Subject: Almost 8th at Canadian Nationals Date: Tue, 07 Jul 1998 22:25:51 -0600 From: Jim Roy To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Report for Canadian Nationals '98 This report details my experience of going to the nationals in Toronto. I'll try to get the names right when I can but I didn't record the scores on paper so I've left out a few. You'll find out how I did and the tragedy of how much better I could have done... It's a fairly long ways from Alberta to Toronto, so getting there was a problem. I didn't have the funds to go until the last minute, consequently reserving passage there was difficult. I called the bus and train companies first, and it looked like it was going to be $600+ for a nonstop two day trip. Wee, that would be fun, sitting in a chair for 50 hours there and 50 hours back. The last resort was plane because I didn't think it would be cheap enough. It ended up being only $550 with only a few days advance; I was impressed (airline company was Canada 3000). So I met my friend Pete Tsitiridis and his friend Shantam at the airport. Pete is a good friend who played in Alberta for a while. We got to his web-TVing friend Beesly's place and had a few beers and a toke before getting a few hours sleep. I think I do better with little sleep before the big tourneys anyways. We got there right at the end of registration. They almost didn't let me in. I peered inside and all I saw was a whole bunch of people with yellow shirts. After signing in they handed me a yellow shirt that said something like "Are up to the challenge?" or whatever. Maybe it would have been cool if they weren't bright yellow. One good thing about them though was that they let you instantly point out the geeks and losers in the crowd (which was about half). I know that's prejudicial, but it's also pretty accurate. So they announce the 13 pods of 8. Because my limited ranking sucks I end up with these 3 players feeding me: - Paul McCabe - Terry Tsang - John Park (supposedly #1 ranked limited in Canada at one time) I open up a Pacifism, then draft a dauthi horror then a capsize. Good white/blue keeps coming my way so that's the way I go. Going the other way for stronghold I get a flurry of great white and the exodus was good for both. John Park beside me is harping on about this and that and figures I have to be playing black because he passed a single evincar's justice early. He was simply wrong. It's not good to think that you know everything. I thought he'd be playing lots of red because I never saw him pass much. In retrospect I was wrong. It turns out Paul McCabe went Red-Blue and Terry Tsang went with Red-White so John Park must have been green but I'm not sure. The guy after me went white-blue and after him was white-black (Duncan McGregor). I don't know how I got such great white stuff (Pacifism, Repentance, Shackles, Spirit En-Kor, Soltari Visionary, Soltari Trooper, Lancers En-Kor, Standing Troops, ect.) with 3 white players around me. For blue I got 2 Dream Prowler, Propaganda, Capsize, Keeper of Mind, and various crap. First Match vs. Duncan McGregor Duncan went White-Black and had some good stuff. He played well and we split the first two games, my loss due to that damned Keeper of the Dead. That guy is worth playing for sure. He may sit there and suck sometimes but the other times he is broken. Hmm, let me see, I guess I'll just tap one black and KILL YOUR LANCERS EN-KOR!! The last game was really close, I ended up with a shackled 4/3 youthful knight (cannibalism). So I just cast a gliding licid and it's his turn, he is at 4. He does stuff and during his discard I capsize his shackles as he is tapped out. He says he thinks the time is up for the round and I say nah, we have plenty of time. I didn't notice the judge calling time but he could have. So I quickly untap just as a judge walks by and says to me "Finish your turn". Whew. So I give the knight flying and do exactly 4. Maybe what I did was unethical but he didn't complain. A draw would have sucked anyways for both of us. 1-0 Second Match vs. Paul McCabe I was pretty happy about being able to play against Paul. I didn't come all the way down to Toronto to lose to a bunch of scrubs. He was pretty cool and stuff, he just clobbered me though. They were simple games that were strait forward to play. The first ended with his rolling thunder and the second ended with both the thunder and a thalakos deceiver. Wow, what a good deck I thought. I lost 2-0. It turns out he lost rounds 3 & 4 so he was out of the tourney. What shitty luck to be knocked out with only 2 match losses in a big tourney like this. Maybe the fool organizers could have added a few extra rounds (or maybe one). 