Subject: MA Regional Report; Top 8 player, Matthew Ranks Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 04:45:05 EDT From: RRanks To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Ok, bear with me. This is my first report in quite some time and my journalist skills leave alot to be desired. I also sat next to J. Wakefield round 5 and think that his verbosity rubbed off a bit. At any rate... My team arrived at the country club @8:30. We had decided the night before on our decks and were relatively satisfied we all had a shot. Andrew, my brother, was playing Donais 5cu. Tim Mckenna, who has played very little constucted lately, played a mono green e-bridge/c-scroll/e-vineyard deck. The deck had a huge weakness to blue, particularly tradewinds, but sideboarded heavily against it. Mitch played a variant of 5cu, with additions of Rainbows and bottle gnomes. I played my "Awesome Blossom" deck that I posted about a month ago, now greatly improved. 4 counterspell 4 dissipate 4 wall of blossom ( maybe the best creature in type 2 ) 3 tradewind 3 ophidian 3 bottle gnomes 3 uktabi orangutan 3 nevinrrals disk 3 whispers of the muse 3 gaia's blessing 3 man o' war 1 legacy's allure 1 winding canyon 4 quicksand 3 skyshroud forest 5 forest 11 islands sideboard 3 hydroblasts ( vs. sligh/ or any deck that brings in pyros ) 2 energy flux ( winter orb/pox ) 2 phyrexian furnace ( hammer/phoenix/gaia's ) 2 disrupting sceptre ( control ) 1 Rainbow Efreet ( Donais ) 2 Scragnoth ( Blue...obviously ) 2 Torture chamber ( shadow/weenie ) 1 Lifeforce ( pox/bloom/necro ) I knew going into the tournament that 5cDonais would give me problems. I needed two things to happen. #1-No early 5cDonais matchups. #2-At the tournament, there seemed to be an anti-control metagame developing. Hopefully this trend would thin the opposition while allowing point #1 to continue throughout the day. We registered and got ready for... Round 1, Mono Blue While he shuffled, he dropped an island onto the table, and gave a glimpse of whispers of the muse. I was not looking forward to what he was playing. Turn one he whispered during my discard phase. OK, one less whispers I had to fight with, that's good. Turn 2 he dropped a sapphire medallion. Turn 3 Propaganda. At this point, I was feeling uneasy, although I held two disks, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get them out. On turn four he dropped another sapphire, and another propaganda. OK, my disks look really good now. I cast one, he power sinks. He then drops a...SCALDING TONGS!? I am a bit thrown by this one. A scroll follows. Hmm. Card disadvantage blue. No problem. With almost no cards in his hand, I drop disk number 2, he doesn't counter, and I clear the board. Ophidian beatdown follows and that's game. Game 2, side in sceptres, scragnoths, and 1 energy flux. This one goes by a bit quicker, with me pulling a timely orangutan for a scroll, and scragnoth going all the way. After the match he was quite upset, as he had 14 counterspells in his deck, and I consistently out countered him. His deck suffered from the fact that in order to function he needed a small hand size and therefore could not take full advantage of whispers of the muse. 1-0-0 Round 2, 4cTradewind, no counter-magic These matches were pretty lopsided, with my counters and whispers being too much for just a tradewind deck that revolved around bouncing v.monks, orangutans, and wall of blossoms. Also, in game one he was a little mana screwed, and I countered two Harrows he tried to cast. ouch. 2-0-0 Round 3, Jeremy Landry, g/w Humility/Natures Revolt He definitely had some problems vs. Blue. Game one was tremendously lopsided, and his kill card being grindstone, well that isn't so hot vs. Gaia's blessing. Game two was closer than it should have been, but he played it well. He had about 50 cards on the table, and I was trying to get a disk out. I succeded, but on his turn he drops the lock and we proceed to go back and forth saying go for awhile. Key point was that he had no artifact or creature mana, and I had energy flux in play. He was at 7, myself at 20, and he dropped mox diamond, eladamri's vineyard. Wow. Fortunately he ran out of spells to cast and use first, and he died to vineyard burn. Without the e- flux, I wouldn't have been able to keep the artifacts, ( and their activation costs/mana sinks ) off the board. 