Subject: Grand Prix: Texas; a report Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 20:11:01 -0700 From: Jonathan Pechon To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com "Strategy is useful; luck is indispensable." Attending the Grand Prix held in Austin this weekend, I found this to be more truthful than I'd like to admit, sometimes. Success this weekend was completely related to the matchups provided to me, which were, to say the least, VERY favorable. (* historical interlude *) So, at the beginning of the PTQ season, I started testing some ideas for Rath cycle...some Hatred...some U/b.....none of which really caught my fancy; they were either too delicate, or too unreliable, or both. Finally, the night before the first Texas PTQ, I saw a decklist that I really liked the looks of: Jakub Slemr's White deck that he'd played in Worlds. I took it, altered it slightly, and was fairly amazed at the solid nature of the deck. As the events passed, the deck was more and more altered...I played the deck throughout the local PTQ's, and altered it per certain prevalent archetypes. (* end interlude *) This is the deck I played in Austin: 4 Soul Warden 4 Soltari Priest 4 Soltari Monk 4 Warrior en Kor 2 Shamen en Kor 4 Soltari Visionary 4 Paladin en Vec 2 Flickering Ward 4 Cataclysm 3 Disenchant 3 Helm of Possession 3 Wasteland 19 Plains "It's a nice day for a white wedding..." S/B: 3 Torture Chamber 3 Repentance 2 Warmth 2 COP: Red 1 Disenchant 1 Allay 1 Helm of Possession 1 Light of Day 1 Winds of Rath Basic sideboard strategy was to always side in the extra Disenchant and Allay in order to counteract my opponent's sideboard, then add the more active cards to the deck. It seemed fairly productive, in most cases; if I didn't feel it was necessary, I'd leave out the Allay, and just put in the 4th Disenchant. At the tournament, I register my deck, then go walk around the tournament area. My heart sinks as I look upon the tables... "Death is everywhere....there are flies on the windscreen..." I didn't figure on having much of a chance; Living Death is one of the most difficult matchups for this deck. And it was EVERYWHERE I looked... (*sigh*) Rd. 1-3 Bye Winning a Grand Prix trial paid off pretty well... Rd. 4 Bil Payne, Counter/Phoenix I know Bil from Arlington, played him plenty, gotten beaten soundly in the past, but the deck is a good matchup for me. Game 1: He draws one counterspell and a bunch of not-so-useful cards; he's even Scroll Rack-ing, and not finding good stuff. Shadowman priest comes and gets him. Game 2: he draws NO counterspells, and EVERYONE comes over this time. He had some HORRIBLE draws this match. Record: 4-0 Rd. 5 Steve O'Mahoney Schwartz, Living Death Hmmm.....high caliber player, bad matchup...bodes this not well for me, I think... Game 1: wee see-saw back and forth for a good portion of the game; I have 2 Helms in play, and they are causing absolute havoc with his game, allowing me to put creatures into my graveyard AND take his useful stuff, like Assassins and Tradewinds. Eventually, I have his Stronghold Assassin w/ a Ward named pro-green, and he is starting to look towards building resources again, I cast Cataclysm; he responds by Survival'ing two Spike Feeders into his hand, and Druiding for a land; he's at 4 life, my guess is that if he does not have a land in hand or draws one, then I can win the game right there. It was a poor gamble, and I ended up losing it; he drops the third land at two life, plays the feeder, and I can't afford to attack any more. I'm defensive from that point out, he asserts control, and I end up having to concede when he gets his army back out on the board via Death. Game 2: time is called, but he was starting to assert control anyway. A really good match; playing against Steve was really cool, the guy played slowly, carefully, and well. I was lucky to be able to stretch it out as long as I did. Record: 4-1 Rd. 6 Brian Hacker, Hacker's Prayer Okay, guys....do I get to play a regular mortal anytime soon? J/K Another good matchup for me, I think; I've got enough enchantment control to kill a wild elephant. Game 1: He drops the Humility...but doesn't see the Prayer....I nickel and dime him to death with 4 1/1 guys..... Game 2: He drops Mox, land....and nothing else. Not a very exciting game. I talked to Brian after the match, and got a little more info about what happened; he's really someone worth talking