Subject: San Jose Part Two Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 02:29:17 -0600 From: Helen Stanton To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com We actually got to bed at a decent hour, as Alex was in the top sixty-four the next day, along with Mike Dove (who had decided to stay with us instead of Zak Dolan, one hour away). I had decided to enter the PTQ the next day, changing the sideboard of my deck to the listed below: Sideboard 2 Red Elemental Blast 2 Blue Elemental Blast 2 Hydroblast 2 Swords to Plowshares 2 Aura of Silence 1 Disenchant 1 Hammer of Bogardan 2 Wastelands (To take out an annoying Dude Ranch or two that I might see) 1 Honorable Passage ("By this time, I had a tan from all the burn I faced." Quote Jack.) Control Magic and Mind Harness had been worthless, along with the Serenity. This sideboard proved to be a little more aggressive and flexible. Mike Dove, Alex, and I set out for the tourney center around 8am the next morning under a cloudy, ugly looking sky. Three blocks into our trip (with one to go), we hit the ATM machine. At that point in time, the rain gods decided to crap upon us a downpour and the ATM gods refuse Mike and Alex their money. So off we raced for the next bank over on the next block.;P Along the way, a hitchhiker looking for the tourney site tagged along (have no clue how he figured us for Magic players). Drenched, we ran for the center, two blocks away.;P The registration ran smoothly once again. Perhaps too smoothly. There was nothing to complain about, which generally annoys the hell out of Magic players. Small talk was very small as I wrote down my deck listing. The only conversation of note was Preston Poulter's heckling a deck I had written about in the Brady Publishing book "Totally Unauthorized: The Unbeatable Deck Can Be Yours" (the best book written to date on the game of Magic). In said book (written at the end of 1995), nine players were asked to write about a Type I winning deck and the strategies contained therein (the co-authors were Mark Justice, Matt Hyra-head tourney coordinator at Wotc tourney center, Mike Dove, Me, Brian Weissman-great analysis of The Deck, Adam Maysonett-recursion/Cap deck, Mario Robaina-early version of Monkey May I, Mark Chalice-recursion, and Henry Stern). In my chapter, I had written about a R/G/U Titania's Song/Atog/Control/Land Destruction deck, providing the various decks leading up to the final product. He had the nerve to ask why I had included a Stone Calendar in the earliers 69 card version of the deck. Seeing as I really sucked at Magic when I first created the deck, I replied, "Gotta have a big critter in the deck."J Throughout the day, he kept asking, "Why". I'm just glad he didn't ask why the deck had 69 cards in it.J HOW TO GET A TAN WHEN THE SUN DON'T SHINE The gun went off, the pairings were hung, and my first round opponent just happened to be: 1st Match Ashley Kesterson (Beale Air Force Base, CA) Sligh-Burn, Sandstalkers, Ball Lightnings, Canyon Wildcats, George-Tom-Bob-Gork: The Iron Claw Orcs, Hammer, "Send In The" Lava Hounds 1st Game-To summarize the first game in as few words as possible, it went something like this: Me, "Ow. Ow. Owowowow! Ow, ow, owow. OW! Somebody! Put me out!!!" Folks, I got an ass-whupin. People were approaching me with forks to see if I was done! I think the fire alarm went off, though the building wasn't evacuated. What little strength I had was used to look through my sideboard for some burn ointment. Here's what I found: Put In: 2 Hydroblast, 2 Blue Elemental Blast, 1 Honorable Passage, 1 Hammer of Bogardan, 2 Swords to Plowshares (for the big critters that might get by my control) Took Out: 2 Control Magics, 1 Disenchant (leaving myself very open to Blood Moon), 1 Tithe, 2 Earthquakes (why over-tan yourself?), 1 Wildfire Emissary, 1 Frenetic Efreet (I didn't take out any Ophidians, as they attract soooo much damage AND due to Ashley's critters being so celerity based, I'd have a chance to get him through without having to worry about blockers. This would give me the cards I needed to combat her massive firepower) 2nd Game-Ever have a feeling of De Je Vous? Ashley commenced the beating very early on, but through superior top-decking skills, I managed to grab some burncontrol and get a little bit of beatdown going back the other way (it didn't hurt that Ashley had summoned two Hounds in