From: insanity@moselle.com (Insanity) Subject: [Tourney Report] WI PTQ *LONG* Date: 22 Jul 1997 15:48:56 GMT Oh look, we're back. It's the Team "We borrowed our whole deck" Tourney report. Once again, Mascot (Jim Meyers) and I (Andrew Hope) playtested and built quite possibly one of the most quirky decks conceivable for the Wisconsin PTQ on July 20th, 1997. Mascot had really liked the way my deck had looked on July 12th, at the Illinois qualifier, and was determined to play an imporoved version of the Gerrard's deck. I was actually slightly disillusioned with the deck after a great start, I kind of petered out... mostly to bad draws, but it still had left a bad feeling. I was testing an early version of Embryonic Blue, after the strong performance I saw from blue decks in the final 8. Over the week between the qualifiers, we tested, retested, and then built a weird four color version of the Gerrard's deck. The blue deck was really just a test deck, but it was a damned good one, so... Of course, on Friday we all decide to play the Gerrard's deck. However, we have only about 10% of the required rares!! We still needed 6 Hammers, 5 Mesas... etc.etc.etc... so we ran around on Friday and Saturday borrowing from friends, stores, and buying as much as we could. I was still undecided about whether to play Embryonic or Gerrard's, so I built both. We finish playtesting on Saturday and I still am undecided about what to play. Whatever, I'll decide the morning of. We drive out to Sun Prarie, and arrive around 8:35am. There is a much bigger turnout than I had expected, including a large Chicago attendance (Team Anonymous and others). Andrew Nishioka is there and from him and a few others I manage to aquire the last few cards I need for my copy of the deck. Andrew and I have a huge running commentary on what decks we should play, with him trying to lure me into playing Embryonic with him, while I'm trying to decide if I really want to play Gerrard's. I end up choosing Gerrard's, but it's a bad choice. My copy of the deck wasn't as consistant as Mascots, mostly because Mascot chose to run 2 Gemstones for increased mana consistancy. This was a Good Thing (TM) for him and a Bad Thing (TM) for me. Anyways, after a bit of confusion about my decklist and deck contents (they didn't match until about 15 seconds before the tourney started), I manage to register and the tourney begins. Round one: Ed Peterson - (Celerity/Burn) Game one: He accerates quickly out of the blocks, I draw nothing. I mange to Gerrard's for 10, but he's drawn all his burn. Thunderbolt, Incinerate, Fireblast, we're done. Note: I drew 6 non-land cards, and 12 land. Very very strong. Side in 2 Honorables, 3 Mangara's... etc. Game two: He busts out with MAD creatures. 3 Minotaurs, Sandstalker, and Lancer are eating my face. My Amber prison helps, the Savage Twister helps, the Gerrard's for 10 helps, the two Mangara's help, but 14 points of burn helped him a LOT more. *grin* Thunderbolt, Hammer, Fireblast, Fireblast. Oh look I lose. Again, those 6 Cards I mentioned were the ONLY ones I drew. I had 10 land and those 6. Oh look, that's game. Whee... Ed got phenomenal draws to my utter crap, but his deck seemed strong as hell. I'm depressed. Game record: 0-2 Match record: 0-1 Round two: Steve Verner - (Fake Necro) Game one: He runs me down when I draw no Savage Twisters. I gain some life, but it's just not enough to stop the stream of creatures. He eventually drains me. He's using Drains, Infernal Contract, and Infernal Tribute to accelerate card drawing, but his weenie horde isn't all that effective, and he's using too much of his life as a resource (his creatures were eating him too) Side in the Shadowbanes, the Mangara's and 1 Disenchant for the stairwell I fear. Game two: Whoa.. someone must have mixed my deck... I got.. CARDS!!!! Whee! I gain brutal amounts of life and sweep his side of the board often and much. He's getting chewed apart by Fledgling Djinns. I'm actually getting to the point of recursing my Gerrards when I manage to get Hammer recursion and he's all done for. Game three: See Game two, but with added zest, as I cast Gerrard's 4 times for a total of 64 life. His deck managed to hurt him more than I did, as his fledgling djinns chewed him up before I burned him down. Ok... that's a better thing. Game record: 2-3 Match record: 1-1 Round three: Charlie Boyung (BloomDrain with Critters) Game one: I pop off a Gerrard's and disenchant