Subject: Iowa State Championships Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 00:54:33 -0600 From: bwstark@trxinc.com (Bill Stark) To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Standard Iowa State Championships Student Memorial Union, Iowa City Iowa 48 in attendance 9th place First off, let me start by saying Iguana's had a well-run tournament on Sunday the 22. The only delays were caused by us the players (hmmmmmm, 48 deck lists, 46 people registered...) and the judge was pretty cool. All of my opponents were well-mannered, and the experience as a whole was enjoyable. Since I was certain the field would be aggro-weenie (read sligh/suicide black) and Academy, I tried to build a deck metagamed against both. Okay, I'll try to make the rest of my report original. The deck I decided on was King Fish (props to Al Sousa for the original) because main deck it had many things most decks don't have to beat Academy, and after sideboard would be very effective vs. Sligh (and not too bad before s/b). The decklist looked like this: 18 Islands (important to get enough blue) 4 Wastelands 4 Tidal Warrior (meta-game to stall slow mana decks, and turn Academies into Islands) 4 Manta Rider 2 Rootwater Diver (in the event a Scroll got toasted) 4 Merfolk Looter (the only thing I had vs. Death) 4 Coral Merfolk 4 Lord of Atlantis (serving only 1 point of damage all day) 4 Unstable Mutation (12 damage in one turn? Oh yeah, it's blue) 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Counterspell 4 Mana Leak (a meta game vs. Academy. I felt Forbid was too slow. Using only two mana to stop something instead of 3 was MUCH better, IMO) Sideboard: 4 Hydroblast (Dowse is better vs. Sligh, but not vs. Academy's sided in Pyros. I went with the one to screw both) 2 Hibernation (I had nothing vs. Scragnoth. Only one deck with green made top 8. I saw no green) 4 Energy Flux (vs. Academy) 2 Nevinyrall's Disk (vs. other weenie, especially suicide) 3 Propaganda (vs. other weenie) in retrospect (since hindsight really is 20/20), I would have been MUCH better off metagaming 4 Sea Sprites in the place of Merfolk Looters. Against all the red I saw they would have been MUCH better. Also, in the sideboard after the new bannings, I would remove the fluxes for 4 Chill, since I feel Dowse is just too slow otherwise. Onto the tournament. Round 1 Tim Game 1: At first I'm not quite sure what Tim is trying to do. I get a small weenie rush going, and he counters a few things. Then he drops a Shard Phoenix, and I realize I'm playing Counter Phoenix. But it's much too late, because he's tapped out, so I drop Lord, an unstable mutation on an Island Walking merfolk, and a Scroll, and come across for enough to Scroll him down. Game 2: I sided in just the Hydroblasts, and removed the Tidal Warriors. This was a much better game until the 4th turn. I start with a Rider first turn, leaving me tapped out. He goes 2nd turn Energy Field, and I sit back in disgust, wondering if I had just lost the game. Then, realizing that it would be a foolish idea to concede since he can't play anything now, I continue. I decided it would be better to lay back on playing creatures so I could counter the next thing he played (I had a Mana Leak in hand). Third turn nothin goes on. Fourth turn, for some reason I have not yet figured out, he taps out to play a Disk. Keep in mind I have 3 Islands untapped. The Disk posed no threat to me, as it would have only gotten rid of an enchantment that was holding me back. But I counter it, the Energy Field gets buried, and i weenie rush/scroll him down. In between rounds I chill with Gabe and my teammates who came with me, but opted not to play. Round 2 Todd Game 1: Todd really threw me for a loop. I knew he was playing blue because he opened with an Island. I didn't think he was playing Academy because I didn't see any artifacts, and because I had figured out most of the Academy guys from the first round. I get a small weenie rush going, and he counters a few things. I still haven't figured out what he's playing. Than third turn he drops a Thalakos Scout, and ends his turn. I play random merfolk #3, and attack. He's at 14. His turn he plays Silver Wyvern, than next turn Great Whale, than another Scout. I get toasted by creatures I can't block. Game 2: Still unsure of what I'm facing, but knowledgable of how he wins, I side in props, and disks. I open with a Scroll, then play two merfolk, and hold back to counter. I counter a Soul Barrier, and a Propaganda, than play another Propaganda of my own. He gets the Scout beatings going, and I get a Scroll. Scroll his Scout, he returns it to his hand. He never plays it, and I win a small counter war over a game winning Unstable Mutation, even though I probably would have won the next turn anyway. Game 3: Game three is much the same as game 2, except I blow a disk to get rid of a Wyvern and and a Scout, and lose a Scroll. I come up the victor. Round 3 Fred Game 1: First turn I see a Jackal Pup (I lose the die roll), so I know I'm up against one of two decks. I'm either up against Sligh, or an incredibly innovative (and aggressive) form of Academy. I assume it's Sligh. I trade a Tidal Warrior for the Pup, and then trade a Diver for another Pup. I kill the first Lackey, drop a Coral with a Mutation, and apply some beatdown. He incinerates the Coral, then hits me with a Sonic Burst. I pull the other Sonic Burst from his hand like a pro. Than I drop a Scroll, and it's all downhill from there. For him that is. Game 2: This game I get out burned. He drops a Ball the turn before I draw a Hydro, and gets an active Scroll I just can't handle. My creatures got burnt very