Subject: Tourny Report: NYC PTQ Mainz Nov 8
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 15:44:24, -0500
From: PWGJ98B@prodigy.com ( MICHAEL J SLATER)
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

        Ok, here it goes. It's my first tourny report, so just hang
on.

        On the night of nov. 7th, my friend Nick Chylstun and I
practiced sealed deck competition, and we did pretty well, with me
winning the majority. But as time went on, we slipped into playing
type II. Went to sleep at midnight.
        Around 5 o'clock, Nick and I woke up to catch a train to NYC.
Took the 6:20 to Grand central from Poughkeepsie. Arrived in NYC
around 8:15. On the way walking to the New Yorker Hotel, I was
approached by someone offering me fake ID and hash. Welcome to New
York!. Arrived at the hotel around 8:45 and ate breakfast. Went into
the convention room, and waited.... and waited.......

     At Noon, the PTQ started. In the decks and packs I recieved, I
noticed a Terror, a War Mammoth, a Cloud Elemental, and a few ok
creatures. Nothing to brag about, but you could make an ok deck from
it.

     After recording decks, we recieved the decks which we would be
playing with. Here is what I got:
(* denotes made the play deck)

Artifacts:
Ornithopter
Winter Orb
Urza's Avenger*
Rod of Ruin*
Barbed Sextant*
Wand of Denial
Phyrexian Walker
Iron-Heart Chimera
Diamond Kaleidoscope
Brass-Talon Chimera

White:
Tundra Wolves
Repentant Blacksmith
Castle
Holy Strength
Mesa Falcon
Pikemen
Hope Charm
Peace Talks
Remedy
Freewind Falcon
Knight of Valor

Black:
Initiates of the Ebon Hand
Blight
Funeral March
Mind Warp
Dark Privilege
Wicked Reward
Python

Gold:
Army Ants

Blue:
Merfolk of the Pearl Trident*
Gaseous Form*
Remove Soul*
Flood*
Phantom Monster*
Vanishing
Undo
Impulse
Knights of the Mist

Red:
Fire Drake*
Disintegrate*
Goblin Digging Team*
Bird Maiden*
Inferno (Left out of main deck, but sideboarded in during
second game for a feral instinct)
Panic
Orcish Farmer
Imposing Visage
Eternal Warrior
Solfatara
Goblin Swine-Rider
2 Fireblasts (!)*
1 Suq'Ata Lancer*
1 Viashino Sandstalker*

Green:
Thicket Basilisk*
Ironroot Treefolk*
Chub Toad*
Giant Growth*
Grizzly Bears*
Craw Giant (It was a craw wurm, but someone mismarked it
     as a giant, so it was considered a Craw Giant)
Shrink
Instill Energy
2 Feral Instinct*
King Cheetah*
Elven Cache
Emerald Charm

Land:
Dormant Volcano
Urza's Mine
5 swamps
5 plains
4 mountains (recieved 3 more) 7 Total*
4 Islands (recieved 1 more)5 Total*
4 forests (recieved 1 more)5 Total*

The deck was green/red/blue, with a good mix of creatures, removal,
control, etc. I felt good with it. Onto the tournament. 67 people, so
6 rounds swiss.

Round 1: Ethan ??????  B/U/W
   Ethan seemed like a nice guy. He just came from Belgium, and this
was his first sealed deck tournament.

Game1: He was mana-hosed, getting no planes. Get out an Phantom
Monster and an Ironroot Treefolk, and beat him down.

Game 2: I am mana screwed, and draw 2 lands during the entire match.
I lose horribly.

Game 3: We both get mana (yea!) I hold back behind some creatures,
and disintigrate him to finish the game.

2-1     1-0-0 match

Round 2: Mike ??????   G/W/U
   Again, a very nice guy. Owns a card shop in New York. Yankee fan.
After the match, always asked how I did every round.

Game 1: Beats me with 2 Cloud Elementals. Ray of command kills 2 of
my creatures.

Game 2: I get out a rod of ruin, poking away at 3 1/1 critters and
poking him if I had mana left over. Pulled out a flood, phantom
monster, thicket basilisk and Ironroot treefolk. Finished him off
with a fireblast.

Game 3: He puts out a third turn glacial wall. I attack with Bird
Maiden and poke with Rod of Ruin. Kill Wall with the digging team
(gotta love them), and beat with treefolk.

2-1    2-0-0 match

Round 3: Bill McQuillen (I think) W/R/U
  Another nice guy. We talked throughout the whole round and have a
nice time. This was probrably my favorite round. Lasted almost the
entire hour of time we were allocated.

Game 1: 1st turn Goblin Digging Team. 2nd turn grizzly bears, 4th
turn Phantom monster. He takes serious damage.  He wrath of gods when
he is at 7. I draw a disintegrate, and try to disintegrate for 7. He
honorable passages, bringing me down to 13. He beats me.

Game 2: 1st turn goblin digging team. I bring out more creatures, he
wraths when he's at 10. I bring out rod of ruin, and hold back his
1/1's. He brings out ovinomancer, and kills my Treefolk. I ping his
stuff, and sometimes ping him when he is the only target. Bring out
Urza's avenger, and beat him.

Game 3: 30 minute game, see game 2.

Of all of the rounds, I will remember this one because it was an
interesting game, where you had to think to win.

2-1     3-0-0 match

Round 4: Saint Hue (?)  B/R
  Nice person, too.

Game 1: He brings out weenies and a goblin war drums. I die.

Game 2: he gets only red mana. I pounce on him with the green
critters.

Game 3: Good game. We parry off, but I hit a land pocket. 5 straight
lands, then a merfolk. I lose

1-2     3-1-0 match

Round 5: Paul Ferker
  Seemed like he took the game too seriously.

Game 1: He brings out air elemental, I gaseous form. He shrieking
drakes, I lose.

Game 2: Beat him with creatures, gaseous form his nightmare, and
disintegrate him for 6

Game 3: Repeat of game 2

After we are done, I offer to shake his hand. I say "good game". He
rebutts "No it wasn't. You had a good play, but it wasn't a good game.
 You want me to shake your hand." A player next to me comments "Boy,
was he rude". Mr. Ferker, if you read this: I did not mean to insult
you. But you made a fool of yourself infront of about 10 people at
the table.

2-1       4-1-0 match record

Round 6: Cary ?????? (B/U/G): Another nice guy. Offered me a draw,
but I felt my tiebreakers wouldn't be good enough (turns out it would
have been good enough to make the top eight). I declined.

Game 1: I win by creature beatdown.

Game 2 & 3: I draw 2 land even with mulligans.

1-2      4-2-0 match

If I had drawn I would have made the top 8. The top 8 had 2 people
with 5-0-1 record, 5 people with 5-1 record, and 1 person with a 4-2
record (Saint Hue). If I would have intentionally drawn the last
round, I would have been a low seed top 8. A 5th, visions booster
draft followed for the top 8. I left before it ended. If anyone has
the results please email me them.

-Mike Slater