Subject: PTQ (Salt Lake, UT) 11/01 Date: 3 Nov 1997 02:29:20 GMT From: "Lord Daroki" Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Yes folks, it's time for another tournament report from me. After the practice I got in at the Amateur tournament, I figured I was well equipped to go into this tournament and do some major damage, prehaps even reach the top 8 for once. The PTQ curse is still upon me however. For some reason I just can't break the .500 mark at these tournaments no matter how well I play. The day was filled with interesting things and not so interesting things, all of which you're about to see from my viewpoint. First, after playing the second time in this environment, I stress that I just *don't* like it. There are too many power rares in 5th and Visions (Especially token generators like Snake Basket, Hive, Serpent Generator, Kaleidoscope, etc; and cards that are extremely difficult to counteract such as the Shivan Dragon, etc;) But I do the best with what I got. The quest to vault over the scrub line continues. So here's what you're interested in, the decklist right? 8 Swamps 6 Islands (Didn't I say I'd never play blue because of that damn boa?) 2 Mountains Artifacts : 1 Battering Ram (The banding on attack was pretty useful at times) 1 Fellwar Stone (This equals 3 mountains in my deck :) 1 Jayemdae Tome (Card drawing is a great thing) Red : 1 Disintegrate (A finisher and a way to kill those damn boas and not let them regen.) (Yep, that's it) Blue : 1 Brainstorm (Manipulation) 1 Impulse (More Manipulation) 1 Inspiration (More Card Drawing w/Tome) 1 Man o War (Bouncy Bouncy you stupid boa.) 1 Breezekeeper (4/4 Flying every other turn, why not?) 1 Phantom Monster (3/3 Flying beatdown and only U in the CC) 1 Knight of the Mists (Thanks go out to Archangel who reminded me that although there are only a few flank knights in the environment, there are also White Knights, Black Knights, Knights of Stromgald, etc; to worry about. *duh!* 187 goes in the house.) 1 Magus of the Unseen (Cheap weenie with a gamebreaking special power) Black : 1 Pestilience (Clear the board and control it with your Flute playing F(r)iend) 1 Breeding Pit (Stop those fatties in their tracks with a thrull. Nifty.) 1 Brook of Cockroaches (They just keep coming back.) 1 Initiates of the Ebon Hand (Making sure you have the black you need) 1 Raise Dead (To get back those important creatures and to press early.) 1 Funeral Charm (Did I mention that I HATE boas?) 1 Urborg Mindsucker (2/2 for B2 and a special power. Nice to fire them off while pestilence is clearing the board.) 1 Fallen Askari (It's simply called "early heat") 1 Drudge Skeletons (Worked wonders with the Pestilence to have a regenerator.) 1 Python (With 8 swamps I shouldn't have problem having him hit the board.) 1 Mindstab Thrull (Hrmmm, more thrulls, more discard.) 1 Mind Warp (Yes folks, the mother of discard in this environment.) It could have been a lot stronger, but it would have to do. Cards I didn't play with included : Land : 1 Urza's Tower (Yeah right) Multi-Color : 1 Righteous War, 1 Breathstealer's Crypt (The war might have gone if my white was just a *little* bit stronger) Artifacts : Urza's Bauble, Juju Bauble, Sisay's Ring (What's with all the toys?) Black : 1 Pit Scorpion (yep, that's it) Blue : 1 Dream Tides, 1 Gaseous Form, 1 Force Spike (The Form should have came in at times, as should the Tides) Green : 1 Wind Shear, 1 Warthog, 1 Spider Climb, 1Rabid Wombat, 1 Craw Wurm, 1 Hungry Mist, 1 Craw Giant, 1 King Cheetah, 1 Giant Caterpillar, 1 Emerald Charm, 1 Giant Growth (All of that GG and especially the GGGG scared me off in a hurry with Green. I would have had to have played a ton of forests to pull it off with any sense of regularity. There's also no creatures that are terribly fast, just terribly fat.) Red : 1 Ironclaw Orcs, 1 Panic, 1 Stone Rain, 1 Word of Blasting (should have sideboarded this in a few times), 1 Solfatara, 2 Song of Blood, 1 Fireblast, 1 Viashino Sandstalker, 1 Blood Lust (the good stuff is all RR though... and there's not enough to justify playing with the Fireblast and the Sandstalker) White : 1 Armor of Faith, 1 COP : White, 1 Crusade, 1 Kismet, 1 Healing Salve, 1 Prismatic Ward, 1 Parapet, 1 Resistance Fighter, 1 Mesa Falcon, 1 Repentant Blacksmith, 1 Sun