Subject: NC States Tournament Report Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 16:58:31 -0500 From: Mark Lovin To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hey. First time writer, long time Dojo surfer. My deck choice for the States proves that. Yup, the Academy. That word seems to be a bad one to certain people. Most were building their decks against it in one way or another and proclaiming that they had the "tech" to deal with it in the sideboard. Whatever. I faced off against that "tech" and wasn't impressed (not to mention, pyroblast and meltdown aren't what I would consider tech by any standard). Only one sideboard really wrecked me, and he went 5-1-0 overall. It was a good day, I did pretty well,and I could go on proclaiming that I'm the Academy man but I would have to say that, in the end, I got some good luck. My pairings were fortunate and their sideboards weren't all that. Anyway, on with the show... The tournament was held where all the tournaments in this great state of North Carolina are held, in Daddy Jim's store in High Point. For all who don't know the Daddy, knowing him is an experience. Definitely a showman, I'd swear he was on crack, what with his prices and his jokes. His store is decent, and a nice size, but I'm sick of playing in that back room where we all sit on stools and play on those huge comics boxes with cardboard over them. Oh well, lousy playing area or not, I still had the hookup. Anyone who saw that guy there with the red coat, the nifty sunglasses, and looked like he hadn't slept in days...that was me. The Academy was in fine fashion that day, showing white weenie that it's simply not fast enough and showing sligh that first turn Chill really bites. My deck is as follows: 4 Academy 4 Wasteland (probably didn't need 4 maindeck but wanted to pretend that I knew how to metagame) 12 Island 4 Time Spiral 4 Windfall 3 Mind Over Matter 3 Stroke of Genius 4 Intuition 4 Lotus Petal 4 Urza's Bauble (better than I thought they would be...Glenn was right) 4 Mana Vault 3 Mox Diamond 2 Voltaic Key 2 Scroll Rack 2 Power Sink 1 Capsize I went with several people who deserve to be mentioned. Brian is the one who managed to get the rest of the people together, get me the ride I needed, and hook me up with the last Intuitions and Moxes I needed. Most definitely the man, he played suicide and really should have gone 5-1 instead of 4-2. He got land screwed both games of a match that I watched, and he definitely should have won. Oh well, you'll do fine in Richmond man. I feel it. Jason is the guy who I'm currently at NC State with, and the guy who traded his ass off to get me the cards I needed to play the Academy. He's the man for going to such great lengths just to get me that deck, and I'll always remember it. He played some labratory tech with Null Brooch, Bottomless Pit, Grafted Scullcap, Ensnaring Bridge, and C-Scroll. It was a sweet deck with a nasty lockdown, but it wasn't consistant enough to take the Academy or the speed weenie decks. It was impressive to watch though, and I'd have to say he only failed because it's just hard to draw what you need to win with that deck. Glenn is the local pro from back home (Greenville, NC) and the one who fixed up my Academy deck and helped with my sideboard. He played a card-craft deck (the crab with Earthcraft and fertile ground) that seemed solid but never quite drew what it needed to win. He really wanted to play Academy but couldn't get the cards to do it. I think he could have gone all the way with the Academy, but that's the way it goes I guess. Chris is the laid-back, easy-going guy who went for the hell of it. He played the same deck as Glenn and fared about as well. I thought the deck was interesting, but I wouldn't have wanted to trust it in that tournament. Props to Chris for sponsoring me in that draft in the end of the day. Henry is the one most people remember. Has the "nice" trash talk skillz, plays strange decks (horsecrap), and generally is fun to play against. One of my favorite players. We never got much of a chance to playtest, mostly because I was getting raped by Brian's black thing. Ya know, Duress is pretty hard to beat. Good thing I never faced it in the tournament. Joey is the guy who quit and now just plays every now and then for fun. He played a black thin like Brian did, but didn't quite fare as well. Guess Lurking Evil did make a difference after all. Round 1 vs. Randy Shea (R/W Weenie) I'm still not exactly sure what he was playing. I saw some sleepers that never woke up, some light white shadow stuff, and a few main phase Shocks. Yep, main phase Shock. Let's just say that I felt more confident about the match after he opened up with that Shock first turn. Poor guy. I kinda felt sorry for him. He didn't even know what I was playing, nor did he know about the Academy. Oh well. Glenn, Joey and Henry all lost due to unfavorable luck. Kinda sucks. Jason timed out and drew. I can't remember how Chris did. Brian, however, outran an Academy deck by one turn in each of his games. He was quite pleased. I hear Duress is pretty good against the Academy, and he thought so too. Round 2 vs. Brian Bock (White Weenie Worship) White weenie isn't what it used to be, or, at least it seems that way. Perhaps I only say that because it's such a pathetic matchup against the Academy. Anyway, he threw out a Paladin and a Worship