By Rakso, the Patriarch and Rules Ayatollah (Rakso) on Saturday, September 23, 2000 - 10:43 am:
INVASION, September 23, 2000
Manila, Philippines
Hi, guys! I need some Invasion feedback, because I just went 4-1-1 in the prerelease in Manila, and placed #17 (top 16 received prizes). I don’t know if I should be upset, or happy that I made it that far with a very lackluster deck!
(Side note #1: Planar Portal exists! It may be overrated, though, since the top Filipino player at Worlds showed me his deck before I left, and he was using a mainly B/R aggressive deck and didn’t want to use his Portal. The #3 guy at the PTQ LA draft thought it might be broken for Extended with all the artifact mana available, but I figured you might not be able to wait with the speed of Extended combo and Sligh decks, and note that Temporal Aperture was hardly considered broken in the T2 artifact-heavy decks. I’m betting that it’s most feasible in T1 Keeper, which can draw up every game breaker it has.)
(Side note #2: I have opened at least one foil rare in every Sealed deck tourney I played in. This time, it was Desperate Research with a Plains, and I was surprised people didn’t rate the new Demonic Consultation higher.)
Here’s the deck:
BLUE and BLUE/WHITE
3 Probe
1 Opt
1 Exclude
1 Barrin’s Unmaking
1 Tolarian Emissary (usually sided out for Crosis’ Attendant every game)
1 Sapphire Leech (always sided out for Alloy Golem every game)
2 Galina’s Knight
1 Ordered Migration
1 Wings of Hope
1 Samite Archer
WHITE
2 Sunscape Apprentice
1 Rulam Djinn
2 Razorfoot Griffin
1 Restrain
1 Protective Sphere (sided out for Crosis’ Attendant in place of Tolarian Academy sometimes)
BLACK
1 Ravenous Rats (always sided out for Phyrexian Reaper every game)
1 Golam Djinn
1 Duskwalker
1 Exotic Curse
1 Agonizing Demise
LAND
6 Island
6 Plains
4 Swamp
SIDEBOARD
1 Desperate Research
2 Bog Initiate
1 Addle
1 Tainted Well
2 Scavenged Weaponry
1 Blinding Light
1 Orim’s Touch
1 Strength of Unity
2 Vodalian Serpent
1 Tidal Visionary
1 Essence Leak
2 Shimmering Wings
1 Bloodstone Cameo
1 Tiger Eye Cameo
1 Maniacal Rage
1 Stun
1 Hooded Kavu
1 Shivan Harvest
1 Collapsing Borders
1 Firebrand Ranger
1 Slimy Kavu
1 Callous Giant
1 Halam Djinn
1 Ancient Kavu
2 Kavu Aggressor
1 Crown of Flames
2 Zap
1 Quirion Elves
2 Llanowar Elite
2 Llanowar Vanguard
2 Llanowar Cavalry
1 Kavu Climber
2 Serpentine Kavu
1 Sulam Djinn
1 Harrow
3 Tranquility
1 Explosive Growth
1 Vile Consumption
1 Lobotomy
1 Yavimaya Barbarian
1 Simoon
1 Horned Cheetah
1 Plague Spores
1 Tinder Farm
1 Sulfur Vent
3 Geothermal Crevice
2 Island
3 Swamp
1 Plains
7 Forest
1 Mountain
STRATEGY:
I skipped red and green despite the solid creature base of both, and eyed the blue/black combo of Probe (it worked a lot of times) plus one Opt. Then I notice that I have five blue/white cards, with the Galina’s Knights filling in the mana curve nicely, and Samite Archer the only non-black removal. I’m a blue/white player at heart, and my only removal is black, but my only mistake was not noticing the lack of big creatures in the deck.
MATCH 1: Against Elvin, from my university (2-0) (1-0-0)
He’s playing a Blue/White deck that has a lot of utility like protection (Obsidian and Crimson Acolyte plus things like Tidal Visionary), tapping (Benalish Trapper) and pumping (Spirit Weaver). However, his only removal seems to be Shackles, and this deck got hosed in Masques block by Stinging Barrier last time I tried it. Samite Archer makes an appearance both games, and my Griffins beat his to the punch.
MATCH 2: Carl playing blue/black/red (2-1) (2-0-0)
I really can’t remember much from here, but I remember learning first game that dropping Duskwalker without the kicker is really not worth it. I had control of the second game handy, though he killed Duskwalker when I used Apprentice to recast it. I just recurred Ravenous Rats a few times. His deck seemed to have a lot of mediocre cantrips (Dredge?) but you can’t do anything about drawing 12 land in 20 cards in the first game.
