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Deck name = The Disruptor
Cantata
Springdale, AR
Tournament date = 3-10-01
Tournament format = Type II
Number of Participants = 10

I got to the tourney site with a couple of friends in tow, Tony and Jason.
We arrive just in time to sign up for Type II.  We were asked if we'd like
to join the Booster draft, but we decline.  We spent way too much time
Friday night testing and tinkering with our rouges to mess with anything but
Type II at this point.  It turned out to be a small tournament, as a good
portion of the younger players were engaged in a JSS tourney.  There were
only 10 players in Type II, so making Top 8 was almost a given if you could
hang on for a couple of matches.  These tourneys are double-elimination, so
every match counts if you want to keep playing.  I had high hopes for my U/B
Disruptor deck.

Tony is running a land destruction deck with something like 14 - 16 LD
spells.  He did not fair as well as we hoped he might considering nobody
runs LD these days.  He did surprise a few people, though.  Everyone had a
good laugh, at least after they got over the shock of loosing a key land,
heh heh.  His record was 0-2-1 on the day.

Jason is building a Counter-Rebel (ugh!) deck, but his budget is tight so it
is taking him some time to get all the cards he needs together.  He is
fairly new to the game, as well, this being his first tourney.  We designed
the best build we could with the cards at hand and he tried his luck.  Jason
went 0-2-1 on the day.

Both were excellent sportsmen, shaking hands and congratulating their
opponents on playing good Magic.  In fact, all of the players in my area are
well mannered for the most part, regardless of their age.  I enjoy playing
these events as the atmosphere is relaxed, but the competition is good.

The deck I built is designed around the discard mechanic.  I haven't gotten
to the best build yet, but each time I play the deck things take focus a
little more.  The goal is to beat Counter Rebels, as that seemed to be the
deck that gave me the most trouble.  Here is the decklist from Saturday's
tournament:

The Disruptor

CREATURES (18)
---------
Cavern Harpy x3
Cloudskate x4
Nightscape Familiar x4
Ravenous Rats x4
Urborg Drake x3

SPELLS (20)
-----------
Counterspell x4
Daze x4
Probe x4
Recoil x4
Rushing River x4

LAND (22)
---------
Island x11
Swamp x8
Salt Marsh x4

SIDEBOARD (15)
--------------
Dust Bowl x2
Fact or Fiction x2
Foil x3
Massacre x4
Perish x2
Yawgmoth's Agenda x2

Here comes the report.  I must ask you to forgive me, as I did not think
about writing any notes on the event, including my opponents names.  I would
like to say that each one was a good sport, polite and friendly.  If I made
a mistake, they pointed them out, but were not disorderly in doing so.  In
return, I felt pointing out opponents mistakes never made a player feel
defensive.  Win or lose, I had a blast!

Match 1 - Game 1
Opponent - Fires

My opponent won the toss and played first.  He dropped a forest and an Elf,
then says go.  I draw and play an island, then say go.  He plays a mountain
and a Fires, I pick up my island and Daze, he says go.  I draw and play an
island back out, go.  He draws and plays Karpulsan Forest, go.  I draw, play
a swamp and a Familiar, go.  He draws and plays a land, and a Bird of
Paradise, go.  I draw, play an island, then play a Cloudskate and an Urborg
Drake, go.  The game from this point pretty much went my way.  I got more
flyers out and continued to counter his main threats or bounce them with
Rushing River, a great card by the way.  Discard did not play as big a role
in this game as I had hoped.  I did play one Probe, unkickered.

Games: 1-0

Game 2
The second game was all about my opponent and Saproling Burst.  I kept Fires
off the table with counters, which slowed his game, but my deck didn't
produce enough answers to all of his threats.  I drew mana and not much
else, and only managed to hold him off until he cast a Burst when my hand
was empty.  One Familiar isn't enough to deal with a Saproling Burst, no
matter the regeneration.  It was a violent and brutal demise.

Games: 1-1

Game 3
Third game came down to DISCARD, and it did it's job well.  I start with
Rats on turn two, while my opponents cast a Bird a turn late and says go.  I
get a second Rat on the table, then begin to recycle the Rats with a Harpy,
quickly stripping my opponents hand.  He begins top decking, but I am out of
counters.  He draws land for a turn or two as I get a Cloudskate and a
Familiar on the board, serving up beats.  He finally draws a Saproling Burst
and gets it out, as I still don't have a counter.  But I do have a Recoil,
and the Burst finds itself pushing up daisies.  I get a Drake out, as well
as a Harpy gating the spent Cloudskate, which happily comes back into play
as well.  Opponent scoops.

Games: 2-1
Match: 1-0

Match 2 - Game 1
Opponent - U/W Control

Game 1
It takes me a few turns to figure out what my opponent is playing.  However,
I included some beats in my deck, whereas my opponent seems to have opted
for no creatures or few creatures, but doesn't see them.  My creatures start
the clock.  He gets a Millstone on the board early, but never activates it.
We have a few counter wars as I force through a kickered Probe.  Finally my
opponent gets a Waterfront Bouncer out, only to see it get bounced by
Rushing River.  A couple of Rats later he is top decking, so I recoil his
Millstone and finish the game.

