Subject: Edinburgh PTQ Date: 10 Feb 1998 19:57:47 GMT From: "Mark Wootton" Newsgroups: uk.games.trading-cards.misc This is my first post on this group so be gentle with me (especially Chris and Anthony!!). There is a little bad language so if you don't like it stop here. I hope it is vaguely humurous (if somewhat lengthy) so if you don't like long reports stop here. All references to which turn things happened are very approximate as I had thoughts of aeroplanes on my mind, so please don't respond telling me things couldn't have happened on turn 4 because..... No insult is intended to any persons real or imaginary, so please take none. So here is my report from what must be the last PTQ LA in the Europe: 12 noon to 6:00 pm Saturday spent in the shop talking about the next day at Edinburgh. This is going to be interesting, the field will be split. There will be alot of new/young players missing alot of the cards which I guess will mean a bit of black (necro-ish), the usual Edinburgh mega-burn (and I mean mega - forget about creatures other than Ball Lightning and Moggs, ignore whatever the other player does and land as much heat on their head as possible - oh how I hate Fireblast!) and probably some green (there are plenty of Erhnam's around). The Erhnams might also come up in the Red decks too. Then there is the 'better' players and I know this will include Black Pebbles, a couple of control players and some Jank. This will be augmented by the 10 or so English players who we know are coming up. Anyway as is usual in the shop we end up playing 'Titan: The Arena' instead of doing any deck work, drinking tea and blethering. It doesn't matter too much as Barry is coming down and me and Silas are going to Dougie's with him to practice and refine things tonight. Tonight comes and Barry hasn't appeared and Silas has started talking about having to stay in and change nappies or something. So it looks like it's down to me and Dougie 'The Master' Anderson. Dougie is working at the pub during the day and so I go round to Silas' to wait. 7:30 pm Dougie phones to say that he has finished and that he is just staying for his tea and a quick pint and will phone when he gets home at 8:00 pm. At this point I look at Silas dispondently and realise that the 'Scottish Experience' is about to kick in. The day Dougie manages to go out for a 'quick pint' and come home before 3:30 am will be the apocolypse! 8:15 I phone the pub and he is still there, I offer to pick him up, but I know from the tone in his voice that it's too late. Is there any talent in? I ask. He says 'No'. So I decide to go home, have a look at my deck and get an early night. 8:45 pm: I believe it is strong against the things I am likely to face and so after getting it down to 60 from 62 (I took out 2 Quirion's which were only in to try and protect me from Wastes and get me double green when I needed it anyway)......... 9:00 pm: The local pub has a new landlord and I have heard it now gets fairly busy on Saturdays so there may be some interesting flirting to be done (only flirting I am a one woman man - honest!) 01:15 am She really is quite a pretty wee thing and very pleasant company, but too young for me (only kidding - she wasn't THAT young). Anyway I'm taken. Go home. 02:00 am It is amazing how good these late night films are after a couple of pints. 02:30 am Bed. Now I start worrying about the fact that I have a good deck and that I might win. If I win I have to get on an aeroplane. Clostrophobia overload!!! Shit, shit, shit! 09:15 am Sunday Why didn't my alarm go off? Damn, I wanted to have a shave as there is usually some good looking women at the Tron Ceilidh House. Registration starts at 10:00. Shower, eat, write down decklist and go. 10:15 am What is wrong with this stupid car?! The damp is causing the engine to cut out. Shit! 10:59 am Run into the Tron after spending 10 minutes trying to park. Register in a hurry. 11:00 am Registration closes. I'm tired and want to go home. See Dougie and discover he got in at 04:10 am. Admit nothing to anybody about my night and greet him with along sentence involving the words 'Weak-willed', 'Nob' and 'Scum-bag'. 11:30 am Let the Tourny begin!!! Ah, I think contentedly preparation is everything. Round 1 A new player. Sorry can't remember his name. He is playing a black deck I think, or is it just that I am sat in the dark corner and everything just looks Black? Let me see. Feral Shadow, Urborg Panther, Breathstealer, Fetid Horror..... Swords, Bolt, Incinerate. What there is still more coming? Wait a minute how come there are 3 Erhnams in my hand and 2 Centaurs, oh yes that'll be because I have 2 Plateaus and 2 Mishras on the table (What no Tithe?). Oh Well at least I have a disenchant for the Stairwell that must be coming. Yes a Savannah! 