Tournament Report - Type I
held on June 22, 2002

All tournaments are held at our Mega Store in Thornton, Colorado,
9201 North Washington, Thornton, Colorado
For directions, click here, or call (303) 457-2612.

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Though we didn't get as many people as expected, it worked out a little better for the players in that for the first time in a long time, a 4-2 player made it into the top 8. We ended up with 48 players total. We got started on time and after finishing with a top 4 split, the tournament was over by 6pm. I didn't have to make too many rulings, we only had two illegal deck problems and one illegal sideboard problem. Both illegal decks were using Judgment, which isn't legal for another week. A few combat rulings and some timing issues. For the most part the room was kept clean of trash, which is a huge improvement from previous tournaments. Overall I think that the quality of these tournaments is going up. One interesting thing that happened in round 6, the way that the players' scores were, the top 8 could have just drawn into the finals. However, Jason Schickli and Patrick Miller decided to play instead of draw. That was obiously Jason's decision because even if he lost he would still make it into the finals. Rumor had it that he played just to give his teammate Shane Knepshield a chance to make it into finals. Well, Jason beat Patrick knocking him out and sure enough his teammate made it in the last slot. It seemed his plan had worked, but what he didn't anticipate was that by winning round 6and opening the 8th slot to his teammate, he put himself at the 1st slot setting it up to play his own teammate in the quarter finals. And sure enough, his teammate beat him in the quarter finals. If he had decided to draw with Patrick instead of play him, perhaps things would have gone much differently, perhaps he would have walked away with money in his pocket. The decks were fairly diverse going into the top 8. There was a red Sligh, a black deck that looked like a cross between Suicide and Necro. There was a Illusions/Donate deck and then five decks designed to get control of the game using lots of draw and search cards, then using control cards from up to all 5 colors. Once the game is under control they play a big creature, almost always Morphling. Though on the surface these decks look all the same, the slight differences are probably what put certain ones over the top. In fact, out of the 4 rainbow decks that were the most similar to eachother, only one of them made it past the top 8. The quarter final matches were as follows: WINNERS LOSERS Laura Mills (Black) vs. Robb Cole (5 colors) Shane Knepshield (5 colors) vs. Jason Schickli (5 colors) Joel Barnes (Illusions/Donate) vs. Patrick Tynan (5 colors) Zach Gable (B/U/R/W) vs. Shane Williams (R/B Sligh) Laura Mills' Deck 4x Dark Ritual 4x Duress 4x Hymn to Tourach 4x Hypnotic Specter 4x Nantuko Shade 4x Powder Keg 3x Phyrexian Negator 3x Diabolic Edict 1x Necropotence 1x Zuran Orb 1x Yawgmoth's Will 1x Demonic Consultation 1x Vampiric Tutor 1x Demonic Tutor 2x Mishra's Factory 2x Wasteland 1x Strip Mine 19x Swamp SIDEBOARD 2x Masticore 1x Diabolic Edict 1x Phyrexian Negator 2x Nevinyrral's Disk 3x Spinning Darkness 2x Contagion 2x Dystopia 2x Ichorid Joel Barnes' Deck 4x Donate 4x Illusions of Grandeur 4x Merchant Scroll 4x Accumulated Knowledge 4x Force of Will 2x Fire/Ice 2x Intuition 1x Necropotence 1x Ancestral Recall 1x Time Walk 1x Yawgmoth's Will 1x Fact or Fiction 1x Rushing River 4x Sapphire Medallion 1x Demonic Tutor 1x Misdirection 1x Tolarian Academy 1x Black Lotus 1x Mox Ruby 1x Mox Sapphire 1x Mox Emerald 1x Mox Jet 1x Mox Pearl 1x Sol Ring 1x Mana Vault 4x Volcanic Island 4x Underground Sea 4x City of Brass 3x Gemstone Mine SIDEBOARD 1x Intuition 4x Red Elemental Blast 2x Blue Elemental Blast 2x Fire/Ice 3x Morphling 3x Deep Analysis Zach Gable's Deck 4x Juzam Djinn 3x Dark Ritual 1x Mind Twist 1x Yawgmoth's Will 1x Demonic Tutor 1x Diabolic Edict 4x Force of Will 4x Mana Drain 1x Ancestral Recall 1x Fact or Fiction 1x Time Twister 1x Time Walk 1x Merchant Scroll 1x Fire/Ice 1x Misdirection 1x Teferi's Response 1x Morphling 1x Mystical Tutor 1x Balance 2x Swords to Plowshares 4x City of Brass 4x Underground Sea 3x Volcanic Island 3x Tundra 1x Undiscovered Paradise 1x Badlands 1x Wasteland 1x Strip Mine 1x Library of Alexandria 4x Mishra's Factory 1x Mox Ruby 1x Mox Sapphire 1x Mox Pearl 1x Mox Jet 1x Black Lotus 1x Sol Ring SIDEBOARD 4x Red Elemental Blasts 3x Obstinate Familiar 2x Powder Keg 1x Zuran Orb 1x Masticore 1x Diabolic Edict 1x C.O.P. Red 1x Aura Fracture 1x Teferi's Response Shane Knepshield's Deck 4x Tundra 4x Volcanic Island 4x Underground Sea 4x City of Brass 4x City of Brass 3x Wasteland 1x Mox Jet 1x Mox Ruby 1x Mox Emerald 1x Black Lotus 1x Sol Ring 1x Undiscovered Paradise 1x Library of Alexandria 1x Strip Mine 4x Force of Will 4x Mana Drain 2x Morphling 1x Ancestral Recall 1x Stroke of Genius 2x Misdirection 1x Fact or Fiction 1x Mystical Tutor 1x Yawgmoth's Will 1x Mind Twist 1x Demonic Tutor 1x Vampiric Tutor 1x Regrowth 1x Dismantling Blow 1x Moat 1x Sylvan Library 1x Balance 1x Diabolic Edict 2x Fire/Ice 2x Swords to Plowshares 3x Impulse SIDEBOARD 2x Seal of Cleansing 1x COP Red 1x Gorilla Shaman 4x Red Elemental Blast 1x Zuran Orb 2x Powder Keg 3x Duress 1x Diabolic Edict

Further deck analysis shows that 3 of the top 4 were using power-nine, 21 power cards total. Out of the top 8? 45 power cards in 6 decks (around $10,000). That's not counting the Arabian Nights cards either, or Zach's 11 Beta Dual Lands. Laura proved however that it doesn't take power-nine to make it to the top. Out of the top 8, neither Laura Mills (Mono Black) nor Shane Williams (Sligh) were using anything over $15. This happens at every type 1 so it is not rare, it's just proof to all those out there convinced they cannot win without power cards that it is possible, it happens all the time, at every tournament there is a high placing inexpensive deck.