Subject: PT Chicago Report
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 14:43:48 +0200
From: Manuel Bevand 
To: Frank Kusumoto 

PT Chicago Report
By Manuel "Poulidor" Bevand

A new Pro Tour has come and gone, and I have now recovered enough to
share that experience again with a oh so terrific report. I indeed won
that Pro Tour (got you hooked here, eh? :) .. nah, just kidding. I
finished 35th, and it's my best PT accomplishment so far, so I guess I'm
getting better. ;)

An exhausting plane ride took myself, Raphaë

An exhausting plane ride took myself, Raphaël Levy and Michel "PT
newbie" Remlinger from Lyon to Chicago via Amsterdam and Minneapolis. We
there met all the other french players and the usual PT suspects.

The french crew was this time composed by an all-star bunch. There were
14 of us, and I think 12 of us had already played in at least 1 Pro
Tour. That means almost all were repeat PT Players. After Raph's
tremendous finish at Worlds, we actually had great hopes.

Oh, vanity.

Anyway, here's my personnal experience. As you know, the format was Rath
Cycle booster draft (one of these formats that was worked to death,
which was a good thing because I couldn't afford much practice).
There were 317 players (I think) and only Olle Rade and Dan Brickwell
were missing.

** Friday, First Draft **

My table is pretty much unknown guys but Mark LePine. I think there was
the GP Indy winner as well. Anyway, I recognized few faces. I was
drafting between Jason Holanda (from California) and LePine. First pick
was Legacy's allure, then I took black early as I was passed Dark
Banishing. I ended up with a very cool blue/black deck constructed
around Oath of Ghouls (sift, merfolk looter, 3 vampire hounds) and
generally beatdownish creatures.

Round 1 - Jason Holanda (USA)

Jason is playing red/black.

Game 1 - I play 2nd turn looter, then soon the oath kicks in and I win
easily.

Game 2 - Vampire Hounds and lots of creatures just beat his poor
creature drres just beat his poor
creature draw.

Jason was a cool guy, noble in defeat, and we often talked during the
day asking each other how well we were doing. I really like that kind of
magic player: friendly, modest, and good. The PT needs more like him.

Matches 1-0, Games 2-0

Round 2 - Joao Isidro (Portugal) playing green/black

Game 1 - he gets some creatures, I get some, so we trade. I leave him
with a 1/1 spike on the table. and tap out for Oath/Allure on turn 4.
That means, I was hopeless against his 5th turn hatred!

Game 2 - I stall at 2 lands while he beats me down with critters. I lose
despite a slight hope of recovery.

Matches 1-1, Games 2-2

Round 3 - Carl James (USA) playing red/white in the true US Rath draft
tradition.

Game 1 - I don't remember exactly, but I won ;)

Game 2 - That was was extremely close. He puts a lot of pressure on me
and gets me down to 1 life. Then I slowly gain control with Mind Games.
He fails to draw one of his direct damage spells, so I win.

Matches 2-1, Games 4-2

Round 4 - Mark LePine (who is 3-0) playing blue/green/red

Mark has a very interresting deck with 3 looters, 2 seeker of skybreak,
Mirri's Guile and stuff to get his tradewind rider.

Game 1 - He plays looter and burns through his deck, but apparently he
can't stop my Vampire Hounds for some reason. I win. I side out my Oath
of Ghouls (not going to play that one vs 3 looters!).

Game 2 -  I am manascrewed with only 1 swamp2 -  I am manascrewed with only 1 swamp, but I have reanimate and
looter, so I keep my hand hoping to draw lands with the discard
looter/reanimate combo as backup. I don't draw lands, so I discard the
looter, but Mark plays one of his and starts using it. I then draw a
swamp and tries to apply some Foul Imp beatdown. While using his looter,
he discards Rabid Wolverines .. I quickly reanimate it, defend as much
as possible and win at 4 life.

Matches 3-1, Games 6-2

** Friday, second draft **

My table has Jérémie Lagarde (one of the promising french rookies), Ben
Rubin, Benedikt Klauser and Igor Frayman. I am to draft between Adam
Lemke and Igor Frayman.

The draft was the weirdest I ever participated in. I open a good pack,
with 4 good black cards, so I wisely decide not to draft black (since
the guy to my left will probably pick it) and get Rootwater Matriarch. I
change my mind after getting 8th pick gravedigger, 11th pick Dauthi
Slayer (!!!) and 14th pick Servant of volrath.

I then go monoblack, and get ALL the good black cards. I end up with an
amazing deck :=). I even have fanning the flames and *3* acidic sliver
who came back around as 10th-13th picks just in case I need to splash
red.

Round 5 - Adam Lemke (USA), playing red/green

Game 1 - he plays a single mountain but goes conscript, conscript,
fanatic, then mogg cannon with a second mountain. I slowly develop my
game and kill him with Dauthi Marauder, a huge Dungeon Shade anrauder, a huge Dungeon Shade and some
other stuff, while he can't play another land. I make a really stupid
play (basically forget that his mogg canon can be used for defense) but
I still win.

