Subject: Dallas, Texas Regionals Report Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 20:32:56 -0600 From: "Roland Schaer" To: "Frank Kusumoto" Dallas, Texas Regionals Report This is my first tournament report in a long time. I haven't really had anything worth reporting until now. First, this is my first official report for team Jooky South (I think there is another team Jooky up North). I am not really reporting on any stellar performance (although if I had played a little better after lunch... more later) of myself, but rather the deck I (and most of the team) was playing. I have played in about 15 PTQ's in the last year and I have never had so much fun playing in a tournament as I did at regionals with this deck. The main reason was "Fat Momma" (please see below). When she hit the table it was so fun to watch my opponent's (and the people playing in the matches next to me) reaction. Also, having one of each of the 5 basic land in play at once is pretty cool. This deck seemed to have been left out of other reigionals reports, probably because there weren't that many of them there. This worked out to our advantage because many opponents had no sidebard against us. I only got one Extinction played against me the whole tournament. The Drive to the tournament was real exciting. A 20 minute drive through Dallas from the burbs... WhooHoo! I meet up with the other members of the team: Daniel Algood (master deckbuilder...or at least better at it than me) Dave Ferguson (pro tour veteran... or at leats better at playing than me) Pablo (didn't play the deck) Nogaris And we waited (and waited) for the tournament to start. None of our junior members showed up for some reason but we did have a couple honoraries (Todd and Hymee). Now, for the Players... Snap On Slivers 4 Bird of Paradise 4 Wall of Blossoms 4 Muscle Sliver (biggie size) 4 Crystaline Sliver (Elliot... he's untouchable) 4 Acidic Sliver (unibomber) 3 Winged Sliver (jet pack) 3 Victual Sliver (???) 4 Mana Leak 3 Harrow (yeah, that's right) 3 Disenchant 2 Sliver Queen (Fat Momma) 2 Firestorm (The Bomb... should have been 3) 2 Diabolic Edict 4 Gemstone Mine 3 City of Brass 3 Undiscovered Paradise 2 Reflecting Pool 1 Volrath's Stronghold 2 Forest 1 Swamp 1 Mountain 1 Plains 1 Island Sideboard: 2 Lobotomy 2 Phyrexian Furnace 3 Pyroblast 1 Disenchant 2 Propaganda 1 Forsaken Wastes 3 Warmth (sligh you think????) 1 Karma Daniel Dave, and I played similar versions of the above deck while Pablo played good old 5CG. He went the distance and ended up 6-3. Todd played a version of Daniel's 5CG and Hymee played Stasis. Side Note: Stasis was an interesting deck to play. I heard no talk about it pre-regionals and it could have taken people by surprise. Aparently other people felt the same way... Anyway, here's a quick (maybe not so) play by play..... Round One... Justin Morgan... MesaCraft/Ensnaring Bridge Not exactly one of the decks you metagame against. I notice his 7 digit DCI number... Game 1 We start off and I ask to shuffle his deck. He says ok and asks me if I think he is cheating. I give the standard response that I am pretty good at screwing myself with my shuffles so I think he should also benefit from my skills. Incidentally, I rifle-rhuffled my sleeved deck any my oppent's decks and never busted a sleeve all day. I lay a gemstone and cast a bird... He lays a plains... I lay another mountain and drop Acidic. He lays a forest and does a Wild Growth. Now, being a proponent of Mesacraft, I figured that was what I was up against. Next turn I pound for 2 and Dis. the growth. He casts a (no land). Next turn I drop a land and go... He drops the bridge... The rest of the game involved me dising the bridge and harrowing for some real land. I end up flaming his creatures (and him) with a three card firestorm and applying beatdown. Game over... Out go the Victuals and in goes the anti-combo (extra Dis and Botomys) Game 2 I get a incredible opening hand. Both Botomy's and enough land to cast them. It goes something like him land... me land bird... him another land... me land... him nothing me harrow, yada yada.. 4th turn labotomy. He has the bridge, the mesa, earthcraft, and two wraths. I want a quick win so I x out the bridges. Next turn I get the Mesa's. That's pretty much GSM (game, set, match). I leak the first wrath and follow the second with Fat Momma. She goes all the way... Score 1-0 2-0 I find Daniel and tell him that his deck is pretty good... He was not Happy. He and Dave both lost While Pablo and I both won.s... Dave is bitching about getting triple wastelanded by sligh... Round Two...Richard Hassell... Tradewind Goodstuff Game 1 We go allong for a few turns with me dropping some slivers (a jet pack). Then He drops the tradewind. Lucky for me, I have a Firestorm and a bunch of cards. I toss my hand and storm for 4 to wipe out the tradewind combo and clear a path for the dudes. 