Subject: Regionals Report top 8 Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 22:14:41 CDT From: Michael C Reinking To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com This is a quick report on my experiences in regionals 98 in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is also the first report of the newly formed Team Mayhem, based in Des Moines, Iowa. Our forming a team was long overdue and finally made possible by Mayhem collectible's sponsorship, and we're all pretty pyched about it. Myself and teammates Chris Krugler, Dave Lyon, Julian Rosielle, John Demaris, Mark Pentecost, and Troy Gould arrived at Hobbytown at around 8:30, in plenty of time for the usual last-minute deck construction :) Other notables included team mascot and 12-year-old phenom Travis Jones and irc celebrity Yap's younger brother Chris Steltzer. Mark is playing 3cg tradewind/control, Julian counter-sliver, John prop-orb with howling mines, Dave g/b living death, Troy r/b attack, Travis the usual white weenie, and Chris Steltzer a deck that can only be described as turbo-pooh. It assured it's own loss by turn 2 numerous times throughout the day, at least until the round 4 drop :) Mox diamond/shivan is not_ a combo, Chris. Krugler and my self played this deck, which he insists be called 8 ounces, I think in mocking salute to two pints, despite their (at best) superficial resemblences. This is the deck: '8 ounces' 3 shadow guildmage 2 fireslinger 4 mogg fanatic 4 erg raider 4 barrow ghoul 2 manowar (maybe 1 more next time) 2 uktabi orangatan (killed 0 artifacts, which seemed really_ weird) 4 incinerate 4 kindle 3 diabolic edict 3 terror 1 earthquake 1 fireball (a must in any deck I construct) 1 firestorm (needed 1 more) 3 forsaken wastes 4 undiscovered paradise 2 gemstone mine 7 swamp 6 mountain SB: 4 honorable passage (amazing all day) 2 tranquil domain 3 pyroblast 2 winter orb 2 energy flux (incredibly bad, idea was vs. the varying scroll/bridge decks) The deck looks a little suspect but plays extremely well. The idea is that it's a burn deck pretending to be a weenie deck. The mad removal makes a block just about impossible, and 1-2 hits from a ghoul makes burning the opponent out easy. The only non direct-damage guys in the deck are the utility off color ones (2 of which function as removal), the basicly direct damage barrow ghouls, and the ergs, which exist basicly to not be scrollable. Anyway, the report. I unfortunately took no notes, so there are almost no names. I'm new to this report thing. Round 1: W/r weenie (kinda like two pints, but with no armor and sub-standard creatures) Game 1: He gets out some dorks early, including a nomads en-kor, a maniac, and a fanatic. I decide to control the amount of the earthquake by casting it myself :) After that, he seemed to get little but land, and a killed him with an erg, I think. Game 2: He gets out bombardment, but I get some removal and kill his first 7 creatures. The 7 from bombardment are all I take, as a ghoul eventually beats him down. Matches 1-0 Games 2-0 Round 2 RTG Game 1: He gets a birds, which immediately dies, 2 wastelands, and that's all. Game 2: I think it's 5cg, and don't sideboard since the main is pretty good vs. that. I am unpleasantly suprised by turn 3 lifeforce, turn 5 bridge, and a warmth and vinyard thereafter. I take 4 a turn from erg and vinyard for a couple turns, when he draws 3 monkeys in a row :) He must've feared scrolls. As I am now attacking for 5/turn, he has to monkey his own bridge to live. This allows my to slip out a ghoul, which pretty much beats him down. This was my only chance all day to use the fluxes, but I guess I'm not complaining :) Match 2-0 Games 4-0 Round 3 Nathan Jensen Mirror Match This is one of my roommates who came along with the team, playing my deck, but without fireball and with a less focused side. Game 1: We both kill all the creatures, but he is forced to use more burn than my. I am disturbed, however, by a huge_ pocket of land. Luckily, I also draw fireball, and target him for 10 :) Game 2: He get 3_ ghouls on me, and I have to blow a passage to survive. I burn him out on 2 life. Still not sure how I won this. Match 3-0 Games 6-0 Round 4 an excellent player from KC playing pacifico tradewind Game 1: He gets what seems to be a pretty good draw, seeing 4 tradewinds by turn 10 :/ I can only kill 3, and legacy's allures with 17, 10, and 4 counters on them prevent me from mustering much offence. Basicly whatever. Game 2: bring in domains and pyros, out uktabis and prob some ergs. He again sees 3 tradewinds, and repeated geddons beat my face. Match 3-1 Games 6-2 Round 5 Kevin? Williams pacifico tradewind with quakes main Game 1: 3 early walls slow me way down, and I get beat for 14 by a monkey. Game 2: At this point a have a lot of experience losing to this deck. I decide that I will side out all my ergs and ignore his walls. If I prevent a geddon lock and keep pinging, I should be able to avoid another humiliating monkey beatdown. It works, as pinging and wastes kill him with me at 7. Game 3: I additionally side in