Black Celebration (Modern / Tiny Leaders)

This weekend I had a Black Celebration playing some very old school mono-black decks at Modern FNM and a weekend Tiny Leaders event. Both events had just over 12 players.

Modern: Mono-black control, 4-0

4 Duress
4 Distress
1 Memoricide
1 Mind Sludge
2 Disfigure
2 Victim of Night
1 Devour Flesh
2 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Eradicate
2 Mutilate
4 Sign in Blood
4 Read the Bones
2 Diabolic Tutor
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Steel Hellkite
2 Sorin's Vengeance
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Bojuka Bog
23 Swamps

1 Leyline of the Void
1 Witchbane Orb
3 Bottle Gnomes
1 Devour Flesh
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Barter in Blood
1 Curse of Death's Hold
3 Nantuko Shade
3 Rain of Tears

This is a very old-fashioned style of Mono-black control. Use discard spells to pick apart your opponent's hand, removal to stay alive, and card drawing to slowly pull ahead on resources until you can land a Sorin's Vengeance to solidify your position or Steel Hellkite to wipe your opponent's stuff and finish them off. With 8 point-discard spells and a Mind Sludge you'll draw dead discard as the game goes on but the plan is that the extra cards will make up for that. Though you always want to check their hand before playing a Hellkite if you can.

I beat a competitive burn deck 2-1, a casual burn deck 2-0, Hexproof 2-1, and BW tokens 2-1 to finish 4-0.

Tiny Leaders: Kuon, Ogre Ascendant / Pox, 3-1-1

Kuon, Ogre Ascendant

Epochrasite
Reassembling Skeleton
Guardian Idol
Chimeric Idol
Nether Spirit
Chimeric Mass
Cursed Scroll
Executioner's Capsule
Phyrexian Furnace
Sun Droplet
Tsabo's Web
Powder Keg
Ratchet Bomb
Raven's Crime
Funeral Charm
Hymm to Tourach
Stupor
Innocent Blood
Smother
Diabolic Edict
Infest
Forced March
Smallpox
POX
DEATH CLOUD
Skeletal Scrying
Shred Memories
Syphon Life
Armillary Sphere
Charcoal Diamond
Pristine Talisman
17 Swamps

Duress
Scepter of Fugue
Disrupting Scepter
Dragon's Claw
Elixir of Immortality
Thran Foundry
Sickening Dreams
Engineered Plague
Rancid Earth
Gloom

The idea behind this deck (if it's not obvious) is that all of your creatures are immune to your own mass removal, either because they're not creatures at the time (such as Chimeric Idol) or they re-animate themselves in some way. So you just Pox or Death Cloud away everybody resources and clear up with whatever you have left.

This deck is definitely mis-built as an earlier draft contained The Rack and Shrieking Affliction, and some cards (Raven's Crime, Funeral Charm) don't really make sense in their absence and should be replaced (I've gone for Scrabbling Claws and Chainer's Edict).

I'm not certain if Kuon is the best Leader for this deck. Whilst his ability is great if you can flip him, that's never easy and basically not possible against some decks. Running either Kiku, Night's Flower or Toshiro Umezawa seems possible with only slight alterations to the list (more discard to protect Kiku, more instants for Toshiro).

I beat Elves, Zombies, Geist of St Traft, and then had a draw and a loss against Shu Yun.

Overdrive draft 23/11/14 - report 1st place (5W 3L)

We had four players for this Overdrive draft, which was the first we'd run. We ran three round-robin rounds, to be followed by single elimination rounds if required.

Corp draft / deck

Runner draft / deck

Rd 1: Matt (Runner: loss, Corp: loss)

As Runner I have early pressure on R&D as Matt has Grail Ice but no ETR, so I jump to a 5-0 lead. I'm also simultaneously attacking his hand with Hemorrhage so it's looking good. I decide to keep pressuring R&D at the cost of Net damage and my sole program (Hemorrhage) discarding some breakers but this turns out to be the wrong call as Matt has his other Agenda in hand and is able to score a couple in a remote to win 6-5.

The corp game is really quick, I don't draw any ETR ice and lose on either turn 2 or 3 to R&D interface.

Rd 2: Nick (Runner win, Corp win)

I jumped out to an early Runner lead off R&D, and drew both all the breakers I needed and plenty of economy (at the end of the game my Heap was Sure Gamble, Sure Gamble, Lucky Find, Lucky Find, Lucky Find) and so won comfortably.

The corp game was even shorter than previously - a first turn Snare! kill.

At this point everybody in a four man tournament has won two games and lost two.

Rd 3: Samual (Runner win, Corp loss)

I win as Runner, but don't recall much about the game.

So if I can win as Corp I either win the draft or will be in a playoff for the win. I lose my first Paywall Implementation to a quick steal off R&D, but I have my second in hand and it stays in play for the remainder of the game, gaining me a LOT of credits, especially as Sam is using Security Testing. I score a Future Perfect behind a Curtain Wall, but have two more in hand together with another agenda, so it doesn't look good when Sam has a Legworks - which I had no idea was in this format. He hits Future Perfect but I win the psi-game. And the second Future Perfect but I win the psi-game again. Over the next turns I win two more psi-games (the Paywall Implementation is still in play and really helps), and I'm going to score a Future Perfect for the win when I screw up. I don't rez an Inazuma thinking I have him stopped but I'd forgotten that Grappling Hook and Overmind (1 counter remaining) can combine to break through Curtain Wall so I lose.

Matt and Nick also split their games, so at this point everybody is 3 wins, 3 losses, and we move into single elimination games to decide the places.

Semi-final: Matt (Runner win)

This game comes down to a last turn run - an agenda will win for either of us, and I don't have any breakers with a rezzed Lancelot in front of his double-advanced card (he has a Galahad in hand), and an unknown piece of Ice in front of Lancelot. But I do have credits, and I'm able to install a Dagger and an Inti before running. The unknown Ice turns out to be Ashigaru and I have exactly enough credits to break Ashigaru and the one ETR Matt can add to Lancelot and take the win.

Final: Nick (Corp win)

I'm able to protect a Sundew on the first turn which remains in play for whole game. By the end I have a second Sundew installed, along with two Hostile Infrastructure and a Mental Health Clinic. So I'm super rich but with Nick having a Mimic with a Personal Touch and an Ice Carver I'm struggling to keep him out and lose 5 points off R&D - sadly all my Snare! are in the bottom 9 cards. But he only has a Passport as a Codegate breaker, so I go for the win installing Inazuma in front of Curtain Wall and Future Perfect behind. He has a Refractor in hand which he installs, but is a couple of credits short of breaking the Wall, so I win 6-5 and win the draft!

This event was a whole lot of fun, much more so than Cyber War. It's just a shame that Netrunner drafts are so uneconomical.

Overdrive draft 23/11/14 - Corp (2W 2L)

I always play Glacier as Corp so I tried to mix it up a little this time by grabbing as many Snare! as I could and daring the runner to come at me and trash my stuff. Paywall Implementation and The Future Perfect fit this plan (I do like to upgrade my Agenda in draft, and conveniently don't actually have Honor and Profit).

