Subject: Phoenix PTQ report Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 01:13:33 EST From: Puckfan31 To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com OH BOY!!!! I get to write another tourney report in which I don't make the final 8. Hey kids its me again from Vegas. I will stop whinning now and I will skip all the gory details of my "scrubness". I will say that all of my opponents were good competitors and I had a lot of fun. ( too bad I can't petition the DCI to give me the spot in LA based on my fun quotient). The SCGA ran the event and it went smoothly ( no suprise) Dan, Andrea and Scott were the judges and somewhere around 100 competitors met at the ASU West campus. The room was HUGE, we had cool vending machine access and an occasional college " hottie" roaming the campus. Thanks ASU West, and SCGA. I flew in friday pm and secured the room at our motel. Two carloads of the Vegas "posse" arrived later that night. I arrived at the TravelLodge :( in true "Playa" style, as there were no Taxis at the airport, I hooked up a Limo ride for a good rate. the driver said he was bored and got me a great deal! When the crew arrived we did a little playtesting but decided sleep was the best bet. We arrived at the event site and got our deck reg forms. it was about that time that I had decided to run a different deck. I had been testing a Propa/orb beatdown deck for about 2 weeks but didnt feel good about it. Its a good thing I didnt bring any good cards with me, I would have hated to give myself a shot at LA. (oops sorry am I whinning again) In the next 12 minutes I managed to put together a pretty weak "Sligh-ish" deck. I figured that 4 fireblast and good draws I could win if it was my day. It wasn't my day. After the Swiss smoke had cleared we had one of our boys from Vegas in the top 8. Shannon Krummick running a W/R/U "Gat" ( A 3cW Gun, with Fernetics instead of Ernies) I was playing in a side T2 so didnt get all the names of his opponents but heres the general idea of his road thru the "Alps" Round 1 vs a White weenie. 2-0 sweep. Round 2 vs crazy goblin Sligh. Fireblast is strong, Goblin Grenade is not! 2-0 sweep. Round 3 vs Falco-armor. Der Kommisar was NOT in town. 2-1 victory. ( Props to anyone who gets the obscure 80's music reference) Round 4 vs Counter post. staaaaaaaaaaaal. Tie. Round 5 vs Gun. 2-1 win Round 6 vs Cursed Sligh. Run by the O.G. Mad Dawg himself Truc Bui. 2-1 hater ;) Round 7 ID for the spot. at 5-0-2 Sorry If I bored you guys with such a detailed account of the swiss rounds ;) I watched the finals so heres the good stuff. Quarters vs Adam Vieria (sp?) Adams from So Cali and I remembered him from my days there. It looked like he was running Comer's LD with a few changes. I didn't see the Kudzu, which is too wacky for anyone but Alan to run. But the Centaur beatdown can't be ignored. Game 1. Adam gets some LD and the Centaurs. UH OH. Its over pretty quick Adam seems cool and confident. 0-1 Game 2. Adam mulligans and loses one turn from the V. 1-1 Game 3. Adam didnt draw any LD for the whole game, but it was still a "Race the Centaur" game. 2-1 Semis vs Greg Dube This round is for the Benjamins as Truc has advanced to the Semis as well. Truc is already qualified so the $$$ goes to the champ but the Qualifier slots get bumped below him. Truc went ahead and won his match 2-1. Which meant that the winner of this match would play Truc for #1 but 3rd would need to be decided for the kickdown spot in LA. Greg was running almost the same deck. Minus the fernetics I believe but with good meta game choice like Longbone ;) archers to kill Shannons Fernetics. It all came down to the Cursed Scroll war. Greg ran a tight game as is his trademark and Scrolled Shannon out 2-1. Greg was assured the slot in PTLA and split the $$$ with the guy from team Hitmen. Losers bracket vs Paul Smith. For the PT spot! Paul was running a very similar deck but I saw a few changes. It looked like the Dojo deck cuz I saw an Undiscovered and Miners. Game 1 Paul comes out fast and races for the win. These decks cant fear the mass removal if they want to win. It's all about the mad creature beatdown and the Scroll to remove blockers and finish the job. Game 2 is more of the same with Shannon getting the win. Game 3 Paul lost to a bolted Factory mana screw, his hands shook as he drew card after card while his undiscovered was happily bouncing to his hand every time he would bolt one of Shannons threats. The threats kept coming and like every magic players nightmare the land never came. Paul was a class act and lost with dignity. I would have screamed. I did think I heard a distant wail from the parking lot later on ;) So Vegas has 2 people on board for PTLA Shannon and Rob aka "scrubby" GPSF champ. The rest of us will be in Cali for the last few slots. My overall observation is that 1x is a crapshoot. All types of beatdown and everything good ran the Cursed Scroll. I was suprised to see as much LD as I did, I guess only the OG'g remember that it was never very tourney viable even with real Stripmines. The Mana curve is too tight on extended decks so dont do it if you want to win! See you all in Costa Mesa for my last ditch effort to qualify. - Keith aka the deckless wonder