Subject: Grand Prix Indy
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 11:56:38 EDT
From: SirSilk@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Grand Prix Indy - Top 8 Report - Ryan Roe

Okay, here goes nothing : ) This is a long report..be forewarned.

Sorry if details, names, etc. are sketchy/wrong, this is done from memory. Any
grammar are spelling mistakes are obviously the fault of your computer,  not
me.
 : )

I'd bore everyone with the details of my life, but I'm just an obscure scrub
that happened to get lucky. As the saying goes, "Better lucky than good!"

As a member of the recently created Team Goal Line, I would like to thank my
teammates who helped me and cheered me on; Chris Tuten, Bobby Mehl, Sebastien
Laurent (finished 41ish), Chris Faesi, and Dave Dewaelsche (in spirit).

After deck registration we go and pick up the decks we are going to play. I
get back a deck and it is God. The blue is just phenomenal and the red wasn't
to shabby either, so I now have to make some deck building decisions. Here is
what I played.

The Deck - U/G/r

TRADEWIND RIDER, DOMINATING LICID, CAPSIZE, WHISPERS OF THE MUSE, Rootwater
Hunter, Wayward Soul, Giant Crab, Mana Leak, Bottle Gnomes, Watchdog, Spike
Rogue, Trained Armadon, Skyshroud Troopers, Pygmy Troll, Skyshroud Troll,
Heartwood Dryad, Canopy Spider, Elvish Berserker, Ba-roken Fall, Kindle,
Shock, Tahngarth's Rage, Sonic Burst, 7 Forests, 6 Islands, 4 Mountains.

Notable - Mind Games, Canyon Wildcat, Rathi Dragon and Aftershock

Also, my white and black were both good, but I knew that I just needed to stay
alive long enough, so I went with the Green. Two regenerators and the Ba-roken
Fall.

I got 3 byes, so I entered at round 4.

Rd. 4 - Francis Keys G/R/w

Gm 1 - We enter a creature deadlock. Which I know is exactly where I want to
be. I get to six mana and whispers w/ buyback. I draw the dominating licid
(DL) off the whispers, and for my turn draw the Tradewind. I have the Ba-roken
Fall on the table so I lay the Tradewind and the DL. I then settle for
bouncing his creatures and disrupting his flow of game. A couple turns later I
draw the capsize. So, at the end of his turn I tradewind and capsize two land.
He concedes.

Gm 2 - I get destroyed. He kills every creature I put on the table with
Lightning Blast, Rolling Thunder, and Spitting Hydra. He scapegoats (wtf??) to
fizzle my capsize and I lose quickly. I did 3 damage to him!!! : )

Gm 3 - This is a very close game. He drops third turn Mirri and 4th turn
Flailing drake. I have very few creatures, but I do get my rootwater hunter
down and have shock, kindle, and sonic burst. By the time I kill the two
creatures I have no burn in hand and am at 8 life. I think I stabilize behind
the bottle gnomes and finally get to my good blue cards. But the fact that he
never drew a second mountain was key.

Match 4-0 Games 2-1

In case I forget. Let me tell you that Bottle Gnomes and Ba-roken Fall are
just awesome. Anyways...

Rd. 5 - Ronny Serio

I apologize, my memory is failing and I can't remember anything about this
round. Sorry. I win in 3 close games.

Match 5-0 Games 4-2

Rd. 6 - Eric Jordan

This round ended in a draw. We both won a game and only had like 9 minutes
left for third game. So we didn't play it out. I made a play mistake in the
second game that I honestly think cost me the match. But, I was told he made a
mistake in the first game so he should have won. So, while annoyed for making
a big mistake at least I got a draw.

Match 5-0-1 Games 5-3-1

Rd. 7 - Dan Clegg

Gm 1 - This game is just a race. He has shadow and I have some 3/3's. My
creatures were bigger, so I win.

Gm 2 - This was a pressure filled game. Dan plays very slowly so this was
going to be our last game. So, I really wanted this win. I get out the
Tradwind early but he gets me to use it on his turn, so it gets shackled. He
then drops a lot of shadow creatures. However, I have the watchdog out, so he
isn't doing to much damage to me. I start attacking him with my Giant Crab, so
we are racing again. I draw the whispers and start drawing cards. I get the
rootwater hunter down and that is tough on him as I can ping his shadow
creatures. I also have the Bottle Gnomes in play. He gets me to three before I
finally kill him. He used the capsize late game, but I was told later that he
had the capsize for a long time before he used it. I don't know why he didn't
use it on my Watchdog, because he would have won. But, I can't complain.

