Irish Nationals Report - 1stFollowing on from the "What Rolls Downstairs" series last year, having won Nationals - I felt it would be rude not to do a report. Tradition dictates that this is the part where the writer should ramble, and anyone not interested can skip to the "Preparation" bit. It having not been clear to everyone necessarily, I just wanted to say a little about my new team 5FU and how a Dublin man justifies joining forces with the evil Corkonians. First of all, from the last few years at Nationals, and particularly National teams, 5FU from Cork and Dublin (loosely Team Trinity) have dominated the standings. I had traditionally always worked with the guys in Dublin on whatever decks, and last year the testing paid off, when I went from top 16 to 3rd. This year unfortunately, it definitely seemed there was an ennui in Dublin surrounding Magic. Not in general, where event numbers are continuing to grow, but more on the "PTQ hack" scene, or the Team Trinity crowd. Problem was, I was no different, and knew I would need a good active team to aid in motivating me to do the work for Nationals. Realistically, if i had aspirations to go to Worlds, 5FU seemed the natural choice. A quiet word here or there over a few drinks, and by the end of the Warpcon weekend, I was signed up. To anyone who didn't realise I had joined 5FU until much closer to Nationals - this was deliberate. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it - or have it affect the weekly magic I am involved with in Dublin. Anyway - enough rambling - time to talk about Nationals 2004 - or first: Preparation: Standard: Once Darksteel was out, we started looking at a number of different decks. Affinity, Goblins and MWC were unsurprisingly the main decks we were looking at. Initially, MWC seemed to have some good game against the beatdown decks - until the arrival of Elf and Nail, and until the Affinity builds got refined. Despite this, I had been playing MWC for the best part of a month, and wanted to stick with it. However, about 10 days before Nationals - I was informed by the rest of the team that MWC sucked (a lot of testing was done, as Paddy "Cannon" Walsh was also planning on playing the deck initially). So, had to find something else. Had messed around with random affinity builds pre-DarkSteel, and it seemed to be the strongest deck (if most hated), so decided that I would probably end up playing some version or other of Affinity. As I was heard saying early in the weekend, and beforehand: "Affinity is going to win Nationals, because no other deck, no matter how much hate it has, can be consistently lucky against Affinity". In my humble opinion, the deck is just too explosive for any control deck to consistently contain. Over the course of a tournament, you are going to get two bad beats out of three. I didn't want that to be my quarter final, should I make top 8. Spinning forward to Wednesday before Nationals - I was on my way to Cork for testing, and had looked at and liked the winning deck from GP Brussels. No, no points for original deckbuilding, but hey, given the level of testing the Germans had just gone through, why repeat it all? From Wednesday to Friday night, we tweaked the deck a little to our own tastes, and I converted Darragh from his long tested build (with Enforcer, spellbomb, no moxen or thirsts), and once that was done - Cormac was told what build to play ;). The final list was: 4 * Arcbound Ravager There are several things that were nice about the build. The Moxen lead to some stupid starts (see final game 1 ;) ), and to a great extent filled the same function as chromatic sphere, in that they fill the hole in your mana base. The three Citadels and 4 Glimmervoid also makes you a *little* more resistant to Akroma's Vengeance, which the deck is no fan of. As for Limited, the main prep was lots of MMD drafting, both in real life in Dublin, with the team - and some online. With only two weeks to learn a new draft environment before Nationals, I thought it was all the more important to know Mirrodin and Darksteel back to front in limited. I have never been much for trying to force a colour combination - I generally take whatever looks underdrafted by my neighbours and go with that, so I had no overriding opinion heading into the draft, other than the fact that I thought people would underrate Sunburst cards, so grabbing a third splash and mana fixers earlier in the draft could definitely help your final deck a lot. Enough preamble - onto the weekend itself: Friday: We head away from team 5FU's top secret base (Darragh's house) Friday lunchtime, for a nice afternoon drive up to Carlow. First Road Trip with the team, and suffice it to say, there was somewhat of an initiation in the ways of vehicular projectile combat at 60 mph. We arrive in Carlow, drop in on the venue, and then head to the Carlow wing of our secret base (Borlum B&B - props to Darragh for booking, and Jim for recommending. Great spot with lots of space for playing in chalet style accommodation). Some final testing, some purchasing of *all* the Lucozade Sport