From: efertik@netaxs.com (Elliot Fertik) Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc Subject: New York PTQ report Date: 10 Sep 1997 03:23:01 GMT PTQ Qualifier Report - or, that bitch called lady luck. Hey everyone, it's Elliot Fertik again, with yet another report on his continuing, futile quest to qualify for a Pro Tour. I've long ago set the record for the most PTQ's entered without qualifying even once, although I've made top 8 a few times, and I usually finish with a winning record. Along the way, I've made Grey Matter a lot of money, since it is usually their PTQ's that I attend. But I've never actually won one of these damn things, and unfortunately, this report isn't going to change that. However, I promised myself that I'd write a report this time (I'd didn't for my last PTQ in Edison because I did so horribly), and so what do you know, here we go. This was the last chance I really had to qualify, since there's no way I'm going down to NC next week. The tournament was in Neutral Ground's new space in New York, which BTW, is really nice. I get ready for the tournament in my usual way - i.e. read all the reports on the Dojo, try to figure out the metagame, and then assemly the deck I feel the most comfortable with. This week, however, Mike Flores was back at Penn, and so I had a chance to talk with him about what the best decks were. The way I saw it, there were three decks I was considering - mono blue (especially after Toronto Grand Prix), mono black and Sandspoise. The deck I really wanted to play was Sandspoise, just because it seemed like almost no-one played it and people couldn't devote a lot of space in their sideboard for it. In addition, it was a control deck, which is so different from the wiennie (Ertai's) and burn decks that are so common in this environment. Sure, I could have played mono blue (which I think may well be the strongest deck in this environment) but I wanted to play something a little different. But the problem was trying to find all of the cards I would need for proper Sandspoise. I needed 1 Sands, 1 Equipose, 2 Vampiric Tutors, 2 Wands of Denial, and a few other cards. I scrounged some cards from my friends, but I still was some cards short. I finally made up the mono-blue deck and decided to take both of them with me to the tournament. If I couldn't put together the Sandspoise I could play mono-blue instead. Anyway, I get up around 6 a.m. to get ready to catch the bus to New York. As it so happens, that is exactly the time that Princess Diana's funeral was going on in England. I tune in for a bit to watch the funeral, and it was one of the most moving things I have ever seen on TV. Those people who were making fun of her with that stupid "Princess Diana card" thread ought to be ashamed of themselves - we will really miss Princess Di. Anyway, I get to the bus station, and Mike's not there - contrary to what he said! So, I shrug, catch the bus, and get to New York. Not a problem getting to Neutral Ground's new place, and I get ready to hunt down the cards. Then I get an idea. I approach the Neutral Ground staff and offer to rent the cards I need - i.e. I pay them a certain amount, they get the cards back at the end of the day. After consulting with the boss, they agree. I then happily assemble the deck. Thanks to Adam Maysonet for the idea: 4 Sands of Time 4 Equipose 4 Enlightened Tutors 4 Vampiric Tutors 3 Impulse 3 Coersion 2 Desolation 1 Tidal Wave 1 Tariff 2 Gerrard's Wisdom 1 Miser's Cage 3 Wands of Denial 4 Dark Ritual 6 Swamps 6 Plains 2 Crystal Vales 3 Lotus Vales 4 Gemstone Mines 3 Undiscovered Paradise Sideboard: 2 tidal Wave 3 City of Solitude 3 Windreaper Falcons 3 Power Sink 1 Soul Echo 3 Aura of Silence Anyway, here's the round by round lowdown. Round 1: Robert Hahn Oh no! I have to play a good player first round! For anyone who pays attention to Magic, Rob doesn't need any introduction - he writes the Enlightened Tutor column in the Duelist, as well as being the author of the classic "Schools of Magic." We say hi. Rob's playing a mono-black agonizing memories/stupor/creature deck. Round 1. Rob draws an awful lot of land this game. Meanwhile I slowloy but surely get the lock out - Equipose, and then the Sands. Rob drains me for a whole bunch but it doesn't do him much good. Rob admits he basically doesn't have much experience in this format and doesn't have anything in