4CB #2 - Throwing Down the Ban Hammer

[Death_By_Beebles]

Welcome to Round 2 of 4CB! A special thanks goes out to Mogg for running the results for last round, I really appreciate the help.

As the title of the post suggests, more than a few cards have been banned for this round and all subsequent rounds. Check out the banned list, and we'll see where things go from here. If certain cards I am thinking of right now get out of hand, they'll be banned as well.


DECKS ARE DUE 01/20/2007!


Current Banned List:


Mesmeric Fiend
Meddling Mage
The Rack
Strip Mine
Ghost Quarter
Wasteland
Blackmail
Force of Will


Rules:


Basic Rules

- Your deck is composed of 4 cards, all of which start in your hand.
- Your deck has no sideboard.
- You don't lose as a result of not being able to draw a card.
- You can see your opponent's hand, so you can always make the best possible play.
- Your random effects always go in your opponent's favor.
- All other rules of Magic remain unchanged, unless otherwise stated.

Tournament Rules

- All matches are played out by the moderator (participants only submit the decks).
- Tournaments are run in round-robin fashion.
- Each matchup consists of 2 games, with each deck going first once.
- Participants earn 3 points if their deck wins a game, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss; thus, over the course of a match, you can earn 6, 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0 points.

Deck-Building Rules

- You may not submit a deck that can win before the end of your opponent's first turn.
- You may not submit a deck that can force an opponent to loose more than 1 card in their hand in one turn.
- You may not submit a deck that can generate infinite (or an arbitrarily large amount of) mana on the first turn.
- Your deck may not include Unglued or Unhinged cards, ante cards, Garfield event cards (such as Splendid Genesis or Proposal), or 1996 World Champion.
- You may not include a card that appears on the 4CB Banned List.

[Death_By_Beebles]

Decklists I've received:

SenorCown*
DeathByBeebles*
Mogg*
DarkRequiem
Cashew*
Halinn*
Niv-Mizzet_Rulez!*
Shteev*
Slobad23*

* Denotes a received deck.

My deck's initials are B, S, F, and P.

[Mogg]

In!!!

[DarkRequiem]

Count me in even though I haven't seen the other round's results.
*crosses fingers*

[Niv-Mizzet_Rulez!]

I am so in.

-Deck sent. Man is it evil.

[shteev]

What's with the banned list? Nothing seemed particularly degenerate in the last round... wouldn't it be interesting to see if we can play around Force of Will (with Leyline of Lifeforce, perhaps, or a deck with one land and three spells) or Mesmeric Fiend (by killing the thing)? And isn't banning Strip Mine just ASKING The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale to warp the format?

[Death_By_Beebles]

What's with the banned list? Nothing seemed particularly degenerate in the last round... wouldn't it be interesting to see if we can play around Force of Will (with Leyline of Lifeforce, perhaps, or a deck with one land and three spells) or Mesmeric Fiend (by killing the thing)? And isn't banning Strip Mine just ASKING The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale to warp the format?

So, we should let two cards warp the format by unbanning them, and then unban another 3 so that the format isn't warped by one card?

:p

I've picked these cards specifically because they have the tendency, as you indicated, to warp a format. I am afraid if we leave them unbanned, the format will not have any variety. The purpose of this banned list is to promote deck building diversity.

[Mogg]

Seconded! The banned list as it stands now is a good starting place. I'm still wary of a few cards like Trinisphere and Foil, but those cards tend to not be playable in a wide variety of decks.

Fiend, Mage and Blackmail can all potentially lock an opponent out of the game before their first turn. Force is an answer to any spell before that spell has any effect. It can easily negate whole strategies regardless of who's playing first. The lands that destroy lands make playing a storage land or other deck that relies on repeated usage of a land near impossible. The last card, The Rack provides an excessive amount of damage for 1 mana over a short period of time. In addition it is very difficult to actually deal with the card. Nezumi Shortfang may pose problems in the future, but at least it's a creature.

