Subject: Tourney Report PA States Sligh LD Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 07:42:12 -0500 From: cheezco@juno.com (Colby R Schaeffer) To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com I went to the Magic: The Gathering Pennsylvania State Championships on November 21, 1998. I think there was 108 people there. It was at Green Tree Marriot in Pittsburgh. The deck registration lasted for 2 hours from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM. The tournament started right after that. We played 7 rounds of Swiss. This is my 5th tournament (4th DCI sanctiouned). I forgot my DCI card at home, so I got a new one. I went with my fellow team mates ( Team Poopy ), John Ajay, Bryan Schaeffer (big_schaeff), and myself. Team CMU attended too, but Randy Beuhler wasn't there. The good thing is that I got a lot of trading there. My best trades were when I traded away my Null Brooches. I traded away a Null Brooch for a Shivan Dragon, a Null Brooch for 2 Reflecting Pools, and 2 Grevens / 1 Winds of Rath for 2 Taiga. Let's just say I made out good with the trades. I also got a Jester's Cap, 4 Hippies, Scorched Ruins, 2 Root Maze, 2 Wall of Blossoms, Shivan Dragon, Eladarmi Lord of Leaves, 3 Gemstone Mines, Flucturator, some other cards, and some kid gave me some Urza's Saga commons. Here is the deck I used... SLIGH LD (LAND DESTRUCTION) Creatures: 4 Jackal Pup 4 Raging Goblin 3 Goblin Patrol 2 Fireslinger 2 Ball Lightning 1 Lightning Dragon 4 Mogg Fanatic 1 Goblin Lackey Sorceries / Instants: 4 Kindle 4 Shock 1 Sonic Burst 1 Shattering Pulse 3 Raze Enchantments / Artifacts: 4 Cursed Scroll 1 Goblin Bombardment Land: 4 Wasteland 16 Mountain Sideboard: 4 Pyroblast (anti-blue) 3 Meltdown (artifacts, mainly for academy decks) 3 Sphere of Resistance (academy decks) 4 Incinerate (for sligh and suicide black, I would side-out the Jackal Pups) 1 Earthquake (weenie decks) It was a basic Sligh deck with a touch of Land Kill. That certain touch was really good since the enviroment used a lot of non-basic lands like Gaea's Cradle, Tolarian Academy, Stalking Stones, Reflecting Pool, City of Brass, Ancient Tomb, Wasteland, etc. Many people said take out the Pups, put more Lackeys in, and put in Cadets. Honestly, I think that would of made a difference. Goblin Bombardment and Cursed Scroll made every card useful. Destructive Urge, Stone Rain, and other land kill spells were no included due to... 1. Slower than Raze and Wasteland. 2. I didn't have much room for those. 3. Destructive Urge can be a dead card in your hand. 16 Mountain was all I needed since all I had was 3 Raze. Lightning Dragon was the beastie because unlike Ball Lightning it stays around and it has a big toughness. Also it has flying. Shattering Pulse main deck was a good idea because of academy decks, Stalking Stones, Cursed Scrolls, and other annoying artifacts. Here is the results... 1ST ROUND Opponent: Paul Sekera His deck: Academy I was really confident because I knew Sligh could hurt this deck. The first game went quick with speedy goblins and burn. The second game I sideboarded 3 Meltdown, 4 Pyroblast, and 3 Sphere of Resistance. I play a Raze on his 2nd turn Academy, it is looking bad. The sphere screwed him in that game while I had a Goblin Patrol. He had 2 tapped Mana Vaults so all together he was taking four damage every turn around. Game! Round W-L: 2-0 Total W-L: 1-0 2ND ROUND Opponent: Steve Markovich His deck: Suicide Black Now this was a match-up of speed. I had an advantage because I could destroy his creatures easier. Land Deatruction would not matter, so I went basic Sligh and I held the LD spells in my hand for Cursed Scrolls. I played creatures and burned his and I won. The second game I sideboarded 1 Earthquake and 4 Incinerate. He dealt with my creatures by using his Cursed Scroll. I played a Lightning Dragon to kill his 4/4 Unholy Strengthed Urg Raiders. The creatures were gone and I was ahead by 2-4 life. It became a Cursed Scroll battle. Since I was ahead in life, I won the battle. That is the kind of game I like! Round W-L: 2-0 Total W-L: 2-0 3RD ROUND Opponent: Lost his name His deck: Black Bridge Black Bridge was basically a side-version of Burning Bridge where he would hold off creatures by Ensnaring Bridge and kill me with Cursed Scrolls and other damage-dealing artifacts. The first game I was playing creatures and he dealt with them. I eventually won. The second game I sideboarded 3 Meltdown and 4 Incinerate. Those were good choices. He had a Cursed Scroll out which I destroyed with Meltdown. Then he pulls out Ensnaring Bridges. My creatures becomes useless due to a lack of Goblin Bombardment. I keep on burning him with Kindles and Incinerates. I win that game. His deck was very intresting. He could of done better by putting in small 1/1 black creatures. That is just my opinion. Round W-L: 2-0 Total W-L: 3-0 4TH ROUND Opponent: Lost his name His deck: Academy He seemed very weird when we were playing, but that is probaly the way he plays. I found out why Windfall is so good in that deck. It gets him what he wants. The turn he plays Mind Over Matter (MoMa), it is over. I was mana screwed that game. I sideboarded 3 Meltdown, 4 Pyroblast, and 3 Sphere of Resistance. This game I was a bit Mana Screwed. I lost 2 turns after that. Round W-L: 0-2 Total W-L: 3-1 5TH ROUND Opponent: Lost his name His deck: Academy I checked how good I was doing. Suprisingly I was in 9th place! So I decided to try harder. When I went to the table waiting for the player, I was hoping not to play Academy. I guess that wish didn't become true. The first game I was close, because he was down to 4 life. The second game I sideboarded the usual and was a turn behind to beating him. I had a Meltdown in my hand and I needed 1 more mana, the next card was a Mountain. Round W-L: 0-2 Total W-L: 3-2 6TH ROUND Opponent: Lost his name His deck: Academy I am starting to lose hope! I can go 5-2 and get into the Top 8 maybe. I was so depressed it affected my thinking, but I didn't give up. The first game went quick, he didn't care about my 2 Jackal Pups out on the board and he was at 10 life. He won that turn. The second game I sideboarded in the usual. I mulliganed until I got a hand of 5. I got a Wasteland, Mountain, Jackal Pup, Sphere of Resistance, Raze. First turn Pup. He played some artifact. Second turn Sphere. He played a Chill. Now I am in a hole. I waited until I got 4 mana out to cast another creature. He plays another Chill. I know I am going to lose. To make some fun out of the game I play another Sphere. It is over! Round W-L: 0-2 Total W-L: 3-3 I went out since I woudn't make it into the Top 8. Anyways I made some good trading. Not to mention, there was a 40-45 year old guy there who owned a magic store. He brought some of his binders and was trading. He also brought his 7 year old son who I was impressed with because he was pretty good for his age. My brother played him and gave him a lot of self-confidence. They were very nice. The guy gave my brother a Necropotence because of my brother's kindness. It turned out to be a great tournament experience. Send all your comments and suggestions to me. You can also see this deck at my website: www.maxpages.com/mtghouse Frank, The Dojo is great! -Colby Schaeffer ( Jester ) -Team Poopy EMAIL: cheezco@juno.com WEBSITE: www.maxpages.com/mtghouse Send your own decks, combos, and tournery reports to me and I will post them on my website. ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. 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