Scum MTG Tournament 2 -- Khelvaster wins!

[Elias_the_thief]

granted, that hand wouldve killed me if you did draw one.

[Yaw]

And that concludes the quarterfinals.

Semifinal matchups:

Yaw vs. Elias_the_thief
Khelvaster vs. EmpTyger

(The second of those is already in.)

Front post bracket has been updated.

[Khelvaster]

I don't know who to root for...Elias is in the newest Mafia minigame, so I might root for him. Yaw on the other hand made this thread, so it would be BM to go against him. Ah, the decisions one has to make...

[Yaw]

Yaw over Elias 2-0.

That makes the finals Khelvaster vs. Yaw.

[Elias_the_thief]

Ouch.
Good luck to both of you.

[ShadowLurker]

HEY KHELV: YAW KNOWS WHAT YOUR RUNNING

[Khelvaster]

I still went 2-0 :p. First game I combo'd out from a storm count of 5, second game he got stuck on 2 land for the whole game.

[Yaw]

Yeah. Every once in a while your deck rolls over on you, and that's the fun of probability.

I've PMed Cephrir to post the decks, since we're done.

[EmpTyger]

Elias:
Care to play for 3rd place?

[creampuffeater]

how bout posting the decks?

[Mastermind of Sin]

Do another tournament, so I can play...I really wanted to pwn some face (as if...)

[Khelvaster]

We need a poll. I'd go for t2 myself.

Also, I wanted to apologize to you guys. I had a lot of fun playing TEPS, but I was pretty much goldfishing against everyone, so I doubt they had a lot of fun against my deck. If we ended up playing t2, I promise to stay away from dragonstorm. Not only do I find it to be too inconsistant for my tastes, but it also would be no fun for anyone else.

[creampuffeater]

i cant run 300 card zoo in Standard!

[Sarcastro]

There are no ninjas in Standard. This is unacceptable.

[zu_Faul]

Congratulations!
I'd like some Standard right now.

[Aelyn]

Standard sounds good.

[Yaw]

I was actually thinking of doing another Limited before another Constructed, but I'll set up a poll for such things in a bit.

In the meantime, what I'd

really

like to hear about is the tournament organization. Did people like the groups over a Swiss tournament? Does anyone have ideas for avoiding the pitfalls of either tournament setup? (What comes to mind for me here is that Swiss is

much

slower, while the groups tend to be more uneven -- I think the right decks got deep into the tournament, but Group 4 was notoriously easy to get through, while Group 2 was quite difficult.)

Cephrir has received my PM, so I assume the decks should be posted fairly soon.

[Sarcastro]

Well, if you use groups next time, you could try making seeds of some sort, similar to the way they draw groups for the World Cup. The people who made it to the semi-finals in this tournament would be guaranteed to be in different groups, etc. Of course, this assumes that most of the same people are in the next tournament.

Also, I propose that no evil combo decks should be allowed in the next tournament. You know who you are!

Is there no chance of anybody agreeing to play Kamigawa block?

[Cephrir]

Group 1

Land
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Adarkar Wastes
4 Island
1 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Academy Ruins

Creatures
3 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir Spells
3 Chrome Mox
3 Orim's Chant
4 Isochron Scepter
4 Fire // Ice
3 Cunning Wish
3 Fact or Fiction
3 Wrath of God
4 Counterspell
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Spell Snare

Sideboard
1 Orim's Chant
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Condemn
1 Lightning Helix
1 Stifle
1 Muddle the Mixture
4 Dwarven Blastminer
3 Descendant of Kiyomaro

Lands
4 [DS] Darksteel Citadel
4 [MR] Great Furnace
4 [MR] Vault of Whispers
6 [UNH] Mountain

// Creatures
4 [MR] Frogmite
4 [MR] Spikeshot Goblin
2 [AQ] Ornithopter
2 [MR] Ornithopter
4 [MR] Myr Enforcer

// Spells
4 [MR] Pyrite Spellbomb
4 [MR] Shrapnel Blast
2 [SOK] Hidetsugu's Second Rite
1 [MR] Loxodon Warhammer
1 [SOK] O-Naginata
2 [MR] Bonesplitter
4 [MR] Tooth of Chiss-Goria
4 [FD] Cranial Plating
4 [MR] Welding Jar

