Journal Entries
Introspections Upon Perfection
Posted Feb 15, 2002
That went rather well.
This week I played six games and won five. My first win was against Michael, a friend of mine from college. He was also playing a Black/Red deck. I knew it was good (I’d given advise on modifying it) but he doesn’t have the cards to make it really good. The only card that really worried me was his Vampiric Dragon. He didn’t get it, and I won in about fifteen minutes. It’s worth noting that Michael worked out how to do the puzzle in the Torment Player’s Guide.
My second game was against Wayne. I got some very bad draws and lost. Well, that’s my excuse anyway. Wayne was also using a Black/Red to which he added four Flametongue Kavus. He burnt my nightmares for a 2-1 win.
My third game was against Luke. Luke got a Blue/Black deck and is in the process of completely changing it. He lost.
I then played two Black/White players. Both were 2-1 victories to me. One was using a Divine Sacrament white creature weenie deck and the other was using what can probably be best described as a resurrection deck. I overran one and used Chainer to steel a Whispering Shade from the other.
I also played a Green Black player. I don’t really remember this game, but I won it.
The problem with winning is that you end up not knowing what to change. My deck currently looks like this:
Main Deck
12 Swamp
9 Mountain
2 Tainted Peak
4 Firebolt
4 Stone Rain
1 Malevolent Awakening
1 Shades Form
4 Terminate
4 Nightscape Familiar
2 Barbarian Outcast
3 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Gravegouger
4 Petravark
2 Pardic Collaborator
3 Faceless Butcher
2 Soul Scourge
1 Chainer, Dementia Master
1 Petradon
Sideboard
2 Rancid Earth
1 Demolish
2 Pyromania
1 Caustic Tar
2 Flame Burst
1 Flaming Gambit
2 Temporary Insanity
1 Enslaved Dwarf
1 Barbarian Outcast
1 Slithery Stalker
1 Soul Scourge
There isn’t anything obviously bad in it. I don’t really like the Soul Scourges because they cost so much and don’t combine well with Malevolent Awakening, but I need something to deal with flyers. Black mana shortage was sometimes a problem during the games I played. I would also like to include Flametongue Kavus and Whispering Shades (everyone is using Swamps). Another Mesmeric Fiend would help to remove Protection from Red and Black stuff from people’s hands. Artefact creatures would be good for blocking once they got them out.
After much deliberation, here’s what I ended up with:
Main deck
13 Swamp
7 Mountain
3 Tainted Peak
4 Firebolt
4 Stone Rain
1 Malevolent Awakening
1 Shades Form
4 Terminate
4 Nightscape Familiar
2 Barbarian Outcast
4 Mesmeric Fiend
4 Petravark
2 Flametongue Kavu
2 Whispering Shade
3 Faceless Butcher
1 Chainer, Dementia Master
1 Laquatus’s Champion
Sideboard
1 Cabal Coffers
2 Pillage
1 Demolish
1 Caustic Tar
2 Temporary Insanity
4 Emblazoned Golem
1 Gravegouger
1 Slithery Stalker
2 Pardic Collaborator
Now if I could only get some more Malevolent Awakenings.
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Latest reply: Feb 15, 2002
Chainer's Torment
Posted Feb 11, 2002
Just finished reading Chainer's Torment. I found it slightly disturbing that I wanted Chainer to liquify Kamahl at the end. It would have been nice if he'd have chucked the Mirari away before it killed him. Oh well. I guess I just get too attached to main characters.
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Latest reply: Feb 11, 2002
The first cut
Posted Feb 8, 2002
For next week I can modify my arena deck by fifteen cards. After a few moments deliberation this is what I ended up with:
9 Mountain
12 Swamp
2 Tainted Peak
4 Firebolt
4 Stone Rain
1 Malevolent Awakening
1 Shades Form
4 Terminate
4 Nightscape Familiar
3 Mesmeric Fiend
2 Barbarian Outcast
1 Gravegouger
2 Pardic Collaborator
4 Petravark
3 Faceless Butcher
2 Soul Scourge
1 Chainer, Dementia Master
1 Petradon
I will try this out and see what happens.