a Bloom. He's playing a very odd creature/infernal harvest/bloomdrain thingy. He drew all land for quite a while, so by the time he could do anything I was hovering around 45 life. Needless to say, I won. Side in disenchants and more prevention. Game two: I draw well, and bust up to obscene life total (60?) and ride, preventing his drains and beating him down with a Mesa in the end. Not really a challenge because his deck seemed so slow that it gave me plenty of time to set up. Game record: 4-3 Match record: 2-1 Round four: Dan Smith - (Mad critters mostly cantrips) Game one: Only one Gerrards and him with an interesting deck led to a brief game. He busted out an entire contingent of Llanowar buddies and Relentlessly Assaulted me for 26 the turn before I would have gone to 40 life. Ok, so I lost. Side in some lifegain... and out with the Honorables... Game two: 3 Early Gerrard's put me _well_ out of range of any sort of critter swarm, especially since I also got 2 Savage to play with early. His mad cantriping creatures (Striped Bears?!) just didn't help him enough. I end up at around 22 when I have Hammer recursion and kill him. Game three: It's a close battle, but I keep top-decking Gerrard's when he gets me near 10, eventually I Gaia's Blessing 3 back into the deck. I proceed to draw 2 more the following two turns. The judge watching is heard to mutter, "Sick... just sick..." I end the game at 70ish... and again a recursive Hammer pounds him into the floor. Game record: 6-4 Match record: 3-1 Look at me... pulling out of a slump.... but wait the Gods will again smite me. Check out my 5th round Matchup.... Round five: Jim Meyers (Mascot) - Playing _my_ deck. Oh look. Once again, as in Chicago, as soon as any of our play group begins to wreck up the Swiss, the pairing Gods make sure one of us is going to get screwed. This time it was both of us. Jim and I decide that playing our _mad_ lifegaining decks against one another would be damn near stupid, seeing as though it'd all be about the 5th turn Mesa. :) Or whoever decided to top-deck Gerrard's about 5-10 times. Anyways, we prolly would've tied anyways, so we intentionally drew and went to Taco Bell. The taco's were good. Round sixth: Randy Goke - (Scrub white deck) This has to be one of the most frustrating matches of my entire tournament career. This junior was quite possibly one of the worst players I've EVER seen, but through massive deck betrayal on my part and excellent draws on his, he got some DCI points off of me. Game one: I draw one Gerrard's and absolutely no red. Oh look, I'm such a good player. I lose. He busted out about 12 2/2 white bastards in as many turns. Beatdown. Side in life gainers and the last Afterlife for the Crusaders. Game two: I draw land, I crush him. He has no chance, with me sweeping and gaining 16 life every 3rd turn. Game three: I draw 2 Mountains, 2 Forests, and an Undiscovered. I manage to tutor for a Twister and clean the early horde away but I _never_ draw one of the other 12 sources of white mana in my deck. I lose holding 3 Gerrards, 2 Mesas, and a Gossamer, any of which would have _DESTROYED_ him. So I lost. I'm irked, and in a fit of insanity (see username) I begin to retrieve all the traitor plains from my deck and dismember them onto the table to the glee of all watching. The kid has the _gall_ to say, "Dude, you take this game too seriously..." at which point I look up and ask him how he would feel if he'd lost because he drew no creatures (he was playing about 38 in his deck and _always_ got them). He says, "Hee hee, you suck," and walks off. I seeth for a bit, with visions of homocide flitting through my brain, and watch Mascot beat down on a manascrewed MaroFalcon deck and continue reducing my treacherous Plains to confetti. They now reside in a prison for all the _bad_ land as an example to the land in my deck in future tournaments. This is not a threat, but a promise. Anyways, at this point I dropped out. I'm going to let Mascot tell his tournament story, and then we'll get to the _long_ Final eight analysis. +++Start Mascot+++ Hey mascot here. Just to clear things up it was not _his_ deck as I did most of the work on the variant. Anyway like he said the Gemstone mines helped me a bit as did the Ice Age land key to never getting mana screwed (my theory anyway). Match 1: Dont have any of my opponnents nameas I neglected to take notes during swiss (Green weenie - just mad critters) game 1: