Subject: 1998 West Virginia State Championships Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1998 14:27:52 -0500 From: dagkeene@juno.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com This is a tournament report of the 1998 West Virginia State Championships in Charleston, West Virginia. I will not mention what I ate for breakfast, my wife's name, how long it took me to get to the tournament or other extraneous information. I got to the tournament site which was the Charleston House Holiday Inn at 8:15 am and there were already about twenty people there. I quickly traded or borrowed for the remaining cards I needed for my deck and sideboard. The tournament started only a few minutes late with sixty-four players. I would like to mention that there were sixty-six people at the Kentucky State Championships the previous weekend. It is important to note that Kentucky has a population in excess of three million while West Virginia has a population of less than two million. So I think we had an excellent turnout, especially since we had less than two weeks notice of the event. The Head Judge was Mike Guptil and he was assisted by another fellow named Sean whose last name I did not learn. I was very pleased with the quality of judging. It was firm but fair and not "nitpicking". The deck I was playing was The Academy. We have been play testing it a lot here in Charleston at Todd Sampson's card store, The Ogre's Lair, and we came to the conclusion that it is the deck to beat. I came up with my own configuration of the concept but I admit it is very close to Jon Gordon's version although more by accident than design. The deck is easier to play than Pros-Bloom was but it is almost impossible it put together due to all the power rares required. About half of the rares in my deck I borrowed from friends. And now for some shameless advertising. The Ogre's Lair is the center of the Magic Universe in Charleston where the serious tournament players gather. The phone number is (304) 343-8633. Todd Sampson is the owner and he is also The Ogre. He does not eat small children. The tournament was six rounds of Swiss with a cut to the final eight. The Academy: 4 Time Spiral 4 Stroke of Genius 3 Mind Over Matter 4 Voltaic Key 4 Mana Vault 4 Power Sink - usually sat in my hand 12 Island 4 Lotus Petal 4 Ancient Tomb 2 Meditate 2 Scroll Rack - a must have 4 Tolarian Academy 1 Capsize 2 Mox Diamond 2 Intuition 4 Windfall - worse than useless against Suicide Black Sideboard: 4 Tidal Warrior - great against other Academy decks 4 Chill - best anti-red card there is 4 Wasteland - for other Academy decks and other Wastelands 3 Force Spike - never used them The Tournament: When I say I "go off" I won't go into details. We all know how the deck kills. Round 1: Kirk Ballard - blue, red, black with no real theme. I'm his first opponent in his first tournament. Game 1: I'm a little unsure of myself so I don't go off until about my sixth turn. Game 2: I go for it on about my fifth turn and ........... the engine stalls. I couldn't believe it. It was Time Spiral, Time Spiral, Windfall, Windfall, no Scroll Rack or Stroke of Genius the whole time and eventually I have no way to draw cards. I die embarrassingly. Fortunately, it would be only time all day this happens. Game 3: I go off on my fifth turn. Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1 Round 2: Scott Duff - Suicide Black. Scott is a regular at the Ogre's lair and is a good player, especially considering he is a new player. Game 1: Scott wins the die roll and chooses to go first. He then mulligans down to five cards with no land in his hand. It is a very long time before he draws any land. I take my sweet time killing him since I don't want to give him a fresh hand since any other hand will be better than the one he has now. Game 2: I go off fifth turn. Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-1 Round 3: Matthew Holbrook - Sligh. Matthew is not from the Charleston area. He is from Parkersburg and so he gets to play in a lot of big tournaments in Columbus, Ohio. He is an experienced player and it shows. Game 1: I go off fourth turn. First time today I sideboard. I bring in my Wastelands, Chills and take out the Ancient Tombs and four other cards which I cannot remember. Game 2: I start up the engine fourth turn when he has one mountain untapped. I start off with a Chill. He told me later he had a Pyroblast in hand but didn't use it. He was stuck no matter what he did. I finish him off this turn. Matches: 3-0 Games: 6-1 I am now a lot more confident with the deck but I know the going will only get tougher. Round 4: Jeffrey Curry - Suicide Black. Jeff is a regular at the Ogre's Lair and I honestly think he is the best Magic player in West Virginia. And his DCI ranking backs up this opinion. However, Jeff has a strange vendetta against me that I do not understand. He does not seem to care if he does not win a given tournament, just so long as I do not win. He is also given to making rude comments previous, during and following all my matches, all expressing a desire for me to lose. I believe he has a grudge against me that is psychologically unhealthy and frankly, I am sick of it and wish he would stop. I don't know why he dislikes me so much. Game 1: I have a sub-optimal draw and Jeff runs me over like a tank. I side in the Wastelands and take out