============= PARADISE POST ============= Issue 4. October 2003. This newsletter is sent to all MTGParadise.com Forum Members. To unsubscribe email contact@mtgparadise.com with your forum username and your account will be deleted. FEATURE SPONSORS – Advertisers email contact@mtgparadise.com ---------------- CARDSHARK - www.cardshark.com Cardshark is the ultimate marketplace for BUYING and SELLING collectable games. We currently support Magic, MAGIC ONLINE, and Lord of the Rings. There are NO LISTING FEES to start selling and all payments are made via PayPal. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to buy and sell cards with CardShark.com. Click this link and make a $10 purchase today and get a FREE BOOSTER PACK! http://www.cardshark.com/default.asp?referral=cardshark&source=mtgpnews2 --------------- GAMES PARADISE - www.gamesparadise.com.au Order Online or 1300 139 202 SPECIAL: All Boosters Boxes $149 AUD free delivery (Australia) when you mention "mtgparadise forums" in the special comments section of the online order. (Note: amount will be deducted when the order is put through the terminals manually). --------------- Well it has been a big month in Magic with GP Sydney, State Championships and PTQ's for Amsterdam all happening and players are still trying to get to grips with Mirrodin! Craig covered the GP in the last edition of Paradise Post but it was a great tournament with over 270 competitors (including an overseas contingent) and there are already some reports up on MTG Paradise (I am also trying to write one at the moment!). On a personal note I would also like to thank the people who cheered me on and wished me well during the GP, especially Nik Smith - couldn't have done it without you! With that out of the way lets take a look at the other events which have taken place over the last fortnight. GP Kansas City This was held a week after GP Sydney and was the first post Mirrodin tournament for a lot of the pro players. Neil Reeves, Mike Pustilnik, Peter Szigeti, Matt Linde and Carlos Romao were just a few of the name players that didn't make the cut. It was experience that won out in the end though with Antonia De Rosa taking the title, beating out Nate Heiss in the finals with a strong R/G deck that boasted Glissa Sunseeker, Triskelion and double Mirror Golem. Nate was also playing R/G, with double Deconstruct and double Spikeshot Goblin. An interesting inclusion was Liar's Pendulum as Antonio used his strong poker face to net himself an impressive amount of cards in his Top 8 matches. For full coverage of GP Kansas City check out http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/events/gpkc03. GP Lyon Over to Europe now and GP Lyon had the highest attendance for an European GP with over 1000 competitors. This meant 9 gruelling rounds of swiss and even a 7-2 record would not guarantee a day 2 slot. It was France's Yann Hamon that emerged victorious with his R/G/B deck over Swiss amateur Bruno Carvalho. Dutch veterans Jerome Remie and Jelger Wiegersma were the only pro players in the top 8 and finished 4th and 8th respectively. Yann's deck had many combat tricks, artifact/ creature removal and an interesting assortment of creatures including Slith Predator, Woebearer and Dross Prowler! Bruno's U/W deck had a lot of powerful cards such as Crystal Shard, 3 Skyhunter Patrols and Soul Nova but he could not handle Yann's numerous combat tricks and utility creatures. For full coverage of GP Lyon go to http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/events/gplyo03. PTQ Amsterdam In local news Pro Tour Qualifiers have been/will be held all over the country (and NZ) over the next month. The format is Mirrodin sealed with a Top 8 Rochester draft and here are the winners that I am aware of:- Sydney - Alex Brown Auckland - Cole Swannack Christchurch - Julian Santirso-Brown Here are the details for the upcoming PTQs which will be held over the next month:- 09/11/03 - Adelaide The Irish Club 11 Carrington Street Adelaide 15/11/03 - Geelong Gaming Knights Level 1 Rock O'Kashel Lane Geelong 18/11/03 - Melbourne Card Heaven Level 1 103-105 Chapel Street Windsor Melbourne 30/11/03 - Canberra ANU John Dedman Building Room 101 Kingsley Street Acton For starting times and more information contact your local tournament organiser. State Championships States were held last weekend and the format was wide open. In fact Zvi Moshowitz outlined 18 decks which are all viable at the moment. The deck which sent shockwaves over the internet was Affinity - an aggro artifact deck that uses Myr Enforcers and Frogmites for beatdown with Broodstars and Atogs as finishers. There are quite a few versions of this being played and each player seems to tweak it differently. Jacky Zhang was first after the swiss with his version of Affinity at the NSW State Championships:- 4 Frogmite 4 Myr Enforcer 3 Broodstar 2 Somber Hoverguard 4 Thoughtcast 4 Thirst of Knowledge 1 Rush of Knowledge 4 Mana Leak 3 Override 1 Tendrils of Agony 1 Lightning Greaves 4 Aether Spellbomb 2 Pyrite Spellbomb 3 Chrome Mox 4 Talisman of Dominance 4 Glimmervoid 4 Vault of Whispers 4 Great Furnace 4 Seat of the Synod Sideboard 4 Pyroclasm 3 Annul 2 Dwarven Blastminer 2 Flashfires 2 Cabal Interrogator 2 Assert Authority One thing to note is that Jacky did not play Welding Jar, Atog and/or Shrapnel Blast, which have sprung up in the net based versions of these decks. Jacky opted for more card drawing and extra counters in the form of Override which help soften the blow when your opponent plays board sweepers, such as Wrath of God, Oblivion Stone and Akroma's Vengeance. Another interesting card - Tendrils of Agony gives this deck another finisher in addition to the Broodstar which can be stormed up with ease due to the amount of affinity this deck has. Here are the breakdowns of the Top 8 from NSW, VIC and SA. NSW 2 U/W Control 1 Mono White Control 1 B/W 1 Affinity 1 G/W 2 R/W Astral Slide VIC 3 Goblin Bidding 3 Mono Black Control 1 Goblins 1 U/W SA 