Match 6-0-1 Games 7-3-1

So, I go into the second day in 7th place. I take a look at the table I am
going to draft at and laugh. I am like the only unknown person at the table. I
get to draft with Worth Wolpert, Randy Buehler, Darwin Kastle, and other pro-
tour regulars. Fun, Fun : )

Day 2

I sit down at the table to draft having no clue what any of my opponents
favored, so I just did my best. I knew I wanted to go blue, because I think it
is very strong in Exodus. So, I start out drafting power sink and spell blast
as my first two cards. I did this because they were the only playable blue
cards and I figured It may stop the players to my left from drafting blue. My
third pick ends up being capsize, so I figure that the two guys to my right
aren't drafting blue. So, I'm hoping I get lucky in exodus. No such luck, I
saw no Wayward Souls, Thalakos Scouts, or any other good blue common. Oh well,
here is what I drafted (not in actual order)

Tempest - Power Sink, Spell Blast, Capsize, 2 Thalakos Sentry, Volrath's
Curse, Metallic Sliver,  Heartwood Dryad, Charging Rhino, Pincher Beetles,
Rampant Growth, Skyshroud Troll, Natural Spring, Dark Ritual, Disenchant

Stronghold - Reins of Power, Wall of Tears, Gliding Licid, Spindrift Drake,
Spined Wurm, Spike Worker, Lowland Basilisk, Spike Colony, Provoke, Contempt,
Primal Rage, Nomads En-kor, Samite Blessing, Lancers Enkor, Warrior En-kor

Exodus - Forbid, Erratic Portal, Rootwater Alligator, Keeper of the Beasts,
Rabid Wolverines, Pygmy Troll, Merfolk Looter, Curiosity, Elvish Berserker,
Elven Palisade, Peace of Mind, Kor Chant, Cartographer, 2 City of Traitors

I played something similar to the following:

Erratic Portal, Metallic Sliver, Gliding Licid, Spindrift, Capsize, 2 Thalakos
Sentry, Forbid, Merfolk Looter, Volrath's Curse, Spined Wurm, Spike Worker,
Spike Colony, Lowland Basilisk, Heartwood Dryad, Charging Rhino, Skyshroud
Troll, Rampant Growth, Pincher Beetles, Pygmy Troll, Rabid Wolverines, Keeper
of Beasts, 17 Land

Sided in - Reins of Power, Power Sink, Spell Blast, Wall of Tears

Rd. 8 - Randy Buehler W/R

Gm 1 - Randy proceeds to drop turn 1 and 2 Soul Wardens. Which I find rather
humorous. I'm not really worried because I do have a lot of beef and hope to
work around it. I start out okay, but 6 of my last seven draws were land and I
died to his weenie rush.

Gm 2 - Not much more exciting. I believe I get mana screwed this game and
again he wipes me out. Oh well.

Match 6-1-1 Games 7-5-1

Rd. 9 - Darwin Kastle G/B

Gm 1 - We trade creatures early, with him gaining advantage with his deaths
duet. I'm holding my Capsize with only one Island in play. He proceeds to drop
a Mind Maggots and discards two critters. This taps him out. I proceed to top
deck my erratic portal, immediately putting his maggots back into his hand.
That was pretty much game, because I then drew an island next turn to begin
capsizing.

Gm 2 - I start out slowly and see Darwin put down a turn 4 Thrull Surgeon and
Immediately use it. He takes the forbid out of my hand. He then proceeds to
rape me with Slaughter. He buys it back 3 times putting himself at 2 life. I
drop a Thalakos Sentry but its not good enough. I die with him at one. I
needed my capsize!!

Gm 3 - I sided in my Reins of Power, Power Sink, Spell Blast, and Provoke. I
pretty much gain control of this game with my capsize. Darwin draws land for
what seems like 15 turns. I am capsizing his creature while using the Merfolk
Looter to load my hand. He finally gets two blockers out while at two life and
I use the Rein of Power, after putting a counter on his lowland, give him my
spike colony and take his two creatures. This kills him.

Match 7-1-1 Games 9-6-1

Rd. 10 - Scott Cowley R/G/w

Gm 1 - Scott gets early beatdown on me with lightning elemental. I drop a few
creatures to stop his attack and he drops a Wall of Razors to stop mine. I
stabilize at 8 life and drop two thalakos sentry's and start trying to beat
him down. I do get him down to three, but his two broken Kor Chants are too
much for me. He then flings his Giant Strengthed Lightning Elemental in
response to my capsize. This spells doom as he just rushes me next turn.

Gm 2 - I side in my counters, rein, and provoke. I get a quick draw including
the capsize. By the time Scott drops his first creature I have the capsize
going. He concedes as he obviously had a very weak draw.

Gm 3 - Okay, let me set up the scenario. My opening draw is very weak, except
that I have the capsize and forbid in my hand. I stall at three land for a few
turns but have the thalakos and wall of tears out. I then draw my reins of
power. I make a decision then that I am going to try and kill him with it, so
I am not going to drop any other creatures. I know my draw is slow and I
probably won't be able to catch up. So, I use the forbid to slow things down
and finally get the capsize going. Scott keeps dropping creature after
creature as I try to survive. I get him down to thirteen with the sentry and
know I have to make a move now. However, he attacks and I say no blockers,
realizing that I had wanted to block that turn with the wall so it would die.
So, I have to capsize a creature of his to stay alive while hoping he has no
direct damage. This means I don't have enough mana to cast both the reins and
capsize my wall unless I top deck a land. However, Scott recast the capsized
creature and then aftershocks my wall. I breath a sigh of relief as I untap
and cast the reins of power. Doing more than enough damage to kill him.
Whew!!!