in Centra in Carlow town and a little sideboard tweaking, and it's off to bed. Saturday - 6 rounds Standard: Finally - onto a game report: Round 1: Mickey Aherne (Red, Splash G LD - Anti-Affinity.dec) Mickey tests/plays with 2003 Champ Alan Meaney, and I played him at the Carlow Extended PTQ earlier this year. A nicer first round opponent you couldn't ask for, and knowing that Alan would have helped him get a deck together, I was somewhat nervous going into the match... Game 1: I get off to a pretty good start, but get slowed down by some Land D and a few main deck artifact hate cards (Shatter etc.). Despite this, I get some creature damage in - and finish him off with a blast, with Disciple and Ravager on the board. Sideboard: Out 3 * Bolt, In 3 * Mana Leak Game 2: I start much slower here (should have mulliganed), and Mickey stops all my main threats long enough to be able to make a Molder Slug (eep!). A Skullclamp helps me keep up for a while, but I think Mickey takes the clamp out, and beats me down :(. Game 3: I mulligan to six, and feel I have to keep a hand with 2 * Disciple, 2 * Blast, 2 * Great Furnace. I figure if I can get the Disciples on the board, I have 14 damage in hand. Instead, he blows up the two Furnaces (I do fortunately draw a third, and then a Citadel), and gets 5 to the dome as thanks each time. Even with him at ten though, my draw hasn't improved much, and I don't have much pressure when he casts Rorix on turn 6 and starts smashing me. Two turns later or so, I manage to Threaten Lethal Damage with Ravager and Disciple, so Mickey has to leave Rorix home, as he's only on 8. I believe I draw a second sac outlet (atog/ravager), and some clamping later, have enough artifacts to finish him. Very close game though, closest outside of the top 8.... 1-0, 2-1. Round 2: Finbarr Begley (sorry, lost match sheet) (Goblins) Finbarr can certainly chat away about his Goblins and draws, but all told - a nice guy :). Game 1: Can't remember a whole lot of detail, but I believe I got a good start, with some early burn for his guys, and good early beats. Finish up with double Blast, not for the last time of the day... Sideboard: Out 2 * Thirst, 1 * Thoughcast, In 2 * Pyroclasm, 1 * Bolt Game 2: I have a slower start, and Finbarr makes some early Piledrivers, but I manage to Pyroclasm them away. He keeps making guys and clamping, I keep clamping and burning them, and a second pyroclasm takes out three of his guys. Unfortunately, I'm running out of gas, and he drops two Siege Gangs in consecutive turns. I have Bolts to kill the Siege gangs, but he has 6 tokens to my lone Ravager, with me on a lowly 8. If he drew a ClickSlither, I was definitely in trouble, but fortunately he doesn't. He swings with 5 guys, I block one, and bolt his sole blocker in his end step to swing for the win. Close game, as I was on a mere 4 at the end. 2-0, 4-1. Round 3: Some new guy, "Cormac Smythe" from Cork - Affinity. Imagine my surprise when this random guy shows up with a deck identical to mine - down to every card. Seriously though, Cormac and I know a draw this early is no good to either of us - so we get to it. Game 1: We both start reasonably well, despite Corm going to 6, and get clamp and some guys, but I seem to have draw a little more burn, and stop Corm clamping on a few key occasions. Within a few turns, he is out of guys, and has no blue mana to power out any of the card drawing I'm pretty sure he is holding in hand. My deck meanwhile continues to run smooth, and I build up too much pressure for him to survive, even when he finally draws a second blue spell to go with the Thirst for Knowledge and Mox he has been holding. Sideboard: Out 4 * Disciple, 2 * Bolt, 2 * Jar, In 4 * Furnace Dragon, 4 * Seething Song Before going onto game 2 - just to briefly explain the sideboarding. We decided to basically play a combo deck post board - first to get to Dragon wins. As the build is fairly combo-like anyway (lots of Disciple/Blast wins), it seemed the best Mirror option. Game 2: Corm mulliganed twice, whereas I get a good start, with clamp and lots of small guys. Still, Corm knows well enough to keep Blast mana up, but has no answer when I threaten to make a Frogmite 6/6, and then possibly big enough to be lethal, he has to blast it - at which point I cast my second Seething Song of the turn to make a Dragon. Corm never recovers, and Dragon goes all the way. P.S. - Sorry fella ;). 