==ISLANDHOME #37==
November 12th 2008
==IN THIS ISSUE...==
Promo-rama: Wizards is upping the foils!
States 2008 Wrap-Up
==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==
Friday: FNM Booster Draft at Brothers Grim ($13 entry) @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Grand Opening Sealed Deck ($30 entry) at FNC @ 1 PM
Sunday: Booster Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM
I have some extra foils to give out for Friday's FNM at Brothers Grim. And good ones too, no Icatian Javelineers or Fiery Tempers! What are they? Well you'll have to come play to find out!
==PROMO-RAMA==
==STATES 2008 WRAP-UP==
==IN THIS ISSUE...==
Promo-rama: Wizards is upping the foils!
States 2008 Wrap-Up
==THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE==
Friday: FNM Booster Draft at Brothers Grim ($13 entry) @ 7 PM
Saturday: FNC Grand Opening Sealed Deck ($30 entry) at FNC @ 1 PM
Sunday: Booster Draft at Brothers Grim @ 2 PM
I have some extra foils to give out for Friday's FNM at Brothers Grim. And good ones too, no Icatian Javelineers or Fiery Tempers! What are they? Well you'll have to come play to find out!
==PROMO-RAMA==
Wizards is going promo crazy! Not only do you get FNM promos just for playing (this month's is Isochron Scepter; that's right, come play FNM at Brothers Grim and you could win a foil alternate art Isochron Scepter!), but Wizards is also holding a special deal for the holidays. If you play in at least two FNM tournaments between November 14th and December 12th, you'll get a special foil Hypnotic Specter in the mail in your next Magic Player Rewards mailing. But to qualify, you must be signed up for MPR, so go on and register!
==STATES 2008 WRAP-UP==
States is over, and it was intense! We had 134 players total, just barely enough for eight rounds. Players from all over New York showed up to compete for prizes and receive the coveted Dauntless Dourbark promo (not a single copy of which made it into any of the 134 decklists present, oddly enough). The competition was fierce, and the metagame wasn't quite so diverse, but many of our hometown heroes perservered despite the intense competition.
Michael Evans went 6-2, just edging out of the top 8 in eleventh place. Evans was playing an Elf deck very similar to this one, which won Gamingetc's $3,000 tournament last month. There were a few tweaks to the deck, notably the presence of only one copy of Twilight Mire... simply because he couldn't find another one in time. His only loses were to a Faerie deck in an early round, a hard but not unwinnable matchup, and a seventh round loss to a 5-Color Control deck that was specifically tuned to beat aggro decks. The only other Elf deck I saw with a similar build wound up in 113th place, so it was either the missing Twilight Mires or Evans's play skill that propelled him to the top 16... and I'll leave jokes about which one it was up to the professionals.
Rogue decks at States were few and far between, a stark contrast to past State Championships, though I'm not sure of the reason for the change. I saw only one "Fellowship of the Rings" decks (the sixteen Planeswalker list), one tuned up Naya theme deck, and a mono-white Light from Within deck, and Omar Khater's Worm Harvest deck, among the handful of rogue decks in attendance. The star rogue deck of the show was Matt Brocking's Sanity Grinding deck, which FNCers know from his astounding record with the deck at Saturday events. Matt used Sanity Grinding combined with a deck full of five-mana Spirit Avatars, Memory Plunders, Cryptic Commands, and Oona to maximize his chance to grind his opponent's deck for huge numbers. In one late round, I walked by just in time to see him mill for 38, hitting two Godhead of Awes, a Ghastlord of Fugue, Avatar of Fealty, Overbeing of Myth, Memory Plunder, Oona, and two other Sanity Grindings, with a single Island as his only miss. Matt finished in 36th place overall with this list:
Another rogue deck that did fairly well was Mike Flores's RGB Ramp deck featuring cards like Farhaven Elf, Primal Command, and Broodmate Dragon. None of those cards see much play in the competitive tournament scene, but Flores brought back to old mana ramp deck that was thought to be dead after the rotation of Time Spiral block and Coldsnap. I didn't get a close look at the deck, but it's sure to be a popular archetype in the next few weeks. He finished in 14th place with a 6-2 record.
I hadn't been to the new Neutral Ground in months; previous Gray Matter events had been in held in the backup location, Fight House, while Neutral Ground underwent renovation. There were more lights in the bigger end of the room, more tables, and most importantly of all, air conditioning! I'm sure everyone is very thankful for that last one.