5 points a turn dosen't take long to kill after a 4 point fireblast. Out go victuals and edicts... In go furnace and blasts Game 2 We go with the standard openings (birds, etc.) and then he drops... a Winter Orb. I had board control and a bird out and he wouldn't be able of use his counters. I think he definitly dropped the orb too early. ANyway, he casts a tradewind.. I blast a tradewind. I drop a jet pack and fly over his walls and once again apply the beatdown. Score 2-0 4-0 Again, I search out Daniel to tell that his deck is the bomb, but all I find is Dave bitching about two losses to scrubs... Dave is still bitching about getting triple wastelanded by sligh, but Daniel managed to get a win... Pablo is 2-0 also. Now at this point I'm starting to feel pretty good considering that I really didn't get to play this deck very much in testing because I was always pulling stuff off of the net for play testing. I decide I need some lunch. This was a mistake! We jog over to the Jack in the Box (aka Crap in the Sack) and Find Daniel and Hymee chow'in away while we wait for the (aparently) gay guy to take our order. Ten minutes later, we get our food. I repeatedly yell over to Daniel about how his deck is the bomb. We get a ride back and scarf down the nasty burger combo just before the next round starts. Interesting Side Note (ok maybe not): This is where we decided that Muscle Sliver should be called "biggie size". Round Three... Thomas Latham... Red-Burn(dum...dum...dum...) I played against Thomas about a month earlier in a NYPTQ and he beat me so I have a score to settle. Not really... I had a bad deck and I was missing soccer practise so he did me a favor. Incidentally, this was probably the best match of the tournament that I had. The other bonus was that we were playing on Table 2. My bext positioning to date. Side Note: You can tell a lot about people by the table numbers that they are playing on. It's kind of like Golf. The lower the table number, the better the standing... Game 1 It was all about speed and no Elliot (and going to get lunch). Ugly Bwatdown ... In goes Warmth and Props... Game 2 I get an amazing draw consisting of both the pro and the warmth. I get them both down and my opponent flounders trying to find a way to kill me without giving me life. the game slows down and I manage to get a little control. It ends when I firestoem him and his creatures for a 4 point kill. Kind of poetic.. a burn deck getting killed by burn. Game 3 I have a bunch of gemstones(low on counters) and other assorted multi-lands in play. I have warmth and Harrow (and maybe even prop again) in my hand. I decide for some unknown reason to cast the warmth first and then hope to draw (one of 16) land soon. Needless to say, I don't and he beats me down slowly. If I had harrowed and then warmthed, I might have been able to mount a better defense and maybe take the game. It was a good match and I was happy to be able to take it to three games against red-burn. Score 2-1 5-2 I leave and find Daniel to tell him how much his deck sucks...But, the other guys are picking up the slack. Pablo is 3-0. At this time Hymee drops to play in some foreign thing .... Round Four... Paul Bolen... Steel Necro back to table XX...I think I rememer Paul and he remembers me from somewhere. SCRUB MODE ON!!!!!!!! Game 1 I lay some stuff down, including Elliot and I he lays some quicksands and does a little HD. This is when the drugs that someone planted into my Jumbo-Jack started to kick in. I have elliot and a muscle out against his quicksand and I don't attack. I'm thinking he'll quick my dudes when I attack. He drops the Necro and gains control. I manage to leak his first drain, but the second gets through and he goes all the way for the win. In goes the Karma, Dis, and 1 or 2 Botomy Game 2 I take 2 Paris during this game in fear of his discard. I'm thinking if I get good draws, I should be able to beat him down. We go with the standard openings except that He gets out quite a few Quicksands and a swamp when I drop... Karma. He tries several disks and I leak/Dis. them while applying slow beatdown... He Dies. Side Note: I dropped the Karma a little too soon,but it kept him at 1 swamp the whole game. Game 3 I can't remeber the game very well, except that I didn't get karma and he beat me down with a Steele Golem. Paul is a good player and he played very well, but I think I could have won this match if I would have realized that I could attack with untargetables against the quicksand. Also, I had forsaken wastes in the SB. I should have thrown that in. Score 2-2 6-4 Once again I seek out Daniel to tell him that I've let him down. Well, it seems that the other end of the team picked up a little and won their matches. Pablo is 3-1. He lost to Zandi (another Dallas local and PT veteran).I think Todd is dropped by now. Dave is still complaining about the wasteland thing. Round Five... Keith