Subject: States report TX Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 00:14:19 CET From: "Leroy Hammerstrom" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Event: Texas State Championships, '98 Argh, I really wish I would have prepared at least a little before going to Houston for this one. I wasn't gonna go til Friday when I got a ride at the last minute, (thanks, Quillian). The Deck: The only deck I had built was my old T2 DrawGo. I thought that as long as I didn't pull any suicide and kept my lucky streak against red, I could do okay. Anyway, I didn't really think about my replacements enough and the deck was very weak against any sort of creature attack, once they were on the board. <--even if those creatures are Ertai and a Manakin 4 Counterspell 4 Dismiss 4 Forbid 4 Force Spike No comment. 2 Mana Leak Kent, man I was glad these weren't power sinks 4 Nevinyrral's Disk Always lurking on the bottom of my deck 3 Whispers of the Muse 1 Ertai 1 Arcane Lab what the hell was I thinking 1 Scroll Rack "Impulse for 6... cuz I lose it with the disk" 2 Capsize It used to be that you could topdeck a lot of stuff to save you, now this is it 4 Mobile Fort Wow this thing sucks 4 $talking$tones The true souljas==$$ 4 Wasteland Hmmm... these never worked too well, but that was pairings 2 Remote Isle Holy moly, these shoulda been Maze of Shadows 4 Svyelunite Temple 10 Island SupremeBunkSB: 4 Hydroblast 4 Annul Good enough to go maindeck 3 Arcane Laboratory 2 Capsize running out of ideas... 2 Meekstone it made sense at the time, 0 min before tournament, I was last to register #112 (Ice Flow/ Maze of Shadows/ Pit Trap would have been better) Round 1: Some dude just as random as me playing Black Stuff Game1, he came out fast but not fast enough and the disk was there to reset the game-- only difference, his hand was empty Game2, he came out slow enough to enter counterhell, $$ beatdown 1-0 Round 2: Chris Ferrell (played him before) SUICIDE black This matchup was really rough *before* US... it's even worse now.... He rips me 2 straight Yeah, it's that simple. Okay, I could have topdecked a capsize in both games to stay alive but that isn't really an answer. 1-1 Round 3: Scott Gerhardt playing, whoa, R/W/G/u Hmm... I saw Shivans, Argothians, Crater Hellions, Catastrophe, Vineyard, Cursed Scroll, Mana Leak and lots of multi lands Game1, I take some damage, you know, and then it comes down to a cursed scroll I can't get rid of. He has six cards, calling out one of two disenchants. I'm attacking him with a mobile fort saying "Takeittakeittakeittakeittakeit"or "When walls attack!" Adrian Sayers comments, "sounds like a fox special." He is way ahead on life and I die before I can dig out a disk or capsize. I made a lot of mistakes in this game that probably could have given me the extra turns I needed. Game2, This was awesome, we go back and forth, I counter lots of manafacts, and nothing is on the board. He says, "Catastrophe?" I look at my hand of 6 cards, including 2 annuls, 2 force spikes, a capsize and an island. I say, "Uh, Capsize buyback, capsize, two lands." After he gets over the fact that I can't counter and he could have done something much worse to me (probably), we start over. He doesn't pull any more land and by the time I am beating him down with a Mobile Fort, he is like "Gimme a land, Gimme a land" or something but I'm holding now four force spikes, couple counters, another capsize, etc. Game3, Argh, time over. He was convinced that he could win because I wasn't countering his argothian wurm but saccing land for it. It could have gone either way, seriously. 1-1-1 Round 4: Allen Bates playing Merfolk and talking like a teletubbie Game1, horrible draw. I still fight him and disk at a low life. My _Cursed_ (scroll) luck gives me the 1 out of 5 cards many times in a row and I die, again drawing nothing. Game2, Unstable beatdown by a lone merfolk and double mutation brings me real low. Cursed luck does me in again shortly thereafter. 1-2-1 Round 5: sorry forgot your name, playing RathCycle RecurringNightmareSurvivalWhatever Game1, I have three land, six counters, and an arcane laboratory. he has a survival in play. I play the lab and if he doesn't play recurring nightmare, I win. Oops. Game2, I eventually run out of counters and he 'deaths three times before getting everything to win. 1-3-1 Hell yeah, I'm still playing. I'm jolly poor, I can't play any $12 drafts. Round 6: Another fellow randomite playing U/B buyback stuff Game1, his first two plays are lab rats, beatdown... not. He then plays two memory crystals which he is surprised that I don't counter. I counter his buyback spell instead and capsize lock him with my bargain family size capsize. Game2, counter some early suicidish stuff, a tradewind, some other stuff. He plays memory crystal again and whispers are even better at 4 mana. $$ beatings. 2-3-1 Round 7: Luis Vega?? this could be someone else's name. Playing Mishra's Helix, W'orb prison. Game1, he draws infinite W'orbs and I get beatdown by Ertai and a Manakin. Side in Annuls. Game2, Early Ertai beatings and I spend a disk on the pimp and a bunch of artifacts, countering everything else. Game3, same as above, 'cept Ertai hits for a couple more. "Was that it?" Yeah, Ertai, that was it. Final Record 3-3-1 38th out of 112, 37th was Allen Bates who dropped out shortly after playing me... I don't get it. I stayed around for the first game of the top 8 and was really hoping one of the green decks would go all the way which, (I guess you've seen the results), didn't happen. Anyway, despite academy, this is so much better than Rath Cycle. Anything is possible in the new T2. There may have been 3 academies in the final 8 but many more weren't. The tournament ran really smoothly and was the most fun I've had playing Magic in a really long time. Random: Hey DeQuan, did you see Monday Nitro this week? Goldberg wasn't any two minute man there was he? To the rest of you, Goldberg is invincible and LWO is 4 Real. -Leroy Hammerstrom SouthWest Texas State ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com