Subject: Tourney Report--JSS Challenge Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 20:02:46 PDT From: "Scott Keller" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com First, realize this is my first tourney report. I wouldn't consider the field above average, but you might get a bit out of this. To start off, I gotta give you the little back story. I was out of magic since Tempest came in, and after I heard that there was going to be a PTQ/JSS Challenge around at Chimeras in Fond du Lac, WI, I'd figure I'd get back in. I got my deck 3 days before the event. I decided to go with a Draw-Go deck since control's my style. Now to the tourney report... 4 Rounds of Swiss, Cut to the Top 4 1st Round--vs. Alex Yuen playing U/G Tradewind w/Spike Weavers A really cool concept that caught me by surprise. The first game he just went nuts. Before I knew it, I was facing a Tradewind, Man-o-War, and Spike Weaver. That's when a little topdecking came in handy as I was able to Disk at 4 life. Stalking Stones are great against other control decks. After the Disk, I just used the Stones, kept on countering, and eventually finished him off. The second game gave the early advantage to me, but I couldn't finish him off. He was at 8 or something when a couple of Spike Weavers took over. He never touched me the whole game, but I ran out of cards. A few too many Whispers. We drew the third game after I took a mulligan and realized I couldn't beat him in 8 minutes. I didn't want to start off the tourney with a Draw, but that one point would make a difference later on. I never looked back after that match. 0-0-1, 1-1-1, 1 Point 2nd Round--vs. Patrick Zeman, playing Mono-Green Creature He never stood a chance. He was a newbie, used a lot of cards I never thought I'd see in a tourney. No problem. 1-0-1, 3-1-1, 4 Points 3rd Round--vs. Jesse Weasner, playing Flagpole By now, my tiebreakers were horrible, so I pretty much had to win my next two matches to make the top 4. First game, his deck had an answer to everything I could do. I ran out of countermagic, and Tradewinds returned everything. Game two was just the opposite. He was mana screwed. He had 2 Reflecting Pools and 2 Forests, but no blue sources. A Steel Golem pounded him in just as a couple of Memory Lapses insured the mana screw. An interesting note here his that he drew all 4 Wall of Blossoms, Wall of Roots, and Birds of Paradise, weird. Game three was a counter war. I took control of his Tradewind with a Legacy Allure and I ended up attacking with it for about 6 turns before my Stones showed up (in case you haven't noticed these things are great against control). I just had to pray he didn't draw any more good cards. He didn't, and the comeback victory was mine. 2-0-1, 5-2-1, 7 Points 4th Round--vs. Jeremy Carr, playing Forbidian After a bit of a debate whether or not I could ID to get in, I determined there was a chance, but no better of a chance even if I lost, so we played the match--it's a good thing I did, otherwise I wouldn't have made it. 1st game is all about me countering every damn Ophidian he had, then me filling up my hand with Whispers. He had to mulligan down one card which really hurt. 2nd game was all about him getting the Forbidian thang going. He had 2 Tradewinds, 3 Ophidians, and 2 Man-o-Wars out, along with Sapphire Medallions, and a Forbid in hand. He was drawing about 4 cards a turn. 3rd game was a battle. The momentum shifted as I disked, he Allured, I countered, he Forbid, on and on. At the end of the game, I had to get off a Disk, but he kept Capsizing it. I just drew a Dissipate so I figured I'd try to counter the Capsize. I cast the Disk. He capsized, I Dissipate, he counters. Then just to screw around, I Disrupt because I know I'm dead. I draw a Forbid. Then I remember that when using Interrupts I can throw one in after one resolves. YES!! I Forbid his Counterspell. Set the Disk off to take care of his Tradewind, and serve it up with a Stones. I was one lucky bastard to pull that off. I realized later that had I not Disrupted, I would've been right there. Great match. 3-0-1, 7-3-1, 10 Points Semifinals--vs. Tim Laabach, playing Bottle Gnome recursion Necro I'm top seed going in to the finals. This was an interesting match up. First game, he got his Volrath Stronghold out immediately. I wasted about 4 cards just keeping a Nekrataal away before I Dissipated it. After pulling the 1 Wasteland in my whole deck (I told you I was a lucky bastard) I take out the Stronghold. From there out, I could just counter everything he could do. He was up to 35, and had me at 4, but I made the comeback as I killed him with the Steel when I had one card left in my library. One more win away from the Chicago bye. 2nd Game was all me. No Stronghold this time. Countered the early Necro. Hit him with a Steel Golem for a while. He was at 8, then he slaps out a Necro. I can't counter. Luckily he didn't draw his Edicts, and the Steel goes all the way for the kill. If his deck would've used Volrath's Dungeon, it would've been awesome. On to the finals. 4-0-1, 9-3-1 Finals--vs. Jeremy Carr We decide that we don't want to play another match, so we split the $200 voucher, sort of. I got $20 and a used signed Mox Pearl, and I conceded the match to him so he got the $200 travel voucher. Not bad. So after getting back into Magic one week before, I'd consider this pretty damn cool. A few notes about the deck. I saw no Sligh at all. I never brought in the 4 Chills or 4 Hydroblasts sitting useless in my sideboard. Also, every game the Allures came in for the Force Spikes. I expected lots of Sligh. Bad metagame move on my part, but it really doesn't matter now. Stalking Stones were great. Wastelands would've ruined almost every deck there. Tradewinds were all over. Mono-Blue still rocks. Period. See everyone in Chicago! Scott Keller ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com