// Lands
1 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Flagstones of Trokair
2 Plains
2 Mountain
2 Forest
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All

// Creatures
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder

// Spells
1 Honden of Seeing Winds
3 Enduring Ideal
2 Dovescape
3 Orim's Chant
1 Pernicious Deed
4 Burning Wish
2 Solitary Confinement
3 Form of the Dragon
4 Seething Song
4 Lotus Bloom
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Pyroclasm
1 Krosan Grip
1 Leyline of the Void
2 Pentad Prism

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Enduring Ideal
SB: 2 Pyroclasm
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 1 Wrath of God
SB: 1 Shattering Spree
SB: 1 Kodama's Reach
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Vindicate

// Lands
2 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [DIS] Hallowed Fountain
11 [MR] Island (4)
4 [ON] Polluted Delta

// Creatures
3 [CHK] Keiga, the Tide Star
1 [CHK] Meloku the Clouded Mirror

// Spells
4 [MR] Chrome Mox
4 [CS] Counterbalance
4 [7E] Counterspell
3 [IN] Fact or Fiction
3 [SH] Mana Leak
4 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [OD] Standstill
3 [MR] Thirst for Knowledge
3 [FD] Vedalken Shackles
3 [A] Wrath of God

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [7E] Boomerang
SB: 4 [DIS] Condemn
SB: 3 [IA] Disenchant
SB: 4 [SC] Stifle
SB: 1 [A] Wrath of God

Group 2

Land
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Island
3 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
3 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
3 Polluted Delta
4 Windswept Heath


Creatures
1 Ravenous Baloth
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Genesis
3 Loxodon Hierarch
3 Eternal Witness
2 Trinket Mage
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Birds of Paradise
Spells
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Duress
1 Damnation
1 Vindicate
1 Global Ruin
1 Reclaim
3 Pernicious Deed
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Cabal Therapy
Sideboard
4 Meddling Mage
2 Damnation
1 Pernicious Deed
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Global Ruin
3 Duress

Name Qty Sideboard
Arcane Laboratory 1 3
Breeding Pool 4
Careful Study 4
Cephalid Coliseum 2
Flooded Strand 3
Forest 2
Genesis 1
Golgari Grave-Troll 4
Hallowed Fountain 2
Hapless Researcher 3
Island 2
Kataki, War's Wage 1 3
Loxodon Hierarch 0 4
Mental Note 4
Mystic Enforcer 2
Nantuko Monastery 2
Naturalize 0 4
Nimble Mongoose 4
Nostalgic Dreams 3
Tarmogoyf 4
Temple Garden 3
Tormod's Crypt 1 1
Werebear 3
Windswept Heath 4
Wonder 1
First number is maindeck, second number (if any) is sideboard.

2 Flooded Strand
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Windswept Heath
2 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
1 Steam Vents
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mountain
1 Breeding Pool

4 Grim Lavamancer
1 Savannah Lions
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
2 Jotun Grunt
4 Watchwolf
2 Wild Mongrel
4 Kird Ape
4 Boros Swiftblade
1 Brute Force
4 Gaea's Might
1 Lightning Helix
1 Firebolt
4 Tribal Flames
3 Sudden Shock
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Armadillo Cloak

Sideboard:
1 Loxodon Hierarch
3 Engineered Plague
3 Meddling Mage
3 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Armadillo Cloak
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Krosan Grip
1 Jotun Grunt

Mana:
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Polluted Delta
3 Godless Shrine
3 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Tomb of Urami
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Plains
4 Swamp
4 Chrome Mox

Creatures:
4 Dark Confidant
3 Nantuko Shade
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Hypnotic Specter

Discard/Removal/Land Destruction:
4 Duress
4 Funeral Charm
4 Gerrard's Verdict
4 Smallpox
4 Vindicate
3 Rancid Earth

Sideboard:

4 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Extirpate
3 Infest
2 Pithing Needle

Group 3

12 [CHK] Island (1)
1 [CHK] Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [BOK] Mistblade Shinobi
4 [BOK] Ninja of the Deep Hours
2 [BOK] Walker of Secret Ways
2 [BOK] Higure, the Still Wind
4 [MR] Ornithopter
4 [7E] Counterspell
3 [FD] Vedalken Shackles
3 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
4 [RAV] Remand
2 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
4 [MR] Chrome Mox
3 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
SB: 2 [CHK] Meloku the Clouded Mirror
SB: 3 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 3 [9E] Boomerang
SB: 2 [BOK] Threads of Disloyalty
SB: 3 [SC] Stifle
SB: 2 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt

