Subject: Tolarian Blue Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 15:22:31 -0800 From: Orion To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hi Frank This is my tournament report from The California State Championships yesterday. I actually wrote down who and what I played against for a change so that I could provide a better report. I started out doing really well, and, well, I will get there. Because the first thing that **I** like seeing in a tournament report is a decklist, that is what I will do now. Here is what I played... 4 Lotus Petal 4 Mana Vault (2 Beta, 2 German black-bordered) 4 Mox Diamond 3 Scroll Rack 3 Voltaic Key 2 Brainstorm (Ice Age) 1 Capsize 1 Intuition 3 Mind Over Matter 4 Power Sink (Beta) 4 Stroke Of Genius (DUH!) 4 Time Spiral (DUH!) 1 Twiddle (Beta) 4 Windfall 10 Island (Beta) 4 Tolarian Academy (DUH!) 4 Wasteland SiDeBoReD 1 Orion - Street Mage (From Shadowrun CCG... my mascot card, naturally) 3 Boomerang (Legends) 4 Chill 4 Counterspell (Beta) 4 Interdict Well, the first thing that I want to say is that I would not have changed anything in the deck. I was very happy with the mix that I used. The Capsize main was originally a Boomerang (wasn't ever expecting to buy it back, but read on...) and the reason that it was there was to Boomerang a big creature or something that would screw me, like that stupid Laboratory or something. Mostly, it was either Boomerang or Propaganda versus Suicide Black, and I decided that they could just pay for Prop and then Hatred with enough Rituals. With Boomerang, I could 'Rang the Hatred Creature and save myself from losing that way. The Counterspells were to swap out for Power Sinks against Tolarian and Fire Elf. If they have HUGE amounts of mana available, then Power Sink is kind of silly... Counter is much better. The Interdict was for Mirror (HUGE) and for Living Death (stop Survival, Thrull Surgeon) and (of course) to stop Wasteland. If you don't know why I chose Chill over Hydro then don't bother playing this deck. The cards that I consistently s/b'd out were the Twiddle and Brainstorms. They were almost like the "pre-sidebored" cards. The Twiddle DID save my ass once, and the Brainstorms helped, too. Almost like a mini-Rack. This deck is amazing. I REALLY liked how it flowed and when I looked at my cards and said, "Hey, we lose next turn... come through for me." it actually listened and "put out" for me most of the time. Read on... The start of the day was waking up at 8:00 to 7 (Sven) yelling at me to get my lazy ass out of bed because it is an hour to an hour and a half of a drive to Costa Mesa where the event is. We usually drive up there every weekend. We were told that the doors open at 9 and signups are over at 10. We got there like RIGHT at 10:00, flying up the freeway (taking the toll road to save time) and then running to the door to make sure they didn't end sign ups. When we got to the door... it was closed? No one was there, except for the other people that thought that it started at 10. Aboot 20 of us? Something like that. They said that the web page said it was normal "doors open at noon, t2 starts at 1." I was pretty mad. I dragged my lazy ass out of bed THREE HOURS EARLY to sit around in the sun? We went to The Green Burrito down the street for breakfast. That made me feel a little better, but not much. I actually sprawled out on the grass and fell asleep for a quick nap. People started showing up to let us in, so I moved inside because it was cooler. There were 116 people that showed up. This was the second biggest showing for a State Championship, behind Texas, which was the biggest. Dan Grey, Male Prostitute, was the head judge. His regular crew was there to help. They DID switch to Pizza Slut pizza instead of the generic crap they used to get, so that was a good thing. After recording deck lists, round one pairings were up at like 1:15, and then my pager went off right when I sat down across from my opponent. Since I knew Dan was making announcements, I asked to go and return the page, and after I talked to her I sat down again. Round 1 vs. Benno Wiedner, playing a Fire Elf style deck Game 1 he has like 4 elves (one is Priest of Tits), Gaea's Cradle, and 2 Forests. I am at 13, he Hurricanes for 9 after summoning an elf or something. I go to 4, and I have 2 tapped Mana Vaults on my side. Hmmm. I take 2 and go to 2. I better do something quick. I draw. Oh look, a Time Spiral! I have Tolarian already in play and I go ballistic and win. Game 2 He Mulligans to 5 or 6 and keeps it with one Forest, a Cursed Scroll, and 2 casting cost elves. Our life totals are both at 20 when I Stroke him for 83. Sorry, but he wasn't going to stop me even with a "God Draw" because I had Counterspells to cover the Elven Lyrist. 