Subject: Tourney report -PT Qualifier (long) From: Copehead Date: 1996/09/22 Message-Id: <32451213.7F1D@coffey.com> Thought I'd try my first tourney report, since I just recently played in my first sanctioned tourney. Denver qualifier for PT Dallas, IA/AL format at DJ's Arena in Denver. I'm playing U/W/R little of everything deck (listing at end). It's a control deck, which is all I felt comfartable playing since I was unfamiliar with IA/AL format (no one plays it where I live) and I thought U/W was closest to T2. Round 1- Some guy playing a Varchilds War Riders/Gorilla Berserkers R/G deck. First game, I don't see much of it, too busy killing him. Second and third rounds, more of the same. His Stormbinds get disenchanted, his Lure combo doesn't ever go... 3-0 Record 1-0 3-0 Round 2- Red Green Ants/Spiders/Stormbind/Insects. Game 1, I control, kicking him all over the place, countering, disenchanting, or StPing everything he puts in, finishing with a Lava Burst from Heck. Second game, I've got locked up with an outpost and a 'Goyle when I do something INCREDIBLY dumb, and tap the wrong mana, leaving no UU for Cspell, he casts helm. I know theres only one creature left in my deck, so I start to sweat a little...to make a long story short, he runs me out of cards the turn that I would have killed him...my other 'Goyle is last card in deck...DOH! Oh well, I think, I'll win the next one. Then I get the Mana screw from hell. 2 Outposts as my only lands (In a deck with 24 mana lands, 3 glaciers and 2 outposts). He kills me with a gorilla shaman and a couple of incenerates before I draw 2 lands that I can play. Yuck. Record 1-1, 4-2 Round 3- Black/Blue Wisps, Phantasmal Fiends, Soul Burns. Game 1, I make a dumb mistake, casting Haups early (we both had a lot of land and no other permanents) thinking my glaciers and one land in hand will help me rebound faster than he can hope to. Too bad he had 3 lands and a glacier and a fiend in hand... I deserved to lose that one. Game 2 I get a god draw, play my Outposts early, counter his wisps and quakes and run over him with a soldier swarm. Game 3... I get screwed by the judge, badly... Heres the situation. I have a gargoyle in play after a haups, I'm at 8 life, time is short. I start pounding hell out of him, hoping I can kill him in the ten minutes left. And he stalls. Not enough to make me call a judge, but he takes close to a minute with his glaciers when the only basic lands I ever saw were swamps. Shouldn't be that hard of a decision, eh? Every decision he makes is done with agonizing slowness, and hes holding nothing to stop me, he even says so. Then, heres the screw... I'm at 8, hes at 6, its my turn. I say done, he responds with glaciers. He picks up his deck to thaw, and judge calls time. He says he wants to call a judge to see if it's a tie or a win for me (since I'm ahead on life). I say go ahead, knowing the judge will give it to me (ahead on life wins at time, right?). Instead, the judge gives him another turn! I protest loudly, but to no avail. He gets luckier than anyone ever deserves to be and casts a 2 point soul burn putting him ahead by 2 life, and netting him the win. I'm counterless, of course for the first time in the entire damn game! I was ready to quit, but something told me to go on... Record 1-2 5-4 looking bad... Round 4- R/G/B land dectruction with Icies and Mystic Compasses. Land destruction has proved in playtesting to give my deck fits if all doesn't go right, and I saw this guy beat keep someone else down to 1 land through an entire game more than once when he was playing next to me... but his deck seems a bit aimless, and even though he blows up a lot of land, I beat him easily all 3 games. He got mana screwed in the second game. Record 2-2 8-4 Round 5- R/G SpiderBind. This guys got an all right deck, but all his creatures fall to StP or Incenerate and his Stormbind meets a quick counter or disenchant. He never even gets me to a point where I more than glance at my life totals. Gargoyles, Blinky and the outpost kill him dead, in three different games. Record 3-2 11-4 On a smoke break, one of the judges tells me I still have a decent shot at finals, provided I win my next match of course. I had all but given up hope, and I go in determined not to make any more stupid mistakes... Round 6- Last round before finals... W/B Necro. White Pump Knights, LimDuls High Guard, Gargoyles, Wisps, and of course, Necro... This guy had a good premise basically, he just played it poorly. In the first game he ritualed out a Necro on turn2, and I knew I was alright. After I countered all his ill gotten threats (StPed a few too) the outpost kicked his butt. In game 2, an early white pump knight got me down to 6 or so life before I sent it to farm, and I just countered every thing else he cast till my blinky and goyle finished him. Game 3 looked good as another early ritualed out necro hit the table. He disenchanted his own necro 3 turns later... while my browse continued to give me what I needed, when I needed it, with no ugly life loss. When Zurs Wierding hit the table he should have conceeded, but he held on until I drew an incenerate when he was at 1 life and couldn't deny it. Record 4-2 14-4 We break so the judges can do totals. It looks good, but not certain, since they're going by match wins first, points second. They call the 6-0 over. There goes 2 spots (of 8). Then the 5-1. 