'ERHNAM' I say looking at his 5 weenies and my 8 life. He smiles looking at his 24 life and says SHAKU, ENDBRINGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Oh no I must still be in bed and dreaming! Damn that alarm clock! Block the fetid Horror with the Erhnam take 4.... Concede. Games 2 and 3 get to 2 green mana apply severe beatdown with centaurs Erhnams and Cursed Scroll. Discover there is no Stairwell but there are Spirits of the Night!!!! Go to Bar to rehydrate 1-0-0 Round 2 A less new player (sorry can't remeber his name either) He lays Mountain and Mogg....I know this deck and it hasn't beaten me once. Oh look, no green or red mana. Plains Lion.. Ping with Mogg. Mountain (him).... Mishra (me). Mountain..........here it comes, take cover, CRUNCH!!! take 6. 2 Fireblasts and something else later I sideboard in 3 Passages and an Exile. Game 2 get bolts and Swords (Exile Orcs!!!!!) get to 4 mana and ERNIE hits table followed by bolt/incinerate. Next Ernie..... 5 point Earthquake. Next Ernie plus Scroll....... Mogg/Fireblast. What no Cards? Lion, Centaur, Centaur Scroll, Scroll, Scroll etc. Game 3 see game 2 without the Ernies dying. Still it would have been nice to see 1 Passage to make me feel safe! Go to Bar to rehydrate 2-0-0 Round 3 Ben Saunders Black Pebbles Good (PT) Player Game 1 goes for combo turn 4 or 5. I break by dissing Bomber (He had another Renewal in hand). Apply some Centaur Beatdown. Gets combo again turn 8 with Consultation, can't stop it. Sideboard in extra Aura and Tranquil Domain (only 1 as had decided to drop the other because I knew there would only be 1 or 2 pebbles). Bombers turn 2, I Aura. He Disenchants Aura and I pop the Bombardment. Lay Ernie. He goes for it all on turn 6 and I dis the Renewal and then Sex Monkey the Wall and apply beatdown. Game 3 He lays Plateau, I lay Plains and Lion. Turn 2 He lays Gemstone and I Waste it (to keep his Black low) and lay another Lion. He tithes (D'oh) and goes for combo 4 or 5 turns later after dropping a wall to stop the lions. I dis the Bombardment after he sacs to kill a lion and drop an Aura, Sex Monkey the next Wall and win with Centaur, Lion and some bolts. Go to the Bar.... 3-0-0 Round 4 Doug Nelson (Green Monstrosity) Turn 3 he has about 5 creatures and 37 mana available. I have 2 land. Centaurs come in a couple of times until I get Erhnam and bolt a few things. He drops Willow and attacks. I block with Erhnam he pays G and makes her targetable for him and Giant Growths her (the word 'nob' makes another appearance). I lay another Ehnam, he attacks again (I know at this point that he only has forest and 1 other card (which he has just drawn) in his hand from his earlier Cursed Scroll). He's bluffing. I block and guess what...... the word 'nob' appears several more times. Doug and I get on fine so he knows that I am only doing so in a light-hearted, banterish way. Game 2 I sideboard in Arrows, Wrath and Exile. I get to 4 mana and kill his mana producers as quick as they hit the table then go ernie, ernie, wildfire and win. Game 3 I see the Wrath and Exile in my opening hand together with a Savannah and .........some swords and......where's the other land? Why haven't I seen a single Tithe against him yet? I swords the Elf and the Ranger as they come down, to slow him for the Wrath, but am still on one land. Turn 4 I get a mishra but he has a centaur and then another. Then a boa. I block and pump with the Mishra and pray for no Growth. He lays an Erhnam, I pull a plateau. Yes it IS turning my way. I exile the Erhnam and am on 11 life. He lays Speccie Bears and a Ranger. His hand is empty. Come on Deck..... Come on Deck.....COME ON YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT GIVE ME ANOTHER LAND!!!! I die with 2 Erhnams, a Centaur and a Wrath of God in my hand. Go to Bar and sulk. Doug comes up shortly after me and we chat about his deck. He makes me feel better by saying that he was lucky and that my deck is strong, but I think that his deck concept (which is vey simple) is really quite effective. Very fast, empty your hand as fast as possible, hit with a few weenies and some fat or centaurs and then used the cursed scroll. He is also using Booby Trap which he can regularly drop on turn 3 or 4!! Yeah, I had some bad luck but he is just being a nice guy and making me feel better. 