Subject: Judge's Report: Grand Prix San Francisco Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 00:19:28 -0800 From: "A. Kunstt" Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc The following is a judge’s and not a player’s perspective. I won’t be going into detail about what decks won or strategies used in the tournament. Instead, I’ll focus on anecdotes, observations, and problems, while attempting to give a general overview of Grand Prix San Francisco. First, congratulations to Rob “Scrubowski!” Swarowski. Rob fought with his near monored deck through two days worth of Prison, Enduring Bombardment (aka “Fruity Pebbles”), Vineyard incarnations, Necro, white weenie, and a host of other prototypical decks in the Extended format. Scrubby, an 18 year old native of Las Vegas, has played in at least three PT’s as a junior and, along with the Vegas crew of fellow Pro Tour players Steven Beacham, Hayim Mizrachi, Shannon Krumick and the rest of their select group of Nevada natives, has regularly canvassed the Southwest cities of San Diego, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and, of course, Vegas in order to qualify. Rob and the Vegas crew are a great group of professionals who play honestly, intelligently, yet still retain their sense of humor throughout. Although they are often overlooked by virtue of living in the shadow of a city like Los Angeles, these guys have regularly proven they have the mettle and skills to play with the best. In a weekend of discovering that players with integrity such as Kurt Burgner and Matt Place had placed in the top 8 at PT Mainz, it was especially heartening to see a great guy like Scrubowski come out on top at Grand Prix San Francisco. Since the number one complaint of pro tour players is that Magic is too dependent on luck, I will begin this tourney report by listing the good luck charms that worked and didn’t work. So, preface completed, GPSF’s luckier good luck trinkets included a white plastic polar bear given to Alex Shvartsman by Jack Stanton (Alex placed 21st), a pound kitten stuffed cat owned by a junior in the Super Series who placed top 4 (and I quote him, “See? The chicks dig the kitten”), a girlfriend (live, honest) of second place finisher Ryan Fuller (she got to pick which cards he Hymned and cut his opponents’ decks) and, barring the real thing, a picture of a gf on a deck box of another of the top 8 Junior Super Series players. Less lucky charms included, but were not limited to: Jack Stanton’s Bag o’ Tricks (ask him about that sometime...), a hippo with a magic eight ball glued to its mouth, a stuffed Eeyore, and a stuffed turtle. An interesting note is that stuffed animals outnumbered girlfriends (breathing or pictured) nearly 2 to 1. This anomaly can probably be explained by the disparity in shipping costs between stuffed animals and girlfriends (not to mention that the stuffed animals don’t leave the hotel room smelling like hair spray nor do they object to the ten other guys staying in the same room with them). The tournament started out quietly with less-than-expected attendance of 208 for the Grand Prix and 38 for the Junior Super Series. The Qualifier on Sunday for Pro Tour Los Angeles boasted 72 total individuals. Lower attendance was blamed on the conflicting PT Mainz date, school finals, and the expensive holiday season. A quick scan of the Extended environment revealed an astounding lack of a metagame, although several cards figured prominently in nearly every deck. Wasteland, Scroll Rack, Goblin Bombardment, Cursed Scroll, shadow creatures (especially Soltari Priest), Hymns, and Land Tax were nearly everywhere in the room. The general novelty of many of the decks led to interesting rulings. Players using Scroll Rack learned of the trick of never being decked while it was out (if you have less cards in your library than in your hand, you can keep from decking yourself), Wasteland can target itself, you don’t need to have a card in your hand in order to use Cursed Scroll (but you must announce a target for the damage *before* the card is chosen), a Mishra under Humility is a 2/2 creature without abilities until end of turn and, the grand daddy of all rules questions that evening....if a Dauthi Mercenary has a Spinal Graft on it, does it kill itself by pumping since the text reads “1B: Dauthi Mercenary gets +1/+0 until end of turn” (making it appear as if it was “targeting” itself). I thank