Round Six

[Thomas David Baker]

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Banned

Black Lotus
Burning Inquiry
Calciform Pools
Chancellor of the Annex
Channel
Crucible of Worlds
Dismember
Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn
Ensnaring Bridge
Foil
Force of Will
Gitaxian Probe
Hickory Woodlot
Laboratory Maniac
Leyline of Sanctity
Memnite
Mishra's Factory
Mishra's Workshop
Scalding Tongs
Volcanic Island

Table

Name        P   W  D   L   F   A   P

Simon      31  22  3   6  45  13  69 ★★

Tom        31  19  6   6  40  14  63 ★★

Louis      31  11  8  12  24  27  41

Thom       25  10  6   9  22  20  36 ★

Kieran     31   9  7  15  19  30  34

Phil       14  10  2   2  21   5  32 ★

Charlie    14   7  2   5  14  10  23

Levi       20   3  6  11   8  24  15

Ross       31   2  2  27   4  54   8

[Philip Dickinson]

still lots of very powerful strategies open! i think i will try my list again after a few more bans when the power level decreases as i like the overall strategy.

can i suggest adding another column to the table for points/games played? seems like a useful metric to have if some people are going to be occasional entrants while others are consistent and regular.

[James Mills]

FFS have i missed round six!?

[Thomas David Baker]

You have, Jim.  Feel free to submit for Round 7!

I would add more columns Phil but my table generating program doesn't generate them so that would be more work for me.  You'll have to use your brain! :)  I can make you an admin of the group (I think we have that) if you feel strongly enough to add them post facto.

[Philip Dickinson]

MY VIEWS ON COLUMNS ARE VERY STRONG

i am pleasantly ambivalent re: rows though

[Thomas David Baker]

Made you an admin.  Don't fuck anything up :)

[Simon O'Keeffe]

I think at worst I draw with everyone but Thom and Louis but I have not done the full math. I had exact same lists as 3 other people this round but chose to submit something different. Turned out to not be super strong.

[Philip Dickinson]

added my special column. if we go by those numbers i'm actually numero uno ^_^

now i feel slightly better lol. time to brew...

Thomas David Baker said:

Made you an admin.  Don't fuck anything up :)

[Kieran Symington]

Let me see if I can work out Simon's matches:

v Charlie

Strip Mine means Simon can never cast anything but Commandeer, which he can use to take Bitterblossom if Charlie ever casts it. So nobody can do anything.

Result 0-0

v Tom

Pretty sure Tom cannot cast Therapy because Simon just Commandeers it and names Chronomaton. Equally, he can't cast Chronomaton until after Simon has made the Griffin, and he then needs to Therapy for Apathy or Chronomaton is locked down. Griffin easily wins the race after that.

Result 2-0

v Thom

Strip. Mine.

Result 0-2

v Ross

Misthollow Griffin > Talon Trooper

Result 2-0

v Phil

Unlike Tom, Phil can go for a Therapy on turn 1. Simon has to Commandeer it or lose, but then Phil just Missteps it. Apprentice comes out, but cannot race a turn 5 Griffin so has to keep tapping it.

Result 0-0

v Louis

Griffin cannot survive Tabernacle long enough to win unless Simon has charged Saprazzan cove 11 times. This gives Louis enough time to charge Dwarven Hold enough to Punishing Fire the Griffin twice in one turn, then easily win from there.

Result 0-2

v Kieran

Simon can never cast Griffin without giving me an opportunity to kill it, but if he doesn't I can never cast LED without letting him Commandeer it. So we sit here doing nothing forever.

Result 0-0

Pretty sure that's right, though somevody better at this game will probably come along and prove this all wrong!

One other game that is probably relevant (even though it will cost me the win!):

Thom v Louis

Tabernacle doesn't produce mana and Dwarven Hold comes in tapped. This means Thom can just Strip Mine Dwarven Hold when it comes down and Louis can never make two mana to cast Punishing Fire.

Result 2-0

[Thomas David Baker]

Ah good spot on Thom v Louis.

Cabal Therapy says "Name a nonland card. Target player reveals his or her hand and discards all cards with that name."  I don't think Commandeer allows Simon to change the named card.  So if he does Commandeer my Therapy it just does nothing (targets me with "Misthollow Griffin" as the named card or whatever).

What does that mean?

[Thomas David Baker]

OK so this is the latest version of the round:

[Charlie]
Mox Jet
Strip Mine
Mental Misstep
Bitterblossom

[Tom]
Leyline of Anticipation
Mox Jet
Cabal Therapy
Chronomaton

[Thom]
Strip Mine
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Blinkmoth Nexus
Mutavault

[Simon]
Commandeer
Apathy
Misthollow Griffin
Saprazzan Cove

[Ross]
Saprazzan Skerry
Mox Pearl
Path to Exile
Talon Trooper

[Phil]
Undiscovered Paradise
Stormscape Apprentice
Cabal Therapy
Mental Misstep

[Louis]
The Tabernacle and Pendrell Vale
Grove of the Burnwillows
Punishing Fire
Dwarven Hold

[Kieran]
Leyline of Anticipation
Lion's Eye Diamond
Violent Eruption
Ulamog, the Infinite Gryre

Charlie 2 - 0 Tom
Charlie can Misstep Therapy, resolve Bitterblossom and outrace Chronomaton.

