Subject: [TOURNAMENT/ISSUE/HUMOR] "Momentous Times in Alabama" Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 14:33:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Dane Woodall To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Urza's Saga Pre-release/PTQ comes and goes. After my first ever showing at a PTQ failed miserably, I wondered first what I did wrong, then decided I didn't care. So, two weeks later I made another attempt. After arranging plans ot attend with two other friends, we were on our way. I figure five hours isn't that bad of a drive. Little did I learn from going to Atlanta.. So, off we go, not knowing what atrocities lied ahead. Long, monotonous, boring roads allowed the next 5 hours to seem like 400. Then we arrived, practically starving and in need of a bathroom in Birmingham, Alabama. Quickly fixing our situation, we made our way out into the cold morning air, attempting to find where in hell everything was. We were at the described location, yet 10 minutes before registration starts, not a single person could be seen. After passing the time lying around in might I add extremely comfortable chairs, we decided that 45 minutes after registration was supposed to start was ample time for the DCI to catch up. We were barely correct. It turned out that our maginificent judging/organizing staff showed up an hour late, then proceeded to stall for another hour or so, giving my friends and I, more than enough time to prepare. So, I throw my Survival/Nightmare/Death deck back together (was disassembled after the poor showing in Atlanta) and proceed to test with Geoff. Geoff was playing Counter Phoenix. Geoff was reminded of David's illustration of rock-paper-scissors. Geoff goes down 4 games in a row, often by the 4th to 6th turn. Geoff decides to take my Mox diamonds back, and proceeds to play a friend's deck that made top 8 in the Atlanta PTQ 2 weeks before. So, without my diamonds, I decided to make Tradewind/Awakening. After signing up, getting my decklist, I throw something together and decide to go with it. Now is where the fun begins. David reminds everyone to make sure we get our listings correct, as to not get DQ'd over something silly. Little did we know that it takes a lot less than that. So after everyone turns in their decklists, and the crowd grows from a measly 6 to 48, we prepare to begin. Pairings go up about 15 minutes later, and we go into the first round. Seated across from me is a guy I met in Atlanta, a friend of my friends, or something along those lines. Seeing as I remember faces much better than names, it only suits me to not remember his name now. We'll call him Friend X. Round 1, Friend X playing Suicide Black/Hatred. Game 1: I get a decent draw of a counterspell or two, a wall of blossoms, and a spike feeder. And some land of course. He shows me how well his deck can perform outside of using hatred. I go down in 4 turns. I side in 4 Oath of Druids, 3 Propaganda, and a third Spike Weaver. Game 2: Whee. Draw a wall, some land, a counterspell, awakening, and the oath. Turn 1: I play island, say go. Turn 2: He plays swamp, casts Sarcomancy, says go. Turn 3: I play Forest, cast Wall of Blossoms, draw capsize, say go. Turn 4: He sighs, plays swamp, casts Dauthi Slayer, says go. Turn 5: I play an island, cast Oath of Druids, and hope to hell he has no hatred in hand. I say go. Turn 6: He thinks, plays swamp, attacks with the slayer. I wait for the hatred, he notions for me to take 2. Phew. Plays a dauthi horror, says go. Turn 7: I oath for a creature, another wall, draw another wall. I cast awakening, and then proceed to lock him. Game 3: See game two, except on turn 3 I oathed for a Weaver when he had a hatred in hand. Mmmmm.. After laughing some and talking for 15 minutes, we turn in our cards and wait around for the next round to start. As things would have it, this is where the tourney report stops. Almost, at least. Pairings go up, people sit down, I begin to shuffle. I look over at my opponents deck box to see "Back in Black" labeled across the front. I think to myself: "Cool, more hatred. 2-0 already..." To put it simply, I never got to see his deck. After pile shuffling, and some riffles, I hand it over to be cut/shuffled/whatever. There would be none of that, as the top card is scuffed badly on the bottom edge. I was using clear sleeves that day, stupid me. So my opponents asks if I'd consider that marked. I nod, and he calls the judge. Judge comes over. Judge takes my deck. Judge proceeds to study said deck for 20 minutes. Judge returns, calls me over, and the conversation goes something like this. Me: So, what's wrong? Judge: Well, we looked through it for marked cards, and found two each time. (he shows me the back of two cards. The one scuffed one, and one that was HARDLY marked at all.) Judge: We could pick these two out every time we inspected it. Me: Ok.. (he flips over the cards, and I see two spike feeders.) Me: Erm.. Judge: So, we have to eject you from the tournament. (I nod, holding in my aggrevation.) Me: Such is life, I guess. (he shrugs, and we walk back to the table.) The judge notions to the other guy, who nods, and begins to pack up his stuff. I ask my opponent if he wants to play for fun on the other side of the other room, he swifly denies the invitation, and I go find a table. I pull out my Type I Necro and begin to sort it. A few minutes later, I see my friend Geoff standing next to a judge and what I assumed to be his second round partner, all talking about something. So I put my deck together, get my stuff, and walk over. I ask Geoff what's up, he tells me that he is dropping because of a ruling. Without revealing too much of the deck, he explains that he got the combo out against Shard Phoenix, after a struggle. He got Humility out, and then after some baiting, got Nature's Revolt