Subject: Reports (PTQ - Shrewsbury, UK - S/Finalist) Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 13:33:32 +0100 From: David Sutcliffe To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Aaaaaargh!! I could almost taste the Pasta! I was sooo close. Dammit, I actually won the damn thing, but made a total cockup in the semi and dropped out (the final was a formality, the other finalist was Suicide Black, and I was Sligh with heavy burn). Anyhoo - here`s the decklist. For anybody looking to play Red in Rathi I can recommend a good look at what is in here, I`ve kept a close eye on Rathi Constructed and made some interesting metagame choices that did me proud on the day. Red Creatures (22 - plenty, some Sligh play up to 30, but that`s asking for trouble) 4 Jackal Pup (much better than Conscripts) 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Raging Goblin 4 Fireslinger 4 Mogg Flunkies 2 Rathi Dragon Red Spells (18 - you have to be able to beat a deck with a permanent Weaver) 4 Shock 4 Kindle 4 Sonic Burst (so good, forget the discard - it`s usually irrelevant) 4 Maniacal Rage (perhaps the key card, DO NOT waste them) 2 Spellshock (superb game changer, just like a cheap Manabarbs, and if you don`t know why that`s good then you haven`t played Red Sligh enough) Land 4 Wasteland (very few RR casting cost spells) 16 Mountain Most red decks are very similar, although I run fewer creatures than most. It is the sideboard where the decks differ - 4 Stone Rain (useless, never used them once, and probably coming out) 2 Hand To Hand (COP Red, Kor) 1 Spellshock 2 Apocalypse (SO GOOD! Although I never used it today the games I lost I would have won if they had turned up. A third here in future) 2 Torture Chamber (replace Spellshock Vs weenies) 1 Mindless Automaton (replace Rathi Vs Chill, COP Red) 2 Maze Of Shadows (avoid Chill/Ganda, swap for Wastelands Vs Suicide & WWeenie) 1 Mountain (avoid Chill/Ganda, swap for Wasteland if they are crap, or playing Apocalypse) Anyway, on we go. There are around 50 players here, which is a low turnout for a PTQ, but for some reason I just don`t expect to get anything at all here today, but that`s okay because I`m not really in the mood to be competitive anyway, I just want to see my best mate Neil make it to another Pro Tour. Round 1 - Su Lane (Red Sligh) This is bad - played a Sligh in the shop yesterday and lost 8 straight, and came to the conclusion that the fewer creatures/more burn technique makes me weak against other Sligh. Game 1 - I play Pup, she plays Fanatic and kills it. I don`t play another Pup, and wait a turn for her to tap out. She plays a Flunky and I drop the Pup then Rage it. My next turn a second Rage makes it a 6/5 Puppy that eats her alive. Game 2 - I have to Paris to 5 cards. This one should be over here and now. But I win! I don`t know how, but she seems to be sitting there with 3 land, and unable to cast her spells! I don`t know what she had, but I don`t care and end the game before she can Flame Wave me or something equally ridiculous. 2-0 1 Win Round 2 - Neil Savage (U/G/R) Game 1 - I don`t have a clue what I am up against, but it doesn`t matter and I cruise through. Game 2 - His deck isn`t terrible, but he has Time Ebbs as his Anti-red sideboard, and he only draws Green and Red mana anyway... "Just cruisin..." 2-0 2 Win Round 3 - Paul Evans (Trade Awaken) This is my worst deck to meet, if he is using the Wall of Tears instead of those pathetic Spike Feeders. Game 1 - he draws 4 Walls of Blossoms to stall, but my burn removes them all and I am close to winning, then a Legacy`s arrives and starts to tick up to the 3 counters he needs for one of my two Flunkies. I attack, and put him on 6, but if he has any blocker then his Allure wins him the game. He plays a Tradewind, and I know I am in trouble, a topdecked Kindle would only do 3, and I don`t have anything to discard to a Sonic Burst, so I`m screwed. I draw - Maniacal Rage - your Tradewind cannot block! HA, HA, HA! This is the first game that actually tested my deck all day. Game 2 - He Chills with Island/Pool. I wasteland the Pool, then kill him slowly with 1/1 beatdown off 3 land as he never sees the green for his Spikes. 2-0 3 Wins Round 4 - Ellis Romero (Counterphoenix) Game 1 - I take a bad hand - with only 2 creatures, 2 rages, 3 land - and lose all four spells to 2 Kindles. I never summon up any more offense and it`s game. Game 2 - He complains of mana screw (he only got 6 by turn 8) and I kill him easily. "Just Cruisin..." Game 3 - He never gets 2 blue mana. I don`t give him a chance. He sits there for ten minutes complaining about his bad mana luck. He has a point - with 28 land in there it shouldn`t happen, but the deck needs to play enough mountains to see 1 red early for the burn, but also needs 2 blue early for the counters, and has to lay 8 land by turn 8. And it can`t play dual land because the Rathi dual lands suck. I don`t care how much land you play, that`s asking for mana screw. 