Match 8-1-1 Games 11-7-1

Draft 2 - Again I am at table 1 with a lot of good players and again I feel
outclassed. But hey, what can I do. Again I sit to the left of Buehler.

The draft begins and I open up the tempest booster. It contains a Fevered
Convulsions and a Rolling Thunder. It is a very hard choice and after the
draft I asked a ton of people what they would have taken. It was about even. I
choose to take the Fevered Convulsions. As the draft progressed I began to
regret that, because I was being past great red, but I decided to stay with
black. I then tried to go Blue, but that dried up, so I again fell back on
green.

I built the following deck:

Hornet Cannon, Ba-roken Fall, Harrow, Seeker of Skybreak, Crashing Boars,
Pygmy Troll, 2 Lowland Basilisk, Rabid Wolverine, Plated Rootwalla, Spike
Soldier, Spined Wurm, Cursed Flesh, Recurring Nightmare, Mind Maggots, Thrull
Surgeon, Spike Cannibal, Duathi Slayer, Fevered Convulsions, Cannibalize, Cat
Burglar, Lab Rats, 2 Mindwarper, 9 Swamps, 8 Forests

I felt the deck was okay, and good if I can draw the convulsions, but
definitely slow. The recurring nightmare could combo well with hornet cannon
or lab rats. I also had a lot of hand destruction with thrull, 2 mindwarpers,
and cat burglar. Harrow is amazing for those who don't know. It got me out of
mana screw so many times. Ba-roken Fall was once again amazing.

Rd. 11 - Eric Jordan - Again

Gm 1 - I drop a turn two thrull surgeon. Sac it turn three and pull the Hatred
out of his hand. This is pointless as he just beats on me with a 2/1 shadow
creature.

Gm 2 - Sees me without the thrull surgeon and him top decking the hatred. I'm
at 13 life when he kills me with hatred.

Sad thing is that the person who opened hatred was playing black and didn't
take it. And Eric got it 5th pick!!

Match 8-2-1 Games 11-9-1

Rd 12 - ?? R/W

Gm 1 - This was the guy sitting to my left, whom I passed the rolling thunder
to. He thunders my early creatures and beats me quickly.

Gm 2 - He blows off an early thunder to kill a couple of my creatures. I then
drop spined wurm and plated rootwalla. He can't deal with them.

Gm 3 - This game sees a turn three cop green for my opponent. I'm worried but
know with the recurring nightmares I should be okay. I drop the duathi slayer
and go to work. I think I get him to 8 with the slayer before he shackles it.
While this is going on, I got the fevered convulsions in play and started
working his creatures. But, the cop was still holding me back. I then drop a
Mindwarper and put cursed flesh on it. After convulsing his 6/6 shifting wall
I attack for a few turns with 2/2 mindwarper and get him to 2. He then allays
the cursed flesh. I'm holding the recurring nightmare in hand. So, when he
allays the convulsions, I kill my own duathi slayer. I then recur it and win
the game.

Match 9-2-1 Games 13-10-1

Rd 13 - Alan Comer - Feature Match

Like I need the pressure of having a bunch of people watch me play while
having to win this round to make final 8. Luckily, Alan was a really nice guy
and we had a very light and funny though unspectacular match.

Gm 1 - He gets mana flooded and concedes.

Gm 2 - I get mana screwed and concede.

Gm 3 - Alan again gets mana flooded. Though he did make me work for it. He
puts down a wall of diffusion and blocks my rabid wolverine. He then tempers
it and makes it a 4/9. He then attacks with craven giant which I block and he
tempers it, making it 8/5. I however, draw to many action cards, including the
ba-roken fall, and just overwhelm him. Making several silly play mistakes in
the meantime. Better lucky than good!!

Match 10-2-1 Games 15-11-1

So, I'm in the final 8. I'm getting tired, so I am going to make this short.
If you go to the Dojo you can see the weak deck I drafted and played. I lose
in the quarters to Worth Wolpert. I'll give you the highlights.

Gm 1 - He is mana screwed early so I am able to beat him

Gm 2 - I am mana screwed early and he also drops a cop green. As it turns out
he sided in both cop green and black. Me with no enchantment removal but I did
have hornet cannon, 2 tinvipers, and 1 coffin queen.

Gm 3 - I get mana screwed again. I top out at 4 mana while holding a Spined
Wurm, Plated Rootwalla, Spike Colony, Rabid Wolverine, and Charging Rhino. All
of the beef in my deck was in my hand and I could cast none. He kills me with
a soltari lance with seething anger and angelic blessing.

My luck finally ran out.

I would like to thank all of my opponents as they were all very professional
players and I enjoyed playing them.

If you have any questions, comments, etc. you can contact me at
SirSilk@aol.com

Ryan Roe

"Two things in life are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; I'm still
not sure about the universe."
                                -Albert Einstein