Subject: Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1998 15:49:44 -0600 From: "hoppe" To: [Tournament][State Championships][Lincoln, Nebraska][9th place][Scott Hoppe] Hi! This is my first tourney report, so bear with me. So, we went to the State Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska at Hobbytown USA. Before the States, I'd been experimenting with all sorts of deck types. Since we live don't live in Lincoln, we didn't really know what the metagame was gonna be like up there. We didn't expect a lot of sligh, but we did expect some. Two members on our team had chosen to play sligh, just because it was the most consistent deck out there, but I hated any kind of fast jank. So, I experimented with a new T2 CounterPhoenix, TradeAwakening, Ertai's Lab, and some janky Recurr stuff. I personally liked the CounterPhoenix because it could beat Sligh alright and could beat most of the other control decks out there. So, I worked with that deck and with some help from Alex Shvartsman(via e-mail) I finally came up with a deck. The sideboard was weak and I mean WEAK. I expected more Tolarian Blue and Controlish Blue stuff. I had decided ot have the one earthquake because on IRC, everyone was playing turboelf jank. I know it sucked, but if it was that popular at states, then the earthquake could really assist on a bad draw. The whole day, I played two different deck types: Sligh, & White Weenie. That was a surprise, and all I had against Sligh, I'm embarrassed to say, was 4 Propagandas. Well here's the deck: 4 Shard Phoenix(Chicken!!!!!!!) 4 Intuition(Demonic Tutor) 4 Nevinyrall's Disk(Insane like usual) 4 Shock 1 Earthquake(Only drew it once) 4 Counterspell 4 Forbid 2 Dismiss 2 Mana Leak(Never drew 'em) 2 Whispers(Didn't buy them back much) 2 Capsize(GREAT!!!!!) 13 Island 10 Mountain 4 Reflecting Pool SB:4 Pyroblast(ASSSSS!!!!!) SB:4 Wasteland(Pretty efficiant) SB:4 Propaganda(Good against Sligh) SB:3 Arcane Labratory(I was way to scared of Acadamy) Basicly, I would do some major changes to the sideboard, like take out the Pyros for some cool stuff like Hammerhead Sharks. Other than that, I only played 2 different deck types, so it's hard to tell from the rest of the stuff. Well, I had to wake up at about 5:30 and we left at about 6:45. We got to ride in the luxary of Scott Prokupek's car(Piece of shit). There were 5 of us and they made me sit in back, in the middle(bastards). It was freezing outside, so I was covered in a blanket. We finally got there, and we were like the first ones there. So, we went to our usual tables and I played Tyler's sligh, and beat it 2-0. That made me happy. We registered and there were like fifty-something people there. After they announced the rules and stuff we started to play. It was kind of funny when they announced the no swearing rule and everybody pointed to Tyler. Well, Andrew was playing the same Counter Phoenix that I had designed(different 'board), Tyler and Scott played Sligh, and Jeff was playing Ertai's Lab. So, we started the first round. Round 1: Wayne Ledford(Really Nice guy) WW w/ some various multi-colored stuff. Game 1- He went first turn-diamond, shadow. Shit. He then continued to cast weenie after weenie and obliviated me. Game 2- I boarded in nothing. I Didn't expect WW. He boarded in a decent stack. But, he didn't draw a land. A SINGLE land!!! He was pretty mad at himself that he didn't paris, but I guess he had to take that chance. Game 3- He drew decent and I drew good, and took control with a Phoenix early. He got me down to 5, but the ForbidenChicken lock got him. Andrew & Jeff lost-Tyler, Prokupek, & I won. 1-0-0 2-1 Round 2: Dwayne Chun(Cool guy) White Weeniew/Pariah & green for regenerators and muscle Game 1- One of the closest game of the day. I made my only mistake of the day here. He played a Paladin en-Vec and I didn't counter. I had the mind frame of Priest being the only one to fear. He beat me down, but I think I layed a Disk and he didn't chant it. After that, it was a slow game, with him getting me down to one, and me finally gaining control with my ForbidenChicken and Capsize. Game 2- I put in 3 Wastlands for his Brushlands and Cities. He outswarms me and 'chants my disk when it hits the table, and has Pro. Red guys and en-Kors running around everywhere. I couldn't do anything. Game 3- He drew like a plains and a Gaes' Cradle and I drew 2 Wastlands for his two upcoming brushland that he drew. After that, I had a capsize lock on his plains, before he could draw any plains. Too bad for him. He was quite mad at himself for taking the hand. 2-0-0 4-2 We ate Chinese, and I had two orders of Crab Rangoon. Mmmmmmmm good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Andrew was 0-2(wtf?)