Subject: [Tournament] US Prerelease, Atlanta 09/26/98 Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 15:55:09 From: Pete Warren To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com "Shaft goes to Alpharetta" The original plan, a month ago, was to gather the members of Team Shaft!, and head up to the US PreRelease. I'd finish up certification, they'd play and fun would be had by all. However, things didn't work out as planned. 2 members, Graeme Kutt Jeremy Graham, couldn't make it, and my certification situation was up in the air. Tripp Mims and Grant Cauffman weren't sure if they could get the days off from work. Jeremy is our rental car hookup, but he was still able to cut us a deal, even though he wasn't coming. Not knowing if my judge paperwork had been lost, I decided to just play, and sort it out after the tournament. We made our plans, sorted out travel times, maps, vacation time and other assorted details, and the day before, everything looked good. Tripp would get into town from Athens at 6, we'd go get the car then, eat dinner, come back to my place and crash around 9:30 after Grant arrived so we could leave for Atlanta at 4:30, hitting Alpharetta in time for the first flight. Well, Tripp was delayed, and arrived at 8:30pm, we picked up the car around 9pm, and by the time we arrived back at my apartment, Grant had come and gone. We're able to locate him on his favorite mud, though, and give him details. As per our usual slackness, we ignore our self-imposed curfew and get about 4 hrs sleep. We finally get out of Augusta at 6:30, and make Alpharetta in 2.5 hrs. We're to be the last flight of the day, and we finally get started around 10:30, when Jym, cool judge extraordinaire, begins our pre-tourney address. One phrase for those of you keeping track at home...9/9 Trampling Buick. Anyway, we get our cards, and are told we would NOT be doing a deck swap, to make things go a little faster. 30 minutes later, I have a solid little B/U thing, detailed as follows... 1 Veil of Birds 1 Fog Bank - super blocker. Very good in sealed. 1 Sandbar Merfolk - just a creature. Cycled a lot in LG 2 Coral Merfolk - kicked ass all day Blue Sligh? 1 Spire Owl - Flying Evasion 1 Disruptive Student - mediocre 1 Pendrell Drake - Flying beef 1 Peregrine Drake - Free Flying beef 1 Enchantment Alteration - woulda rocked if drawn 2 Cloak of Mist - #1 card all day 1 Unworthy Dead 2 Bog Raiders - killed Black all day 1 Blood Vassal 1 Looming Shade - with CoM, it's a black torch 1 Phyrexian Ghoul - potential finisher, never used 1 Order of Yawgmoth - sick, sick, sick. A+ 1 Witch Engine - screw the ability; it was a 4/4 1 Exhume - used once; okay if you break symmetry 1 Befoul - very good; elim or LD 1 Pestilence - Black Wrath? not quite, but still great. 1 Chimeric Staff - Brutal in offense or defense 7 Island 8 Swamp 1 Polluted Mire 1 Blasted Landscape I had about 3 red creatures to choose from, 2 green creatures, and my white just wasn't solid enough to do anything with. Some of the non-creature stuff was good in red, like Outmaneuver and Headlong Rush, but no good creatures was not an option for me. I wanted really badly to stick to 2 colors, since the Urza's Saga starter land was so plentiful, and 2 colors means you won't get color-screwed as much as the guys running 3 or 4. I ended up with a smooth, balanced B/U beatdown/evasion deck, that won by simply holding them off long enough to get my evasion creatures through to kill. Almost none of the new sick US stuff I'd read about, but it was otherwise solid. Anyway, on to the action, such as it was. Forgive any errors in recollection. We've got 6 rounds of Swiss, prizes to 6-0, 5-0-1, and 5-1. Round 1: Ben Gasser #1308120 A local guy, sort of young and he played a little too timidly, in my opinion. His deck, from what I saw, looked pretty solid, but R/G with little Red elim can be hard to make work. I saw him in the later rounds, so it couldn't have been all that bad. Game 1, He comes out fast with a Goblin Raider, and stops my 1-toughness suicide defense with a Shower of Sparks, but I drop a Pendrell Drake and a creature buildup ensues, until a Cloak of Mist finds my Drake. Fog Bank and Befoul prove useful in holding off his fat. I put out an Order of Yawgoth, tear apart his hand and take him down after a few turns of unblockable damage. Game 2, He again gets a fast start with an Acridian and Viashino Weaponsmith, but an early Order of Yawgmoth helps me keep pace after I get a Looming Shade with black mana. More buildup occurs, and I'm prevented from dropping any of my flying kill by his sleeper Spiders. Eventually, though, Bog Raiders and the Order go all the way, with help from a Peregrine Drake(SICK). G: 2/0/0 M: 1/0/0 At this point, Tripp and I notice the green-clad Hooters girl selling wings, and buy Pepsis from her. Obey. Serve. Love the leader. Round 2: William Louradour #641737 Very nice guy up to the tournament with his family(all in the same pod). He