3-0-0 I'm feeling pretty good now. Checking with the rest of Team Special Bus, I find that Andrew is 3-0, and hasn't lost a game either. Tim is 2-1, having lost to a deck with worldly tutor. Mono green with lotsa arifacts can't deal with wildebeast/orangutan. Mitch went 0-2 and dropped, having two tough matchups. Other friends of ours were doing ok, with Eric J. and Chris D. at 2-1. 4th Round, Alex Buck, playing sligh Alex and I know each other and get along well. I know that he ALWAYS plays red, and feel confident that my deck will win. Bottle Gnome and wall of blossoms tend to give sligh a hard time. Game one makes me nervous. He goes first, gets out a 2nd turn Dwarven miner, which I steal w/legacy's allure, but not before he kills a land. Stone rain takes an island, and he gets a great draw. 2 Ball lightnings and 2 fireblasts later I'm reaching for the sideboard. In go 3 hydroblasts, out go 1 monkey ( I never saw scroll ) 1 whisper ( not needed till late ) , and 1 ophidian. Game 2 shows me all 3 hydroblasts and tradewind/wall of blossoms followed by gnomes being blessinged back in force a concession. At this point he offers a draw. I know that my deck has the edge here, and despite a first game loss, I am very confident. Game 3 is similar to two, and he cannot stop me from gaining ridiculous card advantage from Wall of Blossoms/Tradewind. 4-0-0 Andrew is now 3-0-1, drawing with another 5cdonais, Tim draws and goes 2-1-1, Eric J. 2-2, drop. Chris D. 3-1. 5th round Mike Bergoli ( sp? ) ProsBloom I am not looking forward to this. With only 8 counters, Prosbloom usually gives me a hard time. He plays very well and beats me 2 straight. I have horrid counter draws, but even with good draws, I think he would have taken advantage of my deck. 4-1-0 Andrew draws AGAIN. 3-0-2. Tim has his match declared a draw after he loses 1st game, the opponent quakes for a draw the second game, and he wins third game. Chris D continues strong at 4-1. 6th round, Elf, WW/red We both know it is do or die time. He shows early that he is playing ww. He gets 2nd turn shadow, I drop an ophidian. When I tapped the mana, he assumed man-o-war, and acted surprised that I didn't cast one. He cast empyrial armour, attacked for 7. My next turn, MAN-O-WAR!! He recast the monk, but I dropped a quicksand next turn and eased into control. Game 2 I took a risk and sided out orangutans, for 2 torture chambers and 1 hydro blast. A whisper and an ophidian also came out in favor of two more hydros. An early winter orb gave me a scare this game, but I had quicksands for both early shadow boys, and drew out a disenchant with a torture chamber, and dropped a disk. I was at my most vulnerable here. He casts Armageddon. I counter. He taps his last mana. Pyroblast. I tap 1 blue, Hydroblast. I pop the disk, draw whispers of the muse, and coast to victory. He was a little upset at being swept, but I really felt that with firestorm being his only tradewind killer, I had a definite advantage. 5-1-0 Andrew's good start turns to 3-1-2, he drops. Chris D. goes to 5-1. Our friend Mike E. from Lewiston, Me. lost in the first round because he showed up late, but still managed to go something like 5-2 by the end of the day. 7th Round, Ray Fucillo, Black Rush This round may be the one to make nationals. Our tiebreakers are great, and the winner of this match should be able to draw into top 8. I heard that Ray was playing Shadow Rush, and felt a little nervous. Wall of Blossoms can't stop a Slayer, and if I don't have good draws, he'll tear my head off. Game one was not so good. He went first. Dark ritual, Erg raider/Unholy strength. Shit. I never even saw a Wall of blossoms or Manowar to by