Subject: PTQ-ROME Tourny Report Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1998 05:57:48 -0700 From: "Gregory M. Smith" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com -------------------------------------------------------------------- PTQ - Rome Held at Los Angeles (Costa Mesa Women's Club) I just wanted to write a quick report from the Rome PTQ held on Labor Day weekend. But I'd like to make a few interesting comments about the Rath Limited format. First, a simple question....what type of human activity is normally held on Labor Day weekend? Barbeques, of course. Costa Mesa was normal in that respect . The three main deck types were Burn, Tradewind/Awakening, and Living Death (of some variety). There were also Counter/Hammer (oops I mean Counter-Shard) and Humility/Prayer/Grind type decks but burn decks and graveyard-abuse decks were THE by far most common types (I myself encountered no less than 4 burn decks during the day). There were also some Hatred decks but I didn't meet any, and most farely poorly versus the heat. I designed a deck, tested it thoroughly, and got lost faith in it the night before the PTQ, so the morning of the PTQ I literally threw together a burn deck. Geez, original of me. However, I did two things differently than most folks who played red....I played with 22 land in a deck that had mostly 1-2 casting cost, and I played with Apocalypse. (hehehe.) Now, before you think I'm nuts, I'd like to explain my theory. My theory was this: I can beat control, probably, with speed. I can fry the black decks. But infinite peaches (Spike Feeders) is NOT going to be beaten by straight burn. Recurring Nightmares....ugh. The only answer I could come up with in the Rath cycle was Apocalypse. Most of the hand is gone anyway......so when lots of lands are out, and 2-3 Walls of Blossoms, and that peach hits the table and there's a Volrath's Stronghold out ....well it's time to start again :) And with low casting cost, and a few more lands than normal, it's a pretty good restart button for red. Plus, if you have enough mana, you can Sonic Burst in response to the Apocalypse, losing some card you have to ditch regardless. That was the theory anyway :) ROUND 1 - Burn vs. Burn. He wins the toss. First round, I find myself playing another burn deck. Turn one, he plays a Pup. I lay a mountain and say "Go." He attacks. I cook it, he takes two. He plays another one. I untap, play my Wasteland (two lands opening hand). I say "Go." He attacks. I cook it, he takes two. He plays a third Pup. I fail to draw any land, I say go. He untaps and attacks again. I use yet another shock on Pup#3, putting him at 14 life. He then stone rains my only mountain. I neglect to draw any more mountains that game. I die quite soon. Game two, I start with 5 land. I decide to keep it. Bad move.....I draw a never ending supply of land. I do have a searing touch and enough mana to use it twice a turn. But it's not enough to stop the creature assault. I'm down 0-1 in matches and pretty depressed....especially since during the match I had to remind him about 4 times to tap his mana before casting spells. OTOH he reminded me it's VERY bad to have one card with the sleeve backwards (the silver dot was showing. Never sleeve at 7am before coffee :) Geez burn is dangerous in ANYBODY's hands (and that includes me). So I'm dead. But I double check my deck to be sure there's no more backwards sleeves and I move on. ROUND 2 Burn vs. CounterHammer I'm playing against Andrea Kunst. Most folks know her as a Level III Judge and she's pretty darn good. I'm not exactly thrilled to be matched up with somebody as good as she is after a loss, but heck I guess you get better by playing good folks so we start playing. I'm in a good mood and roll my alphabet die for first. (20-sided with letters instead of numbers. It's fun :) She wins and allows me to go first. So I do. I lay down a first turn Pup and she compliments me on my lack of originality . She's so classy to play against...very businesslike yet nice. She's a little bit color screwed and I actually win by a quick beatdown by pups and flunkies. Second game....it's all her. Counter, counter, Intuition, Shard Phoenixes, counter, Dismiss, a second shard, die die die. Not fun. I actually attempted Apocalypse twice (Boiled during her discard, which pulled a counter...then followed up with the Bomb. She had a second counter....but the look on her face was worth the price of admission. Hehehe. I don't care...it was FUN!) So it's 1-1 in games, on for the third. I play first and it's not a creature swarm..but I get out a flunkie because she's totally color hosed (only mountains showing). Then she gets a blue (and has a Reflecting pool). I still have a mountain up. She taps to play a Shard Phoenix. In the play that decided the match, I tapped red and shocked her Phoenix. She at first started to take two damage and I stopped her "no....I'm killing the Phoenix". So with only a Flunkie on the table she lets it go, it doesn't even need to sacrifice. I followed it up with another flunkie next turn and a Raging Goblin (sooooo good!) (I think) and attacked for 4, then 6 the next turn. The double flunkies are immune to the single shard, and they do some heavy service. Had I not killed the one Phoenix, she could have played a second Phoenix and nuked my flunkies. So I think that was the key play of the match. I manage to boil her twice (the second time for only one island...but I think it helped win me the match...not sure) and it was just too much with the kindles and burn. So I'm 1-1 in matches and feeling better but sorry I had to win against a class act like Andrea, and mainly because in the first half of the last game she was color screwed and not because I'm some genius. Because I'm not. ROUND 3 - Burn vs. Burn. Holy Pikula! (tm) I'm matched against Matt Cass, possibly the best player in Arizona (or certainly in the top 2). I go first and, in what would be a repeat of the entire day, get an early jump in life because I'm beating him down and he's totally defensive. He finally gets out a creature and try to Maniacal Rage it...but I shock it in response to the Rage being played, and he loses both cards. So I win. Game two, he