had gone B/R, with solid creatures and some nice red enchantments, like. Good deck, alot like mine, but with Red instead of Blue. Game 1, despite Parising twice, I'm pretty much in control the whole game, as he appears a bit mana flooded. I just come out fast and hard with Bog Raiders and a Blood Vassal turns 3&4, supported by Cloak of Mists. The Looming Shade serves as a finisher in a game I probably didn't deserve to win. Better lucky than good, I guess. Game 2, is a real game. He scares the crap out of me with a 3/2 Flying Skirge on turn 2 and starts to eat me alive. I topdeck my good buddy Fog Bank, along with a Pendrell Drake, which holds off the air a bit, but he keeps dropping goblins thanks to a Matron, and gets me to 12. I finally draw and drop a Witch Engine(SICK) and a Chimeric Staff. The turn after, he makes a fatal mistake, and attacks with everything, forgetting to leave a blocker untapped with him in kill range. I'm thoroughly confused, but decide "no guts, no glory", jack the staff up to 4/4, attack with the staff, the drake and the engine, doing exactly 10 pts, enough to kill him. G: 4/0/0 M: 2/0/0 At this point, Tripp and I become hypnotized by the green-clad Hooters girl selling wings, and by Pepsis from her again. Obey. Serve. Love the leader. Round 3: Grant Cauffman #773530 Wouldn't ya freaking know it? Third round curse hits, and I get matched up against my teammate, Grant. Not only is he a teammate, but he routinely hands me my ass every game in which we are evenly matched. He's gone W/G/R, the colors of the day it turns out. So, after winning my first two, I'm put against a guy who has a perfect deck against mine, who also happens to know my playing style, and has like a voodoo hex on me. Hrm. Game 1, his voodoo cut works and I Paris twice, having to keep on 1 land. Still, however, I topdeck land and am somewhat able to match him in the damage race through Coral Merfolk and Cloak of Mists. His WGR sickness, along with his bad juju, is just too much as he draws an answer to everything I do. Game 2, I ask him to cut my deck normally, to give me a chance. I'm telling you, his powers of voodoo are beyond that of mortal ken. Anyway, I'm looking pretty good with 2 land, a Bog Raider, a Blood Vassal, a Peregrine Drake(ROCKS), and some control. All I need is to get some land, and I'm in business. Miraculously, I do. Befoul handles something really nasty, I mutual the Raider for a 2/2 he got out, and the Peregrine and Vassal get him to 0. Game 3, Grant again graciously declines to focus his evil spirits on me, giving me a normal cut, and I get a Looming Shade+Cloak of Mists, with land to support it. I just drop creatures as blocking fodder, and pump the Shade to kill him in about 8 turns. I thank Grant for his mercy. G: 6/1/0 M: 3/0/0 Tripp and I discuss our matches, and meet up with Grant to grab some subs. However, as soon as we reenter the tournament building, we are again hypnotized by the green-clad Hooters girl selling wings. Obey. Serve. Love the leader. Round 4: Christopher Davis #???????? Turns out this is his first tournament, but he's already 3-0, and having a ball. He's real nervous, but he's still having a ball anyway. :) He's gone heavy red from what I saw, with damn near all the limited direct damage Urza's Saga has to offer. At one point, it felt like I was playing against Sligh with a black splash ;) Game 1, I drop Coral Merfolk, he drops Shivan Raptor(aka MiniBall). I start dropping creatures to hold him off so I can peg him with the Merfolk, now sporting a Cloak of Mists. He never draws any of his direct damage, and I'm able to whittle him down. Game 2, I almost Paris with 2 land, but keep it, hoping my Unworthy Dead and Fog Bank will give me time to get mana for my Pestilence. It works and land turns up. I drop a Pestilence and a Pendrell Drake, allowing me to clear the board while beating him down. Turn after I drop the Pestilence, a Chimeric Staff shows up. I'm able to mutual the right creatures with help from Pestilence, and manage to clear his side with Befoul. Next turn, I pump the Staff to 6/6, and finish him off with Pestilence. G:8/1/0 M:4/0/0 At this point, Tripp and I manage to break free of the hypnotic spell of the green-clad Hooters girl enough to realize that I'm 4-0. Grant's gotten his second loss, has gone to play in a sealed side event. Soon after though, we are again pulled in by the lure of air conditioning near the door, and irresistible pull of the green-clad Hooters girl. Obey. Serve. Love the leader. Round 5: Chris Donahoe #?????? Ugh. Ugh ugh. WGR god deck of choice today, played by #10 in the state in limited. Tons of cheap green Echo fat, green sleeper fat, and all the nasty white stuff, including Worship(WTF?!?!). He had the better deck, and deserved to win. He sure did know his rules though. Game 1, I get out Phryexian Ghoul, Fog Bank, Cloak of Mists on the Ghoul...Thinking I have a chance, when Pacifism shows up on the Ghoul. Great. Hidden