From: "Rick Ralsten" To: Subject: LA PTQ Mainz 12/5 (and Pro Tour Report) Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 13:00:44 -0500 Greetings everyone! Still recovering from my trip to Germany, but feeling well enough to type, so here goes.... I went to Mainz just to play, have fun, and support my qualified friends whom I was traveling with---Chris Bishop (#6), Dominic Crapuchettes (#63--I think), and Jason McHale (#77). As you can see, they all did very well and I will mention them again later. My main goal at Mainz was to play in the qualifiers and try to get my sorry butt qualified for L.A. Two years of trying and failing to get onto the Pro Tour can be a little disheartening, but I was feeling pretty confident in my deck and was hoping for the best. I'm not going to post a decklist for the deck I played, since I have friends still trying to qualify who want to play the deck without having to face Dojo xeroxes of it, so if decklists are what you are looking for, then you can stop reading now. I will say that the deck is W/R/U, but it is *not* the Tongo Nation deck. Anyway, on to the report... Round 1: I play against Thomas Staudt from Germany, playing red burn with white for disenchant and passage. I lose a close first game, but I think that I have a very good sideboard against red, which facilitates me winning the next two games. Record: 1-0 matches, 2-1 games Round 2: Yuhkong Liao from Florida (I come to Europe and still play against Americans!) playing the Shield Sphere/ Phyrexian Walker/ Goblin Bombardment/ Enduring Renewal deck. I lose the first game when he hits me with the combo on about turn 5 or so, but I have a fantastic sideboard agianst Prison and Propaganda, which coincidentally also happens to be a great sideboard against him. I manage to win the next two games. Record: 2-0 matches, 4-2 games Round 3: Mikko Makipaa from Finland playing Counterpost. Mikko gets mana screwed the first game, and the deck I'm playing is not forgiving to mana screw, so it's over in short order. Second game I come out strong with beatdown, but he then slows some of my offense down with CoP Red. I get out more non-red creatures, he Gerrard's, but is very unlucky and doesn't draw any of his control cards like Wrath of God. A very close win for me. Record: 3-0 matches, 6-2 games Round 4: Daniele D'Amico from Italy playing a Stompy variant. As far as matchups against my deck, I feel that this was probably the toughest matchup for me all day. I have basically zero sideboard cards for him, and his deck is tough for me to beat from the start. Both games go the same way; they essentially turn into a creature race to see who can pound the opponent first. First game I draw more creatures than hima nd feel lucky to win. Second game is a nail-biter. It comes down to the last turn, and I have to top-deck a bolt to win, or else he wins next turn. I top-deck a bolt. Now, understand this: I am the unluckiest player in the world. If I need to draw something, I never do. If I need for my opponent *not* to have something in his hand, he always does. So when I top-decked that bolt, I started to think, "Hey, luck may be shining on me today and I might have a chance." One note about this match: afterwards, one of the spectators pointed out that I had blocked his River Boa one turn when I had a Tundra in play. Neither Daniele nor I noticed this during the game, and he was very gracious about it, saying that he knew I wasn't trying to cheat, which made me feel a lot better for making such a screw-up (especially a screw-up that can easily be construed as cheating). Record: 4-0 matches, 8-2 games Round 5: A really nice guy from England whose name I forgot to write down. His deck was practically identical to mine except for one key card, which probably made the difference. As with round 4, it's just a race, but good drwas for me manage to give me two straight wins. Record: 5-0 matches, 10-2 games Round 6: At this point there are four 5-0 players, so we figure that we can draw twice and get in. We do so, then when we sit down for round seven, we see that there are a huge number of 5-1 players (15 points). If we draw again, we will only have 17 points, while the winners at the 5-1 matches will have 18 ponts. All of a sudden I realize that my top 8 slot that I was counting on was not a guarantee anymore. I was going to have to play for it, and not make top 8 if I lost! Record: 5-0-1 matches, 10-2 games Round 7: A nice guy from California whose name I forgot to write down. He was friends with Jeff Simoneau and admitted that he was a relative beginner, though he played very well for a beginner. He was playing straight red burn. Oh boy. Though I think my sideboard is strong against red, I know he has just as much chance of beating me after sideboard as I do him. I get what I consider to be a fabulously lucky break and manage to win the first game. Second game I screw up--I have a hand that screams mulligan (we are using pro tour mulligan) and I do not. Ball Lightning, Ball Lightning, Ball Lightning, mingled with some kindle and fireblast action, and that's all she wrote. Third game we reach parity when I'm at about 6 life, not a good place to be against a burn deck. We are both out of cards, he's at like 18, and the only creature on the board is one of mine, hitting him for 2 a turn. My top deck skills kick in to high gear as I draw creature, passage, hydroblast, creature, passage in that order. His top deck skills are not quite on a par with mine. Record: 6-0-1 matches, 12-3 games Round 8: I'm seeded first in the top 8, so I play 8th place, Daniel Brickwell from Germany playing Red/Blue. I feel that this deck is fairly strong against R/U, as it has several cards that R/U doesn't normally have much of an answer for except disk. I manage to win 2-0, but the games were certainly not a cakewalk. Record: 7-0-1 matches, 14-3 games Round 9: This is it...if I win, I finally qualify for a Pro Tour after 2 years of trying. My opponent is Kai (I forget to write down his last name) from Germany. He is also playing a Red/Blue deck. See round 8. Record: 8-0-1 matches, 16-3 games So I finally did it! I actually qualified for the Pro Tour. I just split the prize with the other finalist (a green deck) and went off to watch my firends in the Pro Tour. My apologies to any opponent whose name I forgot to write down. After the High Point, D.C. and Richmond qualifiers, I will gladly post the deck for any interested. PROPS TO: 1.) Kyle Rose and Alex Tyler for basically creating and refining the deck. I claim none of the design credit for this deck. I changed basically two cards before I played it. All credit for the design can be layed at the feet of these two guys. I owe you guys a lot....many thanks. 2.) Ben Earley for qualifying with this deck in High Point a week before. Ben was the first person from our shop (Time Capsule in Chester, VA--PLUG PLUG) to ever qualify for the Pro Tour (Columbus) and it's great to see him back on the tour. 3.) Chris Bishop for making 6th in the Pro Tour. Chris is one of the friendliest, most intelligent, and downright funny people on the tour. Magic is a better sport because Chris Bishop plays. 4.) Dominic Crapuchettes for making top 64. Dominic is probably the best Tempest drafter I know, and just had some bum luck in the top 64. 5.) Jason McHale for rebounding from his 1-2 start by drafting a fabulous deck in the second draft and going 3-0 with it, just missing top 64 on tiebreakers. Ask Dennis Bentley how good this deck was. 6.) All my gracious opponents. 7.) All my other great and supportive friends not mentioned above...Tak Elmore, David Adams, Mark Styles, and everybody else. SLOPS TO: I'm in a good mood, and can honestly think of no one who was rude, unfriendly, or otherwise unpleasant. No slops! Well, I've droned on way too long. Anyone wishing to contact me, feel free to e-mail me at rralsten@cybrwks.com. See you in L.A.! Rick Ralsten