Subject: Ohio State Championships Tournament Report Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 13:50:34 PST From: "Michael Flores" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com THIS WEEK IN COLUMBUS... I haven't been playing as much as I used to, but I really wanted to hit some Type II action and win the 1998 Ohio State Championships. I talked to Bobby Ghaheri, who was last year's state champion and asked him if he was going to show up and defend his title. He said no, but that I could have it. Anyway, said Bobby, there were only 15 participants at last year's event. Wow, to be the Ohio Champion! I would be one of the top-50 Amateur Players in the United States. Just think about that! Sign me up! So I showed. Instead of 15 players for the title, there were 118 this year. That is a huge turnout for just a State Championships, methinks. This is the deck I played: 4 Bottle Gnomes 4 Nevinyrral's Disk 1 Corpse Dance 2 Diabolic Edict 2 Capsize 4 Counterspell 4 Forbid 4 Force Spike 2 Power Sink 4 Whispers of the Muse 2 Lobotomy 12 Island 4 Reflecting Pool 2 Rootwater Depths 1 Stalking Stones 2 Swamp 4 Underground River 1 Volrath's Stronghold 1 Wasteland Sideboard: 3 Dread of Night 3 Perish 4 Hydroblast 2 Lobotomy 3 Wasteland This is how the deck evolved: I was going to play CounterPhoenixDisk, a Rath-modified TDC deck that Bridy, PatrickJ, and I had been tuning over the past few weeks. It is pretty good. I wanted to play it because when the environment is new, I think that counter decks have the best chance to win. Even though I like beatdown decks, you never know when you will hit random with Congregate in his white weenie deck, or when someone Slaps Pariah on exactly the wrong creature. I don't want those headaches when the environment is new. I would rather demoralize the opponent by drawing many extra cards and hitting them with maybe one God-awful Force Spike. Anyway, I was going to play CounterPhoenixDisk, but then I started talking to my longtime collaborator and co-Cabalist, Bill Macey, of Team AustiKnights. Bill was like, "Why not play a B/U Dancing Gnomes deck?" I was like "That deck is gay." Bill was like "It could be good." I was like "I don't care if it is good, it would still, you know, date men." Anyway, we worked on a decklist, but Bill's sucked. Sorry Bill, but 4 creatures and 3 Corpse Dances stink. ;( Anyway, I made mine, but it started off with a counter-base of 4 Counterspell, 3 Forbid, 4 Force Spike, and 3 Mana Leak. Let me start off by saying I hate Mana Leak. I would rather have Memory Lapse most of the time, but Memory Lapse would be terrible in this deck because one of my primary roads to victory is Lobotomy. My teammate the amazing altran told me that I should have 4 Forbids. He was probably right. Anyway, I hate Mana Leak. So then I was like, why not have 1 Power Sink and 1 Ertai's Meddling as the other two counterspells? I had one Beta Power Sink in a random box. Then I remembered that I gave Dave Williams my one Ertai's Meddling the day he qualified in New York, because it can counter Scragnoth. It's not like I collect bad Tempest rares, so I had no Ertai's Meddling. I was *this* close to running 1 Power Sink and 1 Memory Lapse, but in looking through random box for my Beta Power Sink, I found a Mandarin Tempest Power Sink, and that looked pretty cool, so I ended up playing that as my 14th permission spell. I originally had 2 Stalking Stones, and they were amazing against control decks. Then I was like, Volrath's Stronghold is probably "okay" with Bottle Gnome, and it is a 2-way road to victory against control, so I might as well put that in. That card was incredible for me, by the way. My sideboard was really horrible. I thought people would play that Cradle-run deck, so I had 3 Perishes. Most people don't know this, but White Weenie is about the worst matchup for this kind of deck, so I had 2 Dread of Night. My 15th card was a Dandan, which I thought would be styling and profiling against people, and also the forgotton Erhnam beatdown, but I found a 3rd Dread of Night moments before registering my deck