Subject: [Tournament] OH Valley Regionals Winner Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 18:23:52 -0500 From: dmallory@nal.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hello, This I my first post to the Dojo. I wanted to give a little insight into the creation of my deck which has been dubbed ?Mallory SRB? (Superior Red Burn!?, Stupid Red Burn, Whatever?.) that I used to win the OH Valley Regionals. This deck is nearly identical to the deck I used to qualify for LA in extended except for replacements. I replaced the 4 bolts with shocks, and the 4 tactics (please stupor me!) with kindles, and I added the 2 Wildfire Emmisary and 2 Furnace of Rath for the Pyrokenisis. Scrolls absolutely do not work in this deck?the whole point is to 4th or 5th turn kill your opponent before he can provide any serious pressure to you. The loss of my 4 Anarchy sideboard now made this deck very beatable by white and a gamble to play. Mallory SRB (Superior Red Burn) 4 Mogg Fanatic 2 Dwarven Miner 3 Ironclaw Orcs 3 Ball Lightning 2 Viashino Sandstalker 2 Wildfire Emmisary (Pro-chicken evasion ability!!!) 4 Shock 4 Kindle 4 Incinerate 4 Fireblast 1 Hammer of Bogardan 2 Kaervek?s Torch (Beat many blue players who were not ready for it due to the extra 2 targeting cost). 2 Furnace of Rath (Just like playing with 6 Fireblasts since you hold this until you are ready to blast away). 4 Wasteland 19 Mountains Sideboard 4 Pyroblast 1 Sirocco (This card bites?see the tourney report?it should have been a firestorm) 4 Havoc 3 Flashfires 1 No Quarter 1 Hand to Hand 1 Firestorm After playtesting this against nearly all types of ?net decks? I know that it really only fears 4 cards and one deck type. The cards to fear are C.O.P. Red, Honarable Passage, Warmth, ?Geddon. The deck type to fear is the 12 pro-red creature, armor decks that kicked my ass in Ann Arbor the week before regionals. I had serious nightmares about 2nd turn ?chickens? followed by third turn armors. I made my own chicken deck at home and found that I could still win a fair amount of time just to amazingly good draws. Thus I played the gambit. I left Detroit at 5am on Saturday to arrive in Columbus at 8:30 am. My buds from my U of Rochester NY days weren?t there yet. So I hung with some cool guys from Indiana and then went and said hi to the other rocking players from SE Michigan that I knew. Dennis Bentley and Marc Magnera showed up at 9:30 and we compared decks that we would be playing. Dennis said ?no way are you playing a deck like mine? he then laughed after he found out we both had selected red to play. His being a massive creature sligh version vs. my burn version. He then held up my Furnace of Rath and made fun of me for playing with a very sub-optimal card. I am certain that the Furnace took offense because by the end of the tourney it had rocked some major ass! On to the tourney?. I do have to apologize for any inaccuracies and also lack of names due to a coke disaster in round 7 requiring me to sacrifice all available scratch paper and game notes to clean the floor under my chair. Round 1 vs. U5C Game 1 I kill him on turn 8 with a 7 point torch after he holds back 3 lands for a dissapate and wraths away my 2 orcs. Torches always rock counter players. Game 2: In go 4 pyroblasts and 1 Sirrocco for 2 Wildfire Emissaries, 3 kindles. I have a 3 wasteland start and waste him 3 turns in a row. He then lays 4 more lands and wisdoms for 14?whatever. A painful 50 minute affair where he gains to ~100 life and even pays 24 life to show me his hand and hold his 6 counters after I Sirocco him. He finally recurses a fireball and kills me. At this point I side out the damn Sirocco and put in a kindle and figure if I don?t kill him quick I lose anyhow. Game 3: I waste his undiscovered and he uses a quicksand on a ball lightning. He is trapped at 3 lands. I then kill him on turn 5 with double fireblast. Phew match 1 in the bag. He shows me his hydroblast and wisdom in hand. 1-0 Round 2 vs. 5CG Tradwind/Orb Prison Game 1: 4th turn kill with Ball lightning/Fireblast combo. Game 2: He gets right to a 4th turn Tradewind and then winter orbs me. I am forced to fireblast the tradewind leaving me with 1 land in play when he plays his 2nd wall of blossoms. 6 turns later I shock, incinerate, fireblast, fireblast my opponent dead having drawn 3 mountains and 2 fireblasts and the shock. ROCK that is skill!!! 2-0 Round 3 vs. 5CG Tradewind/Armageddon Game 1: Master playbook start of T1 Mogg, T2 Orc, T3 Ball lightning, T4 Attack+Incinerate+fireblast to kill at exactly 20. Game 2: I don?t know what to sideboard having seen only non-basic lands. So I play as is I cast out 2 orcs on turn 2 and 3 and hit my opponent to 16 with a two turn orc attack and he has a wall of blossoms out. My opponent then casts C.O.P. Red!!!! DOH!!! And has two lands left untapped. On my turn I draw a fireblast to go with the fireblast and furnace of rath I already have. I cast out the furnace and attack with my two orcs. My opponent not wanting to lose his wall for the later tradewind lets them both through and COPs them. I then Double fireblast him for 16!!!! Oh baby the furnace rocks!!! He shows me his hand and also has a honorable passage?boy do I feel lucky. 