Subject: [REPORT] PTQ Enschede Sept 06, 1998 Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 22:04:52 +0200 From: Karsten Dürotin Hello List! I played a PTQ in Enschede, The Netherlands, on Sunday, and thought that I could finally post a report myself (have never done it). Hope you find this useful. As you will know, the PTQ format currently is Rath Cycle constructed. Since the Deck I initially wanted to play in Rath Cycle is still in development/testing, I had to play another deck. From the available decks, I preferred Suicide Black, a deck I haven't played in Standard yet, but always wanted to play. I looked at the two "Decks to beat" in the Dojo, "The Art of Suicide" and "German Hatred", and came to the decision that now that they would have been published, their problems would become even bigger. Both decks were Ultra-aggressive, intent mostly on throwing creatures out and casting a Hatred as soon as possible. I thought that they would probably be answered by fast blockers (Walls and Watchdog, as I later found out) and a lot of Counterspells or Creature Removal. So I decided to leave the Hatred as a Winning Option, but leave them at two, making place for other cards. >From the two ways of speeding the Mana up, "Art of Suicide's" way fitted me better, because the Culling the Weak-approach of German Hatred was specifically aimed at producing a really fast Hatred and wasn't really good for anything else. So I took City of Traitors, going down to two to keep consistence, and Blood Pet. To deal with the fast blockers / Legacy's Allures I expected I added Creature Removal, namely four Diabolic Edicts (which deal perfectly with Allured creatures, Walls and protection critters) and a Slaughter specifically aimed at Spike Weavers (it pays to pay the Buyback, yes) and Tradewind Riders. The Sideboard wasn't really ready when we headed for the tournament, so it was kind of created on the spot at the tournament location. It isn't really good and consists of fillers for a good part (though Portcullis is actually a multi-defense weapon in this deck) 4 Sarcomancy 4 Carnophage 4 Dauthi Horror 4 Dauthi Warlord 4 Dauthi Slayer 2 Dauthi Marauder 4 Blood Pet 4 Diabolic Edict 4 Dark Ritual 2 Hatred 2 Spinal Graft 1 Slaughter 1 Crovax the Cursed Sideboard: 2 Thrull Surgeon 1 Portcullis 3 Bottle Gnomes 2 Reckless Spite 1 Stronghold Taskmaster 2 Bottomless Pit 1 Dauthi Cutthroat 1 Torture Chamber 2 Perish So much for my deck. Now the actual tournament report: We arrived at the tournament location in Enschede almost one hour late due to our driver's lack of a map (slops for you here, Sascha!). Luckily we arrived just a second before it actually started, and were allowed to play in it. I threw a sideboard together and only had the chance to check out the competition. There were a lot of German players, among them Thomas Menke and Iwan Tan, two of Germany's top players - Menke is one of our Pro Tour attendands. When I pointed this out to one of the attending Germans, he said: "It's because the Dutch players are bad - there is less competition here." This didn't work out for him. Bad luck. :-) Seconds later, the pairings were on table, and I started for first round. Round 1: Thomas Menke, playing Mono-Blue Control I was shocked to see who I played against, and when he wished me luck, I said "I will need it". He made a face, and answered: "Judging from what you have shown me of your deck during shuffling, I will need it!" Game 1: I play Carnophage, he nothing. I lay Slayer, he a Wall of Tears. I can't attack with any of my creatures, and after he plays two Legacy's Allures and counters my Shadow Critters, he finally gets to beat me down with a Spinal Grafted Dauthi Warlord (I wanted the Game to end) and a Killer Whale. Game 2: I play four critters fast, he answers with a Wall. I edict the Wall and beat him down. Game. Game 3: Again some fast critters, then he plays Watchdog, stalling me quite good. When he plays Killer Whale to finally kill my creatures before dying from still 5 points of damage every turn, he can't counter my Slaughter on the Whale and my edict. 14 damage to him, Game. 1-0, I have beaten Menke. Everything seems to go well! Round 2: Ralf Ottovordemgentschenfelde, playing Sligh. Shit, Sligh. My hopes go down. Game 1: My creatures get kindled, shocked and even Mogg Fanaticed while he kills me off with his. Game 2: I get sente with two critters, one of them Spinal Grafted, until he draws Shock and Kindle and proceeds as in Game 1. God, I hate Sligh. 