From: wrhodack@newstand.syr.edu (RAW STEAL) Subject: Pro Qualifier Report-Syracuse Date: 16 Apr 1996 05:41:59 GMT I took first place in the Central New York Pro Qualifying Tournament. Here's how it went. Swiss style for 4 rounds. Top eight play single elimination. My friends Claude, Rudy, and I were all excited to test our decks versus the best in Central New York. The top players from Ithaca, Cornell, Syracuse(us), and Rochester(best overall) were there. Rudy was playing R/G Stormbind. Claude was playing W/G Armageddon. I was playing B/r Necropotence. My deck. Black ----- 3 Necropotence 4 Drain Life 4 Hymn to Tourach 4 Hypnotic Specter 2 Order of the Ebon Hand 2 Black Knight (knew Serrated Arrows would be popular) 4 Dark Ritual Red --- 4 Lightning Bolt Artifact -------- 1 Zuran Orb 1 Ivory Tower 3 Nevinyrral's Disk Land ---- 2 Strip Mine 4 Mishra's Factory 2 Mountain 4 Sulforous Springs 16 Swamp 60 Cards Sideboard --------- 2 Detonate 1 Incinerate 2 Gloom 2 Ishan's Shade 2 Fountain of Youth (never used them, would've vs straight burn) 1 Feldon's Cane 1 Land's Edge 1 Jalum Tome 1 Serrated Arrows (wanted 2 dammit! only remembered to bring 1) 2 Dry Spell (should have been 1. see above. worked out well though) General ideas: I knew W/G Armageddon would be the most popular deck. I was right. Out of 64 decks here was the breakdown, roughly. 30-35 Armageddon decks, 15-20 R/G decks, 2 Necro decks, 5 W/U, 5 other(a.k.a. shit) decks. I wanted low casting cost spells. Drain Lifes become usefull at about 5 mana, Disk costs 4, rest is 3 or under. Vs Armageddon decks I would pull some Drain Lifes and the Disk will wipe out everything Armageddon doesn't, which is usually a lot vs these decks. First Round: mono-Black I get lucky and face a shit deck the first round. He had Urza lands and Ashen Ghouls and some other stuff. Didn't get to see much of his deck as I beat him twice in under 10 rounds. I was the first one done and of course that makes me everyone's target. Bring it on. I go over to watch Rudy's game. It is tied up and Rudy's opponent attacks with both Ernhams to put Rudy at 4 life. Rudy has no cretures, no Stormbind, and only five mana. Opponent is at 5 life. Nothing will save him. But what does he draw?...Eron the Relentless!! A smashing, unbelievable victory. Claude on the other hand has the worst luck of any human being on earth. He is in a bad situation and needs either a Disenchant, Swords to Plowshares, Armageddon, or Ernham to show up. He has not drawn ANY of them yet. He has 4 of each in his deck. He has Land Tax out. Five striaght rounds of drawing land, after Taxing. All of his luck went to Rudy I guess. Second Round: R/G big creature Ernhams, Shivans, Jokulhaups...scary stuff. First game he pulls Tinder Wall and starts laying land. I start getting some damage in with 2 Black Knights. 3 Turn he summons Daddy Shivan and has a happy look on his face. I happen to be holding a Dark Ritual and a Drain Life with 5 Swamps out. He loses. Next game he beats my ass with two quick Ernhams. Third game I get Necropotence, Ivory Tower, and Nevinyrral's Disk out. I know he has Shatters so I plan on gaining life until he destroys the Tower then Disking, or Disking if he happens to get another Shivan out. I have a Specter and 2 Orders on the table. He has nothing except Thelon's Chant (knew I'd see this too) which causes some trouble but I just hold Swamps in my hand. I start to relax a little. His turn and he takes a long time staring at his hand. I start thinking "What the hell can he do?". By the way, my Disk is tapped at this point. He seems to come to a conclusion and starts tapping lands - Jokulhaups...shit. I am left with nothing except Necropotence out and at this point I only have 11 life. I see his Thelon's Chant staring me in the face and I get scared. I lay a Swamp and start trying to recover. I go to 8 life. His upkeep he tosses the Chant in the graveyard and draws. It is then that I remember that the Chant has Upkeep. I pretend like I knew it the whole time, but I feel stupid for laying a Swamp out. My deck recovers faster and I pull out a win. Note: the other Necro-deck in the Tournament was played by a friend of mine from Rochester and he was playing at the same table that round. He got his ass kicked by his opponent's R/G deck. I pray that I don't have to face that guy. Round Three: Rudy and his R/G Stormbind deck We got randomly set against each other last round and the Tournament director John was kind enough to shuffle us. But through some twist of fate it happened again and John just said sorry, oh well. First game I get a few Hymns early on and knock out 2 Stormbinds! I feel lucky and shitty at the same time - this is my friend. I go on to beat him. Next game he gets Stormbind out on the second turn. My creatures all go down in a blaze of glory and I follow shortly afterwards. Third game turns out like the first. Some early turn Hymns make the difference and I win. I feel bad for Rudy because my record was slightly better than his at that point and this seriously hurts his chances of getting into the Finals. Claude is at 3-6 overall after 3 rounds. His deck is as good as any W/G deck out there and he has made no playing mistakes. Like I said, he is simply the most unlucky player on the planet. Round Four: W/G Armageddon (finally) I smile on the inside. If