returns the favor. I die screaming and burning. Game three, he plays a Jackal Pup which I Sonic Burst. Ouch. He pulls a random Maze of Shadows out of my hand. (secret tech versus black and white shadow creatures...never used all day. +Sigh+ ). I'm certainly smelling like a rose there. Then he decides to not draw any more land. At all. So I'm feeling pretty rotten as he starts discarding while I'm serving with the Jackal Pup and a few other creatures. So I win 2-1 but mainly because my opponent is mana-hosed. I'm now 2-1 in matches and thinking to myself that I should ALWAYS build my deck the morning of the tournament. Pressure is good . ROUND 4 - Burn vs. Awakening. I don't remember his name, but he was pretty darn good. I win the first game through sheer speed and the fact he neglected to draw any peaches or walls. I also won because when he tapped out on turn four to play the tradewind, I Sonic Bursted it. I think I lost a creature to the random draw, but so what? Tradewind Riders and Sonic Burst belong together in this cycle :) He gets out a propaganda but I've got enough mana for the Pup so he continues to serve and I win. Second game, he starts to get control and he's stealing my creatures and using walls of blossoms so I decide it's time to Apocolypse. Again, the facial expressions are worth the price of admission :) He's out of counterspells, but he wins the game (IMHO) by capsizing, with buyback, an island. He then displays AMAZING topdecking skills...because I've got land and creatures but he's got TWO Legacy's Allure out and finally a third and he just capsizes me out of existance. Third game, I get my boils going and my creature rush and it's just too fast. So I'm 3-1 in matches. By the way, folks who say that there's a lot of cheating going on - well maybe they are right but I sure didn't run into it. This guy accidently saw his next card on his library when he drew, and immediately informed me and asked me if I wanted to shuffle which I did. Heck I didn't even NOTICE! He didn't have to say a thing but I thought he was just awesome and admired him for that very much. ROUND 5 - Burn vs. Living Death/Tradewind/Weaver/Blossoms etc. Probably my toughest match of the day. I don't remember his name either but it's quite the fight. I win the first game, barely, through pure speed again. I get to Sonic Burst another tradewind :) In the second game, I get the weirdest draw of the day. I've got only two mountains, but a ZILLION creatures. I've got (on the table, at one point) 2 pups, 2 flunkies, 4 raging goblins a fanatic and a fireslinger. Holy cow! My wall of creatures was about 3 feet long on the table . Two walls of blossoms are slowing me down, but I get him down to 4 life...but I've got no burn. He then starts fogging every turn (which I force him to do) with the weaver, and he has infinite recursion with the Volraths Stronghold, the Tradewind, and the Coffin Queen (his choice!) so it's looking very bad for me. I'm holding an Apocalypse and just hoping to play it but I'm stuck at two mana. However, he finally plays a Shard Phoenix and lights up all my creatures. I shoot the fireslinger at him, and the fanatic, and everything dies but the two flunkies. He's down to 2 life. He then, in response to the Phoenix, taps the tradewind and the two walls of blossom to pick up his weaver (to save it). Oops. He then realizes his massive error as the two flunkies are still on the table and will kill him next turn, so he concedes. Wow. I'm 4-1 in matches at a PTQ. Is this really happening? ROUND 6 - Burn vs. Burn. I'm playing Chris Tobler, another gamer from Phoenix who I've played before and is a very pleasant young man (unlike many of the manners-challenged Magic players I run into). He's pretty good.....he's beaten me before, I've beaten him before. I know this can go either way. We exchange pleasantries but both realize the winner gets into the final 8. So we briefly discuss a draw but realize that's dumb so we fight it out. Turn one, I lay a pup. He lays a fanatic. Oh goody, I think. Well at least it's only one point of damage . I get an early creature/beatdown advantage, and win. Second game, he plays a Rathi Dragon on turn 5-6. I don't remember but it doesn't matter. It was the BOMB. (I only had one in my sidebar, thinking there wouldn't be much burn. Duh, was I ever wrong. Apparently he had 4!). Third game, I get the early attacks in since I went first, I'm terrified of a Dragon arriving but none do. We trade creatures for burn, but I win when I draw a Raging Goblin who activates my lone Flunkie. I win easily with a 5 point finishing Kindle. Ouch. No real mistakes.....but burn vs. burn is almost just a case of who draws the right mana (2-3) versus someone who draws a little too much (like 6-7 lands). Each one you draw in excess of 2-3 = a permanent or piece of burn you can't match. And that's fatal. So I'm 5-1 match record and I get to draw with the top seed in the seventh round. My final ranking is 5-1-1, seeded 4th overall out of 66 folks or something like that. WheeHeee! I then play another burn deck and he crushes me two straight. No real problems....I just drew too much land both times, and he maniacally raged a Bottle Gnome when I had no burn to deal with it. So I lose in the finals, first round, no Rome for me :) I take my 12 packs of product and go home very happy. Here's the Deck: APOCALYPSE NOW! 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Mogg Flunkies (so good versus burn and Shards!) 4 Mogg Raiders 4 Raging Goblins 4 Jackal Pups 3 Fireslinger 1 Searing Touch 4 Shock 4 Kindle 2 Sonic Burst 4 Apocalypse (mostly sided out vs. burn) 2 Goblin Bombardment 17 Mountain 2 Wasteland 3 Maze of Shadows (never used all day. where was WW????) Sideboard: 4 Boil (awesome) 3 Portcullis 3 Jinxed Idol 2 Canyon Wildcat 1 Rathi Dragon 2 Shattering Pulse In retrospect, I'd probably switch to 2 Apocalypse main deck, and 1 in the sideboard, with maybe another Sonic Burst, another fireslinger, and two less land (one less mountain, one less Maze of Shadows). And of course more Rathis in the side. Maybe one main deck. I hope you enjoyed the report. Kudos to Dan Gray for putting on a good show. Gregory M. "Sturmer" Smith Team Armored Fist