Subject: forlė pro tour qualifier, italy Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 09:17:47 PST From: "Patrick Stephen Colgan" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hi, here is Patrick Colgan with another exciting Pro Tour qualifier report from Italy 21-12-97 Pro Tour Qualifier for Los Angeles, Forlė, attendance: about 70 players Format: DCI Extended with paris mulligan Forlė isn't far from Bologna, where I live, just a forty minutes drive...despite this we didn't went there in force...we were only 5: me, Alessandro Betti, Franco Giacomelli, Claudio "Coach" Negrini and Stefano Genestreti. I was playing, along with Betti, our four colors white weenie "Gun"...a very reliable deck which already won two top 8 placements, one for me and one for Betti in the previous two qualifiers. We played slightly different versions of the deck...this is my version: 3-Savannah Lions 4-White Knights 2-Orders of Leitbur 2-Soltari Priest 2-Suq'Ata Lancers 1-Uktabi Orangutan 3-Erhnam Djinns 4-Lightning Bolts 3-Incinerates 1-Stormbind 2-Swords to Plowshares 2-Aura of Silence 2-Serrated Arrows 2-Armageddon 2-Power Sink 2-Honorable Passage 4-Tithe 3-Mishra's Factory 2-Grasslands 2-Tundra 4-Plateau 4-Savannah 4-Plains SIDEBOARD 4-Pyroblast 2-Red Elemental Blast 2-Hydroblast 1-Disenchant 1-Swords to Plowshares 1-Honorable Passage 2-Wrath of God 2-Karma The deck is really tight on mana, but it only needs two white manas (at least one red) to kick in and with the new mulligan and tithe you can manage to get those most of the times. My other team members were playing: -Betti: 4c ww "Gun" without sinks, slightly more aggressive than mine -Giacomelli: black discard/swarm deck without necro (!) -"Coach" Negrini: a black-white-red necro deck with knights of both colors, tithe, gerrald's wisdom and a lot of removal -Genestreti: red Sligh deck splashed with black and green I meet at the tournament place some friends and I notice that there are many players from Rome: this is bad, since Rome is where is played the best italian magic. The tournament is run with a computer...this is unusual in Italy...and hopefully it will make for a quicker, better tournament -FIRST ROUND against Mario Pascoli from Rome (playing R-U-W "Tongo" deck) He plays a "Tongo" deck, a deck very similar to the one played in Chicago by "Tongo Nation" Team...based on card advantage...wins with frenetic efreets and burn...packed with counters...playing tithe. In the first game the deck sets the "Beatdown mode" ans starts very quickly...I get the land I need with tithe and I bring him quite low on life. Then I drop Serrated arrows...which is very helpful in killing a wildfire emissary and two frenetics...then he drops another frenetic and I kill it again with a bolt...they all died at the first phasing attempt! If I remember well I locked the victory with an armageddon. In the second game I side in 7 blasts...5 red blasts and two blue blasts...I side out cards like aura of silence, the two sinks (since I noticed that many..if not all of his key damage-dealing cards were either blue or red), an Erhnam(I really feared playing them because of control magics, Uktabi ...and well.. I don't remember the last card... Second game satrts badly...I have a mishra and a savannah...along with 3 pyroblasts...but it's a very slow start without mana...so I mulligan...I draw another hand with two plains and a soltari I think...well...better.... I draw two blasts and a plateau just a bit later....he drops a firewalker...i blast...he counters and I have to keep the other blast in hand...I slowly take something like 10 damage from the firewalker(with two soltari priests in hand) and I die to his burn after a very hard fought match...I think I lost mainly because of the mulligan's card loss and because of his firewalker....Third game I start strongly with a quick developement of creatures...I don't remember exactly of the gam went...but I blasted with hydros and pyors many of his cards...and I win with burn. Key Card of the match: Blasts 1-0-0 3 points Stefano wins against Federico Dato's feared Propa-Orb, Betti loses to Giacomelli (they decided to play since a draw was much like a loss)(in playtesting the ratio was like 5:1 to Betti anyway), and Negrini loses. -SECOND ROUND against Andrea Colombo from Castel Bolognese (playing blue-white grindstone deck) Andrea is a newbie to the game and this is his first important tournament. He is a nice guy and we play quite relaxed...he doens't know all the cards but he makes very few mistakes...but you can notice from his play style that he s quite unexperienced. I win first game with early beatdown, and some help from auras of silence...he plays all 4 