Subject: CA States: Results & Final 8 Decklists Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 13:56:57 -0800 From: "Daniel Gray" To: 1998 California State Championships Saturday, November 21, 1998 Costa Mesa Women's Club Costa Mesa, CA My personal thanks to everyone who decided to come and play. Despite the dominance of Tolarian Blue elsewhere, California was dominated (as usual, of late) by the twin juggernauts of monored and Recurring Nightmare. Only two Tolarian Blue decks (one of which was a variant with no Time Spirals) made the top 16. Congrats to Steven and Nick on their performance, and I look forward to seeing everyone at future events. Dan Gray Number of competitors: 116 Quarterfinalis: Nick Krestoff defeated Rodney Shaghoulian 2-1 Ken Simpson defeated Matt Smith 2-1 Steven Shears defeated Dominic Callos 2-0 Spencer Furukawa defeated Jeff Broido 2-0 Semifinals: Nick Krestoff defeated Spencer Furukawa 2-1 Steven Shears defeated Ken Simpson 2-0 Finals: Steven Shears defeated Nick Krestoff 2-1 For those interested in such things, the major deck archetype breakdown looked something like this: Sligh: 26 Tolarian Blue: 16 (Including Jeff Broido's "Who Needs Time Spiral?" version) Recurring Nightmare: 13 (Most of them _without_ any Living Death) White Weenie: 6 (All but one of which used either red or blue or both for support) Suicide Black: 5 (Plus 2 more monoblack Necro decks) Green Beatdown: 8 (Plus 1 G/R deck similar to the one that won in Kentucky. Including Greg Dube's "Mirri, Cat Tech" deck) Draw/Go Style decks: 8 (Including at least one Big Blue deck) Fish: 2 (Including Andrea Kunstt's maddening "Go Fish" deck-- a combination of Draw/Go and Merfolk beatdown) Champion: Steven Shears (Five Color Recurring Nightmare) 4 Wall of Blossoms 4 Birds of Paradise 2 Spike Feeder 1 Spike Weaver 1 Wood Elves 2 Thrull Surgeon 1 Priest of Gix 3 Tradewind Rider 1 Great Whale 1 Peregrine Drake 1 Stern Procter 1 Anarchist 1 Shard Phoenix 1 Monk Realist 4 Survival of the Fittest 4 Recurring Nightmare 4 Duress 1 Fireball 4 City of Brass 3 Thran Quarry 3 Reflecting Pool 2 Sulfurous Springs 2 Underground River 2 Karplusan Forest 5 Forest 2 Swamp Sideboard: 4 Pyroblast 2 Meltdown 1 Shard Phoenix 1 Shattering Pulse 1 Monk Idealist 1 Monk Realist 1 Dark Hatchling 1 Spike Feeder 1 Gilded Drake 2 Lobotomy Finalist: Nick Krestoff (Sligh) 4 Jackal Pup 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Ball Lightning 1 Rathi Dragon 1 Mogg Raider 4 Goblin Patrol 4 Ironclaw Orcs 3 Fireslinger 4 Shock 4 Incinerate 3 Sonic Burst 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Wasteland 16 Mountain Sideboard: 4 Meltdown 4 Pyroblast 4 Bottle Gnomes 3 Raze Semifinalist: Spencer Furukawa (Sligh) 4 Goblin Lackey 4 Jackal Pup 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Goblin Patrol 4 Mogg Flunkies 4 Ball Lightning 4 Incinerate 4 Shock 4 Kindle 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Wasteland 16 Mountain Sideboard: 4 Pyroblast 4 Bottle Gnomes 3 Meltdown 2 Null Brooch 2 Earthquake Semifinalist: Ken Simpson (White Weenie) 4 White Knight 4 Warror en-Kor 4 Soltari Priest 2 Soltari Monk 4 Paladin en-Vec 3 Tradewind Rider 4 Disenchant 3 Armageddon 3 Pariah 3 Earthquake 4 Mox Diamond 3 City of Brass 3 Thran Quarry 3 Wasteland 13 Plains Sideboard: 4 Pyroblast 2 Meltdown 4 Sleight of Mind 3 Soltari Visionary 2 Wrath of God Quarterfinalist: Rodney Shaghoulian (Five Color Recurring Nightmare) 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Wall of Blossoms 2 Spike Feeder 1 Spike Weaver 1 Verdant Force 4 Tradewind Rider 1 Great Whale 2 Monk Realist 1 Monk Idealist 1 Dark Hatchling 1 Abyssal Horror 1 Priest of Gix 1 Thrull Surgeon 1 Shard Phoenix 4 Recurring Nightmare 4 Survival of the Fittest 2 Living Death 2 Shattering Pulse 2 Scroll Rack 3 City of Brass 2 Karplusan Forest 2 Underground River 1 Reflecting Pool 1 Volrath's Stronghold 1 Wasteland 7 Forest 4 Swamp Sideboard: 4 Pyroblast 3 Lobotomy 3 Dread of Night 3 Meltdown 2 Staunch Defenders Quarterfinalist: Dominic Callos (Suicide Black) 4 Dauthi Slayer 3 Skittering Skirge 4 Dauthi Horror 4 Carnophage 4 Sarcomancy 4 Dark Ritual 3 Bottomless Pit 2 Spinal Graft 4 Duress 3 Unholy Strength 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Wasteland 17 Swamp Sideboard: 1 Stronghold Taskmaster 3 Paralyze 3 Contamination 1 Bottomless Pit 2 Wall of Souls 2 Planar Void 3 Bad Moon Quarterfinalist: Matt Smith (White Weenie) 4 Soltari Priest 2 Soltari Monk 4 White Knight 3 Paladin en-Vec 4 Warrior en-Kor 4 Tradewind Rider 3 Armageddon 4 Disenchant 4 Incinerate 2 Earthquake 4 Mox Diamond 4 City of Brass 2 Adarkar Wastes 1 Reflecting Pool 3 Wasteland 2 Mountain 10 Plains Sideboard: 3 Sleight of Mind 1 Earthquake 3 Meltdown 4 Pariah 4 Pyroblast Quarterfinalist: Jeff Broido (Tolarian Blue variant) 4 Stroke of Genius 2 Turnabout 4 Windfall 3 Brainstorm 3 Portent 4 Twiddle 4 Yawgmoth's Will 2 Scroll Rack 4 Mana Vault 4 Lotus Petal 3 Claws of Gix 2 Voltaic Key 1 Fireball 4 Mox Diamond 2 Wasteland 4 Tolarian Academy 4 Underground River 7 Island Sideboard: 3 Boil 3 Light of Day 2 Boomerang 2 Power Sink 1 Capsize 2 Energy Field 2 Turnabout