Subject: PTQ in Chicago IL Winner Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 20:32:37 EDT From: ScottV7584@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com I have a few free minutes so I guess I'll write a report for the PTQ on 10/17 in Palatine, a suburb of Chicago. My teamates Matt Waller, Mike Van Dyke, and Al Dee all came over the night before and we expected to do some serious playtesting. Then we realized that there was not enough time to get any solid conclusions so we went to sleep without knowing what we would be playing. We woke up about twenty minutes before registration started, so we built our decks in the car. I played Tradewind Awakening, Mike played Sligh, and Matt played a random b/u control deck. There were 81 people for this one spot qualifier, which means seven rounds of swiss. I didn't see many high quality teams except for a few random members of Team Ultrapro. I can't remember any names because I didn't take notes. Here's the decklist: 4 Tradewind Rider 4 Legacys Allure 4 Forbid 4 Counterspell 4 Whispers of the Muse 4 Capsize 4 Wall of Blossoms 4 Awakening 3 Spike Feeder 2 Spike Weaver 4 Reflecting Pool 3 Skyshroud Forest 10 Island 7 Forest Sideboard: 3 Dominating Licid 4 Mana Leak 2 Grindstone 4 Oath of Druids 2 Spike Weaver Round 1 mono blue Game 1- We take turns laying lands until he taps out for three propagandas. Next turn I drop Awakening and capsize two islands. During his upkeep I capsize backed up with a counter until he is left with no permanents and concedes. Game 2 - I sideboard in 4 mana leaks for my legacys. He is stuck at two lands for the first five or six turns which pretty much means he loses. Eventually I get the capsize going and kill him with a weaver. games 2-0 matches 1-0 Round 2 White Weenie Game 1 - He gets me down to 7 with two warrior en -kor and a soltari champion, but then I set up with a tradewind, a blossoms, and use two legacys to steal his shadow. Eventually I move spike counters onto his Soltari Champion and kill him. Game 2 - In go the 3 licids and 2 weavers. He keeps a one land hand and all he casts is a soul warden. I set up a tradewind lock and he scoops. Games 4-0 Matches 2-0 Round 3 Sligh Game 1 - I put out a turn two blossoms and then add more defense until I Awakening/capsize all his mountains and he concedes. Game two - In go the 4 Oaths and 2 Weavers. I cast a turn two Oath and start oathing. He applies pressure with fanatics and slingers and takes out my creatures with burn. I draw all 4 tradewinds, and he can only deal with three of them, eventually I kill him with a weaver. Games 6-0 Matches 3-0 Round 4 Curiosity Blue I know I'm in for a tough match because my opponent is "Slappy" of team ultrapro. His entire team is playing the blue weenie curiosity deck. Game 1 - I cast a turn two legacys after his turn three cloud spirit, next turn he casts a legacys and I can't find a forest to casts my weaver and feeder. Game 2 - I side in 3 licids and 4 mana leak. This game looks bad for me as he casts a turns three Cloud spirit then adds two curiosities, I capsize. I drop a legacy's and a licid and proceed to gain contol and kill him. Game 3 - By this point there is a large crowd around us, mostly ultapro members. He casts a turn one spindrift, but stalls out at two land. Meanwhile I get out a licid and take his Spindrift. He drops a pinger then next turn he pings the spindrift. Next turn I win a counter war over a tradewind and a legacys. During his next turn he drops a Cloud Spirit. This is where tings get wierd. He also has a legacys out, but I take the pinger and he responds by pinging me instead of itself. At the end of my turn he takes my tradewind. During my next turn I force out a licid. He attacks and a ping the cloud spirit, which puts me at 6. At this time Brandon Rutter, an ultrapro member and pro tour player, puts a dice on the tradewind so that we remember whose it is, but in doing so he knocks part of my sideboard onto the table, I thought they came from my library so I put them there. Brandon says they came from my sideboard and shows me that my sideboard is short three cards, so I take the cards and put them there. Next turn I draw a card, but it is one of the cards from my sideboard, I tell that to Slappy and Brandon confirms ir and gives me the right card. This whole scenario seemed very strange to me so I was glad to see it resolved fairly and without incident. Several turns later I kill him with his pinger and Thalakos Drifter. Games 8-1 Matches 4-0 Round 5 Sligh There are now only four undefeated people so we all get deck checked. My opponent ends up