Subject: [TOURNEY] Urza's Saga Prerelease NE and Rants Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 22:52:56 EDT From: DrgnMage22@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Frank, September 25, 1998. It's 6:30 in the evening. I am completely unprepared for the Urza's Saga prerelease which is coming up tomorrow morning. So what do I do? Do I look up a spoiler list for Urza's Saga? No. Do I go on IRC and see what cards people think are going to be coming out? No. Do I desperately try to hone my sealed deck skills in hopes that I'll be better prepared? No. So, what do I do? I go to a soccer game. Yes. A soccer game. Hey, life can't be all Magic, can it? But anyway, going to the soccer game basically says that I am going to do very badly tomorrow in the prerelease. But, I still go. Lucky for me, they win 4-1. Though I did not know it at the time of the soccer game, those numbers will cause extreme deja vu. September 26, 1998. It's 6:00 in the morning. I have three hours to get down to Lincoln and get ready for the tournament. Keep in mind I only live 45 minutes from Lincoln, in Omaha. Being the crazed power-maniac my swim coach is, last night, he told our entire team, "If you don't show up tomorrow, I'm going to pour molten lead in your ears and kill you." So, to prevent an untimely death, I go to practice, which starts at 6:30 and ends at 9:00. I practice, but I pull a trick on my coach to get out of the last 45 minutes of practice. (Whoa, deja vu!!!) Then, after getting my Magic playing materials organized, I set off for the Urza's Saga Prerelease! Once there, I see that there are already people playing, so I start to freak out, but I go back to the store where they register people, and I find out that they are running this in flights. Kinda weird, but I'll go along with it. I get registered, get my prerelease card, and head back to the main area. While waiting, I see a sign: "Ron Spencer: 2 to 5 pm." I look at the prerelease card. It says: "Illustrated by: Ron Spencer." Cool. Pretty soon, Merlin calls us down, and we follow him to our playing area. He tells us that we get our own playing area, provided we don't mind not having A/C. Everyone groans, and he laughs. Not my idea of a joke. But anyway, we go inside and get seated. They read us the rules, tell us what the next tournaments are going to be, hand us out our starters and boosters, and we begin. As I look through the deck I am registering, one thing flows through my mind: Lots of Blue here. Blue sucks here. This deck sucks. Lucky for me, I don't have to play that deck. But, I get it all registered, and soon afterwards, Merl seats us at random spots, and I happen to get placed at a deck that miscounted a card! What luck! I call a judge over, he checks it, and tells me that I can keep it for now, but I can't play with it. Too bad that was a card that I badly wanted. My thoughts on what cards I got: Black: Mostly a bunch of crap, with basically no good cards from my mix, though Corrupt was okay, but only in slower mono-black decks. So, black sucks dick. Blue: Basically, see Black, only possibility for a card was Disruptive Student, and even that is pretty weak. So, blue also sucks dick. Green: Some pretty good fatties for sealed, but not much creature suppresion. Green's okay, but not good enough for main deck. Red: Okay weenies, some pretty good mid-size creatures, and great creature suppresion: a Steam Burst and an Arc Lightning. (Arc Lightning was the card I couldn't use. Thank God I got two of them.) So, red is pretty good for sealed. White: Lots of stuff here. Pacifism, Opal enchantments, lots of weenies, and CONGREGATE!!!!! I love that card! So, white is pretty good too. I end up making a White/Red deck, but I almost end up going three color, split between another cycling card or a fattie. I go with the cycler, figuring it'll get me another card which could end the game fast. The deck contents: W/R Urza's Saga Sealed 9 Plains 8 Mountain 1 Drifting Meadow 1 Smoldering Crater 2 Congregate 1 Disciple of Law 1 Monk Idealist 2 Opal Gargoyle 1 Opal Caryatid 1 Pacifism 2 Pegasus Charger 1 Serra Avatar 1 Serra Zealot 1 Silent Attendant 1 Arc Lightning 1 Heat Ray 1 Goblin Patrol 1 Goblin Raider 1 Lay Waste 1 Rain of Salt 1 Retromancer 1 Shivan Raptor 1 Steam Blast 1 Viashino Weaponsmith 1 Vug Lizard After I get my decklist completed, I hand it in and wait for everyone else to finish theirs. Unfortunately, some of the people at my table must be new, because they don't realize they have to hand in their sheets, and instead play each other with their new decks. Only when Andrew, ( I think that's his name) our judge, tells everyone to hand their decklist in do they do so. Then, we finally start the first round. My first match is up against a man by the name of Tim Shearer. He's approximately in his mid-20's to early 30's. We shake hands and start shuffling my deck. Then, Andrew