Subject: Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 00:03:12 -0500 (EST) From: Puckfan31@aol.com To: Hello to all, once again its time to set aside my gambling habit and write a tourney report from Las Vegas. As usual I didn't write anything down so if you wanted to know what mana was left untapped by my 3rd round opponent during the 7th turn of game 2 you will have to read someone elses report. I will do my best to recall the events of the day from my point of view. My apologies in advance for any errors. O.K. lets get on with it. This saturday kicked off Wizards Playgrounds first $money$ tournament (its about time). This will apparently be a weekly event :) There was a good turnout of players and most of the "pros" were on hand. As the Dojo was full of decks, and last weeks t2 was a split between a Sligh and blue control so there was no "meta-gaming". I expected to see a lot of diversity as everyone is still testing the waters of Tempest. I went with a WW F. Orb style deck. I had been testing it during the week and it seemed pull a B grade. I didn't have time to try anything else so this is how it looked. Shadow-Orb "shadow-beatdown" 4 Soltari Foot Soldiers - These guys are really weak, I am embarassed. 3 Soltari Trooper 4 Soltari Priest - These guys are PIMP! "control-beatdown" 4 white knights 3 Serrated Biskelions - I like this guy, I might try 4 4 Man o War "forgotten orb beatdown" 4 Memory Lapse 2 Power Sink 1 Propaganda - What a surprise 2 Enlightened Tutor 2 'geddons 2 Winter Orbs 1 Mana Web - I was testing this instead of a 3rd Orb. It wasn't bad. 3 Disenchant - I will probably go with 4 as Propaganda gets more popular 1 Sky Diamond 1 Marble Diamond - The Diamonds were O.K. but they wont make the next cut. "land-beatdown" 10 Plains 2 Islands 2 Gemstone Mine 3 Adarkar Wastes 3 Undiscovered Paradise "sideboard-beatdown" 1 Disenchant 2 Serene Offering 2 Dust to Dust 2 Force Spike 2 Disrupt 1 Wrath of God 2 Chill 1 Dream tides 2 Knights of the Mist The 'board seems crappy when I look at it now, but every card but Dreamtides helped me win games. Go figure. The 5 rnd swiss format tourney started at 1:00 pm and was non-sanctioned. The prize of $100 was up for grabs for first place, which may not sound like much as far as money tourneys go but its a good start. Wizards Playground also had gift certificates and Packs for the semi-finalists. Match 1 vs Jeff Driscol ( Blue) Jeff is a good player and a cool guy but it seems I have his number in tournaments. I can't say I outplayed him It's just that he never seems to draw any theats against me. Game 1 Sorry to blast you here Jeff but... Abduction is WEAK in constructed. I win Game 2 Mana screw. I win record 1-0 Match 2 vs Don Price ( Fernetic-wierd stuff) Don is way cool and one of the best players in Vegas. He usually only plays qualifiers but I guess the money sounded good. We hadn't played each other since the 5-card qualifier ages ago. We laughed at how he beat my ass way back then in the quarter-finals and how I had been waiting for this day to get my revenge. Game 1 Kindle, Incinerate, and 3 Fernetics. I lose. not a chance Game 2 Wastland, and Dons secret weapon Scragnoth!?!?! I lose. Revenge looms in my soul. I promise to meet him in the final 8. record 1-1 Match 3 vs Matt Bunch ( W/b control) Matt is my roomate and we built his deck :25 minutes before the tourney. I don't expect to win game 1 but after 'boarding I should have him. His record is 1-0-1 after taking another control deck to the time limit in match 1, and barely surviving till the 1 hour limit against a Sligh deck in the 3rd game of match 2. Divine offering is so strong ;). Game 1 I come out fast and see 2 disenchants. I win Game 2 after my 9 card sideboard he doesnt stand a chance. The Force Spike to stop the WoG is huge. W.Orb beatdown. I win record 2-1 Match 4 vs Tom Fitzpatrick ( Blue beatdown ) Tom didn't play in the tournament but this was his deck. Tom was being "Proxied" by Kyle Boyd. Either one of them would be a tough opponent as they are 2 of the best of Vegas. I am not being nice to anyone either but out of the dozen or so solid players in this town I seem to be playing them all. It seems to be working for the most part, the tougher the competition the better I play. Tom sits near by to watch as Kyle shuffles, I ask him who he thinks can take this match. He says, "Kyle", of course and that fires me up, plus Kyle had jawed earlier that my deck wouldn't make it. OH man, I don't think anyone understands that I am sooo much better when I play under pressure. I can focus better. Game 1 creature beatdown, Worb. Kyle concedes. Tom thinks he could have played it out, thats what you get for playing with proxies Tom. I win Game 2 I slip a Worb and a Mana Web under his counters and win again. record 3-1 Match 5 vs Lief ( 'tog-Stasis) After a quick check of our swiss citizenship papers we draw into the final 8. I am very happy to see Don price has also made the cut. record 3-1-1 Here are the final 8 Tim Rivera ( Vinyard beatdown) Lief ( 'tog-Stasis ) "Deathmetal" Steve (Slug deck) Basicaly Slighs big brother with a twist Don Price (Funky Fernetic) Joe Spica ( Vinyard control) Ray ? (Sligh) I dont know this guy but he's a good player from out of state. Rob "scrubbie" Skrabowski (sp? sorry dude I can say it but I can't spell it) (3cB) Me (WW forgotten orb) Quarter Finals vs Don Price!!!!!!! ( Scragnoth beatdown) ;) I don't remember if we went to 3 games, all I know is the Shadow priests issued huge beatdown and Don couldn't find an answer, with prot red and shadow they do way more damage than a Pump knight any day. My deck could taste the sweet revenge as I saw great cards and Don saw nothing. An early Force spike crushed a fernetic and Dons hope. Force spike is the new force of will!!!! It is so huge in this kind of deck cuz of the time advantage under the Worb. We laughed and Don wanted to know if I would trade him any force spikes. Ahhhhh the sweet taste of revenge. Don and I are even at last. Semi-Finals vs Tim Rivera The road to victory wasn't going to be easy today. Once again I find myself against one of the best. The only thing going for me here is Tims deck is pretty untested and I feel my sideboard can handle the vinyard and artifacts well. Game 1 Tim is mana screwed and when the vinyard finally comes I have the disenchant. I'm glad that even pro-tour players can get mana hosed it gives the rest of us a shot ;) Game 2 I sideboard out all the cards that I need to win the game. I am an idiot cuz I know what Tim is running but he uses his pro tour Jedi training and erases my brain. He beats me down with Fernetics and Wildfires. Game 3 My years of training with Jabba allow me to shrug off Tims Jedi mind tricks. I get out fast and once again my prot red Priests Give me the game. Finals vs "Deathmetal" Steve We decide to split the 1st and 2nd place prizes which works out to $50 cash and $15 store credit each and get the p.m. booster draft started. As it was I really don't think I could handle Sligh. I seemed to be pretty lucky in my matchups as my deck ran pretty much at medium speed and my opponents ran fairly slow. I will definately make changes but I feel that the Worb cant be ignored. I think w/u has enough answers for the Prosp-bloom, Sligh and Control style decks so I will be improving on this design. Overall the event ran smoothly I think the turnout was at about 26 or so which isn't bad for the Vegas scene. Big bone crushing Matt Tabak was the head judge and rules enforcer of the tourney doing a great job as usual. I would like to thank all the great players who showed up everyone was very cool and we all had fun. I noticed some new players too, my advise to you is keep showing up. The more often you play where all the best players play, your game will improve like crazy. Any deck can win and cash is a great motivator. Till next time - Keith