard and Chris can only draw. Quentin is the
only one of the Good Players to lose, and they stretch their lead to 100 points to 92.
I don’t remember much about round nine, except that my opponent had a White/Blue/Green deck which didn’t seem to
have large quantities of unfair cards, so I won in two quick games. A turn 4 Arashi (thanks to a Kodama’s Reach) was a
particular highlight, but there was little skill involved, as all I had to do was to play out my powerful cards one after another
and turn them sideways for the victory.
7-2, 15-7
Ben took his fourth loss, and Chris his third along with two draws. John won to go to 6-3, Ollie won to go to 7-2 and Neil
beat Stuart Wright to go to 8-1. Sam won again to be on 7-1-1, Stuart and Dave were on 6-3, Richard won his fifth in a row since
joining the Grid to move on to 7-2. Quentin was out of contention but still playing on at 5-4 and Nick drew with Mark in the
battle between people who had beaten me with their Limited decks to go to 7-1-1 (Mark was on 8-0-1).
All of which meant that I had escaped from the Limited section with a 4-2 record and it was time to beat some people with my
Red deck.
On the Grid, we fell slightly further behind, and now trailed 113-104, or the equivalent of three match wins.
Round Ten vs Ollie Schneider
Before the round started, Ollie and I were talking about whether it would be better to draw and then try to win one of the last
two rounds if we were pared, or to guarantee top eight for the winner of our match and force the loser to have to win the next.
Ollie actually got a warning from the Head Judge after he asked the people at the next table down what their match record was, and
we decided that it was best to play.
Ollie won the die roll and had counters for my second and third turn plays, which left me in a terrible situation. I managed
to get a Hearth Kami and a Sword of Fire and Ice into play, but
when I attacked with the equipped Kami, it was blocked by a Sakura-Tribe Elder and he had a Naturalize for the Sword.
This was kind of bad, as he was bringing in 3 CoP: Red and 3 Pyroclasm. I added Culling Scales and Sorcerers and shuffled up
for the second game.
For the second game, I kept a hand with Frostling, Zo-zu, Magma Jet, Chrome Mox, one other Red card and land, and my turn 1
Frostling, turn 2 Zo-zu, turn 3 Slith (slightly out of the usual sequence but still welcome) quickly reduced him to 9 life. He
didn’t have either the Pyroclasm or a CoP:Red and so we were on to game three.
For the third game. Ollie mulliganed and kept a six card hand. I picked up my cards and had:
3 Mountain, Blinkmoth Nexus, Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author], Shrapnel Blast, Arc-Slogger
After not much thought, I mulliganed that into a much better hand which allowed me to cast a turn 1 Slith Firewalker and follow
it up with a slew of aggressive creatures. Ollie didn’t have an early CoP: Red, and I had removal for his Elders and
Witnesses to complete the comeback.
8-2, 17-8
Elsewhere, things were going poorly. John lost to Dave Grant, which meant that he had lost to four players on the other Grid
(he was 6-0 against everyone else). Ben and Chris also lost and Neil ID’d, leaving us on 108 points.
To make things worse, I am really hungry, so go to queue at the onsite catering. Carl Crook is in the queue ahead of me and
orders the last sandwich, crushing my hopes of getting any food more substantial than a Mars bar.
The Good Players were doing rather better. Their only player to lose was Sam, who lost to Nick, hoisting them up to 128
points. Nick was on 8-1-1, Richard and I were on 8-2, Sam was on 7-2-1 and Ollie, Stuart and Dave were keeping the dream alive on
7-3. With 8-3-1 being enough for top 8, all I needed to do was to draw twice. So I went across to check the pairings for the next
round, only to discover…
Round Eleven vs Sam Gomersall
…that I was paired down against Sam, who couldn’t draw as he needed one more match win to make the top eight.
Battling with the Fear of losing this and the next match and missing top eight, I sat down to play.
I lost the die roll and mulliganed to start the match off. I had a couple of creatures counterspelled, and my Slith got
bounced back to my hand when it managed to hit twice. Sam managed to resolve a Triskelion while still on 12 life and then resolved
a Mindslaver. My hand was Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author], Shrapnel Blast and Arc-Slogger, with four Mountains in play. Sam “drew”
a Chrome Mox and I suffered the ignominy of being Shrapnel Blasted by a mono-Blue deck.
I brought in Shatters, while Sam had Steel
Walls and Razormane Masticores.
None of which proved relevant in the second game, as I had a first turn Hearth Kami, a Frostling and a Genju, and he had nothing
much which was relevant in terms of blocking, destroying, bouncing or otherwise interacting with any of those.
