Subject: PTQ Dallas *t8* and Prerelease Report Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 03:53:36 -0500 From: "Scott Gerhardt" To: Hey everyone. Finally I have something decent to write about in a report after a mostly crappy last few months or so. I went to the Pre-Release and PTQ in Dallas this weekend and had a fairly good time at it. I'll start with Saturday. Saturday - The Pre-Release I get what I would consider a fairly good sealed deck. Not much real good beatdown, which is not that good in sealed, but got a pretty good W/U/r deck, with components listed below: Red 2 Arc Lightning Blue 1 Spire Owl (this card IS the BBE!!) 1 Horseshoe Crab 1 Annul 1 Veiled Serpent 1 Disruptive Student 1 Pendrell Drake 1 Sandbar Serpent 1 Drifting Djinn (Gotta love 'moti being reprinted) White 1 Sanctum Custodian 1 Disciple of Grace 2 Disenchant 2 Healing Salve 1 Serra Zealot 1 Monk Realist 1 Rune:Green 1 Rune:White 1 Rune:Black 1 Clear 1 Serra's Embrace 1 Catastrophe (BROKEN!!!) 1 Serra Avatar Artifacts 1 Endoskeleton 1 Mobile Fort Land 1 Drifting Meadow 6 Plains 6 Islands 4 Mountains 1 Polluted Mire (I LOVE cycling land in this environment, regardless of color) Useful Sideboard Cards 1 Douse 1 Absolute Grace 2 Scrap 2 Goblin Spellunkers Anyway, I'll keep the report part short since no one really cares about Sealed Deck reports anyway. Rd 1 vs Manuel Fernandez This guy has so much removal it's sick, but the Disciple was great vs his mostly black army, and Absolute Grace was game over. Matches (1-0) Games (2-0) Rd 2 vs Christopher Tsai I've slept since then. All I seem to remember is a Catastrophe one turn, and a Drifting Djinn the next. Matches (2-0) Games (4-1) Rd 3 vs Jeremy Baca Jeremy has my number and this was no exception. Super fat green critters, combined with good direct damage and Wildfire, which wrecked me game 2, spelled demise for me. He got 3rd overall. Matches (2-1) Games (4-3) Rd 4 vs Scott Majerczyk I remember the Catastrope/Djinn combo working one game, with the Catastrophe being used to 'geddon him the next, with Disruptive Student on the board. It was pretty bad for him as I won easily. Matches (3-1) Games (6-3) Rd 5 vs Jeremy Brosius My white and green runes held him off forever, but after getting all my creatures tapped (what was that cards name...blue one?) he attacks with all of his, 3 of which were blue and me at 8. I untap my horshoe crab to block the big serpent, but symbiosis. Game 2 had a 20/20 Avatar, but thanks to white rune, my Mobile Fort went in for the kill. Game 3 he sees turn 4 and 5 2/3 fliers, and I never regain sky control and die. Matches (3-2) Games (7-5) Rd 6 vs Amanda Pintye Amanda is a real nice girl and I hated to see happen what did. Game 1 she gets a 3rd turn Veiled Serpent followed by 5th turn Hollow Dogs. Add Expunge and imagine my pain. Game 2 I get Absolute Grace and wreck her. She gets Veiled Serpent, but it's Annuled. Game 3 she sees no black mana. It might not have mattered since I had to 2-5 creature curve, followed by Absolute Grace, but it made for a not very fun game against a girl who is really fun to play against. Matches (4-2) Games (9-6) Rd 7 vs Orson Andrews Who is this guy? He's talking about all his Magic playing experiences on the computer and how this was one of his first times playing against real people....okay. How was this guy 4-2? Game 1 I lay a 2nd turn Spire Owl. Just to be an asshole, I let the owl go all the way. Twenty-one (he got one chump blocker) turns later, the owl kills him, totally unenchanted and with only an Endoskeleton to keep him from dying. Game 2 I slap an Embrace on the Owl and start serving for 3 a turn. He eventually gets the owl, but at 5 life, and my Mobile Fort wakes up long enough to kill him. Matches (5-2) Games (11-6) Okay...I'm thinking I might just make the top 16 since 9-16 at least get 5 packs. Final result: 19th. CRAP!! My worst pre-release finish since Mirage despite the 5-2 record. To sooth my pain, I play a Portal (WTF?!?!) sealed deck tournament for a box of Urza's Saga and end up splitting 1st place and half a box. It at least makes up for the main tournament. Finally, I go home to get my deck ready for the PTQ. Sunday - The Pro Tour Qualifier I wake up real groggy after assembling my deck the night before. I'm real uneasy about it since I haven't decktested it, but it's mono-blue - how much playtesting do you need to Forbid-buyback? Just kidding. I just had no time due to work