Game 2 - his green mana shows up, he plays stuff that I neutralize, but
then starts playing reckless ogres and scares me (ogres would go well
with fling and mogg cannon) but cannibalize wins me the game.

Matches 4-1, Games 8-2

Round 6 - Igor Frayman (USA) playing red/white (I passed him 3 spirit
en-kors!).

Game 1 - I win the first game quite easily with some cannibalize tech.

Game 2 - We race but he outspeeds me. I think I gained early advantage
but played it wrong and allowed him to come back.

Game 3 - We alternatively play creatures but then suddenly he plays
Penance. I think a little, then realize that as long as I have some kind
of advantage, it's no problem. I put a lot of pressure and he makes the
mistake of using Penance defensively (basically locking himself while I
keep drawing threats). The game is long and close, but I win at the end,
a few minutes before time runs out.

Matches 5-1, games 10-3

At that point, a lot of people are dropping from the Pro Tour and
causing computer pairing problems. There's a huge delay (I think 2 or 3
hours) before everything is set up to go. I think WotC could fix that by
making up penalties from players who drop. I don't understand people
dropping out of such major events. They're so passio major events. They're so passionating and the level
of play is so high... having a bad day is not an excuse.

Round 7 - Benedikt Klauser (Austria), playing red/white

Game 1 - I am manascrewed with 2 lands. I draw my third swamp the turn
before I die.

Game 2 - I am really tired, so I make a really stupid mistake (tapping
out to pump my Stalker, so that he can searing touch it next turn). Of
course, I didn't know that he had a searing touch. It's just the kind of
thing you don't do when you're a good player (and when jetlag isn't
getting you). That mistake very probably cost me the game.

Matches 5-2, games 10-5

At the end of Day 1, I'm 30th with 15 points. Jon Finkel is top seed, as
usual. There's no luck in Magic. Ask him.

** DAY 2 - first draft **

My table has Brian Selden, Mark LePine again, and guys I don't or just
somehow know (Dominique Coene, Oyvind Odegaard). It's a pretty
international table. :)

I screw up that draft. I start picking blue, then white, then black,
then white again, then blue again (at that point, mid-stronghold I'm
going U/W) then switch back to black... I passed a third pack Fanning
the flames to the World Champ! (he was kinda happy of that gift).

My deck is eventually white/black with 6 shadows, some defense but NO
creature removal (only 1 shackles..). I cannot hope much.

Round 8 - Oyvind Odegaard (Norway), playing green/black

Gaeme 1 - despite playing 10 plains, 7 swamps, I only draw 3 swaplains, 7 swamps, I only draw 3 swamps and
lose horribly.

Game 2 - it appears that he drafted all the black broken cards at our
table :-(. He beats me down with SKyshroud Vampire. I had time to
establish some kind of defense, and some shadow beatdown, but he top
decked a creature and vampirized me.

Matches 5-3 , Games 10-7

Round 9 - Scott Dobson (USA, I think) playing red/white speed weenie

Game 1 - he mulligns twice, I mulligan once, but the advantage of going
second, while unclear, is tremendous is these situations. I win.

Game 2 - he gets me very low on life, I regain control of the situation
but the turn before I kill him he topdecks his Rolling Thunder. Well,
that's what *I* thought but he was actually holding it for 3 or 4 turns
and trying to win without showing me the thunder. I think it's a very
risky strategy when you're 0-1. But whatever.

Game 3 - We race each other, and I obviously topdecked Staunch defenders
to avoid an horrible death. A well timed temper wins me the game.

Matches 6-3, Games 12-8

Round 10 - Mark LePine, again, this time playing red/white

Game 1 - He plays Kinght of Dawn, which is obviously my bane, sinceI
can't block it or deal with it with my 1 shackles. He starts slowly
killing me. At one point, Mark almost Fumbles and shows me his sonic
burst, allowing me to predict my own death :/

Game 2 - I get a no creature draw (just 1 shadow) and he goes turn 3
craven giant, turn 4 lightning elementan giant, turn 4 lightning elemental, take 8, take 8, take 8. Good
game :(. I think I said "even Finkel couldn't win that game.." .. but
who knows? :)

Matches 6-4, games 12-10

Round 11 - Brian Selden (World Champion!) playing red/green

Game 1 - he goes turn 1 critter, turn 2 maniacal rage, turn 3 thing,
turn 4 bigger thing, and I lose.

Game 2 - see game 1, but staunch defender kinda rules. I win this one
with shadows.

Game 3 - see game 1, but this time, I really only draw shadows and lose.

Matches 6-5, Games 13-12

That draft was a nightmare. I really screwed up during the draft and
that put me in auto-lose situations. I calm down at that point, being
75th I need to go 3-0 to make decent money and PT Points.