his sideboard for me. Just to be sure, I put in a few Aura of Silence. Round 2 Rob's deck performs much more like it should. He coersions an Equipose out of my hand, and Agonizing emmories three times. Needless to say, he manages to get some creatures out this time and I lose. Round 3 As they used to say, ULTRA COMBO. I have in my opening hand Sands, Equipose, Dark Ritual, and three land. That's all I need, and the combo's out on turn three. Rob's mana screwed anyway, and he wants to play it out just to see how I kill. Of course, eventually I get out the Miser's Cage and kill him. Not a bad way to start - beating Rob Hahn! Record: 2-0 Round 2: Mark ? (Sorry, no last name) Mark was playing R/B Discard/Burn. I saw Stupors, Torches, Wildfires (oops!) and others Round 1: He his me with a Guildmage a few times, and Stupors me once, but I manage to get the lock down fairly easily. He insists on playing on, and I ask him if he has any way out of the lock. He just smiles. Not being stupid, I wand away a few dark rituals and he concedes. Round 2: The lock comes down very quickly this time. I wasn't sure what he sideboarded in against me. Afterwards, he reveals that he had Forbidden Crypt, and was hoping to ritual it out when his library was about to die. Would have given me the suprise of my life ... fortunately it didn't happen. Record: 2-0 Round 3: Danny (again, didn't get last name) Danny is playing a pretty standard B/R/U Ertai's Song deck. Round 1: I manage to get the combo out pretty quick against him. He has me down to 5 life when the combo hits the table. He concedes (after I made a stupid mistake by Wanding a Circling Vulture into his graveyard. What was I thinking?! Round 2: Unfortunatley for me, he has Gemstone/Undiscovered, and so he can sideboard in disenchant. He songs of blood me once, and gets me down to 7 before I get the combo out. Then, at the end my turn, he disenchants the Sands. Gee, you mean all of those creatures phase back in?! Bye-bye... Round 3: He gets out a quick Necrotog and some other creature. While I'm trying to get the combo out, he decides it would be fun to Song of Blood. Four creatures in the Song - already two in the graveyard (because of Ertai's Familiar) - can you say 21 points of damage in one round? Splat! Well, I'm hoping my luck picks up a little bit now. Record: 2-1 Match 4: Mario Mario is playing another Ertai's deck. Round 1: Mario manages to get out a Double song of blood! Fortunately for me, he doesn't get too many creatures, and I lock him up with 4 life left. Round 2: I actually use Gerrard's to get up to 23 life at one point. Unfortunately, he manages to draw the disenchants he sided in, and I die pretty quickly. Round 3: This one was a heart stopper. Again, he gets out quick creatures, songs of blood, and knocks me down quick. I manage to get out an Equipose, and fortunately, he's playing with Skulking Ghosts, so the Equipose kills them. But he gets out more creatures. I have the Sands in my hand, but I only have three mana on the board. He knocks me down to 1 life. It's very simple - if I don't get the sands out next turn, I die. I draw . . . Dark Ritual! Out comes the Sands, I win! Whew - that was a bit of luck! I didn't know lady luck wasn't finished with me yet. Round 5: David Collins David was playing burn. Uh-oh - that's always a bad matchup for me. Fortunately, David doesn't really understand the Sandspoise deck. Round 1: Amazingly enough, I manage to get out a quick win this game. I take more damage form Desolation and Vampiric Tutor then from David! Round 2: Pretty inevitable - I die a horrible death. Round 3: In this game, I probably displayed the ultimate top-decking skills I have ever seen. David has begun to understand the way my deck works, and doesn't put out creatures, and instead keeps hitting me with a Sandstalker. I get the combo out, but I'm having a hard time getting my land down - Fortunately, I draw a Vale, and I cast the desolation, killing all of my land. I'm at 5 life. David has four mountains out, but he understands that he'll be loosing all of them next round. I admit that I hope he casts Sandstalker again next round. Instead, he pulls a brilliant move. He incinerates me . . , and then casts Mindstone! Oh fuck! I can't phase out the Stone because the sand is already out. I'm at two life. All he needs is one mountain and a bolt (either incinerate or thunderbolt) and