1-1 Third Match vs. Ime Notsure Well, we both drafted white-blue but he didn't have a lot of stuff. He made quite a few mistakes that cost him. I won 2-1 losing once because I had to paris twice. One game he put out a quick School of Piranha (which can be ok sometimes, but mostly SUCKS so don't draft it). I followed it with a Propaganda and he kept paying the upkeep! After I got out about 3 creatures that could easily block that piece of garbage (Dream Prowlers and such) in addition to the propaganda he finally scrapped it. I have to mention here that I was surprised at the amount of scrubs at a tourney like this, there were quite a few. 2-1 Fourth Match vs. Terry Tsang So I get to play another guy I've heard of before. That's cool. My view on the players here was that I figured most would be top notch so I have about an equal chance of beating anybody. In retrospect I only played a handful who really knew what they were doing. So I figured they might as well be "name" players so I could at least brag about winning/losing to them. We got deck checked and we started babbling about how bad our decks were. I said "So you're 3-0 eh? Must have a good deck there" and he's like "Naw my deck sucks, I'm just getting the right cards at the right time." The deck check comes back and they announce "WHO IS JIM ROY?!?" I answer meekly "I am" and they march over to where I'm sitting. The judge says "We found that your deck is... ... legal." My heart started beating again. I figured for sure they had found a discrepancy by the way they said it and I would receive the hearty boot from the tournament. I think they enjoy toying with people, kinda like cops and referees. So finally we start playing and I smoke him down the first game. The second game I make a couple mistakes like not burying a Dizzying Gaze with my Soltari Visionary but I had no fliers so it didn't cost me. I was a little color screwed at the start and he attacked my with a Soul Warden while my Manakin was untapped. He thought I was mana screwed (but the Manakin was no help, I had small weenies in my hand). So I blocked because that damn soul warden is annoying. He mentioned that if I hadn't blocked then he could have burned me out (I was at 12 or something)! Something like fling, sonic burst, and something else. Next turn I drew a pacifism for his shadow and then I drew a repentance right after he cast a Flowstone Sculpture. Talk about the right pulls when you need them eh? I lucked out and beat him 2-0. Well after 4 rounds I'm 3-1 so I'm still in it, barely. One more and I'm toast. Fellow Albertan Rob Bede went 1-2-1 and dropped. I felt bad because he is a really good player and a cool guy. Cory Bradshaw from Calgary went 3-1, his deck was pretty good. But the stupe drops so that he can visit his girlfriend. The God of Luck himself was also gracing us with his presence. Jason Yorgasen, a buddy from Edmonton, was 4-0. He never ceases to amaze me. His limited ranking is high so he had his own table with fools feeding him. He had dominating licid, double dismiss, ect. Not sure about the rest but he had a string of GREAT cards. I've seen him play and he makes the occasional mistake, but his luck makes up for it. I also think he is a good drafter and has a good sense of what his deck can be. Despite the fact I call him lucky, he continues to win consistently. His biggest mistake though was not playing the sliver deck that he qualified with. Man, that was your niche and you should have stuck with it. My friend Pete was also 3-1 (fat green) but Shantam was 2-2. So we head back to Beeslie's place but don't go partying or anything as we are all extremely tired. I build my deck and sideboard 8 hours ahead of starting time, a record for me. But it was pretty easy as it was the deck I won with in Alberta Regionals. I made a few alterations that I think were brilliant (at the suggestion of Pete). Counterhell: Counters (20): 4 Counterspell 3 Power Sink 4 Memory Lapse 4 Dissipate (took out a Desertion and Power Sink, thought it was better cause its cheap and I figured there would be lots of graveyard tricks, should have left in a Desertion though, I missed it) 1 Force Spike (used to scare opponent mostly, leave in vs. weenie if he goes first, otherwise I usually take it out, especially if he's already seen it) 4 Dismiss (mmm) Card Drawing (8): 4 Impulse 4 Whispers of the Muse Other (7): 3 Nevinyrral's Disk 2 Legacy's Allure 1 Capsize 1 Rainbow Efreet Land (26): 19 Island 4 Quicksand 2 Stalking Stones 1 Ice Floe Sideboard: 4 Chill 1 Dream Tides 2 Interdict (wastelands, rainbows, frenetics, pursuit, aura of silence, ect) 2 Phyrexian Furnace (godzilla, hammers, living death, ect) 1 Disrupting Scepter 1 Steal Artifact 4 Wall of Tears The Wall of Tears