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Hello once again, and welcome to Eudemonia's final 2007 power 9 tournament. Today, we're competing for a Black Lotus, as well as a number of other lesser prizes. Arun Sharma, in charge of selecting my feature matches for the day, has chosen what should be an interesting set of games for you in round 1. With a surprisingly low turnout, 40 players have made the trip to lovely downtown Berkeley.
Round 1: Daniel Kaltenbach (Trinket Mage control) v. Jeff Neilson (“WTF,” by Travis LaPlant)
Game 1: Daniel plays some mana, Jeff plays a whooooole lot of mana and a Goblin Welder, which gets countered by Force of Will. Jeff is not delayed too much, though, and plays a Trinisphere and a Chalice of the Void with 1 counter. Daniel Trinket Mages up an explosives, and Jeff makes Crucible of Worlds. Daniel gets a couple attacks, but nobody does anything interesting for a while. Jeff plays a Trinket Mage of his own, but Daniel uses Mana Drain on it. The next attack takes Jeff to 8 life.
On the attack that would take Jeff to 6, Jeff plays an Aven Mindcensor to trade with the mage. Daniel has another mage, though, and a few turns later the game is his. Game Score: Daniel 1, Jeff 0
Game 2: Jeff just has a ton of mana with nothing to play. Eventually, Daniel gets out a mindcensor and starts beating down. Jeff attempts to hardcast a Sundering Titan, which runs into Force of Will. Daniel adds a Trinket Mage to the winning team, getting (and playing) Aether Spellbomb. Jeff does the Goblin Welder thing, and his Pithing Needle gets FoW'ed.
Jeff gets through a Tinker for Triskelion though, which kills the mindcensor, and both players start drawing lands for like 5 turns in a row, stalling the game. Eventually Jeff rips Ancestral Recall, makes some mana, and plays his own mindcensor. The beatdown is now going the other way.
Daniel gets an Auriok Salvagers out and returns his spellbomb. Jeff continues the beatdown, getting a Trinket Mage of his own and putting Chalice of the Void out on 1. Daniel plays Merchant Scroll and searches the top 4 cards of his library to find an Echoing Truth, which a few turns later, goes after Chalice of the Void so Daniel can replay his spellbomb. An attack takes Jeff to 3. Jeff's mindcensor reduces Daniel to 5 life. When Daniel tries to use his spellbomb to bounce his trinket mage, Jeff kills the mage with a red blast. Daniel returns the spellbomb, though, and Jeff resigns. Game Score: Daniel 2, Jeff 0
Round 2: Dan Messino (some deck with Dimir Cutpurse and Tinker) v. Eric Campusano (Blue/White/Black weenies)
Game 1: Dan leads with an Ancestral Recall, which Eric counters with Force of Will. Eric uses Wasteland on Dan's land, and passes back. Dan makes a fetch, and Eric goes land, mox, mox, and plays Aven Mindcensor when he sacrifices the fetch. Dan comes up short, and then again on his next turn. Eric makes Dark Confidant and then Meddling Mage naming Brainstorm. A few turns later, his team goes the distance while Dan has no permanents. Game Score: Dan 0, Eric 1
Game 2: It is Dan this time with the double Mox start, and Dimir Cutpurse gets forced. Dan gets Dark Confidant out on his turn. A second Dimir Cutpurse makes an appearance for Dan, but Eric does him one better with a 4/4 Jotun Grunt. Dan tinkers away a mox to get the 11/11 Darksteel Colossus, which goes on the offensive. Eric doesn't find an echoing truth or whatever, and it's time for game 3. Game Score: Dan 1, Eric 1
Game 3: Dan has no lands but two moxes. Eric starts things off with an end-of-turn mindcensor, and Dan goes after it with Smother, which gets Dazed, which gets forced. Eric has an Ancestral Recall, and Dan has another force. Dan finds a land finally and makes Dimir Cutpurse. He loses the land to a waste and the cutpurse to a swords, and now both players have nothing but mana. A few turns later, Eric, who has the card advantage currently, gets Meddling Mage out to put the kibosh on Dimir Cutpurse. Eric takes out a Yawgmoth's Will with Duress and adds Kataki, War's Wage to his army. Dan loses a mox and pays two for his lotus and other mox.
