Tourney Report

Tournament Report - Cuyahoga Falls PTQ for LA - Feb 1st, 1997

After some extremely good placings at the last few PTQ's we attended, the Weedwhackers decided to attend the Pro-Tour Qualifier in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The event was held at the University of Akron, which is about 3 hours away from Windsor. To be sure we would not be late, we met at 5:30 in the morning and set off the event. Included in our little band was myself, Mike Donais, Mark Brombacher and Bryan Goethals representing our informal band called the Weedwhackers. Several other friends also attended, but won't be mentioned here because you won't recognize them anyway. Everyone currently lives in the Windsor, Ontario area, although we are from various cities in Ontario. The drive down was fun, and we played a few car-to-car jokes for some laughs. We arrived at 9:00 AM, thanks to Lee Mclain for great directions on how to get to the place. The registration line was fairly long, so I went inside while others waited. Deck registrations had started, they were having about a dozen people register their decks at a time as they signed up, which seemed to work ok.

Eventually I registered a deck (thank god it wasn't the one I eventually got), and waited for the tourney to start. When I was handed my final deck, I was fairly happy with it, and I new if I played well, and made zero mistakes all day, I could get to the finals. There were some god decks floating around (Dave Underwood has a sweet one), and mine was about middle of the road. I decide to play blue/black/green/red (I have no problem playing 4 colours as long as there is no heavy reliance on double coloured casting costs). Here is the 41 card deck I settled on:

Artifact: Teeka's Dragon
Gold: Rock Basilisk
Black: Stupor, Grave Servitude, Bone Harvest, Shadow Guildmage, Enfeeblement
Red: Chaos Charm, Kearveks Torch, Incinerate, Viashino Warrior, Ekundu Cyclops
Blue: Cerulean Wyvern, Sandbar Crocodile(x2), Thirst, Power Sink
Green: Nettletooth Djinn, Granger Guildmage, Crash of Rhinos, Wall of Roots, Jungle Wurm, Stalking Tiger
Land: 4 Island, 4 Swamp, 6 Forest, 4 Mountain


As you can see I got a lot of solid cards. I went for the four colours, because most of my other cards were weak, and going three colours would have meant the addition of at least 4-5 cards that I consider too weak to play. Several fellow Canadian players disagreed with some of my choices, suggesting I should have used my 2 Azimaet Drakes and Urborg Panther. I do not like creatures that cannot block and kill a 2/2 flanker, and generally try to keep them out of my deck for that reason (they are also useless blocking a standard 3/3 creature. The exceptions of course are black or green guildmages, which are just so strong with their pinging ability. I did, however, keep the Azimaet Drake's in my mind as sideboard cards against griffins (I also had a Tropical Storm in the sideboard versus flyers). With 18 land, and a Wall of Roots, I was happy with my mana supply.

The rest of the gang all got decent decks, approximately the same power level as mine, some stronger or weaker. Any of us could get to the finals with a little luck, no mana screws, and no mistakes. The tournament was ready to start around noon, here it goes. I did not take notes, and I cannot provide names, but I remember most key plays.

--Round One--
My opponent was playing a decent deck with a lot of the standard Mirage 3/3 creatures and a lot of griffins and knights. Since all of my creatures were at least as big (or bigger), I played a fairly defensive game, while waiting for some of my biggies to come out. The games went fast after the Crash of Rhinos or the Rock Basilisk came out. The most important play was probably me attacking with the Crash of Rhinos, and him blocking with 3 2/2 first strikers (2 griffins and a knight). I was waiting for this, and Incinerated one blocker, and pinged (with Shadow Guildmage) and Chaos Charmed the other. After the loss of 3 creatures without taking any with him, the game was basically over for him. I sideboarded in my 2 Drakes, and Tropical Storm (taking out the slow Teekas, Nettletooth-he had Pacifism, and a Crocodile). He got out 2 griffins which did some damage, but were caught up in a Tropical Storm (which my Wyvern survived). The Wyvern pounded him a bit, was Pacified, and Torch+Incinerate finished him off.
--Record: 1-0 matches / 2-0 games