Agendas
House of Knives
Sentinel Defense Program
The Future Perfect x3
Utopia Fragment

Assets
GRNDL Refinery
Hostile Infrastructure x2
Mental Health Clinic x2
Snare! x3
Sundew x2
Tenma Line

Operations
Celebrity Gift x2
Hedge Fund x2
Paywall Implementation x2

Ice - Barrier
Ashigaru
Bastion x2
Curtain Wall

Ice - Code Gate
Inazuma x2
NEXT Bronze

Ice - Sentry
Ichi 2.0 x2
Neural Katana
Shadow

Sideboard: Eden Fragment, Executive Retreat x2, Gyri Laboratory, Hades Fragment, Manhunt x2, Private Security Force, Psychic Field, Rainbow, Snoop x2, The Cleaners.

Overdrive draft 23/11/14 - Runner (3W 1 L)

While drafting Runner cards I tried to pick as many Stealth cards as I could, and to concentrate generally on economy and breakers. My deck doesn't really have any tricks as I never saw any I wanted - specifically I never saw any R&D Interface or Legworks.

Icebreakers
Dagger
Garotte
Inti
Overmind x2
Refractor x3
Switchblade

Programs
Cloak x3
Hemorrhage x2
Paintbrush

Hardware
Cybersolutions Mem Chip x2
Dinosaurus
Lemuria Codecracker
Lockpick

Resources
Aesop's Pawnshop
Ghost Runner x2
Security Testing x2

Event
Lucky Find x3
Sure Gamble x2

Sideboard: Borrowed Satellite, Copycat x2, LLDS Processor, Muresh Bodysuit, Paintbrush, Passport, Queen's Gambit, Retrieval Run, Security Testing, Torch, Theophilius Bagbiter, Tri-Maf Contact, Zu.13 Key Master

IW Modern - 2nd with Wildfire

At our local Modern tournaments I like to alternate between playing my good deck (Soul Sisters) and building something rogue - out metagame is fairly casual and turning up with the same deck every time gets boring. The rogue decks don't always work out so well (Enchantress, Pox), but this was an exception.

This tournament's deck was inspired by
a) my love of land destruction, and the discovery that Wildfire is both modern legal and cheap.
b) this tournament report from Jon Johnson: Hanweir Watchkeep, keeping legacy fair

It wasn't inspired by Gavin Verhey's Daily MTG article, published a couple of weeks before the tournament - that was just a coincidence.

Looking around the Magic Madhouse website revealed some other budgets gems, such as Arc-Slogger (which I described on twitter as "2% of the cost of a Thundermaw Hellkite" and Detritivore.

2 Epochrasite
4 Hanweir Watchkeep
Shivan Wumpus
3 Detritivore
3 Arc-Slogger
Wurmcoil Engine

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Dead // Gone
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Wildfire

4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Talisman of Indulgence
2 Talisman of Impulse
15 Mountain
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Molten Slagheap

Sideboard
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Boil

2 Leyline of Punishment
2 Pithing Needle
2 Shattering Spree
3 Guerilla Tactics

After playing the deck my main thought is that Arc-Slogger is awesome. 
Usually it's like you've just drawn three or four Shocks just by playing it, so I think playing all four would be reasonable (you can replace the terrible Shivan Wurm which was supposed to be Epocharsite anyway).

Also, an actual black splash would be easy enough and might offer some better sideboard and removal options.

We had 11 players on the day, so we played 5 rounds before cutting to top 4.

Round 1: Oliver playing RUG (without Tarmogoyf for budget reasons), won 2-0
Game 1 goes very long, as I'm not entirely sure what he's playing but he obviously has a variety of counterspells. Without Goyfs he struggles to kill me as everything in his deck dies to Volcanic Fallout, and he has me down to 10 when I resolve a 6/6 Detritivore that has been nibbling away at his lands. It grows to 7/7 and as Wildfire takes out more land he decides to throw the three Lightning Bolts he has in hand at me, but fails to untap and draw another burn spell and loses a 36 minute game.

Game 2 is considerably shorter as he taps out at the end of one of my turns for a Cryptic Command bouncing my storage land and I respond with Boil and a Lightning Bolt for his Vendilion Clique, leaving him with no permanents. He concedes.
1-0 (2-0)

Round 2: Paul playing Pod, won 2-1.
I win game one as I am able to Wildfire away most of Paul's board and my Detritivore kills him before he can recover, and lose game two as I have a Pithing Needle on Birthing Pod, but Paul draws Restoration Angel and Kiki-Jiki and is able to kill me.

In game 3 after destroying his first Pod with Shattering Spree and taking some damage from a pair of Kitchen Finks I resolve an Arc-Slogger with red mana open and about 40-something cards in my library. The Arc-Slogger means Paul can't combo me out, and it and my Bane of Hanweir finish him off with a few cards left in my library.
2-0 (4-1)

Round 3: Charlie playing Esper Gifts, lost 2-0
I don't have an answer for Iona and Charlie puts her into play twice very quickly (via Gifts Ungiven for Iona and Unburial Rites).
2-1 (4-3)

Round 4: Graham playing Soul Sisters, lost 2-0
This time I lose quickly to cards I definitely have answers for. I mulligan both games, and even though I have an opening hand Leyline for game 2, I don't draw Volcanic Fallout or Wildfire in either and lose to a load of Spectral Procession tokens.
2-2 (4-5)

Round 5: Dickie playing Kithkin, won 2-1
I win game one with a Wildfire, which kills all his creatures, but lose game two to a turn two Kor Firewalker, turn three Honor of the Pure, when my attempt to race with Shivan Wumpus plus Wildfire is foiled by an unexpected Refraction Trap which takes out the Wumpus.

Game 3 I again face a turn two Kor Firewalker, turn three Honor of the Pure, but this time Dickie's draw is otherwise sub-par, and I'm able to race with two Bane of Hanweir, as thankfully I can shoot his Baneslayer Angel three times with my Arc-Slogger before it gets exiled. With me on five life and Dickie on four I remove his second blocker and his 3/3 pro-red guy can't prevent him losing to my two 5/5s.
3-2 (6-6)

I make the top four as the 3rd seed. The rest of the top four is my last three opponents, as Dickie is the other 3-2 to make it on tiebreakers and Graham and Charlie were able to ID the last round.

Top 4: Graham playing Soul Sisters, won 2-0
This time I do draw Volcanic Fallouts and Wildfires! In game one I draw lots of them, but hardly any creatures (which get Pathed) and I finally win a very long game with an Arc-Slogger after casting three Wildfires. Crucially Graham is only able to Soul Warden and Martyr his life up to 28 mid-game so I was able to deal with his Serra Ascendants.

In game two I have a turn one Pithing Needle for Graham's turn one Martyr of Sands (he has another in hand) and I again am able to sweep away his creatures a few times and kill him with an Arc-Slogger.
4-2 (8-6)

Final: Charlie playing Esper Gifts, lost 2-1
Game one goes as expected - I lose to Iona.