2 Goblin Bidding 1 Zombies 1 Mono Black Control 1 Affinity 1 R/W Astral Slide 1 B/W 1 Mono White Control Despite the hype of Affinity it was the Goblins which put up a strong showing (except in Sydney where everybody plays control) making up a quarter of the top 8 decks in the 3 states. Solid staples R/W and U/W both notched up 3 Top 8 berths and B/W control and Mono White Control made up another 4 slots. In fact white was played in 11 decks, (possibly 13 if you count affinity) why? Akroma's Vengeance. I would bet that most of these decks would have played 4 and it is going to be big over the next year or so due to the plethora of artifacts around at the moment. Mono Black Control did well in VIC and SA but there were hardly any at all in the NSW field, which goes to show how difficult it can be to get hold of 4 Oblivion Stones! Finally Zombies and G/W rounded out the "rogue" decks in the top 8 showing that this format is still wide open. The new state champions are:- NSW - James Zhang (R/W Astral Slide) VIC - Andrew Gordon (Goblin Bidding) SA - Jake Hart (Goblin Bidding) TBS - "The Ben Seck" As you may or may not know Ben moved to Melbourne last week to work for Card Heaven. Ben has been an integral part of the Sydney (and Australian) magic scene for the past 7 years and has done everything from organising tournaments to winning GP'S to creating his own magic set. He also is the only Australian player to have made a Top 8 at a Pro Tour (not counting World Championships). His presence will be sorely missed in Sydney and I wish him the best of luck in his new career. INTERVIEW In Magic, the focus always seems to be on the players - after all they are the ones who get the glory, the payouts and the reputations. But what about behind the scenes? Competitive Magic would not be where it is today without the plethora of judges, organisers, store owners and volunteers who more often than not give up their time to make sure events are run in a professional manner. Some people actually do this for a living. Chris Foggin is one of those people. What is your involvement with Magic? I am a store owner, level 2 judge and one of the premier tournament organisers in NSW. What made you become a TO/store owner? Back in the old days I was an avid roleplayer and involved in organising several RPG conventions (mainly Necronomicon) around Sydney. Naturally magic was introduced one year and I was asked by WOTC to start co-ordinating tournaments in Sydney (and later all over Australia). Back then there was no DCI reporter so all the results were either hand written or typed up and then sent to me - as you can imagine this was very laborious and ratings were only updated every 6 months! I organised the first 2 Australian/Australasian National championships (1995/1996 respectively) and went on to work for Wizards in 1997 for a short while doing customer service, whilst still co-ordinating and running tournaments in Sydney. After leaving wizards I was keen to open up my own gaming store as I had been to Neutral Ground in New York and wanted to create a similar space in Sydney that was for the players. It took a few years to put everything together, but the Sydney Games Centre has been open for over a year now and I thoroughly enjoy what I do. Do you miss playing the game? I don't miss the sleepless nights before a constructed tournament if that is what you mean! I feel more of a mentor/coach to the younger players and don't have the competitive urge to play anymore. I am around Magic all the time so I can keep in touch with who's playing what in the next tournament, which is quite interesting. Have you ever been to a Pro-Tour and how did you fare? Yes PT Los Angeles back in 1997. I finished 91st and still have the t-shirt, in fact I only narrowly missed out on making day 2! It was an amazing experience and I encourage everyone else to do it if they get a chance, just make sure you also do some travelling and see stuff! From a judges/organisers point of view, how did you find GP Sydney? Firstly the turnout was excellent. We expected 200-250 players and we got around 270. It was a good venue and the side events (which I was in charge of) were in a separate room so I could even play my music (that can't be good - ed). GP's are also a good opportunity for players to undertake their judging exams and for lower level judges to pick up some invaluable experience, so overall it was a very good tournament. What advice would you have for someone that was interested in getting into judging/TO'ing? For a TO, start running their own tournaments locally and liase with local stores for prize support/venue. Newcastle is a good example as there are no stores there and the players have weekly tournaments at the RSL and prize support from a store in Gosford. If you want your tournaments sanctioned contact the DCI and they will supply you with the software (DCI reporter) for free, you don't even have to have a certified judge at these tournaments - but it helps! As for judges, the best way is to learn from other judges and attend as many tournaments as possible. This will build up your confidence as well as rules knowledge and how events are run. The Delphi test online is a good way of testing your ability but I would recommend some real life judging too as your local TO should have no problem pointing you in the right direction! What are your thoughts on MODO (as a store owner)? We lost a few players through it but nothing too significant. It has been a lot harder for stores in the US, but on the other hand it has been beneficial for players in regional areas as they can play whenever they want. You have to have a positive attitude with things like this, as you can't replace the atmosphere and community of a games store - at least not yet anyway! Well that is it for another issue of the Paradise Post. I hope you enjoyed reading and please give us some feedback on what you think. To let Craig and myself know email newsletter@mtgparadise.com. Until next time Dan