Subject: TX Regionals Report Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 13:15:43 -0500 From: "Scott Gerhardt" To: Well, I'm gonna go ahead and give the Team Abilene Report. I have to be honest and say that I'm a bit disappointed with our performance, but then again we found out once there that we were a little bit unprepared for what we saw. I decided to go with a new deck that myself, Mike Gilmore, and Chris Pratt had been working on. It was a U/G Vineyard deck that seemed to do fairly well versus weenie and bitch slapped control. The deck could often lose to a Weenie White game 1, though, and that later proved to be a very bad thing since even a slight mana screw games 2 or 3 could spell doom. I didn't think I was going to run across many weenie white decks, so I kinda let it be my bane and said I'd lose to it if I saw it. That was my biggest mistake right there. Mike was also playing a Counter/Vineyard variant Bil was playing the Abilene "This Bitch Ain't Even Nice" Doug was with 5CB Dave ran Super White Weenie with Humilty/Field of Souls Brad took a more standard Weenie White Round 1 vs Dan Olnick (Weenie White) Game 1 was I ever pleased (NOT!) when I saw a first turn plains. I got lucky and saw Propagandas, held him off until I got down a Tradewind lock and held it from there. Game 2 he swarmed me too fast due to mana screw. Nothing I could do execpt get bitch slapped. Game 3 was about key Legacy Allures. Slap those down, take critters and watch my opponent burn to the Vineyard. It's soooooo good against weenies if they can't handle it. Matches (1-0) Games (2-1) Round 2 vs David Nobles (Weenie White) Before the round I ask him what he played against last round. He tells me then I mention I got Weenie White. I saw him shuffling plains so I tried to maybe get into his head and think that I would have the edge. Didn't work. He was a good player I think. Game 1 he absolutely swarmed me. I took a Reflecting Pool start with good stuff in the hand, but didn't see a green for a wall until too late. Game 2 I pulled a nasty trick. I got down Tradewind stuff, but he still had good critters - 2 Warrior En-Kors and a White Knight with stuff still in the hand and a crusade down. I quake for two, then act like I'm a dumbass or something. He lets everything take 2, including the En-Kors. I bounce the Crusade. He calls for a judge, but he rules in my favor and my Red "Wrath for You" goes off. I lock him. Game 3 he gets down a Champion and a Cursade for his White Knight kills my Wall of Blossoms. I drop another Wall with an Allure already down. When I can I take his Champion so his Knight stops hurting me, then slap down Tradewind Lock and let the Champion do all the work for me. Thanks for the Crusade. Matches (2-0) Games (4-2) Match 3 vs Joel Mann (5 color something) I have no clue how to clarify Joel's deck. It was similar to my own in ways, but no vineyards and better fast creatures. Game 1 was amazing. Game 1 I take like 14 points from a Priest before I can deal with it. After being burned low I get a Spike Feeder with Tradewind lock down but no counter backup. He quakes for 4, killing all but my Tradewind and his birds. He's low on life from Pain Lands and few cards in hand. Despite not having a good dump in hand I lay a vineyard. He geddons and I am able to relay a Strongholded Spike Feeder afterwards by holding another Stronghold in hand. That is now my mana dump, but I'm low and have to show him the old "move a feeder counter to my feeder" trick with the vineyard to keep from mana burning and dying. Thus, he does the same on his feeder. I caught him on it at one counter, though, since at one counter it will due if you try that trick. Eventually it was too much as after my spike feeder had to block, he geddons and I'm at 1 and he's at one. I have no mana dump and die tremendous game. Game 2 was about being over zealous. I went for the lock. Holding a counter, 2 Pyros, and a Tradewind in hand w/ 2 Walls on the board, I went for the lock. He tried to disenchant a Propaganda. I countered it to attempt to force a counterspell war. Joel's a good player, though, and doesn't bite. I blast the Allure on the table and he counters. I blast again, and it goes. Untap, lay Tradewind, but he uses his only available mana to Pyro it. Next turn he lays Tradewind and gets lock. I lose. Great match, but a horrid screw-up on my part. Matches (2-1) Games (4-4) Match 4 vs Chris McBride (Counter Sliver) I refuse to write anything of worth here. He got two consecutive ass draws against me and I got two really good ones. He's a good player that saw crap against me. Matches (3-1) Games (6-4) Match 5 vs Tai Phu (Weenie White) I faced Tai last year and gave him his only Regionals loss. He remembered and wanted revenge. I wanted to stay in contention. Game 1 was Land, Vinyard, Land, Maro. I win. All his shadow