Subject: Rick's tourney Report for the Nebraska States: again a bridesmaid. Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 12:11:59 -0600 (CST) From: kysersze@creighton.edu To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Greetings! Wow. I wish that I had thought of a really clever title or opening line for this report, but I just can't. This one took a lot out of me, so I'll try to keep the over-blown dramatics as high as I can as I start this madcap adventure. I had been testing for states for awhile now. Yeah, I knew about Tolarian Blue, but I didn't have the cards, and wasn't convinced on it's stability as a deck. My friend Dwayne had a version together with proxies, and he was sold on it. I was doing the flip-flop; I had a new TradeAwake, complete with Argothian Wurms and Gilded Drakes, that could win really decisively, or lose really decisively. I also had a blue/white Arcane Lab deck that I wanted to play, but the flashpoint was seven mana, and that's just too damn slow. So, I have no bloody clue what to play. Me and Dwayne normally test together, so I suggested that we head out on Friday after class to pick up cards and do some test at the shop. We left at two, and hit every shop in the area- no Academy components anywhere. We ended up short only the Time Spirals, so we had to call it a day for the idea of playing Academy. We decided to head to the shop to playtest what we did have, and see who else was there. Along the way on our trek looking for cards, we ran into a mutual friend, Pat McDonald, master of Stompy. He was looking to put together a mono-blue, and we got into a conversation about what to play. Dwayne mentioned his Sligh, which we planned to test that night, and I clued Pat into secret Goblin Lackey Tech. He picked up all the Lackeys at the shop, and planned to meet us at Ground Zero that night. On the way to the shop at about 7:30, I really started to lean towards TradeAwake, so I brought that into the shop. Ran into a few guys that I knew, both of which were looking for Academy components that we didn't have. (Sorry Bill!) So it was time to test. For playtest, we had together Pat's monoblue, Dwayne's sligh and Academy, and my Tradeawake. Also, Dwayne had the actual deck that he would play the next day, which was a white/green monstrosity with 4 main deck Pariahs. We playtested for hours. We didn't leave the shop until 2 in the morning. Here's what we ended up playing as a group: Me: Sligh Pat: Sligh Dwayne: White/Green Here's what basically happened. I looked at Dwayne's sligh, changed a few cards, and started murdering everything. After we put together a board, we really thought that it was the most consistent deck out there. Pat was the driving force behind the sideboard, forcing me to eat crow on how good Havoc was. It was a group deck: Dwayne's design, my tweaking, and Pat's tweaking and board. Dwayne was still going to play White/Green, and me and Pat built exact copies of the Sligh for both of us; here it is: 4 Jackal Pup 4 Goblin Lackey 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Mogg Flunkies 4 Ball Lightning 4 Shock 4 Incinerate 4 Sonic Burst 4 Cursed Scroll 2 Goblin Bombardment 2 Acidic Soil 2 Maniacal Rage 16 Mountain 3 Wasteland Board ----- 3 Scald 2 Torture Chambers 3 Pyroblast 2 Jinxed Idols 3 Havoc 2 Rathi Dragon Pat and I had disagreements on the number of Sonic Bursts, which I now think should be three; I was wrong about that. We also disagreed about kindles, but I stand by my not including them. Our weakness was the lack of permenant removal other than burn- it would hurt us later, but not too much. We should have had Bottle Gnomes for Sligh on Sligh though; I learned that the hard way..... So me and Dwayne crash at his place, set to meet Pat at about seven-thirty the next morning. Of course, we miss the alarm, and very nearly miss Pat. We get to Ground Zero at about five after eight, and he's still there! Huge props to Pat for that one. On the way up, we do a little more pontificating about what we'll see that day, but we decide not to mess with the deck, and trust our playtest. About sixty people showed up for the tourney. We are set to go, except that I am short 2 Goblin Lackeys. I can't run the deck without them, and no one seems to have them, including Hobbytown. Finally, I am able to trade for 2 of them, albeit at a huge cost: my only Thran Quarry. Sigh. This better be worth it. Six rounds of Swiss, cut to a final eight of single elim. Round 1- Jon P. Miller- Academy I flash back to the conversation we had when building the sideboard last night- I basically said that we should ignore academy when building the board, since this deck would probably lose to it anyway. Of course, I have to face one in the first round..... Game 1- He goes off on turn four, with me doing little to stop him. I can't even disrupt him until the board. Game 2- I get enough early burn, and he can't go off before I leave his corpse smoking. Game 3- My biggest mistake of the day costs me the match. Here's the situation. It's his third turn, and I have a mountain open and a pyro in hand. He drops his hand and Hydros two things, both of which I let through. He now has most of the combo on the table, and he time spirals. Here's the decision. I have one mountain open with a blast in hand, and 2 left in the deck. I also do not have enough to finish him off in the hand. So, if I allow the Spiral, I get a new hand, one likely to hold a pyroblast for his card drawer. Something else that I had to consider- he had 2 cards in hand, one of which might be a hydro. If he counters the Pyro, I can't stop