Subject: Tournament Report, SE Regionals(Atlanta) Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 15:21:31 From: Pete Warren To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Back in March, I started revving everyone in my magic playing circle up for SE Regionals. We live in Augusta, GA, and just about the only real tournament action we get to see are the big ones in Atlanta every few months. I decided early on that I was going to go with either Pox/Megrim or CounterHammer, since Pox with LD+HD gives control fits, and CounterHammer is just a good solid deck that can handle a variety of threats. In the end, I went with CounterHammer, and my friend Grant went with my Pox deck, which by May 16th had evolved more into a Megrim/Anvil deck than anything else. Grant and I playtested constantly, much to the annoyance of everyone else around us. I mean, a finely-tuned control deck is not really the kind of thing that you want to play against your roommate's fun Horror Movie deck(rats, bats and vampires). I almost decided to switch at the last moment to a WW/r deck, but then came to my senses and realized that the experience I had with CounterHammer would be better than hoping for Priest+Armor+Geddon. The deck: 2 Force Spike 2 Whispers of the Muse 1 Mystical Tutor ( don't laugh...kicks ass when you _really_ need something ) 3 Impulse 4 Counterspell 2 Capsize 3 Dissipate 3 Dismiss Sideboard: 3 Hydroblast 2 Shatter ( very good ) 4 Pyroblast 3 Incinerate 2 Ruination ( awesome; should have been 3 ) 2 Hammer of Bogarden 2 Phyrexian Furnace ( worked well ) 2 Earthquake 2 Steal Artifact 1 Fireball 2 Touchstone ( useless ) 1 Shard Pheonix 3 Nevinyrral's Disk 3 Steel Golem 2 Reflecting Pool 4 Quicksand 1 Caldera Lake 11 Island 6 Mountain Side note here...decks. Let's face it, there are fun decks and there are tourney decks, and never the twain shall meet. Only a limited number of decks are good enough to hang in a competitive environment. However, more important than having a good deck is having actual playing experience with the deck. I mean, you can straight copy a deck from the Net that went 47-0-1, and take it to the local shop tourney hoping to tear everyone apart. However, unless you know HOW to play the deck, you're going to get trashed, and hard. Ever try playing a classic(World's 96) Sligh deck as if it were a burn/beatdown deck? You get massacred. Or better yet, try playing a burn deck as if it were red control...yeah, that's funny. I did both of those things last year and learned one thing. Playtesting and experience have more impact on a decks performance than anything else. Oh yeah, and food. Now, back to our show. We leave Augusta at 7:30am, and make it to Atlanta at 9:42 exactly. Yeeeeah... just in time. We have about 5 minutes to find the line for people who pre-registered, register our decklists and locate a viable source of caffeine before round 1 starts. I expected to see alot of control this time around, and I was right on the money. Even the good burn decks had strong control elements (see Sligh Invasion). Donais4/5CU and Tradewind decks of all flavors were EVERYWHERE. Right before the whole thing starts, I meet up with my man Andrew Starnes from Columbia and he tells me he's going with what sounds like Suicide Black. The kid is amazing, but I think to myself, "Poor Andrew...he's toast in this control field.". Of course, I'm wrong. He could've easily made Top eight were it not for the randomness factor of the Cursed Scroll. Round 1: vs Mike Stigall (Donais 4CU) I'm thinking, "Oh great. I get to start off the day by playing my control deck against an even better control deck." As it turned out, CounterHammer vs 4CU is a damn tough fight, albeit an exhaustive one. Game 1: We start out very tentatively, testing the waters. He takes a negligible amount of damage from his Cities, and after a counter war that I lost, he gets down a Rainbow Efreet. Another thing I learned today is that CounterHammer had better counter anything with phasing or be prepared to lose to it. More on this later. Mike Wisdoms for 10, and the Rainbow goes all the way. This game took about 30 minutes. Game 2: Here's where my sideboarding vs XC control paid off. I brought in Ruinations and Pyroblasts, taking out Force Spikes, a disk and a couple other things. Early in the game, I see the Scragnoth he brings in, but I earthquake it away, along with 3 Walls of Blossoms. I lure him into a counter war at the end of his turn once he has 5 non-basics out, and then Ruination the next turn while he's tapped out. I lay down a Shard Phoenix and a Steel Golem and the duo fight their way through a Wisdom to win. This match took seemingly forever, and we think we won't even have time to finish a third game. We chuckle, agree to draw, shake hands, and then we are informed that we have 18 minutes left in the match. We grin at each other and decide to find out if one of our decks can actually finish a match in under 18 minutes. Game 3: I start out aggressively, doing things like incinerating him during his discard phase on turn two instead of impulsing. I basically keep him on the defensive the whole time, counter his Wisdoms and am able to Fireball him out when he's at 7 and we have 2 minutes left in the round. It was a great match, and neither of us showed any signs of stalling. G:2-1, M:1-0-0 Round 2: vs Ajai Saini(sp) (Donais 4CU) Geeeez...2 of these things in a row? I feel confident that after boarding I have the advantage, but I know it's going to be another very long game. He was a really cool guy, and we were able to keep things interesting. Game 1: This is one of those games that took forever, but I just couldn't manage to concede because I always felt that I could turn it around. However, he simply out-countered me where it counted (ie, the Blessings) and was able to Dissipate both my Hammers. After a very long match, I give up and start the second game. Game 