Subject: Regionals Report
Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 01:47:52 EDT
From: BlackKnght <BlackKnght@aol.com>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Regionals time again. Money at Nationals this year is going to be amazing! And
now the report:

Friday: Me and my good friend Leland Simmons hop into the Mustang and make the
Houston to Dallas trip. On the way there we stop at a Pizza Hut. This is no
ordinary Pizza Hut though, it's the same one I went to about 4 months ago on
the way back from a PTQ in Dallas. I had ordered some breadsitcks with the
pizza and I was halfway back to Houston when I remembered they had never
served them!!!! So the waiter comes up and I tell him and I get some free
breadsticks (well they're not really free..I just paid for them 4 months ago
and they were holding them for me). We get into Dallas and I meet up with the
rest of my teams and playtest for a little while. I have a refined version of
Cunneo blue put together but it gets crushed by everything. I'm convinced the
deck sucks and I build sligh instead. I go back to the room still not sure
what I'm going to play and watch Starship Troopers for a while. Leland makes
the amazing observation that Starship Troopers = Starcraft. The humans are the
Terrans and the Bugs are the Zerg. The concidences got kind of scary actually,
as we could even relate "smart" bugs to Cerebrates and the big fat bug thing
to the Overmind. Well enough about Starcraft, I suck at it anyway. I don't
sleep and at 7:00AM I decided to play the blue disk deck.

Disk.dec:

4 Nevinyrral's Disk
4 Steel Golem
4 Counterspell
4 Dismiss
4 Dissipate
4 Mind Stone
4 Whispers of the Muse
2 Argivian RESTORATION
2 Capsize
2 Impulse (yes...2 :(
2 Power Sink
4 Quicksand
4 Svyelunite Temple
2 Wasteland
2 Stalking Stones
2 Reflecting Pool
10 Island

Sideboard:
4 Bottle Gnomes
3 Hydroblast
2 Sea Sprite
2 Rainbow Efreet
2 Force Spike
2 Phyrexian Furnace

Round 1 vs. Tim Dryden playing White/Red

Tim's playing some type of weenie deck with shadow, knights, Mogg Maniac,
Earthquake, en-kors, some burn, etc.

Game One: He starts off with some fast creatures and gets me down to 1 before
I can pop a disk and gain board control. I counter everything he casts and
kill him with Steel Golem and animated Stones. I side in Hydros and a few
Bottle Gnomes.

Game Two: He gets mana screwed and I kill him fast with Golem whilst
countering losts of stuff.

Games: 2-0         Matches: 1-0

Round 2 vs. Landon McDaniel playing 5C Tradewind/Geddon

Game One: Get gets mana screwed with one Forest and drops a few Grangers. I
get out Steel Golem and counter his threat spells once he pulls out of the
mana screw.
I sb in the force spikes vs. his speed and 2 Hydros.

Game Two: He gets off to a fast start with small creatures and a boa. I get a
disk out but I can't draw quicksand for the boa. He gets me down to one and I
have to Capsize the boa with no buyback. I can't get above 3 land (I had used
a mindstone to cast the Disk) and can't counter all his spells. I lose to a
Wastes when I'm tapped out.

Game Three: This game is fairly close and swings back and forth. He finally
gets out a Tradewind and keeps my Disk bouncing while my Golem holds off the
creature assault. I try to cast the Disk and have to counter his Mana Leak,
tapping me out. He Geddons and that's game.

Games: 3-2        Matches: 1-1

Round 3 vs. Kevin Rager playing White Weenie

Game One: Get gets out lost of fast shadow and knights along with a Crusade. I
pop a disk when I'm at 6, counter 3 Geddons, and control the game from there
whilst beating with Golems. I side in...nothing.

Game Two: He mulliagns then drop 3 2/2s early. I cast a Disk and he Geddons
next turn. I had 3 land in hand and a Minstone out. Next turn I pop the disk
and he doesn't lay anymore land for 3 turns while my Steel Golem goes
20,17,14,counter that,11,8,counter that,5,2,Capsize that,0. Steel Math is
pretty cool. All my scores sheets look almost exactly the same.