were Pete's idea and I think it's awesome. Solves a lot of problems vs. WW, stompy, suicide black, godzilla, sligh, ect. They also combo with my 20 counterspells. Took out the pyroblast as 4 Chill 4 Wall of Tears should slow down a red sligh enough. Fifth Match vs.. Eric Tam So I sit at the table and he says his name is Eric. Just out of curiosity I ask his last name and he goes "Tam?" Ahh. That's cool, I'm thinking, getting to play 3 name players. We talk for a bit and it seems he's also a cool guy. I look at the door and see John Park (who was 3-1) and another guy being ousted from the tourney because they were 10 minutes late. That would suck. I mean it was weird because they started Sunday an hour earlier than Saturday which almost caught me, Pete, and Shantam too. Anyways, Eric says he hasn't played with his deck much yet and is hoping he can play it right. It was that "Turbo-Nothing" deck and he played it just right. My deck clobbered his however as he had a lot of creature destruction and other cards that were ineffective against my deck. I played it wrong and didn't counter his second turn scroll rack. I figured sure it gives him a bit of card selection but it wasn't a threat, I would just counter threats. He had no creatures either (besides the passive Wall of Blossoms) so a few cards of mine were useless as well. By not countering scroll racks and gaea's blessings I had to counter about 15 geddons in our two games. Only once was I running low on counterspells but I eventually got the whispers going and that was game set match. Sixth Match vs.. Sam Lau Sam was playing white weenie with firestorms and such. This was a pretty tense match, I let him take something back (like untapping mana or something small) but he was TOTALLY anal. I expected as such during a tourney like this but still I was a bit angry. I clobbered him the first game with ice floe and legacy's allure. The second game I had to paris and while I was drawing I accidentally looked at my 7th card (I drew first anyway). So he screams "Judge! Judge! He drew his seventh card!" He was having a shit hemorrhage. So the judge comes over and makes me paris again down to five. Sigh, I was really pissed now and I told him he was too uptight or something. He got out an empyrial armor on a falcon and I couldn't counter. How insulting to lose to a falcon. Our last game was really close. I got out a Wall of Tears but he had a White Knight that was Sleighted to blue. This is usually not a problem but I couldn't draw a Quicksand or Ice Floe or Disk for the life of me. Finally, when I was at 2 life I drew a Stalking Stones. I look at the board, 5 mana on the table for me. Damn. So it's over, this would be my second loss and a loss now means I lose any tiebreaker. I was going to give up and scoop my cards but decided not to. So I play my Stalking Stones and say go. Might as well let him deliver the final blow. Maybe he won't attack or something. Yeah right. On his turn he takes an agonizingly long minute to think, then looks at the board and then says "Go". I'm like "excuse me?!?" and he repeats "Your turn." I just sit there with a look of shock on my face, he apparently thought I had enough mana to pay for the stalking stones and block. End of turn I activate the stones and from then on it's my game as I'm whispering (I had to assume for a while that he didn't play incinerates and took out the firestorm as it usually sucks vs. me). I get out the Rainbow and begin the process of killing him. 20 minutes to go. 7 turns left. My hand has 6 counterspells and a whispers (a couple of them were dismiss). I'm tossing a counterspell per turn. He doesn't even have 7 cards in hand so I know I have him by the balls. With 10 minutes left and a few turns to go I get sick of his stalling and call over a judge. I mean it took 10 minutes for him to do 3 turns of just laying a land. The judge comes over and watches. His stalling is obvious. I'm on the discard phase of the second last turn. The judge is watching as he waits two minutes to think during my discard and does nothing. His turn he casts a knight and instead of countering I just say ok to save time. He waits a couple more minutes on his turn. The judge does nothing. Then as time runs out he simple concedes. He tells me he doesn't stall people out. I'm a little confused as it was nice of him to concede, but... Oh well. By the way thanks "judge" whoever you are for having the courage to sit there and do nothing and say nothing. Sure glad I called you over. 5-1 Match 7 vs.. Jackie Ng Jackie was a good guy and was playing tradewind-blossom with quite a few counterspells. The first game I smoked him down no problem, as my deck should. All I really have to do is counter