Subject: [TOURNAMENT] Rome PTQ in Columbus, Oh Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 18:40:39 -0400 From: Sam Stoddard To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com [TOURNAMENT] Rome PTQ in Columbus, Oh Well, seeing as this is the last week of the Rome PTQs, I figure I might as WELL write one know, seeing as this is the only one I have been able to go to (O.K...the first week didn’t count...I forgot that Sligh doesn’t do that well in WW country). So lets start this party of with the pre-game: The Night before..... Part 0: Two nights before: So I need to play a deck...what to play...what to play....I look at my trade book...and I have....crap. I look at my current Rath deck...crap. I talk to my friends, and one of them, Adam "I write stupid Dojo Impulse crap" Hughes informs me that he cannot go, and will let me borrow his Trade-awakening deck. woohoo! this is looking to start out good...one problem...the deck is crap. Oh well, I have to spend a little bit modifying it to make it good (Note to Adam: Silver Wyvern is NOT a beating in Trade-awake!). Part I: The Night before: I get to my local store, The Soldiery (at which both Adam and Ed "7 minute man" Porter work...plug, plug, plug) to do some play testing, but only Jess "Leamonhead" Means and Nick "The Brain" Novak are there, as the rest of the crew is at a football game. That’s O.K., at least I can get the rest of the cards I need for my deck....but no dice. I have to wait until Randy "Lets see if I can flunk out of community college" Wright to show up (AKA Randy "I ride my bike to college" Wright ). He informs me he will come to the tourney tomorrow with the cards I need (which he does, to some extent). After a long night of playing Quake2 the store's computers, we retire back to our homes, to get ready for the challenge ahead . Actually, we mostly all just go to sleep right away, and tell everyone we were up all night making decks, so we can blow off any early loses that might occur as "getting no sleep". Part II: The day of I get up, get all my cards together (forgetting my play mat once AGAIN!) and head out to The Columbus Convention center (but not before stopping at Tim Hortons! Tim is the MAN!). I arrive and only a few other people are there that I know, most notably Alex "I didn’t have time to think up a nick for you" Boreth. We talk about the environment, and he tells me he is playing Death, and I tell him that I’m playing Tradewake. That is always a curse. oh well. Pretty soon Walt "The WHINER" Hengly arrives, and we talk, and he whines about Urza’s and tells us of his plans to sell all his cards. Whatever. Within no time, the UA crew (Randy, Jess and Ed) show up with....LASER POINTERS...but more on this later. Any way, we all trade each other cards, and finish up our decks before getting ready for the main event. Ed and Randy play with their laser points for a while (playing around with off Mike "the Maine man" Guptil mostly). Ed explains he likes the "Nude Girl" cut out for his laser pointer because she never says "no". A good laugh is had by all (at least everyone in earshot). I ask about Jason, Jess's qualified, and much player brother, and I am told he is at the PSATs, but will show up later. It turns out there are 60 people at the tourney, which means 6 rounds of swiss. By now, the first round pairings are up and I face....... The deck: Trade-Awake 3 Skyshroud Forest 1 Dominating Licid 2 Hammerhead Shark 4 Reflecting Pool 6 Forest 11 Island 2 Awakening 4 Wall of Blossoms 3 Spike Weaver 4 Tradewind Rider 4 Whispers of the Muse 4 Legacy's Allure 4 Capsize 4 Forbid 4 Counterspell SB: 3 Spike Feeder SB: 2 Thalakos Drifters SB: 1 Awakening SB: 2 Hammerhead Shark SB: 3 Scragnoth SB: 4 Oath of Druids Part III: The rounds Round I Alex Borteh - Death DOH! Why do I always play someone I know first round? Oh well. I know that Tradewake kills death, so no big deal, right....right?....well, things don’t go as planned. Game 1: I get 1 land...I have a Whispers and a Wall of Blossoms in my hand...so I figure "Hey, this could be good..I still have 23 in the deck, right?". Well, to make a long story short, he lobotomizes both my awakening and my capsize with only 3 lands on the board, but surprisingly enough, I manage to hold him at bay, and actually win this game, mostly due to the fact he casts an Eagle to get rid of a Legacies, but my other Legacy gets it. Game 2: Hmm...1 land...maybe I should have gotten some new sleeves...I hear drawing 2 forests with all spells in hand being U is good....I hear 6th turn death most of your stuff into play is good... Game 3: 1 land again mulligan.....down to 5...still 1 land.......my deck HATES me...oh well. 4th turn death for a huge chunk of your graveyard is good too. Alex and I talk after the match. We both know I get screwed, but I don’t mind losing too good players, or even bad ones, as long as they are good sports, and Alex was both. I am happy about this match, as I knew that losing this game wasn’t my fault, and really just a freak of nature. 