MATCH 3: Bot, Philippines’ most noted red player from the “old days” (0-2) (2-0-1)
First game, I find just one swamp and mulligan. I get just one swamp but decide to risk it since I have two Probes in hand. By the time I get to Probe, I have been overrun by black weenies and red Kavus. Shivan Emissary arrives just in time to kill my Crosis’s Attendant.
Second game isn’t as bad, but he gets very good draws. He puts out red weenies, then gets Agonizing Demise, Shivan Emissary and other removal in time to kill my turn 5 and turn 6 blockers. I am reduced to chump-blocking with a 3/3 Golam Djinn without the mana to regenerate, then playing a Galina’s Knight with Wings of Hope against three or four creatures.
MATCH 4: Moses, blue/red/black (2-1) (3-0-1)
He says he was playing a deck with more red and green but it got lost, so he made another deck out of the rest. Right… and it had a Thornscape Master and the black Master, and Scorching Lava plus others.
First game, I get down to 4 but stabilize from there with Sunscape Apprentice, Probe, Restrain, etc. Second game, I don’t get a good mix of creatures and get hit by timely removal. I think I had just a Sunscape Apprentice in play and only Samite Archer as my creature in hand. I didn’t risk waiting for another Island to activate Apprentice with and played it, so the Archer got burned.
Third game, though, he gets a dreaded black Master out, but I noticed he only had one red mana and couldn’t activate the deal 2 damage ability. He used the blue ability to bounce Samite Archer but not before it killed every other creature he had. By this time, I had Phyrexian Reaper, Duskwalker and Crosis’s Attendant in hand, so I attacked with 2 and he bounced 1 for a net loss of 3. Even the Agonizing Demise on Attendant didn’t help, and he chump blocked with the Master when he was still at 9 life and lost from there.
MATCH 5: Butch, blue/white/black (1-1) (3-1-1)
I take early beats from weenies, especially a black 3-mana 3/1. I stabilize, though, with things like Restrain, and get a Galina’s Knight with Wings of Hope on defense. I was overjoyed when he mysteriously attacked with Benalish Heralds, allowing Duskwalker and Razorfoot Griffin to kill it. I made the mistake of casting Barrin’s Unmaking on it after a spell (thinking to stall him) and forgetting about Exclude in my hand, though I drew Agonizing Demise next turn.
I stabilize at 5 life and bring out Rulam Djinn and Razorfoot Griffin, and he even made the mistake of blocking Rulam Djinn with Tower Drake (with 3 white open) and failing to notice that my three blue/white cards on the board meant that there was one more blue permanent than white permanents. Then (without red cards in his deck), he is left with a single 2/2 on the board, but topdecks Agonizing Demise and thinks to sac one of his nonbasic lands that coincidentally provides red and pays the kicker on Rulam Djinn. I am left wondering if I would have had a reason to still have Barrin’s Unmaking in hand to bounce a blue permanent and leave me at 2 life!
Second game, he mulligans down to 5 and I try to take advantage, though Early Migration isn’t fast enough. He stabilizes at 2 life, after he plays a Tower Drake without announcing it and I overlook it, losing a Razorfoot Griffin. It becomes a standoff, and I cannot play more creatures than he does. He plays Benalish Trapper, making an air breakthrough unlikely, though I have Tolarian Emissary in hand, a Razorfoot Griffin and two Bird tokens out. Then I topdeck Agonizing Demise, kill his Razorfoot Griffin, and leave a Tower Drake (with an enchantment that provides protection from all colors of permanents you control) staring down my Griffin and two Bird tokens.
Just desserts.
MATCH 6: black/green/red (2-0) (4-1-1)
I stabilize at maybe 7 life in the first game before Samite Archer, Restrain and Sunscape Apprentice wear out his creature force, and Probes deplete his hand and fuel my offense. Second game, he gets to a slow start with nothing but 1/1 Elves which I let through. I take two licks from Kavu Chameleon then play Alloy Golem. He gets scared though I’m tapped out and stops attacking. Duskwalker and Razorfoot Griffin go all the way, as the ground is locked up by Alloy Golem with Sunscape Apprentice backup, and Galina’s Knight with Wings of Hope.
