Subject: Steven's Point PTQ Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 22:28:30 -0600 (CST) From: Michael Gurney To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hello out there. I'm Mike Gurney from the little prairie town of Winnipeg in the middle of Canada(middle of nowhere?..). This past weekend a group of 4 of us went down to Steven's Point in Wisconsin. A nice little college town that I didn't see much of...damn this magic game. There was a PTQ in Fargo, ND that was closer...but we decided that instead of driving 4 hours to a 2-slot ptq...we'd drive 12 hours to a one slot PTQ... wise choice. Actually...the real reason for going was because the driver of our car was Sean Baker...and he was asked to come down to WI because some ass in Chicago was hogging all the level 3 judges(or something like that...thats how it came across to me)...but I digress. Here's who went: Sean Baker: level 3 judge and sealed deck player extraordinaire...going to do some head judging..tournament magic in Winnipeg would probably be dead without him...all around great guy. Mike Arenson: Regional Runner-Up, member of team 'The Horsemen of the Apocalypse' one of the best players in the city easily...but can get on your nerves...especially when playing 'tight' games..Oh..and was last years regionals Junior champ. Takes the name of 'Famine'..not cuz he's skinny...but because he'll eat your food and starve you out. Lawrence Genaille: At one time I would have called him a Scrub...but he has become a force to be reckoned with lately...finally come into his own. Dedicated hater of force of will. Me. Michael Gurney: Last year Regional Champ. Won 2 out of 4 PTQ's I have been in...9th in another and well...you'll see how i did in this one. Been to only one PT because I couldn't afford the expense of Mainz. Sealed is my fave...oh yeah...I am a member of THOTA(the abbrev) as well...I took the name of 'Death' On to the tourney. There was only about 80 people in the tourney. A couple of teams with shirts(C&C collectibles and team realm I believe). I saw a couple people i recognized from Minneapolis including one guy who mana screwed me out of the top 8 of an Alice ptq...such is magic sometimes. They had a great set up...speaker system to announce pairings(everyone had a number). They set up fairly quick and we began...as to what i played...me and mike Arenson both played nearly identical Tongo-type decks. We decided on this because of the consistency and the ability to win vs 'the bomb'...also known as fruity pebbles...of which i only saw one all day. tongo is POWERFUL...and has a chance against EVERYTHING... this is key to any deck i would want to play...I hate decks that are totally one-faceted..all offense..all defense...yuch No names..i don't take notes...but i have a good memory for magic games usually...though the order of my last 3 matches may be a bit messed up. Round 1: Mono-blue tradewind rider/capsize G1: I get off to a quick start with a mishra's and decide to go all offense since blue decks are notoriously weak against mishra's...then he lays his own..I then find out I am playing against a very inexperienced player..or at least not one well versed in the rules. I attack with mishras he taps his mishras and says i block with a 3/3..he didn't even tap the other mana he had...so I went through it with him saying #1 you have to make it alive with the other mana #2 it has summoning sickness and can't tap to give itself + 1 + 1...he gets a little upset but I let him take it back...eventually I over run him with mishra's and frenetics...I saw almost NO creatures from him. G2: He gets out 2 tradewinds but I kept killing his 3rd creature. I had 3(!) frenetics and 3(!) mishra's and couldn't put a dent in him. I control the game with a disrupting sceptre and eventually manage to disk away his side of the board and kill with mishras. Scary seeing two tradewind riders on an opponents side of the board. Round 2: 4cb...great guy..wish i took down names. Before the game I ask him what kinda decks he has seen around...just trying to get an impression of the field...he mishears me and says 'I am playing 4 color black'...doh...I didn't mean to do that. G1: He gets off to a quick start 2nd turn 2/1 shadow 3rd: askari 4th: knight. No critter kill for me = quick game for him..two bolts put me out of my misery. G2. Same start for him...but this time i get the all bolt/earthquake start and slow him down enough to peck away with Frentics and X spell him out. G3. He gets really mana slow start...only a gemstone mine and swamp for a few turns..despite his casting a few creatures..i get two serrated arrows out and shut him down. Round 3: Mono green vineyard We playtested this type of deck a bit...the one that won the austin ptq...and saw that if you destroy the vineyard...you almost always win... for this reason we had a couple disenchants in the sboard plus 4 mishra's main deck to help stop this deck. G1: He wins the toss...mulligans..draws 6 cards...looks across at me and says 'go'. I don't