fk06-29-97
From: [email protected] (Francis Keys)
Subject: Minnesota State Limited Championship Tournament Report
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 1997 19:04:54 GMT
Sam Heckman came to town with his friend Tim on Friday night while
Melissa and I were playing T2 at Dreamers. As usual, I found a way to
go 3-0 and then miss final eight by losing in the last round of Swiss
because Dreamers doesn't run enough rounds. Fortunately, that freed
us all for a night of revelry.
After za and garlic bread at Davani's, we kicked back at my apartment.
Tim is a talented guitar player and he noodled through the evening
while we drank and laughed and plotted our imminent world domination.
By the end of the evening, Melissa and I were wishing we hadn't
prepaid for the state championship tournament, because we really just
wanted to sleep Saturday morning.
After a couple hours of rest, I awoke feeling groggy and slightly
hungover. I figured I could hit the tournament, look through my slack
deck, get beat down a little and head home for more sleep and a hot
shower. I've had a series of surprisingly poor sealed decks, and I've
begun to expect it. As I headed out the door, Tim woke up enough to
say, "Hey Francis. Good luck."
The deck I registered was strong, but my deck was even better and
really easy to build. I played with 17 creatures and 6 strong spells
to serve up a continuous beatdown.
Here's the deck I played:
Searing Spear Askari
Femeref Knight
Zhalfirin Knight
Bogardan Firefiend
Dwarven Vigilantes
Raging Spirit
Talruum Minotaur
Lava Hounds
Basalt Golem
Igneous Golem
Goblin Scouts
Shimmering Efreet
Teremko Griffin
Cloud Elemental
Fog Elemental
Bogardan Phoenix
Cerulean Wyvern
Power Sink
Ray of Command
Incinerate
Lava Storm
Sun Clasp
Empyrial Armor
7 Mountain
5 Island
5 Plains
The only card I ever sideboarded for was Freewind Falcon.
Melissa's deck was also strong as we faced six rounds of Swiss. My
first three apartments went down hard to the onslaught of flankers and
flyers. Surprisingly, Empyrial Armor and Ray of Command, which I
thought would be my power cards, failed to make a big impact. Lava
Hounds, however, served up repeated fourth turn devestation after
Power Sinking my opponents' first big plays several times. In the
fourth round, my opponent finally delivered a game loss as I drew
eleven land and six spells, but he lost the other games of the match.
After the fourth round, Melissa and I both stood at 4-0. Quick
calculations told us that even with the new point system for draws, we
were still guaranteed final eight spots with the other 4-0 players. I
drew the fifth round of Swiss with Jason Webster, one of Minnesota's
best players, and beat him 2-0 in fun games. The sixth round paired
Melissa and I, and we drew again, to head for the final eight with 14
points each, she in juniors and I in masters.
I opened my finals deck to find... amazing similarity to my Swiss
deck. No fewer than nine cards were identical in the red, white and
blue deck I built. Here's my final eight deck:
Raging Gorilla
Benalish Knight
Benalish Infantry
Femeref Knight
Suq'Ata Lancer
Southern Paladin
Ekundu Cyclops
Talruum Minotaur
Igneous Golem
Goblin Scouts
Tin Wing Chimera
Melesse Spirit
Breezekeeper
Parapet
Sun Clasp
Empyrial Armor
Amber Prison
Disenchant
Memory Lapse
Lava Storm
Incinerate
Ray of Command
Thirst
7 Plains
6 Mountain
4 Island
This deck wasn't as easy to build, with excellent cards like Healing
Salve, Reign of Chaos, Ether Well, Ward of Lights, and Phantom Warrior
still in my sideboard. My green creatures were also very strong, but
didn't make the cut. The one thing that worried me is that I was only
playing with thirteen creatures and I had many, many double-colored
casting costs.
In the round of eight, I faced Kristine Dolbeare, a friendly player
who frequently attends local tournaments with her husband Kevin. Our
games went by quickly as I drew all my flyers and she found no
response. I won 2-0. Melissa also won her match.
In the round of four, my opponent was Dustin Lussier. His deck was
incredibly strong, with two dragons, tons of removal, and a great
creature base. He was mana screwed in our first game as I quickly
dispatched him. I sideboarded for Reign of Chaos. My Amber Prison
held off his Amber Prison and Reign of Chaos yielded massive card
advantage as I dispatched his Empyrial Armored Vaporous Djinn and
killed him. 2-0. Melissa won her match. We were both headed for the
finals.
I faced Cory Ferguson, arguably the best player in Minnesota, with
1955 DCI points in limited and 1938 in T2. We played pure beatdown in
the first game, trading point for point. I finally killed him with an
Empyrial Armored Goblin Scout and an Incinerate. My Breezekeeper and
scouts were the only creatures I saw as he played creature after
creature, but Amber Prison saved me.
Our second game was a cliff hanger. I made a tremendous mistake early
on, wasting my Ray of Command. I completely forgot the Giant
Caterpillar's special ability and took control of his Fog Elemental to
block. He sacrificed the Giant Caterpillar in response to my ray,
leaving me in rough shape as my creatures again hid themselves. He
beat me down with no damage himself as I searched desperately for a
second red mana to power the Reign of Chaos, Talruum Minotaur, and
Lava Storm languishing in my hand. With my Amber Prison and Thirst, I
did my best to stay alive, but he was still pounding me with the
butterfly token and his own Goblin Scouts. At one life, I drew the
second mountain. He attacked with all his tokens and a Man-o-War. I
killed them all with Lava Storm.
The tide swung. I began to draw creature after creature, culminating
with a Melesse Spirit and the incredible Southern Paladin. I attacked
with my uncontested flyer as the paladin destroyed his Thunder Mare
and Subterranean Spirit, his River Boa locked down in the prison. In
a final surge, I attacked with Southern Paladin, Talruum Minotaur,
Melesse Spirit, and Igneous Golem to take his last six points of life
for a 20-1 life comeback. Life total means nothing until one of you
is at zero.
At 7-0-2 with only one game loss all day, I became the Minnesota
sealed deck champion. Melissa killed her final opponent to take home
the junior title. We didn't get to hit the showers until almost
midnight. Good thing we prepaid or we would have just slept in.
Thanks for the luck, Tim.
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