At this point Charlie hasn't lost a game all tournament but I board in all the land destruction, including Pithing Needle (for fetchlands), and though I have to mulligan to five cards, Charlie is able to Thirst for Knowledge away Iona but can't find Gifts or Unburial Rights. I suspend two consecutive Detritivores that leave Charlie only with a couple of land, and they and an Arc-Slogger means he finally loses a game.

Game 3 I probably misplayed. I am taking damage from a couple of Lingering Souls tokens with Boil in hand after taking out two Celestial Colenade with Tectonic Edges, and rather than just waiting and building up mana on my storage land I cast a Goblin Ruinblaster to try and keep him off four mana. He Gifts in response and has another land in hand so I lose to Iona again. If I'd waited I can probably possibly prevent him getting an Iona but might still have lost to the Lingering Souls tokens.
4-3 (9-8)

So Charlie wins this IW Modern tournament with Esper Gifts (he says Far // Away is terrible) and I finish second with Wildfire, and am the open player to take a game off the winner. I consider this a successful outing for WILDFIRE.

"Fire is always at the top of the food chain, and it has a big appetite."

Modern Masters draft - 2-1 with Domain

This was an 8-man Modern Masters draft where we were keeping the cards drafted and the prizes weren't really significant. So as well as Rare-grabbing there was also a certain amount of Uncommon-grabbing, though the Lightning Helix I took just on value did end up in my deck (but the Spell Snare didn't).

After first picking Glen Elendra Archmage, I got a second pick Tromp the Domains and picked mostly green for the rest of the first booster. With the green cards seemingly expensive (my 'curve' started at 4cmc with Imperiosaur and Masked Admirers) and no second colour I grabbed Search for Tomorrow's as a priority in boosters two and three, also got some land-cyclers, and tried to pick up removal. The table seemed to undervalue Torrent of Stone - I got one very late (the table also undervalued Incremental Growth, and I had a couple of them, but they didn't fit in my deck at all). The other rares I opened were Ethersworn Canonist and Lotus Bloom, nice for Modern but not much help for Modern Masters.

The final deck was:

Durkwood Baloth
Giant Duskwasp
Pestermite
Trygon Predator
2 Masked Admirers
2 Imperiosaur 
2 Sporoloth Ancient
Walker of the Grove
(11 creatures)

Lightning Helix
Tribal Flames
Glacial Ray
Electrolyze
2 Torrent of Stone
Tromp the Domains
(7 spells)

3 Search for Tomorrow
2 Sylvan Bounty
8 Forest
5 Mountain
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
(22 mana sources!)

The actual games were fun to play but not that interesting to relate(*). I beat UW artifacts decks rounds one and three, getting Trygon Predator active once against both, and in between lost to a UW deck when I stumbled on mana twice (and in one of them he had Kira blanking my removal) and both games he had T6 Aethersnipe and killed me the turn after with Blinding Beam.

With doubles of Amrou Scout, Bound in Silence and Blinding Beam the UW deck deservedly won the draft. The 2-1 decks were my Domain, a UB Fearies (with mill alternate win from Mind Funeral, Dampen Thought and Oona) and an interesting GR Suspend that used Fury Charm as a Ritual - for example suspending Pardic Dragon for RR and then using Fury Charm to remove the two suspend counters to have it enter play immediately with haste. Making up the numbers were the two UW Artifact decks and two BR Goblins.

Drafting Modern Masters this way was fun, but I'm definitely looking forward to later drafts organised, where I can draft without worrying about value and just for the deck.

* Though in one game I did cast Masked Admirers, splice Glacial Ray on Torrent of Stone, regrow Masked Admirer's and recast it, splice the other Torrent of Stone onto Glacial Ray, and Tromp the Domains for +5/+5. SO MUCH VALUE.

Dragon's Maze Game Day - *1st* with 16 Forests

This is the tale of how a deck with 16 basic Forests won a Dragon's Maze Game Day without casting a single rare...

It all started with this tweet from Jon Johnson. As soon as I saw this deck I wanted to play it. I assembled all the cards except the Revenge of the Hunted, which I couldn't be bothered to trade for and replaced with some more common pump spells, and went to FNM a couple of weeks ago. The deck performed well (4-1) but I decided I definitely didn't like Blessings of Nature - it was terrible if you drew it, which I always seemed to do, and it didn't seem that exciting as a miracle. So they went too, and I had the following decklist for Game Day:

4 Dryad Militant
4 Spire Tracer
4 Young Wolf
4 Wandering Wolf
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Somberwald Dryad < more unblockable creatures, boarded out if they don't have Forests.
4 Slaughterhorn
4 Rancor
2 Ranger's Guile
3 Hunger of the Howlpack < surprisingly effective, usually played on Undying creatures after they return themselves
4 Giant Growth
4 Titanic Growth
16 Forest < I won more than one game in which I kept a single Forest hand and didn't draw another for several turns. 16 seems about right.

3 Triumph of Ferocity
4 Fog
1 Somberwald Dryad
2 Splinterfright
1 Ranger's Guile
2 Plummet
2 Naturalize

A brief tournament report from memory (didn't take any notes). We had 15 players, so it was 5 rounds cut to Top 4.

Round 1: Derek playing Esper control (won 2-1)

I lost a game to mana flood, eventually losing to an Aetherling, but won the decider after forcing Derek to Supreme Verdict away a board that included his two Woodlot Crawler.
1-0 (2-1)

Round 2: young kid playing Black (won 2-1)

I actually lost game one to his turn three Vampire Nighthawk after my Wandering Wolf got him down to one life but I didn't draw any more pump spells and couldn't get past his blockers and Blood Artists. I won games two & three fairly easily with multiple Rancors.
2-0 (4-2)

Round 3: Graham playing Bant (won 2-0)

I won a game by using Rancor plus Giant Growth / Slaughterhorn to trample repeatedly over his blockers, and another with unblockable Somberwald Dryads.
3-0 (6-2)

Round 4: Charlie playing Esper (ID)

Lunchbreak.
3-0-1

Round 5: Jan playing UWR Flash (won 2-0)

We're both guaranteed Top 4 but play anyway. I don't bother sideboarding and win on turn four and turn five.
4-0-1. (8-2)

Top 4: Charlie playing Esper (2-0)

Both games I get a lot of early pressure, Charlie's draws aren't great, and he has to tap out for small Sphinx's Revelations to survive my attack and I kill him with lethal Titanic Growths.
5-0-1 (10-2)

Final: Derek playing Esper control (won 2-1)

We split the first couple of games, and in the third I keep a hand with three land and Triumph of Ferocity. It sticks and I draw two cards a turn for the rest of the game, though I can't push much damage through as Derek has double Woodlot Crawler. But he doesn't draw Blood Baron, Aetherling or Sphinx's Revelation, and eventually with him on about 10 life I am able to cast Wandering Wolf, give it +3/+3 with Hunger of the Howlpack (5/4), double Rancor it (9/4), attack and Giant Growth it (12/7) for the win with two Ranger's Guile for protection in hand.
6-0-1 (12-3)

This deck is the most fun I have playing Standard for a long time, so if you like casting Rancor and attacking a lot I recommend you try it.