3-0, 6-1. Round 4: *Feature Match* Paul Delaney - Affinity. Paul is fella from the new emerging Galway crowd. He's playing Affinity, although the build doesn't seem quite as contemporary as mine. No moxen is understandable - but unfortunately he has no Dragons in the board :(. Game 1: I had three Disciples in my opening hand...."gg" as they say. Without a way to kill them (which Paul seemed to lack), there are very few outs to that for another Ravager deck pre-board. Sideboard: As round 3. Game 2: Paul seems to have a bad start, and while I don't draw Dragon, I get all the other good stuff in the deck and overpower him. 4-0, 8-1. Round 5: *Feature Match* Oli Bird - Mind's Desire Combo Oli and I work together, were on Worlds team together, and were friends for years before any of that happened. So when it comes to a feature match, we're pretty honest with each other. Oli's completely non-interactive combo deck doesn't look like it has much hope against a fast start from my deck. Game 1: Turn 1 - Mox, land, Ravager. Turn 2 - Land, Worker - sac Worker and two land - Ravager swings for 5. Turn 3, Ravager swings for 5, make land. Turn 4 - Ravager swings for 5, Scrapnel Blast for the finish. Sideboard: Out: 2 * Jar, 2 * Bolt In: 4 * Mana Leak. Game 2: I get a pretty slow start here - only beating for 2 on the third turn. Fortunately for me, a City of Brass and Sac lands are doing plenty of damage to him, and when he tries to make a Gilded Lotus on turn 4 - I Mana Leak it, and get to kill him with no fear of sideboarded reprisals the following turn. The entire play time of the match was 4 and half minutes. We shuffled more than played - sound familiar? 5-0, 10-1 Round 6: Diarmuid Verrier (Affinity) Diarmuid, who ended up 3rd in the tournament, seems quite happy with 5 wins, and so feels little pressure on the one match that is guaranteed to produce a 6-0 on day 1. (Craig Brooks was also 5-0, but lost to Conor Harding who ended the day 5-0-1). He seems to have a similar build to fellow Galwegian Paul Delaney. Game 1: Diarmuid had two disciples, and manages to kill the only 1 I get. Bad times ensue. Game 2: I get a pretty good start, and draw cards quickly and get to Dragon on turn 4. Diarmuid is unfortunately for him tapped out, and with no land in hand - and Dragon quickly goes all the way. Game 3: Diarmuid gets a great start here, and puts me under a lot of pressure. He gets me down to 3, but doesn't have the Blast or Disciple/Ravager to finish me off that turn. I Thirst at the end of my turn, and then draw and stare at my hand for 5 minutes. I have 2 red mana on the table, and a Great Furnace in hand, and yet spent five minutes thinking about clamping or Thirsting to try find a Seething Song to cast the Dragon. Playing the land eventually occurs to me, and some clamp drawing off a ravager scarified in response allows me to make two Moxen and Thirst in the same turn. Diarmuid restarts OK, but I make an Atog and a Frogmite the next turn, which pretty much seals the deal. 6-0, 12-2. So end of Day 1 - I am 6-0. I have to say it is a great feeling, but following various collapses from 6-0 in the past, I try to keep a clear head, and to get some sleep. We get some food in town, and following a test draft back at the B&B, and some chatting and smoking cigarettes until 2am, we get some sleep. Sunday - 6 rounds draft:
I can't recall everyone in my pod, but I remember I was passing to Conor Harding, who seeing as I knew I would be playing him Round 1 seemed a little odd, as I could have screwed him to try ensure 7-0. As it turns out - I didn't, as I was more concerned at getting at least 2-1 from the pod, to leave me in ID land for the second pod. Following a first pick Warhammer, I drafted a few Red/Black cards, but ended up mainly with Artifacts from Mirrodin. This clear lack of colour signalling cost me though, as I saw very little good in Darksteel (the final deck only has 4 main deck cards from Darksteel). Going into Fifth Dawn, I was quite nervous, but fortunately I got passed a lot of quality Fifth Dawn cards, and dipping into blue set me up nicely for a three colour deck with Sunburst cards. The final deck was: Notable Sideboard: Unforge The deck had solid removal, although not way of dealing with artifacts directly, but good ground guys to hold up any weenie decks, and flyers and good finishers. All told, I was pretty happy. Round 7: Conor Harding U/G *Feature Match* Game 1: I get a great start, with a turn 2 Spellbomb taking out his Thought Courier, and a Trinket Mage fetching the Sphere to setup a 5/5 Manta (with the Talisman). He takes 10 from the Manta before managing to bounce it, but I can recast it as a 4/4. He managed to chump it another turn, and has a Pulse of the Tangle allowing him to catch up on creatures. My Disciple of the Vault and tapped Hermatite Golem (Psychic Overload) mean that his tokens put be under some pressure, but ultimately he can't do enough before the flyer finishes him. Game 2: Conor's deck pukes on him as he draws much land. A Myr Enforcer and a mere 3/3 Manta do some good work here if memory serves correctly. 7-0, 14-2. Round 8: Oli Bird Oli and I seem to be fated to meet several times in this tournament, to allow for maximum WWE style standoffs. Oli doesn't seem overly happy with his deck, which seems a little slow and threat light. Game 1: I get a good start, but a Wirefly Hive and a Cranial Plate stops my two 3/3 Mantas from doing any real damage. We eventually stall at 11 life a piece, and when it finally seems I have enough pressure to overcome his defences, Oli swings, and after a lot of blocking entwines a Stir the Pride :(. He gains 22 and wipes out most of my guys, which I don't recover from. Game 2: This ends in a quick win for me. At this point, we're 1-1 with only about 15 minutes to go, and Oli offers an ID. It does me more good than him, but I am still eager to get to 8 wins. However, after initially refusing it, I decide to accept it - as a 100 player field makes it look like 26 points (8-2-2) will be needed to make top 8, so two draws required). 