Subject: RI state tourney report!---I won Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 19:00:34 EST From: JasonP85@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Frank-- Please post this in the States Reports section, thanks! Hey Frank and Fellow Dojo Readers My name is Jason Paré. This is my first tourney report, so please bear with me. I'll try to keep it as painless as possible :) For those of you who want to avoid all the garble in between, I won I started preparing for states a couple of weeks in advance. I tested Sligh, Draw-go, and Counterphoenix for awhile, but could not decide on one. After about a week of testing, I decided not to play draw-go, As I expected the field to be mainly sligh. As of then, I was leaning towards CounterPhoenix, because it beat academy and had a good chance against sligh and draw-go, and was fun to play. My parents cruised me on over (hey don't laugh, I'm only 13)to Rah-coco's in Providence. It was my first time there, and it was cool! Imagine the basement of a hardcore Marvel Comics fan crossed with a D&D Junkie crossed with a Magic addict. It was that cool :-). I played a few test games using CounterPhoenix with my friend Brad, fellow Stalking Stones advocate. After losing multiple games to his sliver deck (yeah, I know I know....but this deck is actually pretty good), I decided to go sligh. I talked to Jared Fernandes, a guy I knew from awhile back, who gave me more than a few good insights on my deck and especially sideboard. Dave Feinstien, my buddy from Double Play, let me borrow a scroll, the last that I needed. You the man Dave! I registered my deck, and headed next door to the tourney area. My deck looked something like this: 4 Goblin Lackey------> Worked great! 4 Jackal Pup-------> I prefer these over Patrols, just because the patrols screw mana curve 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Mogg Flunkies 2 Goblin Raider 4 Ball Lightning 4 Shock 4 Incinerate 4 Kindle 2 Sonic Burst 4 Cursed Scroll 16 Mountain 4 Wasteland Sideboard: 4 Pyroblast 4 Bottle Gnomes 2 Meltdown -----> Won me a game singlehandedly against academy 2 Portcullis----> vs. creature decks...never sided in, but would sill keep in side 2 Ancient Tomb----->ok, I'm not going to use the "T" word (and you all know what it is) because I think it is WAY overused, but these were AWESOME vs. Chill in academy, where the extra damage doesn't matter...Thanks Jared!! 1 Torture Chamber-----> never came up, but would have worked well All in all, I was very happy with the deck and sideboard. On to the tourney report... I didn't write down names (cause I though I would scrub out at 0-2 :-) ), but I will write what I remember. ROUND 1 vs. Jerk guy playing Academy I know this guy from around...he swears at you during matches and is altogether rude Game 1: He only gets some artifacts and I get the early Lackey. Lackey puts flunkie into play, Ball Lightning serves for the win. Game 2: He gets an early time spiral, but I draw well off of it and burn him out. That's the match. He wouldn't even shake my hand after the match...what a jerk! Matches 1-0 Games 2-0 ROUND 2 vs. Justin Polin playing Academy I know Justin from BBRI (another card store). He now goes to school in New York, so I'm not even sure if he's supposed to play in this bracket.... :) Game 1: I get a fast pup and flunkie out, and he only sees some of his combo Game 2: Turn 1 him: Lays some artifacts and an academy Turn 1 Me: Mountain, Jackal Pup Turn 2 him: He goes off....wow! I got one turn! Game 3: This game didn't start off well for me... He layed some artifacts and a quick academy, but I was able to play some creatures. One turn after I layed my Ancient Tomb he played a chill but neglected to wasteland my tomb. After his 10 minute turn, he had the stroke in his hand but was all tapped out.... I had one turn to capitalize on his helplessness (and 8 life) or I was dead... Untap...Upkeep...Draw...Lay ball Lightning and attack...BOOM! dead. Whew, that was close. I thanked Justin for the game. Matches 2-0 Games 4-1 Now, a break from the tourney report for a brief rant... About halfway through the match Tom Guevin (yes, THE Tom Guevin) walked over to the table, sat down, and started to watch the match. After it was over, he started talking to Justin about how many mistakes I had