I'm toast - the combo won't save me! I almost dispair, knowing I have no land on the table, and only two ways of getting more land. I have one Undiscovered in my hand. I put it out, just in case. Next round, I draw - Gerrard's Wisdom. Well, that's nice, but I still need three more land to us that. He draws and says go. Next round, I draw Gemstone Mine. That's nice, but I still need two more land. He draws again, and looks fustrated. Next round, I draw something else. I expect my death any momment. He draws, says go. I draw - Crystal Vein! I don't believe it. I play the Vein, Gerrard's up to 14 life. My opponent's eyes nearly pop out of his head. And, since the Vein goes away, I'm quickly back down to no land. My opponent concedes, after saying that's one of the luckiest pulls he's ever seen. I can only agree... Record: 4-1 March 6: Mike Lucarelli Mike's playing standard b/w with Abeyance, Ophidian, waterspout. Now, I crush mono blue, but I know some disenchants are coming in after sideboarding. Round 1: Mike taps out to play a turn three Ophidian. Bad move. Out comes Equipose, and once that his the table it's usually over for blue. Sure enough, I have the combo out quick and he loses. Well, that was easily, but I know after sideboarding it's going to be a bitch... Round 2: Mike is not stupid, and he plays this one perfectly. He disenchnats and early equipose, and dissipates another. Meanwhile, my cities are not coming out. He plays one Ophidian, and then another. He's drawing cards off them like mad, and I can't get the combo out. He ends up drawing three disenchants, 'nuff said. Round 3: This was agonizing. I manage to get out an Equipose and a City of Solitude relatively quickly. Only problem - where is my Sands?! He gets out a moderate flying force, and slowly but surely beats me down. Unfortunately, neither Sands nor Tutor comes, and I die, the combo almost ready to go down. Well, that about does it for my chances. I decide to play one more round, just to see what would happen. I should have known better. Round 7: Mark Schneider (Justin and Brian's dad) I've played Mark before - in fact, I played him at Origins in a side draft. I remember that we were drafting Korean 4th, and I passed up a Fireball so that I could get a black-bordered Winter Orb. :) We ended up playing each other, and he beat me. He's playing red/white burn/passage/abyeance. Round 1: I draw one Crystal Vein. I draw 3 Lotus Vales. I die. Round 2: I draw two land, and that's all. I die. Well, I suppose after some great luck earlier on, and can't complain too much, but I still don't like dying to double mana screw. Ever. Well, I end up 4-3 on the day - not too bad for Sandspoise (the other Sandspoise decks did horribly), but I would have liked to have done better. Random thoughts: I know this is still being debated, but I think Mirage/Visions/Weatherlight is still too much dominated by mana screw to be a very good format. I watched one semi-final match get decided by double mana screw. That simply shouldn't happen. I don't really know the answer - maybe a new mulligan rule. But there has to be some solution. My deck itself was OK, but I would have put in Tariff instead of Tidal Wave, just to avoid wating for my blue to come about. The people who run Neutral Ground have to be among the coolest people on earth. When I took back the cards I borrowed from them and asked how much would the rental fee be, they said don't worry about it. I couldn't believe it - how many places would let you borrow cards for a tournament, and not force you to buy the cards! And later I discovered I left my box of cards there. They shipped them back to my address in Philly (I paid postage, but still, a nice gesture). Don't let anyone tell you that Neutral Ground aren't among the coolest people around. While my luck may have run out, Philly's didn't necessarily. My Philadelphia Eagles managed to beat the world champion Green Bay Packers after Green Bay's kicker missed a 28 yard chip shot field goal. Go Birds! I'm not looking forward much to the Mainz qualifier - most people say 5th edition sealed is horrible - and I believe them, with broken commons like Flood and Pestilence, and lots of stupid ones as well. But, like the truely pathetic Pro-Tour wannabe that I am, I'll still enrich Neutral Ground anway. Alright, that's enough for now. Feel free to comment, flame, etc. -Elliot Fertik