Subject: tourney rep't, Pittsburgh PTQ (fwd) Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 09:31:15 -0400 (EDT) From: "justin.vegso@ansys.com" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com The PTQ Pittsburgh was 12/7 and I had a Blast! Lost 3 Matches, But still learned so much. For example, Extended is hard. I got the biggest shock in my life on Sunday. (see Match 2). The deck I played was something I constructed on Sunday the last week. A solid W/R fast deck with some tricks (but Scroll Rack-Land Tax is sooooo good). Land: 22 -------- 4 Plateau 4 Mishra's Factory 5 Mountain 11 Plains Stuff: 39 --------- 4 Armageddon 3 Land Tax 1 Scroll Rack 3 Earthquake 3 Pyroclasm 4 L-Bolt 1 Incinerate 4 STP 3 Goblin Digging Team 3 Savannah Lion 4 Soltari Priest 2 Freewind Falcon 1 Wildfire Emissary 3 Disenchant SB: 15 ------ 3 COP:red 2 Incinerate 1 Pyroclasm 4 Pyroblast 1 Firestorm 3 Phyrexian Furnace 1 Disenchant It Snowed like Hell on Saturday. Practically no-one showed, except for all of the really HARDCORE locals. My day was tough. Round One, David Wollkoff: I constantly play David at EVERY tourney. If I don't, I go through withdrawl. Dave is playing a Howler/Maro/Stormseeker/Stormbind with a touch of W/U...a rogue deck for sure! Game one: I drop a Savannah Lion. He bolts. I drop a Soltari Priest: he drops a Howling Mine? 7 turns later, Game 1 is over. He dropped a Stormbind and a Maro somewhere in there...STP was the cure. Game two: The furious exchange of Bolts and Incinerates stops...he drops a COP:red. I start the beatdown with the Soltari and Land Tax to High Hell. Wait a minute....was that a Storm Seeker? Ouch...A close one only because Dave can't get rid of the Priest. Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0 Things are looking up! I hope everyone is playing R/whatever! Round 2: Jimmie, a Superior Sports Card team member? Playing the most heinous Vineyard deck I will ever see. This was bad! Game 1: The Vineyard BURN hits me for four a turn on turn 2. I dropped a Savannah Lion and Earthquaked for about 7 on turn 3. I think I Mana burned for 8 points of damage and got Jolreal's Beatdown for only 4. I managed to get a Scragnoth on the E-Quake. Got him to 4 before I die. Game 2: I SB the Armageddons and bring in 2 Incinerates and another E-Quake. I'm taking him with me this time! Turn 1, Mishra's Factory...I start to Dump all that useless G Mana into it...on turn two, He drops a Wasteland (Mishra) and he Mana burns for four....ouch. I manage to burn him to 1 on the Main phase where I Mana burn to death. A hard one to lose. I am dead in five minutes...So I decide to go and B.S. with Mike Donais, our head judge for the day. Mike is the coolest guy you could ever meet. I explain how the Vineyard is Broken. Mike kinda agreed...And pointed out how I meta-ed for the Worb and got hurt because of it. Gee, in play testing, no-one dropped turn 1 AND turn 2 Vineyards either, Mike. Matches: 1-1 Games: 2-2 I'm sticking around, even tho' there's only 7 Rounds of Swiss and top Eight cut. I might get lucky and make it... Round 3: Chuck, guy I went with and Playtested with. All around nice guy. Playing "non-targettable G/u/w with C-Magic and STPs". Mostly Jolreal's, Pincher Beetles and Deadly Insects. Game 1: No way to deal with the Pyroclasm and Earthquakes. I soundly pound the living snot out of him. I earthquaked and pyroclasmed everything he layed while the Soltari's and Freewinds beat him up. This was just like play testing... Game 2: Chuck SB's 11 CARDS. He SB'ed in 8 Blasts (hydro and BEBs) and 3 COP:reds. He gets 3 land all game while I apply the Soltari/Mishra Beatdown. He never got a Blast off. Had he gotten Land, I'd have been dead. He was holding, but couldn't convert. Matches: 2-1 Games: 4-2 Round 3: Some Jason Schneider-POX wannabe: Nice guy...Says that Magic is getting s*&(^y because everyone is "too competitive....". It's a