Subject: Amsterdam PTQ
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 10:39:26 +0100 (MET)
From: Sven Dijt <svend@dds.nl>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Hiya everybody!

This is a report on the Mainz PTQ in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (oktober
18). Let me tell me just a little bit about myself. I'm a 22 year old
psychology student, have lived here in Amsterdam my entire live. Enough
of that. The day before the PTQ i had to work untill 3 o'clock in the night.
When i got home i decided not to go to the tournament next day. Also, I had
performed very badly at the last few sealed deck tournaments. But for
some reason (fate?) i woke up very early the next day, and though i was
still very tired, i decided to go, since it was so close to my
appertment, only a few minutes by bike. I got there, wrote down a
horrible deck which i gladly gave back to the judge. Then the real stuff
was passed out. Noah (Boeken, one of my team-without-a-name members, who
finished 15th in Chicago b.t.w.) blessed my deck with his famous luck.
And it was pretty good, though not fantastic. Here it is:

Blue: Rainbow Efreet, Power Sink, Memory Lapse, Shimmering Efreet (not
that good), Inspiration (better than i thought), Flooded Shoreline
(Stong! won me a lot of games), Ray of Command, Man-o'-War, Betrayel
(weak)
Black: Raise Dead, 2 Wake of Vultures, Terror, Vampire Bats, Weakness
Red: Viashino Sandstalker, Raging Gorilla, Tremor, Orcish Artillery,
Sabertooth Tiger
Artifact: Rod of Ruin, Dragon Engine
Land: Quicksand, Ebon Stronghold, 4 Swamp, 6 Island, 6 Mountain

For some reason, i felt like taking risks that day, so i put in two
double-red spells. A lot of times (after i got horribly manascrewed) i
took out red and put in white after the first game:
White: Knight of Valor, Tundra Wolves, Hope Charm, Aysen Bureaucrats,
Samite Healer, Castle
I always sideboarded Betrayal out for Paralyze. Sometimes i sideboarded
an extra Tremor.
When i made my deck, i didn't pay much attention to the green spells.
Dont know why, because it was actually better than red. I noticed this
the next day. I wont tell what the green cards were, because you'll think
i'm crazy for not putting them in.

First round against some guy from Leeuwarden (i didn't make any notes,
and i'm very bad at remembering names).
I started my first games with one quicksand and 6 spells. Would the
entire day go like this? However, i did manage to win that game. Second
game, he kills me with Lancer/Spider Climb/Pestilence. He had a very good
deck. Third game, we do each other a lot of early damage. He casts an
Orcish Artillery, I put a Betrayal on it. Later I really want to get rid
of it, so I weakness it, then ray of command it to kill itself. He says i
can draw a card, although I am not entirely sure, but I listen to him.
We both go down in live, then he searches with a Tutor for a Shivan Dragon!
Well, i think i'm done for, but then i draw Rainbow Efreet, which was in
retrospect the only card that could save me and i kill him on my next
turn. I dont remember the exact situation, but i do remember that if i
hadn't drawn that Betrayal card i would've lost. Afterwards i ask a judge
an he says the Betrayal would have fallen off... not a nice way to win.

Second round i played against someone i know, kept me out off the final
four in the last dutch championchips (im terrible at names...). He has a
really good deck. I win one game, he wins one game. I win the last game
in the last twenty seconds. At the time i thought he was trying to get a
draw by taking his time, and i got quite upset, but actually he was
playing at normal speed. So once again sorry i acted like a jerk.

Third round against Hans Stokking from Delft. For some reason i always play
against Hans in tournaments! Last time we played i had a sealed deck with
three(!) wake of vultures, and at the beginning of the round he tells
someone that i am the guy who got three vultures out of three vision
boosters. Little did he know that this time i got two vultures out of two
boosters... but
my deck malfunctioned, i lost two games, not being able to draw any good
cards. I also make a stupid mistake by forgetting his Ashnod's
Transmogrant, for which i hit myself on the head several times.
Afterwards i show him my two vultures. He just shakes his head...

Fourth round against Take from Tilburg. First game i squash him. Second
round, i have one land out, against his six. Manascrew. The third game i
make a lot of stupid mistakes, and end up giving the game away. I really
hate myself for the rest of the day because of this. 2 wins, 2 losses. I
think i'm out of the tournament.

For some reason i cannot recall anything about the fifth round. All i
know  is that i won.

The sixth round i play a guy from Amsterdam. He makes quite a few
mistakes, among others forgetting to make snakes with his generator for
like five turns or so. He has an Armageddon, but isn't able to use it
very well. I win two games straight.