 ** DAY 2, second draft **

My table is pretty strong. I remember It had Terry Borer, Pipo (a good
french player), and Daniel "not paying attention to my Change of Hearts"
Clegg. ;)

Again, I go monoblack. This time I focus more on shadow and early
beatdown. I get really good picks, lots of cannibalizes and ways to deal
with the drawback (torment, spike cannibal, banishing). My game breakers
were Oath of Ghouls (again!) and Pit Spawn (da beast).

Round 12 - Terry Borer (Canada) playing white/blue

I beat Terry 2-0 with hordes of shadows and Pit Spawn - that guy is
unstoppable -. After the games we play a few friendly games and I win
almost all of them and gain confidence in my deck. Oath of Ghouls +
Morgue Thrull ieck. Oath of Ghouls +
Morgue Thrull in draft = tutoring for a shadow every turn!

Terry's a very nice guy; a bit nervous when he plays, but he deserves
respect for being a true hardcore player (playing friendly games after a
PT defeat with the same opponent is the symptom!). :)

Matches 7-5, games 15-12

Round 13 - Mike K? (sorry, I lost my record sheet, and your name is a
bit complicated for me to remember) playing red/blue

Game 1 - I get a really terrific start. Ritual, 2/2 creature, then I put
out 3 shadows. I win despite drawing just 2 swamps.

Game 2 - I seem to win but he surprise kills me with Cunning + Blood
Frenzy. I had kept oath of ghouls in my hand all game long, because we
were even in creatures in graveyard and he has thalakos scout. I
suddenyl realize that one of his creatures in his graveyard had been in
fact cannibalized. He had put it in the Graveyard anyway, clearly
misleading my judgment (ok, I sucked too and didn't notice it). That
seemed obviously an honest mistake from Mike's part, but it clearly
influenced the game, and I am curious how judges would have handled that
if I had called them.

Game 3 - I put a lot of shadow pressure and he has to top deck blood
frenzy to win, but doesn't. I win.

Matches 8-5, games 17-13

Round 14 - A japanese player (no name, same reason, sorry :/).

Game 1 - he floods himslef with mana and I flood him with creatures. I
win.

Game 2 - I am about to win, but he topdecks Stronghut to win, but he topdecks Stronghold Taskmaster, and
beats me down to oblivion.

Game 3 - I am about to win again, but he topdecks Taskmater AGAIN. He
then starts killing me with a maniacal raged Flowstone Shambler, but *I*
topdeck my Pit Spawn (with exactly 7 swamps on the table, no cards in
hand, he had cat burglar, woohoo!). I slowly, carefully tap each of my
lands and produce a cool dramatic effect by playing the Spawn! I win.

Matches 9-5, games 19-14

It feels good to win a draft sometimes ;).

I finish 35th and earn $960 (minus the taxes collected by the mean IRS
:/).

3 satisfying facts to get rid of modesty for a while.

- it's my best PT finish.
- I'm the best french at this PT (bwahahaha) :))
- Michael Sochon is 36th (BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA) ;)))

Now, Props and Slops:

Props:

- My teammates of the Legion for their support and advices.

- My stuffed Hedgehog. He's slowly dying (his voice is very quiet now)
but he's still a well-appreciated companion.

- Cathy Nicoloff, for teaching me all about the Oath of Ghouls in a
practice draft (won me like 3-4 games in that PT). She's also doing a
very good job as a photographer for the Dojo, and she's a great friend
to hang out with!

- Alexander Blumke, man, that guy's the nicest.

- Every of my opponents for being, if not always friendly, always good
guys in both defeat and victory.

- Jon Finkel, the Legend.

- Dirk Baberowski (sp?) for winning it all wearing a french sosp?) for winning it all wearing a french soccer team
shirt (that's good karma, definitely ;).

- Benedikt Klauser for being cool and placing 4th despite playing
horribly in a few games because of pressure. Actually, not that
horribly. (that's for Chris Pikula's attention : he kept all his options
open in that game vs Finkel that included the non use of forbid. Ok, he
really should have used it to counter at least the Reckless Ogre, but he
was so far ahead in that game, it didn't even matter).

- Jeff Donais, this guy speaks french! (well, somewhat).

- Carl Crook and the judging staff, who showed a great amount of
competency. Good job.

- PT Points. I think I am FINALLY on the gravy train for PTLA.

SLops:

-Myself, who forgot to wish a happy birthday to Frank Kusumoto. Sorry
Frank .. Happy Birthday ! (with a delay)

- Us, french players. Practically all the top players were in Chicago.
None made top 32. We suck.

- Computer pairings and players dropping out incompatibility. Fix that
system, guys.

- Delay. I hate delays. Maybe because I live close to Switzerland. Long
waits are terrible for concentration.

- Tiebreakers. start day 2 at 30th place, go 4-3, finish 35th :(.

- Planes. I can't sleep in them. I hate them.

Overall, a good Pro Tour.

:)

Manuel Bevand
Team Legion