the tradewinds. Now as I'm sideboarding I'm thinking, one more game win out of two (against a tradewind deck), and I can draw into finals. Yay! The minute you think that way you lose, either because you're not thinking of the game at hand or else the luck gods smite you for blasphemy. That's right I proceeded to lose two straight. His heavy counterspells (heavier than I expected) and pyroblasts wrecked me as I couldn't really get whispers going effectively. Sucks to be me. 5-2 Match 8 vs. ? This guy was playing white weenie with firestorms. He had just lost to Terry Tsang's cad bloom so he probably wasn't in a good mood. I went first and that was his doom as I had a good draw and countered everything I couldn't ice floe or quicksand. Game two I look at my hand, one land with no whispers. I paris. Look at my hand, no land. Paris again, one land no whispers. Doh!!! I keep the hand hoping to topdeck some land because starting with 4 cards doesn't appeal to me. Here's how it went. He goes knight (he went first). I topdeck, whew, a land and lay it. Lapse. Topdeck a land. Dissipate. Topdeck another land! Dismiss! Dismiss! Dismiss! Whispers! Whispers! And that's it. He was pretty pissed I think as he stood up and congratulated me twice and shook my hand because of my godly topdecks. Pretty cool to survive a double paris. So they do their stuff at the judges table and announce the top 8. Not me. They announce the honorary 9th place person and it's moi. At least now I can bitch about getting the shaft, 9th isn't so bad though. Pete did well and was 5-3 losing in the last round. Pete and Shantam want to leave right away as it's a four hour drive to their place in Smith Falls. I was hoping to stay and watch or do a little booster draft but I say nothing. Two days later I'm in the Edmonton airport and they announce "Jim Roy go to the information desk." I thought it was my ride from the airport but it was my mom, and she tells me that 8th place got disqualified for having an illegal deck and I would have been in top 8 if I would have stayed. AHHHHHRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how much I regret leaving early. But what can you do, you know? It's a harsh punishment to learn the lesson that you should stick around for a little while if you're 9th in a tournament. Slops: The fat slob (Jordan Christensen) who made 8th and got disqualified for writing his deck down wrong. I mean they announced like 3 times that it was an automatic ejection for discrepancies on your decklist. He looks like a viking geek (with the yellow shirt that he had no problems wearing the whole weekend). This is the same guy I saw a few tables down (during my match with Eric Tam) screaming "Judge!! Judge!! He drew a card on my turn!! He's CHEATING!" He had just finished his attack and the guy was obviously impatient and thought it was his turn (which was wrong I'll admit). Serves you right asshole. The multitude of shitty players who qualified for nationals. The judge for ruling that if you tapped 6 mana and said "I'll whispers of the muse during your discard" then you HAVE to toss the whispers and take 5 mana burn. Use your skull man. I think it would have been worth the assault charges to pummel his ass if it happened to me. I mean I thought judges were there to make the game fair and to use common sense so that games can go smoothly. Nationals proved me wrong I guess. Props: Pete Tsitiridis for meeting me at the airport and putting up with me for a few days. Wall of Tears in sideboard. Didn't use them a lot but I know they were the perfect solution to a lot of problem decks like suicide black and sligh. Rob Bede, Mike Hanfield, Garry Hough, Terry Lau, Ariel Sas, Pete, and a few others who helped me prepare (especially for the draft). Beyond Fantasy for the cool box and stuff. I told Pete to add one Energy Flux to his sideboard because he had no artifacts and 3 geddons. I figured it would be good if he played a deck that was REALLY heavy with diamonds and stuff. He told me it won him some games. Yay! 3 cheers for Energy Flux! There were also some really good players there too, who made the tourney more enjoyable. Props to the record number of Albertans who made it to Toronto this year. Last year I qualified but couldn't make it (only one guy did). Also it's nice to see a couple B.C. (i.e. western) guys who are on the national team. Props to the 4 who are going to worlds: - Peter Radonjic - Terry Tsang - Ryan Kirk - Nick Chen I'm sure they'll kick some ass for us at worlds. ---------------------------------------------- Jim Roy jproy@ee.ualberta.ca http://www.ualberta.ca/~jproy "Trying is the first step towards failure." Homer Simpson ----------------------------------------------