out for the lock. For any of those who don't know what this does, here we go. Nature's Revolt turns all lands into 2/2 creatures. Humility then makes then 1/1 creatures with no abilities. Including might I add, the ability to tap for mana. Mox diamonds giving Geoff mana, he assumed he had won. So, his opponent studied the cards, and proceeded to tap his lands for mana, when Geoff intervened. He told him he couldn't, so a judge was called. The judge then ruled in the favor of his opponent, saying that the lands were still lands, and could thus be tapped for mana, despite losing the ability to. (Maze of Ith or Oasis, anyone?) So, we both became very irate, and decided to play in some booster drafts to blow off some steam. So we draft, and draft some more, and trade, and trade some more. It's nearing the end of the fourth round now, and David is 3-1-0. Well, almost. We find out soon after, that the rounds are 60 minutes long, instead of the regulation time of 70 minutes. Oh ho ho. So it's round 78 or so (just a guess) and he has a 4/5 Scragnoth out against his opponent, playing CounterPhoenix. His opponent knows time will be called in a minute or so, so he makes his Stalking Stones into a creature to chump block/stall. The game ended by time being called, where David's next turn would have won him the game. But no, thanks to the wonderful judging/organizing staff, time was called 10 minutes early, and he was 2-1-1. That's no good for the top 8. So, David drops, and proceeds to talk around/sleep/whatever. We tell him of the misfortune that Geoff and I had, and we all ranted and raved. After an hour of that, and some more drafting, I decided to watch our friend Alex who was in the top 8. I sat down next to him, and saw he was playing Living Death against Living Death. I saw Alex had portcullis out. His opponent then proceeds to cast Living Death. I thought to myself: "WTF!?! ... " I then looked in Alex's graveyard to see a Tradewind Rider and a Rootwater Hunter. That's game, surely. Alex then tried to use the portcullis to bring in his two creatures. His opponent wonders what he is doing, and calls a judge. Wonders what he is doing!??? He has Portcullis out, I WONDER!! So, the judge comes over, they explain the situation, and the judge leaves to go converse. After about 5 minutes of that, the Judge returns with the ruling of: "The active player chooses which two creatures come into play." So, after Alex and the rest of us argue for a minute, Alex just decides to Verdigris his own Portcullis, and is now facing a Verdant Force, and a bunch of other crap which he can't beat. I go berzerk, run over to Geoff and tell him. Geoff freaks. We tell David, and start raving and ranting again. We recognize the judging teams lack of ability, etc. etc. Let's take this time to reinforce our aformentioned insults on their abilities. "Portcullis: + If a number of creatures come into play at once, due to Living Death for example, then Portcullis will trigger on all of those creatures. The player controlling Portcullis decides the order to resolve the Portcullis triggers and therefore chooses which two creatures stay in play. All the others get yanked by the Portcullis. [D'Angelo 06/11/98]" Hrm, isn't that NOT what the judges ruled? Level III DCI Certified Judge you say? Yeah, right. And ALL of the judges agreed on this decision, as well as the other Humility/Nature's Revolt ruling, not to mention my DQ for "marked" cards. It turns out I borrowed those two feeders, and the one other I used of mine was in mint condition. Talk about luck. So, we're all angry, adrenaline is everywhere. We hear a table of people talking about the Portcullis ruling, and go over to get in on the action. One guy agrees with the judge, 10 people proceed to correct him. Then Geoff says something along the lines of this: "Living Death is probably the most popular deck in Rath, and Portcullis is the most popular card to sideboard against it. I'd think that the judges would know how the cards work, if not know the ruling on it. Why would anyone want to play a card that would screw him. 'Oh gee, I'll play Portcullis so I can f*ck myself in the ass.'" (the crowd laughs) Judge X comes over, and gets pissed off. He tells him that that kind of language is unwarranted, and is not aloud. To make a long story short, Geoff is on the edge of kicking this judge's ass into his head, when he is told to leave. He walks out a little, then turns around. Me and David look at each other, and walk right out, hoping Geoff will follow suit. He does, and we all talk about how stupid the judges are, and how little they know, etc. etc. We then get to the car, and drive out of there. Good riddance, Alabama. We all bashed the judging staff some more, and talked about how we'd never come back to Alabama. Now just to write the DCI and complain. Boy oh boy, that was a fun weekend. And sarcasm insues. So why I ask, are such important events such as sanctioned PTQs allowed to be judged by such incompetent "judges"? And why are no resources available to aid their incompetence to a level that can possibly be tolerated? Why damn you, why? Well, that is something I hope the DCI can explain. I just hope no one else got screwed. (which isn't a good chance. Hell, someone else must have..) And I hope this weekend in Orlando isn't a repeat. That, would suck. -Dane Woodall "I used to think Spike Feeder was the best green creature in Rath.. not any more..." .----------------------------------------------------------------------. | Dane Woodall | Email: dpw8549@garnet.acns.fsu.edu | | Slacker Anonymous | URL: http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~dpw8549/ | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | "Hard work pays off someday, laziness pays off now." | `----------------------------------------------------------------------'