Neither of those games were particularly close, and the nature of the matchup is that either the Red deck overwhelms the Blue
deck early on, or the Blue deck gets control and casts massive threats.
In the third game, we both had good draws and a real battle ensued. I had a Hearth Kami and a Slith Firewalker to start off,
while Sam had two Steel Walls. I managed to resolve a second Slith, which knocked Sam down to 15. Sam bounced the Sliths with Echoing Truth, and cast Oblivion Stone. I cast a Slith and a
Frostling, keeping up the pressure. Because of the Hearth Kami, which could destroy the Stone and let me cast my other Slith, Sam
cast a second Oblivion Stone and put a fate counter on it (having assembled the Urzatron). I sneaked a Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author] through
to put him on 11, and forced the activation of first one Stone and then a second by casting back to back Sliths. I kept up the
pressure with a Blinkmoth Nexus, while Sam dug for more business cards, having had to use up all the cards in his hand to hold off
the threats. I managed to get Zo-zu into play, and had a Shatter for his Triskelion. We continued to trade cards back and forth,
with me unable to get a threat to stay to finish him, but with his life continuing to drop from the Nexus and a well placed Magma
Jet. We got to a situation where I had no more cards in hand and only Mountains and the Nexus in play, but he was on two life. I
attacked with the Nexus to drop him to one, he took his turn, drew a card, activated his Top and extended his hand to concede,
having finally run out of answers.
9-2, 19-9
While we were locked in the middle of the third game, Ollie was playing against Dave Gatheral, who had a Tooth and Nail deck. Throughout the match,
there had been banter/insults not particularly suitable for a family site from both players. As I understand the sequence of
events, a judge came over to watch following complaints, and issued Ollie with a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct for one or
more of his comments. Already up a game, Ollie managed to get Meloku into play when Dave played an Iwamori, and showed his glee by shouting out
something rather uncomplimentary, whereupon the judge upgraded the warning to a match loss. Ollie continued to try to discuss the
issue with the head judge, and was asked to leave the building.
I won’t try to pass comment on the rights and wrongs of the decision — while I was close to the events, I was
concentrating on my match in a fiendishly complex third game and was only vaguely aware of arguing at the time. It was a real
shame, though, that the situation arose whereby Ollie was eliminated from the tournament.
This was particularly the case since he was driving Ben and John back to London. At a stroke, half my Grid team disappeared
from the venue, forcing me to concede victory in the first Grid War to the actual Good Players.
As for the Nationals, Mark Knight, Nick West, Neil Rigby and I had all acquired 26 or more points, and so could play the game
of ID, in which everyone is a winner. I was paired against Mark, just as I had been in round 6 of the first day. Mark was
actually undefeated, having won his first eight matches and then had an unintentional draw with Nick and three IDs.
What became clear was that only some of the people on 25 points would make it into the top eight. Richard Moore and Michael
Overstreet drew on table 3. Richard had 25 points and had been pared down, while Michael was on 24 and had good enough
tie-breakers to make it in.
Table four saw Lian Pizzey’s Rat deck up against David Getheral’s Tooth and Nail deck. While Lian fought back to
take the second game after losing the first, Dave prevailed in the decider.
On table five, Sam was up against Stephen McIntosh, who had a Blue/Green deck. Going into round ten, Sam had only needed to go
1-2 to make top eight. Having lost to Nick and to me, he had to win this match, and managed to do so in two relatively quick
games.
Rounding out the players still in contention, Chris Stocking faced Alastair McClure’s Red/Green deck, while Michael
Groves was paired with Martin Swan who had an Affinity deck. Chris and Michael both had Red decks — Chris the aggressive
version, Michael with Flores Red, and both prevailed.
Sadly, Chris and Michael finished 9th and 10th when the final standings were announced.
The quarterfinals were:
Mark beat Michael, Neil beat Dave and Richard beat Nick. And here’s what happened to me:
Quarterfinals vs Sam Gomersall
I won the dice roll to start the match, and kept a very strong hand — Seething Song, Sowing Salt, 3 Mountain, Hearth
Kami, Frostling.
I summoned a second turn Hearth Kami, and Sam played an Urza’s Mine to go with his Island. He then tapped his Island for
a Diving Top or a Serum Visions (I can’t remember which).
I untapped, played a third Mountain, and cast Seething Song, Frostling and Sowing Salt on his Mine. He had another Mine in
hand. The game continued for a few more turns, but it was a rout after that.
I went to sideboard. I put in the Shatters, and boarded out the Swords of Fire and Ice and a Seething Song. I also decided to
take out the Sowing Salts and put in two Vulshok Sorcerers. I did this because when playing, a second Sowing Salt is not actually that good. It is a
four-mana spell which doesn’t deal damage, which means that it is weak in the early game and not all that helpful if Sam
stabilizes on a low life total, whereas the Sorcerers can continue to damage him and need to be dealt with.