control magics...but I end of top and I get him in an armageddon trap while he had 10 lands and a glacier out...an exeprienced player never does such mistakes...he loses complaining about the strenght of geddon. Second game It s very easy for me to side 6 red blasts and a disenchant. I crush him... without any troubles...only troubled moment was when he wanted to mystical tutor for an outpost...i try to explain to him and his friends that being a mana source and being included in the class "mana source" is very different but they don't listen to me and they tell me that on the 5th booklet lands are called man sources on one page...well....the judge obviously tells them that I am right...but they don't agree....well...I win anyway 2-0-0 6 points -THIRD ROUND against Dario Parazzoli from Milano (playing mono green swarm) Dario is already qualified...he qualified in Genova using the same deck which went 6-0 in the swiss (you can find a report posted by Giulio Gomitoni at http://www.thedojo.com)...since Dallas PTQ when he qualified using a mono green swarm deck he always plays green based decks...He s been to several Pro Tours....though he never placed high (best being a top 64 in Paris) he is a opponent I fear...(I think my personal score against him was 1-2 prior to this match). we play in a very relaxed way. It is an excellent swarm deck (without vineyards) the one he is playing....with only twists from traditional StOmPy deckbuilding being two trackers which proved deadly against knights, elves and small stuff...sometimes even powered with armor of thorns.... First game we fight hard...I try to keep him low on mana killing an early elf and a quirion (I knew he was very low on lands) but he drops then another quirion elf and a spectral bear (untapped with the quirion), I sink his apes of rath but he kills me quickly anyway with a swarm of creatures.... Second game I side out the auras, the uktabi and an honorable passage and I side in two wraths of god, one swords to p. and a disenchant (I knew he was playing primal order...and disenchant was better against possible mishras too).... This game he gets an early creature advantage...we go through creature combat but I don't draw enough heat to kill his creatures...then...we stall for a bit...I drop a soltari priest and start to hit him with it...then I make the mistake of dropping a tundra...he drops a boa and starts to hit me...I am rather high on life points anyway...then he drops an Heartwood Giant...well...the game ends with him at one life point and me killed by the combo giant-quirion ranger.... Ouch! 2-1-0 6 points Giacomelli and Negrini are already out of the competition with two losses each... Betti and Genestreti have both 6 points like me -FOURTH ROUND against Matteo Bianchi (skiribiz on irc) from Massa (playing red-blue-white deck...with frenetics, knights, burn and control magic) Matteo is a very nice guy and a good player...he is already qualified (He is the other finalist from Genova PTQ)... we playtested on the net two days before this tournament...with him beating me 2-1 Anyway... First game I draw a crappy hand, but I have two white lands without red, a mishra's factory three bolts and a suq'ata lancer...I don't mulligan...well....he goes beatdown and kills me very quickly while I don't draw any land. I side some blue and red blasts and a wrath.....and I take him while he has a very slow start. The third game takes longer and it comes to a very close ending...with me at 1 or 2 and him being killed by an honorable passage on a frenetic efreet, bolt and soltari emissary + suq'ata lancer...with power sink being once again a game winner against his counterspells so close! 3-1-0 9 points -FIFTH ROUND against Stefano Fedriga from Ravenna (playing red (splashed?) Sligh deck) This is an italian magic classic game...We are some of the "oldest" (I mean...we started 4 years ago...not by age..I am only 19) italian players...and we played in so many tournaments since the start...and we were matched up so many times... Well...first game he gets a slow start..I bolt his Ironclaw and drop a knight..then I protect it with an honorable passage, geddon..tithe...game over...with only damage assigned to me being a fireblast he cast responding to armageddon Second game goes pretty much the same with him getting a very bad draw...I drop an aura of silence..He is unable to cast wastes and that red enchantment wich makes the caster of white spells lose 2 life...I use then the aura on a mishra's factory...sink wastes..cast erhnam djinn and I win... 4-1-0 12 points Betti is out, Genestreti is out too having lost to Gianluca Stucchi (now on top of the standings) and his fruity pebbles deck (I think