Subject: PTQ: Houston Report Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 02:19:48 -0500 From: Adrian Sayers Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Hey all, yet another tourney report from the AustiKnights. Everyone except for Lance Tokuda and Pierre Tsai take the trip Friday afternoon, staying at Brian Hubble's super awesome house (Thanks Brian). Burt brought his PlayStation, and Lan brought Final Fantasy Seven. For those of you who have not experienced this game, do it! This game rocks completely, and I currently believe this is the best role-playing game ever, probably the best game period. Trust me on this one folks. Everyone except me gets a few hours of sleep, but I play FF7 all night, until the very minute we departed in the morning. We arrive at the hotel, and playtest for Chicago with George Baxter and Cary Darwin. There were 87 people to compete for 2 invitations, which meant 7 rounds of swiss. The deck I open is slightly unimpressive(total garbage) but the deck I receive is rather strong. I don't have any of my cards or notes with me, so everything is by memory. I don't remember what I didn't play with, other than there was a difficult choice between green and black. Here is the deck I played: Artifact: Bottle of Suleiman Clay Statue Gold: Army Ants Black: Nekrataal Weakness Infernal Harvest Tar Pit Warrior Fallen Askari Blue: Ray of Command Puff Daddy Impulse Inspiration Red: Ironclaw Dorks Dwarven Vigilantes Flare Rock Slide Fireball Fireblast Sabretooth Tiger Land: 7 Mountains 6 Swamps 5 Islands There are 3 cards I can't remember right now, so they could not have been very good. Since I don't have the names of all my opponents, I won't do a round-by-round. There are some entertaining stories though, so read on. I lose 2nd round to teammate Brian Hubble, who has a solid deck. At 3-1, I am paired with another teammate Paul Gallagher. The third game, he was going to kill me with no time left, but gave me a draw anyway to keep us both in(WAY cool, IMO, and I owe him a match in the future). At 3-1-1, I must get 2 wins to go on. In the third game of the 6th round, I am color deficient, so I can cast only bottle of suleiman. I have no creatures and 14 life, and he has an Ironroot Treeflok and Giant Faterpillar. He attacks, I flip. If I lose the flip, I take 11 => I lose. But like the pro I am :) I win the toss and eventually the game. At 4-1-1, the pressure is still on for a win. We split the first two, and go to the third. He beats me down hard and fast, and gets a stone giant. At this point I find out Paul lost and that he will kill me if I lose(drawing with me turned out bad for him, but we couldn't have known he would lose his last round). I get down to 2 and topdeck my bottle. He tosses up a weenie, I flip. Of course lose flip=lose spot in top 8. But I win the flip, and mount a huge comeback that took a lot of effort. I army anted away all of his red, and eventually won at 1 life. Eric Willis, my opponent for this match, played well, and was noticably distraught at my good luck. Everyone congratulates me for my flipping skills. Damn, I must be good to win a coin toss. Interestingly, I believe I drew Army Ants in my opening hand all 3 games. I make the 7th seed, and our wonderful captian Bill Macey makes it in, as does the entire Houston branch of the AustiKnights(Brian Hubble). This is most of the deck I drafted that I ended up playing(all 5e draft): Artifacts: Bottle of Suleiman Skull Catapult Black: 2 Pestilence Fallen Angel 2 Unholy Strength Drain Life 2 Initiates of Ebon Hand (These are just broken...) Erg Raiders Blue: Sergovian Leviathan Homarid Warrior Krovikan Sorcerer Memory Lapse Wind Spirit Green: Ghazban Ogre Lnanowar Elves 2 Durkwood Boars Land: 7 Swamps 6 Islands 5 Forests Once again, 2 cards I don't remember. You're probably thinking, "wow, another Bottle! Damn, you're lucky". If that's what you're thinking, you're right. Quarterfinals: El Capitan the Macey Man Bill also knows what's up, and drafted a very simlar B/U deck. See his report for his decklist. The first game was very close as I have to trade a Fallen Angel, Krovikan Sorcerer, and a Pestilence, just to kill a Frozen Shade and Wall of Bone(he had like 7 swamps in play). At 6 life, I clutch the bottle when there's nothing but land in play. Flipp! Bill, with Ray of Command in hand, wins if I lose the flip. However, I show off my 2-headed coin, er.., I mean my magical thumb and Jedi Mind Trick Bill into calling tails. Heads it is. Damn I'm good. The 2nd game was a little more decisive, and I got Fallen Angel/Pestilence in play and hit him for his final 11 life in one turn. It should be noted that Bill and I both had really good decks, and with a little better luck we might have both qualified. Such is life and Magic:TG. Brian loses to the eventual champion this round. In the semifinals, I play George Adams of Empire Comics. George knocked me off my high horse in the quarterfinals of a PTQ for New York after I had gone 6-0-1 in swiss. I'm looking to even the score. He drafted just about the worst style of deck to match up with me. Don't get me wrong, he's a good player, but his r/w deck had almost entirely 1 toughness creatures. Not much to say, Pestilence wrecked him both games. The finals vs. Albert Hatter. I lose 2 straight as he gets Binding Grasp both games and takes a 5/3 Wind Spirit and a Durkwood Boar. He seems to have an answer for everything I do, including force spiking my Third Grader second turn when I had unholy strength in hand. AAAHHH! In closing, this qualifier was fun, and getting no sleep just made me play really hard. Props go to: Brian and Burt for being hosts during our trip. You guys rule! Bill for being a good friend, great sport, no 1 captain, and no 2 pimsta ever. Sam for being THE UNLUCKIEST PLAYER ON THE PLANET. If Sam isn't the best playa never to have quailified in so many tries...keep at it buddy. Paul for keeping me in the tourney. I've got powerful friends, thanks Paul. The Amazin' Lan Ho just because. All my teammates qualified for Chi-town:me, Brian Hubble, Brian Ogilbee, Chris Herdemann, Bill "Wraith" Macey, and Pallagher. All my teammates qualified for Germany:me and.........er....yeah.... Allmy opponents for being friendly and good sports. FF7-this games rules. and...The Best card ever Bottle of Suleiman! Fake Slops go to: Tony Tsai, who may be da' man at Cornell, but who is not as he claims, the best player from Houston. See you in Chicago, Mr. Automatic Tony Machine. You could play Bob Coonce for the title of no 2 Houstonian. Later, Adrian Sayers Team AustiKnights