a row, which I believe one got Blue Blasted after coming out, and the other got Serrated Arrowed/Bolted). She did, though, manage to get me to one point of life, while she was at ten. With a Frenetic, Mishra, and Obastard on the board, I decided it was high time to seize the day! Attacking with all three, I let the Oph do some damage. Ashley had one card in hand, and on her draw, she grabbed some burn (Ball Lightning?). She attempted to cast it, though the attempted failed to my counter. As the other card in her hand wasn't a burn spell (and me without a counter at this point), I managed to take her down to 0 life on the next turn. Though she berated herself on not bringing her Hammer back a few turns earlier, she played flawless (if she had brought the Hammer back, she wouldn't have been able to get me as low as she had in the preceeding turns). It's nice to play an intelligent player.J 3rd Game-This game began once again in an offensive gear for Ashley, as she brought me down to eight life quite rapidly (though her cards in hand was suffering). My control started to assert itself, while Ashley's deck didn't produce the necessary cards for her defense. My Ophidians and Mishras took some of the sting away from me (me letting them die, though having control in hand) while Frenetics led the charge. Match 1-0 Ashley and I spoke for quite a while about the tourney scene at Beale Air Force Base. Her husband Steve had moved back to the US after a year stationed in Korea and he was a little disappointed in the Magic scene up there. So if anybody from that base is reading this, get in contact with Steve and Ashley. If Ashley's Magic abilities are any indication of Steve's, you'll be glad to have such superb competition to test with. 2nd Match-Ray Tai (San Jose, California) U/G Propaganda/Worb/Critter-Erhnam, Waterspout, Firewalker/Control 1st Game-In the game of Magic, there are those times (win or lose) you have a monumental game worthy of long-term memory. Such was the first game of this match with Ray. In the early going, around turn two, Ray was laying a land and accidentally dropped an Icy from his hand. Smelling a Prison deck (he'd played Islands thus far), I immediately Bolted him at the end of his turn (to get early damage in against the possibly creatureless deck). He managed to get the Icy out despite my wishes. Later on a Winter Orb came out, as well. He spent his time tapping the land I'd untap on upkeep, so in response, I used it to cast the Tithes I kept pulling, allowing me to get some mana out each turn. Every time I pulled a Bolt, I would use it on him during my Upkeep with the land that was being tapped by the Icy. On and on this went, until he began attempts at arms escalation (i.e. he started summoning creatures!!!) As everyone knows, Prison decks AIN'T SUPPOSE TO HAVE CRITTERS IN THEM!!! So I stole an Erhnam, though the two Propagandas he'd brought out didn't allow for an attack. At this point, Ray was at seven life. I had one Bolt left in my deck, and the Erhnam at my disposal, though I'd only get one chance to use both before I got locked down. Having dealt with four or five critters thus far, I suspected that Ray didn't have any left in his library. So my strategy (my library had around ten cards remaining) was to wait for the Bolt AND a couple more Force of Wills (I had one in hand, with U cards to power them if need be) so that I could get the damage through. Every turn I'd declare an attack phase to see if Ray would tap the Erhnam, but he wasn't biting, chosing instead to concentrate on the land lock. If I had chosen to attack earlier, I would have brought Ray down to three (while tapping the remaining lands I had in play). Not having the cards in hand to finish out the game (3 Force of Wills and the Bolt to be played when he tapped my mana on next upkeep) would give Ray a chance to reset his lands (by tapping the Orb) so that he could cast all his counters when the Bolt attempt came. So I waited. Unfortunately, the turn before I'd be able to get the final action going, Ray pulled another Erhnam and laid it out. As he was using Undiscovered Paradises for Green mana, I wasn't able to forestwalk my way to victory (he'd just block with his Erhnam, then lock my mana out for the rest of the game).L Knowing that I'd run out of cards while having no chance at victory, I conceeded (this game took around 35 minutes, so I wanted to