Subject: Minnesota State Championship's tourney report Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 13:08:20 -0600 From: "Priest, Clinton (STP)" To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" Tournament Report by Clint Priest State Championship's for Minnesota run by Steve Port Held at Mirkwood Coffee Comics and Games The format was current Type 2 with Urza's Saga I played Mind over Matter Academy Deck. The deck I played: 3 Mind Over Matter (Awsome against control and other Academy decks) 4 Time Spiral 4 Stroke of Genius 4 Windfall (Far better than meditate) 3 Intuition 2 Turnabout (Anti-control Sided these out quite a bit) 2 Power Sink (Very important against control decks.. tap them out) 4 Mana Vault (Every game I got one of these on the draw I won) 3 Urza's Bauble (Decent... get out of a tight spot card) 3 Voltaic Key (Incredible. Simply Awsome with mana vault and scroll rack) 4 Lotus Petal (Didn't care for these too much, looking for a replacement) 2 Scroll Rack (These were very key, should have had three) 3 Mox Diamond 4 Tolarian Academy 4 Wasteland (Against other Wastelands, and Academy) 11 Island Sideboard: 2 Powersink (Anti-Control, sided out turnabout's for these against most decks) 2 Turnabout (Anti-control) 2 Capsize (Never sided these in) 4 Chill (Obvioius choice against mono red) 4 Interdict (This card was important against other Academy Decks) 1 Scroll Rack (Sided in against control) About the tournament. The top players from the area showed up for this tournament, around 70 people total. Usually more turn out for State Championships, but I guess they had better things to do that day. Of the field there were 3-4 Academy style decks and a few similar decks utilizing other aspects of the deck in various ways. There was a lot of control decks and mono black suicide style decks. Round 1 - Mono Blue Control Game 1 - He tapped out fourth and fifth turns against me which is game. Went off on my fourth turn. Sided in 2 power sinks 2 turnabouts and 1 scroll rack Game 2 - This game I didn't see a power sink or turnabout til turn 20 or so. My opponent didn't tap out at all. Once he had plenty of mana he started his creature beatdown, etc. By the time I drew a powersink and turnabout it was far too late. My opponent had several counter's in his hand and plenty of mana to use with it. Game 3 - Turn four I turnabout him, he counter's, I powersink just enough to tap his lands out. I go off that turn and finish him off. Against this type of deck you need to play carefully, counting your mana versus their's. Its not important for your turnabout or your powersink to go through as long as they are left with 1 or no mana available... preferabbly none. 1-0 Matches 2-1 Games Round 2 - Mono Blue Control Game 1 - He out raced me on mana early in the game, turn 5 or 6 he casts something or another, I powersink leaving him tapped out. I start to go off, and after two time spiral's I don't draw anything to continue going. No scroll rack in play to help either. I am forced to sink my mana and let my opponent go. Several turns later I have another turnabout and powersink in my hand. Turnabout him, he counters, I powersink for enough to tap him out, and go off finishing him off. Sided in 2 power sinks, 2 turnabouts, and 1 scroll rack Game 2 - I play a urza's bauble and a lotus petal first turn. On his third turn he play's a Energy Flux... hmm me with no power sink. Cannot afford to pay for the two artifacts, use the bauble on his turn, and let the lotus petal die on my turn. Two turns later I play a scroll rack. I pay for it for a while using it as often as needed to get more mana. After a few more turns of building mana, I get out a mind over matter on him. He beats me down to 2 with his stalking stones as I fill up my hand. The turn he's going to kill me he realizes I can stop his one threat indefinetely and he panics and casts something which I happily power sink, tapping him out. On my turn I play four artifact's, lay an academy and go postal on him. Again, its important to tap them out, not win the counter war. 2-0 Matches 4-1 Games Round 3 - Sligh Game 1 - I went off turn 3 to his amazement. He hadn't played against this before. Sided in 4 chill, and 2 powersink's Game 2 - I didn't see one stitch of what I needed... no card drawing or an Academy or a chill for that matter. He beat the heck outta me. Game 3 - Opening hand... chill, chill, mox diamond, island, academy, academy, lotus petal... I go first... mox diamond, land.. chill, turn 2 chill... and the rest was history. 