From: cjohnson@slonet.org (Chris J) Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc Subject: LA PTQ Tournament Report Date: Sun, 07 Sep 1997 20:27:03 GMT Once again we travelled to LA to test our luck and try to qualify for Chicago. I decided to play control because I'd reached the final eight twice 2 weeks before in Mountainview and just barely missed qualifying in the Semi's. The decks I just folded to most of the time were the green decks with 8 2/1's and city standard. I didn't expect to see any of them in LA though, it was mainly a northern thing. I did expect to see alot more mono blue though because of Toronto so I added 2 manta rays to the sideboard and they proved very useful. I also played with a 3rd discenchant in the sideboard because of all the new bloom and equipose decks people are making. So here's the deck I played: 4 abduction 4 dissipate 4 power sink 4 memory lapse 4 waterspout 4 man-0-war 2 inspiration 1 serratted biskelion 3 hazerider drake 4 abeyance 3 boomerang 4 floodplain 4 plain 12 island 4 quicksand Sideboard: 2 manta ray 1 undo 3 serratted biskelion 3 discenchant 1 hazerider 2 mangara's blessing 3 honorable passage On to the rounds: Round 1: I play aganist mono blue and it was an almost exact replica of Kibler's deck from Toronto. My opponent was Mark Chalice and to his credit he was pretty mana screwed in the first game and really mana screwed in the third so it wasn't much of a match. I can't feel too sorry for him though since he was already qualified and I lost to him last weekend in the Inquest tournament due to an illegal move or misunderstanding between us. It felt really good to get revenge. He took the loss like a pro though and I wish him luck in Chicago. 1-0 Round 2: I play aganist another mono blue deck but there was I think a 5-8 card difference between his and Kibler's from Toronto. I was able to beat him 2 straight games. I was slightly mana screwed the second but our games were drawn out so it didn't make much difference. 2-0 Round 3: I play aganist a friend of mine I drove down with and he's playing blue/black. He wins the first game with a crypt rat surprise. The second and third I manage to use abduction and man-0-war to get a huge advantage by manipulating his creatures. 3-0 Round 4: I play aganist a straight red deck with amber prison and serratted biskelion. The amber prison gave him a big advantage because he could lock down my hazerider. I won when I pulled a second drake though. Second game in goes all the anti-red stuff and I win with a protected waterspout. 4-0 Round 5: I play aganist a red/white/green deck with gossamer chains, hammer, aether flash, torch, gerrards wisdom, amber prison, savage twister, etc. Basically he locked his opponent down with all his anti-creature stuff and won with hammer and torch. First game I don't draw enough mana and don't see an island for serveral turns and I'm stuck discarding. He wins easily. Second game I win with a protected Waterspout. Third game hazerider drake causes him serious problems and honorable passage does like 10 points to him. It was close though. 5-0 Round 6: Draw 5-0-1 Round 7: Draw 5-0-2 Quarterfinals: I play aganist a straight black deck. This is the type of deck I could have easily lost to but I got pretty lucky throughout the match despite never having a good ammount of land. First game he gets some major card advantage with necretaal and necromancy but man-0-war and waterspouts finish him off when I have enough mana to counter 2 spells per turn. I drew a ton of land that game and he didn't draw enough early. Second game I don't draw much land and am forced to start laying creatures just so I don't discard. He didn't draw nearly enough creatures though and I won with waterspout again. Semifinals: I play aganist a red/green/white deck which appeared very anti-black but this was a bad match up for him because he couldn't do anything to stop abduction and could only do a couple things to kill waterspout. I draw alot of land first game but it was a good thing because with inspiration and abduction I was able to get huge card advantage. I won first game with a spout. Second game I'm pretty mana screwed at the beginning an stall forever to draw a white mana mana but once I do I play waterspout and abduct some creatures, then abeyance 3 turns in a row. Finals: Mario Robaina made it the finals and he's playing a equipose deck. So I wanted to play because my chances of winning were real good I think and he knew it. But he agreed to give me the win and the $250 and I gave him all my packs. We both qualified which is really all we wanted anyway. Henry Johnson Good luck to everyone in Chicago!