Subject: Tournament; CA State Championships, 17th Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 05:06:30 EST From: Taviras@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com California State Championships Costa Mesa Women's Club, Costa Mesa, CA 7 rounds of Modified Swiss, 70 minutes per round 116 participants I finished 5-2 for 17th place in the California State Championships this past weekend. I had a deck that played very well; I'm confident that it could be a contender. If not for one big mistake and one match-up that I "should've won", I may have been in the final eight? After much playtesting with/against all of the major arch types, and a few of mine and my Brother-in-Law's designs, it became evident that Mono Red had the best chance to do well, except the Academy, of course. I always prepare a deck of my own design for tournament play, but I have never attended a sanctioned/Pro Tour event, other than Pre-releases before, and I wanted to play something that had a chance for a decent showing. I designed an Abundance/Seismic Assault deck with Sylvan Libraries, but it took too long to get the combo going and without reliable card drawing, no tutors, without adding Blue for Intuition or a similar card, I dtermined it to not yet be worthy. It did incredibly after setting up the combo however. It may be still be alive after some further testing. My Brother-in-Law chose to play his version of Fiery Elves? Lots of Elves, Priest of Titiania, Gaea's Cradle, Fireballs, and Overrun; also utilizing the Sylavan Library/Abundance trick. He went 2-5, 52nd place. Oh well. The deck I played is a modification of the typical Cursed Mono Red: Creatures: 4 Ball Lightning 4 Goblin Lackey 4 Jackal Pup 4 Mogg Fanantic 4 Bottle Gnomes (thought there'd be lots of Red - I was correct) 2 Fireslinger 2 Mogg Flunkies Burn: 4 Incinerate 4 Shock Utility: 4 Cursed Scroll 2 Disenchant (did not want to lose first game to R. Nightmare w/o fight - worked!) Land: 14 Mountains 4 Wastelands 1 Shivan Gorge (won one match for me) Other: 4 Mox Diamonds (originally Scablands, but they telegraphed White, inflict pain, and not a fast as Diamonds; second turn Ball Lightnings were fun - although I feared the Meltdown [with good reason]) Sideboard 4 Pyroblast (vs Blue [Tradewinds, Academy]) 2 Havoc (vs White Weenie - never used, never faced WW) 2 Meltdown (vs Academy - never needed, never faced Academy, whew) 1 Rathi Dragon (in case beef was needed, vs Sligh) 2 Sonic Burst (in case more burn was necessary; could've been Main - for Gnomes) 2 Disenchant (vs C. Scrolls, R. Nightmare, Academy, Chills, Arcane Labs, Propaganda; could've been 1 for Gnomes) 2 Humble (vs tough creatures - sided in a couple of times, but never drew them) We endured an eight hour drive from Sacramento. We stayed at the Ramada Limited Motel on Superior. A perfect location for any tournament held at the Costa Mesa Women's Club. Only a city block away, 2-3 minute drive, 5-10 minute walk. Taco Bell, Subway, Del Taco, McDonalds, B of A, Highway 1, and the Pacific Ocean nearby. On to the Tournament: (current W-L; current points; final standing) Rd 1 vs Cassius Weathersby (0-0; 0pts; 24th) playing Counter-Phoenix, 65 minutes Duel 1: He plays first, I mulligan; I still win with 14 points of Cursed Scroll, Incinerate and Mogg Fanatic for 4. He got me down to 8 with a Phoenix; a second joined the first at the end. Duel 2: I get him to 3, but two Shard Phoenixes are tough to beat. Duel 3: A combo of Goblin Lackey, Fireslinger, Shock, and Shivan Gorge go the distance. While I was unable to cast anything late due to Counterspell and Forbid, Shivan Gorge did the dirty work, 10 points worth. Disenchanted Arcane Lab. Matches: 1-0 Duels: 2-1 Points: 3 Rd 2 vs John Yoo (1-0; 3pts; 12th) playing Sligh, 30 minutes One of my two fears, mirror match up (and vs a Pro); the other, White Weenie. Duel 1: He goes first. 