Subject: IA State Championship Report (Sphere Black/splash Blue) Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 20:19:40 -0600 From: - To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com "Academy or Burn" by Steve Hernandez The Iowa State Championships were held in Iowa City this year. There were a fair number of people and everything went well. I traveled to Iowa City from Dubuque with Kevin Koppes and Justin Park. In the week or so before the tournament I had changed my mind several times about what to play. For the most part we knew Academy decks would be huge based on visits from out of town players to Dubuque T2 tourneys and the success of the deck at other championships. I settled on playing an infinite peregrine drake deck the night before but on the car ride to Iowa City switched over to black/blue jokingly. After pondering it I realized blue provided a great number of sideboard options to beat sligh as well as the disruption to beat Academy. Here is the deck I played: 4 Dauthi Horror 4 Dauthi Slayer 4 Sarcomancy 3 Erg Raiders 4 Carnophage 4 Dark Ritual 4 Mox Diamond 4 Cursed Scroll 3 Sphere of Resistance 4 Duress 4 Wasteland 4 Underground River 3 City of Brass 11 Swamp Sideboard: 4 Chill 4 Hydroblast 3 Annul 2 Arcane Laboratory 2 Lobotomy When we arrived in Iowa City we found that about 1/2 the decks were Academy, 1/2 were Sligh, and the rest were an odd mixture of everything else. I was still worried about burn but figured 4 Chill, and 4 Hydros could give me an advantage for games 2 and 3. Scheduled for 6 rounds 1st Match Lee Curtis? (Lackey burn) Game 1: I played out my hand early and got a Cursed Scroll up and running but lost to his Scroll and Burn in combination Game 2: I sided in the works 4 Chill swap for 4 Duress, and 4 Hydro swap for 3 Spheres and 1 Erg Raider. I got out a 1st turn chill and was able to win the race quickly. Game 3: I went second with a ritual, ritual Sarco, Carnophage, Carnophage and two hyrdros in my hand. I got him down to 11 I believe before a Scroll on his side took over. An excellent comeback on his part. Final Comment-Lackeys are good in burn and can get around chill versus mono blue as my opponent said. 0-1 2nd Match Derek Game 1: I went first with a ritual of two creatures, and 2nd and 4th turn spheres of resistance. I won quickly but found he was playing cycling Runes, and various white defensive creatures. Game 2: I sided in 2 Annul because I suspected copblack, rune black, as well as light of day. It didn't matter much but the game stalled a bit with his convalescence, which I let get into play despite having an Annul in hand, as well as his change of heart. In the end cursed scroll and multiple creatures one for me as he was forced to change of heart without buyback to stay alive. 1-1 Final comment-Annul is the perfect solution for Light of Day. 3rdMatch Monty Grey Game 1: He got out a Licid(Lure) and Llanowar elf and I played a dauthi horror and erg raider. He decided to block the raider with both creatures so i chose to off the lure licid. At this point he was at about 12 from the horror when he played an Argothian Wurm with no cards in hand. For the next 6 turns I sacrificed a land and killed him slowly with the horror while drawing many lands. Game 2: I sided in 2 lobotomy hoping to pull an Argothian Wurm if he had any early. I got out an early erg raider and a scroll. He played a gilded drake, took my raider, and then boomeranged the drake. I played a carnophage to block and scroll my own raider then played a dauthi horror. I sat there for quite awhile hoping he wouldn't draw another boomerang to play his combo again. It didn't matter because I drew another scroll with 7 land in play. final comment-Argothian Wurm is only good if he comes out very early. 2-1 Match 4 John Doe???? Academy Game 1: I played a duress first turn and took the mind over matter. He played an island. I drew ritual and got out a creature, and a sphere of resistance. He stayed land screwed coupled with the sphere in play and I won easily. Game 2: He kept mulliganing down to 6 with no land but a petal and a mana crypt and a scroll rack. I got out 2 spheres and several creatures while he struggled for land. Throughout the game I drew an Arcane Laboratory and an annul but never played them. Another easy win. Final comment-Sphere of resistance is a headache for an academy player, and really throws off there strategy. Capsize must be played in main or side to combat it as well as Arcane Laboratory. 3-1 Match 5 Aaron Lackey burn with Cathodian<---nice touch Game 1: Dont' remember it was a fast kick with three lackeys in play and a cathodian to seal the deal. Game 2: I took a hand with a hydro. He burnt my creatures and played a flunky and cathodian. I got ruined. I should have mulliganed until I saw a chill. Final comment-Cathodian is an excellent quick creature, especially when damage prevention phase goes away in 6th edition and the mana can be channeled to a scroll. Also works well against Chill. Match 6 John Doe #2????? Academy Game 1: Quick creatures and a sphere of resistance sealed the deal. Not much happened on his side of the board. Game 2: I got out a carnophage and 2 spheres but he managed to bounce my carnophage and keep me in a one land capsize lock with 2 spheres in play. I took too much of a risk in playing the second sphere early when I could have played a creature. I lose. Game 3: An early sphere and sarcomancy. He went first however and managed to get out several artifacts before the sphere hit play. I didn't draw enough land to play the arcane laboratory and he had enough time to do his thing. Final comment-In every tournament I play in there always seems to be the person who tries to find a way to win not involving the game of magic at all. My opponent was one of them. 3-3 I had a good time and found out that sphere of resistance does pretty well against Academy. I think I finished 20th. If I could have done it all again here is the deck I would have played with the important addition of Priest of Gix whom I overlooked in my hasty building of the deck. Priest of Gix/Sphere is a combo somewhat. Duress is terrible against burn. Also Suicide Black still has trouble with burn despite 4 Hyrdro/4 Chill. "...that costs one more!" 4 Priest of Gix 4 Carnophage 4 Sacromancy 4 Dauthi Slayer 4 Dauthi Horror 2 Cathodian 4 Sphere of Resistance 4 Mox Diamond 1 Windfall 2 Duress 2 Cursed Scroll 4 Dark Ritual 4 Wasteland 4 Underground River 4 City of Brass 11 Swamp Sideboard: 2 Duress 3 Bottle Gnomes 4 Chill 2 Annul 2 Arcane Laboratory 2 Cursed Scroll -Steve Hernandez khernand@mwci.net