Charlie 0 - 2 Thom
Charlie can only keep one token alive through Strip Mine and Tabernacle. Not good enough to kill versus Mutavault on the other side.

Charlie 0 - 0 Simon
Strip Mine means Griffin never comes to play. Bitterblossom wins.

Charlie 2 - 0 Ross
Strip Mine means Talon Trooper cannot resolve. Bitterblossom wins through Path.

Charlie 1 - 1 Phil
On the play Phil can Therapy Mox Jet (Misstep your Misstep) then resolve Apprentice before losing Paradise to Strip Mine. The 1/1 beats down.
On the draw Charlie resolves Bitterblossom which outraces Apprentice.

Charlie 2 - 0 Louis
Strip Mine on Grove means that Punishing Fire cannot be recurred but Tabernacle makes that an ineffective plan.
Strip Mine on Tabernacle lets Louis pick off tokens. But not fast enough?

Charlie 0 - 2 Kieran
Kieran's plan does not rely on lands. Violent Eruption can kill 4 tokens where necessary or go to the face where not. So Kieran wins?

Tom 0 - 2 Thom
Chronomaton can never get bigger than 1/1 because of Tabernacle. Nothing to Therapy. Mutavault wins the race.

Tom 0 - 2 Simon
Simon Commandeers the Mox and Tom can do nothing.

Tom 2 - 0 Ross
Cabal Therapy taking Path to Exile. Win the race with a charged up Chronomaton.

Tom 0 - 2 Phil
Phil Mental Missteps the first Cabal Therapy then Cabal Therapy Chronomaton and win with Apprentice.
Or he Mental Missteps the Chronomaton and makes Apprentice.
Either way Phil wins.

Tom 0 - 2 Louis
Therapy can only take Punishing Fire. Chronomaton cannot survive Punishing Fire. Louis wins.

Tom 0 - 0 Kieran
A bizarre mess. But neither player has a path to victory that I can see.

Thom 2 - 0 Simon
Strip Mine prevents Griffin ever being cast. Mutavault or Blinkmoth beatdown.

Thom 0 - 0 Ross
If Talon Trooper resolves Ross wins. Strip Mine can prevent Talon Trooper ever resolving. Path to Exile effectively kills both creatures.

Thom 2 - 0 Phil
Strip Mine + Tabernacle means Phil only gets to resolve one thing and that thing can't be Apprentice. Cabal Therapy has no targets. Manland beatdown.

Thom 2 - 0 Louis
Strip Mine on Dwarven Hold means Louis can never cast Punishing Fire.

Thom 0 - 0 Kieran

Thom can't just make manlands while Kieran has a full grip otherwise he loses. Kieran can't get through his library fast enough to race so he has to hold up his combo for manland activation. Stalemate.

Simon 2 - 0 Ross
Simon can Apathy Talon Trooper and doesn't care about Path to Exile on Misthollow Griffin

Simon 0 - 0 Phil
Misstep hits Apathy. Therapy is useless. Apprentice can tap down Griffin forever but can't get out ahead of it to win. I think.

Simon 0 - 2 Louis
Louis can double-Punishing Fire the Griffin long before it kills him. I think.

Simon 0 - 0 Kieran
Simon can never cast Griffin without giving me an opportunity to kill it, but if he doesn't Kieran can never cast LED without letting him Commandeer it. So they sit there doing nothing forever.

Ross 0 - 2 Phil
Therapy Trooper. Misstep Path. Win with Apprentice.

Ross 0 - 2 Louis
Louis can double-Punishing Fire Talon Trooper and win at his leisure.

Ross 0 - 2 Kieran
Violent Eruption kills Talon Trooper and then Ross.

Phil 0 - 2 Louis
Recurring Punishing Fire takes it down.

Phil 0 - 2 Kieran
Phil can't ever successfully Therapy anything. There's nothing to Misstep. Eruption kills Apprentice.

Louis 0 - 2 Kieran
Kieran does 4 damage on turn 1 then 4 more damage every 3 turns. So he kills on turn 13. Louis does net 1 damage per turn? So Kieran wins?

With results that look like this:

Thom 17
Kieran 15
Louis 12
Charlie 11
Simon 9
Tom 3
Ross 1

??

[Kieran Symington]

Fairly certain that the naming of the card is on resolution rather than on casting the spell. So when you cast Therapy you only chose the target - Simon - who responds with Commandeer on Therapy. He now gains control of the spell and chooses you as the new target. Therapy then resolves and he can name a card. I don't think you ever get to name a card unless he lets it resolve.

Thomas David Baker said:

Cabal Therapy says "Name a nonland card. Target player reveals his or her hand and discards all cards with that name."  I don't think Commandeer allows Simon to change the named card.  So if he does Commandeer my Therapy it just does nothing (targets me with "Misthollow Griffin" as the named card or whatever).

What does that mean?

[Simon O'Keeffe]

Therapy names on resolution. But it is irrelevant, I just Commandeer the Mox and Tom can never cast a spell.