3-1-0 Round 5 Ben Jacobsen (one of the Warren Marsh Team) Playing a similar deck to me but with more green weenies. He gets Erhnam's and scrolls and Boas first. I get control later and win the sort of 'who can get the fat out' battle in the later stages of the match. We even discuss our sideboarding which we have compared notes on earlier in the day. And we both slip in the Exiles for the Erhnams. I also put in the Wrath and Serrated Arrows for his Lions, Guildmages and Shadows. He has more creatures but I have more control. In the end I win with a Jolrael beatdown and a Wildfire safety valve. I know Ben is disappointed to lose but he is a real gent about it and at the end he shows me his Exile in hand and I show him my Erhnams which I didn't throw into the battle for the very reason that I was on top and didn't want to risk him getting 5 life. We go to the Bar and talk about what will be needed to qualify. It looks like a good 4½ stands a chance which effectively means he's out. I feel bad for knocking him out. But there is some consolation in sending at least the English contingent home to think again!!! 4-1-0 Round 6 Phil Dixon Playing Jank (yes!!!) We discuss a draw as I think that the quality of the records of the other players that we have played will get us through. Phil is obviously one of those guys that likes to play Magic and that it why he is there. He says he would like to play coz that is why he came. I say fine (the guys either side of us ID and I inwardly wish I was playing someone who was so desperate to qualify, he would do anything). He lays a mishra and I look at 3 land a bolt, a swords, a centaur and an erhnam and think YES!! I quickly realise that he is playing Jank (because he has no land!!) I lay down a centaur, Waste 2 Mishras and save the third for his first land after the basic plains that he dropped turn 2. The centaur is followed by an Erhnam which takes up farming then my own mishras kick in. By the time he has finished throwing away Frenetics and eventually laid some Knights it is too late and I reserve the rest of the heat for him. Next game is not disimilar although he gets a slightly better land draw. He has a frenetic and a priest I have 24 life and 2 more Erhnam Farmers but the Centaurs and Wildfire are giving better than I am taking. He drops a knight and COP Red and I drop another Centaur and use the Wildfire to block the White Knight which he mysteriously attacks with. I then drop an Aura pop his COP at the end of his turn, hit him with 2 Centaurs and the Emissary, Bolt him, Rate him play the Scroll and use it on him with my one remaining Erhnam. So I am definitely through! Go to the......toilet - too much Ginger Beer. 5-1-0 For the next 30 minutes the top 8 sit around chatting and I point out that my flying phobia means that I will be the only person there who will feel as happy about losing as winning. We briefly discuss the possibility of getting a cruise and train to LA, but I reckon I will need to leave the next day to do that. At this point I am thinking more about the series I watched about airline disasters than I am about my deck which is being checked. Everyone else is really hyper and are ringing hands and blethering, nervously I feel. The last 8 is: Mark Wraith (Jamie Wakefield Black) Alisdair Young (R/W Jank type with Wildfires I think) Lee Garner (No1 seed with his own Jank variant) Barry Brown (Ferrari Counter Burn) Paul Stevenson (Counter/burn/haups) Doug Nelson (Green Monstrosity) James Love (WW Armour) Me (R/G/W Hopefully Anti-Jank) I feel cool. Most of the day the deck has been in a total groove and I have been playing well and concerntrating well. With only one scrub mistake which I made against Ben Jacobsen. I feel the deck has only really let me down in 3 duels and the only time it really hurt was against Doug. I feel sure that I can take on Jank and counter burn and WW. The green thing is something that if it comes out will give me trouble because of it's sheer speed. The Wakefield Black I think will be 50/50. The draw is anounced and my heart sinks as I have Doug. My heart soars because I am not going to have to get on a plane! The first game he rockets off and gets down to no cards I get land and Bolts and swords and land and incinerates and land and scroll and he still has 3 creatures on the table, 2 Centaurs and an Elf. At last I get a centaur and block. I am down to about 10 or 12 life and my scroll has got monkeyed. I get land then another scroll then a bolt. He keeps dropping creatures. OK he has a centaur, 1 Elf, 2 rangers and Bears - and an empty hand. I have dissed 2 of his scrolls and am on 6 life. So all I need is an Erhnam or a centaur and I can pull this one round! I have no cards. I draw......... Swords. He attacks, I scroll the ranger and swords the bears. I have still only seen one centaur all game no other creatures. I am on 2 life I have 7 land. I draw an ERHNAM YES!!!! I use the scroll to kill the Ranger and lay the Erhnam. I can block the centaur next round and Scroll the forest walking Elves with the scroll