give myself a shot at a second and possibly match tying game). In came the sideboard: In: 2 Auras of Silence, 1 Disenchant, 2 Swords to Plowshares, 2 Red Elemental Blast, 1 Serenity Out: 2 Control Magics (although I wanted to take his critters and use them against him, the extra Swords to Plowshares would prevent the critters from going back to his side if he could remove the enchantment. Also, the Propagandas would make using these critters pretty tough), 2 Wildfire Emissarys (I didn't see myself getting these guys out during a mana tight situation. Plus, he would be siding in a ton of Hydro and Blue Blast, I suspected. Better to keep the Ophidians in to draw the extra cards), 1 Earthquake (in a mana intensive game, it's hard to keep this guy in), 1 Serrated Arrows (he did have some Firewalkers I'd seen from the first game, so I kept in one Serrated just in case) 2nd Game-I do believe sometime during this game, Ray's deck looked up at him and made the following statement, "You ain't going to get a thing outta me this game boss!" True to it's word, the deck gave him no answers to a Frenetic and Mishra, while mine chose to act in an appropriate manor by giving me all sorts of threats and defenses. Ray was very gracious about it though, and let his deck live to see another game. If it had been me, I'd have seriously considered teaching it some basic flight principles. 3rd Game-This game proved a weak attempt at humor by my deck. It chose to give me nothing, while Ray's deck laughed at me and provided him with the necessary tools to defeat what feeble efforts I did manage. Some Propagandas drew the line and said, "No Tresspassing". A Worb came out and joined the Propagandas in their merryment. Then, an Erhnam or Waterspout arrived and did a little dance on my head. It was most distressing. Ray was cool, as was his deck. He didn't make any mistakes, other than dropping the Icy by accident in the first game. As with Ashley, we talked a little bit and wished each other luck. Match 1-1 My next match had me sitting at the top table, something both my opponent (Gary Tuck) and I found interesting (me having one loss). It was quickly discovered that an error had been made, and my previous round opponent Ray was given my seat, while I went in search of my true adversary. 3rd Match-Timothy Jaxon (Sebastopool, California) W/B/R Nekrataal, Burn, burn, and, a little burn 1st Game-Timothy has all the answers, as well as great coin calling ability. Smelling victory after my life total had dropped to single digits, he emptied his hand, toasting me like a little marshmellow at summer camp. Looking down at my arms, I discovered a distinct tan line forming (something rarely found on the indigenous Idahoan). So I sideboarded, thinking little evil thoughts: In: 2 Blue Elemental Blast, 2 Hydroblast, 1 Hammer of Bogardan (as Timothy had lots of little critters that needed smashing. Also, he had nothing in his deck I had seen that would indicate he wanted to mess with my mana. So the potential for Hammer recursion was a distinct possibility) Out: 2 Control Magics (detect a pattern here?), 2 Earthquakes (again, it is not permissible to help a burn-boy do his job), 1 Disenchant (leaving myself open for a Bloodmoon) 2nd and 3rd Games- I am sorry to disappoint you, but I remember very little from these games other than my control came to play and my Frenetics learned how to phase when confronted by Tim's Nekrataals. In fitting fashion, I did manage to burn Tim out at the end of both contest.J Match 2-1 4th Match Nick Mitchell (San Jose, California) U/W Tradewind Rider/Capsize/Lots of Walls Deck Nick's deck was a quickly converted Type II deck borrowed from a friend. It's object, as far as I could ascertain, was to annoy the hell out of the opponent until said opponent pulled a hissy fit. 1st Game-Walls, walls, and still more walls were thown up for defenses by Nick immediately after his third mana was attained. Eventually, a Tradewind Rider came a calling, but he had to go away (Swords). Applying a slow beating, I managed to get Nick down into single digits, but the going got tough for my one Frenetic, as a Wall of Air soon was to make it's appearance. Finding the Swords necessary to send the offending wall farming, Mr. Frenetic got down to business once again. After a few more turns, Nick was at one life, and on his turn, he summoned another Rider I just couldn't