Subject: [tournament] report... Alabama States Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 23:04:20 -0600 From: "Blair M. Simpson" To: OK... here's my report on the Alabama States, held at Dr. Bob's Game Shop in Huntsville, AL First off, I was playing what I've dubbed "Type II Jank" i.e. White Weenie with blue splashed for Mana Leaks/Tradewinds and red for Incinerates/Earthquakes. Decklisting 4 Soltari Priest 2 Soltari Monk 4 Warrior En-Kor 4 White Knight 3 Paladin En-Vec 4 Disenchant 2 Armageddon 2 Tradewind Rider 3 Mana Leak 4 Incinerate 2 Earthquake 4 Mox Diamond 4 City of Brass 2 Adarkar Wastes 1 Reflecting Pool 3 Wasteland 2 Mountain 10 Plains okay okay... so it's almost an exact copy of earlier posted decks... wait 'till you see the "super-secret-sideboard tech"... SB 2 Earthquake - needed for Suicide Black 4 Pyroblast - 'nuff said 1 Sleight of Mind - only sided in once, never drew 1 Perish - Never saw that coming out of White Weenie, did ya? 1 Armageddon - for Draw-Go 3 Pariah - Sligh/Suicide Black 3 Hurkyl's Recall - SUPER-SECRET-SIDEBOARD TECH okay... this might need a little explanation.... "Academy opponent casts Time Spiral. In response, I cast Hurkyl's Recall. Stupid artifacts leave board, enter library. TU casts Windfall. In response, I cast Hurkyl's. Artifacts enter graveyard. We both draw dumb amounts of cards. Better have a Spiral to get those 3 Mana Vaults back buddy... or, worst case scenario, end of your turn, I cast Hurkyl's. My turn, I 'Geddon.... gives me those extra few turns to commence "Storm Trooper beatdown" Okay, on to the rounds... P.S. - fellow Team Rakalite member Holt Gray won the championship (again)... congratulations! Round 1 David Hancock - Academy Game 1: first turn Priest, disenchant his untapped Mana Vault turn 2, 'Geddon turn 3. Send two weenies across, putting him at 4. He has tapped vault, but the mana to untap it. When he leaves his upkeep, and doesn't untap the vault, I incinerate in his draw phase. Apparently he didn't expect burn in a White Weenie deck, so he dies... Game 2:Sideboard 4 Incinerate, 2 Earthquake, 1 Paladin --> 4 Pyroblast, 3 Hurkyl's Recall See aforementioned End of Turn Hurkyl's my turn 'Geddon... beatdown. Games: 2-0 Match: 1-0 Round 2 Tony Rose - Sphere Sligh Tony rode up to the tournament with me, and we both know each other's deck pretty well... I felt bad for matching up with him early... Game 1: I got early Warrior-Priest beatdown, he got mana screwed. I win. Game 2: Sideboard 1 Mana Leak, 2 'Geddon --> 3 Pariah Hmm... Cursed Scroll is bad... disenchant is good.... where is a disenchant... he wins. Game 3: Cursed Scroll can't touch a team of two Warriors... And drawing 3 Mana Leaks is good... I win. Games: 4-1 Match: 2-0 Round 3 Bruce Chirrey - Sligh Game 1: I draw 3 Disenchants, and not much else... Rathi Beatdown. I lose. Game 2: Standard Sligh Sideboarding Bruce gets a mana screw, I get Tradewind lock and attack with Priest every turn... I win Game 3: I get Paladin turn 2 and turn 3... Tradewind turn 4, Pariah on Paladin turn 5... game over... Games: 6-2 Match: 3-0 Round 4 Craig Woosley - Smokestack Black Bruce is a member of Team Montgomery - they used to OWN Birmingham until Team Rakalite formed... The point being that Craig is a very good player, and I felt a little apprehensive about this match, despite Craig saying "I REALLY don't want to see you next round..." Game 1: Stupid amounts of black creatures. Craig runs over me. He wins. Game 2: Sideboard 3 Mana Leak, 1 Disenchant, 2 'Geddon --> 2 Earthquake, 3 Pariah, 1 Sleight Stupid amounts of white creatures. I run over Craig. I win. Game 3: First turn Priest. He Duress' me on his first turn, sees the 3 2cc creatures there, and says “oh”… we trade creatures for a while, I waste his wasteland in order to shut down activation of his scroll, and get him to 4 (?). I slap a Pariah on White Knight to stay alive, he topdecks 3rd land to scroll Knight, I die… Games: 7-4 Match: 3-1 Round 5 Erin Dailey - Draw Go w/ Air Elementals Game 1: I have to Paris to 5 cards, can't get enough threats through, Air Elemental makes swift work of me. Game 2: Sideboard 2 Earthquake, 2 Incinerate, 1 Paladin --> 1 'Geddon, 4 Pyroblast Early creature beatdown, he is forced to tap out to