3-0 Round 4 vs. Underwood 4CW played by Dave Underwood who is a cool cap wearing guy from SE MI. Game 1: He gets out a pro-red shadow but I outrace him and kill on turn 6. Game 2: Massive 9 card anti-white sideboard goes in. I have a flashfire in my opening hand and stall at 3 lands. 3 turns later he geddons and finishes me with the pro-red shadows. Playmistake #1?in my disgust of the geddon I scoop my lands and toss them in the graveyard then I say of course I fireblast you for 4 taking you to ten?doh bonehead play mistake. Dave says only because I know you will I let you get away with that. Way cool of him to let me do that ? but it didn?t matter since I needed like 4 more lands in 1 turn to come back. Game 3: Early earthquake by Dave clears off my Mogg and orc. I begun to pound him down with a sandstalker and he passages the 4?.ouch that hurts. Anyhow, he then dumps his hand and plays a soltari champion, followed by a priest and a scroll while I hit him again with the sandstalker and new friendly mogg. I have him at 4 life and a draw a ball lightning?Dave is sitting back waiting to scroll the attack. I then make bad decision #1 for the day?I decide to go for the throat since I figure I can TD a direct damage in the next 3 draws. I attack with the sandstalker and the mogg drawing the scroll onto the sandstalker. He is at 3?next turn I draw land and attack with the ball and the mogg taking him to 2. If I draw anything that can hit this turn I now have it won since his scroll card is a plains. I draw another land and sac the mogg in response to the scroll on attack he is at 1!!!. Last chance?I draw a Orc. He finishes me for 7 with the champion, priest, and scroll. If only I had held the lancer and ball lightning I would have drawn to 6 lands and could have attacked with both for the win. Hindsight is 20/20 and I just lost to a player and deck that I know will help my tiebreaker. They were great games. 3-1 Round 5 vs. Prosbloom Game 1: 4th turn I kill him on his turn after he taps a city of brass during his main phase to cast squandered. He then prosperities for 3 and stalls. Game 2: Side in my 4 pyroblasts. Once again I hit him to 0 on his turn 5 due to him tapping a city of brass. He then prosperities and I take him to -4 with a double shock. I am then abeyanced and he stalls. Match took all of 10 minutes so I go to get some romping subway sandwiches. 4-1 Round 6 vs. Prosbloom Game 1: Wasteland and massive rompage ensue with a turn 5 kill as he is stuck at 2 lands. Game 2: Side in my 4 pyroblasts for 2 torches and 2 wildfire emissaries. I go T1 Mogg, T2 Orc, T3 Dwarven Miner + Mogg,. He stalls at 3 lands and no squandered. T4 I play the furnace and attack for 10 and sac the moggs for 14 and also I show him the two fireblasts?.meaning I could have hit him for 30 that round. Rock the skill in that. He says that was the fastest/mostest damage he had ever seen red dish out and I have to agree that it was impressive. Another 10 minute match. I go to work on my tan in the 88 degree sunshine. 5-1 Round 7 vs Suicide Black (Matthew ?) Game 1: I keep a 2 wasteland start and don?t draw a mountain till turn 4 he kills me the next turn with big evil bad mooned unholy type shadows. Game 2: I sideboard in my firestorm. I draw the firestorm in my opening hand and can use it to blast his 3 first turn creatures and him for 4. I proceed to still barely outrace him. Game 3: He gets a Foul imp and a Erg raider out and then goes to play bad moon. I am just short of being able to kill him with damage in hand. I ask for a wait and count it out in my head?.I decide to fry the foul imp since it should give me one more turn of drawing a card to try for the win. 3 turns later I TD a wasteland so I can cast my furnace attacking with my orc and fanatic, sacking my fanatic and fireblasting for 16 points?.I needed to do 15. He shows me his top card and he had me beat the next turn with an unholy strength. Man do I feel lucky. He was actually one of the best/funnest opponents I had played all day. Laughing equally hard at my Oh MY GAWD?s to his big fast creatures, as to my blasting him. 6-1 Round 8 vs. Tradewind Prison/Orb (Chris) It all comes down to this match since I have one of the highest tiebreaks of the 6-1 crowd (If I can get a ID next round of course). Game 1: He gets out propaganda and orb and all sorts of walls. I fry flocks of birds, elfs, etc with kindles and shocks. He finally gets an attack going with a river boa and I fireblast his Tradewind. I then cast my awesome blocking emissary to hold off the attack for 10+ turns. My opponent then during these 10+ turns