Aluson... Jooky Necro I feel a repeat of round 4 coming on, but luckily I notice that his DCI number is higher than mine. Therefore I must win! The reason why I think It's jooky is that he's playing with Withering Boon. Pay three life... counter a spell. A very interesting cards... for a necro deck. Game 1 I don't remember much of this game except that he dosen't get a Necro and I harrow and get out "Fat momma". I remember he asked "do you have all the colors to cast that?" I roll over a few speed bumps and drop Elliot to keep momma in the game. He casted a lot of Dark Rituals early for something. Same sideboard as before, but I add the forsaken. Game 2 Nothing special.. I do get the early forsaken and it becomes a race. Since he dosen't have many creatures, I figure I've got it. I lobotomy in the early-mid-game but all he has are drains. Actually with a forsaken out, that's not too bad so I take them. About this time, some of the team gathers around to watch the match and one of Keith's buds joins in. I have 'Fat Momma" in play and get ready to make some dudes when he editct's. I am rattled and throw her into the graveyard. Then I think "I can make another dude and sac it", but he says that she's gone. That was a good call and I should pay for my stupidity. Anyway, I'm not too concerned because "Fat Auntie" is in may hand. But rather than cast her, I decide to hold her in my hand for a few turns so that my opponent can draw some discard and get rid of her. Luckily I realize this, cast her, and the next turn he scoops. I get bitched at by the team for playing like the scrub I am... Dave...wasteland...you know the story. Score 3-2 8-4 SCRUB MODE OFF! Finally the drugs from lunch wear off... Daniel Wins, Dave Wins, Pablo Wins Round Six... Keith Aluson... Some Kind of Greenish Thang Anyway, I'm sure you heard all about the fire... We had just started so it was no big deal to get re-paired. Round Six...Doug Fortine... Red-Burn Once again, I feel a repeat of round three... Game 1 Somehow, I get a jump on him beating him down. The next thing I know I'm fireblasting him, me, and two of his creatures for 4 to win the game! Standard Anti-Red Sideboard Game 2 I make the biggest mistake of the tournament and do not take the mulligan with one gemstone in hand thinking "I'll be drawing another land soon". Well, I do. but he triple wastelands me. I finially get a land down on tuen 5 with 9 life and him with a slew of nasties on the table. I scoop and concede. My next land was three turns away. Game 3 It's all about me playing warmth with Elliot and his big fat momma. They go all the way. Actually, I think I got the unibomber out and flung a bunch of babies at his creatures before the beatdown ensued. Score 4-2 10-5 Round Seven...J.T. Havenman... 5CG w/ Tradewinds Once again before the match I notice that JT's DCI number is pretty high and I think "That's really nice that he made it this far..." He ended up going all the way to the top 8. He played very well for his first big tournament. Game 1 He Goes Birds, I go birds. I get out some slivers (Biggie Size and a unibomber) and apply some light beatdown. Then he drops the tradewind. I then take a risk and dump my hand (including a jet pack) to fireblast his walls/tradewind, and him for 4. The little guys go all the way. In go the blasts/lobotomy(just 1), out come the victuals and a wall. Game 2 He gets out a monkey and plinks at me while I return fire with and acidic. He tries to wreck the acidic and fling it at him. He drops a wall and I put out a few more dudes. I'm sure there was a harrow in there somewhere too. He casts a tradewind, I leak it. He casts another and I blast it. He casts yet another and I blast it also. We're slowly beating each other down the whole time. He casts the last tradewind (better be).I fireblast his stuff and get him down to 1. Then he does a Luhrghoyf/geddon thing and I can't recover. This game will haunt me for a long time because if I could have squeezed out 1 extra point of damage somewhere, it could be me going to regionals instead. Game 3 I Don't remember much of this game except that I lost. I yell really loud that "It's over!" and congratulate JT on my second best match of the day. Score 4-3 11-7 (Drop) At this point, Daniel, Dave, and I decide to go back to Dave's house and drink some beer by the pool. This deck was so much fun to play. Props: Daniel for building a good quality deck Team Jooky South for an over .500 debut performance My opponents for being gracious winners and losers The floor judge for giving me a bad ruling befor the tournament and then checking it out and reversing his decision and letting me know Ed Fox for giving me a deal on some art Slops: Anyone who Cheated. The DCI for not re-vamping the pro tour The DCI again for pick Rath Sealed for Chicago PTQ Me for playing scrubacious in the middle rounds RTS (rschaer@airmail.net) (IRC: upchuck/shazam)