His Jorael's centaurs kind of hurt me as I need to savage them away or simply take 2 a turn. I bust a 6 turn mesa against him and procede with token kill. game 2: never draw a savage and get served by mad snake tokens from a basket I could not disenchant in time. I was so hoping for a savage had 3 elves on the table and a mostly dead wall of roots and 1 card in hand a savage at any point would have been game for him. game 3: draw 2 twists serve him with mesa not much creature beatdown can do. Match 2 (Mad G/W Creatures - mostly Griffins) game 1: a gossamer an amber prison, a savage twister, and a mesa = death to creature beatdown. game 2 : mad creatures I draw 1 savage but it is not enough. I am beat down game 3: I don't remember much from this one - I served him with mesa/recusive hammer for his creatures. The person I played in this match was a fun guy to play with I wish I knew his name so that I could post that it was a fun match against him. Match 3 (blue black beatdown) game 1: hes playing almost all four or more toughness critters. Hidden horrors, Breeze Keepers, Crocostimpies, Man 'o Wars (3 or less), Necrataals (2 I think), He busts a fourth turn hidden horror I have a hard time dealing with it as my only source of white mana is two undicovered paradises and so basically he get though for 4 every other turn while I cast a gossamer every two turns. This game does not go so well for me. game 2: I draw sufficient mana and tutor for a savage that wrecks all of his creatures. His hand is mostly depleted as two of there creatures were hidden horrors. I beat him down with mesa. game 3: He gets screwed for blue mana and ends the game with a fist full of blue beatdown. Mana screw blows. Match 4 (Andrew Nishioka - Embryonic Blue) Andrew was playing the best deck to wreck our deck, mono blue. I had tested against this deck and had about a 50% win ratio even after side. I does not help that Andrew is a great player and would not make any dumb mistakes that would let me take the match. game 1: I almost pulled this one out. I recursed two mesas and drew them again but he was able to deal with every one I dropped. I think this first win was due mostly to a ophidian that I could not deal with quickly enough and he drew so many cards off of it he was discarding. He ended up serveing me with a waterspout one too many times. I even got him to dissipate a Gerrards after he swore he would not counter life gain earlier (my only victory this match being a moral victory =) ) Game 2: He sides in more Hazeriders and disenchants, serves me thoroughly. This was a really fun match - I knew I was goin down against him but had a hell of a time doin it. Match 5 ( oh look same deck - see Drew match 5) This sucked except for the part about getting some Taco Bell. Mexican pizzas from T Bell kick ass. Match 6 - (Maro Falcon) game 1: He draws a few Hazeriders but I manage to afterlife them and go on to serve with mesa game 2: He gets mana screwed for blue - does as well as on can with a mit full of blue cards and only a 2 little falcons to attack with. He finally gets blue and gets though for 8 with a Maro armored Hazerider but I afterlife it the next turn and he is too far gone to recover. This was also a fun match. The person I played was still fun to play with even after being screwed for blue for about 15 turns. I watch Drew next to me get screwed against a _terribly_ suspect WHITE WEENIE deck. That little kid was a bastard I almost beat him for being a cock. Match 7 ( what I thought would be the deciding mactch for me in top 8 - oh look its the bastard junior with the weenie deck - time for a show of how shitty of a player he is and deck he is running) for those of you who forgot his name: RANDY GOKE Game 1: He sits there and acts very smug as he beats me down with his mad creatures and I do not draw a savage or multiland to play the tutor out of my hand. game 2: I wreck all of his creatures with savages and serve him with mesa. The deck runs very well. (note: he did not remove the gossamer chains he was plaing in his deck against me but did manage to side in 2 bubble matrix which I disenchant) Game 3: this was quite the game he busts out early with a bunch of creatures and a bubble matrix. I unfortuately play like a moron for a couple of turns and end up getting down to 5 life I manage to take only 1 point a turn for the next 4 turns locking down his flanker with an amber prison, taking an afterlife token from