Subject: NY Regional 3CW Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 13:20:35 -0400 From: Mike Hanna To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com The night before regionals, my brother and I are discussing our decks and what we expect to face and we draw two conclusions: 1) Wasteland is going to rock 2) Speed is going to win So neither of us put any wastelands in our decks, but we have fairly quick decks...my brother went with his version of Counter Sliver (see his report for more info) and i took a 3CW deck: 4 White Knight 4 Freewind Falcon 4 Soltari Priest 2 Soltari Monk 2 Duskrider Falcon 3 Man-o'-war 1 Knight of Dawn 1 Derelor 3 Emp. Armor 2 Disenchant 1 Aura of silence 4 Manaleak 3 Shock 4 Tithe 3 Armogeddon 2 Mox Diamond 10 Plains 2 City of Brass 2 Gemstone Mine 3 Adarkar Waste SB: 4 Slight of mind 3 Hydroblast 2 Disenchant 1 Aura of Silence 1 Phyrexian Furnace 1 Feldon's Cane 1 Earthquake 1 Firestorm 1 Honorable Passage So my brother drives to Neutral Ground...we stop off at McDonald's where i make a complete dork of myself by dropping my deck and having my cards go everywhere...i couldn't help but notice everyone writing down my deck contents as i picked the cards up; i'm sure this is why i didn't do well, since now everyone knew what i was playing. :-) Note to new players: Don't drop your decks in McDonald's After registering and everything, we get started around 11:00 a.m. or so Round 1: vs. multi-colored Tradewind / Stompy In the first game i draw nothing but painland and do like 50 points of damage to myself. I armored up a shadow dude and attacked, thought i was cruising to my first win, so of course he plays man-o'-war on his turn...bye bye armor. I re-cast the shadow dude (taking pain land damage of course) and it gets man-o-war-ed again next turn. I can't 'geddon due to all of his mana dudes and he applies man-o'-war beatdown for the win...this was a close game since my shadow guy did get through for alot of damage, but i did too much damage to myself early in the game. The next game came down to tradewind riders...i hydroblast the first one he casts, then attempt to mana leak the 2nd one...and my mana leak gets hydroblasted!!! An assualt led by armodons and Uktabi efreets ensues, and my freewind falcons just can't hold them off as everything gets Tradewinded back to my hand. Matches 0-1 Games 0-2 Round 2: vs. Sylvan Pursuit (Humilty / Orim's Prayer) Game 1 is a looooooooong one...being the scrub that i am it takes 40 minutes and him at 60 life for me to realize i should concede. I think he drew 1,000 cards in this game!! Games 2 and 3 take 10 minutes as an armored shadow dude goes all the way in game 2 and a freewind falcon takes game 3 backed up by mana leaks, disenchants, and 'geddon. Matches 1-1 Games 2-3 Round 3: vs. Black Speed (Ritual Madness) This would be the round that separates the PT Playas from the scrubs...at 1-1 i felt i still had a chance to do something...little did i realize how out of my league i was... All 3 of these games are total slugfests...i think in all 3 games there was only one creature declared as a blocker as i had to use a man-o-war to slow down his assault. The first game was all about protection from black shadow guy with armor and a white knight going all the way...all of his creatures were prot. from white, mine were prot. black, so it was just attack attack attack...i win this game through a timely geddon...on his turn after the geddon he attacks and gets me down to 2 life...he had a cursed scroll and 3 of the same cards in hand, but no land so i win!!! The next game is where i get slapped in the face by reality...you can't just wake up one morning and qualify for nationals like its nothing...i get pro red shadow guy armored up and he has 2 to 3 creatures on the board (pro white) beefed up with unholy strength...i debate whether or not to play a land before i attack, thinking an extra point of damage (from the armored shadow) could make a difference, even though i'll win with my attack on the next turn regardless...so i don't play the land (which is a city of brass)...i declare my attack...he casts terror!!!! i think to myself, no problem i'll just slight of mind my dude to pro black...its here that i realize i only have 3 plains on the table...and i'm holding the city and the slight...and all of my hopes and dreams are crushed just like that :-( The 3rd game his deck is just too quick for mine and i die pretty easily...My opponent would go on to qualify and finish 6-1 Matches 1-2 Games 3-5 I played in the next round but wasn't even in to it so i lost pretty quick. All in all it was a good time and i learned afew things which should help...thanks for reading this far; please feel free to email any comments / suggestions Mike Hanna mhanna@etcny.com