Subject: Team Dickhead's New Adventures in Lo-Fi From: "Brian Hacker" Date: 1997/05/05 Hello all. Once again, team dickhead brings you a tourny report. The last ptq in so-cali before N.Y. took place at the lovely woman's club in Costa Mesa. Team Dickhead was at half strength once again due to Daddy Yoo's continuing sabatical imposed by his girlfriend for him to find a leash long enough and strong enough to fit around his neck, and Super Z's Gabeing (sleeping till his eyes popped open). After we registered decks we wouldn't play I walked out a bit glum (my deck had a hammer and v geyser) while Truc waltzed away elated. I asked Truc why and he said that the deck he registered was the worst he has ever seen. We hang out and walk back in to find out where our seats are for registration of the deck that we will play. I sit down and see Truc's signature. Oh no... My streak is going to end. Here is the contents of the deck as I remember them. You will have to assume that I did the best job building because there were only 2 cards that could be boarded in or be put in straight instead of my decisions. Those 2 were dark priveldge and 2 black 2 colorless resurrection from an opponents graveyard? 1 Shadow Guildmage 1 Sewer Rat 1 Drudge Skeleton 1 Infernal Harvest 1 Drain Life 1 Blanket of Night (yes that's right!) 1 Bone Harvest 2 Python 1 Zhalfrin Knight 1 Banding Griffin 2 Parapet 1 Femeref Healer 1 Feremef Scout 1 Knight of Valor 1 Ekundu Cyclops 1 Subterrean Spirit 1 Suq-Ata Lancer 1 Talruum Champion 1 Flare 1 Lead Golem 1 Kaervek's Purge 7 Swamps 6 Plains 5 Mountains This was clearly the biggest piece of crap I'd ever been given. Round 1 - Ron Freigen (sp) gm 1: We have a creature stall. I drop blanket of night. Infernal harvest for 9 killing 4 creatures. He will die in two turns. He draws a Viashivan dragon off the top and kills me with it. I get hosed on mana game two. 0-1 Round 2 - He tutors for a quirion elf first turn after (!) I lay a shadow guildmage. 1-1 Round 3 - Jessica Scott - probably the only true female beatdown player gm 1: We are stalled but I can kill her with a drain life if I put blanket of night down. I do. She has 1 swamp, 3 land of each of her other colors. She thanks me and infernal harvests, killing all of my stuff. I somehow win the next two. 2-1 Round 4 - Shawn Wang (I could be totally wrong.) Nice guy who I've seen around. gm 1: He drop 4th turn ekundu griffin, fifth turn zuberi after a parapet. I infernal harvest for seven with my drudge skeleton on the board and no land left. I die horribly. I win the next two, I still don't know how. 3-1 Get excited that maybe Ron did well and will give me a decent opponent's match percentage. See him at a dealer table... on the dealer side. He went 1-2 and dropped. Round 5 - Win. No idea how. I think the purge won one game, blanket of night-drain life, the other. Who knows? 4-1 People are shocked that I'm still in the tournament and haven't dropped. Weissman, Johns, and Chalice are all amazed. Truc encourages me after every round. He is at 4-1 as well. Round 6 Play my butt off. Win by drain life-b of n one game. Win the other by purging a croc. 5-1 I start to get excited. I realize that there are nine people vying for eight slots. I think that I'm going to have to play the last round. Normally, no problem, with this piece of junk... I don't know. Meantime Truc is at 5-1. Round 7 I draw. Caroline Liu is playing a 4-2, so I put my stock in her opponent winning. Caroline dissiplates, drops talruum minotaur, undo. Wins the first easily. Super Z, who has shown up, is laughing in my face. Oh well. I leave to eat dinner moping. When I come back, I learn that Caroline lost. Yes! I am the eighth seed! The streak will not be broken. Six straight trips to the top eight. Yeah! People look at me with shock and amazement when I show them the deck. I don't blame them. My opponents match percentage was a whopping 36%, worst ever to make a final eight! Truc was the seventh seed at 52%. The final eight: Larry McBride Andrew something or other Binh Pham Preston Poulter Truc Hacker Todd (?) someone I know whose name eludes me Larry is my roomate, Truc my teamate. Binh is from Santa Barbara. Preston took his fifth trip to the final eight in these qualifiers (still unqualified) Todd is an aussie. The draft goes beautifully. For all the jank I had earlier I am rewarded in the draft. 3 incenerates, 3 shadow g-mage, 2 wake of vultures, fallen askari, skulking ghost, sewer rats, breezekeeper, cloud elemental, talruum minotaur, suq-it down lancer, cinder cloud, coercion, knights of tha mist. In short, an awesome deck. Round 1 Play Todd Can't really remember the match but I beat him easily in 2. Truc loses to Binh. I am amazed. Larry beat Preston. Andrew wins. Round 2 Play Andrew. Beat the tar out of him first game. Second game, I'm beating the tar out of him again when he drop his zhalfrim crusader. I have only swamps and mountains on the table but I had an island in my hand and a knights of tha mist. I drop the 187 knights and he says "wait! wait!" He has 2 blue open and I say "Sorry, you can't meddle it" He dies in 2. Larry loses to binh and ends up getting a horrid draw against Andrew. Andrew and Binh qualify. Congrats to Binh who I know has waited a long time for this. Round 3 Play Binh. Long games but eventually I win in 2. 6-0 in the draft and 250 bones to boot! Yeah! Brian Hacker Team Dickhead Congrats to Hammer. I was really hoping he would show in N.Y. If there were any tourny he deserved to go to after Long Beach it was N.Y. Does anyone know if Eric Tam qualified?