0-1 Round II Ben..somthing, playing Tradewake I know this is generally a bad match up for me, but he literally gets just about nothing in two games, and I get about a 6th turn lock in both. Nothing much he could do. 1-1 Round III Shawn - WW/R These games were not unlike last rounds, but this round he got to play a LOT of stuff..I just locked him to fast for him to kill me. (got me down to 2 once!)....both games involved him getting out quick creatures, and me a 4th turn useable Tradewind, and generally a turn 5 Awake. Round IV 2-1 IT is around this time that Jason "I AM THE KATZENMOYER" Means gets here to play in some scrub drafts. We talk for a bit, he acts goofy. The usual. Round IV Anthony Delmont - Monoblue Could be a bad match for me, depending on his deck... game 1: We get into a Legacy/Tradewind war, which I manage to win due to the fact I out draw land vs. him, and manage to get a capsize through. Drop Awake and lock. Game 2: He gets out a Silver Wyvern pretty early, and I am tapped out from casting a Tradewind...I reread the card to make sure...yep...sucks with Tradewind. Lucky for me, I draw all 4 tradewinds, and let one die in a triple block. I manage to get an awakening out and with 14 land on the table. I then proceed to make him pick up almost his entire board and serve with Shark. 3-1 Round V Rick Carr - Tradewake We both know we are playing Tradewake...we both know this is our best matchup....and 4-1-1 almost always makes top 8, so we decide to draw, hoping for more fortune opponents next round. We play one for fun, and I manage to win it fairly easily with Dominating Licid Power (TM) 3-1-1 Round VI Charles Horn - WW Charles and I had been talking earlier about our decks...which is ofcorse, a curse. So we are forced to play each other...nether one is guaranteed in with a loss.... Game1: I get out an early Legacy as well as Tradewind, for which he has no response. I proceed to make him pick up most of the board and go for a fairly slow kill. Game 2: Me: 2nd turn Legacy him: 3rd turn Visionary me: uh oh.... I get down VERY low when I start to regain control with the help of a feeder, 2x wall of B and a tradewind...then he cataclysms and I don’t have any counters in hand Game 3: We both get pretty good draws, but Flickering Ward is the clincher for him. He gets it out on his Convictioned Soul Warden, and it is pretty much game. I cant draw a Weaver or a really any non-blue creature to save my life...oh well. Another game I didn’t mind losing because Charles is a nice guy and a good player. I will say it one more time: I don’t mind losing (in fact, I can even enjoy it sometimes, as long as they are REALLY COOL) to good players, or very nice players. Losing to anal-retentive weenies or scrubs pisses me off, but I didn’t lose to one of them today. Top 8: 1 Alex Boreth 2 Mike Yoman 3 Charles Horn 4 Worth Wolpart 5 Leonard Richard 6 Pat Chapin 7 Jess Means 8 Sauni Mathes Well, 2 good friends, and a few acquaintances are in the top 8...I really hope for Jess to win and get to Rome, but it just doesn’t happen, and it looks like Jess will have to sit out for a PT and watch Jason play...again. Leonard and Pat end up splitting the prize, Pat gets the Q and Leonard the $$$, which is cool, as Leonard apparently couldn’t go. Leonard is a really great player that I hadn’t seen much until recently, but he has made top 8s this season like mad. I wish Chapin luck in Rome, and everyone else luck in the next round of PTQs...which I ofcorse (like all tourneys for some reason) have to miss due to tests (DAMN SAT IIs...I COULD skip them and go to community college like Randy....nah) Props: Mike Guptil - for running such an amazing tourney Andon - For being so bad ass. I don’t know of anyone else that runs tourneys as well as them Jess Means- For being cool about being unQed unlike his brother (sorry..I had to say it :) Jason Means- He is the Katzenmoyer. Too bad his brother isn’t as cool. Ed and Randy- For brining laser points...these things are fun to shine on people. Adam (even though he wasn’t there) for having a bad ass car, and driving me around in it. Slops: Ed and Randy - STOP SHINING THE $*$&@ Nude Girl laser pointer at me!