1-0 with 2-0 games Round 2 vs. Greg Dube playing a mono green LD deck with Argothian Wurms and LOTS of mana Game 1 Greg is a VERY good player, and his deck design was very good. I was genuinely scared. Even more so when he turn 2 Winter's Grasp, and then turn 3 dropped the Arg. Wurm on me. Turn 4 I Twiddled the Wurm to buy some time, and he summoned another. I was low on land (tight mana curve for Larry) and I let him have the Wurms. Turn 5 he serves for 13. I am sitting at 7 and I tell my deck to come through for me. I draw the MoMa and go off, stroking him for 137 when I finish. Game 2 I have a crappy draw and when he wins he has 2 Scavenger Folk and 2 Elvish Lyrists just WAITING for me to try something. Life sucks for me, but I still have plenty of time. Game 3 he Mulligans to 5 (?) He has a terrible hand and I only took one point of damage (from a Mana Vault, I think) before Stroking him for a bunch. I don't really like winning like this, but I was pretty fast anyway. 2-0 with 4-1 games Round 3 vs. John Yoo playing Sligh Game 1 John Smacks me around with fast creatures and just does what Sligh does... Wins fast. Game 2 I Mulligan to 6 so that I can drop a turn one Chill on him. He doesn't get to 3 mana any time soon, so I can beat him. Game 3 he drops turn one Jackal Pup and I respond with turn one Chill. I manage to find 2 more Chills pretty quick, and he slowly starts to beat me down with the 'Pup. I Scroll Rack for 3... nothing. Rack for 4, nothing. Rack for 5, nothing. He gets to 7 mana, and does a great show of smacking down... another Jackal Pup!! (the crowd watching goes wild that he gets under 3 Chills) Rack for SIX.... FINALLY!!! I have the Spiral and start to go off. I finally Stroke him for 60 or so and it is over. 3-0 with 6-2 games Round 4 vs. James Takanaga playing Sligh Game 1 was just like me v. John Yoo. Hell, for that matter, Games 2 and 3 were similar, because I was still at 20 in game 2 vs. John and at 20 in game 2 vs. James. Turn 1 Chill is SOME GOOD. In the end of game 3 I was at 16 from a Mogg Fanatic or a Mana Vault, I forget which. Regardless, I beat him because of turn one Chill. 4-0 with 8-3 games... at this point if I win one more I can draw in Round 5 vs. Nick Krestoff playing Sligh (I am cursed to play nothing but burn all day, or so it seems) Game 1 I manage to win because I go off quickly. Well, quickly against Sligh means that I was at 10 life. Game 2 I am a little scared because I think that winning game 1 against Sligh is a bad omen. It is, because he has a really good draw against me. I also kind of stalled. Game 3 I Mulligan to 4 cards and only keep it because I found my first land in 22 cards. Ouch. That is just bad luck. I manage to Windfall and draw 4 new ones, but Nick draws Pyroblast, Pyroblast, Raze, Meltdown for his 4. Hell, that was what his Windfall draws were like in game 2, as well. Nick had 16 cards against me (8 straight, 8 board... I think?) and it was rough because he saw all of them, and I didn't see ANY of my chills against him in either of the two games. 4-1 with 9-5 games... I talk to some friends of mine who are also all 4-1 and we mutually decide that if we get paired with someone we know then we will draw in the 6th and put pressure on winning in th 7th so that we don't knock out someone we know. Round 6 vs. David Kuykendall playing Necro I sit down across from a fellow San Diego player knowing he was playing either Necro (he was) or Survival/Recurring Nightmare. Either one is a great match up for me, and I feel confident that I can crush him. We are shuffling when he asks me if I want to draw. This is tough for me, because I said to myself that I would draw against someone I know. I want to play, though, because I am VERY confident that I can win. Dave is good, but I know that he hasn't played against Tolarian and he isn't even sure he can handle it. I think aboot it and because I keep my word I accept his offer to draw and we go report the intentional draw. I look at my tiebreaker from the standings, and it is like 65 or