Team Cube draft 20-03-2013

We had six for Cube draft at WNM last night, so we ran a team Cube draft,  and after drafting played three team rounds so we each played all three opponents. I can see know why Team GPs are so popular - even casual team play was a lot of fun.

The final result was Graham, Steve and I beat Derek, Kieran and Michael 2-1. Top performing deck of the evening was Derek's UB tempo which went 3-0 only dropping one game, which was not the game where he blew me out with Urge to Feed in response to me trying to Arms Dealer his Moroii (which turns out to be a Vampire).

These are my three favourite decks of the evening (not exact as I had to reassemble them from the draft pools).

Derek's UB Tempo (3-0)
(I can't actually re-assemble this deck as there are way too many playable cards - that what's you get for being the only U drafter)

Dregscape Zombie
Looter Il-kor
Highborn Ghoul
Glacial Wall
Fleshbag Marauder
Scroll Thief
Phantom Warrior
Skinrender
Moroii
Snapping Drake
Thieving Magpie
Belltower Sphinx
Mulldrifter
Murder of Crows
Shriekmaw

Remand
Into the Roil
Urge to Feed
Terror
Murder
Circular Logic
Capsize
Stupor
Cower in Fear
Concentrate
Fact or Fiction
Wash Out
Confiscate
Opportunity

Evolving Wilds
Terramorphic Expanse
Dimir Aqueduct

Sideboard: Pestilence, Vedalken Entrancer, Mass of Ghouls, Fettergeist

Steve's Gr Raaaamp! (2-1)
(Made a turn 4 Artisan of Kozilek)

Llanowar Elf
Arbor Elf
Joraga Treespeaker
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Priest of Titania
Wall of Roots
Civic Wayfinder
Gloomwidow
Blastoderm
Briarhorn
Acidic Slime
Crashing Boars
Indrik Stomphowler
Roughshoud Mentor
Oakgnarl Warrior
Artisan of Kozilek
(16)
Rancor
Vines of Vastwood
Giant Growth
Incinerate
Fires of Yavamaya
Grab the Reins
Overrun
(7)

Sideboard:  Spidersilk Armor

Kieran's Boros beatdown (1-2)
(This is definitely a few cards off how Kieran built the deck, but this is what I think it should look like)

Signal Pest
Kris Mage
Infantry Veteran
Doomed Traveller
Kruin Striker
Stormblood Beserker
Goblin Warchief
Plated Geopede
Youthful Knight
Nibilis of the Mist
Hissing Ignuar
Pyreheart Wolf
Rhox Pikemaster
Captains's Call
Galvanic Juggernaut
Staunch Defender
Kuldotha Ringleader
(17)
Temporal Isolation
Glorious Charge
Zealous Strike
Rally the Forces
Brimstone Volley
Windborn Charge
(6)

Sideboard: Rootborn Defenses, Smash to Smithereens, Oxidda Scrapmelter, Condemn

M13 2HG at #mtgfnm 27-07-12

These decks went 3-0 pretty easily, mostly by having more removal than any of our opponents seemed to have good cards. As well as the endless removal (THREE Pacifisms) the MVPs were the obvious suspects - Talrand, Thundermaw Hellkite, Intrepid Hero and Silklash Spider.

U/R counter-burn
Augur of Bolas (11 instants or sorceries in 40 cards)
Torch Fiend
Wall of Fire
Artic Aven x 2
Talrand, Sky Summoner (11 plus Augur of Bolas & Mindclaw Shaman & Archaeomancer)
Archaeomancer
Vedalken Entrancer
Thundermaw Hellkite
Mindclaw Shaman
Fire Elemental
Unsummon
Hydrosurge
Essence Scatter
Negate
Wild Guess
Flames of the Firebrand x 2
Divination
Encrust
Divine Verdict
Switcheroo
Magmaquake
Evolving Wilds
Island x 7
Mountain x 7
Plains x 2

WG Control
Ajani's Sunstriker
Aven Squire
Deadly Recluse
Intrepid Hero
Attended Knight
Centaur Courser x 2
Guardian of Akrosa x 2
Healer of the Pride x 2
Griffin Protector
Primal Huntbeast
Silklkash Spider
Acidic Slime
Garruk's Packleader
Ring of Kalonia
Pacifism x 3
Oblivion Ring
Titanic Growth
Fungal Sprouting x 2
Plains x 9
Forest x 8

DKA Game Day Top 8

Well done to, er, me for winning the DKA Game Day. I'll be going for a hat-trick of Innistrad block Game Day victories in a few months at the Avacyn Restored Game Day.

~ Top 8 decks ~

1st Simon J, Mono-green Overrun

2nd James W, Mono-black Zombies

3rd Micheal Y, White-black tokens

4th Ian G, Red Deck Wins

5th Graham S, Wolf Run White

6th Charlie R, Wolf Run Ramp

7th Daniel M, Wolf Run Ramp

8th Pushy P, Green-red Werewolves

Mono-green Overrun by Simon Johnston

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Llanowar Elves

4 Dawntreader Elk

4 Vidirian Emissary

4 Strangleroot Geist

3 Dungrove Elder

1 Daybreak Ranger

1 Thrun, the Last Troll

1 Huntmaster of the Fells

3 Vorapede

1 Bellowing Tanglewurm

1 Acidic Slime

2 Green Sun's Zenith

1 Sword of Feast and Famine

1 Sword of War and Peace

1 Act of Aggression

4 Overrun

17 Forest

1 Mountain

2 Kessig Wolf Run

Sideboard

2 Naturalize

1 Acidic Slime

1 Daybreak Ranger

1 Corrosive Gale

2 Ratchet Bomb

1 Gnaw to the Bone

1 Splinterfright

1 Bonehoard

1 Act of Agression

2 Contested War Zone

1 Grave Bramble

1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast

How this deck works:

1) Cast creatures.

2) Cast Overrun.

3) Win.

INN prerelease pool 29/01/12

What would you play? I'll post my deck later in the week.

Pool on TappedOut

To view images copy the list into MTG Proxy Generator

Abbey Griffin
Champion of the Parish
Intangible Virtue
Moment of Heroism
Rally the Peasants
Voiceless Spirit
Smite the Monstrous
Bar the Door
Break of Day
Gather the Townsfolk
Lingering Souls
Sanctuary Cat

Deranged Assistant
Dream Twist
Memory’s Journey
Murder of Crows
Stitched Drake
Nephalia Seakite
Divination
Griptide
Headless Skaab
Relentless Skaabs
Screeching Skaab
Soul Seizer
Tower Geist

Brain Weevil
Dead Weight
Falkenrath Noble
Ghoulcaller’s Chant
Markov Patrician
Maw of the Mire
Tribute to Hunger
Victim of Night
Black Cat
Chosen of Markov
Farbog Boneflinger
Fiend of the Shadows
Gravepurge
Gruesome Discovery
Highborn Ghoul
Spiteful Shadows
Tragic Slip
Undying Evil

Ashmouth Hound
Curse of the Pierced Heart
Desperate Ravings
2 Furor of the Bitten
Infernal Plunge
Kessig Wolf
Reckless Waif
Village Ironsmith
Erdwal Ripper
Faithless Looting
Flayer of the Hatebound
Fling
Forge Devil

Elder of Laurels
Festerhide Boar
Gnaw to the Bone
Make a Wish
Orchard Spirit
Ranger’s Guile
Spider Spawning
Spidery Grasp
Travel Preparations
Villagers of Estwald
Dawntreader Elk
Deranged Outcast
Gravetiller Wurm
Grave Bramble
Grim Flowering
Hunger of the Howlpack
Scorned Villager
Somberwald Dryad
Ulvenwald Bear
Young Wolf

Manor Gargoyle
Wooden Stake
Drogskol Captain
Stromkirk Captain
Altar of the Lost
Heavy Mattock
Evolving Wilds

GB Land Destruction (4-1 FNM 9th Dec 2011)

With two weeks of Standard before Christmas I decided to brew a couple of new offbeat decks. It's not as if I need to worry about trying to maintain my rating anymore, so it's a chance to have some fun.