3-0 Matches 6-2 Games Round 4 - Sligh Game 1 - Went off third turn... no chance on his side. Sided in 4 chill and two sinks Game 2 - Went off third turn... still no chance on his side. 4-0 Matches 8-2 Games Round 5 --> Draw 4-0-1 Matches 8-2 Games Round 6 --> Draw into final 8 Final Eight: 4-0-2 Matches 8-2 Games Round 7 - Serra Avatar/Show and Tell deck Game 1 - I get off to a slow start and after turn 5 or so I have been scroll racking and he casts show and tell and puts out a serra avatar. I have no permanents I can play Next turn he hits me for 19 (he had to use a city of brass to stop something I did) I go off next turn and kill him. Side in 2 powersinks, 1 scroll rack, 2 capsize Game 2 - He plows the hell outta me with some board control and a serra avatar Side out 1 capsize Game 3 - He again hits me for 19 one turn, I start to go off, he disenchant's my MOM, I power sink it for the win. (Very close match) 5-0-2 Matches 10-3 Games Round 8 - Counter Phoenix Game 1 - He gets hosed on the draw, mulligans and apparently still had no blue, he plays two mountains and a reflecting pool before I go off. Sided in 2 powersink's, 2 turnabouts and a scroll rack Game 2 - I have an amazing draw against his deck, having drawn three of my powersinks. I lay down most of my artifacts on first turn... on his third turn he casts arcane labratory which I powersink, on his fourth turn he casts a disk which I powersink, and I go off killing him on my fourth turn. 6-0-2 Matches 12-3 Games Round 9 - Academy Deck Game 1 - After a few turns of milling around on both sides of the board, he tries to go off, I powersink his time spiral, end of his turn I wasteland his academy and go off. Side in 2 powersink's, and 4 interdict Game 2 - This was a very long and drawn out game. After several turns I start to go off with him tapped out after a powersink. I go through 2 time spirals and after the second one goes off, I draw nothing to continue with. Nothing in play to help either, and am forced to sink my mana and say go. He begins to go off, and at a crucial point makes a mistake by time spiraling and untapping his academy with his MOM out. He starts to let it resolve and thus the judge makes a ruling against him that he cannot pitch the rest of the cards to continue untapping it. We play a few games with our MOM's tapping and untapping my permanents. I untap a vault, he taps it, I draw mana in response. He declares his attack phase (big mistake). I take 3 burn. After attack phase I start working on getting mana into my pool. Eventually he stroke of genius's himself for 15 cards or so. In response I do the same to myself for 9. Over the course of the next few minutes he starts gathering mana to draw close to the rest of his deck. On my 9 cards I drew another stroke of genius. I continue to respond to my opponent by untapping my mana vault and other permanents to get more mana. He cannot get rid of my mana without ending his turn because he attacked. Finally I decide that I am not going to be able to get enough mana doing it one response at a time. I try to untap the mana vault in response to untapping it several times with the MOM, drawing mana in response to each resolution. The head judge doesn't allow me to do it, even though I should have been able to. Eventually he stroke's himself for 25 more cards and I don't have enough mana to deck him. Had I been able to draw the mana I would have stroked him in response to his, causing his stroke to deck himself. Game 3 - He goes off third turn and I don't have a powersink to stop him. It really sucks that the judge ruled against me incorrectly in game 2 as I would have won the match and the tournament. The final Academy deck I had to face was nearly identicle to mine in every way, except he had a few different sideboard choices. The head judge realized later (after the match was over) that he was wrong... but oh well that's the way it goes when aren't allowed to argue with the head judge. The tournament of course was run perfectly by Steve Port, the major tourney organizer for the midwest. Hats go off to him as he always runs a perfect tournament. Mirkwood Coffee Comics and Games was a perfect place for the tournament, as they sold pizza and pop for the players. A good time was had by all. My final standings were 6-1-2 and I took 2nd place. Happy decking... Clint Priest