Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 14:14:44 PDT From: "JEREMY HAUSS - F7 LITHO (505)893-7613 PGR3308" Subject: PTQ Report from ABQ, NM (and a fun Sisay Chimera Deck) Hello all, This is the first time I've posted to this list, tho I've been reading for over two months. Thought you'd be interested in a PTQ tourney report from New Mexico. 53 people entered, including three members of Team Scrub: myself - B/U/r Ertai/Necratog Rick - Mono Red Matthew - U/W Waterspout/Abeyance My deck was mostly a copy of Gary Wise's "Sivilish Ertai" deck (as it's called on the Magic Dojo - Thanks, BTW, for an excellent resource): 10 Swamp, 2 Islands, 1 Mountain, 1 Bad River, 1 Rocky Tar Pit, 3 Undiscovered Paradise, 3 Gemstone Mine = only 21 land! This CAN lead to many screw, of course, but you only need 2 to get rolling and all spells are 1-3cc. Running with less land makes those Song of Blood that much better. 4 Ertai's Familiar 4 Skulking Ghost \ 2 Fledgling Djinn > (Fliers are big in MVW) 4 Circling Vultures / 4 Shadow Guildmage 4 Fallen Askari 4 Barrow Ghoul 4 Man-o'-War 3 Serrated Biskelion (instead of 3 Nekrataal - AIS, this deck is running mana lite, and I often found myself winning with only 3 land on the table and a Nekrataal or two in hand) 2 Necratog 4 Song of Blood (Wow) = 35 creatures(!) and 30 spells are 1-2cc Sideboard could have used some work: 2 Urborg Justice 2 Mind Harness (as Gary said, for the Scalebane's Elite only) 2 Disenchant \ 2 Touchstone / (I worried needlessly about Sandsipoise) 2 Tombstone Stairwell (vs. creature-lite decks; didn't go in the main deck cuz I figured on seeing lots of Ertog decks) 2 Bone Dancer (vs. other Ertog decks) 2 Bubble Matrix (vs. Aether Flash) 1 Knight of the Mist Match 1: Jeremiah Gage U/W (Waterspout,Abeyance,Wisdom,ManoWar,Owl,Undo,Lapse) Game 1: He gets off to a good early start, w/owls and manowar, then abeyances undos and finally a waterspout. Unfortunately for him, the waterspout had to die blocking - the Ertog deck just churns out too many threats for manowar/undo to handle effectively. I win. Game 2: Well, it USUALLY churns out too many threats. 3 manowar, 2 undo, and a memory lapse by the 7th turn will slow down any creature-deck. Waterspout served the beatdown. I lose. Game 3: He draws 1 Flood Plain in his opener and doesn't see any more land for ~5 turns. I win, and we decide to play a fourth game just to see what would happen. (Game 4): Two Song of Blood in my opening hand. He's dead on turn 5 as my 4 creatures get +7. 1-0 Match 2: Robert R/B(/w/g) (Typical red burn, but with askari and togs, the sideboard had afterlife and Savage Twister!) Game 1: I draw 1 swamp, and 2 guilmages and 1 vulture just don't cut it. I lose. Game 2: I made a big mistake. Since he was playing R/B, I assumed no mass destruction, so I emptied my hand of creatures for a next turn kill. An Undiscovered Paradise allows him to Savage Twister away ALL my critters! UGH - well, that's why I belong on Team Scrub. Then I drew a Necratog which meant I'd win the NEXT turn, but he top-decked a second incinerate to kill me (I was at 6 life). 1-1 Match 3: ?? I can't find my notes and remember nothing about this match other than I won, very quickly. 2-1 Match 4: Jay Wagner Typical Mono-red Game 1: I draw only 2 land, which is sometimes enough against slower decks. Of course, mono-red ain't slow. Incinerate, Fireblast, Fireblast, I lose. Game 2: Another mistake by me (sigh). I had him down to 3 life and for some inane reason attacked with both my 4/4 Ghoul AND my guildmage (he had no blockers). So when he fireblasts my ghoul I can't put him on top of my library. I was at 12 life, which was long enough to survive the two sandstalker hits I'd take before I could have killed him with that Ghoul after casting it again. Instead, I lose. 2-2 With 6 rounds of Swiss and 52 players, a couple 4-2-0's will make it so I keep playing. Besides, I obviously need the experience. Match 5: ?? R/W (4 main-deck Aether Flash,Abeyance,Wisdom,Pacifism,Incinerate Bosium Strip - creatureless deck!) Game 1: My deck works just like it's supposed to (it usually does), and Abeyance doesn't hurt me too bad when I already have 3-4 creatures in play and he has no blockers. I win. Game 2: See game 1. If he'd been able to play an Aether Flash either game it might have made a difference, but I doubt it. I had creatures out too early. He also sided in Savage Twister, but drew no green mana (whew). 3-2 Match 6: ?? Mono-black (Tog,Nekrataal,Necromancy) Game 1: My deck is just way too fast for him and he has no good answer for my fliers. Shadow Guildmages were killing his Nekrataals. I win. Game 2: See game 1. 4-2 But not good enough to make it. I saw Zero Sandsipoise. I did see other Ertog decks (at the head table even), lots and lots of Red, a couple mono-black (1st turn Morinfen w/2 dark rituals!) and mono-blue, and even a B/R discard with Paupers Cage as one road to victory. The other members of Team Scrub fared worse than I did: Rick's mono-red hit mono-blue in the first match. Rick was playing with Orcish Settlers but neglected to use them at the first opportunity to kill 2 land. He lost. In match three he hit a W/U deck that heavily pre-sideboarded vs. red. Rick dropped at 1-2. Matthew's U/W could have done better, but our youngest Team Scrub member (age 11) forgot to pay the Waterspout's upkeep, costing him Match 3. He also dropped at 1-2. The tourney was generally well-run by the Wargames West crew (especially compared to previous disastrous experiences). At the beginning, they made an announcement that upkeeps for Waterspout Djinn AND Stampeeding Wildebeast are resolved separately (i.e., 2 wildebeasts = 2 returned creatures if there are 2 green creatures in play). They said this was a new ruling just handed down from Wizards. No one seemed bothered by it (I didn't see any Wildebeasts all day, and everyone already new you needed multiple islands for multiple djinns). As a side note, I have an Arena Sisay deck that's a lot of fun and actually does quite well (turn 5 kills aren't hard to come by): 4 Lead Belly Chimera 4 Iron Heart Chimera 4 Brass Claw Chimera 4 Tin Wing Chimera 3 Crypt Rat 4 Shallow Grave \ 2 Bone Harvest > recurse those sac'd chimeras, of course 2 Strands of Night / 3 Well of Knowledge (AIH) 2 Howling Mine - maybe suboptimal, but it's fun drawing 3-4 chimeras and playing ALL of them for immediate sacrificing to your atticking chimera 4 Drain Life 2 Urborg Justice 4 Quicksand 18 Swamp I also wonder about playing my (Gary's) tourney deck with "crappy" Maraxus... Too bad Vangaurd's pretty much over. -Jeremy Hauss