EPILOGUE:
There were six people who got 4-1-1, but only five made it into the top 16. Oh, well. A kid from the high school in my university pleaded to trade his Urza’s Rage for my Llanowar Champion, and the guy I faced Match 3 offered to buy it from me for the going price of Masticore several months ago. Can’t argue with that!
Everyone who showed up from my university scored three wins or worse except one guy who ranked #8 by Round 6, so #17 for a guy without any gamebreaking rares (or commons) who doesn’t even draft is probably not bad at all. ;)
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By Joe on Sunday, September 24, 2000 - 09:22 pm:
just a hint, but fifteen is the limit sideboard
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By Elrond, the High Priest & Pokemon Slayer (Elrond) on Sunday, September 24, 2000 - 09:38 pm:
Joe, in limited events (prerelease, drafts, sealed deck, etc.), all the cards you recieve but don't use in your main deck act as your sideboard.
I think you are even allowed to add additional basic lands to your SB in between rounds, aren't you?
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By NeoSquid (Neosquid) on Sunday, September 24, 2000 - 10:12 pm:
I also went to the pre-release yesterday, but I found that an ultra aggressive draft/sealed deck was the way to go.
The first draft that I was in, I played R/B/U and had an awesome deck with 4 shivan zombies, 2 voldain zombies and a horde of other small creatures, including 3 phyrexian battleflies(hey don't laugh). I ended up splitting the prize of this draft with a friend, so it was well worth it.
Then, I decided to play sealed, and I was really sad to see that I didn't get anything really good, and the only playable rare I got was ruby leech.
I ended up playing R/B/G with around 20 creatures, like my previous deck.
It ending with me having a 3-0-1 record, the draw coming from my 2nd round opponent who took about 20min per turn and didn't really know what any of his cards did. The final game was the most exciting, since I was paired with someone who was 3-0, and if I won I would get 1/4 of a box and if he won, he would get 1/2 of a box.
I had won the first game, and the second game came down to the last turn, when he was at 4 and I was at 3 life. I had 4 random 2/2's out and he had a random blocker and the 6/6 black dragon legend. Since it was my last chance, I attacked with everything, and he couldn't do anything!
I was pretty happy with my self at the end of the whole thing, since I had one 15 free packs of invasion, although i didn't really get anything that great in them. Oh yeah, to top it all off, we got free pizza at the end! Woo Hoo!
P.S. Rakso, would you trade that foil desperate reaserch? I need it for a new T2 deck im making. I hope people will rate it lower because i think that its awesome.
Elrond - yeah im pretty sure that your allowed to sb in basic lands.
Wow, i hope you all enjoyed this long winded post.
NeoSquid
----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 11:03 AM
Subject: [dci] The long-promised reactions and stuff
> I know I promised reactions, observations and some such.then a
> whole
> lot of things get posted! Oh well, mise! Let's get on to it.
>
> To Oscar (Msg 3464) - I'm really having trouble with the cards, as I
> don't know all of them yet. My advise holds - if you can avoid
> breaking up your sealed deck, bring it by Arena and we can sit down
> with some other guys to dissect it. I plan to do the same tonight
> with
> Jerome, Francis, Mario and some other members of Team Arena.
> Re : Protective Sphere - probably more of a sideboard card in mirror
> matches (or where you share at least two colors with your opponents.
> Would you rather take three damage or just lose one life (assuming
> you
> couldn't reduce or heal the damage)? I thought so.
> Re : Ravenous Rats - if discard is a major theme in your deck, why
> not? Still, it's just a 1/1 with no evasion. Works better with
> recursion obviously. But it should be card No. 23 in your limited
> deck
> (and first to be sideboarded out after Game 1)
> Re : Cantrips - this is my first limited experience with cantrips so
> I
> can't answer you well in this regard. Any thoughts folks? I have a
> gut
> feeling 16 or 17 should be okay unless you're playing with really
> huge
> casting costs!
> Re Kicker - I would try to hold off casting until I can pay the
> kicker
> cost unless I'm getting a savage beating already. One thing though -
> Llanowar Elite. G to cast for a 1/1 but with a kicker cost of 8
> becomes a 6/6. With nine mana in Masques Block you can cast Plague
> Winds for god's sake, not a non-trampling Wurm.
> Re: Planar Portal - EOT, get whatever you need - removal, disenchant,
> finisher.as for Type I, I was kidding but there must be some use
> for a
> colorless tutor that puts something directly into your hand using
> just
> mana instead of life, right?
> Re : Protective Sphere - probably more of a sideboard card in mirror
> matches (or where you share at least two colors with your opponents.