the Ancient Tombs. Game 2: Repeat Game 1. Matches: 3-1 Games: 6-3 Round 5: John Giroir - Sligh with Seismic Assault. John is the Wandering Mage and is the single and greatest reason for the success of Magic in West Virginia. He prints a newsletter once every few months that goes out to over three hundred and fifty people. He has spent years and a lot of time and effort on it. And he is a good player too. Game 1: I go off fourth turn and kill him with me at about negative thirty life. I side in the Wastelands and Chills and take out the Ancient Tombs and some other stuff. Game 2: I conveniently forget the existence of Pyroblast. I could of won but I blow it. I should have used the Mind Over Matter to tap out his lands. I die. Game 3: Time is called on my sixth turn. I do not take any chances and go overboard with three Chills when he only has four untapped mountains. I do go off this turn and he dies. Matches: 4-1 Games: 8-4 I am now in fifth place going into the sixth and last round of Swiss. The top ten players are each asked secretly if they are going to play or intentional draw. I vote for play. I figure the four people above me are all going to chose draw and I don't think I will be paired against any of them. Round 6: Jason Hill - Suicide Black. Jason is another regular at the Ogre's Lair and a good friend. Game 1: I go off third turn. Game 2: Repeat Game 1. I was surprised that I beat Jason so quickly because in play-testing just before the tournament began he thrashed me soundly. Matches: 5-1 Games: 10-4 Final Eight: 1. Gregory Keene - Academy - that's me - Charleston 2. Matthew Holbrook - Sligh - Parkersburg 3. Jason Hager - Recurring Whale - Huntington 4. Todd Sampson - Academy - Charleston 5. Jeff Curry - Suicide Black - Charleston 6. Brooks Martin - Academy - Charleston 7. James Bennett - Suicide Black - Charleston 8. Heath Baker - Merfolk - I cannot remember Quarter finals: Heath Baker Game 1 - I win the flip, go first. His first turn, Tidal Warrior. Oh, crap. That's a problem. If I don't go off second turn it is going to be very difficult to win at all. So what do I do? I go off second turn! I could not believe it. Either could Heath. Game 2 - He goes first and plays a Tidal Warrior. I have a sub-optimal draw and he kills me. Game 3 - I go first. He plays another Tidal Warrior on his first turn. I was simply amazed. I will have to go off second turn or it will be tough. So I go off second turn again. It all came down to who won the coin flip. Matthew Holbrook beats James Bennett Brooks Martin beats Jason Hager Todd Sampson beats Jeff Curry Semi-finals: Todd Sampson Todd has been play-testing his deck longer than I have and the experience shows. We have play-tested the mirror match many times but it's been about two weeks since we had played against each other. Game 1 - He wins the flip, chooses to go first and mulligans once so he gets the Academy on his opening hand. However, he does not have much else and is mana-screwed. I am not and go off on about my eighth turn using Mana Vaults. I am amazed I beat Todd, even though it is only one game. It is his FIRST game loss all day. Game 2 - We both get first turn Tidal Warriors. It is then a race to get the engine going and he does it first using Mana Vaults. Game 3 - Repeat of Game 2. That sucks. I hate losing. But I don't mind losing to Todd since he is such an awesome player. I get three quarters of a box of Urza's Saga boosters for my third place finish. Oh, and Matthew Holbrook beats Brooks Martin. After my match with Todd I looked through his sideboard, with his permission of course, just out of curiosity. I look and look and don't see any Chills or even Hydroblasts. Oh my God, where are you're Chills, Todd? He is not playing with them. He chose to meta-game against Suicide Black instead of Sligh. He figured few people would play it since there is now no Fireblast. I have a bad feeling that Todd is going to lose to Matthew Holbrook. Finals: When I'm right, I'm really right. Todd loses 2-0. Admittedly, he did not get good draws. He mulliganed twice each game. And Matthew Holbrook is a very good player. Amazingly, I was his only match loss all day. Matthew won a box of Urza's Saga boosters, the Champion's Plaque, the Tote Bag that says West Virginia State Champion and free admittance to all Andon Unlimited Game Day events for one calendar year. Note that this does not include conventions like Origins but it is still a great prize and he will be able to get a lot of use out of it since he lives only a few miles from the Ohio border. A few thoughts on the Academy deck: If you get a good draw it's tough to beat but the question is consistency. It isn't like Sligh where it is rare that you get a really bad draw. I think the key is knowing when to mulligan and when to go off. I suggest that when play testing one try to go off as soon as possible in order to see how little you need to do it. It is incredible how little is needed. I think everyone there had a great time, I know I did. There were no jerky, abrasive, or unpleasant players that caused the judges problems and everything went smoothly. And it was all over by 9 pm. Many of us here are now hoping that the good turnout will convince Andon Unlimited to steer a Pro Tour Qualifier to Charleston. Greg Keene Charleston, West Virginia ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]