Subject: Tournament Report (LA States - 5th Place - Sligh) - Brad Ryan Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 16:28:18 EST From: MahamotiDj@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Howdy folks! First to answer a few questions I'm sure all of you have: 1) Yes, Louisiana did have a state championships. We count too y'know. 2) And yes, we do have some great players down here. Just because they all don't inhabit the Pro Tour doesn't mean they're not high on skills. That said, it's on to Mr. Tournament Report. As always, I tend to ramble. A lot. So if you want to skip directly to the tournament action, scroll down until you hit tons of little star thingies (***) and you'll be on your way. Also, my deck list will be on the bottom to the report, for easy access and enhanced dramatization. (?) PRE-TOURNAMENT JAZZ Ah, the history of my deck design for States. Don't worry, it's short and relatively sweet. I guess it all dates back to the JSS about, oh, 4 months ago. At the time, Oath of Druids was the hot deck type, and I expected to see them out in force at the tournament. I got some word about a DungeonNecro deck, was very interested, tuned it a bit, and ran it to 3rd place in the JSS. Now then, fast-forword to about... October. Necro was still VERY fresh on my mind, and I was determined to play it at States. Then, Urza's Saga was released. Sure, Necro got some great stuff - Skittering Skirge, Duress, Persecute, Yawgmoth's Will, Ill-Gotten Gains - But a certain blue deck type also got just a few good cards. After testing my Necro against that certain blue :::cough::: Academy :::cough::: deck, it was apparent that unless I wanted to get my ass wiped up and down rather cleanly, I wouldn't be playing Necro. In the end, the great (and defending State Champion) Rick Moscatello persuaded me to run Sligh, which I had at several tournaments before. I got to the tournament, fresh and ready, and I really just wanted to pull in a Top 16 effort... It would get me a prize, and it might get me SOME recognition (which runs VERY thin when it comes to me). I arrived a little late, so I had some problems pulling in the cards I needed to polish off the sideboard, but thanks to the aforementioned Mr. Moscatello (who is one DAMN good guy), I got most of what I needed. ********** ********** ********** ********** Yes, this begins my tournament report. ********** ********** ********** ********** (Note, I did not keep track of most names. Excuse my blunder.) ROUND ONE vs. SuiBlack. Yum. I figured out before the tournament that I'd have to win three straight matches to have a solid shot at my top 16 goal. I assumed this would be a good place to start. G1: Burn is WAY too much for SuiBlack player. G2: Sided in Bottle Gnomes, just in case. I burned him out early, and he died to his own Carnophage/Sarcomancy combo late. ROUND TWO vs. White Weenie. =( God, I didn't even expect white weenie to show up. Well, I did... But I was not ready for it. All I could do was prey that he didn't have any Paladins in there, and try to run him out early. G1: He didn't have any Paladins. Or many creatures for that matter. I won. G2: Pretty much the same as game one. He congregated for about 10 at one point, but that only delayed the game. ROUND THREE vs. White Weenie Again, I'm reasonably scared. But I also know that winning this game, and getting over that early round hump, is exactly what I need to do. So, here we go. G1: I lay Mountain, Pup. He lays Plains. I lay Mountain, Orcs. He lays a... REPENTANT BLACKSMITH! By God! I go in to turbo drive, trying to run him out of life real fast so I can set him up for late burn, but he just hammered me in with the Blacksmith... G2: Pretty much the same early-game as G1. This time, I drop some Bottle Gnome to get in his way. Then I drop some more. The Gnomes slow the game down enough for me to get out 2 Scrolls, and I just knock off all of his creatures and burn him away. This is probably one of the better games I played all day. G3: He gets one land. I burn him away quickly. On a side note, this guy is one of the nicest people I ever played. He was disappointed to lose, but he was very congratulatory. We hung out a bit occasionally through the rest of the night. Great guy. In between rounds, I check the ratings... At 3-0, I'm currently residing at #2. ROUND FOUR vs. Academy. Yay. =( The only deck I truly feared coming in to this tournament was Academy. I could only hope that it stalled in G1, and that my disruption was enough in G2. G1: He goes off on turn 2. G2: I don't draw any of my SB, he goes off on turn 3. That was fast... In between rounds I check the ratings... After the loss, I'm still #10... ROUND FIVE vs Academy. Yay. =( Well, here it goes... Essentially, if I win here, I've locked up my top 16 goal, and I've got a shot at the top 8. If I lose, I need a fairly good set of tie-breakers, and a win next round. G1: He stalls, and I kill him by turn 5. G2: He stalls, my Wastelands make it worse, and I nail the crap out of him. Dull, short... Effective. 4 wins, 1 loss, and I'm happy. ROUND SIX vs. Sligh. Yum. We decided to play it out due to the fact that the top 8 players drew. If either of us wins, we're in the top 8 easily. The reason I'm excited is because my deck was built with Sligh in mind. No Flunkies. No other bad- ness. I'm going to come in, rape him quickly, and get out. G1: We both have essentially the same early game, and burn each other for about 6 or so. Around turn 4, I get a Scroll out, and start using it. Around turn 8, I get another Scroll and start using it. Two active Scrolls against Sligh is more often than not a good thing, and I just open up the field for a coupla Balls and a win. G2: He got a good hand, but he only drew one Mountain. He opted not to mulligan and to play it out. I hit him for about 14 before he finally start playing cards, but by that time, it's a futile effort. I've got an active Scroll already, and with it, a win. Ratings/Pairings are announced. At 5-1, I'm 1st. I've won the Swiss rounds. Top 8 looks like: Sligh vs. Academy Sligh vs. Academy Academy vs. Academy Necro vs. Academy TOP 8 QUARTERFINALS vs. Academy. At this point, I'm nigh-orgasmic about just being here, but I'd really like to advance a little ways, and perhaps get Sligh another States win. Of course, to do it I have to go through Cannon Boling, who must have a 1900+ composite rating. Ah well... G1: I burn, and burn, and burn, and burn... But on turn 4, at 6 life, he goes off. G2: I burn, and burn, and burn, and burn... I even Waste his Academy, and Pyro his Time Spiral, BUT on turn 5, at 3 life, he goes off. Sigh. Ah well... I wind up 5th, and about $50 in product prizes richer. Quite frankly, I'm proud of myself. And, as it turns out, the two people I lost to wound up playing in the finals. Props: Three big props to begin with. The first goes out to Rick "The Professor" Moscatello. He did fail to defend his state championship, but he came oh-so- close in doing it... In the end, he lost in the first round of the top 8... The second of the large props goes to Skye Thomsen. This guy really gets around... Not only did he CO-design the deck that won in New Jersey, and also finish 5th himself in NJ, but he helped me out with my deck, and offered loads of support my way. Finally, a giant prop goes to Senta Miller. This is the guy with the Necro deck in the Top 8. Yeah, I ragged a little openly about it, but I guess it was just outta jealousy that he was playing the deck I wanted to. Senta is a great guy, and he really did Necro proud by wading his way through that tumulus field. Mini-Props go to Cannon Boling, for being a great player and a nice guy, Vinnie Falcone, for being a great player, a nice guy, and looking like Cannon Boling, and finally, Tim Weissman... Though some of his tournament efforts are mediocre, and occasionally disappointing, the LA States was a GREAT event. Plus, he has the brass to continue delivering quality events to Louisiana, something which is sorely missed every time he doesn't acquire the invites to run a big one over here. Keep it up, Tim. Slops No slops for me. I had a great time, and am much happier for it. Thanks to everyone who knew who I was! I'll see everybody at the PTQ on Dec19... =) -Brad Ryan