From: csivils@blkbox.com (Craig Sivils)
Subject: PTQ Deck
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 03:58:43 GMT

2 Necratog
3 Sage Owl
3 Azimiat Drake
3 Barrow Ghoul
3 Fog Elemental
3 Waterspout Djinn
3 Freewind Falcons
4 Ertai's Familiar
4 Man-o-War
4 Nekretaal
3 Honorable Passage
2 Tombstone Stairwells
3 Flood Plains
3 Bad River
2 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Gemstone Mine
2 Plains
8 Swamps
5 Islands

Sideboard (Disenchants rocked, rest was so-so).
3 Disenchant
3 CryptRats
3 MindBend
3 Ebony Charm
3 Knights of the Mist

I often state that people who are retiring decks should post them for
others.  I'm moving to a different PTQ deck.  The above Ertai deck is
a unique twist in that it absolutly crushes two of the "weaknesses" of
this deck archtype: Aetherflash and phyrexian furnace.  The beefier
creatures combined with the honorable passage allow the deck to win
unsideboarded vs aetherflash, and the disenchants in the sideboard
make things worse in game 2/3.  The furnace is no match for a
disenchant.  One furnace usually isn't enough to keep up with one
Ertai's, the effect of the furnace is slow enough that you have time
to draw your disenchants.

The Ertai deck archtype was strong vs mono-red before I splashed the
white.  The white version is an absolute nightmare for a mono-red
player (which is good since mono-red is becomming a more popular
option at the ptq's).  I made this deck to be really really anti-red
in anticipation of facing a sea of red in the Houston qualifier.
After goind 0 and 2 (without seeing any red) due to some horrible
playing and even more horrible pairings, I played against friend's
mono-red deck and won something like 6 games straight, then played a
green/red deck and won one or two straight.  The mono-red deck made
semi's (was a good deck and an even better player).

So if you live someplace where red's the bomb, give it a spin :)

Oh, one last thing.  The barrow ghouls.  I've had several people
comment that the ghoul aren't an elegant choice of creature since it
works contrary to the stairwell/tog.  I disagree strongly.  Barrow
ghoul's rock :)  Based on tournament experience: 50% of barrow ghouls
that hit the table are dead before the next upkeep.  Opponents just
cannot ignore a 4/4.  A black 4/4 is not easy to get rid of.  When an
opponent is able to get rid of a barrow ghoul, they often do so at a
card/mana disadvantage.  When a ghoul does live to the next upkeep,
I'm usually not caring about the tog/stairwell since I'm usually in
heavy fist hitting mode, it only takes a few hits from a ghoul to put
an opponent into swarm range.  The power/toughness to cost ratio of
the ghoul is a great bargian and well worth the drawback.  I think 3
should go in any ertai/tog deck.

Craig