Thursday 25 May 2017

Tournament Report: Brass Man I by Scott

Brass Man I – 20 May 2017
Nine UK Old School Magic players descended upon the Craft Beer Company pub in central London last weekend to enjoy playing some classic cards and sampling the wide range of great beers on offer.  
The tournament was instituted by myself and Markus Lundqvist, who suggested Brass Man as a prize and (inspired by the Swedish Giant Sharks) a handicap for the winner, as Brass Man winners must play their Brass Men in their 75 cards for all future Brass Man tournaments!
I took my UR Counterburn deck, which had previously won COPcon1, although since then Serendib Djinn had been removed for a fourth Flying Man, and the sideboard reworked, as well as some pimping out with Alpha Psionic Blasts and a couple of Unlimited Volcanic Islands.
Round 1 – Richard Stebbing (The Deck)
Richard is a familiar face at Old School tournaments, and his fearsome build of the classic The Deck is always a challenge to face.  Richard’s mulligan in Game 1 gave me a glimmer of hope, and with his mana base of 3 City of Brass clearly as much on my payroll as his, I ended up winning.  Game 2 was my turn to mulligan, and when my turn 1 Sol Ring was disenchanted I was unable to play threats quickly enough to trouble Richard, who soon drew his way to too many cards to overturn.  Game 3 was a little weird, as Richard drew only 1 land (a Tundra) that got strip mined, so he was operating on just moxen and fellwar stones, whilst I had a surfeit of land but struggled for damage with Greater Realm of Preservation hampering my burn.  The game descended into a topdeck war of extremely swingy proportions, as my Braingeyser for 5 and Ancestral Recall put me 6 cards ahead, only for Richard to cast Balance as a 10-for-1, destroying all 8 of my lands, plus Flying Men, plus a card discarded!  However, with 2 lands still in hand and Richard still mana-screwed I was able to recover first and win 2-1 in the nick of time before he could re-establish control.
Round 2 – Tom Cadden (Blue/Black/White midrange)
Landlord Tom Cadden not only reserved two big upstairs tables for us but made his Old School debut in the tournament as well!  After a bye in Round 1 I had the honour of playing Tom in his first ever two games.  Alas both games unfortunately weren’t that close as Tom got badly manascrewed; my strip mining land and Shattering moxen not helping matters.  A friendly game afterwards proved much the most fun, with me still winning but down on 5 life.  The match highlight was arguably Tom casting Mind Twist for my whole hand of 5 cards with a Revised Mind Twist he had bought from me for £3 at the start of play; the fact it was countered probably summed up the match.  Tom’s post-game observation that the absence of fetchlands means Old School decks need more mana sources than Vintage was shrewd, and he duly enjoyed more success in the subsequent rounds having added a couple.  
Round 3 – Ben Twitchen (U/W midrange)
A recent n00bcon attendee and another UK Old School stalwart, Ben is another customer who has earned a healthy respect when his name appears in the pairings.  Not so much U/W skies as U/W midrange, his deck had Savannah Lions and White Knight joining the fray alongside Serra Angel.  Game 1 was a highly cagey affair with every threat on both sides answered promptly, including (to my great satisfaction after missing last time I played Ben) the destruction of his Serendib Efreet with Chaos Orb.  In Game 2 I always seemed to have the upper hand, but thanks to Ben’s Ivory Tower it still seemed to take an age for me to turn the card advantage of Library of Alexandria into a game win – my Psionic Blast taking him from 4 to 0 being his 18th life change of the game.
Ben's deck

Round 4 – Markus Lundqvist (Trick)
The match against my event co-host proved easier than I might have expected, with Markus digging frantically for threats in game 1 (I think we had Timetwister, Wheel of Fortune and Winds of Change!) without ever getting one to stick, whilst a dodgy keep in game 2 rather handed me the match.  A fun practice game afterwards finished in real Old School style when on 4 life I stole Markus’s Juzam Djinn with Control Magic, only for the egg to end up back on my face as he bolted me down to 1 and I lost to the Djinn in my own upkeep.
Round 5 – Karl Hagan (Red deck wins, splashing Black and White)
Our decks were so aggressive that we actually had time to play four games, although I won the official two 2-0.  Hampered somewhat by never seeing Ankh of Mishra in the match, Karl managed to get plenty of damage in with Ball Lightning and Black Vise, but was not quite quick enough to beat the UR Counterburn in either game, although we did go 1-1 in the practice games afterwards.
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So with a 5-0-0 match record (and 10-1-0 in games) I was the clear winner, with Ben second on 12 points and Markus in third, very narrowly indeed on tie-breakers ahead of Tom in 4th.  A satisfying victory, and one well worth the albatross of having to pack Brass Man in my deck next time.
Six of us stayed on after the official tournament to crack open my Old School cube for its fourth outing, where after some classic old school drafting (including severe overdrafting of black and underdrafting of red by the pod) Ben Twitchen emerged as the 3-0 victor.  His reaction to “opening” a pack that included two Moxen, Shivan Dragon, Serra Angel, StP and Fireball was a sight to behold.
Ben's Old School booster "god pack"