Games: 5-2      Matches: 2-1

Round 4 vs. Bil Brin playing W/U/G control

Game One: We just sit around for a while as he lays Wall of Blossoms and I lay
Mind Stones and we build up mana. Finally I start Capsizing land at the end of
his turn and he has to counter it. I Main Phase Whisper, then lost a counter
war later over my Whisper. He gets out Rainbow Efreet and start beating on me
whilst Whispering and tapping my Steel Golem with Mind Games??? I draw a
Dismiss and somehow stop his Whsiper, then play a disk and pop it in response
to he Mind Games on my Golem. I get out Golem and Stalking Stones and start
drawing counters. He gets me down to 5 before he has to stop attacking with
the Efreet because I'll kill him next turn. I have no cards and need to draw a
counter to ensure a victory within the next few turns. I draw a Whisper. I
Whisper with Buyback, draw Impulse. Impulse, take Whsiper, Whisper, draw land,
Whisper, draw Counterspell. Next turn he Wisdoms and I counter it. He Wisdoms
again but doesn't have enough cards to gain enough life to stay alive. I draw
a land next turn, get him to one, and next turn he can't topdeck a card to
save him. It was a REALLY close match. I still don't know how I won when he
had Whispers going AND Rainbow out. I sb in Rainbows and Furnaces.

Game Two: I Wasteland his blue source early and cast a Rainbow. From there
he's mana stalled and a start Capsizing land to leave him at 3 land for most
of the game. Rainbow goes all the way and I win.

Games: 7-2      Matches 3-1

Round 5 vs. Jerry Brown playing mono Green Vineyard.

Game One: I go first and lay a Temple. He lays Vineyard and next turn I play
Disk. He lays Wall of Blossoms and next turn I pop the disk and Impulse. I
counter some stuff but mostly hold back counters and lay another Disk. I go
Disk/Capsize for most of the game until I can draw enough counters to play
Golem and let it go all the way. I side in nothing again.

Game Two: He doesn't take a mulligan with one land and he's mana screwed. I
drop Golem and counter the threats, Golem makes me :) as it goes all the way.

Games: 9-2    Matches 4-1

Round 6 vs. Josh Watts playing Tradewind Geddon

At first I sit down to play this guy (not Josh) and he's playing mono Red. I
beating him when I smell smoke. There's this fire and we have to evacuate the
room and we get repaired. So instead I play against Josh, and he doesn't look
to happy because so far I've beaten him all the time.

Game One: He draws lots of land and some fast creatures. I manage to pop a
disk and then get Whispers going. After Whispering to fill my hand I get
Disk/Capsize going and then Steel Golem once the board in clear. He conceded
after the first hit from the Golem.

Game Two: He doesn't take the Mulligan and is screwed with two Islands. Steel
Golem goes all the way as he discards for about 5 turns. So far I've played
about 2-3 players that don't take the Paris Mulligan with a bad land draw. You
HAVE to take the Mulligan with a bad draw, the risk of not drawing land is
just too big.

Games: 11-2     Matches: 5-1

Round 7 vs. Jeff Clark playing 5C Black

I know Jeff from Houston. We playtested before the tournament and I beat him,
but he's got a good anti-blue sideboard.

Game One: He casts lots of early creatures and I get a disk off when I'm at 3.
I get a Golem out and he casts a Black Knight and a Nekrataal. He attacks with
both, I block on, and I go to 1. He's almost got me when I draw a Whsiper. I
Disk again and cast another Golem. It and a Stalking Stones finish him off
while a counter the rest of his spells.

Game Two: He gets a really fast start while I'm stalled at 3 land. He gets
Winter Orb out and 3 black creatures and I lose.

Game Three: I counter a few early spells. He builds to 5 land and Lobotimies
me. I counter, he p. blasts and takes my Disks. I only have 3 land out too and
I looks like game. I draw B. Gnomes next turn and use it to block his Black
Knight. I then draw the land I need and Restore a Steel Golem. Then I counter
a Barrow Ghoul and later use a Temple to animate a Stalking Stones. I hit him
for 7 a turn while he draws land. It was a really close match, definately the
closest one I've played all day.

Games: 13-3         Matches 6-1

Round 8 vs. Dustin Towny playing Red Burn

He sits down and he's like "I heard you're playing Turbo Zvi." I have NO idea
where that came from but I just smile and do the "oh no you've found me out
you tricky dude" look.