Clasp, 1 Shield Bearer, 1 Miraculous Recovery (This was a tough choice but the tremendous amount of *small* creatures made me want the blue as a minor instead of white, and none of these cards break games open like Disintegrate does so it wasn't a good trietary color, black was too strong for white to replace it as a major.) All in all, I don't think it was that bad for what I got, but maybe people reading would have done something differently. As the tournament is starting to get going, someone's also getting into Karl's face about having Ice Age lands and wanting them switched for his own lands, or Mirage lands, or something like that. I wouldn't mention it except this does become somewhat important later on. Keep reading. [Status in the beginning of the tournament : World Ranking (2097th) Rating 1705] Here we go. Round 1 vs. Darin Hurdman (Rank 2232th, Rating 1701) This was an even match and Darin was a cool guy to play, definately no complaints on that level. Duel 1 : I start off strong with the Brood. He responds with a Warthog. I attack with the brood and it gets blocked which leads me to funeral charm the Warthog and kill it. I take a damage for the Brood coming back (which I think is what he wanted) but he loses 3 points of damage around against me. Skeletons and Pestilence then join the party and I use them to clear the board when he drops anything and attack. He's holding two cards and I'm getting a bit cautious but I only have 6 mana on the table. I decide to take a peek at what he has and Mind Warm him for 1. After stripping a Disintegrate out of his hand with a Mind Warp I finish him off. Duel 2 : He gets out that damned hog again. And I thought that the Boa was going to be my bane today. Definately it was the hog. I'm getting pummeled by it as I find the air force in the name of a Phantom Monster and Breezekeeper. I drop the Magus of the Unseen but he tortures it and kills it off, following up with a Clockwork Beast. *snaps fingers* He casts Simoon which takes care of my skeleton and three Breeding Pit tokens and then rushes me with everything, backing it up with a Stampede. Ouch, that hurt. Duel 3 : Again it's Drudge Skeletons and Pestilence to the rescue, it controls the board as a Phantom Monster joins in and makes the kill happen rather quickly. Very tough match and one I'm glad I got the win on. WLW : Rounds 1-0, Duels 2-1 [We break for lunch at this point, and the fact that I haven't eaten breakfast forces me to go out in search for food. The match ended at a point where I had about an hour to do this, but it was also near 12:30 so the mall next door was CROWDED. I stop off at Arby's which is strangely low in the line factor and find out why. The food seems all dried out and although the fries are good and I never complain about caffiene the sandwich is definately not the best I've ever eaten. I hate eating during tournaments since the whole digestion thing kicks in and I start getting GROGGY as well. This will cost me more than $6.] Ahhh! We're back! Round 2 : vs. Bob Baker (Rank [None] Rating 1579) I'm having a hard time believing this because Bob was a damn good player, he also made top 8 I believe as he jumped out to a 4-0 start. Ut oh, I'm giving things away by saying that, am I not? *grin* Bob was definately a cool opponent although one I should have beaten due to a very stupid mistake on my part. I won't ruin this surprise though, let's get to the highlights and I'll point it out to you. Duel 1 : Go figure, it's Skeletons, Pestilence, then board control as I draw a ton of swamps to keep the Skeletons alive long enough to pull major creature help. Duel 2 : This was a great game, as both of us jumped out fast and started to pound each other down. He drops both a Lost Soul (ow) and a... you guessed it BOA. I'm holding my own through the air though and hitting him for equal amounts after a slow start. Here comes the mistake that costs me the game however. I brainstorm and find my Disintegrate, thinking I have the game I put it in my hand and finish the turn, expecting to char broil my opponent next round. He Coercions the Disintegrate awawy and I drill him down to 3 before I succumb to boa/soul beatdown. If I had been thinking, I would have put the disintegrate on top of my deck, topdecked it and toasted him. This