With two creatures attacking him, Dan does not have enough time to find a solution after another Duress. Game Score: Dan 1, Eric 2
Round 3: Jeff Huang (Blue/White/Black weenies) v. Sam Sherman (Growatog)
Jeff had 2 byes from previous second-place finishes in this series, and so joins us in this round against a player who really did have to go 2-0 to land himself at the top table. Sam habitually plays Ichorid in these events, but decided to change it up today by bringing the newly revitalized Gush deck.
Game 1: Sam has a land, and Jeff has a Dark Confidant. Sam responds by Brainstorming and forcing. Sam goes to his deck with Demonic Tutor for Fastbond (probably) followed by Gush, a replayed land, and Duress, leaving only a confidant for Jeff, which comes into play on his turn. Sam gets a Psychatog. Wasteland takes out Sam's green mana, and Jeff plays an ancestral. Merchant Scroll gets Gush, and Psychatog goes on the offensive for 6, down to 11. Jeff adds a second confidant and a Jotun Grunt to his team, and attacks Sam to 15. A turn later, Sam is staring down a grunt, two confidants, a savannah lions, and an Isamaru.
Merchant Scroll finds him another Gush, and Sam draws some more cards. Yawgmoth's Will, Gush, Gush, Gush, Merchant Scroll for Cunning Wish for Berserk, attack, discard and remove 7 cards, Berserk. Game Score: Jeff 0, Sam 1
Game 2: Jeff has a land, Sam takes out a force with Duress, and plays Opt in response to a waste. A second mox gets out Psychatog, which runs into a second force from Jeff, who takes out Sam's next land with a strip and plays Jotun Grunt. A Meddling Mage comes in from Jeff naming Gush. The next attack takes Sam to 9. When Sam plays Mystical Tutor, Jeff plays Aven Mindcensor and Sam takes Time Walk. The next attack would drop Sam to 1, but Sam plays Cunning Wish for Red Elemental Blast on the meddler and goes to 3 instead. His next turn doesn't solve anything though, so Jeff is the winner of this game. Game Score: Jeff 1, Sam 1
Game 3: Once again, Sam leads with Duress. Jeff's hand is land, land, land, land, Meddling Mage, swords, Daze. The blue card bites the dust, and Jeff plays a Duress of his own, revealing land, force, Gush, scroll, Fire/Ice. Sam loses the scroll. Meddling Mage names Fire/Ice, and Sam makes mana, Gushes, red blasts the mage, plays mox, land, Fastbond, land. On Jeff's turn, time is called, so there will be only 5 more turns in the game. Jeff plays a Jotun Grunt, which gets forced.
Sam makes Quirion Dryad, Jeff sacrifices his grunt and plays Dark Confidant and a swords on the dryad, and Sam Duresses away a swords. Both players realize that the game is a draw. Game Score: Jeff 1, Sam 1 – DRAW
Round 4: Michael Klemic (Goblins) v. David Ochoa (Growatog)
Game 1: Michael has a turn 1 Goblin Piledriver and a turn 2 Aether Vial, which gets forced removing Disrupt. David plays Quirion Dryad and passes back. Both players sit on their hands for a turn, and then David makes a second Dryad and goes on the offense. When David plays a bunch of blue spells and attacks again, Michael draws a card and concedes. Game Score: Michael 0, David 1
Game 2: Michael resolves turn 1 Aether Vial. David has a land and a lotus, and Michael goes after the land with a waste. Brainstorm in response, and it's David's turn again. David sacrifices the lotus and goes Demonic Tutor, Land, Merchant Scroll for recall. Michael plays a second vial and wastes David's new land. David plays his ancestral and passes, and Michael vials in a piledriver. In response, David Oxidizes the 2-counter vial. Michael untaps, and attacks for 1, and David plays a dryad. David's Mystical Tutor gets red blasted, and Michael vials in a second piledriver. David does Engineered Explosives with 1 counter to kill the vials.