handle. Also, one of his Capsizes made an extended appearance, as well as a Firewalker. Failing to pull a source of direct damage for the kill, I succumbed to the inevitable plinkdown administered by the agent of pain (Firewalker). Sideboard Time. In: 2 Swords to Plowshares, 2 Red Elemental Blast Out: 2 Control Magics (never would have guessed this, eh?), 1 Tithe, 1 Ophidian (With all those walls and the match-up generally being slow and tactful, I expected that his exclusion wouldn't hinder the other attacks from having their way thanks to the included sideboard cards) 2nd and 3rd Games-Another one of those matches that is won through the sideboarding of the opponents. My sideboard came to play, allowing me to establish threats with Ophidians and Frenetics during both games. Nick's side, which he showed me after the match, was not tweaked for the Extended format, and thus, faltered. The only highlight of the last two games came when my Fenetic actually managed to phase when a Capsize (bought back) was targeting him (causing the Capsize to fizzle and go to the graveyard). Also of note was the play of my Ophidians. While Nick struggled to keep cards in hand (I played the disruptive game, forcing him to deal with my threats via counter Magic each round until he ran out), the Ophidibastards found extra cards lying around the ruins of Nick's defense. Such proved quite strong in the end.J Match 3-1 5th Match Gary Tuck (Orangevale, California) G/W Erhnamgeddon 1st Game-Not much to remember about this game, other than Gary's threats were way too slow during the contest. He did sneak an Armegeddon past me which didn't hinder my game, as I had a fat hand full of land thanks to my Tithes. 2nd Game (Tenetively Titled: CUJOPHIDIAN for it's big-screen release)-Other than the Armegeddon I chose not to counter (as I had been saving land throughout the game), this battle was highlighted by a quite mad Ophidian drawing large amounts of cards (11 during the game). After a time, his brother came to the fray. It was quite enlightening, as the brothers commenced a contest. Unfortunately for Gary, he was the object of the Ophidian Twins' affections. I now fully understand why Mr. Kibble swears by these guys.J 6th and Final Match Brian Glenn (Riverside, California) 5 Color Green Stompy Thingy After looking at the standings following the fifth round, I was in eigth place, with a decent tie-breaker. This didn't give me great hope, however, as I used what limited mathematical skills a Skyline High School grad such as myself could possess, and deducted that I couldn't pull through the swiss with a draw in my final round. I'm pretty sure that Brian deduced the same. So without even a hint at an intentional draw, we played. 1st Game-As with all Stompy style decks, Brian's started out quickly, putting down a second turn River Boa (Swords to Plowshare) as well as an attempt at a third turn Boa (Countered). Little dudes started popping up, but there was an Earthquake that shook Dominia and reeked much havoc on Brian's side of the board. Many deaths were reported in the Elf kingdoms. When the dust had cleared, my high-flyers (Frenetics) had saved the day. Onto our intermission presentation: SIDEBOARDING AND YOU In: Big Fat Hammer of Bogardan (I brought in the nuke, even though Brian had Armegeddons in his deck-I countered one during the first match), 2 Swords to Plowshares (give a little life, take out the Boas, great if he throws down the Worb) Out: 2 Control Magics (wasn't too worried about Maro and friends-besides, it wouldn't be sideboarding in this tourney if I didn't take them out), 1 Dissipate (still maintained the huge countering advantage against Brian's deck-didn't take out Disenchants because I hadn't seen enough of his deck and wanted to make sure a Worb or something like that didn't catch me by surprise) 2nd Game-Two Queer Elfs came out pretty quickly, though Maro didn't quite make the game (counter). More little dudes, like a rabid Boa joined the fray, only to go away once I got to my fourth mana and dropped the first of two Serrated Arrows. Brian could do nothing but watch as the Boa fell, then the Elfs, and everything else he threw out to take the counters away. With few cards in hand, Brian Armegeddoned (I let him-had counters and FOW in hand) after having offed one of my slacking Frenetics in an attempt to gain some time or advantage. Remembering the previous