[Death_By_Beebles]

Sorry for the delay everyone, exams and a prerelease kept me from the results:

1) SenorClown
Black Lotus
Black Lotus
Krosan Reclamation
Empty the Warrens

2) Mogg
Black Lotus
Channel
Mirror Universe
Scalding Tongs

3) Cashew
Black Lotus
Hunted Horror
Duress
Leyline of Singularity

4) Halinn
Foil
Island
Rushwood Grove
Crush of Wurms

5) Shteev
Black Lotus
Black Lotus
Energy Field
Darksteel Reactor

6) Slobad23
Foil
Island
Mercadian Bazaar
Flaming Gambit

7) Death_By_Beebles
Black Lotus
Preacher
Form of the Dragon
Show and Tell

8) Niv-Mizzet_Rulez!
Dark Ritual
Mishra’s Factory
Rackling
Mox Jet


X|| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total__ %__ Position
1|| X 0 0 6 0 6 0 6 18 __(37.5%)__6th
2|| 6 X 3 0 0 0 6 6 21 __(43.8%)__4th
3|| 6 3 X 0 3 0 3 6 21 __(43.8%)__4th
4|| 0 6 6 X 2 6 6 6 32 __(66.7%)__1st
5|| 6 6 3 2 X 2 6 6 31 __(64.6%)__2th
6|| 0 6 6 0 2 X 6 6 26 __(54.2%)__3th
7|| 6 0 3 0 0 0 X 6 15 __(31.3%)__7th
8|| 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 00 __(00.0%)__8th

Congratulations to Halinn for winning Round #2 of 4CB!

Mogg gets impatient with me and runs the results again! Thanks Mogg for the help while I was busy this week.

NOTES:

This round was won by Foil. Free counterspells are extremely good, as this round shows that fact very well. I was worried about its use this round, but surprisingly, a lot of players didn't play it.

I'm going to be proactive here and draw some heat, but Foil is being banned. It's a card that is going to warp the metagame too much, and it reduces the overall "fun" you have playing 4CB when you realize your deck is loosing because it can't successfully cast Black Lotus.

Keep your eyes peeled for 4CB #3 and 3CB #6!

[SenorClown]

2 vs. 7
Current: 6-0
Should be: 0-6

Form of the Dragon's end of turn ability also allows you to gain life...if Mogg is on the play, he combos out, but DBB can drop Form and go to 5 at end of turn, stopping Tongs from ever killing him.

[Death_By_Beebles]

If Form ever gets played, he'll use its damage to kill me. I think it works something like this:

Lotus - GGG in pool.
Channel for 8 - 8G in pool (12 life)
Play Mirror, then Tongs (1 mana in pool)
Burn 1 (11 life)
Take 5 from Form (6 life)
Take 5 from Form (1 life)

During his upkeep before he looses:
Put the Scalding Tongs damage on the stack
Switch life totals
(Form player at 1, Mogg at 5)
Let damage resolve.

[Niv-Mizzet_Rulez!]

Allow me to jump off a cliff.*does so.*

[Halinn]

Can't take all the credit for this one. This deck was used heavily by Chimpanzee at MTGSalvation, even winning a good amount of rounds.

[shteev]

OK, I'm a bit late spotting this one, but:

Halinn(4) vs shteev(5)
was 6-0
should be 2-2

If shteev attempts to play his threat before Halinn has played a card, Halinn counters the Energy Field and wins. If Halinn attempts to play his threat before shteev has played a card, Halinn can no longer cast the Foil, so shteev wins. In order to avoid losing, both players should play for the draw.

[SenorClown]

Nope. Halinn can just counter the Energy Field without any worries, as he can charge up his storage land for flashback and lethal damage long before Reactor wins you the game.

[Mogg]

His point, which I overlooked when I did the scores, was that he can just wait to play Energy Field the turn after Halinn plays Crush of Wurms. At that point, Halinn no longer has enough cards in hand to play Foil. Because of this, Halinn never has a chance to play Crush of Wurms, so both games end in a draw.

[shteev]

Nope. Halinn can just counter the Energy Field without any worries, as he can charge up his storage land for flashback and lethal damage long before Reactor wins you the game.