beforehand, and I found out on Friday I couldn't go to the Grand Prix since I had to work, so this was my one chance. And now on to the deck, named by DeQuan Watson: "Gerhardt's Pile" 4 Forbid 4 Counterspell 3 Mana Leak 3 Dismiss 4 Tradewind Rider 3 Mawcor 3 Dominating Licid 2 Ertai, Wizard Adept 2 Thalakos Drifters 2 Bottle Gnomes 3 Capsize 2 Legacy Allure 2 Lobotomy 15 Islands 1 Swamp 3 Reflecting Pools 2 Wasteland 4 Rootwater Depths SB: 4 Chill 4 Propaganda 3 Canibilize 2 Lobotomy 2 Grindstone As a note, this deck could be better - I liked and disliked certain aspects of it. I don't mind printing it since it was the last Rome qualifier I get to play in probably, and should not ever have to build this deck again. Round 1 vs Athena Walker (Counter Phoenix) Game 1 she wraps me up pretty tight as she out lands me 2 to 1. I stabilize Phoenix bleeding at 2 life, but she eventually gets through the last 2 points and kills me. Game 2 she sees a Island after 18 points of Mawcor beatings. It was ugly. Game 3 she gets he Caldera Wasted and he only other Island capsized forever. She got mana screwed hard core and I HATE winning that way, especially when I know I probably shouldn't have. Matches (1-0) Games (2-1) Round 2 vs Jeremy Virden (5 color Broch/Bridge/Tongs) This deck is weird, but seems kinda solid. Game 1 I get Forbid going and a Mawcor and Bottle Gnome pound away. Capsize and counter the Bridge was all I needed as he never sucessfully cast a Brooch with mana left over. Game 2 I get kinda hosed as he gets turn 1 Tongs on me and I never see enough mana due to 2 boils. Game 3 he gets Lobotomized 4 times and Drifters do the dirty work. Matches (2-0) Games (4-2) Round 3 vs DeQuan Watson (Counter Sliver) Game 1 he slaps down all sorts of flying, untargettable, +1/+1 slivers. I get all 3 Mawcors, two of which hold the army in check as he gets pinged to death. Second Tradwind secures land-lock. Game 2 I waste his only white the whole game and easily beat him without Crystalline Matches (3-0) Games (6-2) Round 4 vs Zach Karthauser (Mono-Red) Game 1 I stop the bleeding at 3 life and drop a Bottle Gnome. I lobotomy, and get Shock and Sonic Bursted in response. Dismiss was one more mana than I had. Game 2 I mulligan for the Chill and get it. Four or so turns later I establish Tradewind lock and he conceeded. Game 3 I stop the bleeding at 4 life. I have Forbid going with an Allured Flunkie on my side. He took 6 from Ancient "Anti-Chill" Tombs and another 6 from two blocked Jackal Pup. Finally I see Tradewind and serve for 4 twice to win. Matches (4-0) Games (8-3) Round 5 vs Kirby Vardeman (Living Death) Intentional Draw secures me top seed. Matches (4-0-1) Games (8-3) Here are the top 8: 1 Scott Gerhardt (me) Mono-Blue 2 Matt Duncan Living Death (I think) 3 Sid Rao Tradewind Awakening 4 Tim Dryden Mono-Red 5 David Goodnuff Counter Phoenix 6 Kirby Vardeman Living Death 7 Vincent Johnson Mono-Blue 8 Jeremy Baca Counter Phoenix When I see this, I cry. More than likely, by road to Rome was going through 1, possibly 2 Counter Phoenix decks. This sucks. Quarterfinals vs Jeremy Baca (Counter Phoenix) Now I hate seeing Jeremy since I had already beaten his girlfriend (Athena) that day and he, in general, has my number. This match was going to suck for me. Game 1 I get good Bottle Gnome beating for a little while. After dealt with, I slap down an Ertai and protect him. Add a Tradewind Rider for beating to the equation. With him at 11 life it became evident I had the lock and he conceeded. Game 2 I see absolutely no counter magic at all as he does 10 with Phoenix and 10 with Seismic Assault. Game 3 was pretty cool. I get some early beatings going and get him to 11. I slap down a Grindstone and go to town. He had Scroll rack, so I would eventually have to Capsize it to deck him. Making a very long game short, I am unable to Lobotomize his Phoenixes as he gets down the Assault to kill Tradewind and all other fliers. I gets me with about 5 cards left in his library. Matches (4-1-1) Games (9-5) So, I get about $60 or so dollars in mostly english prizes - decent prize, but no consilation on not qualifying for Rome. Oh well - better luck for Los Angeles. Props and Slops: Ah...forget about it. It's too late in the morning to praise and critize you. If I liked you or disliked you for something, you probably already know it and no need for me to throw it on here. Scott Gerhardt Team ???? (Am I even ON a team anymore?)