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Minnesota State Championship "The deck that almost wasn’t" I would like to share the deck that almost wasn’t but First I have to give credit where credit is do but if your one of those "Just show me the damn deck" people, scroll to the end. If you want to now it’s history and how it preformed then read on. 11/19/99 – The night before The night before states I’m trying out my Land Destruction deck out at the local Friday night Magic hot spot, Dreamer’s. After struggling through four games, and missing the top eight, I decided that I needed to rebuild the deck for states the next day or play the always reliable green Stompy. Even though I didn’t make the top eight I stayed around to see how my friends did. I played Ron "I got your number" Mills earlier and wanted to see how he was doing. He was playing White Weenie. My first thought is that all the good creatures are out of standard. My second thought is that everyone is playing black or red. My third thought is that if no one expects WW they won’t put Dread of Night in their sideboards. After a long car ride home I made a WW deck and made some changes to the LD deck and called it the night around 2:00a.m. 11/20/99 – States I arrived at Mirkwood for the state championship tournament around 8:30 a.m. and filled out two deck list, one for WW and another for LD. Ten Minutes before round one pairings I made a choice to play WW. I think the fact that I was to tired to remember to pay upkeep cost to the Masticore in the LD deck and that at this point in the day I just wanted to have fun were the major influences in why I played WW. Round Highlights Round 1 – Ezra "I can play with a hangover" Kazee Final standing after 7th round 41st Ezra was playing a rogue Blue and Red Thieves’ Auction, the only Thieves’ Auction, deck. Basically I rolled him 2-0. The fast creatures of WW hit the table, along with a few Crusades and a follow up Armageddon and that was all she wrote. On a special note I would like to say congratulations to Ezra for casting the Thieves’ Auction in round 7 for the first, and last, time of the day. Nice Santa hat. Round 2 – Mike final standing unknown I wasn’t planing on writing this report so I didn’t get full name for everyone, sorry Mike. Mike, if I recall correctly, was playing a black and red LD deck. Again I came out on top never taking any damage from him either game and winning 2-0. I think it was the coming into play tapped Depletion Lands that did it in for him. Round 3 – Dahl, Tom final standing after 7th round 5th Tom was playing, what else, replenish. A few mommy’s and Steadfast Guards and a well timed Armageddon one the first game. Game two would have been his if, after two Frantic Searches and three Attunements he could have drawn the much needed 2nd white mana for Wrath of God. In the end I beat him 2-0. Round 4 – Schmidt, Jesse final standing after 7th round 11th Jesse was playing green stompy. This proved to be one of the more interesting matches of the day for me. Jesse, who looks to be about ten years of age comes out quickly with turn one wild dogs, turn two troll, turn three jaguar and sent them over turn four making them into green machines by casting two Scent of Ivy’s for five and four and a Giant Growth. On my fifth round I’m on the ropes at five life and looks like I’m going to lose my first game of the day when I draw Wrath Of God. At this point I would like the thank Hodge who forced me to move two Wrath of Gods from the side board to main deck before the start of the Day, Thanks Hodge. Jesse had two card in hand, another troll and a Giant Growth and has over extended himself. I Wrath, next turn he cast his troll, my next turn I cast Armageddon and leave him with one giant growth in hand. After that it was just a matter of rebuilding quicker than him. Game two went more in my favor with several quick creatures and a steadfast guard coming over each round, with pro green from the Mama, winning 2-0. I would like to thank Jesse for one of the better games of the day and offer him this advise "You are an excellent player for your age and you will get better but Never over extend yourself, good luck in the future." Round 5 – Rodewald, Doug final standing after 7th round 6th I never had the chance to see the full extent of Doug’s deck. It was Black and Blue and other than Thieving Magpie damage I took the first game rather quickly. The 2nd game gave me first game loss of the day by means of Masticore – nuff’ said. Game three time was called with a 4/5 Cho-Arrim Legate, three crusades, two plains and a Forbidding Watchtower in my favor I top deck a plains attack with the Legate and bring Doug down to 9. His first overtime turn he cast Somnafore. My second turn I top deck a Exile, attack with the Legate bring him down to 5 and lay down the Serra Zealot. His 2nd turn he attacks with the Somnafore and I Exile and that was all she wrote. Next round I come over with the Zealot, Legate and the Watchtower winning 2-1 Round 6 – Evan "Motor mouth" Stern final standing after 7th round 3rd At this point the standings are out and I’m number one seat. Evan persuades me to draw the 6th and 7th round to make it into the top 8. Going into the 7th round I’m still number one seat only dropping to number two after the 7th round with a record of 5-0-2, first seat went to Lee Tue. The 6th round also gave way to the sportsmanship play of the day. Tom Dahl, playing Replenish, and Hodge, playing Bargain have just completed the 2nd game and there is only five minutes remaining. They play some speed Magic, both trying to win with their combo decks, yeah right, with in five minutes. Time is called and they go through their 3 turns apiece. On Hodge’s final turn he unsuccessfully goes off. He calls out "Rocco, who has the higher standing right now." I run to the list and reply "Tom’s at 15 and your at 17", He says "I move to my discard step," and after a dramatic pause, "I concede". Your all class in this man’s book Hodge. Top Eight Quarter Finals – Alex "The Sheik Greek" Bakopoulos final standing after 7th round 7th Basically I never had a chance. I played very well but his green and red deck was to quick for my WW deck to handle. In hind sight if I would Have put all plains into the deck instead of the Forbidding Watchtowers I would have stood a chance but his red burn and his quick green creature rolled me rather quickly. The only thing I can say is that Rishadan Port and Impending Disaster sucks. Semi-Finals & Finals I decided to wish my friends well and skin out and spend some much needed time with my wife so I have to write the next part from what the guy’s at Mirkwood told me the following day. Congrat’s to Evan Stern winning over Alex Bakopoulos and avenging my loss in the quarter finals. Evan went on to lose the grudge match of the day and place second. Noah Weil won his semi-final match up against Casey Ehlert. Noah, in the finals, played Evan. These two played each other in the 3rd round and Evan won that match up but Noah proved to be the Superior player this time around win the match up and becoming the 1999 MN State Champion. Hey, Evan & Noah, can I have my cards back now. Congratulations to Noah Weil and all the contestants who participated in the tournament. Thanks to Hodge and Ron Mills for their suggestions in the deck that almost wasn’t and thanks also goes out to the guys in Mirkwood and Steve and Marcy Port for running the event. All in all I would say that most important thing was that I had fun. If I would have played LD I would not have done as well and would have not had as much fun and that’s the thing that you should keep in mind when playing games, have fun. The Deck That Almost Wasn’t 23 Creatures 15 Spells 4 Armageddon 18 Plains Sideboard 1 Wrath of God This deck lost only one game before the Top 8. I went 5-0-2 having the last two rounds to draw into the finals. Not bad for a deck that doesn't have that many solid creatures. In hind sight I would find room for 2 more plains but other than that it preformed with almost flawless perfection. |
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