Ancients, Hidden Spider, Seasoned Marshal, you name it stomp me. Pestilence is like, not strong when you've got 5/5s staring you in the face and all your stuff is Much Smaller(tm). Game 2, he's in complete control the whole game with his red showing up. The 6/6 Echo shows up makes me wonder why I sometimes play at all. ;) Ugh. I'm down to 8, and I pull a Spire Owl. When I drop it to chump block the massive 6/6 Goldberg Wurm, I see that my next 4 cards are land. How quaint. I save us both the trouble to enduring the next two turns and concede. G:8/3/0 M:4/1/0 At this point, I'm sitting on a table meditating, leaning against the wall and feeling the weight of the day finally hit me. The long drive, the fatigue and almost get to me when I open my eyes, and catch sight of the green-clad Hooters girl. Hypnosis sets in again, and I feel nothing. Obey. Serve. Love the leader. Round 6: Brian Engle #?????? Ah...the big 6-pack ante game for 5-1-0. It was supposed to be 1/4 box, but they decided halfway through the tournament that our pod would get less, since we were only 64 players, instead of 100. Hrm. Anyway...he's going B/W/R with tons of removal(2 Expunge, Befoul, DD). Really good guy to play against as well. If you're out there dude, drop me a line. Game 1, we're both chuckling at how my Spire Owl might go all the way, as it ends up doing like 8 points to him. We both have other creatures out, but the Owl has flying, and is the only thing that can get through. He Steam Blasts to clear the board, and I drop the Chimeric Staff which quickly becomes 8/8 to finish him in 2 turns. Game 2, I Paris, and stay with 2 land, a Shade and a Cloak of Mists. I draw a third land and am able to get the Shade down, but he Befouls a Swamp of mine, slowing any attack and severely hurting my defense. His First-Striking Pegasus kicks me around early, and he's just gets me too low to come back once I recover from the land situation. Game 3, I remark how we've had two good games, and how I anticlimactic it would be for one of us to get manascrewed. Prophetic, since we BOTH end up Parising, me twice. He sits with 1 mana, and my second Paris yields me 2 land, 2 Bog Raiders and something else. He's simply never able to mount an offense or defense on 1 land, and by the time he starts drawing some, my unblockable pair of Raiders has done too much damage. It really sucked that the last game of an otherwise good match, at the end of the day, was a mana screw, but it's part of the game. Aside from that though, best match of the day for me. G:10/4/0 M: 5/1/0 For my efforts, I got 6 packs, which I split with Grant and Tripp as per our team split agreement. Heh, so, after 7 hours of play and repeated hypnosis, we came away with 2 packs of Urza's Saga each. NG Atlanta put on another good show, and everything went smoothly. The green-clad Hooter's girl had left by this time, so Tripp and I were allowed to experience free will and thought again. We waited around until Grant got done with another Sealed side event, grabbed some more subs, and started home. That is, we started home once we were able to get someone to jumpstart our car. You see, being the college graduate genius I am, I left the lights to our beloved rented Mustang on when we arrived that morning. Luckily, one of the tournament staff, Chuck, had a pair of cables and we were able to get going with his help. Chuck, you da man. Obey. Serve. Love the leader. Props... Chuck - Our hero. If you're ever in Augusta, check the Comic Crypt and look me up. I reiterate...you da man. Grant, my teammate, for sparing me his bad juju Jeremy, for hooking us up with the Mustang the green-clad Hooters girl - Obey. Serve. Love the leader. NG Atlanta, this was possibly the most comfortable tournament I've been to that yall have held. Plenty of room and easily accessible and varied food choices are good. William L., see ya next tourney, man. Slops... Me, for whining like a little girl to Grant in the 3rd round. NG Atlanta, for changing the prize support after the tournament had begun. I understand that 64 players don't warrant as much as 100, but come on...it's 3 more packs per 5-1-0. Prizes aren't everything, but it's nice to know that 7-8 hours of play is actually worth something aside from points. Til next time, Pete Warren Team Shaft! pwarren@smilegas.com -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Pete Warren Boardman Petroleum, Inc Computer Support pwarren@smilegas.com -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The views and opinons expressed in this message are solely mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Boardman Petroleum, Inc., or any other of it's employees. -------------------------------------------------------------- Pursuant to US Code, Title 47, Chapter 5, Subchapter II, ß227, any and all nonsolicited commercial E-mail sent to this address is subject to a download and archival fee in the amount of $500 US. E-mailing denotes acceptance of these terms.