By Max, the Mana Drainer (Max) on Saturday, November 03, 2001 - 03:02 pm: Hi to all!! I just returned from the ISS, the most important Type 1 tournament in Italy.
This was my first tourney and I really enjoyed it!
The first prize were signed mint Beta LoMoxen!!!
Friday: to increase my chances I buy an Ancestral Recall and a Time Walk (100$ each).
Saturday (today): The tournament starts at 10 o' clock, there are 128 players.
There isn't the Swiss format: if you lose a match, you are out. 128,64,32,16,8,4,2.=7 matches.
First match: Walter playing Keeper
Game 1: not so much to say. He plays something but I counter everything. Drain+Morphling=game.
Game 2: He starts with land, Mox Sapphire, Lotus. Sac Lotus and cast FoF. Not enough: I misdirect his Ancestral and attack him with 2 Mishras. I have lots of lands, he has 2 lands, he balances, I keep two Mishra and sac the rest, he concedes at 4 life.
Second match: Salvo playing Keeper
Game 1: Lots of conters. I counter his mind twist.
After that, Drain+Morph=game.
Game 2: The key is the second turn: he plays Duress, he sees my Mis-D but takes Counterspell. He plays Ancestral, I misdirect it. It was a bad mistake. After that, B2B+morphling.
Third match: Marco playing Sligh
Before the game starts, he tells me:"Every tournament I play, I always lose match 3. I have played lots of tournaments but always lost match 3." Ok. I start playing an Island, he says:" And I always lost match 3 against a Mono-U." Come on then.
Game 1: He burns me, incinerates me, bolts me, shocks me till I reach 1 life. Then I have 6 cards, I am full of counters, he has no cards. He plays Incinerate I drain it and cast Morphling. Then I have to counter his few spells and the game is over.
Game 2: He starts with land+Lotus, sac Lotus and plays Bolt, Bolt, Shock, Mogg Fanatic. Not bad. After turn 2 I'm at 8 life. He attack till I am at 4 life. But again I have a full hand and he has an empty hand. I kill him with my morphling.
Fourth Match: Luca playing U/W zoo.
It was a very bad deck, I am a bit surprised it reached Match 4.
Game 1: counter, counter, counter, Drain+Morph=game. Not so much to say.
Game 2: a bit harder. he succeedes in killing my morphling with Balance. Then again, I Drain his Serendib and cast Morphling. Game.
Fifth match: Danilo playing Sligh
Game 1: I am forced to mulligan down to 5, my hand is: Island, Mishra, Sol, Mis-d, Drain. Not bad. Keep. I play Island+Sol. He plays Mishra, Mox Ruby, Lotus. Sac Lotus and plays Gorilla Shaman, Gorilla Shaman, Cursed Scroll, Cursed Scroll. He kills me very quickly with cursed damage. He had good luck.
Game 2: the same as game 1 but I have 7 cards. He has again Lotus in his opening hand. I succeed in playing morphling. I attack with morph+mishra till he is at 7 life. One more turn and he is dead. I have 0 cards in hand. He has 0 cards in hand. I am at 3 life. He topdecks Bolt and kills me.
I had bad luck, he had good luck.
It was my first tournament and I made a Top 8. Not bad. I am happy, I had a great time and I enjoyed playing the tournament.
Now my deck:
MONO-BLUE
LANDS/MANA (25)
16 Island
4 Mishra (great!!)
1 Strip
3 Waste
1 Sol
COUNTERMAGIC (16)
4 Counterspell
4 FoW
4 Drain
2 Leak
2 Mis-D
REMOVAL (6)
3 Disks
3 Kegs
CREATURES (3)
2 Morphs
1 Rainbow Efreet
CARD DRAWING/UTILITIES (10)
3 FoF (the more I play it, the more i like it)
3 Impulse
1 Ancestral
1 Walk
1 Capsize
1 Merchant Scroll (Great!! It's a demonic tutor in this deck!)
TOTAL: 60
SIDEBOARD:
4 Thief
3 B2B
3 Cores
2 Chill
2 Mis-D
1 Powder Keg
Enjoy!
Hi!
Max, the Mana Drainer
By Deranged Parrot (Parrot) on Saturday, November 03, 2001 - 06:16 pm: Ayee!
You're running less than four Fact or Fiction. That alone means you deserve to be slapped with a trout until you cry.
I'm not sure about the rest of the deck, becuase without moxen I'm only used to playing forbidian. I garuntee you, however, that four fact or fictions are a must. And Morphling is better than Rainbow Efreet.
By Legend (Legend) on Saturday, November 03, 2001 - 06:18 pm: Max
Is Type I as big in Italy as I hear it is?
I have heard that Type I is the format of choice in Italy. I like what I hear if that is true.
By Max, the Mana Drainer (Max) on Saturday, November 03, 2001 - 07:33 pm: @Parrot:1 Efreet survives Disk, Balance, Wrath, Edict...
@Legend: Unfortunatelly I live in Milan. Type 1 in Italy seems to be played everywhere but not in Milan. I've heard there are lots of Type 1 players in central Italy. At the tournament (which was in Lucca, central Italy) I spoke with a player from Florence: he told me that Type 1 is played a lot there, much more than Type 2. I don't know if it is true. Where I live there are very few Type 1 players, but I heard that Milan is the only place in Italy where Type 1 is not played. 
Max, the Mana Drainer
By Max, the Mana Drainer (Max) on Sunday, November 04, 2001 - 07:37 am: I've got the decklist of the deck which won the tournament: it was the player who won me.
It is a Sligh deck with a splash of blue. (I didn't know it had blue, he didn't draw any Volcanic or Blue card)
Decklist:
1 Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
8 Mountain
1 Strip
4 Waste
3 Mishra
1 LoA
4 Bolt
4 Incinerate
2 Shock
4 Cursed
4 Chain Lightning
2 Mogg Fanatic
4 Gorilla Shaman
2 Fireblast
1 Wheel
1 Core
1 Walk
1 Twister
1 Ancestral
4 Volcanic Island
1 Fork
2 Serendib
1 Sol
1 Urza Rage
Side
4 Blood Moon
2 REB
4 Pyroblast
2 Anarchy
3 Null Rod
Max, the Mana Drainer
By Michele (Michele) on Sunday, November 04, 2001 - 07:45 am: Danilo got me in 2nd match... i was mana screwed second game and so that was easy... Anyway i have seen a player winnnig a match with a Battle of wits deck, so the tourney was really fun.
By Michele (Michele) on Sunday, November 04, 2001 - 07:47 am: P.S. i have won 2 side event t1 and came second in a third one, i lose for decking against another mono-U
By Max, the Mana Drainer (Max) on Sunday, November 04, 2001 - 08:17 am: Oh yes, that funny game with Battle of Wits! 
That was really funny!!
I've heard his opponent was his friend and decided to lose the game: in fact the opponent was playing WW and could have disenchanted his Battle of Wits but he didn't do it. I think WW won Game 2 and 3.
I think Danilo had really good luck: two games, two opening hands with Lotus+Cursed+Shaman. I was able to recover the 2nd game,I was winning, my draws were Island for 3 turns, his topdeck was a Bolt... I've seen very few counters, no chills, few Mis-D and he got everything.
Ok. He won those Beta Moxes and Lotus. Good for him.
Max, the Mana Drainer