The winning Old School cube deck


All in all, an excellent day was had by all, and with further events in the calendar in London and Edinburgh, a UK summer of Old School promises much to look forward to.
Scott Latham
May 2017




Black Vise unrestricted - the inevitable turn-one aftermath!





Wednesday 10 May 2017

COPcon III date announcement

This event is planned for July 1st 2017.  All welcome.  Full details here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/439866896389967/

Tuesday 9 May 2017

n00bcon9 Tournament Report by Jonas

N00bcon 9 Tournament Report
N00bcon 9, the world championships of Old School, took place in April 2017.  The London delegation consisted of me, my brother Ben, Steve, and Karl.  We banded together under the banner of The Beasts Of Bogardan, complete with matching t-shirt swag. Our introduction to the event came courtesy of Markus, London Old School’s favourite Swede.
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As someone who has played the game on and off since 1995, and co-organiser of a series of Old School events in East London, this was undoubtedly the highlight of my playing career - eclipsing even my winning of a Mox Sapphire at Gencon ‘98(!)
The flight over began auspiciously as Ben and I fought out a single 90-minute game involving no fewer than 3 Timetwisters, and finished with him decking himself while I had two cards left in my library.  Was this an augur of the extreme play which we were to see at the event?
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Arriving in Gothenburg one day ahead of the start, we decided against sightseeing to focus on last-minute deck preparation and sideboarding.  For me this included the generous loan from Karl of a slew of black-bordered goodies to pimp my deck, as well as four gorgeous Unlimited Plateaus to change up my strategy on games two and three.  Steve also had the chance to rather improbably lay down three Tims:
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That evening we headed to the venue, the Rotary Pub, to check out the eve-of-event festivities and to meet the man who started it all - Magnus.  At this point we became aware that we really were at the heart of global Old School.  If you’re the kind of player who considers the Savannah Lion to be the high water-mark of one-drop creatures, it simply doesn’t get better than this.
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As well as getting in a few friendly games and meeting competitors from across Europe, we were given the card prize for the British delegation.  In recognition of our team having an average height of 6’ 9”, Magnus kindly donated a rather unusual Hill Giant from his collection!
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After a reasonable number of beers we decided to hit the hotel and save energy for the big event.  The next day, our schedule began in a pretty relaxed mode and by the time Magnus came out to the balcony over the playing area to inform us of the approach to the day, we were raring to go.
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My “post-Goblin” deck had performed respectably at Bazaar Of Moxen in Paris two weeks before and David, a local Swede, was my first opponent.  His deadguy ale deck cast pesky Hypnotic Specters which did for me in both games, despite me getting him down to 3 life in the first, and 4 in the second. I ran out of reach.
This wasn’t the beginning I had hoped for, and Team Beasts of Bogardan had all got off to tough starts.  It was obvious that despite the friendliness of the field, and the amazing atmosphere of the event, everyone here knew their way around the format.
Game two I came up against the heavy artifact deck of Carl-Hendrik, also from Sweden.  This time, my deck fired - a Blood Moon knocking out his workshop and then Wheel Of Fortune taking him into a Black Vise.  Despite a Triskelion pinging off my weenies, my burn got me over the line.  On game two, my opponent was affected by mana issues and couldn’t unlock a Mana Vault.  Two Ball Lightnings finished the job his Vault had started.
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At 1-1, I was back in the event, but was undone by Julia’s white-weenie ‘geddon deck, despite taking the first game.  And worse was to come, when my round 4 opponent Max brought out a tightly-tuned Titania’s Song deck that worked a number of strong artifact combos before delivering the coup de grace with animated Winter Orbs and Icy Manipulators.  My only relief during that game was Forking his five-point Braingeyser, and successfully activating the coin-flip ability of my Goblin Artisans.  I think it’s safe to say I was the only one using that piece of tech!
At 1 win for 3 losses I knew I was out of contention for the Shark, but there was still the Hill Giant to play for, and in the knowledge that trips to the world championship wouldn’t come along every day, I was still determined to make the most of my remaining games.  The tiny number of drop-outs at this point showed that everyone was thinking the same way and this is tribute to the spirit of old school which ran through the day.  Losing a shot at the title also meant I could get properly stuck into the sumptuous beer selection on offer at the Rotary.
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It felt like a few beers agreed with my game, or at least improved my luck.  Lennart, my fifth opponent, faced a monstrous opener from me with a turn-two Mox-powered Ball Lightning, followed up by a rare instance of a Chain Lightning being activated back-and-forth.  Our second game saw two Wheels and a Winds of Change hitting the table, as my opponent dug in vain for his combo.  However I drew into all my bolts and was able to inflict fatal damage before his Underworld Dreams revealed itself.