The top 8 was definitely not diverse at all: Three Faerie decks, two Kithkin, two 5-Color, and one fringe-y Mono-Red deck splashing black for Blightning. New York is a very competitive area and many players tend to play proven builds - not a bad thing, but it makes for a fairly boring top 8. I didn't stick around to see who won, anticipating the long train ride home after an exhausting, but fun day of judging.
I managed to snag the final standings as the top 8 was starting, so here's how some of our dear readers did at States (apologies to anyone I might have glanced over):
11th - Michael Evans
27th - Jim Chianese
36th - Matt Brocking
37th - Michael Lapine
58th - Anthony James
59th - Tanner Nowicki
85th - Omar Khater
92nd - Robert Towers
98th - Lee Cruceta
102nd - J.R. Tolentino
114th - Chris Neilsen
122th - Mr. Wiggles
126th - Lisa Mercogliano
Congradulations to everyone who came out and competed in the 2008 State Championships!
Michael Evans went 6-2, just edging out of the top 8 in eleventh place. Evans was playing an Elf deck very similar to this one, which won Gamingetc's $3,000 tournament last month. There were a few tweaks to the deck, notably the presence of only one copy of Twilight Mire... simply because he couldn't find another one in time. His only loses were to a Faerie deck in an early round, a hard but not unwinnable matchup, and a seventh round loss to a 5-Color Control deck that was specifically tuned to beat aggro decks. The only other Elf deck I saw with a similar build wound up in 113th place, so it was either the missing Twilight Mires or Evans's play skill that propelled him to the top 16... and I'll leave jokes about which one it was up to the professionals.
Rogue decks at States were few and far between, a stark contrast to past State Championships, though I'm not sure of the reason for the change. I saw only one "Fellowship of the Rings" decks (the sixteen Planeswalker list), one tuned up Naya theme deck, and a mono-white Light from Within deck, and Omar Khater's Worm Harvest deck, among the handful of rogue decks in attendance. The star rogue deck of the show was Matt Brocking's Sanity Grinding deck, which FNCers know from his astounding record with the deck at Saturday events. Matt used Sanity Grinding combined with a deck full of five-mana Spirit Avatars, Memory Plunders, Cryptic Commands, and Oona to maximize his chance to grind his opponent's deck for huge numbers. In one late round, I walked by just in time to see him mill for 38, hitting two Godhead of Awes, a Ghastlord of Fugue, Avatar of Fealty, Overbeing of Myth, Memory Plunder, Oona, and two other Sanity Grindings, with a single Island as his only miss. Matt finished in 36th place overall with this list:
GRIND U
4 Dominus of Fealty
4 Ghastlord of Fugue
4 Godhead of Awe
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Overbeing of Myth
4 Boomerang
4 Cryptic Command
3 Evacuation
4 Sanity Grinding
2 Twincast
3 Jace Beleren
19 Island
4 Shelldock Isle
Sideboard:
4 Plumeveil
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Evacuation
3 Memory Plunder
4 Negate
1 Twincast
4 Dominus of Fealty
4 Ghastlord of Fugue
4 Godhead of Awe
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Overbeing of Myth
4 Boomerang
4 Cryptic Command
3 Evacuation
4 Sanity Grinding
2 Twincast
3 Jace Beleren
19 Island
4 Shelldock Isle
Sideboard:
4 Plumeveil
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Evacuation
3 Memory Plunder
4 Negate
1 Twincast
Another rogue deck that did fairly well was Mike Flores's RGB Ramp deck featuring cards like Farhaven Elf, Primal Command, and Broodmate Dragon. None of those cards see much play in the competitive tournament scene, but Flores brought back to old mana ramp deck that was thought to be dead after the rotation of Time Spiral block and Coldsnap. I didn't get a close look at the deck, but it's sure to be a popular archetype in the next few weeks. He finished in 14th place with a 6-2 record.
I hadn't been to the new Neutral Ground in months; previous Gray Matter events had been in held in the backup location, Fight House, while Neutral Ground underwent renovation. There were more lights in the bigger end of the room, more tables, and most importantly of all, air conditioning! I'm sure everyone is very thankful for that last one.
The top 8 was definitely not diverse at all: Three Faerie decks, two Kithkin, two 5-Color, and one fringe-y Mono-Red deck splashing black for Blightning. New York is a very competitive area and many players tend to play proven builds - not a bad thing, but it makes for a fairly boring top 8. I didn't stick around to see who won, anticipating the long train ride home after an exhausting, but fun day of judging.
