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Tourny Report from Cameron Miller

This is Cameron Miller with a recent Tueday Night Booster draft report. For this particular booster draft I brought along Greg LaForest and Jesse Galvin. Greg had a decent tournament whereas Jesse had a rough one. An interesting side note is that I think there were two foil rares opened up (Deepwood Elder and Rathi Assassin). Overall the packs were very good, and once again more than half of the drafters played red. The participants were Greg LaForest, Steve McCarthy, Ray Placious, Boldo, Mike Ruff, Jesse Galvin, Jeff Aaronson, Neal Calcote, Eric DiMarcio, and myself for a 10 person tournament. In the beginning of the draft Mike Dewey announced that if the tournament had not ended by midnight than the resulting match(s) would end in a split. On to the deck:

  • 2 Ribbon Snake
  • 2 Wandering Eye
  • 1 Jolting Merfolk
  • 1 False Demise
  • 1 Laccolith Grunt
  • 1 Withdraw
  • 1 Stronghold Zeppelin
  • 1 Blockade Runner
  • 1 Rishadan Airship
  • 1 Gush
  • 1 Crenallated Wall
  • 1 Submerge
  • 1 Trickster Mage
  • 1 Flameshot
  • 1 Spur Grappler
  • 1 Rhystic Lightning
  • 1 Cinder Elemental
  • 1 Rootwater Commando
  • 1 Windscouter
  • 1 Dominate
  • 1 Arc Mage
  • 11 Islands
  • 6 Mountains

The deck I built had a lot of evasion. The mana curve was fairly good, but Ribbon Snake really helped this deck. The Wandering Eyes were useful, but I do not think the Dominate or Arc Mage did too much for me in this tournament.

Round One: Jesse Galvin vs. Cameron Miller

Jesse was playing a red/blue deck with mediocre to below optimal creatures and with a Squee.

Game One: Jesse is manascrewed (one land for 3-4 turns) and I quickly overrun him.

Game Two: Jesse plays some creatures but the Zeppelin and Airship and a Crenallated Wall quickly take care of him.

1-0

Round Two: Boldo vs. Cameron Miller

Boldo was playing a three color red/white/blue deck with decent creatures, some removal, and a few tricks.

Game One: I am slightly manascrewed three blue for 6-8 turns, but a quick Gush enables me to start to swarm him with a Zeppelin, Snake and then a Commando. Boldo responds with a Crackdown, and then he follows up with a Barbed Field on a land. He had a Fault Riders, Shield Dancer, and a 3/5 Soldier out. I play a Demise on my Snake and start to whittle his life down via a Commando. When I attack with a Commando Boldo hoodwinks his own Island and blocks and first strikes it via a Riders (this was before the Dancer came out). I play a Jolting Merfolk, but I am a little too late as I make my killer turn. I tap 1-2 creatures and attack for enough so I can kill him next turn even if he casts another creature (Submerge in hand). Boldo Dehydrates my Arc Mage, and since I can only get him down to one life, Barbed Field kills me (I was at two).

Game Two: Boldo draws a lot of land and 3-4 evasion creatures take control of the game. He drew about 9-11 land, and in the end died to attacks, and I think a Dominate on his Commando did not help him.

Game Three: Boldo draws and I have a very aggressive hand, but failure to draw more than two land in 8+ turns hurts me. I play two consecutive Snakes, and then I cast a Trickster Mage, but Boldo has a Rhystic Deluge with 2-4 blue throughout the match, and an Outrigger plus a Cave Sensed Fault Riders. I have a Wandering Eye out and can see the Rhystic Lightning in his hand. On my turn I make an ill attack which gets him down to one, but he uses the Lightning to kill the Mage (I untap one of my creatures to hold out). On his turn he Deluges the creature finish me off. A side note is that my hand was very good, but I need to draw mana (Cinder Elemental, Jolting Merfolk etc.)

1-1

Round Three: Jeff Aaronson vs. Cameron Miller

Jeff was playing a black/white deck with bombs like Predator Flagship, Avatar of Hope, Forced March, and a decent creature base to back up the high casting cost spells; and some other recommendable cards (Vicious Hunger, Intimidation, Afterlife).

Game One: Jeff does not draw any bombs, but he draws suboptimal cards like 2 1/1 flying ghosts and some midsize creatures. I draw good evasion like Zeppelin, and a Airship. When he does cast Intimidation a Mage tricks his flyers and I win with flyers.

Game Two: This is the complete opposite of the first. Jeff Players a Deepwood Ghoul and a Trenching Steed, and a Hollow Warrior. I draw a LOT of land, but Dominate sort of makes me feel a little better. I manage to get Jeff down to around six before he casts a Flagship (Zeppelin). When Jeff all out attacks I steel his Steed (he also had Intimidation out). Jeff Afterlifed the Zeppelin sometime throughout this, and when I get him down to three the unthinkable happens. For two white he casts the Avatar, and with a Flagship out I am gone. He kills me on his next turn, and when he won he set his hand down when picking up his cards. I saw a Forced March in hand. He had this game under control.

Game Three: A Wandering Eye and a Spur Grappler plus a Ribbon Snake and a Mage give Jeff some problems, but he stabilizes with the Ghoul and a Warrior. I view a Afterlife and a Forced March in hand, so I play around them with Counterspell and Submerge. The defining turn comes a little later when I have an active Cinder Elemental out. Jeff makes a mistake of not killing all of my creatures except the Elemental (March for three). He casts an Intimidation instead. On my turn I trick the Warrior and return the ghoul to his library and attack for enough to win. My logic was that he would March next turn (he did), and I would freely attack for two to put him at five, and kill him on my next turn with the Elemental. This all came true, as Jeff could not draw the Hunger to save him, and he could only get me down to 1 life so I won. Very close game.

2-1

Semifinals: Greg LaForest vs. Cameron Miller

Greg was playing a Green/White deck with Jeweled Spirit, Skyshroud Behemoth, Vitalizing Wind, and a mediocre creature base.

Game One: Greg doesn't draw too much and Ribbon Snakes and some other creatures plus removal kill him.

Game Two: Greg announced that he had the Spirit in hand when he discarded a Spitting Spider to the Pathfinder to get a white source (the Spider rocks my deck). He cast the Spirit and when I tried to Withdraw the Spirit and the Pathfinder he gave it pro-blue in response and sacced to lands. I then discarded a Mountain to Flameshot the Spirit so he could sac to more lands. I was being whittled away, but he managed to draw more lands. I can not keep up and even with an Arc Mage out I lose the damage race.

Game Three: The Zeppelin and the Airship come in for a beating, and a Blockade Runner followed them up. I think that once I cast the Jolting Merfolk Greg became to hesitant in some attacking decisions. He had 2 Silt Crawlers, Woodripper, and a Pygmy Swine on the board. I win as he does not draw the Spider to save him, and Blockade Runner goes the one turn distance.

3-1

Boldo and Neal are taking 10-20 minutes for each of their turns in an effort to coerce me to split. In the semi's one can take as much time as they want, and nobody could force them to play faster. I do not think either enjoyed this; they were hoping that I would split so they would not have to keep this up until midnight. I agree to a 50-25-25 split, but I would rather had played. It was a no-win situation as they probably would have gone the distance, and Greg and Jesse were becoming restless.

That's all for now.

-Miller


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Last Modified on Wednesday, 23-Aug-2000 23:25:58 EDT