Subject: DCI Grand Prix Como, Italy (quite long) Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 02:54:36 PST From: "Patrick Stephen Colgan" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hi everibody, this is a report from DCI Grand Prix Como, Italy...and it's going to be long...(sorry) 10000$, 8 spots for Pro Tour Mainz were the big prizes for the two days-long awaited-tournament everibody was talking about since after the italian nationals. The format, as for Mainz PTQ was limited-sealed deck using a fifth edition starter and two visions boosters. The top 64 from saturday's 6 rounds of swiss were advancing to sunday..on sunday, with the players carrying the points from saturday, more rounds of swiss(5) and a new deck were awaiting the players to determine top 8. Top 8 playoffs were going to be played through a new fifth edition/visions booster draft battle. My name is Patrick Colgan and I a am from Bologna, Italy... ... but let's get to the tournament ... Only 211 players show up at 8.30 on saturday at the truly beautiful site of Villa Olmo in Como Italy...making (I think) the lowest attendance so far to a Grand Prix event... this mainly due to the difficulty of getting to Como which is a small city without airport and closer to Switzerland than to Milan, the nearest city with an airport...only one hour far away by car but hard to reach by train and quite expensive to reach by taxi (as suggested by Wizards). About 50-60% of the field consisted in foreign players... so many french and germans..a big group from Czech republic...many from Switzerland and a group of Americans from the NATO base of Aviano. To my point of view that was the best thing about the tournament (which was like a very small Pro Tour): the international field. Before the tournament i meet Dave and John Kearney from Ireland...I ve been an internet correspondant of Dave for soem months and I meet him at last...so happy about this. After we register we get to the beautiful tournament hall where we are dealt a deck of cards along with a list of them by the staff. After the head judge Misha Donders tells us the rules we are told to open our decks and to control the lists...if the lists are wrong we have to call a judge to fix it up...!!!???!!!...so I can take out that funeral charm and add a rock slide...then I call the judge and I tell him that the list is wrong because instead of the charm there is a rock slide...!!!???!!!-I think this system gave consistent cheating opportunities(any comments?) ... but let's get to the action (Isn't it a tourney report?) ... I open my 304 deck and look through the cards...I believe it s a decent mix...here it is (I am not sure this list is complete and fully correct sa some of the cards that i didn't use got mixed up with some of other limited decks) BLUE -sea spirit -gaseous form -remove soul -brainstorm -enervate -2 knight of the mysts -2 breezekeepers(!!!) -binding grasp(!!!) -2 mystic veil -foreshadow GRRRREEEN -creeping mold -hurricane -2 panther warriors -craw wurm -cockatrice -grizzly bears -ley druid RED -shatterstorm -disintegrate -incinerate -panic -ambush party -goblin hero -bogardan phoenix -2 song of blood -eternal warrior -2 goblin swine-riders -orcish oriflamme WHITE -2blessed wine -heal -alabaster potion -mesa falcon -pikemen -tundra wolves -2 freewind falcons -2 parapet BLACK -2 coercion -greater werewolf -bog rats -wall of bone -necrite -initiates of eboin hand -drudge skeletons -suq ata assassin -death watch ARTIFACTS -diabolic machine -gauntlets of chaos -feldon's cane -mana vault -barbed sextant GOLD -firestorm hellkite(!!!!!!!!!) +20 lands this wasn't a "decent mix"..it was the most unbalanced and the strongest mix I was ever dealt at a tournament...all the colors had strenghts, balance and power cards...plus useful artifacts GREEN had an excellent creature power with four big powerful creatures...including the killer card cockatrice...and the mighty hurricane...iwas definitely oriented to play it as one of the primary colors... BLACK was strong..and the werewolf really was a power card...but I didn't like it as I liked the other colors...I especially liked... BLUE had just everything...removal, big fliers, control..and it gave me a chance to play the firestorm hellkite with RED...which i included but just to play the disintegrate and the incinerate along with the mighty dragon... WHITE was ok and had many of the prevention spells I usually play in limited tournaments...such cards are underrated by unexperienced players and are true game winners..it was also backed up with cheap fliers but it couldn't compete with the other colors. the ARTIFACTS were ok...the diabolic machine is nasty, the mana vault is extremely useful even in mid game and the barbed sextant is a card I always play when I find one in sealed...the gauntlets were another intertesting card.. This is what I ended up with 1-grizzly bears 2-panther warriors 1-craw wurm 1-cockatrice 1-creeping mold 1-hurricane 1-sea spirit 2-knight of the mysts (they are good even at a cost of 4..but they proved to be key cards in many games) 2-breezekeepers (2 flying damages every turn...but HOW hard to kill or block!) 