Subject: [REPORT] - SE Regionals
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 10:48:09 -0400
From: "Heaven, Zachary" <zheaven@hayes.com 
To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" <fkusumot@ix.netcom.com 

Tournament Report : South East Regionals : Atlanta, GA
Attendance : ~360
Format : Swiss, 9 Rounds : Standard Constructed

Disclaimer:  This isn't a tournament winning report.  This also isn't a
report that slanders people or insults anyone.  This is just a report that
will show the deck I used, and give a history of events.

It all started back when Stronghold was first released.  You see, I have a
certain method of play that has carried over since I started playing Magic
about the time of "The Dark".  I love serving with the beat down.  I made a
deck similar to this when Stronghold was released, but it got mocked at the
local store for not being a good deck.  In fact, during the tournament it
was still being mocked.  Nevertheless, I did very well, and my only
legitimate loss came from the winner of the entire tournament.

I had no name for the deck prior to the start of the event.  Thankfully, Jay
Schneider and Andy Wolf helped contribute to the fun by naming it
"Hungry-Don" for the sheer amount of beef this deck contains.

The concept is simple:  start out with a wall and a quicksand as early
defense as you build up mana.  Then, lay a disk or a quake, and drop
something big and fat.  It is hard to mess up with this deck.  I think
that's the advantage that took me though most of the Swiss rounds.  It isn't
like playing a Sligh deck, but it is almost as brainless.

  Here is the version of "Hungry-Don" I took to the Regionals:
 
  4 x Wildfire Emissary
  4 x Endangered Armodon
  2 x Lhurgoyf
  2 x Orgg
  4 x Bottle Gnomes
  4 x Wall of Blossoms
 
  3 x Earthquake
  3 x Nevinyrral's Disk
  3 x Gaea's Blessing
  3 x Mindstone
  4 x Incinerate
  1 x Karavek's Torch

  1 x Wasteland
  3 x Quicksand
  3 x Mountain Valley
  1 x Undiscovered Paradise
  4 x Karplusian Forest
  6 x Forest
  6 x Mountain
 
  SB:
 
  4 x Phyrexian Furnace
  4 x Pyroblast
  1 x Tranquil Grove
  3 x Emerald Charm
  1 x Nevinyrral's Disk
  2 x Shatter
 
  Commentary:
 
  All in all, the deck had no extremely major flaws.  In 19 of my games, I
  NEVER had a dead card.  The deck carried some weight during the rounds,
  and abused the "finely tuned" decks through the undefeated rounds of
  Swiss.  Once I lost, the decks were more challenging, as they had bad
  construction, which made it possible for them to actually handle my deck.
  Ironic, isn't it.
 
The deck definitely needs some threat against other control decks.  There is
no Armageddon, Wrath of God, or Living Death.  Nor is there a way to beat
them, had it happened to me.  With Karma on my side, I proceeded into the
tournament...

  Round 1 - Mono Blue
In game one, the mono blue player bounced and impulsed his way into a decent
amount of counters and land.  Unfortunately, that didn't really concern me,
as I was laying fat creature after fat creature.  Keep in mind that 12 of my
creatures can't be blocked by walls or tradewind riders.  So, I roll him.
In game two, an early Tranquil Grove removed a propaganda and a chill and
two Orgg and two Endangered Armodon held his defenses at bay until he just
made too many mental errors to deal with a 6/6 Trampling creature.
  (1-0 : 2-0)
 
  Round 2 - U/G Control (Eric "Ewok" Ewald - Team Neutral Ground: Atlanta)
  In game one, Eric made a couple of mistakes due to his inexperience with
  the deck, which cost him the game.  Eric is an all around good player, so
  I know he is better than he played.  Instead of beating me down like he
  should, he held back and kept bouncing my creatures.  Fortunately, I had
  built up enough mana not to even care about that, and it cost him the win.
  In game two he got blue screwed and I drew three pyroblasts, which held
  off his tradewind riders and capsize enough for me to have an Endangered
  Armodon go all the way.  I think I quaked away a man-o'-war and a sex
  monkey also.
  (2-0 : 4-0)
 