failing it because he accidentaly has five shocks. He recieves a match loss and I improve to....... 5-0 Round 6 - Intentional draw to guarentee top 8. Matches 5-0-1 Round 7 - Intentional draw because everyone else wants to. Matches 5-0-2 The top eight are: 1. My opponent from round 6 playing a unique combo deck 2. Me playing tradewind awakening 3. My opponent from Round 7 playing WW 4. My opponent from Round 4 playing Curioity 5. My opponent from Round 3 playing Sligh 6. Some random guy playing Humility Prayer 7. Some guy playing Tradewind 8. Some random guy from some random team playing some random deck. Quarter finals Tradewind This guy was one of the only people in top 8 I hadn't encountered all day and he was playing a tradewind deck very similar to mine, but I think he had less counters. Game 1 - I have to paris, but draw first. I keep a one land hand and top deck the other lands I need. I start off slow in this one, but manage to drop a legacys after capsizing his tradewind. I then cast my tradewind and set up the bounce. When I feel I have enough control I drop the Awakening and capsize/tradewind lock him. He concedes soon after. Game 2 - I put in the 4 mana leaks and 3 licids. I start off playing defensively after he plays a turn 2 legacys. Eventually I capsize the legacys which he sacs to fizzle the capsize. This allows me to drop 2 dominating licids and a tradewind. Soon after he drops a scragnoth and 2 tradewinds. I gain contol of the tradewinds and block his 4/5 Scragnoth with my wall, then return the wall to my hand. Eventually I draw another tradewind and start attacking for 1. I coninue to block bounce with the wall. I draw a weaver and add counters to a tradewind and bring him to zero, he sacs a feeder counter. Next turn he attacks with the scrag, and I block bounce. I then attack him on my next turn and I move on to the............ Semifinals WW This guy was really cool and was fun to play against. His deck splashe blue for about six maindeck counters which were very strong and gave me problems throughout the match. Game 1 - I set up with a legacys until I can drop a Tradewind and start bouncing. I take one of his creatures and beat him down until he realizes he has lost and concedes. Game 2 - I side in 3 licid, 2 weaver, and 4 leak. I start off slightly manascrewed and finally drop a legacys which gets cloudchasered, I end up losing to an en-kor and two shadows. Game 3 - I put in 2 Oaths just in case. I get a turn 2 legacys and turn 3 licid. I licid a Soltari Emissary and start beating down. I counter about 4 strong threats and continue to serve. He is down to 12 when he cataclysms. I end licid effect and let it resolve keeping licid, skyshroud forest, and legacys. At the end of his turn I legacy his Emissary back. During my turn I attack for 3 with the licid and the Emissary. I was holding land at the time of the cataclysm so I am not set back, he is and cannot recover in time. I kill hime three turns later and am going to the finals. By this point it is already 10:45 and we have all been playing Magic for fourteen hours. I sit down to wait for the result of the other semifinal match. Slappy wins. This next part takes a little background information to understand. Slappy and I are both already qualified for the Junior Super Series Finals in Florida, Slappy in the 15-18 age group and myself in the 14 and under age group. This means that neither of us wish to participate in Pro Tour Rome, because it would make us ineligable for the Super Series. Therefore he proposes a split of the prizes. I am tired of playing and the rest of his team wants to go, so I decide that this is fair, so with the head judges approval he concedes to me and we split the prize. - Scott Valastyan Props: Dominating Licid for living up to its name. Matt, Al, Mike, and Chris for not being overly annoying Ryan, Stephen, and the rest of team whatever the hell you're called for support The judges for not screwing up The guy in round 5 for screwing up Slappy for not making us play a pointless finals The word random for being one of the best descriptive words I can think of To Galaxy Cards and Comics in Naperville for being a good place to play a mix of scrubs and good players Slops: The weather for raining The Holidat Inn for not having anyplace to eat at The Junior Super Series for making you ineligable if you have Pro Tour Points The random big loud annoying guy with the beard for being so big loud and annoying. The dealer who offered me 20 bucks for my beat Mox Sapphire, that was way low Chris for losing to Ray De Guzman in a draft because he made scrubby mistakes