1-gaseous form 1-binding grasp 1-enervate 1-remove soul 1-brainstorm 1-incinerate 1-disintegrate 1-firestorm hellkite (flying death? 2 turns and you are nice and toasted) 1-mana vault 1-barbed sextant (no diabolic machine as it costed too much for a deck already as slow...i preferred to include grizzly bears to have another early blocker to survive till turn 4-5 ....or to put early pressure on the opponent) 7-islands 7-forests 4-islands 40 cards, 18 lands+barbed sextant and mana vault....the 50% close mana ratio I always use in limited 1st ROUND (table 63)i am paired with a french guy...oh damn...i don't remember his surname...his name was..Guillame FRANCE I win two duels straight...he makes a few mistakes...but my big creatures are just too big...and they come out fast as my mana builds up steadily. Best moment of the match? me controlling his scaled wurm with binding grasp...(hehehe). he was calm and friendly(just as everyone I met in the tournament) and this was what I liked most about this match. 3 points 1-0-0 2nd ROUND(table 25) Pierre .... FRANCEanother french guy..I don't remember his surname(the pairing for 2nd round had to be done twice as they made a mistake with the computer) He had a bye on round one so that was the first game he played...he doesn't speak english so he doesn't say a word during the entire match...i win 2-0 thanks to early breezekeepers and removal. I can't speak french correctly...but I understand it so I understand what he says complaining about the luck I had with a friend. He seemed upset...really upset. 6 points 2-0-0 3rd ROUND(table 10) Mark Halliday USA He is cool and i enjoy playing with him. He is calm, competitive and a very good player. I enjoy playing with him...but i make many minor mistakes...I really don't know why..but...anyway... I win the first duel, I lose the second and I then prevail in the third...he can't believe my deck is so strong. My deck resembles a constructed decks...is very straightforward and has several duplicate key cards...really works more like a standard deck than like a limited one. 9 points 3-0-0 4th ROUND(table 14) Gianluca Stucchi ITALY This guy has been to two Pro Tours...I know him since Pro Tour Paris and I remember him beating Mark Justice on day two...we always talked friendly but we never played a game in a tournament... he has a bad reputation...well he is not a cheater...but he often makes a mess with judges about opponents not tapping the lands before casting, tapping-untapping a land...and so on..he has the right to..but he goes a little too far with it..anyway... We play...I win first game...then in the second game he forgets to use a healer and after some time he asks me to take a back move to use it...remembering him nbot letting back moves to anybody I don't let him to heal that point of damage...then on the following upkeep when I have to mantain my binding grasp I am very careful because I know that he will try to make me forget to pay it correctly...I untap all mana but two islands...and I say "these are tapped to pay the grasp" then I draw a card...he calls the judge over to my shock and disbelief... The only italian judge of the tournament comes...he tells him that I didn't untap all of my lands and wants me to discard the grasp and wants me to take two mana burn....this is completely inconsistent...and he is not providing any rules or anything to explain why I should take two damage...think about it..and you ll ask yourself..:"why?"(well...there's a way...suppose I tap the islands during the untap phase..but he didn't know about it)...well....the judge makes me discard the grasp and untap the islands...ouch!.. why? I told him that I was tapping for the grasp...! and what if I told the judge that he was lying?..I am just too honest... anyway I lose that game but I win 2-1 ...and we still talk friendly for the two days... 12 points 4-0-0 5thROUND(table 2) M.Van Der Leuven BELGIUM He offers me a draw... I take some time and then I decide to play as I believe that I have the chance of going 6-0 which would give me a consistent chance of making top 8 on day two. He seems upset..he tolds me I am taking a risk...but I am perfectly aware of it... Anyway he is a skilled player..calm...nice...friendly...a pleasure to play against. I lose first game due to my first manascrew of the day and I start thinking I made a mistake playing this match...but I come back in th other games to score another 2-1 victory. Very interesting combo he used twice was crypt rats with unstable mutation...excellent in his very aggressive-creature oriented deck.In the two days we meet again and we talk about our performances... 