I managed to snag the final standings as the top 8 was starting, so here's how some of our dear readers did at States (apologies to anyone I might have glanced over):
11th - Michael Evans
27th - Jim Chianese
36th - Matt Brocking
37th - Michael Lapine
58th - Anthony James
59th - Tanner Nowicki
85th - Omar Khater
92nd - Robert Towers
98th - Lee Cruceta
102nd - J.R. Tolentino
114th - Chris Neilsen
122th - Mr. Wiggles
126th - Lisa Mercogliano
Congradulations to everyone who came out and competed in the 2008 State Championships!
==CRANIAL INSERTION==
Author: Brian Paskoff
Author: Brian Paskoff
New Cranial Insertion from me on Monday! I know it's earlier than I said, but the schedule got switched around a bit. So luckily enough, I get the first post-States article (the one two days after States was written before States took place), so it'll include all your questions from Saturday!
==RULES CORNER==
Author: Brian Paskoff
Author: Brian Paskoff
Q. My opponent has a Gaddock Teeg and a Reveillark in play. If I I wrath the board, can he bring Teeg back?
A. Yes! ...But Teeg's in play, so you couldn't play Wrath of God to begin with. This is one of those things where a judge might answer differently at Regular REL than he would at Competitive or Professional RELs. It's very dangerous for a judge to answer questions that aren't directly asked; in this case, the question was "Can Reveillark bring Teeg back with its trigger if both die at the same time?", not "Can I play Wrath of God with Teeg in play?" At a Regular REL tournament like FNM however, a judge might (but doesn't have to) feel inclined to steer the player away from making an illegal play.
A. Yes! ...But Teeg's in play, so you couldn't play Wrath of God to begin with. This is one of those things where a judge might answer differently at Regular REL than he would at Competitive or Professional RELs. It's very dangerous for a judge to answer questions that aren't directly asked; in this case, the question was "Can Reveillark bring Teeg back with its trigger if both die at the same time?", not "Can I play Wrath of God with Teeg in play?" At a Regular REL tournament like FNM however, a judge might (but doesn't have to) feel inclined to steer the player away from making an illegal play.
==THE ISLANDHOME BLOG==
One of the things I wanted to do was have an archive of past issues online so I could refer people back to them as well as let new readers peruse old issues to see what all the fuss is about. So I've archived all the old issues on the blogosphere at islandhomemtg.blogspot.com. Go and relive all the past moments of glory!
==UPCOMING EVENTS==
October 4th - December 28th: PTQ Season for PT Kyoto
The next PTQ season kicks off October 4th, and the format is Shards of Alara sealed deck!
December - Mox Tournament at Brothers Grim
This December, Islandhome, in association with Brothers Grim, will be holding a giant Standard tournament. The first place prize will be a Mox Emerald, with many other prizes as well. Side events such as booster drafts and EDH multiplayer games will be held that day too, so keep reading Islandhome for more details!
December - Mox Tournament at Brothers Grim
This December, Islandhome, in association with Brothers Grim, will be holding a giant Standard tournament. The first place prize will be a Mox Emerald, with many other prizes as well. Side events such as booster drafts and EDH multiplayer games will be held that day too, so keep reading Islandhome for more details!
PTQs in our area this season:
11/22 - Philadelphia, PA
12/13 - New York, NY
12/27 - Edison, NJ
11/22 - Philadelphia, PA
12/13 - New York, NY
12/27 - Edison, NJ
==STORE LOCATIONS & CONTACT INFO==
Brothers Grim
1244 Middle Country Rd.
Selden, NY 11784
Phone: 631-698-2805
Website: www.brgim.com
Friendly Neighborhood Comics
19 Udall Rd.
West Islip, NY 11795
Phone: 631-470-7984
Brothers Grim
1244 Middle Country Rd.
Selden, NY 11784
Phone: 631-698-2805
Website: www.brgim.com
Friendly Neighborhood Comics
19 Udall Rd.
West Islip, NY 11795
Phone: 631-470-7984
==FIN==
See everyone this weekend!
Got forwarded Islandhome and want to sign up? Send an email to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com!
Got forwarded Islandhome and want to sign up? Send an email to IslandhomeMTG@gmail.com!
-Brian Paskoff
L1 NY
L1 NY
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