Subject: PTQ Mainz in Dortmund, Germany, 11/17/97 Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 03:42:09 -0600 From: "Heidbüchel, Franz" To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" Being at 38 and living with a small family (I have a daughter of nearly 3 years), I do not have many opportunities to play MtG on tournaments. Therefore I try to concentrate my effort on the PTQ's and the German championship qualifiers, while trained by our weekly Boosterdraft in our local pub in Aachen, Germany. Last weekend, I was able to attend my fourth qualifier for Mainz, which was in Dortmund - a two hour drive for me and my friend Arne Bister. Before that, I went only 3,5-3,5 in Mainz, 4-3 in Dietzenbach und 4-2 in Brussels, so chances of another Pro Tour event without me were rather high, although my curve was going up... 108 players attended and 7 rounds of swiss were to play. This time deckbuilding went fast in opposition to my previous qualifiers, were I used all the available time for deckbuilding and still was not sure. But this time, I had a different approach, as I wanted to ensure first to have 16+ solid creatures in a nice mana curve, which turned out to be black and green. Then I took a look at spells and found red as the best color to splash and finally my deck looked like this: Creatures: 2-mana: Battering Ram, Brood of Cockroaches, Drudge Skeletons, Fallen Askari, River Boa 3-mana: Cat Warriors, Pradesh Gypsies, Uktabi Orang Utan, Dwarven Vigilantes (2) 4-mana: King Cheetah, Wake of Vultures (2) 5+mana: Fallen Angel, Craw Wurm, Craw Giant Spells: Diamond Kaleidoscope, Incinerate, Rock Slide, Pestilence, Howl from Beyond, Spider Climb, Winter Blast 7 Forests, 7 Swamps, 4 Mountains. = 41 cards I have sideboarded in the following cards: Pyroblast, Funeral Charm, Creeping Mold. Furthermore I was ready to sideboard (but never did): Breeding Pit (I thought, that the Kaleidoscope was superior), Honorable Passage (with some plains), a second Spider Climb and Elven Cache. How I went: Round 1 vs Rudolf Gross (1693 DCI points) Game 1 sees me with 1 swamp and 6 green spells in my opening hand and after a short time, go down. Game 2 sees Rudolf stall at two mountains and I even the score. In the decisive game, I start again with lots of swamps, but I have also black spells to play. He then drops Army Ants and kills my only forest, going back to 3 lands himself, while I have 4 swamps out. I lay a mountain and the Dwarven Vigilantes. On his turn, he kills the mountain with his ants. At this point, I am in doubt, whether I would have done this, especially as I draw forest and mountain in the next turns. It then comes to a stalemate until he drops skull catapult. I answer with Fallen Angel, but he attacks first and can handle my defense easily with the catapult. In the end, it is my turn, and I know, I am dead in his turn. He is at 11, I have the Angel and Drudge Skeletons out plus Howl from Beyond and Cockroaches in my hand. Unfortunately I only have 6 mana out. Angel+Skeletons+Howl = 3+2+5=10. I lose. Now I know, that he made a good choice, killing my lands... 0-1, 1-2 Round 2 vs Wolfgang Loer (no ranking) He tells me, that he went 0-1 on a PTQ recently in Kiel and advanced to the finals and finished 3rd/4th, which gives me some hope. From the match, I don't remember too much. In one duell, my Gypsies take care of his Askari, that I could not block until the Craw Wurm appeared. Rock Slide and Incinerate clear the board and my critters eat him in both games. 1-1, 3-2 Round 3 vs Thomas Menke (1780 DCI points) Thomas is a very good player and realy gets mad at me for playing a Craw Giant in this environment, especially as it kills him in the second duell (after I won the first), although he could block the Giant with a boosted Grapeshot Catapult (by Dragon Mask). Unfortunately for him, I could use the Giants trample ability with the howl... 2-1, 5-2 Round 4 vs Matthias Lerch (1607 DCI points) I loose game 1 badly. I go down in game 2 to 4 life in a second, but then I am able to drop a spider climb upon a Dwarven Vigilante and stop his weenie onslaught. Still I have lost all hope, as he has a mountain out and I expect fire every turn, while I slowly start to build up some offense. But it looks like he only draws land and finally my Angel beats him down. In the third game it's all me, as I am able to drop creatures every turn and simply overrun him. 3-1, 6-3 Round 5 vs Florian Ecker (not ranked) A kid. I allways loose against kids. He starts like Llanowar, Cockroaches, Drudge Skeltons, Giant Spider and beats me down until I drop the Kaleidoscope to give me mana and/or defense. He armaggedons!!! I am completely caught offguard as I only left one swamp in my hand. He lays down land every turn, where I find not one more until I die. That is the way, I allways loose against kids. Game 2 he start like (see above only with his fourth creature beeing another 1/1 critter) the same. I have Gypsies + Craw Giant + 5 lands in my starting hand and I draw 3 more lands + Cat Warriors. I play the warriors, hoping to stop the beatdown, but he tortures them and plays Parapet. I get beat down again playing land no. 4 and no.5. Next turn I can play the Wurm and may be have a chance. He armaggedons!!! I get beaten by 4 1/1 creatures!!! (Make that 1/2 with the Parapet). That is the way, I allways loose against kids. I will never teach Magic to my daughter! 3-2, 6-5 Good Bye Mainz. I am really angry - at anything, because I cannot find something to funnel my anger to with the exception of the luck, this kid had drawing Geddon two times, when he needed it. I have a drink with my friend Thomas Esser (he qualified for PT New York) and start calming down when I look at his bad luck being 1-4 at this point. Round 6 vs Michael Goektas (1644 DCI points) We are both frustrated and nearly no word is exchanged in this match. I win duell 1 with beatdown and loose duell 2. In the decisive game, I drop two Wakes, which win it for me. 4-2, 8-6 Round 7 vs Gunnar Vornhusen (no ranking) I don't remember game 1 but I win. In game two I can only draw with my Pestilence as he beats me down too fast. Game 3 is all me, as the creatures show up in the right order. Final: 5-2, 10-6-1, Rank 19 One of my friends, Tim Gloeckner advances to the final eight but looses in the semifinals. Most valuable cards (in this tournament): 1. Fallen Angel 2. Pradesh Gypsies 3. Wake of Vultures / River Boa. Some general thoughts: I don't like Sealed, as it is so much luck-determined. But I found, that I could get good results with mediocre decks, when I try to build them consistently, that means basically lots of creatures and two main colors with one splash color. For instance in Dietzenbach, I had a real "killer deck", which went with 6 plains, 6 forest, 6 island and I did not draw the right mana in my three losses. On the other hand in Brussels I had a "bad" deck and nearly made it to the finals, depending on my opponent top decking his disintegrate or not (which he did). So I am currently reconsidering my dislike of Sealed, as there should be enough cards in one starter and two boosters to put up at least some balanced deck, that can go all the way, where some unbalanced decks with a few killer cards will not make it. ---Franz Heidbuechel---