I know anything about magic then I know that my deck can beat an Armageddon deck 9 times out of 10. His deck plays well and he casts Armageddon multiple times but my deck recovers virtually as fast as his. Believe it or not, Dry Spell actually made a HUGE difference in the second game. I drew two in a row and proceeded to whipe out his creature sources of mana. I win easy in all 3 games. Total record at this point is 10-2. I am undefeated and third overall. I am going to the finals. Claude had been elimanted by the Third Round unfortunately. He even swept his last Round. Rudy was on the bubble but lost 0-3 to a Land Destruction deck. He is ranked like 9th or 10th. Only top 8 go to finals. He takes it pretty well actually. My friends know their decks are good and that they are good. Luck is at least 25% of all games and it is something you can't affect. Finals ------ Round One: W/G Armageddon I am playing against Pat, a top player from the Rochester area. He has won numerous type 1 and 2 tournaments all around. I would have been suprised if he did't make it to the finals. Despite these facts I don't mind playing him for 2 reasons, I know the EXACT contents of his deck and plus it is and Armageddon deck! This is the true test my deck has been waiting for. First game he pulls and 3rd turn Ernham but I just happen to be holding 2 Bolts - down goes that Djinn. Second game he pulls another post-Armageddon Ernham. I have no land...hmmm. What the hell can I do? Well, I'll tell you. Make sure your next 4 cards are good. They were. I don't remember how I pulled that one out but I did. I win 3-0. I hear him talking later about how lucky I got. 3rd turn Ernham? Post-Armageddon Whirling Dervish ALL THREE GAMES? And I got lucky?!?!? I got about as lucky as he did, maybe. Round Two: R/G big creature It was that guy that beat the other Necro deck. I was scared shitless. First game...land screw - him. Not my fault. I win easy. Next game I get to see some pissed off Ernhams come to kill me. Two Strormseekers with a Necropotence out didn't help much either (that's 14 damage for the slow ones out there). Last game he has a few Elves out. I cast Ishan's Shade with no other creatures out . He draws a Ernham and casts it. I pretend to get pissed, he is at 5 life. I go, draw, and say "I'm done". He goes to draw and I casually mention "My Ishan's got forestwalk." He stops mid-draw and looks at me with a smile of defeat on his face. He takes a glimpse at his drawn card and looks at me..."That's game." I am going to the Final match and more importantly I AM GOING TO CALIFORNIA BABY! I am ecstatic. I could care less if I win the Finals. I just wanted to go to California. Final Match: w/g/B odd deck I can't quite get a read on this deck. He mentions that he knows I play Necropotence and is scared of it, um...OK. I guess that helps me. His deck has elements of a Necro deck and a Armageddon deck. But with neither Necropotence or Armageddon. It has Autumn Willow, Hymns, Specters, Disenchants, STP, Land Tax, Ishan's Shade and some other stuff. ??????????????????? How do you play this deck? I decided not to worry about it because I didn't care. First game I get a first turn Hymn AND Specter. Pretty cool. I win. After that I find out that the Final match is best 3 out of 5. OK. Next game he casts Autumn Willow. I tap out to cast an Order and a Black Knight. He carefully reads the Order card and looks at my tapped mana and attacks. I take it. Next turn I untap and start praying for a Disk. His turn and he pulls a HUGE tactical error...he attacks again. I quickly block with my first-striking Black Knight and my NOW first-striking Order. He smacks himself and tosses the Willow in the graveyard. I win in 4 turns. Next game I fail to realize something simple and am forced into a stalemate with his Ishan's Shade and my Black Knight and Specter. I have 2 Mishra's out and 2 Disks in hand. I just keep attacking with the Specter. He pulls a Bird every other round it seems and has a Land Tax out so just keeps discarding land. He is at like 23 life from a previous Ivory Tower. I finally glance at my Mishra's and my Disk at the same time and realization springs into my head! I yell "Oh my God! How stupid I've been!" I cast the Disk and one of my friends Jamie who had been watching the game over my shoulder said "I wondered how long it'd take you to catch that." I beat the guy ten turn later with my Mishra's after Disking once again. I won the Final Match. They were great games. I proceeded to beat Jamie for mocking me during the Final match. I complained to John that he better Sponsor me since he was the Tournament director, the local gaming club owner, AND my friend. He said we'll talk about it. I traded him a pack of Italian Legends that I won for a bag of Doritos (with the deal that if he got a Mana Drain he had to give it to me). I hope to see many of you in California. I will be the one with the Tales Twice Told tee-shirt on and the black Camel hat. (if John doesn't make me wear something gay) Some notes about the deck: Would've put in the Fountains and the Jalum Tome vs a straight burn deck but I never faced one. Never once put in the Detonates because I never saw Serrated Arrows or Icys. Strange. Probably going to move Ishan's Shade to the main deck. I sideboarded him in so many times. Good luck to all! BILL