and I put that in instead (Tourless Dave told me that I would not be allowed to win the Ohio Championship if I had a Dandan in my deck). Anyway, I arrived at the site. Andon ran it in an excellent fashion. The only player I recognised when I got there was Tourless Dave. Even though he was qualified for Rome, he remains *Tourless* Dave because he did not show, and went to Ohio States instead of the Pro Tour. What? Anyway, I was like "let's playtest." He plays some blue deck with this funny land that looks like it has a house on it. I was like "What is this funny land that looks like it has a house on it? Oh, Tolarian Academy... so that's what it looks like!" I had to keep reading the terrible cards in the Academy deck because the only ones that I knew were Mox Diamond and Mana Vault. Anyway I crush Tourless Dave and he says that his deck sucks. Academy sucks. He wishes he didn't register already and then maybe he could play burn instead. Too bad, Tourless Dave, you are stuck with dumb Academy. So that is enough preamble. Report. I am actually at school screwing around right now, so I am not going to remember all the names (I left my notebook at home, sorry) so if I forgot yours, at least I didn't forget your deck. ROUND ONE Ed, with Sapphire Academy Game 1 This was a great game, that mostly resolved around my letting Ed have Sapphire Medallion. That card is a beating in the Academy deck. All their spells cost one less, so when you do mental math, you can get thrown off a little -- I did at least. They can Power Sink you with one land and stuff too. Anyway, I think I am the mack daddy, so I throw down random Nevinyrral's Disk, but I am not the mack daddy, because Ed starts to go off even though I have 4 untapped Islands. Ed is the mack daddy because he goes off. Oh wait, he too is not the mack daddy because he misfires and I get to untap my Disk. I guess I am the mack daddy again because I blow up a bunch of Academy crap. Time Spiral decided to give me my Wasteland, too. Oh wait, Ed is the mack daddy again because after all of this, he somehow wins. What planet is this? The real reason he won is that I never saw a black mana all game. All four Reflecing Pools, but no Rootwater Depths/Swamp/Underground River action. I saw both Lobotomies... but then I saw my whole library, as it were, on the last turn, as it were. Games 2-3 I forget. I wrecked house with 4 Wastelands and 4 Lobotomies, probably. 1-0. ROUND TWO Nice dude with Academy. I forget the games. He won the first game, I won games 2-3. Actually, game 3, I made this kind of mistake where I tapped out to double-Whisper on his discard phase. He had one card in hand, then Stroked himself to 7 cards in hand. I guess we both got to have a full hand then! I won anyway. ;) 2-0. ROUND THREE Damon, with Suicide Black Game 1 I get this odd draw with 3 Bottle Gnomes, 1 Volrath's Stronghold, 1 Island, and 2 something else. I keep it because he is with Suicide Black and Bottle Gnomes is a beating because it can like block Sarcomancy, and I have 27 land in my deck so I will draw a third by turn 3. Oh wait, no I don't. I still don't have a 3rd by turn 9. Oops. Game 2 I think I got massive buyback or something. Game 3 I decided to let a bunch of crap hit the board because I knew I had to draw a Disk or I would lose anyway, so I would just hold my counters for later. Anyway, he can't play any more beats because he has a Skittering Skirge out. Cool, I draw the Disk while Damon has no cards in hand and a Scroll on the table. Might as well play it. Uncool, he draws Unholy Strength off the top of his deck. 2-1. ROUND FOUR I am always annoyed when I don't get to double-draw in. Now I have to play at least three more rounds, maybe four. Anyway, I am matched up with random dude with Academy. Game 1 We go back and forth but I outplay him into the upper hand. He only has two cards in hand, and I have been Whispering. I go "Lobotomy." His cards are Time Spiral and Wasteland. Which one did I take? Anyway, I am pretty happy for Lobotomy on Time Spiral, but I'm not mean about it or anything. Dude gets up in my face and says "It's not the game or anything." Whatever. He top-decks Mind Over Matter and Plays it. I Capsize Mind Over Matter at the end of his turn. Then I am like "Is *this* the game?" and show him Lobotomy. ;) Game 2 I let him Meditate a couple of times so his hand is nice and big, then I counter the piss out of him, including POWER SINK, I think. I get free turns, cool. I Lobotomy him when he has Mind Over Matter and three Time Spirals in his hand. He conceded because he had Mind Over Matter in hand... that is probably good, because as *bad player* Flores, I would have probably gone for the 3-for-1 on the Time Spirals. 