2: This one is a little better, but the turn before I Ruination, he is able to get a Shard Phoenix down. I go ahead and Ruination anyway, since I know I won't be able to get another chance to see him tapped out. I blow away all of his land, and then proceed to draw NOTHING at all to deal with a simple 2/2 flier. Nothing. No Incinerates, no Hammers, no Disks, no Capsizes, no nada. He's able to get his land set up again by the time I can do anything to the Shard, and by then it's too late for me. I manage to get him down to ten, and my last ditch fireball gets countered. The good thing is that we actually had enough time to talk shop and strategy a bit. Another good match against a cool opponent. G:2-3, M:1-1-0 Round 3: vs Chris Backer (WU Teferi's Honor Guard/Disks/Counters) This is THE match that pointed out the huge weakness my deck has against creatures that are impossible to remove once they're in play. Game 1: A freaking Honor Guard holds off my Steel Golem until he starts pulling Disenchants, after which point Honor Guard #2 joins his buddy in cutting me apart. I realize then that my best( and probably only) hope is to out-counter him when he tries to put the guards into play. The fact that I was stuck on 2 islands, 3 Quicksands and 2 mountains for 10 turns didn't help either. Game 2: I get him down to 10, but he always pulls the Disenchants for my Golems, and I always seem to be 1 counter short on the crucial things. A Rainbow Efreet does the job on me this time in about 15 minutes. G:2-5, M:1-2-0 Round 4: vs Ramon Burnley ( WU Teferi's Honor Guard/Disks/Wisdoms/Counters) At this point, everyone with my record knows we're probably out of the running for top 8, but we all paid our $20($17 in my case, prereg rules. ;)), and we want to play. Game 1: This one is back-and-forth all the way, with both of us bluffing our asses off, hoping the other won't try anything crucial. I keep testing things with an Incinerate now and then, slowing widdling him down and drawing counters. I'm able to get a couple Hammer recursion hits on him, not wanting to grab it every upkeep to appear as though I've got a hand full of counters and need the mana to use them. In actuality, I don't think I had more than 2 counters in hand at any given point in the game. I'm finally able to get him to 3, and then we stand off for like 5 minutes until I feel safe enough to try a Fireball on him with counter backup, and it goes through. Game 2: He gets an early Wisdom off that puts him at a comfortable 27. I thought about countering it, but I knew I had recursive damage on my side and 1 game already won. I save my counters for the crucial stuff, recurse Hammers and the Phoenix a couple times, and we end up in another standoff with him at 2 life. I finally give in and try my 1 Fireball with no counter backup, since it was now-or-never time. He's out of counters and that's all she wrote. G:4-5, M:2-2-0 Now I'm 2-2, and I should have dropped then and there with an even record. But no.... I want to try to end my playing day with at least a 3-2, so I go to the next round. Round 5: vs Anthony Justice (CounterSliver with Hibernations) I was hoping all day I wouldn't meet up with this deck, but the Magic gods decide to punish me for my greed. Game 1: He starts off fast and early with Hibernation and Winged Slivers beating on me, whilst Disenchanting my crucial Disks and Golems. I'm able to block/sacrifice/recurse my Shard to kill a Man O'war, but it really is just putting off the inevitable. I fall before a righteous hoard of untargetable flying slivers. Game 2: I bring in Pyroblasts and Ruinations, pile shuffle, riffle and pray. I draw... 1 Quicksand and 1 Mountain as my land, going first. I should have Paris'ed, but I had a Pyroblast in hand, a Hammer, an Incinerate, and a couple counters, so I figured all I needed was to topdeck land and I'd be sitting pretty. Of course, I have to waste my Pyroblast when he tries to Portent me second turn, instead of using it on the Crystaline Sliver he brings out turn 3. I sigh, draw my card, and tell him to pick a number between 1 and 10. I picked 9, he guessed 9. I extended my hand and conceded. G:4-7, M:2-3-0 After this match, I drop to take the judge's exam. Yeah, I know all about how crappy judges are treated, and how it's not worth it, but right now, if anyone in my area wants to go to a sanctioned tourney, we have to drive 2.5 hours up to Neutral Ground Atlanta(formerly Warzone). We have several shops here in Augusta that have some damn good players, but the only real action around here is the spotty Arena scene and the qualifiers in Columbia about 1.5 hours away. Anyway, if you're trying to save a sinking ship, don't jump off. We've got a lot of players here, a lot of interest, but no judges willing or available to give us sanctioned tourneys and insure a fair and relatively honest playing field. Getting certification is really just my first step in world conquest, and I've got a long way to go until I meet my fate on the fields of Armageddon. Props to... Neutral Ground Atlanta...for putting on a good show, and for holding Regionals in a hotel with working air conditioning and good ventilation. If anyone was at GP Atlanta at the Castlegate, you know the hell that I'm talking about. Andrew Starnes...for getting in 2 consecutive feature matches. You punk. Jym Rescinti...thanks for the insight into the whole judging scene. the hotel bartender...for hooking me up with a free coke when the machines ran out. Slops to... Andrew Starnes...for getting in 2 consecutive feature matches and losing 1 of them. No, you can't have my Cursed Scrolls. ;) You punk. The City of Atlanta...Blocking off 3 lanes and every freaking exit on one of Atlanta's main traffic arteries at 11:30pm is NOT cool. Me...for not eating for 18 hours on 3 hours sleep. Oh, and for going 2-3. ------------------- Pete Warren pwarren@smilegas.com --------------------