Subject: Mainz PTQ Chicago Report Of Ser-VICE! Date: Mon, 03 Nov 1997 15:43:08 -0600 From: AARON SOUDERS To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com ****Another Chilling Report From The Service Master**** (This one is REALLY long, folks. Go get a snack for this one) Well, as I went to the 2 one spot qualifiers this weekend, my hopes were less than ideal. I was currently running on a streak of five consecutive 9th place finishes at Pro Qualifiers, and didn't feel like my turbo-slump was going to improve anyway, but dare to dream, so to Chicago I went. God, what the hell are people doing anyway? Nobody, I mean NOBODY, showed up to this thing. I think our player numbers were in the 36-40 person range. Five round swiss for a Pro-Qualifier. All right, maybe there is some hope, yet. The deck I register is a pile of shit. I've never yet gotten back a deck I've registered yet a tournament, and thank God I didn't Saturday. The one I get up ends up being the sauce. I'm very happy about what I got, as you can well see. MAIN DECK: ------------------- 6 Islands 5 Plains 5 Mountains 1 Fellwar Stone 1 Icatian Scout 1 Freewind Falcon 1 Knight of Valor 1 Death Speakers 1 Glacial Wall 1 Breezekeeper 2 Man-O-War 1 Labryinth Minotaur 1 Tarluum Champion 1 Ambush Party 1 Suq-Ata Lancer 1 Clockwork BEAST! 1 Clay Statue 1 Gossamer Chains 1 Heal 1 Fireball 1 Flare 1 Dwarven Catapult 1 Mystic Veil 1 Vanishing 1 Spell Blast 1 Force Spike Sideboard consisted of primarily of a solid Green, Quirion Ranger, Feral Instinct, Wall of Brambles, Scryb Sprites, Panther Warriors, Scalebane's Elite, and Elven Cache. I would generally sideboard in the Green for the Red, and bring in Justice with it. Along with that, I had a Magical Hack, Pyroblast, and Betrayal I occasionally sideboarded in. A very nice deck overall. (Gee, like I never get busty sealed decks or anything.) Well, the actual rounds are somewhat hazy, since I had no intention of writing anything, so the names are lacking, and details are at a minimum. 1st Round:Judd Hadlock Jesus, of course, one of three people I did not want to play I'm playing first round. Judd is only 13, but he is AMAZING! It's really fun to watch him play people at tournaments, with his opponents thinking they get to beat on a little kid, then he cracks their skull open. He qualified for Junior Worlds and is really hilarious to hang out with. I think as far as Age relation to skill, is the best player in the world. Of course it wasn't so damn funny when I caught wind of his two Rock slides and his Fireball. I think the worst creature in his deck was a Fallen Askari (yes, the worst) The first game I got color screwed, and took a beatdown. 2nd game, I sideboard out the red, put in the green & justice, and proceed to look at an Ogre Enforcer beat the hell out of me that just happened to be Spider Climbed. MR: 0-1 GR:0-2 Gee, I'm 0-1 already. I hate this game. 2nd Round: Matt ??? I've seen Matt at a lot of the tournaments in Chicago and is a pretty cool guy, but he never seems to do that well. This is the first time I've ever played him, so I'll find out why. Game One: I think the only creature he played was Pit Scorpion. It was a beatdown in a can. Game Two: The game actually is a little more balanced, and I make a really nifty move to Force Spike his Seasinger when he had 2 mana untapped and an Amulet, then proceeded to Flare the hell out of it. Yea, I win. MR: 1-1 GR:2-2 To be honest, I remember nothing about Round three or four, just the fact that I won, and I got to Force Spike somebody's 12 point Fireball. Let me just point out that Force Spike is SOOOOOO good in this format. I think I used it every round. I also remember the next game he cast a six point fireball leaving one mana open, which let me Spell Blast it without any mana to spare. God, I love blue. MR:3-1 GR:6-2 Round Five: Dave ?? This is proving I am horrible with names, because I've seen Dave a lot, and we talk a lot, but I still don't know his last name. Dave's real nice, and his wife is sitting with him for the last round, and I think we both want to go to Germany as much as the other. The only thing I hate about small tournaments with big stakes is you usually knock out your friends. Oh well, sacrifices have to be made. I get to Force Spike his Alabaster Potion and Fireball him the next turn the second game. Thank God, I have broken the streak of nines. I'm in Top 8, seeded third. MR 4-1 GR 8-2 I believe Adrian Sullivan will be sending in who was in Top 8, because I don't remember everyone, so I won't even try. The booster draft had to of been one of the most suspect things I had ever been a part of. It ended up there were four Sibilant Spirits at our table, and three elder druids! Geep. I got my sibilants first pick out of each 5th pack. MY favorite was the 5th Pick Disintegrate in the second pack. (?) What in the hell is going on here? What four cards were better than Disintegrate? X even has scrub appeal, but screw it. I'll take a gift wherever I can get one. I also get a 9th pick Reverse Damage, a 7th pick