- Jeff was 1-1 - Tyler, Prokupek were 2-0. I engaged in some trading and traded like a Coffin Queen for a Necro(only had three). Round 3: Ross Anderson("fu-fu" as someone called him) Sligh Game 1- He beat the piss outta me. :( Game 2- All I had against him was 4 Props. He still killed me. Poor Chicken!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2-1-0 4-4 That sucked as I had nothing against Sligh. Guess what I had to play next!! Round 4: Patrick McDonald Sligh w/Lackeys and Bombardments Game 1- I drew great, and was able to hold the rush off. He drew like crap, so I guess I got lucky. I killed him when I was at 3. Game 2- Put in only 2 Props. Took out 2 Muses. Apparently I just drew great again, and he didn't. I don't know what was going on, but I had the ForbiddenChicken Lock against Sligh and won. The chicken swept sligh!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3-1-0 6-4 I don't remember how Andrew was doing because he was so depressed with how his day had been, Jeff dropped out(1-2), Prokupek lost his first match.(3-1) and Tyler lost(I think(2-2) Well, some other kids from Columbus were doing great also. That's bad because they're our rivals. Round 5: Bruce Sejkora(not that nice) Sligh Burnish Jank Game 1- I drew all the counters I needed in the end. His deck would just burn you whenever you tapped out. It had like all burn, plus Pups, slingers, balls, fanatics, seismics and scrolls. I barely edged him out the first game. I didn't make any mistakes(If I would've, he would've won). Game 2- Once again, I had nothing to board against him. He parissed, and I thought that was good, but he just beat the crap out of me. I drew like no counters or disks. And he drew some Pyros. Bad game. Game 3- Very long, close game. I drew good, and he went second turn, Ankh, and I had no counter. I drew the disk at the right time and slapped it down to kill the Ankh. I could tell that he didn't draw very good. My goal that game was to just get out an early phoenix and attack every turn. It worked. I won the game at 7 life, even though he had some burn in his hand. I attacked him with my Phoenix, and double shocked him. Great game!!!!! 4-1-0 8-5 I can't remeber how everyone else was doing, becuase I was just happy that I had a chance to make top 8. They posted the rankings, and I was 9th, so I couldn't draw. I kind of wanted to draw because my opponendt was playing sligh, but I had a bad expierience with drawing. At the JSS in Chicago, I was 4-1 seated 8th, going into last round, and I drew. I got tenth. I was seated 10th, so I couldn't. Round 6: Rick Poehling(Very cool, & one of the best players in State) Sligh I swept in 4th round. Game 1- He just outswarmed me, and I didn't see an island. I did cast a phoenix, eventually, but it was too late. Game 2- All I could board in was 2 Props. I got down third turn Prop, and he wasn't drawing very good. I had to disk away his scrolls, so I was Propless, and when I went to lay a chicken, he shocked it at end of turn. He then slapped down a big ball-o-lightning and I was low. I then layed down the chicken again. He didn't draw much, but I couldn't draw any counters and he burned me. 4-2-0 8-7 Well, when it was all over, Prokupek, Tyler, and I were all 4-2. Andrew was at a lowly 2-4(who knows?). The top eight was like all sligh, Suicide Black, and WW. Right before we were going to leave, a guy came up to me and told me that I was 9th, and two of the people in the top eight had left, so me and Prokupek(10th) got to play in the final 8. I was happy untill the head judge said that DCI rules say that they can't go down spots if the people in the top 8 don't show up. There was a big discussion, and we just left. We stopped at Prokupek's sisters house and played with her cat, Newman. This cat was the fattest, ugliest, coolest cat I'd ever seen. All we did was torment it. It was fun. We stopped at McDonald's and headed home. Andrew and Tyler's parents were mad at them for something. Who knows. Well, cya later. - Scott Hoppe, 14 Yrs. Old, Columbus, NE Team LK