Subject: Hawaii Regionals Report Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 21:43:00 EDT From: DBull19002 To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Luck. Some people try to figure out why it holds such domination over so many facets in MaGic. OtheRs simply try to rEduce its odds, so that they miGht benefit from their oWn mathematical conclusions. Either way, It still has a great deaL to do with competitive Magic. I have aLways said that a lucky sligh deck can beat any deck 90% of the time. For most parts, thIs is basically true....And horribly devastating. The average tournaMent attendant is unfamiliar with the true ramificationS of luck.... ...And that is the down fall of the average player. Hawaii is not a Magic Mecca.....but we do what we can here. The average large tourney has roughly 75 to 100 participants, and the top 8 is pretty easy to guess by simply glancing at the attendance roster. Though Hawaii is confined, we do have a fair deal of strong competitive players. Most of these players I have gotten to know on a personal basis and gain from their knowledge....and for this I feel horribly lucky.(note:Lucky) I had taken a great deal of pride in my Regionals deck testing and metagame research. I do wonderful at local metagaming, and seem to be right on target with every prediction I make. After some snooping around, I decided that Weenie White was the big contender to worry about and that control would be totally minimized...and I do love to be the underdog.:) Everyone was totally down on the whole Sliver idea(uh oh...he played that damn McNish deck!..not really) but I believed it had some merit. Much to my joy, there were few players prepaired for it. I breezed over McNish's and Daz's reports and did some tinkering of my own. I changed some mana ratios, added some sweep removal and a few more sideboard changes to make the deck my own. You'd be suprised how easy it is to recover from a timed Wrath of God.(And they did VERY well in the deck) I was worried about Cursed Scroll in the deck, and personally after playing and some observation I have come to the conclusion that it is either luck(note:Luck) or total ASS in the deck.(99.9% of the time it was as useful as a motivational speech from Jack Krevorkian) However, the deck sides like a dream and can handle virtually anything. So I ran the gauntlet on about 10 deck types and slopped together my Sliver deck. ...And it was off to Regionals. ****************************************************************************** ******************** I get up nice and early and begin my Saturday morning. I pick up team mate Garret Mayer, pack some buddies in the car and head for Honolulu. We wiggle our way into registration and fill out our decklists. I do my quick walk around to see what everyone is playing. Out of the 80-90 competitors here, roughly half was playing Weenie White. (I am on it man.) I hook up with Big Island buddy Will and do some Idle chit chat before the matches begin. Buddies Greg(see! Greg!) and Scott finally locate us and we do some pre game strategy on the field. Greg and Scott were at my house the night before decktesting until like 1:30 or 2:00 so were are all pretty tired. Team mate Ned goes with "Two Pints" and is prepped for massive creature decks. Team mate Garret makes a last minute switch to U/R with disks for some control. My wife Denise goes with a heavy removal Weenie White we slapped together the night before.(Personally she hates to play white because she says ,"Too many chics play Weenie White..I fucking hate Weenie White," but goes with it any way.) She is the only female participating in the tournament.(Cool) We wait for our pairings and round one begins..... Round one: Garret Mayer U/r frenetic hammer What the fuck man?!?! They pair me against my team mate and Ned against my wife out of 90 fucking people. This is a personal vendetta to kill my team.:) Garret and I shrug our shoulders and go at it anyway. Garret has seen my deck and just tells me to kill him quickly and I do. Both games are uneventful with Crystalline hitting the board and me countering Disks and Quakes. Record: 1-0 Round two: Tyron Yamaguchi WW land depletion I dig playing Ty. We are both laid back guys and the matches are casual and still competitive. I have some minor problems with evasive shadow and Ty capitalizes on it during the games. I do the untargetable thing and he goes for the unblockable one.:) Ty gives me three consecutive Wastelands in a row in game one and I am in trouble. He plays smart and I like that.....much to my chagrin, there is little I can do during mana depletion. I was unconcerned with Geddon and Ruination as I saved counter magic at ALL times for the appropriate decks. I was aware however that Wastelands would be most devastating to my deck....and Ty is the top deck master.:) In game two I Lobotomize Ty for a Geddon(and he has a Wasteland in hand..but I have no countermagic during my turn four.) so I choose Geddon. I do the shuffle, but opt not to cut. Ty top decks all 4 Wastelands in 6 turns against me....and I top deck 3 non basic lands.