me some time. I sideboard in lifeforce and torture chambers, but feel really badly about my chances after losing first game. The Paris mulligan doesn't help either. My new hand has a torture chamber, so I cross my fingers, lay an island and say go. He goes, swamp, ritual, Pump-knight, Scroll. I Am worried, but I feel I can keep up. I drop a wall of blossoms. He attacks, and I block. he rituals to kill it. I drop a torture chamber. He proceeds to have his ass handed to him. He concedes after I get whispers going. Game 3 he lays a swamp and... NO RITUAL!!! I lay an island, and say go. He starts to bring the creatures and we fight back and forth until a bottomless pit hits the board. At this point I have a difficult choice to make. I could dissipate it, but I have two tradewinds in my hand and could use them to lock him down. I just need him to not nail them with the pit. He says go. Upkeep, I lose... Dissipate. I draw another dissipate and cast the trdewind, but have only two mana left untapped to protect it. He casts terror. Damn, maybe I should have countered to pit. He discards his last card, a swamp, during his upkeep, draws a card, and says go. He randomly nails..... my whispers of the muse. That's fine. I draw land, lay it, cast tradewind. He casts. TERROR. I dissipate, and soon commence putting cards back in his hand for the pit. At one point I decide that I want to fill my hand so I put the pit back in his hand in response to him declaring it's activation. He is unsure that this works, but the judge, Moses, verifies that he will discard the pit. STRONG. Whispers of the muse leads to his concession. 6-1-0 Chris D. also wins and is now 6-1. I check the points, and feel that I can draw in. Chris thinks we would both have to play. I find my opponent, Michelle Bush, and we both agree to draw. It is an easier decision for her, as her tie-breakers are the best of all the 6-1's. Now for the waiting game. It turns out that I miscalculated badly. My brother, Tim, and I check out the matches and realize that I need THREE particuar people to win in order for me to qualify. #1-Mike B. playing Bloom. Mike beat me in round 5, and is now playing a 6-1. If he loses, he'll go 6-1-1, and still qualify, and his opponent will go 7-1, and take MY spot. #2-Chris D. decided to play. His opponent is 5-1-1. If Chris D. wins he'll be 7-1, and he'll take my spot. If he loses, his 6-1-1 opponent does not have great tiebreakers, and will not qualify. #3-Jaime Wakefield. Jaime is 5-2. His opponent is 5-1-1. If Jaime wins, he'll bump them both. I'm not sure if his opponent would advance with a win. I watch with much frustration, knowing my chances would probably have been better if I had played it out. #1- Chris D. loses in game 3. #2- Mike B. Wins #3- Jaime W. wins #4-I'm goin' ta nationals! I sneak in as the 8th seed. It was a great feeling, especially with all of my friends pulling for me as the last matches were played. We didn't play out a top 8, but her's the breakdown of decks 3 DarwinKastleLivingDeath 1 Black Rush 1 ProsBloom 1 CounterSliver 1 5CDonais 1 Awesome Blossom Props Team Special Bus Members Andrew Ranks and Tim Mckenna for their help in playtesting for this year's regionals. Dave Childs for playing LD. Ira "wonderboy" Beaver for pulling for me all day long. Tom Guevin and Alex Buck for helping school those punks at basketball between rounds 1 and 2. Slops PT Norman Woods for going 0-2 Chris Derosche for being a cheating bastard. He confided with Eric J. that he was going to offer his last round opponent 100$ to lose, so he could go to nationals. He only stopped due to the number of spectators that would hear him make the offer. Aaron Lewis for playing a Volrath's Shapeshifter deck. Wow that deck sucks. Thanks for reading. Team Special Bus is........ Andrew Ranks, Deck Construction Coordinator "Mitch" Mitchell, Team Enforcer Tim Mckenna, Chicago Rep. and Financial Genius and Matthew Ranks, Sealed Deck Specialist and first member to go to Nationals. See you there. ----Matthew Ranks