Subject: CA States Tourney Report Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 18:23:36 EST From: KSimpson41@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com I'll keep the pre-tourney stuff short. I had playtested a lot of decks for the State Championship tournament including Necro, Tolarian Academy, Sligh, CounterPhoenix, U/b Control, and White Weenie. After deciding that the meta- game would probably look something like Sligh, Suicide Black, CounterPhoenix, and Tolarian Academy, I decided to play White Weenie. I figured that I would try to beat Sligh, Suicide Black, and Phoenix main deck and concentrate on Academy with my sideboard. By the way, if you want a decklist, I believe that there is another post by Dan Gray that lists the Top 8 decks...(foreshadowing). I got to Costa Mesa, looked around and was happy with my meta-game call. There was a lot of Sligh and Academy, although there was a little too much Recur/Cycle to be comfortable. Oh well... Round #1 & #2 Both matches against Sligh. Needless to say, this made me very happy. My 3 main-deck Pariah's came up huge and I took both of these matches pretty easily, winning both 2-0. I'm terribly sorry, but I don't recall either of your names. :-( 2-0 Matches, 4-0 Games Round #3: Matt Smith playing 3 Color White Weenie Hello!!! A mirror match-up?!?! I did not expect this at all. In the first game, I applied some early beatdown, but he gained control with a couple of Tradewind Riders and a Warrior en-Kor. I could not draw any of my Tradewinds and could not Earthquake away the Warrior, so I lost. It took a while, though...he couldn't pull an Armageddon. Second game, he simply out drew me and crushed me with creatures while I sat there without much land. His deck was probably a little better against other white weenie decks because he had 1 more Tradewind Rider and 4 Incinerates. I was not playing Incinerates. 2-1 Matches, 4-2 Games Round #4: CounterPhoenix I apologize once again for not remembering a name. In the first game, he chose to play and took a paris mulligan 3 times. That really sucked for him. I brought some Soltari Priests and Warrior en-Kors over to play with his life and Earthquaked just before he could disk away my offense. In the second game he drew better and was able to gain control and beat me down with a Shard Phoenix. I made some stupid plays in this game and probably could have won. Third game I went first and dropped a Soltari Priest, Warrior en-Kor, and Paladin en-Vec. He did not counter any of them and I Disenchanted his Nevinyrral's Disk backed up with a Pyroblast. Matches 3-1, Games 6-3 At this point, I must mention that my brother Tim was also 3-1 going into the 5th round. I was really proud of him, as he prefers to play Warhammer, and does not play Magic that much. Despite his inexperience and youth, he stepped up and played like a man. He went on to finish the day 4-3 and played really well. Anyway... Round #5: Ali Eslami (I'm sorry if I spelled your name wrong) playing Tolarian Academy. In the first game I dropped first and second turn White Knights thanks to a Mox Diamond and because of Wastelands and Disenchants was never really able to go off. Eventually I Earthquaked him away. In the second game, he pulled a bad draw and said that he probably should have taken a mulligan. My White Knights and Paladin en-Vecs were unforgiving and once again Wastelands and Disenchants sealed my victory. I didn't even draw any Pyroblasts or Meltdowns in that game. We played one more game for fun to see what would happen if he had mulliganed and I still beat him. This guy was a pretty cool opponent; we talked throughout the match. Matches 4-1, Games 8-3 Round #6, Andy Nguyen playing Recur/Cycle Oh shit!! I didn't like this match-up one bit, as Armageddon and shadow creatures were my only hope. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for him, he got a slow draw and I got a Tradewind Rider on the table and eventually won the game. In the second game, I brought in my Soltari Visionaries and Pyroblasts in an attempt to stop any infinite mana stuff. He drew a lot of land and my creatures beat him up. This match should have been a lot better, but he drew pretty bad, and Armageddon sealed his fate. Matches 5-1, Games 10-3 Round #7, John Yoo playing Sligh I would have drawn into the top 8, but they had to re-pair us after they left somebody out of the draw. In the first game, I won with *gasp* Pariah on a Soltari Priest. When he reached 3 lands, I played Armageddon to prevent any Cursed Scrolls from becoming active and that was game. The second game was more of the same. I took some damage early on, but locked it up with Pariah. This card was some good that day. Matches 6-1, Games 12-3 The Final 8 looked something like this: 2 Sligh 1 Suicide Black 1 Tolarian Academy 2 Recur/Cycle 2 White Weenie The only things that were worrying me were the other White Weenie deck and the Recurring Nightmare decks. Other than that, I was eady to go. Quarterfinals, Matt Smith playing 3 Color White Weenie Once again, this match-up was probably going to come down to whoever out drew the other. First game he had to take a mulligan and I ran him over with creatures. Second game, I had a low creature count and he ran me over. In the last game, he drew poorly and I ran him over with a Soltari Priest. These games were really crap-shoots, and this time, unlike the previous match-up, I came out on top. Matt was a pretty cool opponent also, and we talked and joked around a lot during the match. We even joked about whoever won had better win the tournament, because there was a good chance that Suicide and Sligh may be the only decks left for us to play after the quarterfinals. Matches 7-1, Games 14-4 So... Sligh beat Tolarian Academy Sligh beat Recur/Cycle White Weenie beat White Weenie Recur/Cycle beat Suicide Black Semifinals, Steven Shears playing Recur/Cycle Oh Shit again!!! I repeat that this is my absolute worst match-up and did not expect that this deck would make it so far. Game 1 I drew some early offense but no shadow creatures and a Wall of Blossoms and a Tradewind slowed me down until he Fireballed me for 1,000,000. The second game I drew nothing but crap and a couple of non-shadow creatures. About 6th turn, he gained infinite life and Fireballed me for 1,000,000. Actually, I conceded, because I knew what he was gonna do when he started to go off and I had nothing but 2 Thran Quarries and a Plains in my hand. Matches 7-2, Games 14-6 So much for becoming the State Champion. Steven Shears went on to win the title, and I'm glad he did, because he wasn't playing Sligh or Tolarian Academy. I guess 7-2 isn't a total loss, as I picked up some valuable ratings points, and I think I'm almost high enough to qualify for the Pro Tour in the spring. We'll see... Time to get ready for PTQ-LA. -Ken Simpson