orbs, which seems odd, but killing birds is trivial, and this deck is more like donais than 5cg. I get an early orb, while he has cop red. For some reason, he taps out to cast a monkey while at 4 life, and I firestorm him out. This was his only mistake of the match that I could see, but it was a doozy. Match 4-1 Games 8-3 Round 6 very sub-optimal burn Game 1: my fanatic and shadow get quaked, so I cast only ergs, fearing another quake. The obvious Ball hits me while I look at my fanatic in hand :/ 2 lightning blasts(?) Kill me soon after. Game 2: 4 passages in, feeling good. They turn out not to matter, as his lack of any real creatures allows my to keep pace with his burn quite well. a hail of kindles finishes him. Game 3: We're both at 18, when I cast an erg. He quakes, and I passage the erg, then attack him. Next turn is an instant replay! Talk about reversal of fortune. A kindle does the last 2. Matches 5-1 Games 10-4 Round 7 Ronny Serio Crew-style sligh This pretty much sucks, as I hate to knock out friends, and ronny is also about the best player there. Game 1: He can't hit me with creatures due to my mad removal, and a ghoul goes all the way. Game 2: In go orbs and passages for the wastes and I think manowar, as he has 4 wasteland. I draw only swamps, and the orb doesn't slow him down nearly enough. Game 3: I get 3 fanatics and 3 raiders, and this + his lack of a single bolt make this a quick game. A passage on an attacking ironclaw finishes him. Matches 6-1 Games 12-5 Round 8 Bob Dove w/u Tradewinds, armors, geddons Tiebreakers look really tight, but that doesn't matter as my opponent is 5-1-1. Game 1: Really not a contest. He has light counters and only about 16 creatures, so blocking is out of the question. Game 2: He get turn 2 cop black(!) I basicly sit there collecting reactive spells while he begins a beating with spirit mirror. Eventually he tries to armor a monk. I kindle in reponse, pyro his hydro, untap and domain. I begin to beat with a lone shadow guildmage. He casts priest and geddons, in response I incinerate his token and terror his priest. I then play 2 land and a ghoul :) Matches 7-1 Games 14-5 At this point the top 8 is assured. Mascot Travis 'Public School' Jones is also in at 7-1, in his first non-local tournament. Amazing. Top 8 is: 1 Austin Vaughn 5c rg 8 Shawn ? two pints, I think 4 Sam Heckman sligh 5 Travis Jones wweenie 3 Sam Rapson counter-sliver 6 Doug Rodwald r/b? didn't see it at all 2 me (Mike Reinking) R/B/u/g weirdness 7 Eric Fink turbo re-animator Quarters Eric Fink turbo death Vs. The planeswalker of the year, Fomori from the irc. Game 1: He get turn 2 ancient tomb/buried, turn 3 living death. I kill everything but the spirit with black removal, but next turn he animates the verdant force. Pretty much game. Game 2: He ritual/necromancies a verdant turn 2. In retrospect I should have drawn first. The tokens protect it from edict, due to my stupidly tapping an undiscovered turn 2. As he had 2 more animates in hand, it didn't really matter. I don't really care much about this merciless beating, as all I wanted to do was qualify, and I doubt my deck beats his much anyway. Meanwhile, public school continues his reign of terror, beating sam in the semis. top 4 are: Austin Vaughn Travis Jones Sam Rapson Eric Fink Sam's manowar prove too much for the animate strategy, and he wins in 3. Austin appears visibly upset to be facing what he terms a 'sealed deck', But is nevertheless beaten down by infantry veterans. Public School! Finals Sam Rapson Travis Jones Travis's inexperience finally matters as he faces a deck that can race him effectively. Manowars and allures prove key as Sam Rapson becomes Great Plains Regional champion in an all-juniors, all-Iowa final! The team was very pleased with it's performance overall. In addition to myself and the amazing Travis, Several members barely missed at 6-2. Unfortunately, we didn't get a 12-year-old regional champion, but we look forward to representing the teams at regionals. Mandatory props/slops Props: Travis Jones. This kid is incredible. Next project: teaching him to draft... Chris Krugler for making the deck, which is really solid as long as there are creatures to be removed. He didn't get quite the pairings I did, going 5-2-1, but I think these two strong performances show that the deck is good. All of my teammates for their constant help with playtesting, I haven't known the field this well since Paris qualifiers, and that was a two-deck field. Julian Rosielle for just being goddamn hilarious. The Crew for just ruling and for coming out of nowhere to qualify people as usual. People like you are most of what keeps my playing this game. All my opponents, I didn't have a rules problem or a poor sport all day. Anyone else I forgot.. Slops: Chris Steltzer, I am sorry but what the hell was that?? Greg Reid, for playing pox against all reason. Dude, come to me, I will loan you cards. Denny's for being butt-ass slow. That's about it for slops, which in my opinion makes for an excellent regionals! See you all at origins, Mike Reinking mentat on irc