his crusader and using his bubble matrix to keep alive by blocking his longbows with a remanat mesa token from a dissed mesa. Next turn I draw a disenchant I dis the bubble and hammer the longbows . Next turn he serves with token I block with token then he busts two more critters (oh shit!). My turn I topdeck an incinerate (one of 2 left) hammer one creaure - burn the other during combat. he then procedes to bust two more creatures (oh fuck me!). My turn top deck another incinerate (last in the deck - also note I had not yet drawn a savage or tutor - thus the beatdown on my sorry arse). Again burn both of his creaures next turn he plays a plains. That is pretty much game as I hammer the creature I have locked in my prison and and begin hammering everything he casts riding to a 14 point gerrard's from 2 cards when I was at 1. After that its hammer recursion to victory. (also note he was not playing furnaces and had not yet sided out the 4 gossamers) After the match Drew was able to catch him and his friend flipping us off from across the room - he must have taken the game too seriously =) Ended the day 5-1-1 with the only loss to Andrew, who went undefeated into the finals at 5-0-2. I managed to take a servy 10th, getting screwed by tiebreakers out of the final 8. oh look, the shaft. +++End Mascot+++ Thanks Mascot... Our deck was based off a deck created by Cory Jones, the previous incarnation was played on July 12, 1997 in the IL PTQ. The current version moves away from R/W, switching from Torrents of Lava to Savage Twisters for mass sweep (damned flyers), adding Gaia's Blessings for evil Gerrard's Wisdom recursion (as well as threats... Mesa, etc). Mascot also experimented with splashing blue (through multilands) for 2 Memory Lapses and 1 Mystical Tutor. These were great additions, especially since our major problem was Embryonic Blue with it's many counters. Here is the full deck listing. Gerrard's 4 Color Control 3 Savage Twisters Sideboard: 3 Afterlife 1 Afterlife 4 Incinerates 3 Mangara's Blessing 2 Honorable Passage 2 Shadowbane 3 Hammer of Bogardan 1 Honorable Passage 3 Sacred Mesa 2 Phyrexian Furnace 4 Gossamer Chains 4 Abeyance 1 Mystical Tutor 2 Disenchant 2 Memory Lapse 4 Gerrard's Wisdom 1 Phyrexian Furnace 2 Gaia's Blessing 1 Mangara's Blessing 1 Kaervek's Torch 2 Amber Prison 2 Disenchant 1 Grassland 3 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Forest 7 Mountains 9 Plains Remember that Mascot's variant was running fat with 2 more Gemstones for consistancy, he also replaced one of the Mangara's in the sideboard with a Tropical Storm, which he used many times thanks to the Blessings. Those Blessings allowed this variant to be almost sick. Imagine Gerrardsing twice, then shuffling those two back into your deck so you can still draw up to 4. Other games, if we needed more removal, we'd put Savage and Afterlife's back in to maintan creature control. We might conisder moving to three Gaia's, but we _need_ to move to 4 Savage, I don't know what we were thinking. The deck is good, but as you'll see later, it's pretty easy to side against. See the champion's deck for a sideboard that would destroy our deck. *wince* Boy am I glad I didn't play him in the Swiss. We now move to the Final 8 reports. Thanks to Steve (tournament organizer) for letting me get copies of these for the tourney report. --------------------------------------------- Results of the Final 8: Quarterfinals: Brad Balk defeated Ryan Strand 2-0 Gregory Reid defeated Matt Bublitz 2-0 Andrew Nishioka defeated Keven Peters 2-1 Ed Peterson defeated Warren Connell 2-1 Semifinals: Gregory Reid defeated Ed Peterson 2-1 Brad Balk defeated Andrew Nishioka 2-0 Finals: Gregory Reid defeated Brad Balk 3-2 --------------------------------------------- The Final 8: Decks and misc. info --- Quarterfinalists --- Matt Bublitz - (U/G Mir/Vis) I watched (partially judged) this match, and Gregory mentioned that they had played each other in the Swiss rounds, where Matt provided Greg's only Swiss loss. Needless to say, Greg was looking for some luck. He got it. Matt lost the first game to a slight manascrew and then lost the second to an even worse one. On an interesting note: Matt was playing a Mi/Vi deck. He didn't know Weatherlight was allowed. Just goes to show you, with good deck construction and a bit of luck, you can prevail. Matt's deck: Sideboard: 4 River Boa 1 Power Sink 4 Man'o'War 1 Grinning Totem 4 Memory Lapse 1 Quicksand 