dudes were not gonna be able to outrace that. Game 2 was 2nd turn shadow, 3rd turn shadow, 4th turn shadow, 5th turn Knight. I was like...UGH! Gimme some blue. Color hosed and I lose Game 3 was good. I drop a couple critters, but not enough for tradewind lock. She slaps some down, Man-O-Wars the Tradewind, then Armors it. Catch 22 here. Don't want to Tradewind it (like I could at the time anyway), but have to deal with it. Neither happens and I die. Revenged was served. Matches (3-2) Games (7-6) Match 6 vs Danny Speegle (Weenie White) Danny was not my first opponent. My first one was Counter Sliver who was butchering me when a little electrical fire started. Yeah! God saves my ass. :) I beat Danny pretty soundly by Tradewind locking him 4th or 5th turn both games. Matches (4-2) Games (9-6) Match 7 vs Tim Dryden (Weenie White with Red) Game 1 I lock him up and watch him burn like crazy to the Vineyard. Game 2 he swarms me. Game 3 I Allure both his Mogg Maniacs and quake for 6. Mmmm...I love using my opponent's combo against him. Matches (5-2) Games (11-7) Match 8 vs Jeff Zandi (Weenie White) Game 1 I give him Vineyard turn 1. He goes turn 1 Bird, turn 2 Armor. Remember the Maro incident from earlier. Payback was a bitch. Game 2 I give him vineyard turn 1. He lays a bird, but no armor turn 2. I try to hold him off and watch him burn a lot. He armors a priest, though, and goes to town. I have a feeder on the board, so I have 4 more life. Mana Burn gets him low and I have a quake in my hand. He drops to 6 after burn, then smacks me down to 2 after eating my spike feeder counters. Thinking I'll quake next turn and kill us both, he literally Shocks me and I lose. Amazing. Zandi is an incredible player, though, and I have no problems losing to him. I'm out now so I get a little pissed and go win some Mini-master tournnament getting some real janky rares. Bill Macey and David Williams want to money draft me, so I look for a partner worth a shit, but everyone had gone home since it was late, so maybe next time. Two people have problems in the top 8 deck listing. The Sligh guy forgets Suq'Ata Lancers from his list, and his DQed, but keeps the seat. Bryan Hubble doesn't know the difference between an Argivian Find and Argivian Restoration. He should have been booted too, but Fox gave him special treatment and let him play with them as Finds. Hubble was bitching about how it was an honest mistake and how he shouldn't have any penalty or anything. Whatever. Get real. You screwed up. You, you, and no one else but you. If you have anyone to bitch at, bitch at yourself. You lost the Regional championship for yourself. We end up leaving about 1am or so, all of us dead ass tired. I almost fall asleep on the way back, so I stop at a rest stop and sleep for a couple hours before getting back into Abilene about 7:45. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I expected a control field and got a weenie one. Opps. Bad guessing and back matchups are part of the game. There's always the US Opens. On to Props and Slops Props: Ed Fox: Damn - I was impressed. The tournament was well run, very few delays except for the fire, whick was handled well. Also, some people don't like "Ed, come tell us a story". Fuck 'em. That's a cool inter-round thing where people like me can get some cool cards at great prices (City in a Bottle for $2 and Duals for $4? Come on - that's good). Tai Phu: 2 years, 2 Regional top 8s. Wowsers. Johnathan Pechon: Okay, okay. The Feeders were good and Propagandas were better. Speaking of Props, I still have yours and you have my Auras and Domains - we need to switch back next time we see each other. Also thanks for the place to crash Friday night. Fires during tournaments: Nothing like an act of God to save you a few DCI points here and there. Slops: Bryan Hubble: Dude, I haven't been called Scott Gayhardt since 3rd grade....by 8-year-olds. Are you an 8-year-old? I guess so because you're consistently showing that's your mentality. Grow up. You may be a better Magic player than me (even though I do have a life), but man do you have a lot to learn about life. It is people like you that give Magic and Magic players a bad name. Grow up or don't make the rest of us look bad and stop playing all together. Also, as far as cheating goes, don't even pretend to take the moral high ground. If you say you don't, you're a liar and you know it. Grow some balls man. Me: Damn I talk a lotta shit. :) This is another apology to all my opponents who thought I was being a dick - I was. Sorry guys. This has been a shitty week for me and was a pretty shitty day and I took it out on y'all - sorry. :( Jack-in-The-Box: Y'all are some slow bitches at getting food out to customers. #mtgpro and some of it's ops: Stop kicking my ass, damnit!!!! That's it. Have fun and keep playing Scott Gerhardt Team Abilene