Subject: Brief Knoxville PTQ report
Date: 14 Dec 1997 18:20:17 GMT
From: hugerfax@aol.com (Hugerfax)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy

First, David Doust is THE man.  He runs the best tournaments by far and
deserves a lot of credit, so if you see him give him a pat on his back.

Knoxville drew 93 people for the qualifier from all over the place.  Atlanta
had another solid showing.  I left before the finals but the final 8 looked
something like this:

1 stormbind,arrows,ehrnam,wildfire,bolts,plows deck
1 old school pure black necro with disks
2 Pox decks, one with Trikes, the other with blood pets, insiduous bookworms,
and bad moon
1 Sligh deck, plateau for disenchant
3 Fruity Pebbles aka Atomic Bomberman aka Endu-Bomba

2 Fruity in the final 4, vs 2 Pox
when I left Jay Schneider was in the finals (playing fruity) and I think the
other game was 1 apiece

For anyone who mocks Fruity be forewarned, in the hands of a good player it can
be deadly. I watched Jay Schenider play in the final 8 vs Sligh and it was a
sight to behold.  Let me just say that Shield Sphere and Phyrexian Walker can
be quite effective blockers against Sligh when used properly.  It was funny to
hear the Sligh player say "I never expected to be out-creatured by this deck"
at one point in time when Schneider had 2 Spheres and a Walker on the table.
Knowing when to play creatures, when to go for broke, when to counter things,
these all require the skill of a good player.  Put this deck in the hands of a
scrub and you can still win games but you will never qualify.

The pox decks are sick as well.  Both my losses in this qualifier came to
people who made the final 8.  Let me just say that Triskellion beats White
Weeny.  Also, 4 stormbind, 3 arrows, 2 emmisary, 8 bolts STANDARD beats white
weeny to.

Congrats to all the top 8 players and to a successful Knoxville qualifier,
hopefully with this good showing we can get some more...

Funniest thing all day: Game 2 of a booster draft I am in, guy goes first and
plays forest, lotus petal, sac petal for black mana, dark ritual, tap forest
.... GRAVEDIGGER.  yup.  Needless to say like 5 turns later after I win the
judge walks by and asks who won.  I tell him that I did then my opponent says
in all seriousness, "Yeah, but I got off a first turn Gravedigger."  You tell
ME how I kept from laughing.

-Bruce Cowley