3 Power Sink 1 Snake Basket 4 Cloud Elemental 1 Amber Prison 4 Jorael's Centaur 1 Uktabi Organutan 4 Ray of Command 1 Elephant Grass 2 Waterspout Djinn 1 Decomposition 4 Impulse 1 Tranquil Domain 1 Snake Basket 1 Barbed foliage 3 Quicksand 1 Knight of the Mists 11 Islands 1 Dissipate 10 Forests 1 Desertion 2 Undiscovered Paradise 1 Political Trickery 1 Mind Harness --- Ryan Strand - (Embryonic Blue) No information. Didn't play him, didn't see his finals match. Ryan's deck: Sideboard: 4 Memory Lapse 2 Ray of Command 4 Boomerang 2 Undo 4 Cloud Elemental 2 Honorable Passage 4 Man'o'War 2 Shadowbane 4 Sage Owl 2 Serenity 4 Waterspout Dinn 3 Phyrexian Furnace 3 Suq'Ata Firewalker 2 Sand Golem 2 Floodgate 2 Dissipate 2 Afterlife 2 Hazerider Drake 2 Foreshadow 1 Desertion 16 Island 2 Plains 4 Flood Plain --- Warren Connell - (Celerity/Burn) Again, didn't see him, didn't play him. Warren's deck: Sideboard: 4 Hammer of Bogardan 2 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Incinerate 1 Gemstone Mine 4 Thunderbolt 4 Honorable Passage 4 Suq'Ata Lancer 3 Dark Banishing 4 Fire Blast 2 Forsaken Wastes 4 Goblin Elite Infantry 3 Bubble Matrix 4 Talruum Minotaur 4 Viashino Sandstalker 3 Kaervek's Torch 3 Mind Stone 18 Mountains 3 Gemstone Mine 3 Quicksand --- Kevin Peters - (Embryonic Blue) Kevin had the ill luck to draw Andrew Nishioka in the Quarterfinals, a fate I would wish upon few. Even more unfortunate was Andrew's sideboard against Kevin and third game's deck: Mana Web. This card played havok with Kevin in the second game. Third game it never resolved, but the counterspell war definitely depleted Kevin's hand. Kevin's deck: Sideboard: 2 Snake Basket 2 Memory Lapse 1 Ancestral Knowledge 2 Mind Harness 4 Boomerang 3 Afterlife 4 Cloud Elemental 3 Disenchant 2 Desertion 3 Honorable Passage 4 Dissapate 2 Mangara's Blessing 3 Floodgate 3 Impulse 4 Man'o'War 4 Power Sink 4 Waterspout Djinn 4 Flood Plain 15 Islands 2 Plains 4 Quicksand --- Semifinalists --- Ed Peterson - (Celerity/Burn) Ed had a very strong red burn deck. I had the misfortune to be paired against him first round (see above). His deck was well constructed and he always seemed to have a hand full of burn. In his quarterfinal match vs. Greg, he had Cursed Totem out both second and third game. In third game, Greg used Ertai's ability under the Totem, which neither player, none of the spectators, nor the judge caught. Ed though he would have won, were it not for that one time the creature didn't phase. Hard to say, sorry 'bout that Ed. Ed's deck: Sideboard: 4 Incinerate 3 Cursed Totem 4 Fireblast 3 City of Solitude 4 Thunderbolt 3 Serene Heart 4 Hammer of Bogardan 2 Builder's Bane 4 Kaervek's Torch 2 Tranquil Domain 4 Suq'Ata Lancer 1 Snake Basket 4 Viashino Sandstalker 1 Lotus Vale 4 Talruum Minotaur 2 Savage Twister 1 Bosium Strip 1 Final Fortune 4 Mountain Valley 17 Mountains 2 Forest 1 Gemstone Mine --- Andrew Nishioka - (Embryonic Blue) Damn you, Andrew. Andrew and I discussed his deck and a deck very similar to his which I had been testing for about 1/2 hour before the tourney. I was _so_ close to playing this deck, but.... oh well. We tweaked his side and his main together before the tourney, but it was his expert playing skills which payed off in the end. Andrew is a member of Team ACD, a very strong team based near Chicago. Most of Team ACD was at Origins for Nationals, but Andrew already qualified for Worlds on the strength of his combined ranking. He is also already qualified for Chicago. Andrew played the _always_ strong Ophidian, the Book of MiViWe. At one point in the tourney, he just had to yell over the crowd to me, "Ophidian rules! I've already Ancestralled twice!" Once again, Andrew is on the cutting edge of deck design. Andrew's deck: Sideboard: 1 Power Sink 1 Floodgate 4 Impulse 2 Mind Bend 4 Waterspout Djinn 1 Honorable Passage 4 Man'o'War 1 Mangara's Blessing 3 Ophidian 2 Hazerider Drakes 2 Hazerider Drakes 2 Mana Web 1 Mist Dragon 2 Dreamtides 3 Knights of the Mist 2 Disenchants 3 Floodgates 2 Phyrexian Furnace 2 Boomerang 2 Disenchant 1 Memory Lapse 4 Dissipates 2 Desertion 4 Flood Plains 1 Undiscovered Paradise 3 Plains 4 Quicksands 12 Islands --- Finalist --- Brad Balk - (Ertai's Familiar) Brad was playing one of the Ertai's decks. This deck seems to be one of the stronger variants, incorporting fatter creatures as well as the _very_ strong Instament, Necromancy. The finals were really about who went first, and