Subject: JSS Qualifier Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 22:12:01 EDT From: Tonypatron@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hey cyberworld, Well, as of Friday night I had no idea where I was going to play Magic on Saturday, and the clock wasn't moving any slower. I could have gone to The Slyvan and drafted...but I suck ass at draft, and thought it better if I save my money. I ended up going to Your Move Game's for the JSS qualifier for Chicago. Me and fellow team Slyvan youngn' Rich Douglas made the trip to Somerville. We got there rather early, and the store wasn't opening for another 15 minutes, so we made small talk with the other 4 players that were there early as well. The store opened, and decklists were required, so we got cracking. I decided to play my Suicide Black deck, feeling it could handle most decks easily. 4x Dathui Horror 4x Dathui Slayer 4x Carnophage 4x Black Knight 4x Unholy Strength 4x Dark Ritual 4x Diabolic Edict 3x Paralyze 2x Necratog 2x Carionette 2x Drain Life 1x Kareveck's Spite 4x Quicksand 18x Swamp SIDE BOARD 4x Gloom 2x Spinning Darkness 2x Bottle Gnomes 2x Terror 2x Pherxian Furnace 2x Perish 1x Dread of Night After about 15 minutes a whole swarm of people came in, making it look to be a good tornument. ROUND 1 ( 0-0 ) Carlos - ( 0-0 ) - 5CSliver GAME 1 I get to go first, and ritual out some Unholied Slayer goodness. He plays a land, and is done. I apply for 4, and pump out some more creatures. He plays some Slivers, and we exchange beatdown till I get the upper hand with an Edict. He gets me down to 11 before I take the win. GAME 2 Game 2 shows some more first turn ritualed creatures. He plays a few Slivers, but I Edict them away. I have his life shown on my score pad as 20...16...10...8...6...0 ROUND 2 ( 1-0 ) Lucas - ( 1-0 ) - Prop/Pendrell/Orb/Grindstone GAME 1 I get to go first again, and get my first turn horde. He develops too slowly, playing Diamonds and a Grindstone. I keep slamming away, and get the game. GAME 2 I jump out even faster this game, and qucikly he is on the ropes. He starts to come back, playing 2 Propagandas, and a Pendrell Mist, but I Unholy Strength my Slayer, and hit him for the final 4. ROUND 3 ( 2-0 ) Dave - ( 2-0 ) Pandimonium/Dreadnought GAME 1 I know I have to apply the beat down fast, and my opening hand is a good one to acomplish that. I get a quick start, and hammer away at his life. His tapping pain lands and Cities helps my cause as well. He is at 7, and looking to die next turn, when he gets the combo off. GAME 2 I have the ultimate draw. I go turn 1 ritual, Carnophage/Carnophage/Unholy Strength. He plays a land and his done. I apply beatdown for 6, and play another creature. He plays a land, and rituals out Light of Day. WTF!?!? I concede, and look at my top card. Unholy Stregth. I would have attacked for 10, and he would have had to get the combo next turn. I feel somwhow cheated. ROUND 4 ( 2-1 ) Mike - ( 2-1 ) - 5CG The situtation is, there are two players who will automaticly make it in, the player sporting Panimoium/Dreadnought, and the Prosbloom player, since they are both 3-0 going into round 4. There are 8 players at 2-1, and we have to write on a card wether or not we intend to draw. I ddin't know if I'd make it in if I drew, and I had confidence in my deck, so I opted to play. 2 groups decided to play, and 2 decided to draw, so everyone that drew made it into the finals. GAME 1 I ritual out some beatdown turn 1, and he plays a Bird. I attack,and play some more shadow. He plays a Wall of Blossoms, and is done. I play another creature, and attack again. He summons a Clouchaser Eagle, and knocks off my Unholy Strength, but I still attack for 4 a turn with my shadows. He hits me twice with the Eagle, but I limit his chances by casting an Edict. He opts not to sacrifice the Birds, but instead the Wall of Blossoms, as I hope he would. I cast a Carnophage, and continue the