For week one I decided to try a very old-fashioned strategy that isn't seen very often in modern mtg: LAND DESTRUCTION. I used to love Creeping Mold back in the day, and now with Bramblecrush I get to play a LD spell that kills those pesky planeswalkers!

14 Forest

8 Swamp

2 Woodland Cemetery

4 Birds of Paradise

3 Llanowar Elves

2 Green Sun's Zenith

3 Rampant Growth

1 Mortarpod

2 Dungrove Elder

2 Sever the Bloodline

4 Bramblecrush

2 Maw of the Mire

4 Acidic Slime

1 Bloodgift Demon

1 Grave Titan

2 Wurmcoil Engine

2 Steel Hellkite

1 Sheoldred, Whispering One

1 Rune-Scarred Demon

1 Sorin's Vengeance

Sideboard:

1 Memoricide

3 Viridian Emissary

1 Creeping Corrosion

2 Massacre Wurm

1 Mortarpod

1 Dungrove Elder

1 Sorin's Vengeance

1 Curse of Death's Hold

1 Tree of Redemption

2 Tribute to Hunger

1 Witchbane Orb

This deck is in the style of Conley Woods Magical Christmas Land with quick mana acceleration into land destruction with big threats to put your opponent away. Note that this deck contains 34 mana sources and all of those basically only tap for mana, this means that when you play you must use your threats effectively and you should mulligan most hands that contain no acceleration.

In the sideboard it's important to be able to maintain a decent number of threats after boarding. Hence Massacre Wurm which can both clear an opponents board and beat down over something like Black Sun's Zenith.

(For once I got some playtesting in before FNM that definitely lead to some improvements - I initially had Solemn Simulacrum which were too slow, and I had too many GSZ targets)

We had 28 players at FNM, so we ran five 40-minute rounds (as well as playing I am also the FNM Judge).

Round 1: Alex playing Kessig Wolf Run (won 2-0)

Game 1 I prevent him from ever getting to six mana, and the only relevant creature he casts is Thrun which only delays his demise.

Game 2 is much stranger - I accelerate into threats and start beating down, but don't draw enough LD to prevent him from casting Primeval Titan, which then leads to a second and third (!) Primeval Titan, but I am able to win the race with my Wurmcoils despite his Kessig Wolf Runs by destroying every single red source in his deck.

1-0

Round 2: Graham playing Heartless Summoning / Remember the Fallen (won 2-0)

(This deck uses Remember the Fallen to recur things like Perilous Myr, Peace / Pierce Strider and Wurmcoil Engine)

In game 1 Sever the Bloodline does what it does and exiles his first two Wurmcoil Engines, which leaves him without anything meaningful to recur.

I board in Creeping Corrosion, Curse of Death's Hold and the two Massacre Wurms, and though I get a slow draw I am able to cast Massacre Wurm just in time to stabilise on 5 life, and after the first Wurm trades with a Wurmcoil I have a second to kill his Wurm tokens (he has Heartless Summoning). I am just able to kill him with Steel Hellkite before the Pierce Strider and Blistergrub he has recurs deal me the last five damage.

2-0

Round 3: Mike playing mono-red (won 2-0)

In game 1 Mike mulligans to a slow hand, and conveniently I don't draw any useless land destruction and am able to accelerate into Wurmcoil Engine whilst still on a comfortable life total.

I board out Bramblecrushes and Acidic Slimes for the various removal, anti-aggro and anti-burn cards in my sideboard which is looking slightly awkward when he plays a turn two Shrine of Burning Rage that I now have no answer for (oops). I start racing with Dungrove Elder and as I have more Forests in hand make the decision to tutor up a second Elder with Green Sun's Zenith rather than Tree of Redemption. My 5/5 Elders easily race his Shrine + Koth.

3-0

Round 4: Charlie playing UGR control (won 2-1)

(This is like a hybrid of the GR ramp decks and UR counterburn)

This is a very interactive matchup, where I have to try and use my LD to mess with his three colour manabase and keep him off Titan mana whilst also not running my few threats needlessly into his countermagic (ie playing round Mana Leak where possible - the game do go long).

In game 1 I resolve a quick Dungrove Elder but he has a Slagstorm before I can play my fourth Forest. I am able to Sorin's Vengeance him down to 5 (and myself up to 29) which buys me a lot of time as I've drawn both Sever the Bloodlines. I am able to sucker him into Dissipating I GSZ for 3 as he doesn't know he's already dealt with all the Dungrove Elders in my deck, and with Dissipate gone I can resolve a Rune-Scarred Demon (and search for Wurmcoil) which is too much for him to handle.

In game 2 I don't really get any pressure and don't draw a Sever the Bloodline so when he resolves a Wurmcoil Engine and then Consecrated Sphinx it's all over pretty quickly.

I get an ideal start in game 3 with acceleration into Bramblecrush, then Acidic Slime, then Wurmcoil Engine. Charlie's only answer to the Wurmcoil is double Incinerate, which works out very nice for him as he rips Slagstorm off the top of his library. The game gets rather drawn out and with not long left on the round and life totals about 20-10 in my favour I decide to flashback Sever the Bloodline to remove the Beast token (from a Beast Within) that's is preventing my Acidic Slime and Viridian Emissary from attacking. This turns out to be winning strategy.

4-0

Round 5: Jay playing UW Humans (lost 2-0)

In game 1 I don't draw Bramblecrush or Acidic Slime and am not able to get Steel Hellkite online fast enough to avoid losing to his Swords of War and Peace and Feast and Famine as he makes a Phyrexian Metamorph copy of the Hellkite to prevent me destroying his swords.

Game 2 sees him rapidly killing me with turn three and four Mirran Crusader, and it didn't help that every draw phase gave me an additional mana source after a kept a hand that already had mostly mana sources.

4-1

Final result: 4-1 (8-3 games), 2nd place.

UW Humans took first place (5-0) and I beat the other 4-1s on tiebreakers (they were Solar Flare and two Mono-red decks including my round 3 opponent).

Overall a successful outing for Land Destruction at FNM. Despite this I can't really recommend playing Land Destruction in standard, as with modern magic design it's not really very strong and it doesn't win you many friends.

