Subject: Ky State Championship Report Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 10:10:12 -0500 From: "Daryle Janisch" To: Kentucky State Championship Report by Daryl Janisch (Level 1 Judge, DCI# 633287) Format: Standard Tournament with Urza’s Saga Date: November 1, 1998 Location: Louisville Airport Holiday Inn Players: 66 Now that I’ve given you the techincal stats, let me answer the burning question everyone’s been asking: “What does Urza’s Saga (US) add to standard?” As a judge registering players and filing deck lists, I was privy to see the new decks before and during play. I will describe any of the none standard decks that were played. So listed below are the decks that were played with: Recurring Nightmare: (10) Elvish Lyricist tore these decks apart as did the Presence of the Master. Most of the decks didn’t have Living Death. The loss of the old creatures (i.e. Man-O-War, etal) have changed the deck mechanics. The decks ran off of Mana Birds, Walls of Blossoms and large creatures Rider: (7) Still popular but lacking Man-O-War, this deck failed to come out as powerful as it used to be. Several players who favor blue have switched their decks as noted below. Sligh: (1) Only one deck reared its ugly head. The notable change is the addition of Orks to be used with the Ball Lightnings. Fiery Mantle was also a mainstay of this deck. Seismic: (2) There was a deck with Seismic Assault and Sunder and another with Necropotence and Sunder. Jester’s Caps brought in from the sideboards tore these decks apart. The SA/S deck had only the SA for offense so one Capping would hurt it badly. Vineyard Lock: (1) Vineyards and Bridges were used together to mana burn opponents. Very little was added to this deck from US. Green/Red Weenie Roast: (1) Echo creatures and small blasting added up to a potentially powerful deck that kill fast but also burns out quickly. Counter: (3) The counterdecks operated with only a few creatures, some Stalking Stones, and nothing else. Creatures of choice included Thalkos Drifters, Morphings, and the every popular Silver Wyvern. Suicide Black: (8) Still popular but adding very few new creatures. Some black discard has been added in, but the deck still is primarily Bad Moon and a horde of knights and zombies. Milling: (1) Milling cards with green and red creatures, this deck surprising won, not with milling, but with large green and red creatures. This deck unnerved opponents into acting rashly by the milling threat. The player with this deck went 4-2-0. Counterblast: (1) A few new blasting spells and Rewind failed to drasticly alter this deck. White Weenie: (10) Strangely, no WW decks made the final eight. Few decks used Crusade, but ROP’s (runes of protection) came in from the sideboards against the mono color decks. Elf: (5) Elf decks include Priest of Titania, Overrun, and a few decks used Lord of the Leaves. I’ve noted the elf decks that made the final eight below and they show the varied versions that appeared. Stoking Spiral: (6) Any deck that can kill on the first, second, or third turn was bound to show up here. SS is the new ProsBloom replacement. It operates using Mind over Matter, Time Spiral, Tolarian Academy, Stroke of Genius, and a lot of small artifacts. The artifacts varied from deck to deck but most included Lotus Petals, Scroll Rack, and Fountains of Youth. Sadly, none of the SS decks made the final eight. Big Blue: (2) Big Blue fell easily and often to the large number (26) of weenie decks. With one third of the decks defeating Big Blue, it failed to show in the final eight. Brooch/Bridge: (3) Weenie hordes once again destroyed a good functioning deck. Very few cards were added in from US and the use of Scavenger Folk and Disinchant shut BB down. Necro: (2) Weenie hordes and echo creatures overpowered the necro decks. By inflicting heavy damage quickly the necros were made weak and then the necros were just another black suicide deck. Sneak Ghouls: (1) Another new deck idea that I personally liked, it combined Sneak Attack and Oath of Ghouls with large red/black creatures including ball lightning. It suffered to the weenie hordes and Disinchant/Elf Lyricist. Slivers: (1) Still out there, this deck operated with four colors lacking only black. Overall Notes: With 26 of 66 decks qualifying as weenie hordes, the slower decks fell quickly and often. Propaganda and Runes held off some damage but the combination of enchantment removal and a hordes natural tendancy to Overrun other decks were the game winners. TOP EIGHT DECKS David Meyer - Mirrigeddon - Elves for mana, Mirri for forestwalking and blocking, and armageddon added up to a lethal combo. Daniel Bramblett - Greeniegeddon - Very similar to Meyer’s deck but without the Mirri. Ben Stoll - Fire Elves - Priest of Titania, Gaea’s Cradle, Skyseekers, Overrun and eight red X spells. This deck overpowered others with early elf beatdown and midgame overrun, blasting and Child of Gaea. Kenny Tigas - Bridge/Brooch - With four Megrims and Windfalls, Kenny ran through several opponents with this lockdown deck. Karl Lindahl - Rider - Using a typical rider deck with Perigm Drakes replacing Man-O-War. John Atha - Sligh - Adding Orks for the Ball Lightning attacks added up for John. Richard Kirtley - Elf Overrun - Another elf deck with LLurgoyfs for late game play. Seth Stair - Recurring Nightmare - With Great Whales for recursion. HOW THE FINAL EIGHT PLAYED Unfortunately, I was running the booster drafts and saw little play except for the final two decks. Here’s how the pairings went: David Meyer (Mirrigeddon) beat Daniel Bramblett (Greeniegeddon) When similar decks collide, one or two cards make the difference. Mirri was the difference between these two decks. Ben Stoll (Fire Elves) beat Kenny Tigas (Bridge/Brooch/Megrim) Ben’s decks was naturally too fast for a BBM deck. John Atha (Sligh) beat Karl Lindahl (Rider) Mana problems and the speed of a sligh deck overwhelmed Karl. Seth Stair (Recurring Nightmare) defeated Richard Kirtley (Elf Overrun) I have no clue how the RN deck defeated the elf deck. Wall of Blossoms must of been working overtime. (Semi-finals) Ben Stoll (Fire Elves) defeated David Meyer (Mirrigeddon) Again, similar decks clash, but Ben’s eight red X spells make a bigger impact than David’s Mirri. Seth Stair (Recurring Nightmare) defeated John Atha (Sligh) I believe Seth had Propagandas in his deck or sideboard and they would of been sufficent to slow down a sligh deck enough to get the Recurring Great Whale up and running. (Final Match) Rumors of fourth turn, 15 point fireballs had been circulating during the entire day. Ben Stoll (Fire Elves) defeated Seth Stair (Recurring Nightmare) Seth put up a good fight, but fell to the double threat of Overrun and Fireballs from Ben’s deck. Elvish Lyricist and Scavenger Folk ran rampant while Ben Ben slow built up mana for a finishing blast. The Child of Gaea was the third threat as it allowed the elves time to rest while the Child smashes a path for them to follow in future turns. (Ben Stoll’s Deck) Forgive me for not marking down Ben’s exact deck, but readers will understand the gist of the deck: Fireball (4) Disintergrate (4) Elvish Lyricist Child of Gaea Priest of Titania Skyseeker Elf Gaea’s Cradle Overrun Other elves Ben, a 12 year old student, played with a very simple but effective deck. He was awarded with his win with the Kentucky State Champion Plaque (very nice), a Magic Kentucky State Champion bag, cards, cards, and more cards, and FREE admission to every Andon for the next year (very, very, very nice).