Subject: prerelease report error =(
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 20:44:14 EDT
From: Ashram242@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

hey Frank, it's Drew....i just wanted to tell you that I finished 4th overall
but forgot to include it in the report....below is the real report, with
decklist, if you post it.....thanks!

Hi.  It's Drew.
  Saturday, day of the prerelease, i get up at...too early, wash my car,and
leave to pick up Eric Judd and Charles Martin.  We drive to 40th and Van Buren
[Van Buren is the red light district of Pheonix, so we laugh at hookers the
way there] and wait in a long line to get into the El Zariba Shrine
Auditorium, which by my judgement is a church for Moslems or those Shriners
that drive the funny little cars in parades or something.  Anyway, we wait for
a bit and get our cards.  Matt Stenger, level 3 judge and coolguy, anounces it
will be 8 round swiss with the highest K value, as therea re over 250 people
there.  We crack our packs and construct.
  I look over my stuff.....nothing really special.....cycling lands could be
amazing in sealed, and same with echo, but there is no real color that jumps
out at me.  Until i get to the last booster.  I look at Blanchwood Treefolk,
Pouncing Jaguar, Treetop Rangers, Titiana's Chosen, Hermetic Study, Anaconda,
and wow, Blanchwood Armor....and WOW Zephid.....I hear 3/4 untargetable flyers
are okay in sealed.  I guess i'll play blue/green.  I splash red for Fire Ants
and a couple burn spells.
  *Sorry this is going to be a pretty lame round by round, but we were running
on about 0 hours of sleep and i've forgotten most of it.
  On to the first match....I forget his name [sorry, i forget everyone's name]
but he seemed a little inexperienced at tourney play.
1-0, 2-0
  Round 2: I forget his name too....actually, i forget everything about the
match except for that i was at table one and i swept.
2-0, 4-0
  Round 3: John i think?  playing a tight deck that i had a hard time dealing
with.  A lot of fast green creatures, but i got out Fire Ants with Hermetic
Study on another creature so I was killing a 2/2 every turn.
3-0, 6-0
  Round 4: uummm....i won again
4-0, 8-0
  Round 5: a funny guy from Jester's Court.  Tight player and another tough
match.  I barely pulled the third game at the last second with Blanchwood
Treefolk and Acridian [they're so fat]
5-0, 10-1
  Round 6: Jeremy Brower.  Notice I remembered his name.  Jeremy, i hear, if
one of the top 5 or 10 rated players in Arizona.  Good, more points =).  Game
one, i stomp him.  Game two, he stomps me.  Game three, i draw one land for 5
or 6 turns and he stomps me.  So it goes....
5-1, 11-3
  Round 7: Amelia _____.  Jeremy's friend or girlfriend, i assume.  She's
running a very solid blue/red deck with lots of burn and some great utility
creatures.  it goes to three, and they were all very tight, but i pulled it
off in the third.
6-1, 13-3
  Round 8, final round: I forget his name too, but a real nice guy who made 0
playing mistakes.  I win first, then him, and the third game looks like I
might be one match short of a box, until i start playing creature after
creature, then lay the Zephid and two Veil of Birds to win.
7-1, 15-4
  4th Place overall.
    Well, i get a box of Urza's Saga.  Pretty cool.  I crack it open and give
my 8th round opponent 5 packs for being a good guy.  happy day.  Here's the
decklist, if you care:
1 Zephid
1 Academy Researchers
1 Coral Merfolk
1 Spire Owl
2 Veil of Birds
2 Hermetic Study
1 Cloak of Mists
1 Blanchwood Treefolk
1 Anaconda
2 Argothian Swine
1 Treefolk Seedlings
1 Acridian
1 Treetop Rangers
1 Pouncing Jaguar
1 Cave Tiger
1 Titania's Chosen
1 Blanchwood Armor
1 Fire Ants
1 Arc Lightning
1 Shower of Sparks
6 Islands
6 Forests
4 Mountains
1 Smoldering Crater

Props: Eric, for not getting pissed off too much at Josh
  Charlie, for not sleeping the night before and yelling, "I'll park anywhere
I want!  I'm a 2000 pound gorilla!" after the tournament.
  Ray, for being howlin' mad....again
  Mike and the Tower Crew, for being there for me and sponsoring me or
whatnot.
  The entire Judging staff, including Matt Stenger, Mike Bahr, Ray Powers, and
coolguy Vince i can't spell your last name, among others.
  And the somewhat elderly lady outside smoking who, after we said "let's get
into a fight", said,  "Don't beat me up, i'm too tired to fight back."  Had to
be there...

Slops: The guy who called me a dumbass because I wrote echo on my hand so I
wouldn't forget to pay it, right after i swept him in two games where he
forgot himself.  Stupid b*tch.
That's all, otherwise it was cool as hell.

that's all everyone, see you at the Rome Qualifier

Drew Durbin
Team Tower