like to win games from mana screw...cuz I know what it is like to be on the other side of it...it sucks. He didn't mulligan because he had an elf and a vineyard...but anyways..it stalled him and i killed him pretty quick after disenchanting the vineyard when he finally DID get it out. G2: He gets a quick start with a boa but stalls on 2 mana and an elf. I disenchanted one vineyard and took 5 rounds of boa damage which knocked me down to 10. Finally he draws his 3rd land..attempts to cast an ernham...I counter and fireball his elf and boa for 1 pt each..whew..i hate boas. He stalls a bit and i beat on him with a frenetic. He casts an ernham. I control. He casts another ernham...I keep wailing away with the frenetic. He casts a KILLER BEES!...ouch...no removal for me either...about 10 rounds later...he is sitting on 4...he has 10(!) green creatures on the table including a kaysa. I have drawn nada for all these rounds but mishra's and other lands. Finally I get an impulse...impulse for a bolt...attack with a forestwalking token creature and bolt for the win. I am glad he had bad draws...because I had horrible draws as well. Round 4: U/W counterpost G1: He mulligans and proceeds to get mana screwed for a few rounds. I cast a wildfire. He forces. I force. HE forces...groan. I get out a frenetic while he partially recovers. Frenetics are broken...listen to this: swords - make the flip/wrath - make the flip/swords - make the flip wrath - make the flip/control magic - I attempt to flip..he interdicts... I counter...make the flip 5 in a row..not that I needed it sitting there with 4 counters in my hand a wasteland, some creature kill(hammer i think) and an outpost but frenetics are just broken sometimes. G2: He doesn't mulligan but stops at 2 mana...I stop at 1 mana. But he only has islands..and islands don't kill you in counterpost. Eventually we both start getting mana and the frenetic madness once again ensues... though this time i have a counterspell glut so i just counter alot of attempts to kill it rather than take the chance. Eventually he drops his outpost..i take it with a sideboarded trickery and finish him off. Round 5: 3color black deck If i win this round I am in! G1: As usual this deck starts out quick...hymns and knights start coming out quick but i get an arrows to slow him down. He is playing B/U and B/R painlands as well as the 12 multis of those colors...not much chance of being mana screwed...but I waste his only non painland. One play I rather enjoyed...he had 3 black painlands...attacks with his pumpknight...I block with a mishra...he gives his knight first strike..i give my mishra +1/+1..he looks at his other two painlands and says 'go'...(good judgement call..i had a bolt anyways). I eventually X him out. G2: He gets off to a slow start with no knights...but two arrows...my frenetics are sitting unhappily in my hand...then he plays a Sol'Kannar... Man..he is BIG...thank god for control magic. He has to expend all but 1 arrow to kill the King...eventually I get out an outpost and get him down low enough to torch him out. I am in! I draw the next two and await the finals. Mike Arenson went 5 and 1 and in the last round was paired up with the other undefeated person. He is in last place out of the 7 5-1's. But thinking that being paired with one of the undefeated players and the fact his opponent kept insisting that he was in for sure if he drew...he drew... and ended up in 9th place after the one 5-1 who got paired down won to go 6-1. Lawrence Genaille goes 5-1-1 with better tiebreakers and gets seeded 7th...I am seeded 2nd and have to play the only other Winnipegger that is in the top 8...man does that suck..to drive 12 hours just to play a fellow canadian in the first round of the top 8...if you read my other tourney report I met him in the semi's of the fargo PTQ. Quarter's: Lawrence Genaille W/G/r erniegeddon/winter orb lock/utility madness deck. First game goes my way with a frenetic making a couple flips and doing enough damage to lawrence to finish him off...not an especially good pull for him..or me for that matter...but when frenetics wanna kill you...they'll kill you. G2: He gets out an early cop red and shuts my early Wildfire down. We spar back and forth a bit until he plays an ernham..i have an arrows out and a bolt so i arrows before the end of his turn. I draw...A CONTROL MAGIC..that sucks. I control his 3/4 ernham...counter a few attempts to stop it...he gets out another ernham and I arrows it down to 3/4 as well. so we are stalemated a for a bit...he gets out a choke and locks my blue down...even though i have a disenchant in hand I ignore it and go for the throat...saving it in case i need to kill the cop red so i can bolt him out. I kill his ernham after he blocks with a bolt and beat him down low. He draws and plays an icy..I disenchant and cruise on for the kill...thank god i didn't get rid of the choke instead...that game could have turned around at any time. Semi's: Matt Bublitz (I think) He was the only other undefeated