The seventh round i play Eileen from Amsterdam. She's becoming a better
player all the time, but not yet one of the top. But i've talked to her
earlier that day, telling me that her deck sometimes looks remarkebly
like a type II deck. First game, she draws nothing but land. Second game i
win thanks to Flooded Shoreline, and thanks to her not untapping her
Paralyzed Wall of Swords. Sorry Eileen.

5-0-2. Not very good, but i have a chance. Noah tells me i'm always lucky
in situations like these (coming into the quarterfinals at Grand Prix
Amsterdam as the eight person, kicking out Mr. Blumke with only a few
resistance points difference between us). And i'm lucky again, once more
i am number eight. Well, i haven't boosterdrafted that often, so i don't give
myself a good chance. The top eight:
Dave Bax (who has beenn playing magic i think even longer than i have)
Bram Snepvangers (definitely the best sealed player in Holland)
Take ?
Hans Stokking
Sven Dijt (me)
Mr X
Martijn ?
Ernst van Diggelen (one of my Team Nameless members; became second at the
previous Mainz qualifier. Which means in the new system he didn't qualify...)

I draft the following deck:
Blue: Zur's Wierding, Knight of the Mists, Phantom Monster, Desertion,
Dandan, Power Sink, Shrieking Drake, 2 Dark Maze, Flooded Shoreline (He's
back!), Wall of Air, Breezekeeper, Enervate
Black: Coercion, Bog Imp, Wake of Vultures (i do seem to attract these),
Scathe Zombies, Vampire Bats, Howl from Beyond, 2 Tar Pit Warriors,
Drudge Skeletons
Artifact: Alladin's Ring
Land: 7 Swamp, 10 Island
Sideboard: Boomerang, Lost Soul, Dreamtides

The first card i draft is Alladin's Ring. The second Dark Maze. I decide
to go for control, dragging it out with my 3 walls and flooded shoreline
(i do love this card), then killing with fliers or ring. I let go of a
fireball and a disintegrate to get this. Some called me crazy, but it was
the second booster, and i didn't want to play three colors. It worked out
allright...

Quarterfinals against Martijn from Alkmaar. He plays a red/black
aggressive deck. First game i get sweeped. Second game i start with six
lands and a Breezekeeper. I quickly draw Flooded Shoreline. The game goes
on a long time, but i kill with ring. Third game again six lands in
opening hand. I play a land the first TWELVE turns!! (without flooded
shoreline b.t.w). At one time i try to power sink something he casts. It
goes like this: i tap six mana, say 'i counter your spell' and put power
sink in my graveyard. Quite normal, right? However, the judge says that i
played a powersink with x=0, since i didn't announce what number x was,
and i already put it in my graveyard, which means it has resolved. I get
really pissed. I'm just trying to play a game here, for Christ's sake!!!
But the head judge says i'm right, so the power sink goes through. Still
i'm angry. Well, i kill him with my ring. He has enough mana for a
Detonate, which i saw in the second game via Coercion. He would have
drawn it two turns later. Phew.

Semifinals against Take. (who beat Ernst, too bad). First game i win
thanks to Zur's Weirding, but i played it too early, i was lucky. Win
second game easily. And this was the guy whom i passed a fireball and
a disintegrate. Well i make it to the finals in a quarterfinals of a
normal PTQ for the first time (after finishing third of fifth a lot of
times). But lucky me, they changed the system, so now second place is not
enough.

Finals against Bram Snepvangers. At this point i am very tired and have a
'i don't mind, i'm gonna loose so close to goal anyways' attitude. Bram
plays blue/white like he usually does. A spectator (Wouter) remarks that
if you see a creature with Sun Clap on it, you know that Bram is playing.
It's true you know. I win the first game quite easily. I think my deck is
better. The second game he wins, mostly through his Wand of Denial (which
passed me during the draft, but i didn't take, dammit!) and, of course,
playing Divine Offering on my Ring... Final game, winner takes all. I get
a good start. But i'm very tired now (the previous game took 45 minutes).
One time i forget to attack, costing me two damage. But i'm in control of
the game, and think i can win. But i make stupid mistakes (for instance,
i attack with Bats, but i forget he can just block them with his Cloud
Elemental), and suddenly
i'm down at 3 or something like that, and he can kill me the next turn.
He's down at two. My dreams are shattered, knowing that i wont't go to
the pro tour because i forgot to attack... I still get to draw one card,
but nothing can make me win. But i forgot about my Howl from Beyond.
Which i draw. And play on my Bog Imp, which he can't block. AND I WIN!!!
It's 0.30, and i'm exhausted. I'm such a lucky basterd... I still can't
believe it, the only card that could save me.
Well, I guess i'll  see you all in Deutschland. To bad i won't
be able to practice at all, since i'm going to India for a month. Who
cares!

Schuss,

Sven Dijt
svend@dds.nl