him from going off no matter what. I made the wrong decision and allowed the Spiral, off which he drew a Twiddle and beat me. It was a judgement call, but I'm now convinced that it was the wrong one. Games: 1-2, Matches: 0-1 Oh boy, lost in the first round. Looks like a long day..... Round 2- Dennis Nichols- ? Dennis is one of the best players in Nebraska, and he was about the last person that I wanted to see here. Luckily, his proficency is in extended (He's q'ed for Rome next week), so I may have a shot here. Games 1,2,3- I cannot for the life of me remember this match at all, just that I somehow pulled it out. Games: 3-3, Matches: 1-1 Round 3- Dwayne Chun- White/Green Great. I have to play against the guy that I playtested with. Wonderful. Game 1- I get to him quickly, and I know that I have to win this one, as his side is set for me in game 2. I do. Game 2- Second turn cop red on his side. Game 3- Second turn cop red on his side, except this time, I am somehow able to outrace it, as he disenchants one of my chambers, and this means that I will get one of my scrolls into play. I somehow do, and pull it out. Games: 5-4, Matches: 2-1 Round 4- Terry B. Adler- White weenie Game 1- My opponent is a nice guy, but his deck seemed to betray him in this match, as he sees no early priests, and this allows me to go all the way, finishing with Acidic Soil. Game 2- As game 1. Games: 7-4, Matches: 3-1 Round 5- Scott C. Bunik- Sligh Scott is a good player that I've seen around. Game 1- I get a little more burn than he does, and that is the difference. Game 2- We go to our sides, and he gets his first card from his side out- a Rathi Dragon. I can't deal with it, and die. Game 3- Reverse of game 2, as I get the Rathi first, and he is unable to deal with it. Game: 9-5, Matches: 4-1 and thinking about top eight..... Round 6- Scott M. Hoppe- Counter Phoenix CP is my dream matchup. I went something like 6-1 against it in playtest, before I got Scalds and Pyros from the board. This guy had already beaten Patrick with our deck before, so I had to be careful. Game 1- Disks do nothing but get rid of Scrolls, and that isn't enough against sligh. I roll. Game 2- really the same as game one- CP cannot keep up with type 2 Sligh. It just isn't fast enough. Games: 11-5, Matches: 5-1 Well, I guess I get to go to the top eight again. The top eight were: 1. Amy Allgood, 5-0-1, ? 2. Mark P. O'Brien 5-0-1, ? 3. Ross Anderson, 5-1, Sligh 4. Rick Poehling (Me), 5-1, Sligh 5. Justin Holt, 5-1, White Weenie 6. Greg J. Norgard, 5-1, ? 7. Mile Swailes, 4-1-1, ? 8. Andy Cronin, 4-2, Suicide Black Sorry about the incompleteness of the decks. I didn't get a really good look at them, just the ones in my bracket. Now this was a fucked up thing; Amy had to leave early, and Andy had already gone, as he had thought that no one with a 4-2 record would make top eight. So, I only have to win one game, and I basically have a free pass to the finals. As for the question marked decks, I heard that Amy was playing Pariah white weenie, and I know that there was at least one other white weenie deck, along with a CounterPhoenix deck in the top eight. So, I guess it's me and Justin. Quarter finals- Justin Holt- White Weenie Justin is a nice guy, who actually got the Cataclysms that he was using in his deck from me a couple of weeks before. Game 1- He seems to have decided that first Strike is a way to stop ball Lightnings, as he dropped White Knights and Serra's Zealots. I had the best draw I had all day (Dwayne will back me on that), and I quickly Burn my way to victory. Game 2- My Torture Chambers take over, and he can't get to a Crusade. I run over him. Games: 13-5, Matches: 6-1 So I have now come back from the 0-1 start to go to the finals with six match wins in a row. Damn. In the other bracket, the Sligh player quickly burned his way through to the finals. Finals- Ross Anderson- Sligh Game 1- I win the coin toss, and quickly burn him down. Unfortunately, he is doing the same, and I have to take a draw with both of us having active scrolls on the table, through mutual kill. Game 2- I keep a one mountain draw, which I had done all day. It was a mistake, as I am quickly shown the door through multiple Ball Lightnings. This was where my Sideboard difficulties began to show- if only we would have had Bottle Gnomes..... Game 3- I again keep a one mountain draw, but get the land off the next 2 draws. It just isn't fast enough to keep up with his draw, which is amazing. After I lost, Pat looked at the top four cards of my library- 3! of them were Ball Lightnings. Shit! A rough way to lose, but I can't complain too much- I had done that to people all day. I get a box of Urza's Saga for my troubles, and we head for home. Props and Slops, because I love Conformity! Props- Dwayne Chun- he always has his couch and his cards ready for me when we go to these things, and I can't ever thank him enough for that and for his contributions to our deck. Patrick McDonald- The man, the myth, the legend, the administrator of the Omaha Magic Page, the coolest regional page around. Great work on our deck, and I'm in his debt for my finish as well. Hobbytown- As usual, Tom, Merle, and Tim put on a fantastic show. Thanks also goes to Rich for doing the computer work- a thankless job, to be sure. My opponents- everyone was gracious and friendly, more so than I would have thought, considering the deck that I was playing. Everybody else- Why not? Slops- Ah, I'm in a good mood. None this time around! Take care all, and be good to each other! I'll see you in the qualifiers for LA! Yours in the Force, Rick Poehling