2 Ball Lightnings, 2 Shocks, and Cursed Scroll actually make me think I'm on to match victory. I won while at 9. The look on his face when I played first game Bottle Gnome was cool; not quite as fun as when I named "Disenchant" for the Scroll though ; ) Duel 2: I mulligan, not good. I never touched him. He swarmed with just about every character in his deck. Death by Goblins, Pups, Scrolls...nasty. This is when I committed my big mistake. Fairly early on, while he had nothing on the board (except three UNtapped Mountains and a Cursed Scroll) I decided that it was a good time play Ball Lightning. I errantly thought that he had two cards in hand, not one - oops. Burnt Lightning doesn't smell that great. I am Grasshopper. Duel 3: I get a Ball Lightning through, actually winning, 'til Mr. Rathi appears. Death comes slowly as I draw Gnome after Gnome, no burn. Strangely, whomever went first in 2/3 of these duels lost - not normal as per playtesting? Matches: 1-1 Duels: 3-3 Points: 3 Rd 3 vs Toru Matsumura (1-1; 3pts; 25th) playing Suicide Black, 60 minutes Duel 1: I go first. His Dauthi Slayer and Cursed Scroll outrace my Jackal Pup and Gnome 20-10. Duel 2: I mulligan again. His Sarcomancy did 5 points to him (that's why they call it Suicide Black), my Jackal Pup and Cursed Scroll do the rest. I was at 14 due to his Scroll. Duel 3: His Carnophage did most of the damage, to both of us. 5 to him, 16 (with Unholy Strength) to me. A well-timed Meltdown spelled my disaster as my Disenchant could not be played without a Mox Diamond. Matches: 1-2 Duels: 4-5 Points: 3 Not exactly how I planned it. I should never have lost to Suicide Black as I never lost once in playtesting. Hmmm. I only drew 2 burn spells in the three duels. Oh well. I'm considering on dropping and playing in a side tournament. My Brother-in- Law has just won his second straight, he's 2-1, enjoying himself and talks me into staying in - we did drive all that way... Rd 4 vs Michael Ndauti (1-2; 3pts; Dropped) playing Recurring Nightmare, 20 minutes Duel 1: He's first. His pain lands, my Goblin Fanatic, and my Fireslinger do the 20 damage. A Disenchant destriyed his just played R. Nightmare. Duel 2: His pain lands and all of my beasts drop and give him 20. Two well- used Wastelands ensured he'd take pain if he played anything. Just what the doctor ordered, good draws, no mulligans! The only damage I took were to my own Fireslingers. He never got to "cast" a creature other than one Wall of Blossoms, burnt to a crisp immediately. Matches: 2-2 Duels: 6-5 Points: 6 Rd 5 vs Avi Vinocur (2-2; 6pts; 48th) playing Sucide Black, 15 minutes REVENGE vs Suicide Black Duel 1: He went first. Jackal Pups, Incinerate, Cursed Scroll, and his own Carnophage netted me the win. He got me down to 8 though. At the peak of the battle, he Paralyzed 3 of my creatures, had three Bad Moons in play, and two Carnophages with Unholy Strength on each. Duel 2: A little bit of everthing hit him before he knew we started. Four creatures on turn two were trouble (thanks Mox Diamonds). Matches: 3-2 Duels: 8-5 Points: 9 Rd 6 vs Jim Peterson (3-2; 9 pts; 24th, then dropped) playing Sligh, 25 minutes Duel 1: He goes first. He'll have nightmares about Goblins and Scrolls. Ball Lightning on turn 2, cool! (Thanks Mox Diamonds). He never hit me. Duel 2: A bit more of a challenge. I'm at 10 before I mount any attack. My Rathi does the talking in this Red v. Red match up, talks for 