Subject: PTQ Rome - Berlin, Germany Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 13:41:09 -0400 From: Michael Giersch <106311.2740@compuserve.com> To: Frank Kusumoto Yo all ! After a complete year of magical absence I chose to make a comeback trying to shoot for the famous Pro Tour again and in the end meeting my fate in a deck that I thought would be something of a bye for mine. Ok, first the facts : - around 70 people from all over northern Germany attended that PTQ - we had six rounds of swiss therefore - the finals were two Hamburgian guys playing WW and mono - U control Because of my long break in MTG constructed I chose to play a fast, aggressive deck, that could beat people through sheer good draws rather than some mind tricks. The chosen deck was Hatred last but not least because of itī s color. Yes, I really like black and I think that if the first land I drop would not be swamp, people were going to get crazy. I did not want them to, so I had to stay with this color. I tuned the Dojo version slightly so that it would fit in our particular environment . The deck looked like this : 4 HATRED - of course 4 Dauthi Slayer 4 Dauthi Warlord - Brickwell was right, they rule ( though I wonder how Brickwell did find that out ?!? ) 4 Dauthi Horror 4 Thrull Surgeon - expected a lot of control ( I was damn right ) 4 Sarcomany 4 Carnophage - I do not like them mucho in this deck but hey 2/2 for B isnī t bad anyway 4 Dark Ritual 2 Culling the weak 1 Stronghold Assassin ------------ very weak ------------- 1 Crovax - He is the BEST 2 Reckless Spite - just right 2 Spinal Graft - guaranteed three damage --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sideboard: 1 Portcullis 2 Dread of Night 2 Perish 1 Torture Chamber 3 Stronghold Taskmaster 4 Bottle Gnomes 2 Bottomless Pit Ok, on to the first round - Sebastian Moises, Hamburg playing German Hatred of the Dojo The first game went the goldfish style, with him having only shadows and me having zombies. A Spinal Graft on his side made the difference. 2nd game was all over Portcullis. We cleared the board with two Taskmasters who eventually died in a battle of their own. I ritual out two creatures and a Portcullis with him glancing at the later one, grabbing it and reading it. I ask him if he has any artifact destruction in black :-) and he sighs and concedes. 3rd game he is in the lead with Shadows with me having Crovax and some zombies. The game goes very well for him until he tries to overkill me with a Spinal Grafted, Hatred Slayer. He goes for it, drops his cards and feels confident because I tapped out the turn before. His smile vanishes when I point out that Hatred is a targetted spell. My Crovax does him really in then. 1- 0- 0 2nd round - a guy from Braunschweig playing German Hatred ( oh sounds familiar to me ) First game I kill him with a turn 4 Hatred. He argues that he has lost now because of his bad sideboard versus my deck. After talking a little, he kills me in turn 9 or so with......Hatred - right ! So 3rd game is very fast. Turn three Hatred for 18 really gives him the edge. 2- 0- 0 3rd round - Dirk Hein, our national champion playing Hackerīs Prayer While shuffling Dirk is getting really nervous and asks me to exchange three of my sleeves with some new one, thanks now I can recognize them before the draw. Dirk, you little, overweighed child, doesnī t you know, that your psychadelic tricks do not work on people who have some self - confidence. I win the first one without Hatred. A Spinal Graft on a Dauthi Horror works wonder despite three Propagandas out ( Culling rules ). 2nd and 3rd game go like this : Me swamp - go , him land, Mox, Scroll Rack go. Turn three Humility and fourth turn Prayer seal the game. 2- 1- 0 4th round - a guy from Berlin playing WW with red for removal First game lasts two rounds, yeah ! He is pissed ! 2nd game: Him, Mountain, go. Me, Swamp, Ritual, three Sarcomancies. Him Shock in discard, draw play Mountain, double Shock and suddenly my Zombies are really dead with me following them a few turns later. The last one is again about Hatred. He taps out in turn three laying down a CoP: Black and a Mogg Fanatic. My Dauthi Slayer slays him for twenty. Never tap out versus black when having a CoP ;-) 3- 1- 0 5th round - Andreas Pischner from Berlin playing Hackerīs Prayer I go first ritual out some stuff and getting screwed by three Propagandas within 4 turns. 2nd game I have Thrull, take out his Light of Day and become really confident when I see that he has nothing in his hand despite the Prayer. The turn before the kill he draws Humility out of nothing and I am really angry though donī t show it to him. I wait for my Bottle Gnomes with him starting to whisper at some point. After he counters my last Gnome, he states that I could concede now, because he knows to use the Scroll Rack for not being decked. Everything he does from then on is reclaiming for Reclaim and so on. I think that I should sit it out for not letting him the joy of resting between the rounds knowing that he has boarded out the Grindstones. I do just that ! 3- 2- 0 6th round - a guy from Senftenberg playing Rude Awakening The whole match lasts five rounds with him getting really angry. 4- 2- 0 Conclusion: Hatred is a very strong deck in Rath but beware of Hackerīs Prayer ( why do I have to meet the only Prayer decks of the whole tournament ? ). Congratulations for Michael Nessler for killing both Istaris in the top eight ! Thatī s it kids, Michael Giersch 106311.2740@compuserve.com