2 (or 3) more. Then the 5-1-1(last 1 being draws) I sigh, figuring this will be it, I'm out...but after they (2 or 3) go over, thers one slot left... now its on points. They get all the 4-2s together (theres 7-8 of us). For some reason I've calculated my points as 24 (2 for win, 1 tie, 0 loss) so when I see someone has 26, I give up. Oh well... then they get to my sheet, and I've got 28. the highest of the 4-2 ( and higher than some of the 5-1 guys as well). I'm in the finals! Groovey... Finals Match 1- R/W/U similar to mine, but with Balduvian Hordes. I'm really nervous, as I haven't played another permission deck in a while and I'm a bit rusty. Game 1 goes quickly, the only tense moment at all being trying to decide if I should counter his B. Horde since I have no StP. I do, and its the right decision, since I don't see one for the next 5 turns or so... I cast Zurs and Lava Burst the hell out of him, finishing him off a turn later with a gargoyle. Game two finds me wishing I had more pyroblasts in my sideboard, but oh well, the one I put in is enough, as I am able to stop him from doing a whole lot. This time, his Horde hits the table, and I smile and grab a gargoyle on his random discard (I'm lucky, I guess) and proceed to StP the brute, proving Balduvian Horde is the best life gainer in the IA/AL environment... 'Goyle/Haups quickly follows and hes out of there... Finals Match 2- I'm incredibly keyed up, as I know whichever one of us wins this goes to Dallas regardless of who actually wins the last finals match. This guy is W/R GargleHaups all the way. The first game is really close, since I'm reluctant to play my Zorb till I'm ready to Haups for fear of his disenchants. I hover at one life while we jockey back and forth with blinkey and goyles and wait for the other one to pull some DD or a STP for the opposing Goyle. I get my Lava Burst, and he goes down. He starts saying "it's over, it's over, I can't beat that deck..." At first I think "cool, I've got him", then I realize he's trying to make me overconfident so I'll play sloppily. This guy is a great head game player, and the best player I've faced all day. We start the second match, and his early rain of incenerates gets me down to almost nothing. Once again, I'm hesitant to play my Zorb fearing a disenchant, and his Haups catches me with my pants down, only a sink in hand, and not enough mana to do it... his 'goyle finishes me and we both head back to the sideboard...Game 3 I get a near God Draw with 2 plains, a counter or 2, an outpost and a glacier. I get the outpost out early, beat on him with soldiers, and swords his 'goyles, counter his Haups and generally run all over him. If this guy had had outposts, I fear it might have come out differently, but I got him. I win, and I'm in the last round, guaranteed a slot in Dallas! Final Finals match- another Garglehaups deck, with outposts... Game one Goes to him, as an early outpost and blinky beat me up while I'm trying to set up a defense. Then out comes his gargoyle, followed by a haups and I'm dead, since I have no counter. Game 2 is close, really tight, but this time my counterspells give me the edge and I pull it out. He had too much land in his initial draw, and by the time he got going I had a hand full of countermagic and an outpost in play. I end it with a Lava Burst for 4. After consulting my sideboard I decide to put in my Cap. It had sat in the sideboard all day, since the second round when I added it and it sat in my hand, but I think it could be really helpful. Plus, I'm already in, so what the hell, right? We go back and forth with blinky and swords and pyroclasm until my cap comes out. I pull 2 of his gargoyles ( having already StPed one, the other was in his hand) and an outpost. He plays his other goyle, I plow it. He casts a haups,I sack all my land to the Zorb (bumping me to 36 life). Nothing happens for quite a while, then he lays his other outpost. I stone Rain it a couple turns later, pyroclasm. He galciers all the land out of his deck,but I've got a ton of counters for his blinkys and I shrug off his 14 point Lava Burst. He runs out of cards, and I've won! I can't believe it but it's true... I'm going to Dallas, and I actually won the qualifier. I got a stack of cards as a prize (20 packs Alliances, 4 Japanese 4E, 5 It. Legends), but that was just gravy. Heres the deck... 4 Counterspell 3 Force of Will 2 Power Sink 1 Browse 1 Zur's Weirding 11 Blue 3 Swords to Plowshares 3 Disenchant 2 Ivory Gargoyle 2 Blinking Spirit 10 White 3 Incenerate 1 Lava Burst 1 Pyroclasm 2 Stone Rain 1 Jokulhaups 8 Red 1 Zuran Orb 1 Soldevi Digger 2 Artifact 2 Kjeldoran Outpost 3 Thawing Glaciers 4 Adarkar Wastes 7 Plains 8 Islands 5 Mountains 29 Land 60 Total Sideboard 3 Hydroblast 1 Pyroblast 2 CoP Green 2 CoP Red 1 CoP Black 2 Lodestone Bauble 1 Jester's Cap 1 Incenerate 2 Pyroclasm