match should have ended right here but because of my mistake, I gave him a second wind. Now I'm not complaining that I should have won this match because it was my stupidity that lost it. I'm not saying that he's a scrub for knocking the finisher out of my hand, because he's not, he actually played it PERFECTLY in seeing what I had pulled from the Brainstorm, and me not thinking, I let him have the hammer that would have drove the nails in. You see, people love to thump their chest, and I'm as guilty of it as anyone. We love to prop ourselves up to our victories but we don't always own up to our defeats. This is one of the things I love about Jamie Wakefield's reports and something that I'm trying to stay conscious about as I write mine. It's these things that we don't want to admit that hold us back from becoming better magic players so I say this now. Use Brainstorm in a sealed deck to protect your ass against discard if you play this environment, with Funeral Charm, Warm, Coercion, Disrupting Scepter, etc; there are more ways to knock cards out of your hand than there are cards off the top of your library. Think ahead, put the cards there you want to use, and topdeck like a pro, don't get good stuff knocked out like a scrub. This cost me this duel, and a chance to sweep the match. Duel 3 : Pestilence and Breeding Pit are held in my hand as I only pull two black and I'm using that to constantly throw the Brood in front of his creatures. I make my move to take control by putting on a funny hat and a flute and Charming his Boa while I disintegrate his Tar Pit Warrior for 0. I should have saved the Charm for his attack phase to swing the game a little harder but I messed up there as well. (There's nothing like having someone think they're doing X damage to you to find out it's X - Y due to a fast effect.) His Lost Soul comes out soon thereafter and continues to press me until he draws a Miraculous Recovery and grabbing a now 4/5 Tar Pit Warrior that I can't target. I pull up lame and lose the match. WLL : Matches 1-1, Duels 3-3 I'm not happy at this point as I realize my mistake with the Brainstorm, and I'm even more unhappy when I find my pairing for round 3. There were 10 Americans at the CAN/AM sealed up in Chicago and only one was in this tournament. So guess what happens... Round 3 vs. Aaron Muranaka (Rank 319th Rating 1826) I roll my eyes and nearly concede the tournament right here. Aaron tells me his deck is chaff though, how else would he be at 1-1. It's something I've learned about great players, and there are quite a few out here believe it or not. You NEVER underestimate them. I won't have this problem against Aaron. Duel 1 : Aaron's mana screwed so he takes the optional mulligan and goes to 6 cards. Unfortunately for him, I'm set to swarm and that 1 card might have cost him as I'm jumping on him immediately (if not sooner). I pull the Disintegrate to do the final point to him and the people to my right seem quite amused at hearing "Disintegrate for 1". "I thought it was Disintegrate for 13, I win and I should have lost." No, I had this one in hand luckily and I'll take the win anyway I can get it and go to 1-0 in duels. I'm still not confident about this one though, I want to see what Aaron has before I feel good about playing him. Duel 2 : I see what Aaron has now, fat. Lots of fat in green. Panther Warriors, Caterpillar, Ironroot Treefolk, Scaled Wurm. I get inventive on Aaron's ass by Man O Waring his Wurm into his hand then Mind Warping his hand clean, but he has far too much on the board for me to handle after that trick has been executed. I get BEAT down. Now I don't feel too good about this, or maybe it's the damn Arby's coming back to haunt me again. Duel 3 : I have an Island, a Disintegrate, and 5 Black Cards in hand. I'm pissed. I'm going to lose because of... wait... OPTIONAL MULLIGAN! I go down to 6 cards, and pull black and fast black creatures, very nice... he goes down to 6 as well and doesn't seem too happy about what he got. A Brezekeeper starts the evil, albeit slow beatdown and the Brook, Skeleton, and Breeding Pit keeps his fat on the ground at bay. Disintegrate for 2 anyone? I'm such a lucky scrub today. *grin* WLW : Matches 2-1 Duels 5-4 So how much longer can my lucky scrubdom continue? Who knows? In between