fast. Game 3: This time I countered a Ball, traded a creature, than put him on the defensive, and snuck into double scroll action. A Prop and a Disk that cost him a Scroll didn't hurt. He did get one of my scrolls with a meltdown, though it did get one of his scrolls too. Round 4 Scott Game 1: Well, I had survived without seeing Academy, but Scott changed all of that this round. I did give him a run for his money though. First turn I drop a Tidal Warrior (I win the die roll). He goes Ancient Tomb, Double Mana Vault. I drop a Wasteland. During his upkeep his Tomb becomes an Island, and I Mana Leak a Time Spiral after he baits me with some other stuff. Eventually I get enough of a swarm out backed with enough denial to kill him. Game 2: Second turn Propaganda. I never got over it. I did at one point have all the cards in my hand to get around it, but hey, when you're whole library's in your hand, it's not hard to do, is it now? Game 3: I see another second turn Prop, but I'm not done yet. On my third turn, I drop an Energy Flux. His only artifact is a Mox. He says it's okay. During my discard phase he Pyros it. I stare at the Hydroblast sitting useless in my hand. Sigh. I still make it close. I have a creature rush that gets around double Prop (basically a sole Coral Merfolk). I draw an Unstable Mutation and can kill him this turn. I have 7 Mana. I play the Mutation. He Power Sinks it for three. The only land he has in play is a sole Island and two Ancient Tombs. He is at four life, so he can't afford to tap both tombs, so the Mutation stays, and I tap three mana. I am now ONE mana short from being able to attack. I end my turn. On his turn, he plays a Time Spiral. If I had countered that Spiral, the game would have been over. But I didn't have a counter. He Spirals again, another card I could have countered and won, but by now, I only have to survive one phase because he's at negative life. And he stays at negative life. Until I have no library. Round 5 Swailes (I'm currently 3-1) Game 1: I offer Swailes a draw since I know I probably can't beat Academy. He's playing Academy. He turns it down, reminding me he couldn't go 3-1-2 and make it to top 8. I'm aware of this, but I don't want to play Academy again. I'm glad he turned it down. First game I get an active Merfolk Looter and draw all the Counters I need to win. He gets swarmed by fish. It's nice to have a small audience watching your match and root for you because they all hate that stupid Academy deck. Game 2: He goes off. Who said getting a lot of cards for one card was good card advantage? what a joke. Game 3: This was a game. We went back and forth. I counter things. Most notably Meditates at the end of my turn. One resolved, one didn't. The point is, I got two extra turns. I think this helped because I got that much quicker to a Wasteland and more counter magic. The first Academy deck I played didn't use Meditates, and I think this is a good thing versus weenie. Eventually I had enough to almost kill him, but I was two life from pulling it off. Wait, what's this? Three tapped mana vaults and only 6 untapped mana sources? Uh-oh, how about you die during your upkeep? Sure, no problem. He does. It's worth noting that Swailes was pretty understanding when I complained about not being able to go off on my first turn. He also sympathized when i bitched about not being able to pull a Force of Will on top of my library when he Spiraled. At this point, I thought I'd interlude to explain about my super tech for beating Academy. It's really simple, and every deck, EVERY deck can use it. It's the Paris Mulligan. It helps the deck lose steam. I parised to 5 cards every game vs. Academy. It's a dumb move usually, but this isn't your usual deck, and anything you can use to beat it is worth employing. The fewer cards you have in your hand, the fewer they can Windfall for on their first turn. It's very important to deny them cards whenever possible. Besides, if I didn't get an anti-Academy hand, I didn't feel guilty about getting rid of it. Round 6 Justin (4-1, final round) Game 1: I see the infamous Mountain, Jackal Pup opening. I figure I'm playing Sligh. It's a pretty simple sligh game. We go back and forth, exchange, a little burn, until I have a Manta Rider. Then I drop a Scroll. He echoes, and I counter. I really bust it open when I drop another scroll and am scrolling for four, plus I have a counterspell in hand. He plays a ball, so I leak it to get it out of my hand to continue to scroll, even though he can pay the 3. I take 6. He dies next turn. Game 2: It's all downhill. I get double scroll again, but he does too, so I don't stand a chance. No counter magic to get rid of burn. I try to scroll him at the end of his turn, he double kindles. Burn is so dumb. Game 3: I get double scroll AGAIN, but he overpowers me with an unanswered Ball Lightning, double scroll of his own, and burn. I just can't do anything. So I wind up 4-2. Justin (6th round opponent) turned down a bye, if he hadn't we both would have made top eight. They do the top eight pairings, and I'm in eighth. Then they realized they forgot to record one match last round. Whoops, I'm ninth. Crappy luck. It is worth noting, however, that my 4th, 5th, and 6th round opponents all made the top eight. There were 3 Academies, 1 Sligh, 1 Flagpole, and one other deck in the top eight. I didn't see results. Props The guy who lent me sleeves. If you can email me (bwstark@trxinc.com) and describe yourself, I'll gladly pay you back. My team. They lent me the Fluxes and the Scroll. Slops 9th Place Hindsight. When my foresight is as good as my hindsight, this won't be a slop. Later Bill