Wheel: My new favourite card


Match five was my first ever ‘mirror match’ against another player called Jonas.  Early Blood Moons disrupted a nice-looking deck - my hunch that I would be witnessing fancy lands all day proving correct - and before I knew it I was on 3-3, which felt like a respectable score.  With one round of Swiss left to play, I was determined to see if I could make it more wins than losses.  
My final opponent, Nikita, who had come from Russia, had other ideas. Playing a deck I had never before encountered, including the forgotten Naf’s Asp, he overwhelmed me with green weenies and responded to my defensive boltings with multiple Giant Growths and Berserks.  It was a chastening two-nil drubbing and a timely reminder of the diversity of old school - I hadn’t actually faced The Deck all day.
With the competition now progressing to the Top 8 there was a chance to meet all the other players from across the world, including the two guys from Lords Of The Pit who had come over all the way from Chicago.  I concluded a memorable few games with Craig from that team, who was playing a hardcore reanimator deck complete with some mouth-watering alters.  With the generous gifting of a Chicago playmat, we agreed that the London and Chicago Old School scenes should cross over again sooner rather than later.
After that I also had time to play one match against Magnus himself, the man of the hour, although regrettably I had to decline his tempting offer to play “full old school” and play for ante, mindful that I was packing thousands of pounds worth of borrowed cardboard.  I also caught up with one of two confirmed owners of both the Ultra Pro 9-piece promo cards: a full Lotus and Chaos Orb.  Despite competing against decks encrusted with Alpha jewellery, and spotting summer lands in the wild for the first time, this was arguably the most impressive sight of all.
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With another couple of friendlies concluded, I sat down to watch an enthralling final as a fearsome-looking black deck (largely mono but splashing blue) faced off against The Deck.  The second game, with the Icelander coming back into the competition, was head-spinningly complicated and underlined the level of skill that top players bring to the table.  In the end, it took three rounds to separate the finalists, and black prevailed. It felt appropriate to see the rarely-seen Nightmare make an appearance at the end - once again a testament to the vitality of the format, and a tribute to how the best players are still exploiting value beyond the staple Factories, Sol Rings, and Ancestrals.
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With a new world champion crowned there was time for a few more beers before a 4am finish.  We had been immersed in elite Magic for sixteen hours and it was time to call it quits.  
My teammate Karl took home the Hill Giant as best performer from the British Isles, finishing 42nd out of 102, while I came in 70th.  So although I didn’t bring home the Shark, I did have a chance to put my name - quite literally - on the biggest prize of them all in Old School.  
A big thanks to all the organisers and competitors for the best Magic experience of my career, and particularly Markus and my fellow Beasts Of Bogardan.  Anyone reading this from overseas who fancies getting involved in more international Old School tournaments (albeit considerably less high-profile than n00bcon), then please sign up for updates from our newly-established East London club, Brothers of Fire.
Peace out.

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COPCon 2 - A report by Richard and Ben

COPCON 2 4th March 2017 – Tournament Report
By Richard Stebbing and Ben Twitchen

Part One - Introduction (Richard)

The second North London Old School meet brought much anticipation.

Several players attending are going on to compete at Noobcon next month. As such, this event provides a valuable opportunity to test decks. And this is important – Noobcon is undoubtedly the premier event in the burgeoning European Old School scene, and naturally there is a group of plucky Brits ready to take it down!