the only one of the tournament). Other players on top were, If I remember well, Massimo De Matteo (fourth at nationals and 65th at worlds this year) with his red-black Sligh variant, Gabriele Pisicchio with his mysterious (as no one could describe it to me completely) 4colors burn(??) deck without white (nicknamed "salad"(??) deck by some players)...and Max Esposito (I think with his red-blue-white tongo variant deck) -SIXTH ROUND against Valerio Retico from Roma (playing blue-white capsize/buyback/medallions deck) This isn't an easy matchup at all. Valerio is, in my opinion, one of the best Italian players..He always does well at qualifiers and has been to several Pro Tours...his game play is always excellent and...well...he has style when playing. First game he gets an early advantage in terms of cards and resources but suffers from a first turn savannah lion he is unable to remove...he counters some of my nasty spells (a knight and an aura of silence I think) and drops land...I bolt him while I can...his life total drops steadily until he kills the lion after going through 4 impulses...one after the other (with two medallions down...)...Ihave an armageddon in hand...I am waiting for the right timing for hit...it can be aa game winner...He is tapped out several times but I don't geddon (no cards in hand..)I had many chances to cast it anyawy as he was tapped out several times...then I drop a mishra... I attack him with a mishra which he disenchants...then I drop another one and geddon...He lets the geddon through Then I lay a land (I had two lands and a knight)...draw another knight lay the first...he casts a force of will...He sees no lands(don't remember if he had a glacier in play..i think so)...drop another knight...he kills it with a quicksand...drop an erhnam and he force of wills...drop an erhnam-through...he is building up some land meanwhile...and casts an ophidian and a firewalker (if I remember well)...then I lay another erhnam (all three erhnams!!!) and start attacking...after a turn or two he conceeds.. This game...which I felt lost at a certain point took so long. He tells me that he decided to let the geddon through as he had no ways of removing tha mishra and that with the two medallions out felt quite safe with mana... bad luck happens... Second game i side out many cards and side in the 6 blasts and a disenchant. I have another lion beatdown start but I don't see any of the blasts...the game is complex and hard fought..and I don't remember it very well...anyway somehow (mostly with a lot of burn) I bring him down to 4...then 3 with a force of will...i have two red blasts in hand...I am waiting for one of the three bolts left...then he taps out (except for two blue mana) and casts gerrald's wisdom for 14 lifes...if I only had power sink in hand...this game would have been mine!! Then he starts to capsize me...I conceed Third game goes quickly to an end...i draw only three savannah, two pyroblasts and a bolt...he drops an early ophidian while I don't draw any red land or the swords to p....he counters my knights and an uktabi orangutan I drop to stop the ophidian...gerrald's wisdom for 14...well guess the rest... :( 4-2-0 12 points I am out again...well...the deck proved once again to be really reliable...I felt as the deck was really able to win the tournament easily....I ll test it in tonight's extended DCI and will use it in the next (and last) qualifier...and maybe in GP Lyon & red blasts are usually enough to stop a nearly mono blue deck as Retico's...well...anyway I am happy for him...he deserved the top 8 And now the Brian Hacker style props and slops! PROPS: -The organizers for running the tournament smoothly and well...and for judging well -My opponents...it was a pleasure to play all of them -Power sink: the card of the day...it was game winner so many times for me! -Vittorio Benvenuto (one of the best italian players...twice on the top of the italian championship) for playing a tournament again after months -WOTC for opening an office in Italy soon SLOPS: -the assholes who stole Stefano's bag containing all his cards and hisUniversity stuff (if anyone knows who was to do such thing email me hymn@geocities.com) -my red lands on game three against Retico for not showing up -Franco Giacomelli for beating Betti on round one than losing two straight...and leaving Forlė with the car leaving the rest of us there! -me for going too much into personal things in my previous reports that's all folks!!! Patrick Colgan ( pcolgan on irc) hymn@geocities.com CHECK THE ITALIAN UNOFFICIAL MAGIC PAGE!! http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/8043 ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com