Subject: Maryland State Championships-runner-up Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 19:42:15 -0800 (PST) From: Scott Landis To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Maryland State Championships, Runner-Up Report This is my first Dojo Report, so just bear with me please..... Well, I entered the Maryland State Championships not really knowing what to expect. I mean I had done extensive testing with the Raging Mages of Dream Wizards, testing my version of Academy against Stompy, Sligh, Suicide Black, Death, and other assorted stuff, earlier in the week. I also went to the Delaware States the week before to observe, the metagame but since some of the decks there went Forest, Tap, WOODEN SPHERE!!!!??? I wasn't real sure what the Maryland competition was going to be. I found out it was a lot harder than Delaware, not hard to do, but enough about the matchups, and onto the tourney report... BTW, I am REALLY bad at names, and didn't really intend to report, so sorry about name errors. Round Two: U/R Lifeline/Mogg Fanatic In the beginning I saw an Academy, so I assumed a mirror match, and knew that speed was key. After a third turn win, I found out she was playing with some red, but still had NO idea what it was. In game two, I was a little faster, needing to tap her out with a Sink before going off 5th turn.. She said afterwards that it was a Lifeline/Mogg Fanatic deck, which I'm not really sure works... Round Two: 1-0 U/G Tradewind I figured I was playing Draw-Go, but a third turn win after tapping him out on a sink took care of game one. Game two he played....TITANIA'S SONG!!...having sided out my Capsize, assuming I was playing Draw-go, it was basically over.... Game Three...see game one... Round Three: 2-0 Living Death Two really quick games....Living Death stands about a snowball's chance in hell against Academy... He did have 2 thrull surgeons and 3 lobotomies main deck, but careful use of scroll rack made them pretty useless.... Round Four: 3-0 Drew McLean Sligh Round One of Drew vs. Scott, and as will be shown later, his deck was set up really well against Academy, Death, and Draw-go, with Soooo many one drops...I think I beat myself this round with pretty bad plays, but Drew wins in two Round Five: 3-1 Elmo White Weenie Two quick games, but I will say this about white weenie, and elaborate more later....it has a good chance. IMO, White Weenie is Really good against Sligh and suicide, and after sideboarding it can do reasonably well against Academy and Death, the decks it usually loses to. I am a white weenie player at heart, and hope to see it make a comeback Round Six: 4-1 Wolf Academy After a good look at our possibilities, Wolfensberger and I decided that an intentional draw would most likely cost one of us a ride into the top eight, so we played it out. We both knew it was a mirror match, coming down to skill, luck, and our deck discrepancies to take us in. I won in three after a tidal warrior kept me out of game 2. Is Tidal Warrior a decent SB card for a mirror match, probably better than lobotomy, but not that great.... So I make Top Eight as the Fourth seed with the rest looking like this... 1. Draw-Go 2. Sligh 3. Sligh 4. Academy (ME!!!) 5. Death 6. Sligh 7. Red/Black speed 8. Burning Bridge Quarterfinals: Death See the third round, two quick games.... Semi-Finals: Hunter Draw-Go With all four top seeds winning, this was the match-up I feared the most, but it turned out to be one of the best matches of the day.... First game we got into a counter war over one of his portents (I wanted to tap him out to go off) and after I won the counter war, he looked at the top 3 cards anyway...normally I wouldn't care...but this was the semi-finals...so Hunter got a game loss...I would have probably gone off anyway with him all tapped out Game two went to Hunter as I just wasn't fast enough to mount a defense against his many, many counterspells.. Game Three was REAL fast...I played first turn Windfall...second Turn Windfall and like 10 other spells on turn two. On his fourth turn he tapped out to cast disk (he obviously had nothing decent in hand) and I went off. This was probably the match I was happiest to win, since I didn't pack Turnabouts in the SB, It could have come back to haunt me. Finals: Drew McLean Sligh Round two of Scott vs. Drew... He plays first and gets first turn GOBLIN CADETS..told you he was really set up against non-aggressive decks! Turn Two pup also, and I quickly succumb, getting a sub par draw also... Game two I side in the Chills, and the Wastelands, and it REALLY pays off... turn one: Wasteland, Vault, Petal, Windfall, Diamond, CHILL Turn two: Chill Turn three-five: just sit back, tap him out and go off on like turn six Game three, boy does this hurt...I mulligan not once, not twice, not three times, but down to FOUR cards...the worst part is that without him wastelanding twice in a row, I may have Spiraled with two academies (one in hand..) and gotten out of it. I just couldn't come back from such a disadvantage. Drew wins it in three games, and is state champion, congrats on a great match! Opinions: Well most of the field was either Sligh or Death, with a few Stompies and like five Academies. In the hands of a good player, not that I'm saying I'm the best or anything, Academy IMHO is the best deck out there. Next time I will SB more against Sligh, seeing its weakness to it. The way I see Type II now is the same old Rock-Paper-Scissors, with Academy, Sligh, Death, and Draw-Go being the dominant decks out there right now. I expect White Weenie to bust onto the scene soon, with the right Sideboarding. There were some interesting rogue decks out there, an interesting Oath of Druids/Planar Birth/Drain Life deck, and talk of a Death/Cycling deck...interesting Is Academy broken? Maybe, but until its banned it is a fun, but difficult, deck to play...good luck if you decide to take it up.. Decklists: Jedi Academy Runner Up 4 Windfalls 4 Time Spirals 4 Voltaic Keys 4 Mana Vault 3 Stroke of Genius 3 Mind over Matter 3 Power Sink 3 Scroll Rack 2 Meditate 2 Intuition 1 Capsize 4 Lotus Petals 3 Mox Diamond 4 Tolarian Academy 4 Ancient Tombs 3 Cities of Brass 9 Islands Sideboard: 4 Wastelands (Sligh, Stompy, Draw-Go) 4 Chill (Sligh) 4 Pyroblast (Academy, Draw-Go) 2 Lobotomy (Academy...useless..) 1 Fireball (If I thought they sided in Lobotomy) Thoughts: I will probably cut the capsize and the meditates, adding in a third Intuition and a fourth Power Sink and maybe another standard counter or stroke, these cards didn't help that much on the day. The sideboard will change also, adding Hydroblasts and possibly Turnabout... McLean Sligh Champion 4 Ball Lightning 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Jackal Pups 3 Fireslingers 3 Ironclaw Orcs 3 Goblin Patrol 2 Goblin Cadets 4 Incinerate 4 Shock 3 Sonic Burst 2 Kindle 4 Cursed Scrolls 4 Wastelands 16 Mountains Sideboard: 4 Pyroblasts 4 Bottle Gnomes 3 Shattering Pulse 2 Meltdown 2 Apocalypse Slops and Props: Drew wanted to say Props to Jason Jones for the Cadets and Kindles, they really helped... Fudge said: "White weenie and/or Living Death have no place at the Maryland State Championships!" Props: the Raging Mages (Brandon, Phil, Pete Ripley, Matt Linde) for testing and support... Jared Pinkos, for a great testing.... Elmo McDonalds, what a lunch! Jason Short, for late night tech talks 3263827 Slops: The state of Delaware for being SOOOOOO Bad at Magic Thanks for listening.... Scott Landis The Trading Machine DCI: 1742 Honorable Member of Raging Mages 3263827 "May the Force be with you"