Michael is now looking at the wrong side of a 5/5 dryad, and plays Goblin Matron to summon Stingscourger. When the dryad attacks, the matron blocks. Snuff Out finishes a piledriver and the dryad gets in for 6. Michael decides to sacrifice his lotus to play a piledriver and a stingscourger, but the scourger gets countered. Game Score: Michael 0, David 2
Round 5: Eirik Aune (Growatog) v. Austin Martinez (Oath of Druids)
Game 1: Austin leads with Duress, and Eirik responds with Brainstorm showing Gush, Gush, Gush, Duress, Psychatog, dryad. The duress goes to the 'yard, and Eirik untaps, draws, Brainstorms again, fetches, and plays Fastbond. Austin responds with Brainstorm of his own and plays Force of Will. Eirik responds with Gush and another force, and the fastbond resolves. The lands come back in, Eirik makes a dryad, another Gush, some more lands, a Brainstorm, and Eirik is done.
Austin plays Forbidden Orchard and Oath of Druids. Eirik Echoing Truths the oath, attacks for 4, and passes back. The oath comes back in, and Eirik plays another dryad and attacks Austin down to 7. Oath removes a bunch of stuff and then gives Austin a Razia, Boros Archangel, which gets turned into a dumb ape via Pongify. Eirik untaps, floats mana, Gushes, replays lands, Regrowths his truth, and removes the ape. Game Score: Eirik 1, Austin 0
Game 2: Austin starts with a Sensei's Divining Top, and Eirik plays an Engineered Explosives with 2 counters. Factory gets in for Austin and Eirik plays Merchant Scroll for Ancestral Recall, which gets Remanded. Austin goes Demonic Tutor, Strip Mine on Eirik's red mana. Eirik responds with Gush. Untap, Duress, and Austin loses Misdirection.
The next time Mishra's Factory tries to attack, it gets Snuffed Out for no mana. Eirik then goes Ancestral Recall, which Austin forces, but Eirik forces back and draws 3. Merchant Scroll gets Gush, and Divining Top gets bounced by Echoing Truth to avoid mana burn. When the top reappears, Eirik forces. Eirik gets Fastbond, Austin brainstorms in response, and the overpowered enchantment resolves. Eirik plays a third Gush, goes to 7 to play lands, and passes. Austin passes back, and Eirik Gushes a fourth time. Quirion Dryad comes in, Brainstorm, fetch (6 life for Eirik), Demonic Tutor, Duress on Echoing Truth, leaving Oath of Druids and Time Walk. Austin Brainstorms, and Eirik thinks about the now-deadly combination of Oath, Time Walk, and counterspell. Austin plays Duress, and sees Red Elemental Blast, Force of Will, Yawgmoth's Will, Merchant Scroll. The Force of Will bites the dust, and Red Blast goes after the Time Walk.
Round 6: Luis Scott-Vargas (Growatog) v. Christiaan Royer (Psychatog with no grow) - with added color from guest commentator Tyler “Bear or a Gorilla, it doesn't matter” Wishnoff
I've put off featuring Luis, reigning national champion, until now, but his presence in this tournament is too much to ignore when he's trapped in a last-round must-play situation with a top 8 spot on the line.
Game 1: Christiaan wins the die roll, which Luis remarks is the first roll he's lost today, and takes a mulligan. Luis keeps his 7. Christiaan plays land go, and Luis has his war-face on. Oh, the champ has a Quirion Dryad. Opt from the other side of the table, but the dryad is good and the crowd goes wild. A Time Walk and a Brainstorm both resolve for Christiaan, who has a Library of Alexandria in play now.
TW: We haven't seen a play like that since, I dunno, last game? The game before? All these decks are the same!
Merchant Scroll hits the table from Christiaan, and Luis looks stunningly dismayed. The scroll goes for yet another brainstorm, which comes back in to draw some more cards. Luis finally gets a turn, and plays a brainstorm.
TW: Jesus Christ, I can't stand it! Oh, a Duress, at least it wasn't a brainstorm. Oh Jesus Christ, there it is again!
Christiaan loses a Merchant Scroll to Luis' Duress, keeping a third Brainstorm, and Luis attacks for 3 with his green lady. Christiaan's brain weather patterns don't change this turn, and Luis makes a second Quirion Dryad followed by an Ancestral Recall. Swing takes Christiaan to 13.