play a Disk. End of his turn, I disenchant it, and 'Geddon on my turn. Game over. Game 3: My opening hand consists of 2 Pyroblasts, 1 Disenchant, 2 land, Mox Diamond, Priest. I can waste his early mana (1 Stalking Stones, 1 Wasteland), forcing him to tap out to play Propaganda in order to live. I 'Geddon on my turn, play a land, and I can still attack under Propaganda next turn. He cannot rebuild his mana base quickly enough, I win. Games: 9-5 Match: 4-1 Round 6 Colin Durham - Red/Green madness Colin is a local player on Team Redneck that I know well, and we tried to decide if we wanted to draw now and try to win next round, or try to win now... (eliminating one of us) We decided to play now, just for the hell of it. Game 1: He lays first mountain/scroll. I think this is bad, although his only other land for a long time is a Gaea's Cradle, and apparently the only creatures he drew were green... I get 3 Priests before turn 5 or so, and his only removal besides the Scrolls are Incinerates (I think), so I win... Game 2: Sideboard 2 'Geddon --> 1 Earthquake, 1 Perish I get way too much land, and he starts beating me down with a Weaver and a few elf-type creatures (Llanowar, Lyrist, and a Scavenger Folk I think) However, I draw my one Perish, and when I play it he gets a REAL bad look on his face... (It also kills his Thran Quarry BTW) I cast a Priest, and start in on him... Earthquake for kill. Games: 11-5 Match: 5-1 Round 7 Jeff Butz - More Red/Green madness Jeff is one of the best Magic players I know, making the Nationals team (last?) year... and he has a VERY rogue deck... lotsa elves, Goblin Offensive, Fecundity, Cradles, and (I assume) Goblin Bombardment... However, we make the obvious choice and draw into the Final Eight... Games: 12-5 Match: 5-1-1 Final Eight The top decks consist of: 1 Sligh (fellow teammate Holt, and eventual champion) 3 Academy 1 Red/Green madness 2 Smokestack Black 1 White Weenie (me) I make 4th seat, and get paired up with Phil Smith playing Academy... Game 1: I get a first turn weenie, and disenchant his first 2 Voltaic Keys, keeping his Academy a Legendary Island for the remainder of the game. I get him down to 4, and earthquake for the finish... he didn't see that coming, and later says he could have gone off the following turn. Game 2: Same sideboard as first Academy deck My opening hand looks great, but there are no sideboard cards... I decide to keep it. First Mistake. Later on, I realize that if there's no early disruption, I should Paris because the Academy deck will give me the cards back anyway... he goes into combo without me being able to do much of anything... Game 3: My opening hand looks familiar from last game, I Paris to 6... see a Pyro, Disenchant, and other stuff... don't remember right now... He drops Chill early (apparently didn't realize only red in my deck was now 4 Pyros, but I still need to Pyro it in order to preserve later chances at disruption) He then plays a MoMa next turn (which, btw I couldn't have Pyro'ed with the Chill out, so pointless argument) this keeps my land locked down long enough for me to die... Oh well, final eight isn't bad... Final match: I only saw game 3 of the Finals, but Sligh on Academy when Sligh draws 3 Pyroblasts by turn 4 is sick... Props: Ben Gilliam for suggesting Hurkyl's Recall. Ben hasn't really played magic since Ice Age, and I was explaining Academy to him Friday night when he dropped by the bookstore where I work. He said "gee... Hurkyl's Recall will just break that apart, right?" my mouth hits the floor... "umm, yeah, I think you're right..." Jeff Butz and Connect Four - most of the players thought the tournament would be cancelled due to lack of interest, since most of us were in the other room watching Jeff hose any challenger at Connect Four... Chris and Tony for waking me up after oversleeping Saturday morning... thanks guys. Slops: David Jafari (fellow teammate) - Hey... I only lost at Connect Four 'cause I didn't know the rules. I thought you had to get FIVE in a row... Chairs. Dr. Bob's didn't have enough chairs for all of the players, so someone was sent to the local Wal-Mart to buy lawn furniture, apparently... players had to wipe the mud and dirt off their chairs before the rounds could begin.