I draw my hand, which is Frostling, Seething Song, Seething Song, Shatter, Arc-Slogger, Mountain, Mountain. Sam keeps his
cards, and I think for a minute before deciding to mulligan.
I have thought about this since, and while it is a tricky decision, I do think it is correct. I have little early pressure,
and the only reason to keep the hand is to enable a third turn Arc-Slogger. But if I play for this, then if Sam has a Mana Leak, a Condescend or an Echoing Truth I am in deep
trouble, basically relying on the top of my deck with no more threats.
I draw:
Slith Firewalker, Slith Firewalker, Magma Jet, Arc-Slogger, Seething Song, Chrome Mox
My deck isn’t exactly giving me easy decisions. This time I decide to keep my hand. If I draw a Mountain on the first
turn, then I am overwhelming favourite to win, even on the second turn gives me a good chance (better than going to five cards).
Sam plays an Urza land and passes the turn. I draw…
I imprint Seething Song on the Mox, play the Nexus and Magma Jet him. I Scry, and look at two Red cards.
I don’t end up getting a Mountain for several turns, though I do get another Chrome Mox. Sam lets me play that, and then
Echoing Truths them both back to my hand, before introducing me to something called “Razormane Masticore”.
And so to game three. I draw my hand, and it has 3 Mountains, a Chrome Mox, a Slith, a Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author] and a Magma Jet. I
imprint the Pulse on the Mox and summon my first turn Slith.
Sam plays an Island and Serum Visions
— no Steel Wall to protect him.
I attack him again. He plays an Urza land and another Serum Visions, so I Magma Jet him. On my next turn I drop him to 11
with my Slith and a Nexus. Sam plays another Urza land and a Top. I attack him to six and pass the turn.
In desperation, he Tops and then untaps. He plays Urza’s Tower to complete the Urzatron, and a Triskelion. I Magma Jet him to leave him on four
and see Vulshok Sorcerer and Arc-Slogger on top of my library. I decide to put the Slogger on top.
So the situation is that I have a 5/5 Slith Firewalker and 4 Mountains and a Blinkmoth Nexus in play. In my hand I have an
Arc-Slogger and nothing else. Sam has a complete Urza set, a Top and a Triskelion in play and some cards in hand. I decide not to
trade my Slith for his Triskelion, and just summon an Arc-Slogger, threatening to win the game on the next turn.
Sam draws a card, grimaces and activates his Top. He rearranges the cards so that the third card down is on top, and exchanges
his Top for it. He then casts Echoing Truth on the Arc-Slogger and a Razormane Masticore.
I draw my Sorcerer and decide to cast that, saving the Slogger for if I draw another land or a Seething Song. The Trike shoots
the Sorcerer (which reduces him to three), and in Sam’s turn the Trike removes its remaining counters and the Masticore
finishes off the Slith. Sam then attacks me down to 14 and plays a second Masticore.
I draw a Mountain and play my Arc-Slogger with one Mountain untapped. Sam is forced to discard both of the cards in his hand,
draws the Top which was on top of his library and shoots my Slogger with his Masticores. In response I drop him to 1 life by
activating the Slogger. Sam has no way to deal with my Nexus, and can only attack for 11 with the Triskelion and 2 Masticores,
leaving me on 3 life. Sam plays his Top, looks at the first two (useless) cards, and then peeks at the third card. He places that
card on Top, exchanges it for his Top, and then casts Echoing Truth on his Triskelion, replays it and removes the counters to deal
me the final three damage and win the closest game that I can remember ever playing.
Sam went on to lose to Richard, who beat Mark in the final to become the National Champion. Sam clinched the third spot on the
National Team by defeating Neil Rigby in the third/fourth play-off.
So that’s the story of my Nationals. There were some outstanding performances — Richard Moore winning a qualifier
on the day before Nationals, winning six in a row after being 2-2 and taking White Weenie to the Championship; Mark Knight who won
10 matches in his first Nationals and suffered his first loss in the final; Sam and Neil confirming that they are two of the best
and most consistent players in England. The judging and organisation were excellent — they managed to complete seven rounds
of Magic and two drafts and still finish by 8pm on the first day.
I hope this report has been entertaining, and that at least it might have been helpful as a guide to how to maximize your
chances and give yourself the best possible chance against better prepared and more skilful players. I didn’t quite make it
to Yokohama this time, but with my Red deck I got within one game and one life point of doing so, which ain’t bad for an old
timer.
Take care
Dan Paskins