7-0-1, 15-3. Round 9: Craig Brooks G/B *Feature Match* Craig is another Waterford player, and looking like his deck was very strong following two wins already in the pod. He had however, just beaten Darragh Long, so I had a good low-down on his deck, and it seemed his deck was fairly slow, so a good start could do it for me. Game 1: Following a deck check, Craig curses how post his last deck check he had to mulligan. This seems to hex his deck as he has to mulligan twice. He only ever plays an elf replica, and a manta and a Yotian Soldier do the necessary damage. Game 2: Craig seems a little slow starting, and a thought courier helps me setup my talisman and the three basic lands for the three mantas in my hand. Craig however busts out a Fill with Fright to take two of them out of my hand. He seems to lack an answer for the third one however, once I Vex a Cackling Imp, and despite building up some pressure with a Tel-Jihad outrider and his Elf Replica, I top deck a Heliophile to win with exactly enough damage (including sending Thought Courier into the Red Zone! :) ). 8-0-1, 17-3. So post pod 1, I have 25 points, and need just one ID to make top 8. Happy days :).
I am being passed to by Oli Bird, and passing again to Conor Harding, who following a 2-1 in the first pod, is fated to be my first opponent again. I draft mainly Red in Mirrodin, and this time my Darksteel goes better, and I grab some green and a splash of blue to setup for Sunburst. I see no mantas however, so I'm not sure whether the deck would have performed all that well. As it turns out - it wasn't put to the test.... Final deck anyway was: A very mana-intensive deck, but I hate getting mana screwed, and the colour requirements of the deck really did need it. Round 10: Conor Harding I half-heatedly offer an ID, and Conor takes it. We play a few friendly games, and I win them all with vicious top decks and FlameBreak featuring greatly. Woo Hoo - 26 points, top 8! 8-0-2, 17-3 Round 11: Darragh Long I'm in top 8, a win gets team mate Darragh in - I concede. 8-1-2, 17-3 Round 12: Paddy Walsh I'm in top 8, a win gets team mate Paddy in - I concede. (Deja Vu? :) ). 8-2-2, 17-3. So I finish the swiss with 8 wins, 2 IDs and 2 concessions, both of which got team mates into top 8 - definitely so far so good. With the round off, myself and Darragh go to get food. With 3 of us dead certs, and Cormac still very much in contention - the All 5FU Worlds team dream is still very much alive. Until the final standings appear - Darragh is 3rd, and I am 6th. Boo. Quarter Final: Darragh Long (Affinity, mirror (card for card) ). I am not going to write much about this match, because I still feel bad for winning. A long and drawn out game 3 doesn't help matters any. The fact that Darragh picks himself up in time to be in my corner from game 2 of the semi-final all the way to the end of the final speaks volumes about the guy. Semi Final: Gareth Middleton (MWC). Gareth has just beaten out Dave Kearney, playing a similar build of Affinity to ours, but with no Moxen. The matchup still doesn't look good, but as a certain Mr. Mc Keon pointed out to me moments before the semi-final started: "He Vengeances or is dead, that simple". Game 1: I get a good start, with two early (possibly first turn) frogmites. Still more than enough time for Gareth to Wrath, then Vengeance and take control, but when he starts cycling his renewed faith, it is clear he is digging into his deck. He never draws the Wrath or Vengeance, and despite Pulse of the Fields gaining him 12 life, I have enough gas to burn him out with a blast. Sideboard: Out 1 * Jar, 3 * Bolt - in 4 * Mana Leak Game 2: I keep a slow hand, and Gareth lays a turn 3 Damping Matrix. This results in Arcbound Ravager and co being decidedly average. When I look like being able to do more than one a turn, Gareth Wraths and then starts casting Exhalted Angels. I can blast the first two, but have no answer for the third. Game 3: I get another fast start, and Gareth seems to lack for a wrath. I draw a mana leak early, and so have backup if things start going wrong. Sometime around turn 6 or so, Gareth has to tap out for renewed faith to not die to a ravager assisted frogmite with disciple on board, but the Scrapnel Blast in my hand finishes him off. I really have to say, following winning the quarter final, I was happy to be going to Worlds. Also, knowing the bad matchup was coming I didn't really have an expectation of doing that well. I had thought to myself I would finish 3rd again - which would have been fine. Following winning the semi though, I knew I had come through the two toughest matchups for my deck in the top 8. I had a lot of momentum, and a promise to keep heading into the final. Final: Conor Harding Elf 'n' Nail.
