From: rschaer@why.net (Roland Schaer) Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Subject: Chicago PTQ at Dallas, TX Date: Mon, 01 Sep 1997 09:51:08 GMT Sunday August 31, 1997 PTQ:Dallas Report Being a Dallas native, the trip to the PTQ was uneventful. The hardest part was getting up at 6:30am to meet the other team players (Zak,Brandon,Eric and John) from team Lone Wolf (I didn't pick the name). After arriving and registering we had about an hour to before the first round. this was very nerve-wracking as this was my first "real" tournament. After the first round, I was feeling much better. After the second round, I relized my chances were hopeless, but I did learn some imoprtant lessons (see below). This is rather long-winded so please skip to the section that you are interested in, or just trash the whole report. Section I (The Deck) If you are not interested in the deck, please skip to sectin II. I was playing a modified (probably a mistake, but things are different down South) version of Mike Donais' ErtiTog Deck (See Dojo). The main changes were as follows: 1) an extra gemstone for the bad river. You could get it out faster and though it burns out, my play testing games never lasted more than 10 turns tops (win or lose), plus it gives an extra chance for the red to cast the songs. I don't know if this had an impact or not. 2) Replaced 2 "Fledgling Djinn" with 2 "Ray of Command". I did not like the Djinns because I thought that if you can't attack with them you will be taking damage for nothing. Now, sitting here I realize you use the for the first few turns and then Kamacazi (sp?) then Into an opponents creature to help feed the Graveyard. I did this at the suggestion of Dave Ferguson (he said add some rays) after he stole my ghoul and beat me with it. There is nothing ruder than takling your opponents FAT creature and spanking him with it. This may have caused problems with the vultures ghouls, and Togs since there were two less creatures to mill. 3) Replaced a shadow guildmage and a song of blood with a disenchant and a vision charm. I'd heard/read about Sandsipoise and I wanted to have something in my main deck to deal with it. Also, the original deck had no way to deal with enchantments/artifacts. I think this ended up being a big mistake (please read on). 4) I also moved the Island from the sideboard to the main deck and took out a swamp. With the Sideboard, I prety much went with Gary Wise's post game suggestions, replacing the 187's with "Infernal Hervest" and the 4th Song from the maint deck. I also added more disenchants(2) and vision charms(1). Section II (The Competition) So, enough about my deck already, here's what the competition was doing. I was all about Sandsipoise and beating it. There were a bunch of these deck out there (more than I expected) and apparently very few that could beat it, the most common being the green centaur decks. There were many Tog decks around, and I heard that a couple made it to the Top 8. Anyway, I was too busy being pissed off at my mistakes between games to really see what was going on, so I will get to the matchs. Section III (The Tournament) I would like to start off by saying that I did not do this deck justice in play. I mention this because it goes to show that a good deck design is just one piece of the whole picture and will always perform better in the hands of an experienced player. I am glad that I spent the time to play test the deck for about three weeks before the PTQ (very heavily in the last week). It made the difference between a 2-3 reacord and an 0-5 record. I am also very happy that I never forgot to pay the upkeep for my ghouls/vultures once. I only mention this because I lost many play-testing games when I forgot... The tournament was played with 8 (I think) 70 minute rounds of swiss... Round one - Ryan Carpenter U/W Abeyance He was a good player, but I think my deck was just better than his. Game One - We beat on each other for a while. I think he had some flanker knights and a few other creatures that caused a stall. I ended up plinking with the guildmage for the final 4 points. Out come the anti-sands, In go the song and the mind harnesses (I don't know why, he was playing white!) Game Two - This was all about abeyance and it was ugly. Turn two, abeyance. Turn Three, abeyance. I do some piddly-ass stuff on turn four (wow, a creature!), but it's not enough. Fith turn, A(broken card)beyance, Abducts my Askari and I am a pile of mush... I still haven't figured out the