From: CFeltham@aol.com Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 01:33:30 -0400 (EDT) To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Subject: PTQ Cincinnati OH 8/23 report Having been out of the Magic scene for the better part of 2 years, I started playing again in a purist league of friends. After a few weeks I decided to play in a few tourneys here and there. The first opportunity came last weekend at the PTQ in Cincinnati, OH. I came here to look at the latest deck types to know what I would be dealing with. After looking around I decided to try to adapt a B/U/R bounce type deck and see how I could do. The deck: 1 Well of Knowledge 2 Mystical Tutor 2 Fireblast 2 Mana Web 3 Suq'Ata Lancer 2 Viashino Sandstalker 2 Necromancy 3 Man-o'-War 1 Prosperity 2 Fallen Askari 2 Nekrataal 3 Mundungu 1 Hammer of Bogardan 2 Bogardan Firefiend 2 Hidden Horror 1 Morinfen 3 Necratog 1 Tombstone Stairwell 2 Shadow Guildmage 37 Spells 5 Mountain 7 Swamp 3 Island 2 Bad River 2 Rocky Tar Pit 2 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Gemstone Mine 25 Lands Sideboard: 1 Tombstone Stairwell 1 Morinfen 1 Nekrataal 2 Fireblast 2 Cone of Flame 3 Incinerate 2 Pendrell Mists 2 Thunderbolt 1 Prosperity OK - the night before the PTQ - I had decided to put 2 Dragon Masks into the deck for bouncing the Nekrats and MOW's. But we got to the venue cutting it kinda close for the start time - and I couldn't find a couple of the masks anywhere... so I put the deck back to its original composition. I also put the Mundungu's in there simply for the loss of life effect. I wasn't really expecting to be able to counter all that much - but I figured that he would become a thorn in a few sides throughout the tournament... and if I can get a couple of him out early, I could maybe actually start countering some stuff. The Mana Webs I put in because I just feel that the Web makes your opponent think things through, and can force a mistake or two. In quite a few decks - it can split it in half, either cast your creatures and enchantments in your main phase, or use your instants etc. during my turn. Throw in the Well of Knowledge and a couple of Pendrell Mists, and they start having to make decisions - creatures, cards or spells. Unfortunately - this combo never came to light in full - although the Web did help in one instance. It should be noted that I took out a couple of Abductions and Disenchants the night before to add a couple more direct damage spells to the sideboard. I had experienced a couple of problems in playtesting when I ran into a few 1/1 creatures (Duskrider Falcon, Orcish Settler, Army Ants) and put the Cones in to take out multiple targets, I also thought about Simoon or maybe Savage Twister, but opted for the cones. So - having put the deck together and starting playtesting, it did rather well. My friends deck's were pretty good as well - Jason played a Necromancy type deck - but with a twist... Ashen Powder and Bone Dancers, and 4 Snake Baskets. J.D. was playing direct damage/ land destruction, Nate was playing a buried alive type deck, and Burt was playing his version of an Empyrial Armor - pacifism deck. I had some problems with Jason and REALLY big problems with J.D.'s land destruction (hence - the Cones) but overall the deck won close to 75% of the time. SO - off to the tournament we went. Nate made a couple of changes to his deck and another friend - Hunter, had completely revamped his deck after I beat his first deck 3 and 1 in playtesting a couple of nights before. After arriving cutting it close to the 10 AM start time, we finally got registered. We sat in the conference room and played a couple of hands of UNO waiting for the 1st round...and waited... aaaaaaaaand waited. Apparently the computers had gone down shortly after the registration had finished. So they just shuffled the cards and placed them on the tables - we were in for a long day. Round 1 - Brian Wajert Brian was playing a W/G/R deck with some Centaurs, direct damage and such Game 1 - It starts out ok - we trade a couple of licks, my Mundungu, his Mtenda Lion. He bolts Mundungu, and I Man-o-War the Lion. All is well until the direct damage starts to kick in. Fireblasts and torches take over and the game is over at 15. Game 2 - I sideboard in the direct damage and take out the Stairwell. Again - all starts well. I get out a Mundungu - he bolts it. Then comes a whopper... Elephant Grass. I wish I could've seen the