Game 1: I win the roll. Turn 1: Mox, imprint Disciple, Mox, imprint Thirst, cast worker, cast skullclamp, cast frogmite. Empty hand, say go. The spectators get a *little* excited. Conor goes Foothills get forest, bird (he's on 19). Turn 2: Clamp Worker after draw, end up with Great Furnace, Atog and Scrapnel Blast in hand. I swing for 3 (he's on 16), lay the furnace and cast Atog. Conor goes land, Trellis, tap bird to make Clamp. Turn 3: I draw Frogmite, play it, clamp it - sac to atog - draw citadel and disciple. I play the citadel, cast disciple, Blast wall (he's on 15) - swing with atog and frogmite - sacrificing clamp, two moxen and the 1 remaining land to make atog 11, to do 14 with my guys and 4 more with disciple - he's on 0. Game 1 of Nationals final, and I kill him turn 3 - doesn't get much better :). (Sorry dude :) ). Sideboard: -1 Frogmite, +1 Bolt (must kill Symbiote) Game 2: I keep a slow hand (should have mulliganed), and never get much pressure on. He's on 18 when he wins, having used 3 * Oxidise, 1 * Naturalise, and 2 Shamans. Ouch. Game 3: I get another fast start, although not quite as fast as game 1. As I recall a Welding Jar helps keeping a Frogmite alive, and I kill him with some blasts and disciple action. (Not to sure on this one, fairly hazy). Game 4: Conor mulligans twice, so I try to keep my cool. He still starts well, with a turn 3 Vernal Bloom off two birds, and get a clamp shortly afterwards. I start drawing lots of cards, but still have no red mana, and am beginning to regret imprinting a disciple on an early mox instead of an atog. Conor gets Kamahl on the board, and has 4 forests. If he draws one more, he can double-overrun for the win. He spends a turn clamping, and can't do it. I clamp some on my turn, still no red. I pass it back over, and he still draws no forest. He clamps his one remaining bird, and gets a mountain - so decides to entwine Tooth and Nail, for two Shamans to kill my clamp and one of my 3/3 frogmites. I had a disciple chipping away at him (he was at 13), but had clamping it searching for red mana. With the two shamans, one overrun will do it next turn, so I knock on my deck, and it gives me a Great Furnace. I make a disciple, a ravager, Announce Scrapnel Blast targeting him, and have the 7 artifacts to finish him after it resolves.....
The prize-giving etc. happens. My hand get shaken more than they have ever been in one evening, we get some drinks, do some dancing - it's all good :). I think it wasn't until we headed back to the residents bar at about 3:30 that it hit me though :). So - looking forward to San Francisco, and a second year at Worlds. Other than props/slops - don't have a lot left to say. The Ravager deck is degenerate thanks to lots of cards (disciple is somewhat problematic), but I reckon banning clamp with make the deck reasonable, and at least 2-3 turns slower on average. Those Goblins, however..... Props: Jim/Chris/Thomas/Barry/Rest of 4 Lakes Gaming for running a second great Nationals event. Team 5FU - a great bunch of langers :). Darragh Everyone who's phoned/texted/MSNed to say congrats Slops: Hrmm...have to find one person/group/thing here I guess, as I never seem to have anyone here in my reports. Ermm.....Rain, yeah, Rain - cause it makes stuff wet, and stuff. *Wearing flowers in his hair* Wook. |