Games: 1-0

Game 2
We both start out conservatively, laying a few lands but not really playing
much.  I sided in more counters and both Fact or Fictions.  It mattered
little.  My opponent switched to a more aggressive strategy that took a few
turns to come out, but my deck refused to play this game and he got the best
of me with Air Elemental.  I never saw the cards I sided in, but he must
have added counters, too, because he did allot better a stopping my game
this time.  I did manage to bounce the Elemental with a Rivers, but would
rather have Recoiled when his hand was empty.  I could have, too, except I
didn't have a Recoil in hand.  DOH!

Games: 1-1

Game 3
I side out the Rivers, putting the Drakes back in, along with a Yawgmoth's
Agenda.  I am not real good with Agenda yet, and this was the first time I
decided to try it out.  I figured it might help me get the third game,
assuming I use it to best advantage.  Or better yet, assuming I even draw
it.  I didn't.

Anyway, I mulligan down to five cards to start this game.  It pays off in
the end, though.  I get three land and two good cards to start the game off,
Recoil and Nightscape Familiar.  I draw into counters and more land, keeping
my opponent from playing much, while I slowly develop my position.  Rats
come out along with a Harpy, followed by two kickered Probes, emptying my
opponents hand.  My creatures come out in force and he cannot keep pace.
His last attempt to hold on was casting Air Elemental, which met with my
Recoil and his empty hand, followed quickly by a free, one-way trip to the
graveyard.

I feel like a I have a good deck vs. U/W Control.  If the discard mechanic
comes out fast enough, Control opponents will be struggling early when
top-decking becomes their main strategy, heh heh.

Games: 2-1
Matches: 2-0

Match 3 - Game 1
Opponent - Counter Rebels

I won't bother with wasting too much time or space on this match.  Suffice
it say that Disruptor does not handle Rebels, backed up by counters, well at
all.  I had all the right cards to choose from, but if I had a Massacre in
hand, I didn't have counter backup, or vice-versa.  Sometimes things just
don't work out the way we'd like.  This matchup is one of those things and I
am working hard to fix that particular problem.  I think I can beat CR if I
can just keep the searchers off the board and run them out of cards in the
early game.

At best I could only stall the searching, but once the game got past the
sixth turn they would have too many counters and I could never get anything
going.  Once I ran out of cards they just played out a searcher and started
the beatdown.  Nightwind Glider is a real problem for this deck, as my only
non-black creature is the Cloudskate.  Nightwind Glider can still trade in
combat, so another hole needs to be filled.

Games: 0-2
Matches: 2-1

Match 4 - Game 1
Opponent - G/W Beatdown

My opponent for this game was a young man, I'd say no more than 10-12 years
old.  He was very pleasant (and patient) as we played.  We both
misunderstood a couple card interactions on separate occasions, but were
able to resolve them without incidence.  This young man plays the game well,
I might add.  His older brother was my first opponent, by the way.

We start the game off with plenty of mana and both of us getting some
creatures into play.  His creatures are bigger, but don't come out as fast.
I get in some early beats, but he puts out an enchantment that gives all of
his creatures +1/+1 and allows them to block flyers.  Uh oh!!  This isn't
looking too good, but I draw a Rushing River and sac a land to bounce his
enchantment and his lone creature back to his hand, and serve again.  He is
down to 7 life, but has plenty of mana and gets both the enchantment and the
creature back in play, as well as a second creature.  We stall at this point
for sometime, and he starts wearing me out with my own Harpy.  I can get
into play every turn, but I have to use it to block, pay one life and
bounce, repeat next turn.  He finally gets the edge with Armadillo Cloak on
a 2/2 flyer and the game ends shortly thereafter.  This was the longest
single game I played all day.  I really felt like our decks were a good
match-up, he just drew into his cards before I did.

Games: 0-1

Game 2
This game starts out good for me, with discard doing it's thing.  I get a
couple of threats on the board, and my opponent plays out Story Circle:
Black!  I didn't have a counter, and all the creatures I had in play were
black.  Not good for Disruptor.  The next turn he drops a threat of his own,
as well as the pump/block flyers enchantment (what is the name of that
card?).  I can see things getting ugly from here.  I have two Familiars and
two Urborg Drakes in play.  The Drakes are forced to attack every turn and
get the SC treatment.  My only hope is to get more threats on the table than
he has white mana in play.  I cast all the creatures I have, and he lays
another plains, making us even.  Soon my Cloudskates fade out, and I don't
see a Harpy until after they are long gone.  He gets more threats out and I
cannot keep up.  Game over when he casts Sabretooth Nishoba.  Where did that
come from?!?

Matches: 2-2

Well, I managed to finish in fifth place overall.  Not too bad, although
granted, it was a small field of players.  At any rate, for a rouge deck I
think Disruptor did well for itself.  With some more playtesting and
tweaking I think I may have something here.  I feel good about the results I
achieved.

Props:  John Hopping and Gallery of Champions card shop for sponsoring the
weekly events in my area.  Without his support I'd have to drive a coupe of
hours to get in some tourney play.  As it stands now I have to drive about
10min. from my home, heh heh.

Slops: Counter-Rebels, go pick on someone your own size, dang it!

Cantata