look on my face as I read the phrase "Black creatures cannot attack you." on the card. Something tells me I shouldn't have taken the Disenchants out of the SB last night. But - luckily, I draw a Mana Web. He decides to not pay upkeep, and I breath a sigh of relief. But then the direct damage starts again and he starts beating me down with a Centaur. I do get in some licks with a Hammer and Incinerates, but a Fireblast finishes me off and I lose at 9. Record: 0-1 matches 0-2 games Round 2 - Jason Morgan Jason was playing a mono red deck. Game 1 - I get a little mana screwed, draw only 2 mountains.. not good when the deck is mainly black. He gets a Keeper of Kookus out and I have no creatures to cast. 4th turn he finds a Fireblast and I'm at 12. I finally get another Mountain and hit him with a Sandstalker while he is tapped out. Finally, 2 Incinerates and a Fireblast finish me off and I lose at 16. Game 2 - I sideoard in more direct damage. It starts kinda the same way, Keeper, Fireblast, Incinerate. I'm at 12. I have enough out to cast Morinfen, and he has no flyers, just a Keeper and a Minotaur. I also manage to get a Necratog out and slowly wear him down. The upkeep is running me down, and he hits me with an Incinerate and Suq'Ata Lancer that gets through and I am at 4. After paying the upkeep - I am at 1, while he is at 10. I cast Mystical Tutor on my upkeep and fetch a Fireblast and attack with the Necratog and Morinfen while he is tapped out and then cast the Fireblast for 10 points. I win at 1 - WHEW! Game 3 - I get mana screwed and draw a swamp and a mountain. He hits with a Keeper, a Lancer, the Lancer again a Flare and the Keeper again. I manage to get a Sanstalker out finally and hit for 4, but then he hite me with the most aggravating phrase I heard all day "I'll torch you for 5, sac 2 for a Fireblast, aaaaand 2 more for another Fireblast". After apologizing for the endless cheese, he left the winner at 16. Note: he did tell me that his opening draw for game 3 was 5 Mountains and 2 Fireblasts - YOW! Record: 0-2 matches, 1-4 games Round 3 - Frank Schober Frank was playing yet another red deck - with some blue splashed in. This was a loser's bracket game with both of us at 0-2. It was probably too late for either of us - but it was definitely put up or shut up time. Game 1 - Again, mana screw time. Not so much NO mana, but the wrong color. The few creatures I can get out are bolted, and he wears me down with Sandstalkers and Emissaries. I mange to get some Sandstalker licks of my own in, and a Hidden Horror gets in too, but I lose out at 8. Game 2 - Once again, I side in Direct Damage. Doesn't matter - once again - mana screw. He gets 3 mountains and a Sandstalker. I get a Mundungu and try to wait for reinforcements - which never come. I manage to get 5 points in from Mundungu but get pounded by the Sandstalker a couple of times.. the he whips out a Fog Elemental - Teferi's Veil combo on me - and there's nothing I can do. I lose at 15. Record: 0-3 matches, 1-6 games. At this point I'm starting to look at the Sealed Deck side tourneys that are starting up. But I decide to stick around for the experience in an attempt to get to the minimum number of matches to be listed in the DCI rankings. Round 4 - Danny Pevley He is again playing mono-red Game 1 - Not much to say, he gets a little mana screwed and I draw my best hand of the day - 2 mountains, a swamp, an island, 1 Manowar and 2 Lancers. I just start in with the Lancers and Manowar the only creature he gets out. I beat him at 20... Flawless Victory!! Game 2 - I didn't really get to see much of his deck - so I didn't sideboard anything in. I get mana screwed big time and only draw 2 mountains in 10 turns. He gets plenty on mountains and hits me with a Viashino Sandstalker 5 times. I lose at 20.. Flawless Loss!! I look at the deck and would have continued with no land for another 10 turns... UGH!! Game 3 - Once again, no sideboarding. Once again, mana screw. This time I get only 1 mountain in 7 turns. He gets the Sandstalker again and 5 turns later I'm dead again at 20. Once again, a quick peek at the rest of the deck and there was no mana for another 10 turns. Wow - I can't buy a break. Record: 0-4 matches, 2-8 games. At this point I bow out to go play in a Sealed Deck tournament. Notes: I really don't know what to say - the fact that I lost 8 games out of 10 makes it hard to tell what went wrong. I kept getting bad mana draws (a problem unexperienced in playtesting), I matched up poorly against my opponents, and just couldn't buy a break. I know this deck is better than that - but, as I heard someone else say that day - I couldn't believe there was that much mono-red there that day. I never saw so many torches in my life. On another note - I could take a little comfort in the fact that my 1 game victory against Jason Morgan may have put him in a Win-and-in position in the 7th and final round of swiss.Jason was seeded 8th for the final round and needed a match win vs. his opponent to get into the round of 8. He lost because his matchup was bad...heh (gotta take something ouuta my beating). Other notes: My friends fared quite well during the day (better than me obviously). Nate surprised us all and was 4-1 at one point, but finished at 4-3. Jason went 2-2 and dropped out to play the Sealed Deck, J.D. went 2-5 with the final loss coming to another friend, Charles who went 2-5 as well. Burt was in my boat and went 0-3 before dropping out to pay in the 1st Sealed Deck of the day, and Hunter went 2-2 before he finally gave it up with his multicolor - protection from everything deck. The fact that these other guys did fairly well really pissed me off seeing as how I was beating their decks with regularity. But I'm used to it - at least none of their decks made it to the final 8. So anyways - the Final 8. I'm pretty sure that the minimum record for making the final 8 was 6-0-1 or at the least 5-1-1 - since the computers were down, I couldn't find out exactly. Here were the quarterfinalists (in no real particular order) 1) Richard Van Cleave - Mono-blue 2) Michael Donovan - B/U Nekrataal/Ertai deck 3) Leonard Richardson - didn't see his deck much.. it appeared to be G/W with Elves. 4) Matt Place - Mono-blue with Ophidians and Illusionists, heavy control 5) David Dewaelsche - another B/U Nekrat, Necrosavant, Waterspout deck 6) Brian Green - an interesting creatureless R/W deck with Savage Twisters and direct damage 7) Larry Lindemann - a R/W/U deck with manowars, direct dam. and white weenies 8) Brian Roe?? - didn't pick up his last name.. he quit wearing the name tag. Brain was playing another deck like Dewaelsche's with some counters In the quarterfinals - Van Cleave took on Michael Donovan and defeated him pretty handily, Place took on Richardson in a game that took a while but Place won 2-0, Dewaelsche beat Green 2-1 in a fascinating game that was VERY intense (this was the one I was watching) and Roe beat Lindemann 2-1 in a couple of tense games but the Necrosavants just kept banging away. Semifinals - Dewaelsch and Roe played 3 great games with Roe finally prevailing with the savants again. Roe had qualified for the Pro Tour. However - Dewaelsche still had a chance to qualify since Van Cleave already had an invitation to the event. Place took on Van Cleave with a bid on the line for Matt. Two mono-blue decks battling it out. The games were VERY intense and very close - but also somewhat boring. It was pushing midnight and theirs was the only game still going on (with no time limit - no less). Finally - Place was able to push his Waterspouts across for the win and he had sealed up the Pro-Tour bid. Since the rental on the room was up - the Finalists moved out into the hall and played the finals on the registration table out front. Matt was pretty much ruler of the table as he had great draws in both games. The Illusionists and Waterspouts did their damage, and a sideboarded Shimmer in the second game took care of Brian's swamps - and the match was over. All in all - I started having more fun after I dropped out of the tournament. Even though I couldn't buy a break all day (my starter deck sucked as well - what am I supposed to do with a Kaervek's Spite in a sealed deck anyways?) I don't know if I'm going to just revamp the deck a little for the PTQ In Nashville. I have thought about playing the deck that Place was playing (just to prove a point) but I doubt I will. I will probably just revamp and go from there. Note: Although I could sense that Matt Place was a VERY good player as I watched him throughout the day - I didn't realize that he was ranked #240 by the DCI and was also a member of Team USA 1996 (with his picture in the Duelist and name on the Duelist Invitational ballot - no less). Congrats to Matt who came all the way from Kansas City to stomp everyone's butt. See you all in Nashville!! Chris Feltham