Another consideration is the sheer joy that comes with being able to play Old School. This primarily is driven by the players and the beautiful old cardboard available to them.

Rogue sideboard choices aside, the community does not tolerate sharking or angle shooting, instead choosing the chilled-out low stakes vibes of tournament play which offers as much to a creative brewer as it does to a competitive player on a tier one deck. Accordingly this is an excellent use of a Saturday afternoon.

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A rogue-sideboard pun

It would be remiss of me to fail to mention that London is very lucky to have a fair number of Old School players around, which means that meet-ups are not infrequent. We also have in Markus Lundqvist a founding light in the Old School Skype community. Time commitments and technology deficits mean that I have yet to make my debut in this form of the game, however I can't wait to give it a go. For this tournament however we had Markus in attendance in his physical rather than virtual form, which is probably better than his Skype persona! I would encourage anyone interested in learning more about the format to visit Wak-Wak.se which has all the information and Skype footage links you could possibly need.

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The second most-knowledgeable place in Arabian Nights?

Part Two - Deck selection

Ben's Musings

Until last year my favourite format was pre-release. Instinctive card evaluation, the novelty of the interactions, and the relaxed spirit of the games. I have since discovered old school 93/94 and love the immersion in nostalgia, the art, and a similar relaxed spirit. I've met Richard in finals twice now and enjoyed close matches against his premium variants of The Deck. We have different play styles, I lean towards a few unorthodox cards, so I hope our two perspectives will be helpful.  I know some commentators feel the format is solved and The Deck is the best, but there are plenty of players brewing away and maybe I've stumbled across a chink in The Deck's armour.

A nut Zoo draw on the play, supported by Lightning Bolts, is one way to beat The Deck. Others use situational crippling cards like Titania's Song, Black Vise, and Blood Moon.

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Answers to The Deck

The Deck has answers to everything; Moat/ Wrath of God / The Abyss, Ivory Tower, Counterspell and Disenchant, with card draw to find them. So my plan was to do the same thing but more quickly with a book that gets left in the cold while Jayemdae Tome gets all the praise:
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Jalum Tome

5 mana and two cards to draw one card doesn't sound fast or effective. But it is faster than its expensive cousin and dovetails with two particular synergies. First it allows me to swap Land Tax fruit for business cards. Secondly it allows me to hedge my bets and play cards that clash but cycle the redundant ones. (In a similar way to Sensei's Divining Top in Counterbalance decks allowing you to play as the control deck or the aggro deck). With Land Tax thinning the deck, Jalum Tome digs me into haymakers faster than The Deck player can find his. So I can play situational cards like Mirror Universe, Serra Angel, The Hive, The Abyss, Wrath of God, Ivory Tower and Maze of Ith. Land Tax of course combines well with Ivory Tower, Library of Alexandria and Ancestral Recall.

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Land Tax

All this comes at a price of course; I have to manage without counterspells and Jayemdae Tomes. This leaves me vulnerable to sideboard cards that are designed to cripple artifact-heavy decks like Shatterstorm and Dust to Dust. I have a plan for that but it will have to wait for another article…


Richard's continued musings...

My choice of deck was partly inspired by the above Wak-Wak resource – as I wanted to try something a little different to my usual control builds. I also wanted to play something that is likely to appear at Noobcon, which players may have not faced before.

With its synergy of counters and classic creatures, my perusals led me quickly to UW Skies – a deck built on most of the cheap control cards of the Deck and blurring the creature-based win cons of The Deck and UR CounterBurn - namely Serra Angel and Serendib Efreet - creating a viable mid range/control strategy.

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Angels of death

I had seen lists that run a Serendib Djinn (a card I've had mixed results with) or a full playset of Serras. However I chose two Serras and a mighty Mahamoti Djinn - in part as I wanted something of a surprise factor and I had literally never cast the Djinn before.

My copy of Mahamoti Djinn is from Unlimited and had accrued some early (unsleeved) flying hours from its previous owner(s). However of late he has languished in a binder, having not been touched in at least half a decade - until today!

I think the control/removal suite from The Deck is about as good as it gets in Old School, so picking the build-around cards was simple. However I wanted to have a little more reach, and access to Red Elemental Blast from the Sideboard, so I also included a red splash for Lightning Bolt. In part this was why I didn't want to run any more than the two Serras, so as to not be overly reliant on white.