Game One: He only has one land and goes Pup, Pup. He starts casting Shocks at
me like crazy and I drop Golem. He gets that screwy "that card doesn't belong
in there" look on his face and I smile. I later Disk away his scroll and the
rest of his creatures when I'm at 5. I later get out double Golem courtesy of
Restoration. I look at his 2 land and notice if he casts Fireblast/Burn he
will kill me next turn. I have 2 Capsizes in hand so I Capsize both of his
land while keeping a Quicksand untapped. Next turn he attacks with Ironclaw
and I Quicksand it. Next turn I kill him. I SB in the full anti-red stack. 4
Gnomes, 3 Hydros, 2 Sprites.

Game Two: He casts first turn Conscript but can't follow it up. I get disk out
and kill Fanatic, Scroll, and Conscript. He Fireblasts me down to 3 and has no
cards in hand. I play Sea Sprite and B. Gnomes while he plays a Flunkie with
no other creatures out. I hit him for 2 a turn while countering anything he
casts.

After the game he was like "my whole strategy the first game was against a
creatureless deck, I thought you were playing that Zvi thing". I felt bad for
the guy because he got some bad information, but I guess that's what he
deserves if he's been scouting. I never take anyone's word over what someone's
playing until I actually SEE the deck. Someone probably thought I was playing
Zvi because they saw a Temple or something...that's basically the only card I
play with that's in Zvi.

Games: 15-3      Matches 7-1

I draw into the top 8. They deck check me and my sheet says Argivian Find
instead of Argivian Restoration. They make me play with the Finds and I have
no way to cast them, so I'm playing with 2 useless cards. It's a good thing
they didn't deck check me earlier or I wouldn't have even made top 8. It's
just one example how stupid as mistakes can screw you. Personally I don't
think it matters. It's very obvious I didn't make the mistake on purpose and
that the only card that could fit would be the Argivian Restorations, so who
cares? But they make me play with Finds and it's gay. Speaking of gay...Scott
Gayhardt was nice enough to give me the 2 Finds with the advice of "don't do
that again." Thank you Captain Obvious would be a good response but instead I
was like "shut the hell up don't talk to me" which I felt better suited the
occasion.

Round one of the top 8 I played against 5CB. I beat him due to a slight mana
screw on his part and me NOT drawing the Finds first game. My deck is so
horrible now without Restorations.

In the Semis I played against Jacob Chen (I think this is the correct name)
playing 5C Gallegher. Game one he is stalled at one land. I should have won
but I drew both Finds. If they were Restorations I would have beaten him
easily. (triple Golem is good yes?) Second game I win because I sbed out
finds, third game I get mana screwed and lose. I had total deck advantage but
I lost because of the Finds. I should have won and made finals, but instead I
have to settle for top 4. There's no money prize anyway for Regionals so it's
not that big of a deal. Jacob flaps his giant ears and flies off the play in
the finals whilst I go get Leland, who is sleeping in Rick Burton's room. I
didn't see who won because I wanted to head back to Houston. Leland drove most
of the way after I almost fell asleep at the wheel, and we got back to Houston
at about 9:00AM on Sunday. Onto the Props and Slops:

Props:

Pizza Hut: They actually believed my story and gave me the breadsticks wich
was totally cool.

The Utah Jazz: We watched the game Saturday between rounds. Winning by
457834902987 points is amazing.

Landon McDaniel: The only guy who truly beat me today.

Daniel Sanchez: I drew with him round 9. This was he first tournament and he
makes the top 8, which is really cool. He ALSO likes Our Lady Peace, and was
listening to it for inspiration. I do the exact same thing...so we can now
conclude that listening to Our Lady Peace = you win.

Slops:

ME: I should have won Regionals, but I just HAD to write down Argivian FIND
instead of Argivian RESTORATION. Boo!

Scott Gayhardt: This guy admits he cheats and ruins his rep. (if he even had
any) then makes dumb comments to me. Scott talks shit to his opponents when
he's losing...I swear..he must be one of the only horrible players I know that
thinks he's amazing.

Fire: It's cool how you make me warm and all dude, but popping up during a
Magic tournament is NOT the time.

Burn Boy: You probably started the fire you crazy pyromanic freak. Oh
yeah..you suck.

The Mad Hatter: I just read your post on the Dojo. Boo!

Thanks for reading, see you at Nationals.

Bryan Hubble
AustiKnights