tells us that some people need to see him before they go on the lunch break after the first round. Then, we begin. As is tradition, we roll a die. I win the roll, so I get to go first. The first few turns go my without much action, but I play a few creatures, while he does the same. Then, on my next turn, when Tim has 5 cards in hand, I play an Opal Gargoyle and an Opal Caryatid. These keep him from playing any more creatures. Unfortunately, he plays a Growing Pastures (not sure if card name is correct) and every turn, he gets a 1/1 token because he has more land than me. I still lay down a few more creatures, all the while looking at the one card that I end up having left in my hand: the all-mighty CONGREGATE!!! A few turns go by, and he finally plays a creature spell, waking up my Opals. Three turns go by, and we both do squat. He has 7 tokens in play, and if he attacks right now and I don't block, I die. Naturally, I block a few of the creatures that I can take on, and play the all-mighty CONGREGATE!!! which gives me close to thirty life, but I take fifteen, sending me down to 27. Next turn, I attack with everything I have, get him down a few points, then he attacks, gets me down a few points, I attack for a few points, then he attacks for a few points. It's now 5-6, me being first. I have to win this turn, otherwise, I'm screwed. I draw, and I get the Steam Burst!!! I attack, knocking him down to 2 life, then I play Steam Burst for the remaining two, finishing him off!!! For some reason, my opponent doesn't sideboard, but I look for some cards, and find absolutely nothing, so I go without sideboarding either. We start playing, and I actually get to go first again!!! Weird, isn't it?! First few turns, I get out some weenies and Opals, and he can't play a creature without endangering himself. He eventually plays one, and kill off my Gargoyle. So, me without a flyer. That sucks. Next thing he does, casts some black spell that wipes out all of my white creatures. That sucks big time, cause I now have only one Retromancer in play. Then, he makes a big mistake by playing the Pastures card, because he was under mana screw, so each turn I get the token. Each turn subsequently goes by with an attack from both of us, and eventually I'm at six life, when he's at 17. Even though I will be wiped out next turn, I still look at the one card in my hand that will save me, the (Yup, you guessed it!) all-mighty CONGREGATE!!! This card is completely broken in sealed deck. Anyway, he attacks me, and I cast Congregate to stall off the damage, then next turn I attack with my creatures. He goes next turn, attacks with a Phyrexian Ghoul, and I block it with my Saproling token. Then, he clears his board by saccing everything to the Ghoul, giving me free way to kill him with my lone Pegasus Charger. We shake hands, and I go up to report the score. 1-0 2-0 Since we have a lunch break, my dad takes us to the nearby Arby's, but they screw up the order so much, we decide after this time, no more of that hellhole. Then I head back in, and there's 5 minutes before the next round, so I go sit down and get ready to play. My opponent turns out to be Chris Hancock. He also swept his opponent last match, and pretty easily. I'm a little afraid, but we roll, and I get to play again. First turn Opal. I love this guy. Opponent doesn't play any creatures next turn. I go, next turn another Opal. I also love this guy. He still doesn't play any creatures. Next turn, a Pegasus Charger. He has to lay down a creature to have a chance of winning, and wakes up my Opals in the process. Next turn, I attack with all three, and bring out one of my Goblins. This goes on for another two turns, and he's pretty low on life, and I kill him with all of my flyers. Yee-haw!!! 3-0 in the first three games!!! Next game, my opponent plays first, and gets out a turn one creature. I Opal. He attacks and plays a creature, waking it up. I Opal again next turn. Then he gets another creature out and attacks me again. I'm at around 14 life, and he's at 18. I can't play anything, so my opponent goes again, and lays a dreaded 6/6 wurm! It sucks, big time! So, I keep attacking with my Gargoyle, and he tries to get through with his wurm, but I keep up my defense, and I drag him down to 10 life. Problem is, I now have no Congregate, no blockers for the wurm, nothing! So, the last three turns, I try to win, but my opponent attacks a few times, finishing me off. Last game, I'm a little more afraid now, especially after seeing that fattie hit the board. I get out some early flyers and other weenies, but fifth turn he pulls the one card that wins the last game for him: Rune of Protection: White. This card sucks for me. Anyway, he plays a Wall of Junk which keeps me from getting through with my red cards, and protects himself with the Rune. Chris gets out two green fatties later on, so that seals it. I can't get through with enough of my flyers to kill him off, and I die to his two big fatties. 