Here is my final 75. The decision to play all 8 "Blasts" in the Sideboard was based on my previous trouble of UR CounterBurn, which had taken down the previous event. However that deck didn't end up featuring at the event (!) and probably 3 of each Blast is sufficient for our purposes.

I had a single Sideboard copy of Moat. I think I would want to run two in future versions - either a 1-1 main/side split or both in the main deck, probably at the expense of a Swords and a Bolt. This might mean changing the mana base, and possibly cutting red entirely (which probably means going up to 4x Serra Angel).

Moat (and The Abyss) are extremely powerful in Old School and basically only can be removed by 1) Disenchant 2) Tranquility 3) Chaos Orb and 4) Nevinyrral’s Disk. Consequently I think any control deck wants one or both of these excellent cards, which can generate insane amounts of card advantage by having an immediate answer to multiple attacking threats. Indeed both have been mainstay options in The Deck for over 20 years. But more on this and the power of The Deck another time.

Otherwise I kept some form of artifact hate in Divine Offering - a card which is more flexible but has less upside than Dust to Dust - which I think suits a control deck looking to play Disenchant copies 5-8.

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My other choice of two Wrath of God speaks for itself - the premier mass-removal spell which has game against the majority of decks in the format, and can again generate insane card advantage.



Part Three - Match Report

Ben's match report

6 players made it to North London for the second COPCON event, which was played round robin. Markus missed out on tiebreaks last time and was keen to do one better. We had two new faces, Markus' brother Frederick, and Ollie who recently got back into magic after a 20 year break. So the perfect format for him as his card pool, freshly retrieved from the loft, was all legal!

R1 - I got crushed 2-0 fast by Jonas's goblins, backed up with blood lust, ball lightning and bolts. I don't know why this deck isn't more popular; it is savage. I suspect it is harder to play well than it looks.

R2 - I won 2-0 against Fred's white weenie. His version uses Armageddon, which I can survive with Land Tax. We neutralised each other, got to top deck mode, and my blue cards did unfair things.

R3 - I won 2-0 against Ollie's white weenie. This version eschewed Armageddon for mana hungry late game cards like Serra Angels and Blessing. I think he stalled and gave me time to abuse Library of Alexandria. I saw his Spirit Links do impressive work against Richard's Serendib Efreets however, showing the versatility of the deck....

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R4 - I won 2-0 against Markus. Using Millstone, I milled both Timetwister and then Recall away, which was lucky as either would have saved him.

R5 - Richard was also only beaten by the goblin deck. I lost in short order game one with Serendib Efreet doing the legwork for Richard. Game two I won with an attack from Dakkon Blackblade, my favourite card, getting me back in contention. Game 3 I managed to resolve a hive and spend a total of 25 mana to make 4 scryb sprites, but they did the job and won me the signed COP white.

Thanks to everyone who turned up, and I look forward to next time!

Richard's match report

Match 1 vs. Ollie (1-0)

Game 1 was a very interesting affair indeed and the perfect start to the day from an intrigue perspective!

Ollie generated some early pressure before I was able to stabilise using my Swords to Plowshares on Thunder Spirits and successful blocks on Tundra Wolves and White Knights using a tactical Disenchant on a Crusade to kill the opposing creature with my stalwart Mishra's Factories. Ollie however was able to stem my oncoming tide of creatures, Swordsing a Mishra's Factory, a Serra Angel and a Serendib Efreet.

I was then able to assert command of the game, running Time Walk into Timetwister into a fresh Time Walk! 

From there, despite Ollie's best efforts, Swordsing a Serra Angel, I was then able to make a Serendib Efreet stick on an empty board. However Ollie had another surprise in store! Spirit Link enchanting the Serendib meant that I not only could not profitably attack, but that as I lost life each upkeep from the Serendib, Ollie gained it!

With our life totals moving in opposite directions, I desperately dug for a Disenchant or Swords to Plowshares whilst Ollie hopelessly whiffed on creatures! I finally found my answer, a Swords, and bought myself some turns, moving back to 7 life, to Ollie's 34! 
Ollie, still unable to establish a board presence, was then smashed with a fresh Efreet and a Mishra's Factory, with my life total (with Swords in hand) a precarious 1 as the fatal blow was dealt.

Due to TfL issues we didn't have time for a game 2, but with all due respect to my opponent, I fancied my chances with a Moat and two Wrath of Gods in the Sideboard...