1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Watery Grave
5 Island
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
3 Polluted Delta
4 Swamp
4 Gemstone Mine
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Lotus Bloom
1 Phage the Untouchable
4 Memory Lapse
2 innocent Blood
4 Shared Fate
3 Cabal Ritual
4 Mana Leak
2 Ancestral Vision
2 Fellwar Stone
3 Darkblast
2 Force Spike
2 Brainspoil
3 Shadow of Doubt
2 Lost Hours

Sideboard:
1 Innocent Blood
2 Force Spike
2 Blackmail
3 Think Twice
3 Distress
1 Demonfire
3 Coffin Purge

// Lands
1 [TSP] Academy Ruins
2 [ON] Wooded Foothills
4 [MR] Cloudpost
4 [TSP] Vesuva
1 [TSP] Urza's Factory
1 [OD] Island (2)
3 [ON] Windswept Heath
1 [ON] Flooded Strand
3 [DIS] Breeding Pool
1 [RAV] Temple Garden
3 [IA] Forest (2)

// Creatures
1 [DIS] Sky Hussar
1 [DS] Sundering Titan
1 [MR] Platinum Angel
1 [DIS] Indrik Stomphowler
1 [CHK] Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 [MR] Leonin Abunas
3 [CHK] Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 [TSB] Wall of Roots

// Spells
3 [OD] Moment's Peace
2 [MR] Oblivion Stone
4 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
3 [MR] Tooth and Nail
3 [MR] Mindslaver
4 [MR] Sylvan Scrying
4 [DS] Reap and Sow

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [OD] Moment's Peace
SB: 1 [MR] Tooth and Nail
SB: 3 [MR] Rule of Law
SB: 3 [9E] Sacred Ground
SB: 3 [8E] Plow Under
SB: 3 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 1

Plains (2)

2x Geothermal Crevice
3x Gemstone Mine
4x Sulfer Vent
3x Irrigation Ditch
3x Timber Farm


3x Mind's Desire
1x Tendrils of Agony
2x Plunge into Darkness
4x Darkwater Egg
4x Rite of Flame
4x Cabal Ritual
4xSeething Song
4x Chromatic Star
4x Burning Wish
2x Infernal Tutor
3x Sins of the Past
4x Lotus Bloom
3x Chrome Mox
3x Chromatic Sphere

SB

1x Mind's Desire
2x Tendrils of Agony
1x Hull Breach
1xPyroclasm
1x Channel the Suns
1x Empty the Warrens
2x Orim's Chant
2x Duress
4x Extirpate

Group 4

DECK (50 cards)
Island x10
Mountain x10
Steam Vents x4
Composite Golem x4
War-Torch Goblin x3
Goblin Warchief x4
Pandemonium x4
Fool's Demise x4
Index x3
Counterspell x4

SIDEBOARD (15 cards)
Annul x4
Blood Knight x4
Goblin Mountaineer x4
Intruder Alarm x3

I have no idea why that deck is 50 cards or why I didn't notice. Good thing he didn't win anything.

300-card Zoo
Main Deck Sideboard
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Breeding Pool
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple Garden
4 Godless Shrine
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
4 Watery Grave
4 Blood Crypt
4 Llanowar Wastes
6 Mountain
6 Forest
1 Island
5 Swamp
6 Plains
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Underground River
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Sulfurous Springs
4 Brushland
4 Shivan Reef
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Dryad Sophisticate
4 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Kami of Ancient Law
4 Hearth Kami
4 Frostling
4 Rumbling Slum
4 Savannah Lions
4 Kird Ape
4 Selesnya Guildmage
4 Rakdos Guildmage
4 Gruul Guildmage
4 Azorius First-Wing
4 Shrieking Grotesque
4 Dark Confidant
4 Watchwolf
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Orzhov Guildmage
4 Burning-Tree Shaman
4 Lantern Kami
4 Suntail Hawk
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Scab-Clan Mauler
4 Mistral Charger
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Scorched Rusalka
4 Plagued Rusalka
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Azorius Guildmage
4 Pride of the Clouds
4 Azorius Herald
1 Myojin of Life's Web
4 Grozoth
1 Suncrusher
4 Shock
4 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Moldervine Cloak
4 Electrolyze
4 Farseek
4 Char
4 Putrefy
4 Mortify
4 Seal of Fire
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Pithing Needle
4 Lightning Helix
4 Yamabushi's Flame
3 Flames of the Blood Hand
1 Plague Wind
3 Battle of Wits