15 points 5-0-0 6th ROUND (table 1) Ivan Curina ITALY He is a former italian national champion and a 1995 worlds top 8. He is a friend and one of the best players I know...he is strong, creative and wins consistently in every big tournament. We decide to play for glory and points... in the first three tables there are three italians and three french...me, Curina and top limited italian player Ilja Rotelli...the only french player whose name I remember(because I played him on day two) is Michael Debard who was playing Rotelli... I win two games straight... Curina had an interesting deck..without many power cards but very balanced...full of small creatures and with some nasty creature enchantments. It is importantthe card advantage I score blowing away two cards with one in the two duels ... he played enchantments on creatures and I killed them during the following turn...but the game winner was ...as many other times during the day...the hellkite...dropped early with the mana vault 18 points 6-0-0 at the end of the day I lead the field with a perfect score and a very high tiebreaker rating....second place for Michael Debard who had the same points but a lower tiebraker due to his two bies. That was a great feeling for me..I was lucky with the draw..but I played very well and the deck was well constructed and balanced...playing high on mana paid off as I was manascrewed only once during the day. key cards?breezekeeper, firestorm hellkite, mana vuilt, disintegrate, binding grasp fellow team members Franco Giacomelli, Alessandro Betti, Francesco Ridolfi are also in. We hang out with John and Dave Kearney to have some Pizza and talk about the event..but they have to be at the hostel at 11.30 so we can't talk for a long time...sadly... they re really nice and I enjoy the conversation... We go to sleep before 1 am .. and we put five alarms on for 7.30 ...we are afraid of not getting up in time...!!!! Anyway... I am dealt another good deck. not as good as the first but pretty good I end up playing 1-murk dwellers 1-weakness 1-scathe zombies 1-fallen askari 1-funeral charm 2-crypt rats 1-thrull retainer(combo with rats!) 1-memory lapse 1-counterspell 1-dark maze 1-man o war 1-knight of the mysts 1-air elemental 1-impulse 1-cloud elemntal 1-tin wing chimera 1-grapeshot catapult 1-talruum champion 1-rock slide 1-raging gorilla 1-suq ata lancer 7-islands 7-swamps 4-mountains I leave out an hill giant, ironclaw orcs, brassclaw orcs....it really seemed a Sligh! I had even orcish captain and goblin war drums!I also leave out drain life(never managed to play it in sealed) and good green mix...anyway... 7th ROUND(table 1) Michael Debard (eventual winnner) FRANCE He s an excellent player...I lose two games straight...I had some mana problems...but his game winner card was twice the ogre enforcer...saved from rock slide with feral instict and pumped with ashnod's transmogrant...two photocopy games 18 points 6-0-1 8thROUND(table 4)Ilja Rotelli ITALY A good friend of mine...a good sports...a great limited format player(best italian dci) We always had great games...He loses in third game due to a mistake...He attacks to break the stall but with the cards I have in my hand I kill most of his creatures without any serious damage and win...I discover then that he did that fearing a disintegrate I had mentioned during the game...but...I wasn't serious about the disntegrate...I said that because I was losing...and a disintegrate..in that moment..could have helped me...he is shocked when I tell him this...and I decide to leave him alone for a while... 21 points 7-0-1 9thROUND(table 1) Federico Dato ITALY I win two games quite easily against this freind of mine...one of the best italian players...I must say I was a bit lucky with the cards 24 points 8-0-1 10thROUND(table 1)Lukas Ladra CZECH Republic When Michael Debard sees me again at table one says "You like that table...don't you?" The Czech national champion...he remembers me...we played three times in three days in Paris ...in the side events....he s cool, friendly..and we have three nice games...I lose to mana screw but I am not too upset as I am playing great matches....I could have offered an intentional draw this time..but he had less points than me...so he couldn't draw 24 points 8-0-2 now i need a draw to make a top 8...I didn't play many of the players at 24 and 25...but I can't believe what I see in the pairing announcement... 11th ROUND(table 4) Andrea Redi ITALY He s one of the best italian players..and it isn't an easy pairing... but what makes me upset and makes me complain to the judges is that he has only 22 points...so he has to win ...he can't draw...damn! I lose one game to severe manascrew...I demolish him in another one...and lose in the third due to an archangel... I didn't make it!!!!!!!! 24points 8-0-3 I end up in 12th place...my friend Alessandro Betti is in top 32 too..only one of the team other than me in the money... I then discover that 4 players(Ladra, Kearney, Chiera, Dato) who placed higher than me already have an invitation...so I am invited!!!!!! I am soo happy (happy for Dave Kearney too...he made top 8) till Bruno Van Speybroek of Wizards tells me that they have to think about it since it never happened before that 4 invitations were to be extended.... this sounds starnge to me...they made the rules...the rules are very simple and clear...i have the right to play in Mainz...whatever they say... what a great weekend! comments welcome! patrick colgan - Italy hymn@geocities.com p_colgan@hotmail.com ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com