Match 2 vs. Frederick (2-0)

Game 1 saw Frederick start to establish a presence, but then unfortunately stumble. This allowed the lethal combination of Flyers and Lightning Bolt to quickly put the game out of reach, with Frederick lacking a removal spell for my creatures.

Game 2 saw Frederick lay down some early beats, but ultimately he over-extended into a Wrath of God, in part due to me sandbagging it for two turns to coax out more creatures. This allowed me to set up the might of Mahamoti Djinn, a card I have literally been waiting two decades to cast! He got some beats in, before like any true genie, disappearing - to tend to his allotment. However the pressure of his supporting cast of flyers was too great and the game was put away.

Match 3 vs. Marcus (2-0)

Marcus plays an interesting deck that is Grixis control, switching effortlessly between Underworld Dreams combo and Juzam as its win conditions. "Grixis Tricks".

Game one saw Marcus lead with the classic Land, Lotus, Juzam. However my Land, Swords to Plowshares was an easy countermeasure.

From there I recall Marcus stalling as I was able to deploy a Serendib and Serra Angel for a quick win.

Game two saw a similar theme, as an early flyer put Marcus under too much pressure. I recall him having some mana trouble, as due to Strip Mine and Disenchant, I was able to cut him off of a colour, and from there the game was done through the power of my flyers.

Match 4 vs. Jonas (1-2)

Game 1 saw Jonas start with pressure through little red men and direct damage. My own Serendib Efreets were able to do some good work and start clocking Jonas, however the one point of damage a turn proved costly, and with Jonas on 1 life he was able to force through a lethal 3 damage burn spell for the win!

Game 2 saw an early position from Jonas met with a Wrath of God and from there he was promptly dispatched by my flyers. A crucial Chaos Orb miss on one of my creatures may have also accelerated his demise...

Game 3 proved a classic. Jonas led with a backbreaking turn 1 Black Vise! This left me effectively starting on 17 and in trouble with no Disenchant in hand. I luckily played out a creature into a counterspell, and I drew a Disenchant maybe three turns in, stabilising on 9 life.

I was able to develop my position, whilst pecking away with Mishra's Factory, but it was very precarious as I was not regularly able committing lands to the board, and I only had a finite number of counterspells and removal spells to deal with Jonas' upcoming threats. 

I ended up falling short, Jonas forced through a burn spell with him otherwise dead on board, sealing my fate. Unlike my first game of the day, here I was not able to cheat death and snatch victory from defeat whilst on one life point!

Match 5 vs. Ben (1-2)

This all set up a thrilling "final" against Ben, who was the other 3-1 player.

Ben is a longstanding eternal competitor and we have faced off several times before at the end of big events.

Game 1 was a bit of a non-game, with Ben having mana problems and being promptly dispatched by my Serendib charges.

Game 2 saw Ben race to an early start before I was able to deal with his attacking threats of a Serra Angel and a Mishra's Factory, as I encountered early mana problems. However I was able to stabilise – in part due to Ben's reluctance to over-commit to the board and leave himself vulnerable to a Balance or Mind Twist. As such, the pendulum then swung back to me, as I was eventually able to clear the board and get a Serendib Efreet to stick, which promptly began to peck-away at Ben's life total.

Probably however my failing was being unable to target the right spells to fight over, and this wrongful prioritisation allowed Ben back in – by resolving a huge 'do or die' Braingeyser. Buoyed with resources aplenty, Ben was back in the game and was able to make a huge Dakkon Blackblade stick, fighting off my attempt to Control Magic it with a Disenchant!

Game 3 was not quite as close, but saw a similar ebb and flow, as we both jockeyed for an early board position. Fundamentally however I was unable to find an answer to The Hive – a card I have used myself to great effect in the past – despite a deck full of fat flyers! – and I was dispatched to little fanfare!

Congratulations to Ben – who I think goes 2-1 up in our own mini-series (previous results at the inaugural London meet-up in March 2016 and GP London 2016). I look forward to trying to level the score again next time!

Introduction

Hi everyone.

Brothers Of Fire is the new name for a small Magic: The Gathering club playing exclusively Old School Magic in East London.

We began hosting two tournaments in January 2017.  Each time we play for a Circle of Protection as prize, so these competitions are called 'CopCON', in homage to the established events of Old School Magic.

Everyone is welcome at our events, which are held in the spirit of Old School - playing for fun, enjoying each other's company, and being open to those who are new to the format.