game's attempt at massive land kill, I had held back a land and Tithe for just such an occasion. I came out the better, as Brian couldn't draw the lands necessary to play after his gamble (Brian did make the right call under the circumstances). With the victory, I made it into the final eight for the third time out of five tries.;) Sidenote: During the play of the last game, a nervous habit I have (when I'm excited) reared it's ugly head. My right leg starts bouncing up and down without me being the wiser. Bruce Johnson (from NY and sitting next to me) asked that I stop, as it was making the table cloth bounce right along with the leg and he needed to think without it agitating him (it was a heavy table cloth). I apologized, but moments later, that damned leg of mine started up again and Bruce asked once again that I stop it. After another half a minute of play, it did it again, and this time, Bruce called the judge.J So, I straightened my leg out and played the rest of my match with a judge standing there to make sure my leg didn't twitch. Bet you never had that happen to you in a magic tourney before.J Match 5-1 Quarter-Finals-Preston Poulter (LALALAND, California) Big Friggin Blue-Waterspouts, Firewalkers, Counters, Icys, Counters, Control Magic, Air Elementals, Counters, and, alas, WORB:P Now, many of you know Preston Poulter as one of the few players to have placed twice in the top eight of a Pro Tour. And, you would be right. Anyway, Preston, after having gone 6-0 during the first day of the Grand Prix, was booted due to a clerical error while recording his deck list (he didn't write down the four Force of Wills in his deck, so only had 56 cards written down for a deck). He wasn't happy, so he entered the PTQ. After having achieved a record of 5-1, he was to face me, and I looked quite forward to it, as I'd seen his deck earlier (during his heckling in the morning) and felt I could prevail! 1st Game-Having a nearly perfect hand, I laid down a Mishra first turn and proceeded to attack as much as possible while laying as many threats as possible early on. I wanted to force his hand out in the open, allowing me to lay down Frenetics and Ophidians when the odds were against his having a counter. This strategy of aggession came through as I was able to take him down in life rather quickly. All threats that he came out with were either countered or Swords thanks to the opening god-hand. Once again, we pause for sideboarding…. In: 2 Swords to Plowshares (Big, fat Spouts and Air Elementals just aren't any good-and those damned pesky Firewalkers don't like to die to fire), 1 Hammer of Bogardan (love this against control decks for some reason), 2 Red Elemental Blast Out: 1 Tithe, 2 Control Magics, 2 Wildfire Emissary (didn't want to have them taken away with no way to kill them-ie: Bolts, Swords, didn't want to risk it) 2nd Game-Another quick start is had by me, with many forcings of the counters. Knowing that I would have Hammer recursion soon, I dropped the Hammer on Preston on my third or fourth turn. Sometime late in the game, with Preston in single digits, he managed to get an Air Elemental out (I had no counters in hand). No problem, I'll just win the damage race with my Hammer (I had eight lands out). So I recalled the Hammer, not using the Fireball in my hand to kill his Air Elemental (I was going to use it when in two turns on Preston if it came down to it). I do believe that Preston drew his Winter Orb (I didn't see one of these that morning when we were putting our decks together) on his turn, as he exclaimed a little, "YES!" and laid the offending artifact down. With this, I wasn't happy. In fact, I was downright sad, as my chances for the game were slowing slipping away with this phenomenal show of top-decking skillz. I did draw some feeble Swords to Plowshares (countered), then conceded the game when the end was inevitable. With mistakes made, he took another look at his sideboard….. In: 2 Auras of Silence, 1 Disenchant Out: 1 Hammer of BogardanL, 1 Earthquake, 1 Serrated Arrows 3rd Game-Well folks. There's nothing like opening the third and deciding game of a must-win match with an Aura of Silence.J Then again, there's nothing like opening that same game with only one white mana source (Tundra).L Sometime during the early stages of this game, Preston Wastelanded my Tundra. So, me being the lucky player I am, I draw a Plains