Subject: MD State Tournament Report Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 09:20:20 -0500 From: Dan & Danielle Becker To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com To "The Dojo", I posted this report to the strategy news group after the tournament. Please add this to the State Tournament reports for MD. Who: Dan Becker What: Maryland State Tournament Where: Dream Wizards in Rockville How Well: Fourth Place? When: It is past mid-night The obligatory story: We started play testing for Type II with Urza's extensions four weeks ago with the members of "Team Frederick"; Steve Wannall, Anna Soderberg, John Willis, Bob White, and I. I was pretty sold on a Rude Awakening variant with Energy Fields for the total lock down on damage, until I started reading the posts on T. Boo (A.K.A. TU, A.K.A. TB, and A.K.A. Academy). I didn't think that Rude Awakening could buy a win from T. Boo; so I read every post on the Academy deck, and all of the counter posts on the deck. I realized very quickly that most people did not really grasp the deck, as most of the solutions did NOT actually stop the T. Boo deck from winning at all. We put a proxy version of the deck together, and confirmed that T. Boo was going to be a real pain in the butt. So … there would be two groups of people in the final 8. People that grouped people into groups, and people who didn't … actually T. Boo and the people who could not put together T. Boo. So … there was nothing I could do but play … Lackey Sligh. Lackey Sligh - Dan Becker Mana 16 Mountains 3 Wastelands -- 19 Spells 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Incinerate 4 Shock 3 Sonic Burst 2 Meltdown // Anti-T. Boo 1 Torture Chamber // WW with Pariah & Worship really hurt -- 18 Critters 4 Goblin Lackey // You Gotta Getcha Some 4 Mogg Flunkies 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Ball Lightnings 3 Goblin Patrol 3 Jackal Pup // Only 3, I love/hate Pups 1 Goblin War Buggy // You MUST have 1 Buggy for the deck to work! // It's all about the Buggy! -- 23 Sideboard 4 Pyroblast 4 Bottle Gnomes 2 City of Traitors 2 Meltdown 1 Nevinyrrls's Disk 1 Torture Chamber 1 Wasteland Deck notes: I am pretty sure that I never took a mulligan for any game, the land is perfect. The sideboard City of Traitors was a meta-game to allow the 2nd turn Lackey off of the 1st turn Chill from T. Boo. Wish I could have tried it … never saw a Chill! I would have loved a first turn Lackey against a T. Boo deck. Lackey's rock when there are no blockers or they do not get burnt. Drop the City's, add two Shattering Pulses, and call the deck done! The matches: Round 1: Paul - WW Paul had the match up I dreaded, WW with Pariah and Worship. Game 1: He can't top deck any of it, and I Sonic Burst him discarding my Torture Chamber for the win. I knew that Chamber would come in handy. Game 2: I get out the Torture Chamber, and I wreck havoc on his creatures … but now I have a problem with my own Chamber. I miss play it a few times and have to take damage from it, but it holds the table till I can top deck enough burn for the win. Matches: 1,0; Games: 2,0 Round 2: Phil - Black Weenie/Disruption I tried a version of this deck in play testing; because I thought it could beat T. Boo, but I could never make it work against Sligh, so I gave up. Phil had the best anti-sligh version I saw. Game 1: First Turn Duress, Second Turn Persecute. I actually recover some, but the drain life's and Bottle Gnomes give him too much life. I die to a pair of Erg Raiders. Game 2: I drop the first turn Lackey, and Phil can not deal with it. Turn 2 attack with Lackey, bring a Lackey into play, Burn one of his critters at the end of his turn (all my mana is still untapped). Turn 3 attack with both Lackey's, and put two Mogg Flunkies into play. Phil hits two or three Duress's, and gets only land. Game 3: Hmmm … I though we were both playing speed decks … This match went about 30 turns. The bottom line is that I got 4 Bottle Gnomes, and top decked a Cursed Scroll after each Disk went off. Phil hit a 14 point Drain Life, but I still put the beat down. Matches: 2,0; Games: 4,1 Round 3: Davey - WW Where are all the T. Boo decks? Game 1: Davey gets no top deck help, and I almost have him burnt to the ground, when he casts Pariah on my own Mogg Flunky. Hmmm… didn't think of that one. He then gets a Paladin out, but it is too late. I burn my own Flunky, then burn him to the ground. Game 2: Davey gets no top deck again. I scroll a Soltari Priest with a Pariah attached, while a Crusade was out, before he can Disenchant the Scroll. I smack him with critters before any Paladins show up to help. Matches: 3,0; Games: 6,1 Round 4: Brock Parker - Living Death? Sorry Brock, but I don't really remember this match or the deck. I think it was Living Death, and as near as I can remember the match went like this: Game 1: Turn 1 Lackey, Turn 2 Lackey attacks and friends join him on the table, and I cast more friends. Turn 3 Lackey attacks and more friends join him on the table, add Ball Lightnings and roast until done. Death comes long before 5 Mana. Game 2: See Game 1. I think this match lasted < 5 minutes. Matches: 4,0; Games: 8,1 Round 5: Andrew Brokos - Living Death - Whale combo for infinite life or death. Hmmm … I think I just "did" something like this deck, but without the combo … Game 1: Turn 1 Lackey, Turn 2 Lackey attacks and friends join him on the table. Mogg Fanatic all of the mana producers, and Waste a few lands, add Ball Lightnings and roast until done. Game 2: Turn 1 Lackey, Turn 2 Sonic Burst a Wall of Blossoms, Lackey attacks and Mogg Flunky joins him on the table. Turn 3 Lackey attacks and another Mogg Flunky joins the table, cast a Jackal Pup. Andrew gets two Spikes down, but it they are just speed bumps. He gets a Wall of Blossoms out, but I send a Ball Lightning (and lots of Goblins!) his way for the final beat down. Matches: 5,0; Games: 10,1 Round 6: Hunter Weisheit - Draw-Go??? We get deck checked, but I also decided to draw if my opponent wants to draw, and play if he/she wants to play. We draw … Hunter wanted to get dinner. Matches: 5,0,1; Games: 10,1 Final 8: Some one else promised a post, but I think it was this: 2 Sligh, 1 Burning Bridge, 1 Suicide Black, Hunter's Deck?, T. Boo., Death Combo, and ?. I am pretty sure that only 1 T. Boo. deck made it to final 8. Final 8 Notes: I really screwed up and did not get full notes for the final matches. I apologize if I get anything wrong. ??? (Can't find the name) - Suicide Black Game 1: My opponent has 4 creatures on the table by turn 2, and starts the beat down. I top deck a few critters, but they met up with a few paralyze. However, I top deck burn like nobody's business, and the 4 critters are dead three turns latter. He never recovers. Game 2: My opponent has much slower critter start, but he gets a Dauthi with 2 unholy strengths on him by turn 3. He actually has 1 mana left, and I think … Duress and I am totally screwed. No Duress! I Sonic Burst the Dauthi. He paralyzes a few of my critters, and we both start to OVER mana stall, then I realize … Duh … I have 11 land in play … untap Paralyzed creature and attack! The best late move of the match was when he hit me with a Duress when he was at about 11 life. I went Shock, Shock, and Incinerate in response… brought the house down. Untap Mogg Flunky & Bottle Gnomes for 8 mana, and attack for 4. Matches: 6,0,1; Games: 12,1 Drew McLean (I think I got this right, if not it was the final MD Champion) - Sligh Game 1: I smoke out a win with an Incinerate top deck. I was at 8 life and facing beat down when I top decked the Incinerate. Game 2: Drew had a better side board for Sligh on Sligh, his Shattering Pulses wiped out my Scrolls, and I was toast. The worst play of the game is when I cast a Sonic Burst and discarded the War Buggy to the Burst. I dissed the Buggy, and surely that was the big difference in the match. Game 3: This was the longest game of the match, and sadly I made one big miss-play that may (or may not) have cost me the game. I start out with a bigger jump, and Drew has to Pulse with out buy back a Scroll to guarantee a kill on my Ball Lightning. My game miss-play was with a scroll out and an empty hand, I draw a Bottle Gnome, and start to cast it when I realize I should have saved it to stop a Ball Lightning. Drew re-enforces my error by casting Mister Lightning, and I am down by 6. This may or may not have mattered; because I think the scroll was Pulsed a little later in the game … but, I felt like an idiot. The real problem was that I play tested against Anna's Burning Bridge too long, and never against standard Sligh. We beat each other down to about 7 & 7, and I draw a Sonic Burst. I hold the burst 3 turns trying to top deck Incinerate, but it never came. That's what I get for dissing the Buggy. Matches: 6,1,1; Games: 13,3 Drew faced the T. Boo deck in the finals and won. In the third game the T. Boo deck had to Mulligan to 4 cards! It's all about the top deck. Strategy Talk: With out a complete set of play test results; here are my Rock/Paper/Scissors match ups: Standard Sligh will take Lackey Sligh - The Mogg Flunkies end up as dead weight. Standard Sligh will take Burning Bridge - Most Sligh decks now run 2 Meltdown standard. Lackey Sligh will take Burning Bridge - Meltdown. T. Boo will take every thing, if it gets the draw. Lackey Sligh should match up better against T. Boo, than Standard Sligh. Everything takes WW - Too slow in the environment. Combo Living Death has a small chance, but typically it is too slow. Suicide Black cannot survive with so much Burn. Anna Soderberg from "Team Frederick" also made final eight with a Burning Bridge Deck. She lost in the first round to Drew. Her deck, built with the help from Steve Wannall, is as follows: 16 Mountains 2 Smoldering Crater 3 Wastelands 4 Ensnaring Bridge 4 Scalding Tongs 4 Cursed Scrolls 4 Shocks 4 Sonic Burst 4 Kindle 4 Incinerate 4 Fireslinger 4 Mogg Fanatic 1 Meltdown 1 Shattering Pulse 1 Earthquake #1 Thanks go to my wife Danielle for her continued support in my hobby. #2 Thanks go to Dream Wizards for hosting the tournament. #3 Thanks go to the Judges who did an excellent job at running the tournament. #4 Thanks go to all of my opponents for very "professionally" played matches; the best set of players I have ever played against. #5 Thanks go to John Willis for two nights of play testing, after I dropped Rude Awakening for Lackey Sligh. #6 Thanks go to the other members of "Team Frederick" for the play testing and consultations. #7 Thanks go to Joel Rosenfield for helping play test WW. #8 Thanks go to Brainstorm Comics in Frederick, MD for selling me the Lackey's and Meltdown's on Wednesday. Thanks Thunder. See Ya! Dan Becker (DCI #7599) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Dan & Danielle Becker becker2d@erols.com Dan's Quote: "It's all about the Buggy." -- Goblin War Buggy Dani's Quote: "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping" ----------------------------------------------------------------