who's Ertai's started milling sooner, as the Necrotogs were brutal finishers. Brad's Abductions played a key role in both his victories and his defeats. It seemed like Brad was always catching up because of the speed of Greg's deck, but it was a tough battle that went all the way to the fifth game. I believe Brad had already qualified for Chicago. Brad's deck: Sideboard 4 Neckrataal 2 Serrated Biskelion 4 Necratog 2 Phyrexian Furnace 2 Necrosavant 2 Knights of the Mist 4 Crypt Rats 2 Dream Tides 2 Dark Rituals 2 Shimmer 2 Drain Life 4 Vision Charm 3 Necromancy 1 Enfeeblement 4 Ertai's Familiar 3 Man'o'War 3 Waterspout Djinn 4 Sage Owl 2 Abduction 4 Bad River 1 Undiscovered Paradise 10 Swamps 8 Islands --- Champion --- Gregory Reid - (Ertai's Familiar) Gregory had an excellent deck, incorporating many different (and sometimes underused) creatures. He expanded the Ertai's deck with some brilliant additions, notably Blighted Shaman, Circling Vultures, and Urborg Justice. His speed variant invariably had 2-3 creatures on turn 3, as well as the tricks and bigguns to back it up. He was fearless, at one point destroyed 2/3 of his own lands (Gemstones) to kill a Waterspout with a Fatal Blow and a Shadow Guildmage (he lost that game, but damn, was it impressive =). In the end, he triumphed, winning his first PTQ, and qualifying for Chicago. [One quick note: Gregory saw me play at the Mundelein qualifier with my early version of the Gerrard's Deck. Check out his sideboard... 14-15 of the cards come in against Gerrards. *wince* He must have been worried about that deck.] Greg's deck: Sideboard: 2 Blighted Shaman 3 Disenchant 3 Circling Vultures 1 Serenity 3 Ertai's Familiar 2 Aku Djinn 4 Fallen Askari 3 Forsaken Wastes 1 Gallowbraid 1 Vampiric Tutor 2 Hidden Horror 2 Bubble Matrix 3 Man'o'War 1 Phyrexian Furnace 3 Necratog 2 Righteous War 4 Nekrataal 2 Serrated Biskelion 4 Shadow Guildmage 1 Disenchant 1 Ebony Charm 2 Fatal Blow 2 Song of Blood 1 Urborg Justice 1 Bad River 4 Gemstone Mine 3 Island 3 Quicksand 8 Swamp 3 Undiscovered Paradise --- Brief Final 8 deck analysis: 2 U/B 1 U/G 3 U/w 2 R --- Metagame commentary: A new deck archetype has become evident in the last two weeks of PTQs. It seems to be an extension of the highly popular and sucessful Big Blue and Baby Blue decks which were a large part of T2 both before and after 5th edition. "Embryonic blue" extends the flying control deck into a limited format. Without much of Big Blue's sweep (ie: Disk), Embryonic Blue relies more on stall, heavily utilizing Man'o'War, Boomerang, and Memory Lapse for creature control while setting up a ground defense (sometimes Floodgates) and assembling an attack force of large flyers. Good control in the form of Dissipates as well as Desertion prevent large problems from developing. More useful is the splash of white most of these decks incorporate for the anti-red complement of Hazeriders (excellent in this environment), Disenchant (not really anti-red, but damn good), and Honorable Passage. This deck has been very strong in the Final 8 in the Midwest. July 12, 3/4 decks in the semis were monoblue and both finalists were blue. July 20, 6 of the top 8 decks contained blue, with two Embryonic variants being pitted against one another in the quarterfinals, as well as the third fighting Brad's Ertai's deck. The winner of the Embyronic match had to take on Brad after Brad's victory over the third Embryonic deck. Brad took out Andrew's Embryonic blue, but in testing Andrew's embryonic blue was near 80% against Ertai's. Andrew did get manascrewed a bit, but Brad's deck seems to be built to fight the Embryonic menace rather well. Be ready for blue, either the Embryonic Blue or the blue/black Ertai's variants. Ertai's are fixed by good weenie control (especially non-burn weenie control for the 'togs) and graveyard control. Embryonic Blue is just tough. Either manascrew them, play a blue foil, or join them and try to outdraw them. Of course, always be ready for Burn. --- That's it for this tournament report. Just wanted to thanks Steve Port for running a good tourney, and mention that there will be one more qualifier in Wisconsin on Aug 20, 1997 in Stevens Point. Thanks for reading it all, Drew -- /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ | Andrew J.Hope | Email: insanity@moselle.com | | aka: Insanity | WWW: http://www.moselle.com/~insanity | \_______________|____________________________________________/