15; Scroll, Pup, and Fanatic go the rest of the way. His Lightning, Fanatic, Incinerate, and Scroll take me down to 8. Matches: 4-2 Duels: 10-5 Points: 12 I'm in 24th with an ever so slight chance at top 16 and a prize. Rd 7 vs Robert Galbraith, no wait, redo the pairings vs Blake Quell (4-2; 12pts; 30th) playing Recurring Nightmare, 30 minutes A past? Junior Super Series Champ/Runner up? Duel 1: He's first (I won the who-goes-first die roll once all day). Tradewind Rider - oh joy. Now my day is complete. At least I never had to endure the Academy. Duel 2: Fanatics, Lightning, Flunkies, Scroll, and his pain lands do him in. Not a scratch on me. Tradewinds bad, Pyroblasts good : ) Duel 3: Ball Lightning on turn two, so cool, yet again. Some Moggs and 2 Pyroblasts for two Riders pave the way to success. Wastelands were good too. Matches: 5-2 Duels: 12-6 Points: 15 I win 4 in a row! My Brother-in-Law lost his last 4, ironic. I Started in the looser's bracket, but I'll take it. My tie-breakers kept me out of the top 16, placing me in 17th. My record actually tied for 10th. Not too bad for my first sanctioned constructed event. If I were to do anything differently with my deck, I would probably replace a Main Deck B. Gnome for a Scabland (to help prevent mulligans and to be able to play Disenchant without relying on Diamonds). I might take out one Disenchant from the Sideboard and keep the Gnome. I might have also benefited from Main Deck Sonic Bursts and swap them with two more Gnomes - they were good vs Sligh and Black though. The Mox Diamonds were well worth it - Red on speed. Ball Lightnings on turn two! Four creatures on turn two! Very good : ) TOP 8, Quarterfinals: Dominic Callos - Suicide Black? - 19 pts Nick Krestoff - Sligh - 19 pts Spencer Furukawa - Sligh - 18 pts Ken Simpson - NY White Weenie (Tradewinds/Earthquakes/Incinerates)- 18 pts Matt Smth - NY WW - 16 pts Jeff Broido - Academy? - 16 pts Rodney Shaghoulian - Recurring Nightmare? - 16 pts Steven Shears - Recurring Nightmare - 16 pts Shears beat Callos Furukawa beat Broido Krestoff beat Shaghoulian Simpson beat Smith FINAL 4, Semifinals: Shears defeated Simpson 2-1 Furukawa defeated Krestoff 2-1 FINALS, Championships: Shears bested Furukawa 2-1 Dan Gray was the Head Judge and he listed, in his Judge's Report (posted on the Dojo), Krestoff as beating Furukawa, but I believe that to be in error. Shears received 2 boxes of boosters, a plaque, and a tote bag with the CA State Champ embroidered upon it. Decent. Obligatory: Props: Aztlan and Dan Gray, et. al., for a well run, timely event. Only one repairing kept it from near flawlessness. Dan Gray for refunding $2.00 to my Brother-in-Law and myself for Pre- registering, and for answering our pre-tourney questions. The Ramada for its great location. My Brother-in-Law, Steve for his idea of Main Deck Mox Diamonds. My idea for Main Deck Disenchants. The Weather in LA. The competitors - no troubles all day. The trades. Slops: WotC for not making the State Championships worth it for most of the Pro Tour players - no points, no money. Shouldn't the States lead to the Regionals, lead to the Nationals, lead to the Worlds? Everyone who did not show up. My playing a Ball Lightning against an active Cursed Scroll; and vs a Pro player - nice first impression, huh? Next time. I really feel that this deck could win - it beat Suicide Black, it beat Counter-Phoenix, it beat Fiery Elves, the Gnomes helped with first duels vs Sligh, the disenchants beat first duel Recur, it beat the 3CWW w/o sideboard help, and it is the best choice vs Academy, other than Academy. Good Luck in your State Championships, Michael O'Hara Taviras@aol.com