something obnoxiously high. All of my opponents have been doing well, so my tiebreaker is the best for my points. I am ensured a seat in the top 8 if I win in the 7th. 4-1-1 with 9-5 games still... win the next one and I am in! Round 7 vs. Blake Quelle... wait, NO, re-pair the round! I am PISSED. Blake tells me after we get repaired that he is playing Recurring and that his two losses (I got paired down) were to Tolarian and something else, so I am confident that I would have beaten him. Instead I get paired against Adam Vieyra playing Tolarian. He is also at 13 points and we both know that whoever wins goes on and the loser is "assed out." The mirror match is the toughest for both of us. Out of 116 people, only 16 were playing Tolarian (a judge told me that at one point, don't remember when) Adam is a VERY good player, and we both know that this will be the toughest match of the day. Game 1 I get a LOT of artifacts out and Wasteland his Tolarian at the end of his turn to drop mine on my turn. I get a TON of mana and start Capsizing his lands and resources. I get to double Capsize mana and have him locked. I have MoMa on the board and after playing the Capsize game for a while I finally get 7 cards and Stroke myself and then him. I didn't want to Spiral and risk giving up the lock I had. I also had a Power Sink for backup, so I know that I have him completely locked down. Actually, he Mulliganed to 5 also, so that really helped me. Game 2 I am at 19 and he is at 4 (He is playing Ancient Tombs and takes damage off of Mana Vaults) when he finally wins. It is a really tight game, but he manages to find all of his pieces with protection first. He also manages to do it without Tolarian, because I have mine on the board and I Interdict the Wasteland. It is also a LOOOOONG game (as was game 1) and when we are shuffling they tell us we have 8 minutes left to finish the match. Game 3 he starts to go off when time is called. However, he draws 7 crappy cards off of the Spiral and can't finish me. The match is called a draw. I finish 21st because of my 4-1-2 record. With a 5-1-1 record and my killer tie breaker I would probably have been 6th, if memory serves me correctly. I am a little pissed at being called on time and because of the unfinished game and my intentional draw I do not get to go on to the final 8 and take home no prizes. However, this is the first Standard tournament that I have played in since Urza's has been legal. I (obviously) practiced with the Tolarian deck at home with roomates and friends (remember I have cool friends like Alan Comer and Brian Seldon, even if they didn't help me a lot this time...) but the only things I have been playing in have been Sealed in preparation for the PTLA PTQ's, as I REALLY want to go to PTLA. Props: Rosie for giving me the "Tech" the day before that carried me at least the first four rounds..., Alan for telling me to put in Capsize instead of Boomerang MD, because that is the reason I beat Adam in the first game, to Jason for giving me the AWESOME deck list and letting me use some of his cards and for huge help playtesting even though he had to judge a local tournament instead of playing, 7 for driving up there and getting us there in a timely manner, Ruprecht (my Pit Bull) for not eating my cards like he did my hockey gloves, Jeff Broido for selling me his German Mana Vaults to "purify" my deck with black borders, and all of my opponents for playing professionally and friendly. This was probably one of the best tournaments I have played in because I didn't have to play against any cheaters or lam3rz. Oh, and Rosie for the "Tech" the day before. Slops: The tournament directors for telling me last week to be there at 9/10 and then not showing up until noon. I am still pretty mad that I didn't get to sleep in yesterday. I slept in today, though... The re-pairing of round 7 to give me a tie instead of an easy win. They repaired it because for some reason Jeff Broido was dropped from the computer, even though he was 5-1 going into the 7th. Tom Blair (one of the other roomates and fellow Team Crius member) for being a lazy beeyotch and for not playing MtG any more. My personal morals for staying to my word and drawing in the 6th. I like you, Dave, but I would have crushed you. One last thing. Team Crius STILL r00lz. Larry "Orion" Janiec Team Captain of the original Team Crius, and loosely affiliated with The Legion