3-1. ROUND FIVE Glen, with Godzilla. Glen tells me that he has rebuilt the Godzilla deck with Alan Comer. It was pretty fast. Game 1: His opening is "okay." Swamp, Dark Ritual, Hounds. Attack for 8 on turn-2. Wow. A Bottle Gnomes takes it for the team the next turn. I somehow clear the board of big mean creatures and then I have no counters in hand. Glen casts Exhume and gets a Shivan Hellkite... well I get a Bottle Gnomes back, so there. Anyway, my deck gives me Capsize, so we eventually get to this place where Glen can cast the dragon out of his hand every turn and I can Capsize-buyback it and hit him with a Gnomes, I think. Then I get a bunch more mana from Whispers, I think, and get double-Corpse Dance-buyback and he concedes. By far the coolest play of the game was when I randomly sacrificed a regular (non-Danced) Bottle Gnomes and it was a Stone Rain + Healing Salve. ;) Game 2 We trade stuff back and forth. He taps out to ritual... Scragnoth. I'm all ready to Force Spike it, but it is Scragnoth, so I suck. Then he gets the double super-tings against blue and Reanimates Benthic Behemoth, which has Islandwalk. I am like "that's not good." Bottle Gnomes takes it for the team, and my deck gives me... Nevinyrral's Disk. That is "okay." So then he Reanimates Scragnoth, and I am doomed. But my deck gives me Corpse Dance, and that is also "okay." I stall with Corpse Dance and stuff until ping land damage (and those *two* expensive Reanimates, of course) knock Glen down to 2. I double-Dance on my turn and kill him. He gives me style points for aggro-Gnome. 4-1. ROUND SIX Another nice dude with Academy. Game 1 I get the upper hand and animate Stones. He taps maximum Diamond and Disenchants it. Amazing! Later he busts a main-deck Pyroblast. Double amazing! I think I win with Whispers, but I forget. Game 2 I have this horrible draw with only 2 land, a Rootwater Depths and a Wasteland. I keep it because of 2 Force Spikes and the Wasteland, and because I am now uber-Wakefield THIRTY land boy. He plays a turn-1 Academy and I am glad I kept the Wasteland draw. Neither one of us plays much land, though on turn 6 or so I have a Stalking Stones, a Volrath's Stronghold, an Island, and a Swamp in play (I think he Wasted my Rootwater Depths). I hit him with random Lobotomy... he didn't see them first game. 5-1. I am in 7th place, so I think I will be able to draw in. My 7th round opponent doesn't want to draw, though, so we have to play. ;( ROUND SEVEN Mike, with Suicide Black. This is where I say that I got manascrewed or something and lost. Game 1 He has to mulligan. It doesn't matter because he is Suicide Black. He kicks me to the cack for like 13 damage with a Black Knight. I always get really anxious when the other guy has to mulligan because if he wins, then I will be a putz. I got double-Corpse Dance going and won, though. Game 2 He goes first. Swamp, Ritual, Priest of Gix, Dauthi Slayer, Sarcomancy. Me. Island. Him. Swamp, Bad Moon. "Game 3 it is." Game 3 I take a ton of damage but draw 2 Disks. I eventually get Disk + Capsize going, and then Corpse Dance + Bottle Gnome and I win. So I guess I make the break. I am 2d seed, and Damon, the only dude to beat me was seed 1, so we are in different brackets. Amazing! I think the top 8 was something like 2 Academy decks, 3 Suicide Black, 1 mono-red Lackey, 1 Oath of Avatar, and me. TOP 8 Adam Hughes, with Suicide Black. I ask Adam if he is the famous comic artist who perfected the female breast. It turns