From: Mario Robaina Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc Subject: Chicago PTQ (LA): The Last Chance for Chicago Date: Tue, 09 Sep 1997 15:01:49 -0700 Howdy. It's been a while since I've posted a tourny report, but I might as well do one for this PTQ. Let me preface this by saying that there is a serious problem w/ the state of Magic today. There are way too many people copying the the one or two decks that did well the week before. Having said this I proceeded to copy (more or less) a Sandsipoise deck for the PTQ this past Saturday. At least I was smart enough to modify it to beat mono blue decks (which I was expecting to see everywhere after Brian Kibler won the Toronto GP). On a side note, it was insanely hot in the Costa Mesa Women's Club on Saturday. The heat was really unbearable. I felt like I was competing in a sporting event. I spent most of my off time trying to stay cool and drinking lots of fluids. Round 1. B/R Burn. This was one of my closest matches of the day. Burn was one of the decks that I was hoping I wouldn't play too often, because if you don't get the no land lock really fast you just lose. I win 2-1. Match record: 1-0, Game Record: 2-1. Round 2. Ertog deck played by Riad Mourssali (sp?) I almost lose game one by making a really stupid play, but I manage to run him out of cards. Game two is much easier, but he wont concede despite two Wands of Denial in play and me being at 15 life. I had also Coercioned him to make sure that he had nothing in his hand. I win 2-0. Match record: 2-0, Game Record: 4-1. Round 3. Truc Bui playing Kibler's mono blue w/ some modifications. I win 2-0. I've got my deck set up to beat mono blue. Match record: 3-0, Game Record: 6-1. Round 4. Igor Frayman playing Kibler's mono blue. Same result as above. Match record: 4-0, Game Record: 8-1. Round 5. Kurt Burgner playing Mono Black. I win game 1 pretty easy, but the next two are really hard. Kurt has dark rituals and he has 4 Forsaken Wastes in the sideboard. I wand of denial away 3 in game 2, but he ritual drains me to win late. Game 3 is also extremely close. At this point I'm so hot that I literally almost feint at one point in the match. I'm playing a lock deck and I can barely concentrate on what is going on. His sideboard is really good against me, and i win at just 2 life. I have to disenchant a forsaken wastes, but i manage to kill him before he draws the fourth one after wanding the others away. Match record: 5-0, Game Record: 10-2. Round 6 and 7. Intentional draws. I make the top 8 as like the #3 seed. Henry Johnson, Kurt Burgner and Ernest Alexander are notable So Cal players to also make the top 8. Quarterfinals. Larry Janik playing mono red. A very tough matchup for me. Game one is really close. I'm down to 2 or 4 life before I get the zero mana lock. He can't do anything, but wants to continue to play. He finally concedes about 20 turns later when he realizes i'm not going to ever let him have any land. Game two is over pretty fast despite a Magnara's Blessing on my part. I get the zero mana lock out by turn 5 and i'm still at 12. It's over, but he won't concede. He takes about 2 minutes to decide what to discard and i let him know that it's over, and he gets pissed off. I win about 20 turns later. Match Record: 6-0-2, Game Record: 12-3. Semifinals. Ernest Alexander playing mono blue. I'm very confident going into this match and Chalice has to calm me down to make sure I don't screw up. Ernest is about the 20th player to ask me why I'm playing since I'm already qualified, and I inform him that I'm not qualified. Game one takes a long time. He puts out an Ophidian on turn 3 and proceeds to draw about 15 to 20 cards with it, but I eventually get out the lock. One more game and i'm in. the first game took almost half of the 70 minutes for the round, so I'm a little nervous. I pretty much need to win this game. Ernest puts out an Ophidian again and draws a lot of cards. The key moment comes when i've got the entire lock out w/ two lands in play (one island and one plains). I have only one card in hand (a Power Sink) and Ernest has around six. he Boomerangs my Sands of Time, but I top deck a Crystal vein to recast it. I'm down to one land now and the next turn I burn to get rid of the last land and he concedes. WOO - HOOO!!!! I qualified. Finals. Henry Johnson playing Blue/White. I'm so exhausted that I don't even want to play the finals. I give Henry the match, he gets the $250 and I get all the 1st and 2nd place packs. Chalice, Frank, Igor, the Dickheads and I go out to eat and celebrate my qualifying. I can't even stomach anything, but drink about 4 raspberry Iced teas and 5 glasses of water. I've rarely been this exhausted, but I'm glad i've made it. See you all in Chicago. Later, Mario Robaina. "The PCL"