to. Record: 5-1 Rd. 7 Caleb Freeman, Sligh This guy plays with Team Houston...he seemed plenty friendly during the match, and we had some banter, so it was all good. Game 1: I get the second turn priest, third turn en Kor, and am able to hold him off while the Priest goes to town, eventually finishing him off. The highlight of this match was using a Flickering Ward to destroy a Maniacal Rage on his Pup, then pulling the ward back to my own creature. Game 2: I keep a one land draw with like 3 sideboard cards in my hand. Unfortunately, Caleb goes Stone Rain madness, and blows up my first 2 lands. I die horribly. Game 3: Again, I go 2nd turn Priest; then Shamen en Kor. I think I got another creature into play, maybe, before he went nuts again and blew up all my Plains; it was too late, though, as my Shamen held his creatures off while the holy man went to town. Record: 6-1, 21st place going into day 2 We go out to eat that night....I start feeling a little uncomfortable that night, and my sleep is broken throughout the night. I wake up with severe stomach cramps, headache, and a slight fever. I basically feel this way for the entirety of the day. Fun, eh? I spend part of the morning sipping Pepto-Bismol offered to me by Tim Stultzfus (THANK YOU!) Rd.8 Jeremy Baca, Counter/Phoenix Another local Texas player, I know his deck pretty well; should be a good matchup, right? Game 1: early pro-red beasties and en Kor go to town, just like they should. Game 2: He gets two early Fanatics out. I drop down some Shadow, but his fanatics are winning the race!!! They end up doing 16 (!!) points of damage to me, then are flung and I'm shocked to death, with him at 2 life. Game 3: I don't recall what exactly happened, but I lost, again with him at 3 life. Record: 6-2 Rd. 9 Mike Blaser, Counter/Phoenix Immediately upon sitting down, the banter begins. This was definitely my most amusing match of the day; we had a lot of fun through this match, and if you're reading, Hiya, Mike!! Game 1: Standard mess against C/P; I get creatures, including pro-red guy, start attacking, he casts a bird to clean up the mess, I Cataclysm next turn, beat on him with the creature. Not a good thing for him. Game 2: He lives in the realm of mana-screw, draws a whole lot of one colored (wrong-colored) mana before he dies. Record: 7-2 Rd. 10 Tim Danziger, Counter/Phoenix "How lucky can one guy be?" More C/P....this is lucky for me.... Game 1: He gets smacked around by holy men, and can't get ahead of them. Game 2: See game 1, with the addition of a Shamen en Kor to make it absolutely ridiculous (nobody can die!!) Record: 8-2 Rd. 11 Darwin Kastle, Living Death Another name player....another terrible matchup.... (*sigh*) Game 1: I get a fairly aggressive start, and gain some life off of my Soul Warden. I knock him down to 2, but he starts to get recursive Spike Feeders going, and then Weavers, and it's a fairly useless struggle as he starts to beat me down. I die. Game 2: same as before; I smack him around a bit, then he gains life, and that big green behemoth comes and visits me. Very ugly for me. It was fun to play Darwin; another guy who I'll hopefully play again. Record: 8-3 Rd. 12 Tim Stultsfus, Oath of Druids coolness I do not like playing people I'm this familiar with in a tournament of this caliber; while the atmosphere is a bit lighter, it's no fun to either win or lose. Besides, I knew all about Tim's deck. Game 1: Early shadow, then early Visionary come out; that is conceivably the absolute worst card for that deck. He drops Scroll Rack, does some searching, concedes a bit later. Game 2: Drops an early Rack, really starts digging through his library while using his Feeders to stay alive. He STILL can't find any of the cards to make a difference, and the Visionaries make him miserable again. Eventually, he can't hold me off any more. Record: 9-3 I forget, sometimes, what it's like to play against someone who can have such a good humor playing the game. I've seen Tim get upset when he makes mistakes, but he sometimes makes the game fun, moreso than most people do. In the between period of rounds, I overhear Randy Buehler talking about possibly running his deck with Plains in it; I provide him with the said cards ;-) By this point of the day, I'm dead tired, I can barely see, and am in a lot of pain due to my bad stomach and other illness symptoms. Generally, I wanted to go crawl into a corner and