Next week: SMALLPOX.

11/09/10 Cube Winston Draft

I think the draft was slightly marred by a shuffling problem that saw almost all the blue cards appear right at the bottom of the pile - consequently both of us thought the other was Blue. I tried for a WB Toughness / Pestilence deck, but though I got Pestilence + Crypt Rats + Evincar's Justice, I didn't have enough black cards.

I built a pretty awful WBg control deck that Matt beat twice, and then changed round to a WRg aggressive deck that was a lot better and won the majority of the rest of the games. (Though Matt's deck still looks better to me).

Matt
Cloud of Faeries 1U
Gemhide Sliver 1G
Sakura-Tribe Elder 1G
Thought Courier 1U
Spiketail Hatchling 1U
Thalakos Seer UU
Civic Wayfinder 2G
Yavimaya Elder 2GG
Snapping Drake 3U
Flametongue Kavu 3R
Thieving Magpie 2UU
Waterspout Djinn 2UU
Wickerbough Elder 2G
Indrik Stomphowler 3GG
Gerrard's Irregular 4G
Krosan Tusker 5GG
Lightning Bolt R
Symbiosis 1G
Pyroclasm 1G
Compulsion 1U
Arcane Teachings 2R
Coastal Piracy 2UU
Overrun 2GGG
Repeal XU
8 Forests
6 Islands
2 Mountains
Crosis Catacombs

Simon
Goblin Patrol R
Basking Rootwalla G
Mother of Runes W
Hearth Kami 1R
Goblin Skycutter 1R
Soltari Monk WW
Soltari Crusader 2W
Defender en-Vec 3W
Hunted Wumpus 3G
Squallmonger 3G
Angel of Mercy
Staunch Defenders 3WW
Elephant Guide 2G
Moldervine Cloak 2G
Arc Lightning 2R
Rhystic Lightning 2R
Threaten 2R
Bound in Silence 2W
Akroma's Blessing 2W
Whispersilk Cloak 3
Grab the Reins 3R
Rod of Ruin 4
Rolling Thunder XRR
Darksteel Ingot
7 Plains
6 Mountains
4 Forests
Rith's Grove

31/08/10 Cube Winston Draft

One key in Winston drafting is that you will usually end up in three colours, so cards that are only require a single coloured mana are much better than those that require two.

I was a relatively sensible UGr, Matt never really settled his colours and ended up Wgru. Neither of played any black - most of the black cards were BB.

Despite Matt's Fireball AND Rolling Thunder (!) I won the majority of the games (something like 5-2). Having multiple Giant Growths helped a lot.

Simon:
Fireslinger 1R
Waterfront Bouncer 1U
Spiketail Hatchling 1U
Stingscourger 1R
Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch 1U
Man-o-War 2U
Spiketail Hatchling 1UU
Simian Grunt 2G
Hunted Wumpus 3G
Cudgel Troll 2GG
Briarhorn 3G
Wickerbough Elder 3G
Pendrell Drake 3U
Avalanche Riders 3R
Ancient Hydra 4R
Crashing Boars 3GG
Giant Growth G
Remove Soul 1U
Lash Out 1R
Rampant Growth 1G
Invigorate 2G
Compulsive Research 2U
Terramorphic Expanse
Treva's Ruin
Izzet Boilerworks
7 Forest
6 Island
2 Mountain

Matt:
Defiant Falcon 1W
Youthful Knight 1W
Whipcorder WW
Gemhide Sliver 1G
Nightwind Glider 2W
Thermal Glider 2W
Cradle Guard 1GG
Gloomwidow 2G
Voice of All 2WW
Stuanch Defenders 3WW
Roar of the Wurm 6G
Errant Erphemeron 6U
Shelter 1W
Pacifism 1W
Kor Chant 2W
Radiant's Judgment 2W
Fireshrieker 3
Demolish 3R
Tower Above 2/G 2/G 2/G
Repeal xU
Fireball xR
Rolling Thunder xRR
Darksteel Ingot 3
Dromar's Cavern
8 Plains
5 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Island

14/08/2010 M11 Games Day (2nd)

I played White Weenie at the M11 Games Day in Southampton (or you might call it Boros or Wr Landfall though the only red cards were in the sideboard). The format was three rounds of Swiss followed by a Top 8.

Round 1: Beat Grixis Control (UBR) 2-0.
Game 1 he can't beat a White Knight with an Adventuring Gear as I leave Terramorphics untapped to play around Lightning Bolt. After boarding I have Kor Firewalkers AND White Knights and I win pretty easily again.

Round 2: Beat UW Control 2-1
I get a free win as he has a Deck Registration error and we are playing at Competitive level. He takes game 2 as I have a mediocre draw that doesn't include an answer for his Baneslayer. I have an aggressive start on the play in Game 3, and can Path his Wall of Reverence and still have a Brave The Elements to attack past his Baneslayer for lethal.

Round 3: Lost 2-1 to Mono-Black
I manage to win game 1 with a White Knight (at one point he attacks his Nantuko Shade into it mistakenly and has to let it die as he can't afford the BB to save it), but I manaflood slightly in games 2 and 3 (only four spells in game 3) and lose. Abyssal Persecutor is pretty good against my deck and I never saw a White Knight after game 1.

Top 8: Beat UG Turboland 2-0.
Basically he didn't do much and I pretty quickly goldfished him in both games as my pressure includes either Steppe Lynx or Adventuring Gear plus plenty of Evolving Wilds. As the match took about 15 minutes we play a third game for fun which basically goes the same way, then a fourth which he finally manages to win. I still have lethal on the board despite his Obstinate Baloth, Primeval Titan and Jace TMS when he casts Emrakul.

Top 4: Beat UW Control 2-1.
Game 1 I a get an Adventuring Gear on the table early and so am able to attack through his Walls of Omen. He struggles to find answers, but eventually has Day of Judgement. I resolve a Kor Duelist, protect it from Condemn with Brave The Elements (he has Mana Leak but I can just pay 3) and attack for over 10 damage for the win.
Game 2 I get a weaker draw, but have removal in hand for his assumed Baneslayers / Jace. Sadly he kills me with two Sphinx of Jar Isle.
Game 3 I have a good draw with several aggressive 1-drops (he can't Mana Leak them all) and Sejiri Steppes to attack past his wall. He is able to Day of Judgement when on 2, and has a Wall for my one creature, but when he taps out for Baneslayer I play Kor Skfisher to bounce a Steppe and attack for the final 2 damage.

Final: Lose 2-0 to Bant.
Game 1 I mulligan down to five, and game 2 I keep a sketchy 7 on the play. In both games I get overwhelmed by Fauna Shaman, Knight of the Reliquary, Vengevine and Sovereign of Lost Alara (he never plays a non-rare card other than some basic land).
I should have mulliganed game 2 - didn't draw my sideboarded Pyroclasm which would have been really good as he does things like using Fauna Shaman to get Noble Heirach for more mana or my sideboarded Relic of Progenitus (which lets Pyroclasm kill Knight of the Reliquary as well as taking out Vengevines).
The only incident of note in the match occurs when he attacks with a 5/5 Knight of the Reliquary and I block with a 3/3 Student and a White Knight. He does nothing except say something like 'ok' or 'sure' and then I point out I have 5 points of first strike. He says he wants to Path to Exile so I call for the Judge (got to give him something to do) as we are at competitive level and I think he definitely passed and want to be sure the Knight dies.