(note:Luck) Ty's deck is a wonderful answer to mine as he plays only single weenies and has only to remove Cursed Scrolls. Tactically wonderful on his behalf. Good job Ty. I tell Ty he'll be my only loss for the day and that I'll see him in the top eight. Record: 1-1 Round 3: Chris Jackson Turbo Zvi Chris is playing Turbo Zvi??? He tells me that he's been prepping for finals and hasn't had time to get a deck ready so his team mates hand him one. He plays first and lays a Crystal and Island and I know what he's playing right away. I have two counters and some Slivers. I lay Slivers and hold the magic for the Dream Halls. I nail it in the first game and serve up a fast beatdown. Game two is similar but he gets a quick Halls thanks to Ancient Tomb. He follows it up with a City of Solitude.(Damn) I have two Legacy's Allure and a Disrupt in hand. I draw a land on my turn.(Damn) Wait.....cards......I play and Allure by pitching one....I Disrupt....pay..draw a card...Disenchant.(WOW!Note:Luck) I nail the Halls and its game over again. Beatdown. Record: 2-1 Round four: Gordon playing Mono Green Wall Madness I played Gordon at the last type two and he gave me trouble with the walls stall and Over Runs. He played the same deck here. I start serving with 13 points of flying beatdown, and Allure his wall defenses to stop his Centaurs.( That way I save counters) both games are fairly the same....with me countering only necessary threats. Record: 3-1 Round five: Eddie playing Sligh Typically...Sligh will kill this deck unless I get a good draw in game one. And I dont. Eddie nails me with 3 Ball Lightnings and double Fireblasts. Like I said...a lucky Sligh beats anything. I board and we go to game two. My second turn Warmth saves my ass, as I opt for non Blue red hosing to stop sided blasts. I play my untargetables and nail him for 13 or 14 twice. Sweeeeeet. Game three is nastier with turn 2 and 3 Warmth's(thats Fireblast for zero! Ball Lightning=Shock.) and I have him locked. I counter a Disk(game) and I nail hard-core sligh with 3 Blasts in his hand. That was Luck on my part. Record: 4-1 Round six: Ryan Stampke playing (gulp) Prosbloom This is bad. I hate playing Bloom because it's like walking a tightrope. And I have shitty balance. I consider Ryan to be Hawaii's best junior(duh) and one of the best in Hawaii over all. We are friends and we decktest, play together when we get the chance. This is going to be competitive and friendly. We agree on no hard feelings afterwards. The winner WILL make the top 8. This is tense. Now let me tell you about Ryan. He got a warning earlier for Trash Talking an opponent and is kinda P.O'd about it. That is my favorite part about Ryan's game, and a good part of his psyche job on opponents. I love watching him give opponents the head screw and totally flustering their game. Many people confuse this for general hatred toward them and in turn, hate Ryan for it. It's a common misunderstanding amongst tournament players that this is not hate. It's a simple matter of controlling your opponent's game and then letting him go his own merry way and totally forgetting about them. There is nothing personal about it. The opponents just make it that way.....and it screws their heads for life against that opponent. I love that. We do the hand shakes and it begins. It starts with 2 people watching us, and I lose game one to a quick Bloom. I hardly ever win game one against Bloom. I try to get them over in a fair amount of time so I can see what version they are using and allow myself to sideboard correctly. Ryan goes with the heavy Meditate version and I decide to use the Meditate turns as my creature casting turns. Game two I side in my Lobotomies and Tranquils and we start again. I concentrate on 1 card against Bloom...Squandered Resources. Ryan know thats what I am shooting for. I disenchant 2 Squandereds and he can't get the engine running in game 2. I let him Contract as often as possible to drop his life total..keeping close eye on cards in hand.