die, rather than play another round. But... Rd. 13 Grayson Hawe, G/R Good stuff w/ Carnassid I had no idea who I was playing against, or what I was about to get into. This match was stressful enough to begin with; winner makes top 8, loser may or may not be in top 16. Game 1: I don't remember much of this; I am shown immediately that my opponent is play very, very tightly by earning a warning for failure to process a triggered effect. He accuses me of lying intentionally to further the game, which does not bide well by me; he later said he was sure it was just a mistake. This game, it didn't matter too much; I'm absolutely annihilated by the Carnassid he played. Game 2: I continue to make mistakes; I remember being really shook up at this point, and then am warned AGAIN for a different reason; he is cautioned, but I'm really disturbed at this point by my own screw-ups. He doesn't get much damage through this game, and I'm able to push through enough attackers to kill him. Sideboard Repentance paid off, if I recall correctly. Game 3: I'm pretty much a gibbering wreck at this point. He misses his second land drop...and I make yet ANOTHER mistake, the call on which could have gone either way. I was in control at the time, I think, but if the judge calls the error one way, I get a game loss. I realize it was a mistake right away, and figure it'll probably be the end of the match; needless to say, I'm not real happy about it; I was stressed, nervous, sick. The judge decided that I'd recovered quickly enough to not affect the match, though, and I'm allowed to continue; he concedes a short time later after determining there's no way he can win. I did, and do, apologize to Grayson for my play in that match; it was far below my standards, and I do hope to have another opportunity to play you under more pleasurable circumstances. Record: 10-3, in 7th position after 13 rounds So, due to some luck, some incredible matchups, and a little good play (I hope) I pulled it off. Top 8, which was the LAST place I thought I'd be. After that match, I immediately took flight from the room, and proceeded to chow down on candy bars and some iced tea. I take the time to calm down, relax, smile a little, and get mentally prepared to play my next round. I find out I'm playing against Death....and, I figure, "Hey, I guess top 8 is pretty good..." Quarterfinals: Heath Kennel, Living Death A generally amiable fellow, we had some fun during the match, and pretty relaxed air. Game 1: as seems to be the pattern again Living Death, I knock him down to 4 life in pretty short order; then he assert control by using Feeders and Weavers, and kicks me in the head repeatedly. Game 2: The shadow beating continue, but this time my Warriors and Paladins are girded with a Flickering Ward, to keep the giants away from me; he doesn't blow up enough stuff quickly enough to stay alive. Game 3: I draw an incredible opening hand; three shadowmen, Cataclysm, Helm, and two Plains. All I need is a little land...which I don't see for another 5-6 turns, I believe. He plays a Hermit Druid, and mills what must have been 2/3 of his library in one shot. He plays Portculls....then Death's. Two Feeders beat me down from there, and that's match. I don't see a third land until the turn before I died. End of the ilne for me....but.... ROME! ROME! ROME! ROME! NOTES: well, this terrible metagame choice of a deck worked out; I got lucky, that is all I have to say. Any deck with good matchups can win, and I got good enough matchups to survive. I'll take luck any day, but I'd rather not survive on it, if you know what I mean. Hopefully, if I can go to Rome, I'll make a better choice. Commendations: -the tournament crew, I appreciated the work you guys did -friends and teammates who helped me with the deck and practice: Zeth Bass, Scott Gerhardt, Tim Stultsfus (for the Pepto, and the good attitude), Jeff Zandi (major props to him for reminding that white wasn't terrible), all the Guildmages, and the rest whom I've forgotten to mention -my opponents over the day, for at least humoring my occasional mindlessness -Indigo Swing, for giving me something to listen to over David Bachmann's inane yammerings Bad form: -Zeth and Scott, for getting me back home so damned late -my deck, for hating Living Death -Living Death, for hating my deck (*laugh*) Nothing serious here....hopefully, I'll see some of you in Rome!! -Jonathan Pechon Eggplant Wizard