Despite a disappointing end, 2nd was a pretty satisfying result for a tournament full of considerably more powerful decks than my usual local FNMs. As well as the Top 8 Foil Mitotic Slime I won an Intro Pack and six assorted Gateway / Prerelease foils.

Decklist: White Weenie
4 Steppe Lynx
3 Student of Warfare
1 Kor Duelist
1 Kitesail Apprentice
4 White Knight
4 Kor Skyfisher
3 Ranger of Eos
2 Emeria Angel

4 Adventuring Gear
1 Sigil of Distinction
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Path to Exile
3 Brave the Elements
2 Oblivion Ring

11 Plains
4 Sejiri Steppe
1 Mountain
1 Smoldering Spires
1 Arid Mesa
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Evolving Wilds

Sideboard
3 Kor Firewalker
3 Honor the Pure
3 Pyroclasm
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Manabarbs
1 Combust
1 Act of Treason

PS. Thanks for @saintjw for the loan of a couple of Students and an Arid Mesa.

02/08/10 Cube winston draft

After streamlining the no-rares cube I had a Winston draft against Matt on Tuesday evening. I beat him 7-5.

Simon: UWr
Spiketail Hatchling 1U
Mistmeadow Skulk 1W
Soltari Priest WW
Rishadan Airship 2U
Nightwing Glider 2W
Phantom Warrior 1UU
Knight of Dawn 1WW
Killer Whale 3UU
Ancestors Chosen 5WW
Sigil of Sleep U
Condemn W
Rushing River 2U
Capsize 1UU
Circular Logic 2U
Thirst for Knowledge 2U
Foil 2UU
Fact or Fiction 3U
Concentrate 2UU
Rod of Ruin 4
Swell of Courage 3WW
Repeal XU
Fireball XR
Izzet Signet 2
Darksteel Ingot 3
Terramorphic Expanse
8 Islands
7 Plains
1 Mountain
(Sideboard: Ray of Distortion)

Matt: RB
Kris Mage R
Martyr of Ashes R
Sickle Ripper 1B
Mogg Flunkies 1R
Foul Imp BB
Boneknitter 1B
Vulshok Sorceror 1RR
Vampire Hounds 2B
Flametongue Kavu 3R
Talrum Mintoaur 2RR
Cateran Kidnappers 2BB
Gravedigger 3B
Hulking Cyclops 3RR
Scoria Cat 3RR
Boldwyr Intimidator 5RR
Vendetta B
Seal of Fire R
Incinerate 1R
Diabolic Edict 1B
Hymn to Tourach BB
Rift Bolt 2R
Smash 2R
Snuff Out 3B
Pestilence 2BB
Evincaar's Justice 2BB
9 Mountains
8 Swamps
(Sideboard: Demolish)

21/08/09 Roborally, Amazing Labyrinth, O Zoo Le Mio

For once, 'we must play games again soon', lead to actual playing of games!

I went round to Kerry's on Friday evening, where Fee was. Sadly Matt came down with an illness and called in sick, so it was just the three of us. Unless you count the many drunk people that seemed to be continuously walking past Kerry's house.

We started with RoboRally, which surprisingly I had never played before. Normally I can pick up games quickly from the rules, but unfortunately the Roborally rulebook is pretty bad - one of those disjointed rulebooks that put things in a strange order, some rules are just on the additional player aid, and some tiles are poorly explained (from an online review -"expect that a few rules - such as moving onto a turning conveyor belt - will be poorly worded, causing confusion").

We had enough trouble trying to setup the game. The setup recommended by the game (six checkpoints across four boards) is laughably long, so we settled for four checkpoints across four boards. It turns out this was both too spread out and slightly too long. I would guess four checkpoints across two boards might be reasonable. When we had worked out where we were supposed to start and put the flags down the game could finally begin.

I got a reasonable start, pushing Kerry down a pit near the first flag, but then just missed the flag when I got pushed off it onto a conveyor belt. I then had a 'turning conveyor belt problem' which left me facing the wrong direction with a hand containing only one turn but three Move3 cards. This left me little choice but to fly of in the wrong direction, leaving me miles behind Fee and Kerry. As I wasn't enjoying the game I decided to drop, so Fee and Kerry decided to just play to the next Flag. If we had played all four flags I think the game would have lasted all evening!

Fee and Kerry both reached the flag on the same turn, which lead to some interesting maneuvers. Fee was able to push Kerry off the Flag for the win.

For our second game, we played one of my Birthday presents - Ra: The Dice Game. It is basically a Yahtzee style game where you use your dice rolls to acquire Pharaohs, Civs, Niles and Monuments which score pretty much identically to original Ra. Unfortunately Fee hadn't played Ra for some time and Kerry had never played, so the rules explanation made the game seem more complicated than it really was. Luckily it all seems a lot easier once we started playing, and the rules summary cards for each player are excellent.

The game seemed to play very quickly. Fee and Kerry collected monuments, whilst I concentrated more on the Nile, and Fee two sets of three monuments was enough for her to beat me by a couple of points. Unfortunately I now realise that I set the game up incorrectly each Epoch, as I was starting with the Ra on the 4 player space, not the 3 player - this may have made monuments a better strategy!

Though Fee wanted to play Ra again, but Kerry was keen to learn another new game so we tried O Zoo Le Mio (aka ZooSim). This is a quick light blind bidding game played over 5 'years' (rounds) that is let down slightly by some poor components - the colours of the exhibits on the zoo tiles don't exactly match the visitors and the relevant information (the * rating of the exhibits) isn't clearly enough displayed. The animal pictures on the tiles add flavour, but I think the game might actually play better without them. I had a reasonable start, but my best exhibits weren't able to grow in year 4 and I lost several visitors to Kerry. She ended up the winner, while Fee recovered from a poor start to take second (you score points for each visitor equal to the the year, so you need to be strong at the end).

Finally we had a quick game of Amazing Labyrinth. This is a fun kids maze game, where the board consists of movable tiles. On each turn you have to move one row (or column) of tiles, causing the path connections to change and then move as far through the maze as you wish. The objective of the game is to be the first to visit each of the locations you have been dealt. I seem to always do well at this game and won again, a turn or two ahead of Fee.

Then I could have left, but decided to stay a little longer to get a quieter night time bus. So we played a couple of hands of Circus Flohcati (Flea Circus). I won the second with a very early Gala Show for a new lowest wining score record of 36.

Then it really was time to leave.

13-08-09 Beowulf, Munchkin

I have some friends who can't make the usual Sunday night gaming (though if they all could we'd have far too many players). Every time I manage to get together with them for games we always say 'we must do this more often', but somehow it doesn't work out that way.