  Round 3 - U/G Control
  The same deck.  The same thing.  A couple of mistakes here and there, some
  mana problems early, and he goes down in flames.  Since the U/G decks
  can't control my mana, and since all my creatures are wall breakers, I
  eventually have no problem casting Orgg two times a turn.
  (3-0 : 6-0)
 
  Round 4 - 5CU
  I hate this guys deck.  Game one I just simply lay a Wildfire and he
  desperately searches for a Wrath.  He gets it off but I drop another, then
  he Wraths again, and I drop another.  More or less, between three
  Wildfire, I did about 60 points of damage.  In game two, we can't do
  anything against each other, and we have the most boring fight in history,
  as he decks me by countering my blessings.  In game three, he can't find a
  Wrath, and an Endangered Armodon does 40+ damage in under 5 minutes.
  (4-0 : 8-1)
 
  Round 5 - White Weenie -- "InQuest Feature Match"
  In game one my Wildfire with 3 mountains and 3 Forest just simply outrace
  his Freewind Falcons and Soltari Priests.  He has to chump block my Hungry
  Don's, which means he can't be on the offensive.  Cursed Scroll is so weak
  versus 4-6 toughness creatures.  In game two I don't have anything early.
  He is dropping his usual tale of en-Kors, and Soltari Priest (which makes
  the quake in my hand useless).  I drop a disk, go down to 5. Then I pop
  the disk and lay a Wildfire.  He does nothing and dies in about 5 turns.
  (5-0 : 11-1)
 
  Round 6 - Mono Red (Pat Callahan - Team Neutral Ground: Atlanta) --
  "Neutral Ground Feature Match"
  He got his god draws.  In game one, I should have blocked the Viashino
  with a wall instead of taking 4 damage and saving the quicksand for the
  ball lightning.  It's pretty sad when I draw 2 Walls, 2 Bottle Gnomes, and
  1 Quicksand and still die on turn six.  In game two, there was nothing I
  could do.  Turn six, and turn 4 kills for the red team.
  (5-1 : 11-3)
 
  Round 7 - Black Weenie
  In game one, my opponent couldn't recover from an Earthquake after doing
  his dark ritual thing.  A fat creature is too much without Terror or
  Diabolic Edict.  In game two he did his first turn thing and on turn two
  had two Sarcomancies and a rat out.  On his third turn he cast Coercion to
  get the Earthquake out of my hand, which forced me to disk instead.  He
  then stupored me and got two incinerates... that cost me the game, as he
  killed me when he was at 3 life.  In the third game, I made my only
  logical error, and instead of laying a creature I pumped the Wildfire.  I
  played an Orgg, then a Bottle Gnomes the following turn, but alas, at two
  life he spites me (which will kill me even with sacrificing the gnomes).
  Had I dropped a creature instead of pumping the wildfire, I would have
  blocked his rats (which did 3 damage) and been out of range for the kill.
  He was at 6 life (and I would have had Orgg, Wildfire, and an Endangered
  on the board).
  (5-2 : 12-5)
 
  Round 8 - Pox
  In game one, he gets land screwed and I beat him down.  In game two he
  can't handle Orgg and Bottle Gnomes.
  (6-2 : 14-5)
 
  At this point I left.  It was way past my bed time.
 
  I think that adding 1 Tranquil Grove main deck would suffice.  The card
  was the MVP of the tournament.  When you kill two Propagandas and a Chill
  in one shot, you are serving some "Tranquil Grove Beat Down".
 
The deck lacked one major concept -- mana control.  If I had been able to
Stone Rain a land here and there or Armageddon all lands away, I would have
won more games, and easily have made Top 8.  Besides, Orgg - Armageddon,
it's almost like a combo.  But, mana control might become an important
factor.  With white I might also have a chance versus the Mono Red decks
that seem to always find themselves in the winners brackets.  Yet Armageddon
just isn't the answer versus heavy control decks, and I will work at beating
them.  I know that a Tranquil Domain, along with the four disks, will help
me defeat propaganda and nasty enchantments.  With no main deck Artifact
destruction of my own, and an inability to use Sex Monkeys, I find myself a
bit weak against Cursed Scroll and Winter Orb.

Any suggestions and duplications are welcome, and if you can help improve
the deck, I would appreciate it.

-Zach