person from the swiss...quite a feat since he got in a car accident on the way there and had a mild concussion. G1: We sit down and he starts to talk and talk...trash talking? I don't know really...just a constant babble...kinda like hammer I guess...I ignore it and we start. I play a few multis and he picks up his sideboard...takes out the two blood moons and puts them on top...saying something I don't remember(I was in ignore mode at this time). He was playing a strange R/U deck...someone told me it was nearly an exact copy of McCabe's type2 worlds deck..frenetics/ophid/lancer/man o war/8 bolts. I thought I'd lose this game...he whittled me away with his fliers. After a LONG game...i finally got out two outposts and..sitting at 3...knock him down to 6 or so with my critters...I have an earthquake in hand and ponder quaking for a draw...but he has already used like 4 of 8 bolts..so i took the chance and waited another turn...no bolt...next turn i knock him down to 2...quake...thats game. G2: I am pretty happy...I think this shouldn't be much of a problem...and you know what happens when you start thinking that... He once again taunts me with his blood moons...I just kinda shrug and side in my 3 blue blasts anyways...then I look and notice I have no anti blue cards in my sideboard really...that sucks. We finally begin..with him babbling away at about twice the rate as before. I mulligan for the first time in the entire tourney...take the second hand and we start to play...its a pitched battle..but eventually his fliers get me low and my mishra's/outposts get him low...he attacks with everything knocking me to 2...I have to draw something to win...I don't..he wins at 2 life. Close game..the mulligan might have been the clincher. He points out smugly at about halfway through the match that he didn't side his bloodmoons in and taunts me that i probably left my disenchants in. Well..he had mishra's and disks...so it wasn't like they were a waste of cards. G3: I go first...I have to mulligan AGAIN...i get a draw of a mishra's a plateau..and no creature kill but I can't win with 5 cards..so I take it and we go...I stall at 3 mana for about 4 turns and he gets out an ophidian...I still have no creature kill...as anyone who has played with/against Satan...you know that this is pretty much game...I can't stop the drawing of cards..and he counters all my attempts to kill the damn ophidian...thats game. Now comes the bad part...he was in TOTAL control..I had like 1 card in my hand...he was drawing 2 cards a turn... and each of those turns took 5 minutes or so as he played to the crowd about what he should do..and kept talking a mile a minute the entire time. I found myself rolling my eyes and watching the clock...trying to time his turns just so I'd have something to do. Eventually he gets another ophidian and kills me...big surprise..the outcome was assured about 8 turns ago...oh well. I don't want to sound like a bad loser... but his play near the end was a bit overdone...a couple judges/people came to me after and apologized for the way he acted..and said that they hope this doesn't give me a bad impression of how all American players are... I was kinda disappointed at the time and collected my prize and thought about what happened. I went back to watch the finals. It was Matt vs the vineyard deck i beat in the swiss(groan)...matt won 3-1 vs the vineyard deck with the green player making mistake after mistake after mistake...I don't know if they agreed to split and didn't care..or if they were tired...or what...but there was some bad play on both sides...everything from matt taking unnecessary vineyard damage..to the green player tapping out to cast creatures when he needed mana to keep his killer bees alive...it wasn't too exciting...thats too bad. Too bad there are no more qualifiers within 12 hours of winnipeg...sucks being in the middle of nowhere...I'd like to try my hand again..after getting so close. Props and slops?..why not. Props to: The people who ran the tourney...they were GREAT...nice venue, efficiently run, great all around guys...even gave us a free pack of italian legends each for doing our 12 hour drive. To Matt : for winning the tourney with a concussion and a deck i would never play in a million years(no wastelands..all 3 casting cost creatures... I don't know how he did it...gratz) Sean Baker: for a good judging job and for driving us sad magic players for 12 hours both ways. Taco Bell: for making some damn good soft tacos Slops to: To Matt : for babbling endlessly(effect of the concussion?..maybe) and for convincing my teammate that he was in for sure if he drew ('I guarantee it'). To McDonalds: for undercooking my burger. To Wotc: For allowing so many qualifiers to go on at the same time in the same area(with 200 miles) and for not having only 1 qualifier within 10 hours of winnipeg until these last two(fargo and grand forks) Sorry for the length...and I hope I didn't offend anyone like I did last time(*poke* Francis/Melissa) Later Mike Gurney