thing about the mind harness... SCRUB! Game three - Mana Screw. Wham, bam... ghouls, vultures, ertais, that's what it's all about! Winning to mana screw sucks, but a win is a win... Matches 1-0 Games 2-1 A good start. My first match won, my nerves ease up a little... Round Two - Debra McNulty G/R Fatty Burn Debra was a very good player. She was slow (not stalling) and calculating through the whole match. I could probably learn a lesson from her. Oh, I did... Game One - I play fast, bounch and bury her boas. Big Mistake. Next thing I know, I'm staring at a Viashivan after she tremor's all my creatures away. next turn another one come out and it's all over. I sideboard in the "mind harness" (gee, it might actually work this time) and "uborg justice" (while completly ignoring the bubble matrix's). Personal note to self; Whenever you play against someone with direct (pronounced dierect in Texas) damage, USE THE BUBBLE MATRIX!!! She sided in some elepahnt grass. Game Two - I get out an early tog and I have some creatures in the graveyard. She has no defense. I take a risk and pump the tog on the attack with all available creatures and do some damage. This was a BIG mistake. Bye-Bye tog :( one "subterranean spirit" and Viashivan later, I was dead. Matches 1-1 Games 2-3 Very disturbing, but I'm not out yet... :) Round Three - Robert Moore G/R Winding Canyon Robert was another good player with a deck that should do well against the sands. The winding canyons worked well for him. Game One - I get stalled and he beats on me with centaurs and other assorted creatures. I side in the "mind harness", "serrated biskellion", and uborg justice for the man-o-wars and the disenchant/vision charm. This turned out to be a big mistake as he sided in some elephant grass. Do you see a pattern forming here? Game two - He stalls me with Elephant Grass long enough to get some creatures out, but I get some damage in the the ertai's. He brings out a slew of Sentinals which I slowly whittle away at. I am really proud of the move where I rayed his biskellion and used it to put a counter on his sentinal. He get through with some damage and finishes me off with a 6 point torch. It surprised the hell out of me since this was the only red I ever saw from his deck. Matches 1-2 Games 2-5 Ok, now I am headed into the scrub ranks where I belong... Round four - Chris Welch W Type II This was probably the wierdest match I played. This guy was 0-3 and I found out why. He had Orders, Serra's (a double illegal card) and other assorted non-MVW stuff. I called him on it and he said that he had mostly MVW and wanted to play for fun. I figured I could call for a DQ at any time so I played on... I won the first game, but I think he was not really playing. The second game he played better. There's nothing like man-o-waring an armoured falcon back into your opponent's hand. He told me afterwards that his friends put him up to it, hoping that his opponent wouldn't notice. Seems like he'd be the only one to fall for that trick (that was bad :()... Matches 2-2 Games 2-5 (or 4-5) Round Five - Angie Hoenes B Speed Angie is from Austin and a pretty good player. I find out that her boyfriend is playing the same deck, although he was moving up the brackets faster than she was. Never-the-less I managed to botch this one up also. Game One - Beat it... Beat it... Beat it... That's what she did. We were trading blows and creatures for a while and then sh laid out a dritwater followed by a ghoul. This was too much for me to take and I died. Again, I sided in the "mind harness" (those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it... :0), "serrated biskellion", and "uborg justice" for the Taal's and disenchant/charm. Game Two - The second game, we both get a good start and then I start bouncing her creatures back (boinggggg!) into her hand. We stall and the guildmage comes to the rescue (I shoudl have had 4 of them). Hey, I finally figure out the mind harness DOSEN'T WORK ON BLACK !!!! I side them out and replace them with "bone dancers" Game Three - I get mana screwed and she beats me down and out. I drop... So kids, did we learn anything today? I was focusing so hard on the game play that I forgot about the sidebord strategy. So, my solution is to play with a deck that is so good that it dosen't need a sideboard. Does anyone have one ;) Well, that's it for now. I don't know who made the top 8 and how it went from there because I was gone, but I'm sure someone does and you will se it here. See yo in OKC. RTS