2-1 4 Wins (It`s been a while since I went 4-0 in Standard) Round 5 - Neil Rigby (Horsecraft) Neil is my best mate, and the only other player on 4-0, so it looks like our months of playtesting is paying off. We take a draw to put us on 13 points and guarantee qualification for the last 8. Game 1 - Go round Shrewsbury, do some shopping, get a nifty South Park keyring and pin badge. Game 2 - Neil goes to play Virtua Striker in the Arcade. Game 3 - McDonalds for McChicken McSandwich with McFries, and a McDump. 0-0 4 Wins, 1 Draw Round 6 - Graham Ribchester (Trade Awaken) He`s on 12pts and asks for a draw, but I`m already through so what do I have to gain by drawing? His DCI is respectable (around 1800) so if I lose then my ranking won`t be floored, and if I win then the third member of our team can maybe scrape into eighth place. He looks shocked as I begin to shuffle my deck. Game 1 - "Just Cruisin..." Game 2 - He doesn`t play Chill in the sideboard - how the fudge is he going to beat red if he doesn`t sideboard in 4 Chill at least? It doesn`t look like he can answer that question either. 2-0 5 Wins, 1 Draw Last 8 1 - Myself (Sligh with heavy burn) 2 - Steve " DeckCheck" Thatcher - deckchecked 9 times during the day - (Suicide) 3 - Neil "CounterMoose" Rigby (Horsecraft - the real name for CMU tech) 4 - Tony Dobson (Black Grave Pact) 5 - Mike Wilson (Sligh) 6 - Maddog Williams (5C Nightmare) 7 - Paul Hawking (Trade Awaken) 8 - Ellis Romero (Counterphoenix) Quarterfinal - Ellis Romero, he`ll want revenge for the mana screw he got earlier Game 1 - He draws 7 (6 land) Paris`s, and starts muttering under his breath about mana screw, I`m just grinning like an idiot. He draws 6, takes it. My hand is perfect and I cruise out a win under a Spellshock, not really pushing myself yet. Game 2 - A close one this, I have the upper hand until he Intuitions for 3 Phoenix and my offense vaporises. I then draw 4 Maniacal Rages on the trot without creatures and get Phoenix beatdown. This is the first one I`ve actually lost, not just taken a hand I should have Parissed and gotten beat. Game 3 - He got mana screwed! HA! No two blue, and I roll him up. He really isn`t in a good mood and tears up the Oath of Mages his prize support gives him. My point about Counterphoenix being prone to mana screw still stands, it always happened when I was playtesting with it. Semi Final - Tony Dobson (Black Grave Pact) This is a PTQ Semi, against one top players in Europe, and I can`t believe how calm I am - not at all stressed, not panicking, maybe I was in shock, maybe I was 'in the zone'. The truth was that, for first time ever, I had come to a tournament with absolutely no intention of winning at all, I assumed that red would get blasted from sideboarding, and I`m just waiting for somebody to point out how easy it is to beat red sligh in Rathi, even a really well metagamed one like this. Maybe Tony will tell me... Game 1 - I`m too fast, too many creatures, too much removal. Just cruisin, really. Cool. Game 2 - Should have Parissed. Took 4 land 3 spells, then drew another pile of land. Lost quickly with only 7 spells, 9 land - should have Parissed. My conscience told me to Paris when I drew my hand, and I only kept it because I had sided in Apocalypse and knew I needed to see land to cast it, and I`d won the first game. Really, I should have Parissed and at least played in this one. Game 3 - AAAAAAARGH! I`m trying to forget how much I should have won this :-( The situation - he is on 6, I am on 5. Spellshock in play - he has 1 animated Stalking Stones, Grave Pact and 4 swamp, I have a Fireslinger and two mountain in play, a Sonic Burst, Fanatic and Mountain in hand. I Sonic Burst the Stones to remove them as a threat, and he picks the Fanatic, the stones die and I lose the Fireslinger to the Grave Pact. He corpse dances the Blood pet and hits me for 1 so he is on 4, me on 2, the best I can get is a draw if I topdeck a Kindle or Sonic Burst for 4 damage. I get a land. I lose. Why didn`t I attack with the Slinger, then cast the Fanatic, blocked the Stones and Sacced it for damage, then Sonic Bursted him next turn? He would have been on 0, me on 1. It`s all so simple in hindsight, but I was still fixed on removing the stones as an attacker, and didn`t see I had a kill. I was calm and relaxed in defeat, until I got told I`d thrown the game away. Neil lost his Semi to Steve Thatcher`s Suicide. I don`t know who won the actual tourney because Neil and me were pretty pissed off with ourselves afterwards (he could have won his game too, if he had taken a risk and Scroll Racked his entire hand), and wanted to get away as soon as possible. Ah, well, it was nice while it lasted, and I should be at least 1860 when they update the rankings next time... :-) Thanks for listening. David Sutcliffe M.O.B. Team Member and Deck Wizzard DCI 271948