From: "Anthony Lavoie" To: Subject: CT State Tourney Report Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 20:22:04 -0500 Albert J. Lavoie II ajlavoie@worldnet.att.net Tournament Connecticut State Championship University of Hartford Hartford, CT Standard Format - Swiss Style 93 Participants I have been playing Magic for almost 4 years now and this is my first Dojo report. The following is a recap of the events that had led to and occurred during the Connecticut State Championship on Nov. 7, 1998. Up until approx. 5 days before the event, the deck I was most concerned w/ was Cunoe Blue (Draw Go). Mark LaClare and Ray Tautic of Team Fun N Games endorsed blue in the current format. I strongly respect their game play and am aware both can be a little counterspell happy. I feel any deck I choose must consistently beat Cunoe Blue or other heavy blue based decks. The first deck I built to beat blue was a UGW Tradewind/Geddon/WOrb deck w/ green creature & counterspell support. In play testing, it regularly beat Cunoe. There were simply too many spells to counter and w/ main deck scavenger folk & disenchants, it was extremely difficult for them to get an untapped disk. As much as I liked the deck, it had flaws. For example, if an opponent got out a tradewind and co. before I did, I lost. It had no way to directly destroy a creature. So with 5 days to go before the championship I am unsure of what to play. At this point one of my teammates from Team Stooges, Brian Beyor, and I start extensive play testing. Shortly thereafter, it was decided we would play Suicide Black. It was fast and aggressive. I believe something can be said for simplicity. Throughout the week, both of us built may decks in which to playtest. The following day about 10 minutes before I left for Brian's house, I decide speedy red deck together to work against our black one. I through in standards such as incinerate/ball lightning/cursed scroll/goblins and one card that would ever change our outlook of the environment -Goblin Lackey. Did I just say Goblin Lackey? Yes, I did. I put 2 in just to see how it would work. This poorly made red deck went on to destroy our black deck every single game. No matter how well the black deck drew, it could not beat the red one. And the Lackeys were abusive. Turn 1 Lackey. Turn 2 play a flunky for free and cast a flunky. Let the beatdown commence. At this time, Brian says ,"That's it , we're playing red." I respond, "Okay." The deck did need some work. The Lackey count went up to 4. Out went the Ironclaw Orcs(not goblins) and in came the Goblin Raider. Other issues such as mana ratio and the amount of burn had to be considered. The following is the version we decided to play for the CT state championship: GOBLIN STOOGES by Al Lavoie and Brian Beyor 4 Goblin Lackey 4 Goblin Raider 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Mogg Flunkies 3 Mogg Raider 3 Jackel Pup 3 Ball Lightning 1 Fireslinger 4 Incinerate 4 Shock 4 Cursed Scroll 1 Sonic Burst 1 Goblin Bombardment 4 Wasteland 16 Mountain sideboard: 4 Pyroblast 4 Meltdown 3 havoc 2 Rathi Dragon 1 Goblin Bombardment 1 Aftershock Brian's sideboard varied from mine by 2 cards. Other than that, our thoughts on the deck were the same. At present, the Jackel Pups are still being reconsidered. In retrospect, I would adjust the sideboard slightly. Out: 1 Meltdown, 1 Aftershock In: 1 Shattering Pulse, 1 Shivan Gorge. The last remaining nights were devoted to more playtesting including against the dreaded Academy/Stroke of Genius deck. My brother Tony Lavoie and cousin Jay(Jim) Lavoie, also members of the Stooges team, joined in the playtesting frenzy. Our final conclusion about the environment was that it wasn't about slow control but about speed. The rest of the team made their deck choices. Tony enjoyed playtesting with the Academy and thus decides to play it. Jay plays a R/G land destruction/Arg Wurm/burn deck. Its a good metagames choice as it gives fits to the red deck, the Academy deck and Suicide Black. As for the tournament, the event was organized by Len Blado and sponsored by Dragon's Lair of West Hartford. The head judge was Nat Fairbanks (level IV). The turn out was impressive, 93 players. I spent much of my time hanging out w/ my teammates and the guys from Fun N Games. I register my deck and the tourney starts in a somewhat timely fashion. I feel very confident. Round 1 Brian Dunlap - Red speed w/ echo Game 1 - I start out fast and quickly get him down to four. He's doing damage to me but not at as fast a rate as I. With him at 4, I have a fanatic in play a nd a shock in hand. My next 4 draws produce no means of doing the necessary extra point. He beats me down w/ warbuggies & raptors. Of further note, his Arc Lightnings helped reck me. I side in 2 Rathi Dragon. Games 2 & 3 - Both games are all about quick starts backed w/ turn 4 Rathi. that gives me the match. Match 1-0, Games 2-1 Teammates Tony, Brian and Jay also win. Round 2 Mark Laclare - Team Fun n Games - Cuneo Blue You've got to be kidding me!!! There are 93 players and I draw Mark in round 2? I hate this. One of us has to suck a loss early and that hurts. Mark is a very clean player and my success against him has been mixed. We know what the other is playing. Before we start he comments that the matchup is in my favor. To myself, I think I agree. Game 1 - I start off quickly. he has dick in hand but decides not to play ot turn 4. Instead, he plays it turn 5 and that allows my goblins to get in an extra 5 damage. He disks and starts countering everything I cast. He runs out of counters and Meditates. That actually worries me. I draw a Shock and attempt to finish him. He does nothing and dies. It turned out he Meditated for 4 land. Ouch! Game 2 - I side in 4 pyros. My opening hand includes 2 of them. Within the next couple of turns, I draw another and Mark sees none of his sideboard cards. With that, it was just a matter of time to victory. 