1-1 Round 3: Against Thomas Denkers, playing Hacker's Prayer Game 1: I play fast, beating him down to 9 by turn 3, when he intuitions for Orim's Prayer. I only manage to attack for 3 more next turn with the prayer, and he plays Humility. I hope for Hatred, and play it - it is countered, Game. Game 2: I deal damage even faster, and have him down to 6 again, when he lays Light of Day. I had forgotten to side in Bottle Gnomes, and concede. 1-2. This was better once. Round 4: Against Michael Müller, playing Blue-White control Game 1: Dark Ritual, Carnophage, Slayer opens my turn. I continue with a Horror, and later a Warlord. His Wastelands can't be used for countering, and he plays a Legacy's Allure when I Hatred. You can't counter that with two tapped Islands... ;-) Game 2: A fast start is stopped by Light of Day. My first Gnomes are countered, and he is at enough Mana and has a Legacy's Allure out. I concede. Game 3: Again, his Wasteland stops his development, and when he has two Islands on table on turn 4, he can't counter with Dismiss. I have been Mana Leaked once, but can still play my Game with two Critters, even though slowly. In turn 7, he plays an Avenging Angel (huh?). I edict it, and play a Warlord. On turn 8, he is dead meat. 2-2, with an opponent who will go on to complain loudly about his Draws whenever I discuss my deck with anyone during the rest of the tournament and say that it took out two control decks this day. Great. Round 5: Bjorn Newedink, playing Nightmare/Survival in his own version. Game 1: He can't do anything useful except gaining more and more Mana, Survivals once, and dies. Game 2: Repeat, but this time with a Hatred for 6. 3-2 Round 6: David von der Sloot, playing White Weenie Game 1: A speed start is stopped by Soltari Monks and en-Kor Critters. Finally, one Monk beats me down and the other blocks me off and takes en-Kor damage. I lose. Game 2: I go off with Dark Ritual, Sarcomancy, Sarcomancy, Carnophage, add Shadow on turn 2, and Hatred on turn 3, with 3 Light of Day on his hand. Phew. Game 3: I kill him off with two Horrors and Carnophages, which he can't block because of Soltaris only. 4-2, i'm hoping on getting among the best eight and taking some boosters again Round 7: Bardo Versteeg, playing Burning Bridge Game 1: Early Critters are taken out, but I manage to keep one of my Critters on table always. Twice I get hope when he taps out leaving a Critter on table, but I never draw a Hatred. I finally lose when he has a Bridge and two Scalding Tongs on table. It hurts to lose against bad players playing the right deck... :-( Game 2: The same, again with him always tapping out. Seems that the person who built that deck explained something about Mana Curves to him without mentioning that against Hatred, you better be able to shock a critter away. 4-3, no chance on best 8, but still hoping for a positive Record. Round 8: Farid Jabli, playing Living Death Game 1: I beat him down easily, taking out a Bottle Gnome in progress, and finishing with Hatred. Game 2: I am one turn away from victory with lots of creatures, when he Living Deaths and I remember that you shouldn't play all of your creatures against Living Death. It hurts to be a bad player playing the right deck. Game 3: Repeat Game 2, but with a few lifegainers in between. End result: 4-4 I am not really glad about going 4-4, but since I have won about 100 DCI points in progress, it still went good somehow. You can tell my ranking wasn't good before... ;-) Comments on the metagame: There is very much sligh, a few Tradewind/Awakening, and less Living Death than I expected. White Weenie sums up to about 15-20%. On the whole, any deck should be able to go at least 50-50 against Sligh, and I have to find something against Ensnaring Bridge... Props: The Organizers for a well-run tournament, the Dutch for finally recognizing me and being friendly nonetheless, Thomas Menke for being a really good sportsman Slops: Most of the other Germans for not being half as good sportsmen as Thomas, the Sligh players - you are too many out there and Sascha, our driver, for not bringing a map to a foreign country. Bye, Karsten