is totally land flooded for 8+ draws while I fill my hand and untap my land. I finish with a 6 point torch + fireblast while under winter orb. He would have won easily if he had come up with a Tradewind during those turns since I didn?t draw the fireblast until the end. Game 2: Side in the pyroblasts and the firestorm so I can have a chance against the Tradewind lock. My opponent gets land screwed and draws all green getting out a wall of roots and then two centaurs. Nonetheless I had a horribly slow start. He beats me down to two while I hit him with all my kindles, shocks, and incinerates down to 7. He has me next turn and I have an incinerate in hand so I TD a fireblast and boom for the 7!!!. He had a very good deck?.mine tried to lose but kept pulling it back. 7-1 Round 9 vs. Red Sligh (Dennis Bentley) Dennis and I are busy looking at the posted tie breakers and score sheets to determine if we can ID to both get in. Dennis and I agree to ID?.we then turn around to the table where Dennis had set down his deck right next to the score postings. AND IT IS GONE!!!! Holy shit! someone stole his deck while we were checking the pairings/tiebreakers. Dennis has the judge make an announcement and offers a big reward to whoever turns it in, but it is gone. We sit down at our seats as they are starting the round and we still ID. Thus we are both 7-1-1 and Dennis must now madly scramble to trade for all the cards in his deck so he can play if he makes the final 8. Sadly, he places 9th since all three of the people with lower tiebreakers than Dennis win. This whole episode is just a reminder to strap your deck and trade cards to your leg at all times since you never know when the thieves will strike. On to the Finals Round 1 vs. Brian Fox (Suicide Black) This deck is similar to my 7th round matchup. Game 1: I win with tons of mad burn?.kinda tired at this point since I have been up since 5am and it is 10 pm. Game 2: He wrecks me with amazing beatdown. Game 3: I burn him out without ever getting to 4 mana and I was holding a furnace. Round 2 vs. Andrew Wills (Underwood 4CW) Game 1: I draw nearly 20 points of direct damage in my opening hand and just start off with it right away. Him plains done. Me I shock you during your discard phase?.etc. I finish applying it all on turn 5. Game 2: I sideboard in my amazing 9 card anti-white sideboard. The crowd behind me murmurs quite loud and Chris Pikula says ?this sideboard is insane? quietly to another onlooker. I get down a second turn havoc and get the fabled 5th turn double fireblast you for 8 finish. I stalled for a turn in sending over my ball lightning on turn 3 since I feared a honorable passage and he was untapped. Andrew then played down his whole hand and a scroll and I sent it over turn 4 since I knew it was safe. Andrew then went to scroll my mogg fanatic and I knew he had no passage the next turn so I double fireblasted him since I had a godly TD of a fireblast at that turn. Turns out now that he posted his deck he didn?t have any passages.... my fears were unfounded. Finals vs. Richard Wayne (Suicide Black) Same deck as being played by Brian Fox. Game 1: We both get off to horribly slow starts for our decks. I eventually have a Sarcomancy hitting him for one a turn. And am stalled at 2 lands. He then gets out a erg raider, two bad moons and puts 3 unholy strengths on the erg raider while I draw lands. I have tons of direct damage but I can?t add it all up in my head. I make the easy decision and go for the card advantage of torching the erg dead and then slowly killing him as I TD damage. Chris Pikula later tells me I was a scrub and had him dead if played properly. I don?t doubt it, but I was just too tired to add it all up. Game 2: His first turn sarcomancy is shocked by me. His second turn sarcomancy unholy strength is then incinerated by me. He then takes Sarcomancy damage down to 8 and I think I can burn him out and do?I was having trouble adding at this point. Rather anti-climatic. Final time 12:45 am on Sunday. The guys from Indiana were cool dudes and their team finished awesomely. Like 2nd, 7th, 13th,20th all playing suicide black. They got a formula that worked great and took them pretty far. All and all I enjoyed playing them. Props: Anyone reading this and thinking it was ok for a first time Dojo post. Fireblast and Furnace just rule. Subway sandwiches. Deck providing me with TD skills all day. The judging staff for staying all day long and having a new fast cool computer system that seemed to have no glitches. Not getting matched up against too many WW decks also rules. All the cool guys from Indiana that were there. All my opponents were polite...a very enjoyable tournament. Slops: The pecker that stole Dennis Bentley?s Deck?.you are a loser, scum, lowlife, whatever. The long drive home and sleeping in my car in the back of a comfort inn parking lot for one hour so I wouldn?t weave off the road.