out he isn't. I guess he would have been about 7 when the amazing Giffen/Hughes Justice League run was going on, so that makes sense. By the way, I hate playing against Suicide Black when playing this deck. The Perishes and Dreads of Night were useless... they might as well have been 2 more Edicts, 2 Capsizes, 1 Fatty, and a Terror, I think. Against Suicide Black I would just side out 1-2 Lobotomies for Wastelands, because I would rather not be manascrewed than have Lobotomy in my deck. Game 1 (this one's for Wakefield) Adam has a turn-1 Carnophage, but I hold it off with a Bottle Gnomes. In the meantime, he is able to get a couple of Shadows down. I have 2 Bottle Gnomes on the board, but decide I should play my Disk. My hand is amazing with 1 Whispers of the Muse, 1 Capsize, and 1 Forbid. Adam has like 1-2 cards and I know he just drew a land off the top of his deck because he played it. So he attacks, I block random Knight. He starts tapping mana and I think he is pumping the Knight but instead he Hatreds me. I do the math like 5 times, but even with 2 Gnomes I die. ;( Game 2 He starts Scrolling me with "Hatred" when I have 2 Islands and nothing else in hand. ;( So I finish 6th in Ohio, and not one of the top 50 amateur players in the U.S. Maybe I will re-qualify someday and not have to pine over amateur Magic at all. In other news, Tourless Dave (Academy) over Damon (Suicide Black) dude with Oath of Avatar over Lackey Academy over Suicide Black, I think. I would have loved to have been in another bracket with the Academy and Oath decks... I think my deck is actually pretty good against mono-red too, due to dancing Gnomes and Force Spike (and Hydroblast)... certainly better than against mean old shadow creatures and random Hatred when I have 2 Gnomes out. I think the Lackey deck could have beaten the Oath deck. In the game I saw, dude had Lackey, Flunkies, Scroll, Wasteland, Raider, a bolt and a Mountian. He played turn-one Scroll! I would have played Lackey, Wasted the Oath player's non-basic, played Raider and Flunkies, and tried to bolt him out by about turn-5. The Lackey player even drew Goblin King! It would have been a goblin beating! With Wasteland, the Oath player could not even use the Oath until turn 4, and that means about 10-15 free damage. Oh well, he did well anyway. Tourless Dave went on to beat the other Academy deck, and the Oath player mercelessly played turn-1 Oath both games agaisnt Suicide Black. In the finals, the Academy deck of course trounced the deck with mostly creature-sanctioning stuff. Props to the Oath player (Larry I think) for making top 2 with a really unique deck. What is this? Is Tourless Dave the Ohio State Champion? What planet is this. ANALYSIS: I think Disk-O Gnomes is a really good deck. Apparently it is not great against Suicide Black with Hatred, but maybe I should have had some sideboard cards for it. I think this might be a time where a Flying Beatdown renaissance could be possible. I might dust off my deck, replace the Waterspouts and jellyfish with some Hammerhead Sharks and more fatty fliers, and see if the old bird can't still fly, or at least come crashing down, elbow first, on the opposition. The Academy seems at least a little scared of counter-control decks, and Flying Beatdown has about 100% win ratio against Suicide Black, so... (also, Fireblast is banned now, so you are faster than red!) End analysis. CHEERS AND JEERS: Cheers: Tourless Dave: are you good all of a sudden? It's a good thing that you didn't change decks. Bill Macey: for the deck idea, and saying to play 4 Edicts... maybe I should have listened! Dudes I played: they were pretty friendly, except that dude that got up in my face. Andon staff: A fine job. Ohio: 118 participants. Wow, this seems great for the future of Magic. Jeers: Me: not one sideboard card for Suicide Black... but multiple ones for Crade-run. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. ;) I hope you all enjoyed this, Mike Flores Cabal Rogue Team Discovery Channel www.seas.upenn.edu/~altran/tdc.html ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com