and lay out an Ophidian.J Preston attempts to Control the Book and I have to Bolt the little guy.L So I play another one.J Preston plays a Propaganda.L So I attack and cast another Book (hoping to use the mana the next turn to feed the attack of the Ophidians to get a Disenchant, for the longer this slow game went on, the less chance I had to win-the attack must be taken back at all cost-also, I didn't have any counters left, leaving me short on options). I don't draw the Disenchant, though Preston did manage to get out another Propaganda.L Then he brought out a third.L As you can imagine, it wasn't very pleasant. I never got that second white mana, either. My only highlights of the game were the Swordsing of two Waterspout Djinns in a row. It was the rude third one that brought the house down, along with my hopes of qualifying in San Jose. What's more, my record against the Players Formally Known as PiCkLe dropped down to 3-4 in sanctioned matches. Bummer.L I will give credit to Preston, though. He played an excellent game. Final Record 5-2 This sudden departure from the tourney actually benefited me in one way: it allowed for me to do the job I was actually there to do, cover the final eight of the Grand Prix.J The greatest shock of the night was that Daniel Clegg, who had gone undefeated through the Swiss rounds (11-0-1) had been beat out by Rob "Scrubowski" Swarowski from Las Vegas. Dan was pretty bummed, as he got completely mana screwed in the last game of the match. The only thing I could really say to him was that he was qualified and I wasn't, so it could be worse. Also, he had spending money for his efforts. As for Rob, things were looking decidedly up from that last time I had spoken to him. Seeing the Vegas group earlier on, they looked like death warmed over. Rob was singing the blues, as he had to win his last five matches to get into the top eight. Gotta give him credit, especially since he went on to win the whole ball of wax. As for the rest of the GP, you guys can read Ryan Fuller's report for a little more detail (he came in second). I'll be posting a follow-up soon analyzing the various extended deck types I've seen and how I feel they can be improved. Look for it here on the Dojo. Right after the tourney finished, we were all unceremoniously kicked out of the building around 11pm. Keith Keeling stayed with Alex and I that final night, so we stayed up and talked till 5am. Then Keith had to run to catch his plane. Alex barely caught his plane (cabs are slow getting to you on Mondays in San Jose) and I found out that my 1pm flight was cancelled due to bad weather. So they booked me on the 9am flight, but that was cancelled as well. Then they put me on the 6am flight that had been held over on the runway until a window could be found into Salt Lake (it was now 10am). While sitting in the plane, they handed out headsets and played Men in Black for us. The weather cleared in Utah, so I arrived earlier than I would have if I had taken my regular flight.J As for the shuttle ride home, it was very uneventful, other than the blizzard raging outside. PROPS Rob Swarowski for winning the whole damned thing. It's not often you have to win your last five matches to have a shot, but that's what he did, proving he's not as bad a player as we thought he was.J Daniel Clegg for developing a deck the whole world could copy overnight.J The Tournament Judges, led by the always able and willing Dan Gray. The rest of the looney bin consisted of Andrea Kunstt, Scott Larabee, and Peter Constandinitis. The tourney was so well run, people didn't even know they were there. All my opponents (other than James Parker) on the weekend. Everyone was pleasant to play against and I had a really great time. My Serrated Arrows. In my last match of the Swiss in the PTQ, the two of them were responsible for taking out six little Stompy critters. Very cool. SLOPS James Parker, the POOP-HEAD. Next time, just drop out of the tourney. Preston-You gotta chill a little and remember it's just a game. It's not worth an ulcer. The kid you played in the semis was cool and should have been treated that way. Other than that, I consider you one of the good guys. El Nino-The weather was pretty bad, especially during the sprint to the tourney site on Sunday. Why don't you just go away. THE END Jack Stanton Minions of Atog Player Contributor to the Duelist Sideboard Longwinded