Forest - 16 (20)
Wirewood Lodge - 3
Birchlore Rangers - 4
Taunting Elf - 4
Llanowar Elf - 2
Elvish Vanguard - 3
Seeker of Skybreak - 3
Wirewood Hivemaster - 4
Wirewood Herald - 2
Priest of Titania - 4
Timberwatch Elf - 4
Caller of the Claw - 2
Elvish Warrior - 2
Wirewood Pride - 3
Umezawas Jitte - 2
Fireball – 2

// Lands
3 [RAV] Mountain (1)
1 [RAV] Overgrown Tomb
4 [9E] Karplusan Forest
4 [GP] Stomping Ground
2 [DIS] Rakdos Carnarium
1 [TSB] Gemstone Mine
9 [TSP] Forest (4)

// Creatures
4 [CS] Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper
4 [RAV] Elves of Deep Shadow
4 [RAV] Birds of Paradise
4 [9E] Llanowar Elves
4 [CS] Martyr of Ashes
4 [9E] Wood Elves
3 [TSP] Greater Gargadon
3 [PLC] Akroma, Angel of Fury

// Spells
4 [DIS] Hit/Run
2 [AP] Pernicious Deed

[Yaw]

Thanks for posting the decks.

Incidentally, one definite change for the next time will be that whoever keeps the decks will be checking them for legality beforehand. It'll be better for everyone that way -- nobody will have the problem of playing against illegal cards or decks, and those with issues will have a chance to fix them with real cards (not just basic lands) prior to the tournament starting.

[Khelvaster]

I really like the pools with cut to top 8. It gets matches done in a much more timely manner.

[Thestatusquo]

The only problem was that of the possibility of a three way tie. I know yaw and I REALLY sweated over that possibillity. At one point it looked like 3 groups might finish in an unbreakable tie, though none actually did. We were worried though. I think the problem can be solved with going to 5 people.

[Thestatusquo]

Also, Id like to note that a standard tournament would be a lot of fun.

[EmpTyger]

Vote: Sealed/TS-PC-FS

. But I'll play anything logistically feasible, and Standard seems to be the popular choice.

Did people like the groups over a Swiss tournament?

Yes.

In the meantime, what I'd really like to hear about is the tournament organization. Did people like the groups over a Swiss tournament? Does anyone have ideas for avoiding the pitfalls of either tournament setup? (What comes to mind for me here is that Swiss is

much

slower, while the groups tend to be more uneven -- I think the right decks got deep into the tournament, but Group 4 was notoriously easy to get through, while Group 2 was quite difficult.)

First of all, Group 2 Pride!

Proposal: What if there were a full roundrobin? Ie, extend the pools so that there’s just one big pool. Everyone plays n-1 games, and then cut to top 4 or 8 or 2^whatever for finals. That equalizes the playing field, there wouldn’t be the delays of Swiss since games could be played any order, and more games played = more fun.

Also, I wanted to apologize to you guys. I had a lot of fun playing TEPS, but I was pretty much goldfishing against everyone, so I doubt they had a lot of fun against my deck. If we ended up playing t2, I promise to stay away from dragonstorm. Not only do I find it to be too inconsistant for my tastes, but it also would be no fun for anyone else.

Speaking for myself, no apology necessary. Was perfectly legal, everyone had the option- and I certainly had fun in our games. Play what you will.

[Yaw]

My concern about a full round robin is that those players that lose early and often might prefer to drop rather than play out all their games, which hurts other players. Swiss allows players to drop rather easily without affecting much, which smaller groups mean almost everyone's still in contention up until the end. (For example, consider zu_Faul, who couldn't get in any games until a week in. Suddenly, the number of games he can play is less than that of other players because of drops. Alternately, if the drops count as concessions, he has an easier time of things than the other players because he doesn't actually have to play the games to record a win.)

I think this is sort of a question about how competitive people want this to be, and how attached they are to their performance.