Puffy (i.e. cloud elemental), and a 14th pick Krovikan Sorcerer. The Draft is as follows: 9 Islands 7 Plains 1 Quicksand 1 Freewind Falcon 1 Zhalfirin Crusader 1 Benalish Hero 1 Aysen Bureacrats 1 Pikemen 1 D'Avenant Archer 1 Knight of Valor 2 Krovikan Sorcerer 2 Sibilant Spirit 1 Dark Maze 1 Shrieking Drake 1 Cloud Elemental 1 Knights of the Mist 1 Wall of Air 1 Vanishing 1 Undo 1 Boomerang 1 Unsummon 1 Gaseous Form 1 Reverse Damage 1 Sun Clasp I had a few good red cards in the board, Disintegrate, Pyroblast, but I didn't feel the 2 mountain-X spell alteration was needed to the deck. Of course, after the first game of every match, I sideboarded them in, because you just can't beat the X goodness. Plus, I had a Cop Red, White, and Green, along with a Disenchant, Righteous Aura, and Dandan. Quarterfinals: Craig ??? Jesus, I can't even remember Craig's name. He's been playing forever, and has finally made Top 8 for the first time. I've known him for a few years, playing at Heroes Unlimited, and he's a decent guy. He ended up drafting blue-green, and was doing pretty well with an Elder Druid, Segovian Leviathan, River Boa, and a Counterspell. Of course when you get Blue-White against Blue-Green with two overly cautious people, you get incredibly boring games. The first one lasts 45 minutes, with me fighting with a Vanishing Sibilant Spirit, versus his Elder Druid and Ovinomancer. He got out 2 Fellwar Stones, so his Ovino was coming out a lot. I danced around the druid with the Bureaucrats and kept on vanishing the Spirit in response to his attack. Plus, the two Krovikans were dishing land away for the sauce. I finally win the first game. I'm winning 20-7 when they call the second game on time, and I felt like I was going to win anyway, so I didn't feel it was that cheezy. He countered my 7 point Disintegrate (his only card in hand, damnit), but I had pyroblasted his Ovinomancer, and held the Druid in check with my Bureacrats, and had Archer/Q-Sanded his Leviathan. Well, maybe it might be the day I finally get back on Pro Tour. MR 5-1 GR 9-2-1 Semifinals: Brandon Rutter Oh shit. I know Brandon real well, and now that I'm back on Team ACD after an extended layoff, he's also a teammate. But it's a one spot qualifier, and I want this real bad. The first game goes pretty well, with Brandon playing Black-Red, and a Sibilant beatdown insues. I win and opt not to go for the X in the board. Whoops. Second game is an early and often standoff. That is, until he plays his only card in his hand, Necropotence. Ouch. Two Diabolic Machines beat the piss out of me after he clears a path. After that, it was time for the X-Factor. I let him go first, as he hasn't seen the Disintegrate and will Necro like a madman, and I want every chance to draw it. Of course, I didn't expect Dark Ritual Necro first turn. I drop from 20 to 8 REAL fast, but establish a small sense of security for a while. He burns my Sibilant, and I'm racing through 2 Krovikans for a few turns to find the mountain and disintegrate. He's got me next turn, and I top deck Disintegrate. Jesse "The Body" Ventura always said it's better to be lucky than good, folks. MR 6-1 GR 11-3-1 Finals: Dan ??? (If I ever remember a last name, I'll be shocked) At this point, I am shitting bricks. With the confidence level I had going into this tournament (i.e. zero), the fact I was in the finals was unnerving enough, but now I had my shot for Pro Tour again. Dan ends up playing blue-green with TWO elder druids, and his own Sibilant, along with a Seasinger. Oh boy, am I screwed. Game one I get him down to 7, then the druids pop up, with a quirion ranger, so my bureacrats are completely ineffective. I get rolled by a River Boa along with my own Sibilant that got Seasingered. Crap. Game Two I sideboard in the X and Pyroblast. At this point, I realize if I give him too much time, I'm going to lose. So I bust out a Falcon, and immediately Sun Clasp it, play a Puffy next turn, and just all out go for it. The game stalls out with him at 3, me at 20, but he is in a very comfortable position. But, I get too many creatures out, keep boomeranging and undoing his creatures, and he screws up the Elder Druids a bit, and lets me win the second game. Sideboarding, I am getting so scared of seasinger, I sideboard in Ironclaw Curse (!!!) just to kill the little fucker. I immediately go for the Sun Clasped Falcon again, and he taps out, forgetting I can activate Dark Maze to attack, letting me win again. So basically, I steal a victory from defeat (and Dan's bad plays), and finally get back on Pro Tour (my first one since LA #2). Thanx to all the guys in Chicago that believed I could do it, especially ACD and Andrew Nishioka (even though I never believed them!) and to Judd for letting me hang out at his house Saturday night and watch South Park. See you all in Germany! Aaron "Shazam!" Souders -Atlanta Pro Tour Juniors Champion -DCI Certified Level III Judge -Certifiable Master of Ser-VICE! "Believe in yourself. Achieve your dreams. I'm living proof. Beefcake. BEEFCAKE!!!!" -Eric Cartman-