this round and the next, I talk to Michael Callahan (who has received more than his share of "I thought you retired!" from the crowd) He's up at 3-0 and will eventually make his way into the top 8 as well. (In case you've been paying attention, he's the one who defined the word "beating" to me at the UT state championships during the first round.) He's been absent from the scene out here for a while and it's good to see him back and slashing his way through the crowd once more. Especially when I don't have to play him (Only joking a little bit about that *laugh*) Matt Freed has dropped going down to 1-2, as has Aaron, they're busy watching the University of Utah get beat up by Tulsa in College Football at this time. And I'm busy praying to the scrubdom gods to release me and let me go a bit higher. Round 4 vs. Ryan Hayes (Rank 9018th Rating 1592) There are many broken rares in 5th for Sealed, and now I can rate Mind Warp as one of them. Here, let me show you why I say that. Duel 1 : I get creature control through superior card drawing (J. Tome/blue manip). I get the mana and Warp him for 4 with 5 cards in hand. Ahhh, there goes a Remedy, a Seraph, a Miraculous Recovery, etc; He is left with a Drain Life and 1 swamp on the board. This leaves him with no way to stop the Phantom Monster beating that ensues although he remedies the Disintegrate that tries to finish him (He has 2?) Duel 2 : He drops a White Knight (fun) so I follow up with a 187 Knigget and kill that thing. So he follows up with a Knight of Valor (ug). I top deck my Man O War, bounce my 187, and kill another creature with it. Fun fun fun... card advantage is nice. :) WW : Rounds 3-1, Duels 7-4 And it's strange, I need to just win the next match and I can draw my way up to the top 8. And then it happens. Remember *way* back when I tell you about someone getting in Karl's face about the land issue? Pairings start for the 5th round, and I'm the odd man left out to play someone with 7 points of which there are two. He's one of them, and I get paired against the other. He then *flips out*, Karl almost offers him a quick exit to the tournament and my opponent is so sick of this guy mouthing off that he's almost ready to come to blows. I'm still trying to figure out how large of a mistake that I make at this point, but it shouldn't really have mattered. I offer my opponent the chance to move the match to a different location so he wouldn't be distracted by all of this, he agrees. I then give him some time to collect himself and calm down. I guess the mean part of me wanted to stick him in a situation where he was going to be so damn distracted by this guy that he wouldn't concentrate on the game. I'm not sure if this was a HUGE mistake on my part and if I should have taken advantage of this, but at least I could live with myself by handling the situation this way. So it's a morals question for you, would you have moved the match, or would you have let the situation fester and tried to take advantage of your opponent's distraction? I leave it to the rest of the USENET to decide this, but I did the thing that I felt I needed to since it's what I would have liked to have had done if the shoe was on my foot. Round 5 vs. Bill Guerin (Rank 13019th (!) Rating 1488 (!)) Duel 1 : Here it comes. I play like a scrub by Disintegreating his Wall of Spears and having him drop a Wake of Vultures immediately thereafter. I have never wanted a Grapeshot Catapult more than I did at this time as the 3/1 regenerateing vultures tear me to shreds. Duel 2 : I didn't even sideboard in the Word of Blasting? What the hell was I thinking? Possibly I was just as distracted by the display that took place before the match as Bill was and didn't do so. Now guess what happens? Yep, I disintegrate the Wall of Spears to try to continue putting early pressure on him and he drops the Vultures again (pats self on the head) Nice going huh? I don't see the Funeral Charm either game either... I'm not happy. LL : Matches 3-2 Duels 7-6 I figure I'll play for my opponent's OMW and to try to recover a bit from that stupidity. What happens next is probably one of the worst things I've ever experienced in my tournament career. Well, second to losing a match in 3 minutes to River Boas and Warthogs at the PTQ New York. Round 6 vs. Alan