2-0, 4-1 Teammates Tony, Brian and Jay all win. Round 3 Bob Fusco - Sligh w/ Lackey tech Game 1 & 2 - In both games his draws are superior to mine. Within the two games, I saw 14 lands (6 game 1, 6 games 2). That is not good. My biggest and only mistake in the tournament was choosing not to mulligan in game 2. My opening draw was Ball lightning, Goblin Lackey, Shock, Mountain x4. What was I thinking?! Of course, the situation went from bad to worse as I drew 4 more lands. Also, where are my Cursed Scrolls? Not a one to be seen in either game. 2-1, 4-3 Teammates Brain(3-0) and Jay(3-0) win. Tony loses(2-1). Round 4 Joseph Berk - R/B Shadow w/ burn This was Joe's 1st tourney. Someone else built his deck but it was pretty straight forward - play creatures, burn out my creatures and attack. Game 1 - He beats me. And although it is much better that most decks a novice would play, I'm wondering what could be wrong w/ my deck? I have a good draw but back it up w/ land, land, land and he wins the weenie rush. Also, this was the 3rd games in a row I have not seen a Cursed Scroll. Game 2 - My deck finally runs well. Turn 1 Lackey, turn 2 two flunkies. Game over. Game 3 - He gets a good draw but mine is very good including Cursed Scroll. I kill all his creatures and then scroll and burn him out. 3-1, 6-4 Teammates Brain(3-1) loses. Tony(3-1) and Jay(4-0) win. Round 5 Brain Beyor - Teammate At this point Brian and I each only have one loss. Not bad for our goblin deck (we do not call it sligh). We feel if we play one of us will get knocked out of final 8 contention. Since we are confident we can win out and make final 8 at 5-1-1, we decide to ID and take a mental break. 3-1-1, 7-5-1 Teammates Tony(3-2) and Jay(4-1) lose. Brian and I are ea. @ 3-1-1. Round 6 Ray Tautic - Team Fun N Games - The Academy Ray is another good player and friend. Again, we know what the other is playing and both of us are confident. Considering we play in a lot tournaments together, I have not played him in quite some time. He comments how he wants a piece of my DCI points. We wish each other good luck and begin. Game 1 - Ray draws no artifacts. Enough said. Game 2 - I've got beatings going and Ray is off to a slow start. He does, however, draw 4 Force Spikes. He casts Time Spiral, I pyro and am stunned to see the 4th spike. I figure I'm dead. He dumps some artifacts including Scroll Rack. He racked and got nothing. He says go and dies. 4-1-1, 9-5-1 Teammates Tony(4-2), Brian(4-1-1) and Jay(5-1) all win. Round 7 Tim Neems - Recurring Nightmare Tim is one of the best sports around and a regular at Dragon's Lair. He has been working on his deck for quite some time and I'm concerned his fattie creatures and life gaining will be too much for me. My confidence had been high all day, but my thought was that his deck would be a bad matchup. Game 1 - I am beating him down w/ my critters. He lobotomys one turn four. I have Lackey and C. Scroll in hand. To my surprise he chooses the lackey. Boy, was I thankful and I think he realized his mistake as soon as he made it. It turned out that the C. Scroll did the last 10 points of damage to kill him. Game 2 - I get an early rush but no beef(flunkies/b.lightning). I feel this will lead to a game three. It is mid game, I have little on the board and 2 mountains in hand. I'm getting frustrated but I draw Ball Lightning. Next turn I draw flunkies and he never say Recurring Nightmare. That is game and match. 5-1-1, 11-5-1 The final score for the Stooges: Brian(Goblin) 5-1-1 Jay(LD/Wurm) 5-2 Tony(Academy) 4-3 Me(Goblin) 5-1-1 This is great. Both Brian and I go 5-1-1 and have a chance a final 8 with our goblin deck. Also, Jay probably played his best Magic to date and Tony was an Intuition or Time Spiral away for going 5-2. While waiting for the final results, I occupied my time by watching Mark and Ray play a game of mental Magic. Finally results are reported. Brian finishes 8th, I'm 9th, Jay is 10th and Tony 22nd. I'm happy for Brian but somewhat dejected about not making top 8. In the quarterfinals, Brian makes easy work of Bob Fusco 2-0. In the semifinals, Brian squeaks out a narrow 2-1 victory over a Suicide Black deck. This was done with Brain's continued strong play and a little help from red friends Carnophage and Sarcomany. In the finals, Brian losses a heartbreaking 2-1 match. He lost games one and three. In both losses, his was just one well timed draw from winning the state championship. Actually in the last game, he got his opponent all the down to a single point. His opponent subsequently took Brian all the down to zero from 20. That's sad, but he was compensated w/ a box and 1/2 of assorted foreign packs for his 2nd place finish. Personally, this was a tournament to remember. For a change, I had meta- gamed well. Brian and I did exceptionally well w/ a deck that we believed was somewhat different from the anticipated new environment. I am looking forward to seeing how the new type 2 setting will evolve from the state championships. Some props and slops: Props: To Len Blado(tournament organizer), Nat Fairbacks(head judge), Dave C.(judge) and the Dragon's Lair crew: Robert, Vince, Laura and DJ. Thank You. To Bobby Beverly for an impressive tournament run into the semifinals. To my teammate Brian for his performance and playtesting w/ me. And finally, to my cousin Jay(who kicked bu*t) and my brother Tony for being family. Thanks again. Slops: Just to Brian and myself for forgetting about the Shivan Gorge and over sideboarding against The Academy. Other than that, I can say nothing bad about Saturday's experience. Well, that's it. See you at the local tournaments. Al Lavoie of the Stooges