TW: It's like high-stakes poker. There's a couple thousand bucks on the table at any given time.
Luis sacrifices a lotus to play Yawgmoth's Will, which gets mana drained, which gets Misdirected. Christiaan concedes. Game Score: Luis 1, Christiaan 0
TW: I'm fairly certain that should read Game Score: Brainstorm 4, All Other Cards 0
Game 2: TW: The cards are ready and it's down the the wire will christiaan come back from the brink or will Luis “******* Beast” scott-vargas ******* own some *******?
They both keep. Once again, Christiaan leads with a land, and Luis with a Duress. Duress kills Merchant Scroll over a force and another scroll.
TW: What, no brainstorm?
Christiaan goes Merchant Scroll for Ancestral Recall in hand, and Luis gets a Quirion Dryad and plays another Duress. Christiaan counters with force removing Submerge.
TW: He must be trying to protect his Brainstorm.
Ancestral Recall resolves, drawing Christiaan 3 extra cards. Luis plays Brainstorm (!) and Merchant Scroll for...
TW: Brainstorm?
No, Force of Will.
TW: Darn.
Ancestral Recall from Luis. Christiaan responds with Gush. Misdirection on the ancestral, force from Luis, Mana Drain back. Christiaan draws 3. Dryad gets in for 6, taking Christiaan to 12 life. He plays Opt.
TW: That's almost like Brainstorm.
Christiaan plays a Time Walk, drain mana burns to 7 life, untaps, floats, Gushes, and concedes because he hasn't found an answer to the large dryad. Game Score: Luis 2, Christiaan 0
TW: Well that wraps it up for that game and probably the rest of the Brainstorm jokes we'll hear today. Thank god. I'll be back for the final game of the final match.
Josh Stewart (Magus of the Moon and Goblin Welder control) v. Eirik Aune (Growatog)
Game 1: Eirik, on the play, tries to Echoing Truth a Mox Sapphire on the other side of the table, with Josh stuck on 1 land. Josh counters with Mana Drain. Eirik plays a Psychatog, and Josh makes Magus of the Moon. Eirik attacks and removes two fetches for an extra damage and then Pongifys the magus. Josh forces, Eirik misdirects, and then plays Quirion Dryad. Josh has another magus, though, and a Goblin Welder too.
Eirik goes to his library with Merchant Scroll and attacks for 2 with his dryad. Josh's 3/3 ape trades with Eirik's graveyard. Eirik attempts Ancestral Recall, and Josh counters with Mana Leak. Attacks trade, and Josh goes to 5 with Eirik at 10. Josh tutors up Tinker and loses a mox for a Triskelion. Eirik appears to be stopped, and Trike attacks him down to 6. After drawing a card, he concedes. Game Score: Josh 1, Eirik 0
Game 2: Josh plays the first nonland, a Black Lotus, which he sacrifices for Magus of the Moon. Eirik responds with Ancestral Recall, but the magus resolves. Eirik follows that up with a Merchant Scroll for Fire/Ice, and Josh gets an attack in. Eirik takes out the magus with Fire, and Josh plays Merchant Scroll for Force of Will.
Eirik resolves a Quirion Dryad and Gushes, though Josh forces. Then Eirik attempts a Psychatog, which Josh red blasts. Eirik responds with another Gush, and Josh plays a second magus. Eirik plays Time Walk, attacks for 5 with dryad, untaps, attacks for 5 again (Josh at 6). Josh attacks back and plays Thirst for Knowledge discarding a mox. Josh drops to 1 and Brainstorms, then ancestrals. Eirik kills off the magus with a would-be lethal attack, and Josh untaps for what may be the last time. Thirst for Knowledge finds him a Time Walk, and Eirik floats and Gushes. A force for 5 mana seals the game. Game Score: Josh 1, Eirik 1
Game 3: Josh goes land, recall. Eirik forces and starts his game with a mox. On his next turn, Eirik gets Psychatog countered and Josh goes Merchant Scroll for Mana Leak, Mana Crypt, Tinker for Triskelion. Eirik plays Snuff Out, and Josh forces. Demonic Tutor gets Eirik a recall, and Triskelion takes him to 10, then to 6. Eirik plays Duress, and Josh brainstorms in response. A whiff on Goblin Welder and land. Quirion Dryad comes out and blocks trike for a turn, giving Eirik turn to play Merchant Scroll for Pongify.