onslaught. Next turn, I attack, and am tempted to cast the Kareveck's Spite that I drew, but fear a potential Mana Leak. I just keep the creature attack going untill I win. GAME 2 In go the Perishs. He starts off with a turn 1 Reflecting Pool. Hmmm...me's thinks thats bad for him. I lay a Carnophage. He plays another non-color producing land, and I can see the mana gods are not pleased with him. I ritual out 2 creatures, and the rest of the game goes by quickly. Because I won to get in, and did not draw, I was seeded third from my record. Fellow team mate Rich was seeded 1st, having gone undefeated in his three rounds in the 14 and under division. He was playing a version of Oath of Druids, and easily had the best deck there. QUATER FINALS ( 3-1 ) Mike ( 2-1-1 ) Draw/Go variant. GAME 1 Game 1 proved to be pure beatdown. I swarm him with creatures, and he plays a Leagacy's Alure turn 4. He keeps tapping his deck, claiming mana screw. He takes my Black Knight with the Allure, and blocks and kills my Carnophage. It dosen't stop the Dathui Slayer, and I win. GAME 2 I get out with creatures kind of slow, only drawing 1 Swamp and a Quicksand in my opening hand. He plays 3 straight Legacy's Alures. He steals my creatures, and gets control of the board. Whispers buyback is too much advantage for Suicide Black, and i conceed when he shows me 3 counterspells. GAME 3 I get another great start, and drop a Carnophage and Dathui Slayer. He plays and Island and is done. I play an Unholy Strength on the Slayer, and apply for 6. He plays another island and is done. I play a Swamp, and drop a Dathui Horror. I keep the beatdown going. He drops an Allure, but it's not enough, i make it to the Semis. I really hate it when you get arrogant jerks as opponents. The kid I faced in the quater finals bitched about mana screw in the first game, which is fine. But when you start shouting allowed to your freinds that if it wasn't for mana screw, you'd beat the fuck outta your opponent, that's poor sportsmanship. He did later apologize, so he wasn't a complete asshole. SEMI-FINALS ( 4-1 ) Jim ( 3-1-1 ) White/Blue/red GAME 1 I get a turn one Carnophage with an Unholy Strength. I beat down fast, and he can only counter a few creatures. He taps out for something, that I cannot remember, and I tap 3 and Spite him. Spite kills rock hardcore. GAME 2 I go turn 1 Gloom. Turn 2 I get a Black Knight, and turn three shows another Gloom. I beat down with 2 Carnophages and the Black Knight. He Earthquakes away my creatures, and I draw NOTHING for 10 straight turns!! WTF!?!? Not one creature did I see. He manages to pay 10 for a Light of Day, and I didn't have the Drain Life to finsih him off. I cannot belive that that happened. I had him dead. Oh well, such is the game. GAME 3 I race out with a turn 1 Carnophage. Turn 2 I Ritual out a Horror, and I Unholy Strength the Carnophage. Next turn I play a Slayer, hoping to draw a counterspell. He dosen't, so I attempt to Ritual out a Gloom, ensuring the win, but he counters the Gloom. Next turn I see the Light of Day, and it's over. Damn. If it weren't for the Nevinrally's Disks that I forgot to bring for the side board, I may have won that game. I came one win away from an invitation to the JSS in Chicago, and possibly the 200$. Turns out that Rich was also knocked out in the Semi-Finals in the 14 and under division/ He was facing a version of the green deck that made such a splash at Nationals. First game Rich destroyed his opponent. Second game was a blur, but I belive mana screw was a factor. Third game Rich got a great draw, and it looked to me as if he had it. But, his opponent drew 3 Winter's Grasps and 3 Wastelands against him, and he couldn't recover from that. All in all team Sylvan had good results, as me and rich both recived third place. It's not an invitation, but there's always the August qualifiers. Mahalo. Anthony "Whup-Ass" Patronick TEAM Sylvan Tonypatron@aol.com