the round after. I must be due some creatures now! There is hope! He draws and attacks...........this is madness I have him now! I block the Centaur and he taps a forest NO! NO! NO! .................NOB NOB NOB! Giant Growth AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGH! And I thought I hated Fireblast. The second game I look at my opening hand Bolt, Incinerate, Erhnam, Disenchant, Plains, Mishra and Wrath (YES!) I lay the Mishra. He goes forest, Elf. I draw Wildfire. He taps the forest and the elf for 2 more elves. I draw Scroll and decide to lay it. He taps 3 elves and lays a centaur. I draw a centaur. He draws and lays bears and another elf and attacks with Centaur. I draw.... Swords. He draws lays a ranger and attacks with centaur and the bears. I swords the bears. He lays a forest and a Ranger. I draw Exile. He lays another elf and attacks with the centaur then lays a scroll. I disenchant it and draw a plateau (here it comes). He draws and Creeping Moulds my Plateau.....SHIT! I petulantly bolt the ranger. He then starts attacking with everything. I decide that he must have a Growth and hold off the Mishra for Wrath. I draw Serrated Arrows (Oh please Lord not again!) about three turns later I die. I look at my deck in disbelief and flip the top card......Plateau, and the next Taiga, and the next Savannah, and the next Plateau and the next Tithe, and the next Savannah, and the next Taiga and the next Savannah. Someone in the spectators pats me on the shoulder. I show Doug my hand again a he once again speaks of his luck. I almost feel like agreeing with him, but congratulate him and wish him luck in the next round. A wave of relief at not having to work out how long it takes for a boat to cross the Atlantic hits me and I feel OK. The results. Poor Lee has lost again after qualifying as no 1 seed just as he did in Cambridge. I go over to watch Barry's third duel. He is being hit by a shadow priest and is retaliating with a Frenetic. It gets bolted and he loses the toss . He lays another. I look at his hand. Pyroclasm, 2 Firewalkers, Waterspout, Shatter. He has 2 Mountains and 1 Island in Play his opponent Alisdair has 4 land. Barry Draws a mountain then a Force, uses it to protect his third Frenetic from the Pyroblast, Alisdair lays a Wildfire which gets Hydroed . He is on 8 and alistair about 12, Barry bolts him. Alisdair lays a Knight, Barry Clasms after attacking with the Efreet and loses his third straight coin toss. Alisdair Attacks. Barry draws his Fourth Mountain (there are only 4 in the Deck) and dies to a horrible mana hosing on 5 Lands. The firewalker would have probably sewn it up for him. I sympathise but I know he is pissed. Paul has lost to Mark Raith. I don't pay that much attention to the semis as I am still fizzing. The Black takes the green in 2 hard fought duels but Doug has no real way of dealing with Fat Sengirs. Alisdair claws back a 2-1 win against James Love despite getting a Priest/Armour against him on turn 3 of the first duel. Good luck to him and Mark. Oh Yeah, my Deck 4 Bolt 2 Incinerate 3 Swords 3 Disenchant 1 Aura of Silence 1 Armageddon 4 Erhnam Djinn 4 Jolrael's Centaur 2 Wildfire Emissary 3 Savannah Lion 2 Uktabi Orangutan 3 Cursed Scroll 2 Barbed Sextant 4 Tithe 4 Savannah 4 Plateau 4 Taiga 4 Mishra 4 Wasteland 2 Plains The Barbed Sextants may seem a waste but I was convinced that Edinburgh would have alot of Red Burn/Blood Moon stuff and only 2 basic Plains was not enough of a safety margin. I would love them to have been Mountain Valleys, but they didn't let me down. The Armageddon came up once as useless but won me 2 duels so on balance was worth it. The double green did get me once or twice but I hoped the Tithes would deal with it. The sideboard was very Edinburgh flavoured, and I used it except for the blasts. But I couldn't have not had them against blue. The Exile was definitely an excellent choice and was used 3 or 4 times to good effect: 1 Exile (fatties) 1 Wrath (generic anti-weenie) 1 Swords (fatties) 3 Honourable Passage (burn) 2 Serrated Arrows (mainly for black/jank) 1 Aura (pebbles) 1 Tranquil Domain (pebbles) 3 Pyroblast (blue) 2 Sudden Impact (necro/scroll-tax/blue control) The wooden spoon goes to Gary who is playing exactly the same deck as the one that went to the quarters in Doncaster (including beating some goodish London players before losing to Anthony). At one point he is 0-3, but pulls back to 3-3 If anyone wants to give me comments, well I'm sure you will anyway. Good luck to everyone who is going to LA (Mark, Alisdair, Anthony, Chris - Ollie and Tony if they make it through Lyon - and anyone else I've missed or don't know about). Props Everyone Slops No-one Have Fun Mark Team Highlander