Chandler (Rank 5649th, Rating 1636) Duel 1 : He brings so much heat I can't stop sweating, I never see any of my fliers to deal with his Kyscu Drake and I fall very short of finishing him off. Duel 2 : 1st turn Initiate of the Ebon Hand. 2nd Turn Battering Ram. 3rd Turn Python. He gets an Ice Floe out and stops the Python so I Man O War it into my hand and hit him with the two + MOW while dropping the Python. He builds it back up to a standoff, but then drops his Dragon Mask. I grin evilly as I drop a Phantom Monster and a Magus of the Unseen. I snag his Mask and throw the troops at him. Whichever he doesn't block is going to kill him thanks to his mask. *whew* Duel 3 : I think I either Mulligan down to 6 cards because of a bad opening hand or just get crap. I start running the Manipulation from round 1 with a Brainstorm which gets me the swamps and Askari I need for next round. He top decks and Ice Floe. I never get anything else going but I know that my deck can offer up something other than land. I Impulsed three under my deck and have already drawn 7 or 8 up already, there's not much land left in this deck and I have the damn Fellwar Stone out as well. (I should have realized that the stone could have produced RED so I could have used my Disintegrate that was in hand as well. Stupid move again on my part. *sigh*) I have had horrible things happen to me at times. The aforementioned Warthog/Boa beating that I took being one of them. I've been hit with Shivan Dragons, had people Relentless Assault and Final Fortune for the win, but never before have I ever faced something so distressing as I faced at this time. He capped me. No he didn't pull a Glock or an AK from underneath the desk, he used the other cap. You know, the one that challenges Nek for most unattractive headpiece? The one that has that sadistic grin that says, "You're fucked, you lose." Yep, Jester's Cap. There goes Pestilence, there goes my Magus of the Unseen, there goes my Jayamade Tome. There goes anything that could have saved me this game. His River Boa and Kyscu Drake with Dragon Mask Backup finish me off. LWL : Rounds 3-3 Duels 8-8 I am disappointed in the way I finished. Disappointed in the most horrible way that I folded and didn't stay strong enough mentally to win duels and matches I should have. I still have a ways to go to reach that next plateau, but I'm trying to learn my lessons. I ran with NO artifact destruction (just some Artifact stealing) and no enchantment destruction and almost got away with it. Almost. Not quite. Props : Karl Batdorff as usual for running the tournament as best as possible without a computer. Have to throw some props his way for also implimenting the Optional Mulligan Rule finally. Note that no one here was complaining about mana screw? This might just be the answer. Michael Callahan for just going at it like he usually does, even with the long time away from the game. Aaron Muranaka for not being a dick about timing rules which he could have been completely justified for doing during our match. Sorry about that Aaron, it's called nerves, of which I have very little, especially after eating at Arby's *blah!* Hell, throw the props up to all my opponents for being damn good people. Why not? Panda Korean Barbecue, for serving up some GOOD food after the tournament, something which I damn well needed. McCulloughs (A private club for members) for serving up some good Hefeweisen which I needed after the good food. Tower Theatre (Not a private club for freaks, just looked that way) for doing the Rocky Horror Picture Show again finally. Asshole! Slut! Asshole! Slut! Such a fun movie when you're already drunk off your ass. Slops : To Arby's. What the hell am I paying them for when they serve sub-par food like that? Blech, awful. Should have waited in line at Lotsa Hotsa instead. To whoever that whining little bastard was who was constantly getting in Karl's face. No wonder he doesn't want to do this anymore. Karl is the HEAD JUDGE out here and if you don't like it, TOUGH. Some people have no respect for the job that Karl and other head judges do, and I rank him in with those. If you don't like the way he runs the tournaments, DON'T GO. Some people's children shouldn't be allowed to... (Breathe, breed, talk, etc;) [Lord Daroki the Itchogunsa]