Subject: Regionals Report--Alaska, by Jeff Moeller Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 10:44:42 -0800 From: ejkmcsm@arctic.net (Elizebeth Moeller) To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hiya Frank. Well, I made the top 8 (again) but didn't win (again). Following is a discussion of the tourney, and a rundown of the top 8, not necessarily in that order. Metagamed Sligh kicked butt. 1. The Top 8 at the Alaska Regionals. I had hoped to have exact deck listings for you, but computer problems are plaguing me. Danyel James (winner): Danyel played "Slightly Impulsive", a r/(u) Sligh that I developed and he's been tweaking (he said I could take some credit :-)). All of the usual suspects, plus ManOwars, Fog Elementals, 1 Derelor, lots of multilands, and a five color sideboard. It runs a bit of a steeper mana curve than normal, thanks to the best card in Type 2, Impulse. Danyel went undefeated, ending a frustrating streak of just missing the playoffs. Shannon Bell (2nd): Shannon's "LA" deck is a straight red Cursed Sligh skewed toward the low end of the casting cost selection, with 4 Metallic Slivers standard. This is something all Sligh decks should consider; a first turn Metallic is big trouble for Countersliver. Shannon also runs Flings as a finisher. Jason Mohr (semis): Jason won the Western Division Junior Super Series in LA. Pretty standard issue Steel Necro, skewed toward discard. Travis Renk (semis): Travis played a Type 2, almost creatureless Weissman style deck, with the usual u/w counter/wrath/disenchant suite, Jayemdae, Wand of Denial, a couple of big flyers as the finisher. Derek Plymate (quarters): Derek played a b/u Steel Necro/Dancing Gnomes recursion, with Lobotomy and some light counters. Less of an emphasis on discard that Jason's deck, and more recursion/beatdown. Hal Tippens (quarters): the venerable Hal played his venerable 5cg and bravely defended the honor of the carload of people from Fairbanks who braved the 700 mile roundtrip to play in Regionals into the final 8. Ambler Stephenson (quarters): Ambler played his balls to the wall b/r landkill special. I will try to get Ambler to email you his deck list, because it really does work. In addition to the sorceries and Wastelands, Ambler runs Orcish Settlers, Army Ants, the extremely annoying Hurloon Shaman, and Edicts, Earthquakes and Nekrataals to deal with whatever may sneak out early. The current suite of Multilands allows him to sideboard in 4 Disenchants against Sacred Ground. Ambler lost in Swiss only to heavy black discard. Jeff Moeller (quarters): I played a version of Countersliver, with 4 Muscles, 4 Crystalline, Winged, Victual, plus Armageddon and Tradewind Riders for more control. My search for anti-other Sliver deck sideboard tech led me to only one solution: Field of Souls to hopefully win the numbers game. So there you have it: 2 Slighs, 2 Steel Necros, 1 5cg, 1 Countersliver, 1 old school control deck, and 1 rogue landkill deck. A little bit of everything turned up: some white weenie, several Necro decks (rarely seen up here), a handful of counterslivers, a few Living Death, some Pox, 1 Bloom, some Stompy. Very few combo decks reared their heads. Ebony Charms (house sideboard card against Living Death, Dancing Gnomes, Hammer, Gaea's Recursion, Dreadshifter, etc. etc.) were being chased down the night before the tourney. 2. General tourney description: turnout for Regionals was somewhat disappointing, with only around 40 or so turning out. It looks to me like we have enough for 6 rounds of Swiss, but it is announced that only 5 will be played. This is not enough, IMHO, to separate the best 8 players out of a field of over 30. The reason why will be explained below. Round 1 (vs. Josh Greiner, countersliver). Josh is playing 20 Slivers (6 more than me), about a dozen Counterspells (twice as many as me), 4 Wordly Tutors (to find Muscle Slivers) and land. Game 1 he has more Slivers than me. Game 2 he has no land. Game 3 he has more Slivers than me, but I have a Wrath for 5 of them. Unfortunately I am at 5 life and he is at 20 by this stage. My comeback falls just short, and the Field of Souls never shows. (0-1, 1-2). Not an auspicious beginning. Round 2: A new player I don't know playing Counterburn. Games 1 and 2 the Crystalline Sliver sneaks out, followed by his now unboltable buddies. (1-1, 3-2) Round 3: Mike James, playing White Weenie with Armors, counters, ManoWars. These were good enjoyable games, as white weenie matches up pretty well with Slivers. I manage to win (phew!). (2-1, 5-2) Round 4: Unfortunately I really don't remember too much about this round. I won two straight fairly quickly, as a player I don't know had a deck that I never figured out where it was going. Red/Green something or other. (3-1, 7-2). A quick comment on the pairings for this round. At this point in the tourney there were four 3-0 players, and a horde of 2-1. A lot of the usual suspects for the final 8 were 2-1. The four 3-0 people promptly drew twice, populating the final 8 while only having to play three rounds. You should not make the final 8 of a regionals in this fashion (editorializing here). Round 5 vs. Ambler. We draw, since that will make us 7 and 8 in the finals. Not one of my proudest moments, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Intentional draws defeat the idea of Swiss pairings and allow people with fortunate pairings in early rounds to avoid tougher competition later by the expediency of drawing. The player with the unfortunate first round pairing who then goes undefeated the rest of the day is lucky to survive. This has to stop. Final 8: Shannon Bell (Sligh) beat Jeff Moeller (Countersliver): Game 1, I get no slivers. Game 2, I get a decent hand and romp. Game 3, I draw two lands in my opening hand and don't see another one. I put up a fight but he has Metallic Slivers, which is not a good thing when you have Muscle Slivers that you want to play. I fall victim to the dreaded mana curve. Danyel James (Sligh) beat Ambler (landkill), Sligh was just too fast and nonmana-hungry. Jason Mohr (Necro) beat Hal Tippens (5cg) Travis Renk (control) beat Derek Plymate (Necro Gnomes). Semis: Shannon Bell beat Jason Mohr Danyel James beat Travis Renk Finals: Danyel's bigger Sligh beat Shannon's smaller Sligh. The power cards of the tourney: Mana Leak (everywhere), Ebony Charm (in just about every sideboard), Bottle Gnomes, and various sundry Slivers. Thanks to: Darrell Breese for organizing a well run tourney, and Barratt Moy for coming all the way from Chicago to be our head judge.