Freakin' PTQ, dude...Yeah, it's competitive! Game 1: I get POXed to about 6 and Cursed Scroll with a DarkRit in his hand Finish me. Got him to ~2! Damn! Game 2: I get the Land tax out on turn 1. I get a creature, he poxes, Edicts, and Contagions them away. Finally, The Scroll Rack shows up. He's amused when I tell him I'm about to Ancestral Recall: twice. I drop the Scroll Rack and Land tax for 6 Land the next turn. Shuffle them in and grab about 15 points of Damage in the form of Bolts, Incinerates and Savannah Lions. He concedes after I drop 2 Lions and Bolt/Incinerate 3 times. Powerful. Game 3: No chance: He poxes 3 times. Cursed scroll and It's over. Afterward, I apologize for being such a d*&k about the Rack/Tax and some other comments. I really gloated a little too much...gotta work on my winning skills a little more... Matches: 2-2 Games: 5-4 Grumble....I'll be the spoiler and stay in. Round 5: Evan Davis, CMU local with Turian, Lauer, and Buehler. A solid player and an incredibly well connected individual. Evan is playing the same W/R deck, w/o Scroll Rack but with Tithe and 'Post. Mike Turian (10th at PT Mainz) is rumored to have designed Evan's deck. Gee, I (on my own) came up with the same deck as Turian... I must be becoming a good deckbuilder if that's going on. Turian's an excellent builder and Evan's sharp as a tack. This is going to be a long one. Game 1: Game 1 takes 35 minutes. I play a Savannah Lion, he bolts. He plays pump knight, I pyroclasm...This continues for 20 turns with various creatures, et. al. Then he drops a Kjeldoran Outpost. So, I Armageddon, and drop a Plateau. He Tithes. This goes on until I drop the Scroll Rack. Then I get card advantage and proceed to Soltari Priest him into next week. He had already used his 4 STP...oops! Soltari and burn bring him down. Game 2: I SB all of the Armageddons out. I know how he is going to play this just like Mike Turian would. He won't drop a 'Post until he almost has the game under his control. It pays off. I've got him to 8, he's got me to 6. He has a Post and 2 tokens. I'm holding a Lightning Bolt and an Incinerate. I hold off for one turn. I draw a Plateau, and drop it. I'm at 6, with 2 Bolts in hand, staring down 3 Post tokens...He attacks and takes me to 3. I Burn him to 2 at his Discard Phase. I'm thinking "PLEASE BE A BOLT"....it was! He said he had the 'Post early on, but didn't feel it was the right time... Man, did I get lucky: If that went to a 3rd game, I probably would have lost. Props to Evan for some heads-up play...but don't play it "by the book" every time. Matches: 3-2 Games: 7-4 Round 6: Brell, Playing a whole bunch of Fountains of Youth, apparently... Game 1: He plays 3 Fountains Of Youth and an Island. He has 3 cards in hand. So I drop a first turn Savannah Lion. So he Forces it. He's at 19 with one card in his hand on turn 2. I drop a Soltari's and 3 Mishra's. Game is over before it started. Mishra's and Soltari's really hurt. Game 2: Brell gets 2 Fountains again, and drops them. By now, I'm wondering how Brell is 3-2? He's playing what looks to be a CAPS LOCK Deck. Funny how Savannah Lions and Mishra's can hurt so bad. Did I mention that already? Matches: 4-2 Games: 9-4 By now, I know that I'm not in, but it's always fun to have someone Capsize a Savannah Lion, then drop that plus a Mishra and a Soltari Priest into play. Round 7: I know I'm dead now. This guy was playing Straight RED hate. Game 1: Burn, Burn, Burn. I concede at 1 and grab my SB. Game 2: In with the Cop: red and out with the Earthquake and Pyroclasm. I get one land all game. It let me down for the first time all day. Matches: 4-3 Games: 9-6 Not to shabby, considering the field was all business. After receiving my torching, I went back over to Mike Donais and got him to sign a Shadow Guildmage for my friend Mike: he was unable to attend due to School finals and LOVES ErTog. He'll be quite happy. Justin