> Would you rather take three damage or just lose one life (assuming
> you couldn't reduce or heal the damage)? I thought so.
I was playing U/W/B and found that it helped a lot except against red,
though I did side it out a number of times. To be honest, I didn't read the
part about matching mana correctly, but I figured my deck had too many small
flyers so I might need that Sphere as a stall thing.
> Re : Ravenous Rats - if discard is a major theme in your deck, why
> not? Still, it's just a 1/1 with no evasion. Works better with
> recursion obviously. But it should be card No. 23 in your limited
> deck
> (and first to be sideboarded out after Game 1)
Thanks... that was pretty much what I thought. I did have the Sunscape
Apprentices for recurring it, but never found any opportunity.
> Re : Cantrips - this is my first limited experience with cantrips so
> I can't answer you well in this regard. Any thoughts folks? I have a gut
> feeling 16 or 17 should be okay unless you're playing with really
> huge casting costs!
I had nine cantrips in my deck, and 6 Plains, 6 Islands and 4 Swamps always
seemed more than enough, except when Bot was the one who shuffled my deck.
Probe was becoming five cards for five mana since I always had enough land
to discard to it.
66. Probe, 2U, Sorcery, Common, Illus. Eric Peterson
Kicker 1B (You may pay an additional 1B as you play this spell.)
Draw three cards, then discard two cards from your hand.
If you paid the kicker cost, target player discards two cards from his or
her hand.
> Re Kicker - I would try to hold off casting until I can pay the
> kicker
> cost unless I'm getting a savage beating already. .
I think I learned the hard way that 1/1s are practically worthless in combat
in Invasion?
> Whew! That's a long post. And wala pa nga yung comments ko about
> Invasion. Paul Jordan has a short post at the Neutral Grounds site
> and
> it dovetails neatly with what I feel about the set - that it's
> awfully
> light on creatures (the biggest common is the 4/4 Serpentine Kavu)
> and
> kinda long on bombs. More in subsequent posts.
I opened two in my box and packs at the Prerelease, as well as a good set of
Kavus and other green big boys, two big artifact creatures and the new Ogre
Enforcer (red 4/4, prevent all damage less than 3 done to it by a single
source). You have my list... should I have tried R/G/B instead?
> Re: Planar Portal - EOT, get whatever you need - removal, disenchant,
> finisher.as for Type I, I was kidding but there must be some use
> for a
> colorless tutor that puts something directly into your hand using
> just
> mana instead of life, right?
Oh, no, I said it would be insane with a Type I control deck, given that you
can fish out anything from Balance to Morphling EOT. At the very least, it's
a great Mana Drain sink. But if you're referring to Necropotence, it's still
half the mana (Ritualable), and you can draw any number of cards...
I had a few more questions on my picks, if you'd care to have a look:
46. Barrin's Unmasking, 1U, Instant, Common, Illus. Luca Zontini
Return target permanent to its owner's hand if that permanent shares a color
with the most common color among permanents or the color tied for most
common.
A lot of people bashed this on the Net, but I never had any trouble using it
(then again, I had a good number of U/W cards). It's not Withdraw, but it
was pretty good for me.
71. Sapphire Leech, 1U, Creature - Leech 2/2, Rare, Illus. Ron Spears
Flying
Blue spells you play cost U more to play.
Would you have played this? I removed it all the time in favor of a bigger
ground creature.
139. Callous Giant, 4RR, Creature - Giant 4/4, Rare, Illus. Mark Brill
If a source would deal 3 damage or less to Callous Giant, prevent that
damage.
Would this have been a reason to force red, given I had a decent R/G big
green creature base (and... well... a couple of Zaps and a Simoon)? I didn't
really memorize the spoiler, but in retrospect, there were practically no
Walls in Invasion, so this creature would've been unblockable. (Going G/R/B,
now that I look at my deck, would've given me Exotic Curse, Agonizing
Demise, 2 Zaps, Simoon, and Plague Spores)
255. Lobotomy, 2BU, Sorcery, Uncommon, Illus. D. Alexander Gregory
Look at target player's hand and choose a card other than a basic land card
from it. Search that player's graveyard, hand, and library for all cards
with the same name as the chosen card and remove them from the game. Then
that player shuffles his or her library.
What about this? A coercion that removes a card in your opponent's hand from
the game and lets you look through his entire library? I was wondering if
the Invasion set is slow enough to make the peeking useful?