made, and how each of us could have played better. Now, I have heard some bad stuff about this guy , but I try not to judge people untill I meet them. However, I just have to say that he came off as a real jerk...I guess its extremely rare to find a "Pro" magic player with talent and social skills. Ok back to the report :) I took this break to call my mom (hey I was a whole 25 minutes away :-) ) and tell her about my 2-0 record.... ROUND 3 vs. Tom Kaufman playing WW Right away I knew this guy was a cool guy. He commented on how great I was doing and how cool it was to see a kid at the number 1 table . As we sat down, we chatted a bit about his previous opponent calling him on a teeny nick on his Arabians City of Brass...Uh oh, I though...City of Brass...Either Death, WW, or Academy. Oh well. We shook and wished each other luck. Game 1: I got a quick creature rush and promptly roasted him Game 2. I got a first turn lackey, and second turn flunkies and fanatic. Usually, this type of start is game, but he popped a Pariah on my Flunkies and played a Soltari Priest. I had to fanatic and kindle my own Flunkies. Next turn he plays a Paladin en-Vec, and Earthquakes me for 4! This prey is resilient :) I swiftly go down to his pro red madness...Nice game Tom! Game 3: Before the game, he announces that If I get a scroll it is probably game, and In my draw i get.......not 0...........Not 1.......But 2 Scrolls!, Plus a mountain, a Lackey, a Flunkie, a Kindle, and a Fanatic... one of my best opening hands all day. He doesn't see any decent critters and goes down to a sonic burst. This was definitely my favorite match all day, not because I squeaked out a win vs. White Weenie, but because this was probably the nicest guy I met all day. You're the man Tom! Matches 3-0 Games 6-2 ROUND 4 vs. Mike Mushaty playing Necro Game 1: I don't remember much about this match, just that I won this game Game 2: He got the Dancing Gnomes recursion going, and I can't deal with that :) Game 3: I got some quick creatures, and the scrolls helped alot...game Matches 4-0 Games 8-3 Finals!! Before this match, My opponent and I decided to split. We went to tell the judge, but he spazzed out on us and lectured us about how we were supposed to represent our state and not greed. Even though I'm sure smoke was coming out of my ears (I was really pissed!) I felt about 3 inches tall. Damn, I guess I'll have to beat necro again ;) ROUND 5 (FINALS): vs Good player from BBRI (sorry I forgot your name, wasn't taking notes!) playing Necro Game 1: I got early creatures and toasted about 3 walls of soul. I barely squeaked through the defenses. Game 2: I got a kind of bad draw and he got Corpse Dance/Automaton recursion going. I couldn't deal with it, so I conceded. Game 3: This was it folks...For all the Marbles.. The $250 cash, The Embroidered State Champion Bag, and the State Champion Plaque. I came out quick with a few creatures, and killed a few early walls and gnomes. I started getting a little leary when his disk killed my 2 Pups and a Scroll, but drew another scroll, scrolled at end of his turn, and Sonic Bursted during my upkeep. I had checked his graveyard for gnomes, but he Tapped all his mana, and corpse danced.......Just to freak me out! Great match, man! I was so excited!!!! I am the RI State Champion! Woo hoo!! Ok, I won't bore you with the part about how I scrubbed out in the bonus sealed round, but will skip right to props and slops Props Jay Songdahl, Tom Kaufman, Joe Manseau, Tim, and all the crew from J&J's in Westerly! 3 of you guys in the top 8 of all the formats!! You guys rock! Tom Kaufman, especially, for being a great opponent and all around guy! Dave Feinstien for lending me a scroll Scrolls, for coming up when needed Jared Fernandes, for help with the deck and sideboard Dave Franco, Derek Rollins (last year's state champ!), Brad "The Sliver", Jay Crabtree, John, Justin Polin, Mike Mushaty, and everyone else who I talked to at the tourney Ken, for winning the first 2 rounds in T1 with his PHAT non-dojo deck! Rah-Coco's for awesome prizes and cool staff! Slops: Tom Guevin; get an attitude adjustment, man! Jerk from Round 1: The above goes for you too! Clayton, for not being there! Thanks for reading! Any comments, thoughts, flames (jeez, I hope not :-) ) can be sent to JasonP85@aol.com