--Round Two--
I moved to a table closer to the front of the room, and saw a bunch of people talking about Dave Underwood's deck. I asked Dave if I could take a look, and was flabbergasted to see 2 Torches, Volcanic Geyser, and tons of great creatures and more creature control. I new he would make the finals with that deck. My opponent for this round sat down, and we began the joust. I got a decent start, and we sat watching each other as my Wall of Roots and Cyclops kept him from attacking. I stupored him after awhile (once I knew all the land was out of his hand, and only big good stuff was left). He dropped a Torch and a Ray of Command. I smiled and attacked, losing a couple of creatures in a trade off because I had the Bone Harvest in hand (I am always incredibly happy to get his card in sealed deck). My guys came back through the Harvest, and his stayed dead. I overwhelmed him while still keeping defense (I always play defensively, even when I am on the attack), and he died quickly. The second game was much like the first, the occasionally double block from him would bring my incinerate into play (or ping+Chaos Charm). The attack then Incinerate one of his double blockers was used by me in every match, and always served to bring the creature advantage to me. He soon died to my creatures (I held a Power Sink and Torch in hand with all my mana untapped).
--Record: 2-0 matches / 4-0 games

--Round Three--
I played a guy who's friend had just played my brother Mike. For some reason the guy was scared to play me because someone told him I was a good player (ha, tricked him!). The first draw I had was 7 land. I thought for awhile, and decided to go with the Mulligan. I later regretted it as I drew only 1 land in my next hand, and no land for 2 more turns, which gave him the Mirage advantage (you can't come back from mana screw very easily in Mirage). The next two games I won as I got the mana I needed, and cast fat creature after fat creature, ending both games with a gift from Kaervek. He was a nice guy, and a good sport. --Record: 3-0 matches / 6-1 games.


--Round Four--
This match was fairly close. The first game I was a tad mana screwed, and he managed to build up a huge creature advantage. He had a great deck with lots of flyers, Pacifism, Torch, Volcanic Geyser, and good creatures. I lost the first game because of the one mistake I made all day. I forgot Teeka's Dragon has Trample, and he killed me by one point because of it. That was dumb. Next game I sideboarded out my Teeka's Dragon (I figured one was enough), and I brought in my anti-flyer sideboard. I got a nicely timed Stupor which took out his Crash of Rhinos and Volcanic Geyser (he chose the Geyser, so I was scared of what he held on to). The key play was the time I incinerated his creature, and he cast Armor of Thorns to save it, and I cast Grave Servitude to turn his creature black so Armor of Thorns would fizzle. I won that game, and we went on to a third with only 12 minutes left. We both played fast and I built up a decent sized creature advantage. He Geysered me earlier, and attacked with everything, putting me down to 5 life while he was still at 20. I spent the next 8 turns building up a massive creature advantage, and eventually brought him down to 2 life with the Cerulean Wyvern. The next turn he Torched me for 8, and I Power Sinked it with all the mana I had been keeping free just for that event. It was game over for him, and I won the match.
--Record: 4-0 matches / 8-2 games.

--Round Five--
I was originally paired up against John Park (from 401 Convenience in Toronto, Ontario) for this round, but at the last minute they switched the pairings since the people beside us had already played each other. we were both happy since neither John nor I wanted to eliminate each other. I played against a player who I was very surprised had made it this far undefeated. He had a great deck, but very poor knowledge of timing rules, especially when it came to combat phase timing. He made several mistakes, and it wasn't much of a match. He attacked with a Jungle Wurm once, not realizing that I had enough blockers to put it to 0/0 status when the defense was declared (he was going to double Armor of Thorns it after blocking was declared). Anyway, I swept that match, finishing him off with Teeka's Dragon.
--Record: 5-0 matches / 10-2 games

