Subject: PTQ-AL Rome Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1998 21:00:40 -0500 From: David Jafari To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Well, here is my less than satisfactory report for PTQ Rome in Huntsville last weekend. I mostly wrote this to honor my team members who did well and to bash myself for getting bad draws :) Round 1: Jeff Wallace, Hatred Hell all over me.... This one was a sweep. Game 1 (we both parised game 1) and 2 he launched some massive beatdown but I stabilized at 2 life both times which was a relief. I was happy that I won because I had 40:60 matchup vs. Ski Black because I would usually die when they can pop out early Hatred on me. Jeff had no Hatred for me that day, and I was hoping he didn't cause I was nice to them before the tournament and didn't bug them much. 2-0, 1-0 Round 2: Craig Wescoe, Living Death This, I feel, was all on the roll of the die. We had nearly the same hand, but he popped a Tradewind down the turn before I did and the game lasted forever since then. You can never tell whether or not a game would have happened one way or another just based on something like a die roll, but it seemed to be. We only played one game and he decked me in the last minute of the round. He probabaly thinks I was stalling, which I was in a matter of speaking, just because at that point I knew we couldn't get through another game with our decks. If push came to shove I would have conceded him the game because I had draws and I was on the losing side the whole turn because of that damn dice :) Good game Wescoe. 2-1, 1-1 Round 3: Familiar face, sorry don't know name, Green Red Tech We both paris and I go in to it with another mediocre hand. His deck is pretty well constructed and seems to have Nightmare/Survival in the constructed. I feel I could have won in a normal 2/3 matchup, but as we both parised, we both got off slow. He destroyed like 5 land in the beginning but I easily recouped with a Hermit Druid he could not kill. He stalls out although I obviously have advantage towards the end. He has a creative deck and I like it so I don't feel bad with a draw. 2-1-1, 1-1-1 (this is odd, my game and match records look alike?? my brain is fried at this point with over 2 hours of constant intense thinking) Round 4: Another familiar face, but I don't remember name either, Seismic Oath I remember playing this guy at the Exodus prerelease and winning only because of a Keeper of the Light. My deck was ready for Seismic Oath and Humble Prayer with double Cloudchasers main deck and some duel purpose sideboard stuff like tranquility, mana leak, and disenchant. I carried this one 2-0 also. 4-1-1, 2-1-1 (at this point my brain relaxes but i realize that this is only a 5 round tourney and that sux cause i have to win next game to get into top 8) Round 5: Blair Simpson, sligh (teammate on Team Rakalite, claims to hate sligh :) Well this round was a disaster. I really did expect to win this matchup over any other game I had played that day with my strong playtesting and sideboarding against sligh. Tisk tisk, games 1 and 3 were just horrible and I parised once. I probabaly should have parised a couple other times, but with my luck that day I could risk it. There was no topdecking involved in the entire freaking match, I got nothing. Second game I got Weaver/Feeder lock, but the rest was history. So I lose, but I give Blair my best for top 8 which he procedes to lose (probabaly because I gave him my best which was giving me bad luck all day :) 5-3-1, 2-2-1 There are two Rakalites in top 8 out of 4 that attend and the other two were like in top 15 at least. Craig Wescoe wins it over a fellow Rakalite in Top 8; I can't say much for the match up, Holt Gray just got really screwed up draws. I late found out that my deck was 4 cards off from Craigs and I really can't decide if my or his choices were better there (screw draws for me all day, so I dont think that those 4 could even be compared at this point). I don't deserve to write props and slops this time, cause I didn't make top 8 and that means I am a loser. oh well, hehe. David Jafari Team Rakalite dave2000@earthlink.net