1-1 3-2 This last loss shakes my confidence quite a bit, but Chris mentions later, "I was so afraid after that first game when you destroyed me with all of those flyers." Kinda cool, I guess. After I finish the game, I go back to the main area, and get my Lightning Dragon signed by Ron Spencer. He's pretty nice. I head back and kill the last fifteen minutes while I wait for the next round to begin. Time gets called, and five minutes later, we start. I play a guy named Hall Andrews. He seems kinda nervous to me, but I don't know if he is or if he just speaks the way that he is normally. But, we start, and being the lucky guy I am, I get to go first again. I get a lot of weenies and Opals in play fast, while my opponent is apparently under mana screw. Needless to say, after about five turns, I finish him off. He shows me his hand, it's full of black spells. Next game, my opponent gets to go first by choice, and he outright says that's he's under mana screw on the first turn, but he keeps his hand for some reason. He plays a few early weenies, but that's it. First few turns I get out a few creatures, and I slowly beat him to death with my weenies. I feel kinda bad for him because I didn't want to kill him so quickly, but it does make me feel good that I got another sweep under my belt. 2-1 5-2 With about twenty minutes left to play in this round, I decide to wait by the computer where lots of people are hanging around at. Some of the people are talking with the computer guy, and the time goes by pretty fast. Time is called, again. Then, Andrew announces the placings of each person and where they're playing, so I sit down and start playing. My opponent is Nick Ramsey. He's about my age, right at 15 I'd guess. He's one of the two people at 2-0-1, right behind the 4 undefeated people. Basically, he has to win to be able to get in the top two and get one of the prizes. I'm lucky again, winning the die roll, and I play first again. I get out some very fast creatures, while I Arc and Heat Wave his first few creatures, keeping the board clear for my creatures. Needless to say, I cream his sorry butt very quickly. Next game, he plays a first turn Hidden Spider. So much for my Pegasi. I get out a Gargoyle, which rocks so much, and after he wakes it up, I slowly beat him to death with it. While my opponent is at 12 life, the computer guy comes over to watch our game. He makes the comment, "Nick, if you don't win this game, I'm gonna kick your sorry butt." I show the comp guy the Serra Avatar in my hand, and it turns out that the next turn, I get one more Plains out and play the Avatar. Next turn, I beat Nick to death with it. 3-1 7-2 My record is pretty good for the amount of playing time I've had over the past year, so I'm not feeling to bad as the next round is coming up. Then, Andrew shows me and the computer guy his Oath of Druids deck, and says that he's going to replace the Archangels with Avatars, and asks me if I'll trade mine for something of his. I tell him that I may, but I want to check to see if he has anything I'm looking for, and right off, I see a Living Death, something I want for one of my decks, so I ask him if it's an even trade, and he says yes, but I need to keep it until the end of the tournament and he says that's okay. Time is called, again, and unfortunately two of the undefeated players tie, so Andrew says I have no chance of making the top two. Then, the top 4 decide that since they're the only people that have a chance to make the top two to split the two boxes of Urza's Saga. That seals it. I'm out of the top 4. I end up at 7th, since we don't play the last match, and I head on home after giving Andrew the Avatar I have. All in all, three good things happened over the course of this tournament: One: I got to play with some new cards from Urza's Saga that not very many people will be able to play with for a few weeks. Two: I got my Lightning Dragon signed by Ron Spencer!!! (Balls to you not in Lincoln!!!) Three: I performed the best that I had in my entire career. Props: HobbyTown USA: For putting on another great tournament. Andrew: For being a great judge, and giving me a fair trade for my Avatar. Ron Spencer: For being there to sign our prerelease cards. My dad: For having to put up with me for eight hours. Slops: The guy who registered my deck for not giving me the other Arc Lightning. The two undefeated guys that had to tie in the fourth round for keeping me from getting in the top two of my flight. The WotC guys who created the flight system for creating one of the stupidest rules, that all prereleases have to run by the flight system. The WotC guys who developed Urza's Saga for creating such a weak-ass set. Hope to see some of you at a tournament sometime, and have lots of luck in Magic! Michael Wasikowski Dragon's Embermage UIN# 2772056