Intermission:
-Since round five was over so quickly, we decide to go to a nearby Taco Bell. Pat Chapin, Mark Brombacher and I took off and went through the drive through. I grabbed a couple extra Tacos for Mike because his match was still on when I left. When we got back to the Campus, I walked into the room and gave Mike his 2 Tacos as the next round was being called, I heard my pairing (it was the first one called), and got ready to go over. Just then Mike noticed his binder was missing. For those of you who don't know, Mike has the most extensive Lightning Bolt collection in the world. He does not go for quantity (in print commons aren't too exciting to get a bunch of), instead he has 1 of each Lightning Bolt created (about 29 in total). The highlight of the collection is the Playtest Lightning Bolt from Pre-Alpha days. His Lightning Bolt collection was in the binder as well as the rest of his big cards. When he said he had just left the binder on the table beside us for someone to look at, I immediately got suspicious and headed for the door to the auditorium. I saw someone walk briskly outside the room and down the steps towards the University exit. I could not tell if he had a binder, but he looked really suspicious, so I jogged after him. The guy ran moderately fast down the stairs, down the hall, and out the far doors of the University. I could see he had a white binder in his hands, but did not see Mike's purple Magic binder. I did not let the man see me follow him, and I slowly gained ground on him outside on the campus grounds (in the back of my mind, I knew I was going to be late for my pairing). The guy was in his early twenties, about 6 feet, 180 pounds (exact same as me). He did not look especially schooled in any martial arts, so I knew I would have an advantage on him, and did not feel scared as I confronted him. I asked him a few small talk questions, then asked him if I could see his trade binders (he has a white binder, and another binder underneath, which looked purple). He kinda made some excuse about getting home, and turned to walk away from me. I grabbed the binder, and he pulled away. I got extremely mad (as I saw the cover and finally realized for sure it was Mike's binder), and grabbed him by the throat and went berserk on him. I can't remember exactly what I was yelling as I pummeled him, but I remember yelling that he was lucky that I didn't kill him, and that he was lucky to be alive. I very rarely get physical with anybody, but thinking that this guy was so close with getting away with this collection that my brother had put so much work into really pissed me off (I had also had a large sum of money stolen out of my briefcase while I was in Toronto two weeks before, and that was still fresh in my mind). I left the guy there on the campus, and tried to get back as quickly as possible. I got back to the auditorium and gave Mike his binder, wondering if the guy was going to call the police on me (later I found out he had stolen several other people's stuff, so I regretted not searching him). I told Mike and Bryan what happened, and I realized that I had been kind of selfish, and should have brought the guy back to the auditorium, so they could enjoy a few punches into the guy's sternum as well. Thankfully, the next round was against Pat Chapin, and he did not make me lose a game for being late once I explained what happened.

--Round Six--
Pat and I had played at the Detroit PTQ in the semifinals. He beat me 2-1 in some close games. Today was my day, however, as I swept him 2-0. I was extremely aggressive as I was still on my adrenaline high from the encounter with the card thief. The first game was quick, as my creature came out swiftly, and my Stupor got the right cards from him (a Crash of Rhinos was one). I kept Power Sink mana handy, just in case he had some fire, but I never saw it first game. I killed him eventually with a Cerulean Wyvern. The second game went longer, but I finished him off with a Torch after getting a large blocker crew. He might have made a tiny mistake when I threw my Nettletooth at him (I was at five life, and I wanted to kill the Nettletooth bad), and he double blocked and killed it, instead of keeping it alive and letting me die from it.
--Record: 6-0 matches / 12-2 games

--Round Seven--
I was paired up against Gary Krakower, and being the fellow Canadian I am, I took a draw with him. If it was someone else, I would have played it out, so Mike and Bryan would have a better chance to get in (although that was unlikely at this point). I hate it when I don't make the finals because the top players draw instead of playing it out (this happened to me once in Alice format PTQ). We played 3 games for fun, and he beat me, although we weren't really trying, and I had to remind him to pay his Mind Harness upkeep (in a real game, the Mind Harness would be gone, thank you).
--Record: 6-0-1 matches / 12 -2 games

--Round Eight-- This was the last round, and everyone was tired. I was paired against Joe Bowers, the only other guy who was undefeated that I hadn't played. I had knocked out Joe in the quarterfinals in Detroit with my Asmira two games in a row. We took the draw since there was really no point in playing. We did play for fun, and I won 2 out of 3, although he smeared me in the fist game with his 3 (!!) Ray of Command. He had so much good stuff he could just use the Rays for Damage, and not even care about defense. We talked about his ranking a little bit (he is ranked #1 currently in Type 2). I told him that someone had posted on the net that the ranking was inflated because he had never played outside of the one store, and he agreed. He was a decent enough guy. --Final Record: 6-0-2 matches / 12-2 games

Intermission:
-It was about 1 or 2 AM by this point and the University had to be vacated, which means they had to go to Game Traders store for the finals. We got directions, and headed out to the store, which was about 15 minutes away. At the store, we waited about 45 minutes while they sorted out the Logistics (Support, Tap for Resource) and go organized. It was a decent store, and a few of the guys immediately feel asleep on the couch. I was very tired, since I had no sleep the night before, and only about 5 hours the night before that (about 5 hours sleep in the last 60 hours).