He can only counter the Energy Field if he keeps Crush of Wurms in his hand. If I don't play a card until he does, his only way to win is to play Crush of Wurms from his hand. This means he will have only 2 cards left in his hand, Foil and Island, which is not enough to cast Foil. I can then safely play both Energy Field, which nullifies the wurms, and Reactor, which wins me the game. If Halinn plays a threat before I've played a card, he loses the game. His best play is therefore to wait, which is also my best play. The game is a draw.

I still lose the round by one point. Dammit :)

[shteev]

I've been thinking about Foil now, and I'm pretty sure this is an error, as well:

Halinn(4) vs Slobad23(6)
was 6-0
should be 3-3

On the draw, Halinn is JUST too slow to beat Slobad. Remember, to win, someone MUST play their threat. This is what happens is Halinn attempts to play his threat early:

01.S - plays red storage land
02.H - plays green storage land
03.S - R storage taps, tokens now 1
04.H - G storage taps, tokens now 1
05.S - R storage taps, tokens now 2
06.H - G storage taps, tokens now 2
....
05.S - R storage taps, tokens now 9
06.H - G storage taps, tokens now 9
07.S - R storage taps, tokens now 10
08.H - Plays Crush of Wurms. It's Foiled.
09.S - R storage taps, tokens now 11
10.H - G storage taps, tokens now 1
11.S - R storage taps, tokens now 12
12.H - G storage taps, tokens now 2
.....
13.S - R storage taps, tokens now 21
14.H - G storage taps, tokens now 11
15.S - R storage taps, tokens now 22
16.H - G storage taps, tokens now 11
17.S - Casts Flaming Gambit with flashback. Halinn has only 2 cards in hand and can't cast Foil.

If Halinn attempts to cast both Crush of Wurms in the same turn, this happens:

01.S - plays red storage land
02.H - plays green storage land
03.S - R storage taps, tokens now 1
04.H - G storage taps, tokens now 1
....
X1.S - R storage taps, tokens now 21
X2.H - G storage taps, tokens now 21
X3.S - R storage land open at 21 mana
X4.H - Casts Crush of Wurms. Slobad replys by casting Flaming Gambit for 20 damage as an instant.

Again, Halinn loses. From this point on, Slobad taps his storage land only at the end of Halinn's turn, so any Crush of Wurms can be responded to by a lethal Flaming Gambit. Eventually, Slobad will build up the tokens on his land to 43, and can cast 2 Flaming Gambits in a single turn; Halinn can only counter one of them.



In case you're wondering, yes, I DO have too much time on my hands. I'm home sick from work today :)

[shteev]

Hey, you know, once you start looking at Foil/Crush of Wurms, it's not nearly as good as you think.

Halinn(4) vs Halinn(3)
was 6-0
should be 2-2
Crush of Wurms can't possibly beat Leyline of Singularity. Halinn can't win at all, but he can prevent Cashew from winning by Foiling his Black Lotus

Halinn(4) vs Death_By_Beebles(7)
was 6-0
should be 2-2
Again, DBB sits on his hand until after Halinn plays some wurms. If Halinn DOES play wurms, DBB drops the Form Of The Dragon and wins. Both players best play is to hold for the draw.

[Mogg]

I agree with all the above corrections. I hadn't realized that Flaming Gambit was an instant. As you pointed out, that changes things. Sorry for messing up the scores so badly.

EDIT: Since the scores were my fault, I've fixed them now.

X|| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total__ %__ Position
1|| X 0 0 6 0 6 0 6 18 __(42.9%)__6th
2|| 6 X 3 0 0 0 6 6 21 __(50.0%)__4th
3|| 6 3 X 2 3 0 3 6 23 __(54.7%)__3rd
4|| 0 6 2 X 2 3 2 6 21 __(50.0%)__4th
5|| 6 6 3 2 X 2 6 6 31 __(73.8%)__1st
6|| 0 6 6 3 2 X 6 6 29 __(69.0%)__2nd
7|| 6 0 3 2 0 0 X 6 17 __(40.5%)__7th
8|| 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 00 __(00.0%)__8th

I've also edited the percents; they were out of 48 (6 x 8) which made it impossible for anyone to get a perfect score, since people don't play themselves. The scores are now out of 42 (6 x 7 (number of opponents)).

Congrats to shteev for actually winning this round!