Anyway, with me being busy on several Sunday's in August we managed to arrange a weekday evening at Kerry's in Ryde. It was me, Kerry, Bekki, Scott and Tony. Tony was late, so we already had Beowulf set out when he arrived.

Beowulf doesn't hasn't got too many plays recently (nothing has really apart from Race for the Galaxy and Dominion) but everyone seemed very keen to play it. The risking adds a random element that can let someone get lucky once or twice, but you can't really be successful without good judgement on how much to bid and push your luck, and correctly valuing points, gold and cards.

As has happened previously I drop out without playing a card in an early auction whilst everyone else went to about 4 or 5 cards. None of the early auctions are that vital - I try to conserve cards early on and pick up some cheap gold.

I think I always took Scrolls at selection as I think it is vital to try and get at least some gold. Generally Gold seems undervalued, whilst the others tend to overvalue the special cards - especially the cards that just provide symbols - if you played several cards to just gain a card with some symbols have you really gained anything? I take a couple of wounds in the midgame, but everything is under control as I have Discard two scratches and Refuse a wound, scratch or misfortune in my hand.

Everything pretty much goes to plan, I think I am leading in points coming to the final few auctions as I have cashed in five cards for five points and two cards for three points in the Opportunities and still have a very good hand for the final battle with the Dragon. I win that and also have a decent showing at the final totting up of cards and treasure for a comfortable six point win from Tony. Another really enjoyable game of Beowulf, a game that deserves a much higher score on BGG (I rate it a 9 because I am very stingy with my 10s).

After that Scott has requested we play Munchkin. I haven't played munchkin for over 10 years, and this game reminded me why. Over the first five turns I can achieve absolutely nothing, and I decide I would have more fun by dropping from the game. By pretty much unanimous agreement the game is halted about 10 minutes later. Nothing more to say about that really.

02/08/09: Notre Dame, RFTG: RvI

Only three of us this week, Tony, Colin and me.

We started with another new game from the recent Euro Math Trade - Notre Dame.

In Notre Dame each play drafts three cards from their action deck of 9, each card corresponding to an area of the board and offering various resources. You need cubes to play onto the board, coins to bribe persons and buy VP at Notre Dame and you need VP to win. And don't forget to not let the rat problem get out of hand.

Once three rounds have occurred a period ends and the 9 card decks are reassembled. I started the first period by making two plays into my park. This set me up for plenty of bonus VPs, but meant I would obviously struggle for resources most of the game. Colin concentrated in the Hotel during the first period, which is unfortunate as it's probably the weakest building, and he was the only person to make any coach moves. I think Tony concentrated generally on resources, ending the first period with more cubes and coins than he started with.

During the second period the rat problem intensified. Plague levels had slowly increased to the point where at the end of round 4 or 5 all three us at were at either 8 or 9 in the harbour. The next turn the cards revealed six rats! Tony already had a reasonable presence in the Hospital and was able to kill enough rats in his turn to be okay and Colin used the minstrel to move 3 cubes from his Hotel to the Hospital. I just accepted I was going to 'bust' this turn and didn't worry about it - in fact I went over 9 for most of the remaining turns. This meant I ended up with considerably less cubes on the board than Tony whilst Colin did not have plague problems, but did run short of cubes in hand and had to move cubes around a few times.

For the second and third periods I mostly got points from collecting messages, and I got decent VP from the Master Carpenter (point for every occupied region) . Tony scored big on Beggar King (points for low plague levels) , Master Carpenter and the Mayor (3VP for each region with 3+ cubes) . Colin had a few messages and scored for the Lady of the Court (VP for each cube in the most occupied region). Notre Dame points were split 4/4 each period, everyone visiting twice. Colin purchased 6VP on his first period visit, but ran short of gold later so this was a mistake I think.

Result: Tony low-mid 60s, Simon mid 50s, Colin high 30s

After Notre Dame we played a couple of games of Face for the Galaxy with both expansions (Gathering Storm and Rebel vs Imperium). Goals were on, and takeovers active for the second game. The second game saw a takeover attempt, the first I have seen! I managed a second place in both games - in the first I had Trade League plus several big VP alien worlds and 3VP Alien goal, and in the second a mixed bag that saw me claim 3VP for both first to discard and full house of powers and 5Vp for 3+ explore powers. I still don't really feel that RvI added a huge amount to the game - though it does seem that we shuffle the deck during play a lot less now. I guess that is good, given it's size!

Next weekend: Grand Prix Brighton! (Magic 2010 sealed)

26/07/09: Hacienda, Dominion: Intrigue

On Sunday evening we had our last 'large' gaming sessions for a while. People have various summer events coming up (GP Brighton, Tintagel) so it'll be a while until we have 4+ players.

Three of my new games from the July Euro Maths trade had arrived - Hacienda, Elasund & In the Year of the Dragon. We decided to play Hacienda (on the symmetric map)

After the rules explanation, Fiona began the game and over the first few turns was able to claim a long chain of land on the top side (she actually found an 8 in a row from her opening hand) , whilst Tony did the same on the bottom. I cut off one side of Tony's land chain and started connecting to markets, even though I know from online play that the winning strategy is to make a huge land chain.

At the halfway stage I was connected to 5 markets and in 3rd place slightly behind Tony & Fee. Colin was in last. In the second half I was able to increase that to 7 markets, but Colin cut me off from the 8th the turn before I was going to claim it. So I finished 3rd behind Tony & Fiona. With their huge land chains they were able to make loads of money and buy lots of Water tiles and Hacienda. Maybe next time we will play the asymmetric map, even though that is supposed to have some overpowered 'sweet' spots.

We didn't really have time for another new game after that, so we played a couple of hand of Intrigue only Dominion. The first was rather attack heavy with Swindler, Minion and Torturer. No Secret Chamber, but plenty of ways to remove Curses - Masquerade, Trading Post and Upgrade.

As is usual for me on a 3/4 split with Swindler in play I bought Swindler/Swindler. Soon the Curses started piling up in everyone's deck. I was purchasing Minions as my other buy after seing Tony use them very effectively several times. Sadly Tony also cast Minion for cards when my hand was Minion/Minion/Minion/x/x and I knew there was a Swindler in the last four cards of my library.

After I got a Minion swindled into a Duke, I decided this was going to be a lowish game, and that I should just be grabbing points. So I did that for the rest of the game, several times just casting Swindler and buying an Estate. This strategy almost paid off, I finished third - 24/23/22/18. I did realise my one mistake afterward - when swindling 5s I should be handing out Torturers - with my weak deck (full of VP & Curses) discarding 2 cards hardly hurts me.

In the second game Swindler had left (we use a 3 card evolution) and the new cards offered more action chain possibilities as they included Mining Village and Conspirator. I tried to set up a chain deck with Mining Village and Courtyard, but it was too slow and I felt like I was still setting up when Provinces started going. I think I should have bought some Scouts, cause Scout + Mining Village seems pretty good in an action chain deck. I must have also mistimed the end of game, I had a turn where I 'went off' including two Bridge and bought a Province and a Duchy, but I should have trashed some Mining Village's along the way, then I would have got double Province. Oh well - third again.