Eventually, I got my deck and opened it. It wasn't great, but it did have some fatty creatures, which made me happy. Several other people got Hammer of Bogarden in their decks, which was kind of annoying to hear.

This is what I used:

Gold: Sawback Manticore, Savage Twister
Artifact: Basalt Golem, Lead Golem, Mana Prism
Red: Chaos Charm, Ekundu Cyclops, Flare, Raging Spirit, Blistering Barrier
Green: Crash of Rhinos, Femeref Archers, Granger Guildmage, Jungle Wurm, Canopy Dragon, Armor of Thorns, Rampant Growth
Blue: Ray of Command (x2), Thirst, Meddle, Sandbar Crocodile, Cerulean Wyvern, Harmattan Efreet, Merfolk Seer
Land: 6 Islands, 4 Mountain, 5 Forest


The two Ray of Command were obviously key, and the Savage Twister was also very nice. I debated over using the Merfolk Seer, but in the end I went with it. The golems were very nice to have, and as you can see the size of the creatures meant I could win creature standoffs if it came down to that. I knew almost all the rest of the players had Torches or Hammers, but I thought I had a chance if I didn't fuck up.

--Quarterfinal Round--
I played against another fairly slow deck. He built up, and I built up. The Canopy Dragon and Harmmattan Efreet allowed my to rule the skies, and he had to Torch a creature instead of me (Happy Day!). Eventually the Manticore came out, and I did lots of cruel things with it combined with the pinging ability of the Guildmage. I would attack and could kill any blocker with a toughness of less than three before it could deal it's damage. That game was a lock. The second game was similar to the first, and I even Meddled an Armor of Thorns onto a Guildmage. My creatures came out as fast as his did, and were just plain bigger. I won the match and went on to the semi-finals.

--Semifinal Round--
My opponent had a Hammer of Bogarden and a Torch. I found this out early in the first game, where he crushed me. The next game went longer, and I developed a creature advantage, eventually killed him with my fliers before he could kill everything (thank heavens for 4 toughness creatures). The last game went the longest, and I built up very steadily, always keeping 4 mana open for Ray of Command (which was tough since I was a little mana screwed even late into the game). He attacked and I killed 2 of his creatures with the Ray. Next turn he attacked again, and I killed two more creatures with the second Ray of Command. He was not pleased. I crunched over his piddly defenders and won the match. I was going to Los Angeles as a player this time instead of a judge. Interesting...

--Final Round--
I heard that the player was not the greatest player (although I made sure not to watch his match), although he did make it to the final round, so he must have been decent. Since it was around 7:00 AM, I asked if he wanted to just play one game, and he said sure. He had a lot of chaff cards in his deck, that you wouldn't usually play in sealed deck, but he got a super fast start on me (and I got a super slow start, mana wise). He beat me fair and square and got the $150 bucks, and I got $100 bucks. We shook hands, and started to drive home.

On the way home, I had to sleep for a couple hours by the side of the road, and I opened the packs I got as prize. As I opened the first Japanese booster, I said I hope I get at least a Lightning Bolt (since I always get chaff rares anyway), and sure enough there was one right away. Next pack I opened, I said I hope I get a Fireball, and ripped open the pack to see a Fireball right on top, I then said, a Serra would be nice, and sure enough Serra was the first uncommon slot. I opened one Alliances pack, and Bryan said, "Whirling Catapult I bet.", and sure enough the Catapult was the "rare". It was downhill from there. :( Anyway, I had a good time, and got to slam around a card thief, which was quite nice. Anyone who is going to LA is encouraged to bring as many Marsh Goblins as they can find in their town, and add them to the growing collection (I have 1000 now, thanks to the 90+ I picked up in Ohio) - hell I'll even give you great trades for them if you are so inclined.


Take Care,

Jeff Donais