Eirik drops to 3 from trike counters, and Josh welds the trike out for his crypt in response to Pongify. When Eirik tries to Echoing Truth the welder, Josh shows Force of Will with 5 mana up. Game Score: Josh 2, Eirik 1
Semifinals: Josh Stewart (Goblin Welder control) v. Eric Campusano (Blue/White/Black weenies)
Game 1: Eric plays the first interesting card in Meddling Mage. Josh responds with brainstorm, it resolves, and Eric chooses Mindslaver. Josh does the old standby of Merchant Scroll for Ancestral Recall. Eric attacks and recruits a Jotun Grunt. Josh does another Merchant Scroll, this time for Thirst for Knowledge. Eric attacks Josh down to 11, plays another grunt and a confidant (which gets forced), and passes back. Josh goes to 7 from his mana crypt and plays Gorilla Shaman. Eric wastes the red mana, and the attack takes Josh to 1. Josh eats his mana crypt with the shaman before it dies, but cannot save himself. Game Score: Josh 0, Eric 1
Game 2: Josh is stuck on 1 land, and when he plays Merchant Scroll, Eric puts a stop to it with Aven Mindcensor. Jotun Grunt joins the party, and is followed by Kataki. Josh sacrifices his lotus to Fire the censor and the kataki, and then red blast the Force of Will that Eric uses to try to stop the Fire.
Josh scrolls up his ancestral finally, and Eric gets in there again with the grunt, taking Josh to 5. Kataki comes out again, and seals the game for Eric. Game Score: Josh 0, Eric 2
With a prize the size of a Black Lotus, it is too tempting to split rather than risk leaving empty-handed, and so Sam Sherman and Eric Campusano split in the finals.
____________________ PoTaTo!
Posts: 213 | From: Berkeley | Registered: May 2004
Great series, great coverage, but I can't seem to just jump to Eudemonia's website with my usual www.Eudemonia.Com/P9.
I'm looking for hints at the future. Or at the very least, how to get straight to the Vintage forums. (I had to do some digging to find this, and thanksfully, it let me respond with my old username and no new password (or remembering my current password here.).
Jeff.
PS: Miss you guys.
Posts: 45 | From: Vacaville, CA | Registered: Apr 2006
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Gamestop Tourney in San Jose this weekend
gamestop is opening up a new tournament center in san jose. it’s supposed to have a huge stage, networked plasmas, and other cool stuff. they're hosting a call of duty 4 tournament and grand opening celebration. they'll have free pizza and they're giving away 300 bucks to the winner.
3580 Stevens Creek Boulevard in San Jose, noon saturday
Yes, our first tournament in our 2008 P9 series is THIS SUNDAY!!! That's in 2 days! Aaahhh!!
I saw your post over at themanadrain, and I wanted to let you know that the entry fee is $25 each tournament, except for the final Black Lotus one, which is $30. (Your post says that the fee is 30/tourney and "??" for the Black Lotus one.)
I couldn't reply to your post since it's in the tourney announcements section, so I figured I'd try to contact you here. See you on Sunday?
Posts: 458 | From: Dragonmaw | Registered: Oct 2007
quote:Originally posted by judytuna: Hi LotusHead!
Yes, our first tournament in our 2008 P9 series is THIS SUNDAY!!! That's in 2 days! Aaahhh!!
I saw your post over at themanadrain, and I wanted to let you know that the entry fee is $25 each tournament, except for the final Black Lotus one, which is $30. (Your post says that the fee is 30/tourney and "??" for the Black Lotus one.)
I couldn't reply to your post since it's in the tourney announcements section, so I figured I'd try to contact you here. See you on Sunday?
Alright, I fixed the TMD announcement, but this site hasn't been updated yet!
Posts: 45 | From: Vacaville, CA | Registered: Apr 2006
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