From: rbrannon@xmission.com (Rob Brannon) Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Subject: PTQ Salt Lake City Utah Report - Rob Brannon Winner Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 05:10:40 GMT I won the PTQ in Salt Lake City Utah this weekend. I played a mono-blue deck. My only loss was too another blue deck with a touch of white. The reson I lost to this deck was because of poor side-boarding on my part. I played the blue/white deck again in the final 8 and beat the pants off it. Here is the deck listing: Main Deck: 4 Waterspout Djinn 4 Ophidian 2 Voldalian Illusionist 2 Serrated Biskelion 4 Man-o-War 4 Impulse 4 Dissipate 4 Memory Lapse 4 Power Sink 4 Boomerang 1 Flooded Shoreline 17 Islands 4 Quicksands 2 Winding Canyons Sideboard: 2 Serrated Biskelion 2 Mind Harness 3 Abduction 3 Disrupt 2 Undo 3 Shimmer Notes on the main deck: == Boomerang == The 4 boomerangs in the main deck were extremely helpful. I used them several times early in the game to keep my opponent "mana-hosed" by putting his land back in his hand. In mid-game, with an ophidian out, this card basically becomes a cantrip (as does the Man-o-War). IMHO, this is a very strong card in the main deck. == Flooded Shoreline == The single flooded shoreline actually won me several games. It is a strong late game card. Against fast decks, I side-boarded this card out every time. == Permission == 12 Counters, whoa! It seems like a lot, but this is the meat and potatos of the deck. I am more impressed with Memory Lapse every time I use it. In several games, I used Memory Lapse to keep my opponent "mana-hosed". Several times my opponent drew 1 or 2 land and attempted to cast a low casting cost spell, but I "lapsed" it. Then he couldn't draw another land to play the higher casting cost cards. The other counters just slowed my opponents down so I could get Ophidan out. Once Ophidian hit the table, it was over. Notes on the sideboard: By far the strongest cards in the side board were Undo and Shimmer. == Undo == The card was *awesome* against fast creature decks, especially against fast black. This card won me the semi-finals. I was playing a fast black/ertai deck. I got 2 undos off on it. One on turn 3 and another on turn 5. It slowed it down too much. I cannot stress how strong this card was. == Shimmer == This card ROCKED the red, black, and red/black decks. This card won me the finals. I was playing against a red/black deck. I had a turn 4 shimmer which nuked his mountains. I played a second shimmer on turn 7 and nuked his swamps. He conceeded when the second shimmer hit the table. == Abduction == This card won me the quarter-finals. I failed to side-board these in against the other blue deck. In the second game of the quarter- finals however, I did not make the same mistake! My opponent (who went first) played a turn 3 ophidian. I also played an ophidian that turn. He was ==very== surprised when I abducted *his* ophidian on turn 4, DOH! His deck did not have as much permission, so I got his Ophidian and "smacked" him with mine. It was just rude. On turn 5 he played another Ophidian. I also played a turn 5 ophidian. On turn 6, I abducted his *other* ophidian. I had *4* ophidians out on him. He conceded on turn 6. == Serrated Biskelion == These were for the nasty green decks. They were the best way to deal with Merkats and River Boas. == Mind Harness == I only used thes cards once against a mono-red deck, but they were very helpful. == Disrupt == I think that I might favor Tidal Wave over the Disrupt. I *never* used disrupt in the entire tournament. I'd like to thank Adam Masonette and Travis who helped me tweak this deck in the days before the qualifer. I'll see you guys in Chicago! Rob Brannon (Vice-Admiral, G.A.B.) "Remember, only YOU can prevent cross-posting" Check out The Traders Outpost (my wants/haves): http://www.xmission.com/~rbrannon/magic.html To See G.A.B.s Consolidated Bad Trader List, go to: http://pw2.netcom.com/~wolfman8/Bad.html Check out G.A.B, Join today: http://pw2.netcom.com/~wolfman8/gab.html