(That's key against Bloom) On Meditate turns I drop 2 Muscles and Crystals to hammer him. I am always keeping Blue available in these games as I will eventally hit countermagic. We now have a crowd of about 20 watching. Game three is the most tense Magic game I have ever played. This one was all about the luck I talked about. I have no opening countermagic and I am trying not to sweat it. I do have a Disenchant and a Tranquil in hand though.....my only hope is to nail both a Bloom and a Squandered with the Tranquil. Ryan has five cards...casts Squandered...goes to 4 cards..casts Balance..goes to 3 cards...casts Bloom..and goes to 2 cards. This is WAY dangerous...DO NOT do this at home or against ANY bloom deck EVER! My only chance is to stop these two cards he is holding....and I have done the math in my head..and they are not search cards..most likely land...etc. He says done.(Luck.) and I Tranquil. That is enough to stall before he gets going again.....now its recover time for me. I load my hand with Slivers and wait for the Meditates and Contracts. He puts himself in danger range and says go..I am sure he has a sink. On my turn I drop Crystal and 2 Muscles. He Sinks a Muscle and I get a Winged instead. That's 7 I can do and he is at 8.(Damn.Now remember..this is a Meditate turn) I draw again....it's Cursed Scroll.(ASS!ASS!ASS!) I have a Disenchant,Scroll,Disrupt,Undiscovered, and Island in my hand. I have one chance..... I play Scroll( we now have a crowd of 40 or 50..tense) and there are oohs and aahs from spectators, as they see I have 4 cards in hand still. I lay the land.....I Disenchant the Scroll...everyone screams like I am a blithering idiot.....I disrupt....there is a quiet and people exchanging Oh shits and holy fucks.....It goes through and I pay. I draw a card. I have an Undiscovered in hand....I have 3 in my deck.....27 cards left and have drawn no others..like 12 land in play...the math says one is coming..I get Stronghold instead. I Activate Scroll and call Stronghold.....I mix both cards and lay them face down on the table....I scoot away and tell Ryan to choose.(He's the target..duh)..people are going nuts..the Judges are trying to calm them down. SO here it is...our way into the final 8 is decided by a 50/50 chance.....it's all Luck right here. We have both cut the odds as best we can and this is what it comes down to...fucking 50/50. Shit. Ryan decides to roll a 20 sided to make it totally random.(More luck) The right card is odd...the left even. It come up odd.....I quickly scoop up the card and snatch it to my chest so nobody can see. I am unsure what the card is myself.....I don't think I want to know. I don't look...I dont bother....I flip the card on to the table and say...,"Take Two" ....And low and behold...it is Stronghold. The room goes fucking nuts with screaming, cheering, and woahs. Holy Pikula! That was a bullshit luck win.....and I hate those....a simple die roll in my favor....and I am in. Where's the strategy in that? I am surrounded by handshakes and pats on the back....but I am upset for my friend Ryan...because of the lack of strategy involved in the win. Afterwards I quickly make my way outside for air. I need it...I am skull fucked. Two guys approach and say," Good Job man! Glad you won..I hate that guy!" I tell them ,"Thanks, and Fuck you....Ryan's my friend asshole." He drops his head and makes his way elsewhere rather quickly. Player Hate.....dumbasses. Round seven: ID with Kris Lohman So I make the top 8 with my Sliver deck and am sitting in the 6th seed. I get paired up against Kris as my match. My record versus Kris is roughly 0-4-2....my luck...for the day..just ran out.:) Kris is playing B/g recursion with Feeders,Gnomes,Nekrataal,etc. I can beat that....we do deck checks and begin. Game one goes smooth. Smooth for Kris......I get 23 cards and 16 are land. Holy fucking balls. I knew my luck ran out..but Christ! That bad??? Game 2 is an inversion and I see 1 land in my opening hand. My luck is gone, and I get some cards in return. I swear.....what is a cracker gotta do to win around here.:) SOooooo..I didn't make one of the 2 slots( I was 4 away!DAMN!) but I got some of the best games of my life out of it. I met some more people, and am confident in my future attempts. I suggest if you use a deck someone else has created that you DO modify it to be your own. I suprised alot of people with the cards in my deck and suprise was key today. As was luck... ..And Luck is all over Magic my friends. Props: Ty for helping my rating into the top 8! Greg,Shane(top 8!),Will,Scott,Garret,Ned, and my Wife for keeping me company throughout the long ass day. Jack in the Box for Chili Cheese Fries.(Cheesy Poofs!) Luck for fucking everyone. Slops: Dumbass player haters. Jack in the Box for Chili Cheese Fries. Luck for fucking everyone. Dave Bull DBull19002@aol.com Team Island Magic(v2.0)