Subject: Texas State Championships Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 23:53:11 -0600 From: "Andrew L. Johnson" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hey Frank, Well, down south here in Texas we had the state championships, the state championships that got the most disrespect proportional to size. Now, if one were to insult, say, North Dakota, that would be understandable, but Texas is damn big and has a helluva lotta ppl. We also have a respectable amount of people. But, on to my report... The night before the tournament, I hung out at my teammate Matt Watchman's house to playtest. Our playtesting consisted of talking, and we finally decided that academy was the best...BUT. We didnt have the cards for two of THE BEST DECK EVER. So we went with good ol consistent sligh, and Tolarian Beatings for me. He went to sleep, and I fishbowled the decks. After running through both a few million times, I realized that the junk version of academy wasnt consistent enuf, and the sligh deck was too slow. To insure speed and dependability in sligh, i went to 22 lands, and cut the fireslingers and had 11 2/1's in the deck. NO BUGGIES, THAT CARD IS ASS. Well, the academy deck got some drastic changes. I cut the meditates, and other bunk cards and added sapphires, the last stroke of genius, and went to only two moxes. So, with a few hours of sleep, I went to the tournament. I thought myself pretty well tested, considering it matters very little what my opponent does. The tournament went as follows: Round 1-fish Game 1-I go first-mox, land, petal, petal, sapphire, windfall- He goes-island I go-win Game 2- he gets out some mana and a tidal warrior, at the end of his turn I turnabout his tidal warrior, sink his counetr, and win 1-0, 2-0 Round 2 vs Leland Simmons with Helix Prison At the beggining of this match, I though to myself...well at least I can try and go up through the funny bracket. Leland, at the Browser Five Hundred, went 3-0 vs academy and didn't drop a game. But, our brave hero (me), charges into battle, and HOLY PIKULA wins the first battle. Thunder and lightning clouds the sky as Leland, the evil guy, sideboards 27 spells designed to shatter the hopes of the mage of Tolaria, (11 or so actually). Unperturbed, I casually slide 7 cards into my deck and stare down the evil mage. I hastily look away as I see Karn fleetingly as he shuffles his deck. After a moment or two, we resume play...and I win. Ah well, u cant win em all Leland. IF YOU WANNA WIN, DRAW MORE LANDS!!! 2-0, 4-0 Round 3 vs Matt (Teammate) with sligh I built his deck. He had 4 blasts and four meltdowns. His deck was fast as hell. I thought I would still win. I lost, bad draws will do that to you. 2-1 5-2 Round 4 vs a guy who played somnophore and Citanul Centaurs I went off. I went off. 3-1 7-2 Round 5 vs Draw-Go Ooooh. So scary. Mono-blue. Good thing Im not playin prosbloom, this is even a good matchup for me. I go off twice, because he can only use 1-2 of his 20 sem-odd counters at a time. 4-1 9-2 Round 6 vs White Weenie White Weenie sucks now. It has no armor. End of story. Even some of the best in Texas couldnt win with white weenie, aka two of the austin knights, so this random guy sure couldnt. I won, I got screwed, I got screwed and still won. He lost, not only did he lose, but he also never bluffed a disenchant. Instead, he taps four mana for creatures all the time. 5-1 11-3 Round 7- vs Paul Telkamp with Academy We draw, because if everyone plays like I think they are going too, I get in. It was either flip the coin, as we are both playing academy, or go with "probably getting in". I get in. 8th seed. 5-1-1 11-3 1-Bryan Hubble-Academy 2-Matt Watchman-Sligh 3-Dequan Watson-Mono-Green 4-Some guy-Lifeline spikes 5-Some guy-Suicide Black 6-Some guy 7-Some guy 8-Some guy (seedings are not as listed) Quarterfinals vs Hubble I have never beat Bryan. Well, he got screwed the first game and i won. We got aight draws the second game. I won. Well, Hubble, I think you are wrong about the sapphires. You say my deck was untuned, but you also said you would make some changes to yer own. I admit the rebounds sucked, and i didn't even board em vs. you because I realized that. Otherwise, my deck was solid, and I wuld make a few adjusments. I made some key choices that I believe let me win. So, screw you and your slops. 6-1 13-3 Semi-Finals vs Dequan Dequan is cool. His deck was cool. Green cant beat academy. Oh well. 7-1-1 15-4 Finals-Paul Telkamp Paul's deck was one of the poorest excuses for an academy deck aka hurkyls recall, no antired, propaganda, counterspells, meditates. I beat him despite him boarding 3272378478 cards. Hey, he got to the finals cuz you cant build a bad academy deck. He is also the number two player in rural texas, so He must be a good player. He is also a nice guy. final 8-1-1 17-5 My deck( as played) 4 Time Spiral 4 Stroke of Genius 4 Windfall 4 Power sink 2 Intuition 2 Brainstorm 4 Mana Vault 3 Voltaic Key 2 Scroll Rack 3 Sapphire Medallions 4 Lotus Petals 2 Mox Diamonds 1 Capsize 3 Mind over Matter 4 Tolarian Academy 2 Wastelands 12 Islands Sb: 2 Rebound 4 Chill 2 Counterspell 1 Capsize 2 Turnabout 2 Annul 2 Wastelands My deck( as shoulda been played, tentative) 4 Time Spiral 4 Stroke of Genius 4 Windfall 4 Power sink 2 Intuition 2 Interdict 4 Mana Vault 3 Voltaic Key 2 Scroll Rack 2 Sapphire Medallions 4 Lotus Petals 3 Mox Diamonds 1 Capsize 3 Mind over Matter 4 Tolarian Academy 4 Wastelands 8 Islands 2 Cities of Brass Sb: 2 Hydroblast 4 Chill 1 Rescind 1 Capsize 2 Turnabout 2 Annul 3 Pyroblast Props and slops- PROPS Andrew Johnson-I won. :/ Chris Herdeman-Coolest Mtg playa' I know Dequan Watson-You came with green, and you almost conquered, and you called the stasis deck soultrain stasis. Taco Bell at 290-For some good food Bryan Hubble-For being good at Magic, and having the courtesy to lose to me once in sanctioned play Lance Tokuda-For walking like 8 hours in Rome to see the sights despite the strike My truck-If you know me, you know my truck. SLOPS Bryan Hubble-for being the whiniest, spoiled brat ever Taco Bell on 1960-For messin' up my order Rome Transportation-For being on strike and stopping Mtg players from real culture Jeff Clark-For not being man enuf to walk to see Rome(like Lance) Flesh Reaver-YOU WILL BE A GOOD CARD SOME DAY!!! -Im really not the luckiest player in Magic, it just seems that way some times. Andrew Johnson Team DekTek