and pecked at me for a turn or two before he drew a bunch of cards. Second game was more of the same. No disruption at all. He just cast creatures and did weenie stuff. No chance. Nice guy, but White Weenie ain't gonna amount to much against the Academy. Glenn, Joey, Henry and Jason all lost this round. That pretty much puts them all out of the running. Again, can't remember Chris's record. Brian won, though I forget exactly what it was that he was playing against. So, Brian and I are the only contenders left out of the group. Round 3 vs. Greg Chance (Sligh) Ahhh...the memories. I remember this one very well. In the first game, he made me look bad. Ran me over with Balls and stuff in about 4 turns. I threw in the Chills and prayed that I got one in the opening draw. I did. I layed an Island and a Petal and put it out. Second turn I layed another petal and put a second Chill out. Didn't see another land for 7 turns. Didn't care, he never got to 5 mana to cast something. Windfalls were beautiful this game because he always had a nice hand full of cards. Third game he gets to go first and I know he can hold back and wait to Pyro my chill. Worse, I don't have one in the opening hand. However, the hand is still decent so I keep it. He goes, drops a Raging Goblin and pings me. I draw a...Chill. There is a God after all. I Chill him out and he doesn't see a second mountain ever. Well, he probably saw a few after he drew all those cards. :-) Most memorable of this one was when I was grabbing cards to fuel the MoMa, I had 15 floating in the pool and was about to cast a Stroke on myself. "Can I play an effect?" he asks. I look at him for a few seconds, decline his request, and he quits. Oh well. I'll say this: I'm sick of that trick. When are people going to see that it's a stupid trick? Not to mention, it's very unsportsmanlike. Brian was beside me this round and took a loss to a recurring player. The rest of the team stuck it out for the hell of it. I think Jason had to split for some reason, but the rest of the team decided to play it out, no matter what. Gotta admire that... Round 4 vs. Lori Lane (WW) I saw her a few games down while I was roughing up that Sligh player. She had been playing for about a month, and now was 3-0 so far. Not bad. She played very skillfully, doing things properly and never making a mistake. Were she playing something more threatening to the Academy, I would have had problems, but unfortunately for her, White Weenie isn't a challenge. I enjoyed it, she was nice and fun to play againt. She also made me finish her off because she knew that the Academy could stall sometimes. Smart. I wish there were more like her. Brian won again and was still in it at 3-1. I thought I could draw my way in at 4-0-2 but it wasn't meant to be. Round 5 vs. John Scarth (Recurring Whale/Priest) This is the same guy who beat Brian and also from the place I play at in Raleigh, Games Galore. I offered him a draw but I guess he thought his sideboard could take me because he refused and wanted to play. We both could have been in at 4-0-2, but noooo, he wanted to play. Oh well. He got out a Bird and a Wall of flowers before drawing a bunch of cards in the first game. Second and third, his sideboard wrecked me. It was pretty good, and he saw the sideboarded cards when he needed them. Second game I really didn't know what to board in so he wrecked me. Third game we fought over a Lobotomy which I wanted to Rebound but for some reason he didn't want me to do that. Two Pyroblasts later he got the Spirals and I decided to make him show me how he got 100000 mana. This pissed him off a bit and after a few minutes I smiled and conceded. I just HAD to do it. Brian too another loss due to severe swamp screw. That bites, because 2 losses won't make it. Oh well, guess it's up to me. Round 6 vs. Jim Krzywicki (sp?) I did the math and talked to the previous year's champ and got the idea that I should draw my way in. He, and most others, felt that I would be fine. His record was the same as mine, Scarth had beaten him too. So, I drew it. Guess we'll see what happens. Brian played anyway and won, finishing 4-2. Not bad, but a bit short. I hate that he got screwed so bad, but I guess that's the way the game goes. Henry and Joey, however, were paired as they had the two worst records of all the people still in. This was a fun matchup. Both were 2-3 I think. I think Henry took it in 3 despite some good draws by Joey. I hear Propaganda sux for suicide. Joey agreed. So, in the end, I find that not only I, but the previous champ get screwed on the tie-breakers and he gets 9th while I get 10th. Turns out our first round opponents didn't do so well. Damn...I had forgotten about that kid. Oh well, guess this teaches me alot about the Swiss pairings. The end, it's over. Everyone in the group except Brian got together with a few other guys and drafted US for some foreign packs of Tempest. Glenn and I sat beside each other and both tried to get Black/Green. His was better, as those Argothian Swines ran my sorry butt over. BTW Glenn, the Hawkeater still sux. The finals were between two of our group, so they split the prize to save time. The rares were ass (Auratog, etc.). Oh well. See some of you at Richmond on 11/28/98. I'm gonna be there in my red coat, nifty shades, and the can of whup-ass in hand. Better watch out... - Mark - Rathi on IRC EFnet