Rob Watkins for bringing that one to head Judge Dan Gray’s attention. (uhh, the answer is no, by the way). All major events aren’t without their heartbreak. While resting my heels watching Eric Taylor decimate his opponent with the ultimate “ProtectDaOutpost!” deck, I noticed on my right a player just setting up his Enduring Renewal/Bombardment combo. He had dropped the Bombardment several turns ago and I watched him successfully cast an Enduring Renewal that turn. In his hand, he had a Shield Sphere. Well, the outcome being obvious at that point, I decided to continue watching Eric cast Interdict (stops nasty Wastelands cold), Counterspell (baaad Stone Rain), and Serenity until I heard a heated discussion behind me. I turned my attention back to the fruity pebbles match and discovered, to my dismay, that the player who had dropped his Shield Sphere had allowed his opponent to Plow the creature in response to his sacrifice and so conceded. *sigh*. Unfortunately, he had already begun to scoop up his cards and I was forced to rule that he had finished the game since he had nearly half his permanents in his hand. It was unfortunate, and he was justifiably upset that he had let his opponent ‘respond’ to his sacrificing his creature with the Swords....but there was nothing I could do at the time since I did not see it happen. Another incident that stands out in my mind occurred in the Qualifier the second day (I was still judging the Grand Prix and so am relaying this second hand). Apparently, a player from the East Coast had decked himself and was about to lose when he could not draw. After he untapped, he pointed at his empty library, threw up his hands, and shrugged. His opponent said, “OK” and scooped up his cards to begin the next game, at which point, the East Coast player announced that his opponent had conceded during his upkeep and therefore he was the winner. Head Judge Peter Costantinitis ruled in favor of the opponent and not the New York player and I believe he received a warning. Accompanying the controversial were the games that you remember for a long time afterwards. In one of the final 8 rounds for the Junior Super Series (I was the head judge), two juniors from the Bay Area squared off against each other with nearly identical decks (the type 2 white weenie, Lands Edge, Tithe Shadow creature, Empyrial Armor version that would go undefeated in two days in the Extended format in the GP). The games between these two individuals kept ending up in draws since by the time either player dropped the Land’s Edge they’d empty their hands and mutually destruct. In the Grand Prix, watching East Coast native Alex Shvartsman play Michigan native Eric Taylor was a true nailbiter. Alex was playing a land destruction (gasp!) Necrodeck and Eric was playing a deck built fully around protecting and then killing with four Outposts. In one turn, I looked at Alex’s hand to see 2 Wastelands, a Dread of Night, and an Icequake. Eric had one lonely Outpost in play. By the time the smoke cleared the next turn, Alex had divested himself of both Wastelands (interdicted), Dread of Night (Aura of Silenced), and the Icequake (Counterspelled), only to find the Outpost merrily producing Soldier tokens. Both Eric and Alex played an honest, fascinating, and taut match; it is after watching players like Eric and Alex that you truly feel you have an understanding of the lure of this game in all its complex and intellectual nuances. The final 8 showcased an hors d’euovres of deck prototypes. While Scrubby (Swarowski) Fireblasted his way (quite literally) to the top spot, a Vineyard U/G (how’s that for a first - a blue/green deck in the final 8 of a major tournament) mana burned its way to the 3/4th slot, and a Necrodeck beat its way to the second place spot . While the most common deck type was probably the GobboEnduring fruity pebbles deck, none of the top decks included the combo except for Scrubowski’s burn deck-- which had one lone Goblin Bombardment (Bolt my Jackal pup? I think I’ll sac it to do a point of damage to you instead!). My overall impression was that GPSF was a great tournament. The mix of players was much more varied due to the absence of the PT players. We experienced few problems from a judging standpoint, a great guy managed to win (Go Scrubby!) and another great guy, Ernest Alexander, placed in the top 8. If only they could all be California tourns..... A Kunstt autumn@ktb.net