From: "Rick Ralsten" 
To: (webmaster@classicdojo.org)
Subject: History of the Richmond Gun (aka PT Jank)
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 16:47:18 -0500

     As any dojo-savvy reader is aware, a new deck archetype has joined the
ranks of prison, sligh, fruity pebbles, and the others in the waning days
if Los Angeles PTQs. This deck has been dubbed "PT Jank," though as Donnie
Gallitz points out in his article at the Tongo Nation section of TNC's web
page, we prefer it to be called the Richmond Gun. 

     For those who don't know and who actually care, my name is Rick
Ralsten and I own the Time Capsule, a comics and Magic shop in Chester, VA,
basically a suburb of Richmond. I did *not* create the deck, but it was
created at my shop by people who play at my shop, so I feel a not
inconsequential amount of pride over it. I tweaked it a bit when I
qualified with it in Germany, and some of those tweaks have now become
standard in the deck (i.e. aura straight up), so it feels good to at least
have some small role in a deck that is now widely known. But I did not
create the deck. 

     The origins of the Richmond Gun probably go back to playtest sessions
at Time Capsule for the Chicago PT. Kyle Rose was trying to decide what to
play, and was leaning toward Counterpost, although he wasn't 100% happy
with it. Alex Tyler then brought in what would be the nascent version of
the deck that Kyle would play in Chicago, basically a white weenie deck
with bolts. Kyle liked the idea of the deck, and after much playtesting and
tweaking, ended up with the version of the deck that netted him 7th place
in Chicago. (For a complete decklist of Kyle's Chicago deck, Click Here
to see the top 8 decks at PT Chicago.)
 
     After the Pro Tour, we knew that LA qualifiers were going to be
extended as well, so Kyle, Alex, myself, Tak Elmore and Ben Earley (2 more
regulars and great players), and others sat around analyzing Kyle's deck,
trying to determine how it could be better. It was at this pojnt, I believe
that Kyle determined that Frenetic Efreet was needed in the deck. The deck
went through several iterations, with Frenetics, Man-o-Wars sometimes,
various and sundry other tweaks and refinements.
 
     At this point, Tempest was released, so the entire metagame had
changed once again. The trick now was to figure out which, if any, Tempest
cards would help to make the deck better. Kyle Rose then once again proved
why he is the best player in the store by quickly identifying cursed scroll
as a key card for the deck. Tak Elmore, I believe, suggested the Soltari
Priests, and it was quickly determined that they were better than the pump
knights. With the addition of the cursed scrolls, armageddon was no longer
viable, though wasteland was pretty much a no-brainer for the deck. By this
time, the LA qualifiers were almost upon us, and this deck was rocking and
rolling. We were throwing all of the standard Extended archetypes at it,
and nothing was beating it consistently. When it did lose a game or two, we
took notes as to why it lost, and tried to design a sideboard accordingly.

     The first qualifier that we attended was in High Point, NC, at the end
of November. Ben Earley qualified there with the original version of the
Richmond Gun, along with Peter Ripley from MD who came down with us and was
playing R/U. I then took the deck to Germany and played in the first PTQ
there with a slightly different version of the Gun based on things we had
noticed in High Point. It was mostly just changing the land ratio a bit and
adding auras standard, but I was very pleased with the way the deck played
and I qualified with no losses. You can read my tourney report about this
qualifier on the dojo---it is very vague, as I didn't want to give out the
deck since we still had quite a few Time Capsule people trying to qualify
with the Gun. So we had qualified two people in two weeks; we were
obviously very pleased with the way the deck was playing, but the evolution
process never ends. Somewhere around this time we went up from 3 to 4
scrolls.

     Donnie Gallitz and Derek Rank both knew of the deck from my playing it
in Germany, and in the next few weeks Derek proceeded to qualify himself
and several of his teammates in Chicago with the Richmond Gun. It was at
this point that the deck got posted in almost exact form on the dojo by one
of their opponents, acquiring the uncanny name "PT Jank." (Ed. Note - From
Adrian Sullivan's Report of DeGuzman's Deck at the 01/03/98 PTQ Chicago.) 
The rest of the Time Capsule guys still trying to qualify for LA were 
understandably upset when our secret weapon suddenly appeared on the dojo, 
but there was no choice any more but to deal with it as best we could. Our 
next major qualifier coming up on the horizon was Richmond...this was going 
to be the real test. This was our home turf...our stomping ground, so we 
definitely wanted to make a good showing, but with our deck all over the dojo, 
we were suddenly faced with the dilemma of having a sideboard that could beat 
other Richmond Gun decks while still being able to beat the rest of the field.
After more tweaking, we attended with versions we were happy with. The
field in Richmond was certainly very interesting, much more varied than I
was expecting, with all the major deck archetypes (including ours)
represented. As the dust cleared, the two people who qualified were Alex
Tyler and Chris Buckingham, both Time Capsule guys (though Chris is also a
TAG guy as well--that's Total Access Games, another fine store in Richmond)
both playing Richmond Gun variants. Ah, vindication!
 
     Anyway, that pretty much catches you up on the history of "PT Jank",
or, as we prefer, the Richmond Gun. We've qualified more Time Capsule
players with this deck than with any other deck, which I guess is very
fitting, since we made it up in the first place! Major kudos to all my guys
who qualified with it (and judging by the dojo reports, to all the non-Time
Capsule guys who have qualified with it all over the USA). Special props to
all the Time Capsule guys (Tak Elmore, Mark Styles, Blair Johnson) and
honorary Time Capsule guys (Matt Linde, David Magnani) who have come so
very close to qualifying with the deck. Most of us will be in DC this
weekend, so they still have a shot! 

     In closing, it's really weird that this deck has gotten the nickname
of "Jank," for "jank" implies something strange or fruity or impulsive or
crazy. If there's one thing this deck *isn't*, it's impulsive or crazy.
This deck has undergone the most intensive playtesting of probably any deck
that we've played at Time Capsule, so every card in the deck has been given
judicious, careful thought. Call it what you will, Richmond Gun or PT Jank:
it's still our bastard child, and we still love it.

Rick Ralsten
rralsten@cybrwks.com