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Latest reply: Feb 8, 2002
Torment arena (or How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Love the Petravark)
Posted Feb 7, 2002
This is the first in what I hope will be a series of entries describing my progress through the Torment Arena. For those not initiated into the arcane practices associated with Magic: the Gathering I will explain. Whenever a new series is released each member buys a preconstructed deck and plays with it at one club meeting. They then go away and change fifteen cards and plays the next week with the slightly modified deck. They continue modifying fifteen cards for the next three weeks. After that time the player with the most wins wins.
The last arena I took part in (indeed the last arena) was the Odyssey arena. It was my first, so I wanted to make sure I didn't completely muck it up. I visited the appropriate Internet sights to discover the contents of the various decks. I studied my own card collection in minute detail to see what deck I could best improve. It was to be Green/Red. For sure. Flashbacking 6/6 creatures, damage and boost spells and land acceleration. Just the job. I said to several friends 'Green/Red is by far the best preconstructed deck'.
And then I went and bought Blue/White.
The Red/Green players constantly beat me. After a while so did the Black/Red players. The deck I ended up with wasn't actually that bad (its still around somewhere, its a Cephalid/Megrim combination) but loosing so badly once my opponent got any creatures down was painful.
This time I went for Black/Red. I thought about getting the Green/Black deck for it's madness creatures then thought 'So, Greens got cheep big creatures, eh?' and decided not to. I've been using a Black/Red creature-free deck against friends lately, and it works fairly well. I was pleasantly astonished. Here’s the deck list:
9 Mountain
12 Swamp
2 Tainted Peak
2 Firebolt
2 Rancid Earth
1 Demolish
2 Pyromania
1 Malevolent Awakening
1 Shade's Form
1 Caustic Tar
2 Flame Burst
1 Flaming Gambit
2 Temporary Insanity
1 Enslaved Dwarf
3 Mesmeric Fiend
3 Barbarian Outcast
1 Gravegouger
1 Slithery Stalker
2 Pardic Collaborator
3 Petravark
3 Faceless Butcher
3 Soul Scourge
1 CHAINER, DEMENTIA MASTER!!!!!!
1 Petradon
O.K., who's idea was it to put CHAINER in a preconstructed deck? Everyone else in the club thought Red/Black was rather good to, and the other decks went rather quickly. Also popular was Green/Black and, for those with Desolation Angel sitting at home with nothing to annihilate, White/Black. Black/Blue was not popular.
In brief, I played four games. The first, against a Blue/Black deck, resulted in a victory for me. My opponent got nothing. Almost did badly enough to make me feel sorry for them. My next three games were against other Black/Red players. Won one, lost two. Well. I learnt that land destruction is the key, and that you need something to destroy the creatures 'nightmareing' your cards. Especially Swamps. Loosing Barbarian Outcast by having no swamps is very irritating (especially if you had no swamps when you played it. Oh well...).
For next week, a few more destruction spells are called for (can you say Terminate?). More ordered land destruction, and possibly a Nightscape Familiar or three. I think Petradon has to come out (you never get enough mana) along with the Pyromania, Dwarf and a few of the less useful spells. Be seeing you.
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Latest reply: Feb 7, 2002
Exams
Posted Jan 24, 2002
A/AS exam season at Park College is drawing to a close. After Christmas we re-take anything from last year we think we can improve on and some of the more module based subjects (maths, chemistry) do year two exams now as well. Compared to my classmates I got off quite lightly with four (three retakes: Chemistry Chains and Rings, IT1 and IT2, and one new: Chemistry Chains, Rings and Spectroscopy). Those poor individuals doing maths, further maths and more than one science have really had it hard. A few friends still have some to go. I've finished for the time being. The retakes seemed to be easier than the original exams for some reason.
My revision strategy is as follows: revise late then have an early night. It seems to work.
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Latest reply: Jan 24, 2002
Cassius
Researcher U188065
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