Subject: PTQ Report Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 23:51:54 EST From: AMatarese To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com PTQ Harrisburg—12/27 R.B.’s Prison Never having played a single extended game I did not really know what to expect of the field other than what I had read at the Dojo. I decided I would try to build a prison type deck utilizing the broken power of the land tax/scroll rack combo. I think the deck is pretty different then most other prison or tax/rack variants and its as original as a prison can be. I only tested it against my own white/red weenie and basically presideboarded it to beat the ubiquitous w/r scrolltax decks. I knew the deck would also be strong against necro and fruity pebbles but would probably run into trouble against other more typical prison decks. Thus, I built the sideboard explicitly to beat such decks. Strong counter control could cause trouble but I did not expect to see much in this environment. Anyway, on to the report. Got to the qualifier and saw about 250 people cramped into a small room. It ended up around 225 playing. I saw many real strong players I knew by face from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, DC, Maryland and Virginia. I think the whole east coast was here. Round 1 – White Red Weenie(no tax/rack) Sorry, no names are included as I did not expect to write a report. The deck was pretty tight and the opponent and his girlfriend really nice. Games were quite fun, played very friendly and very close. Game 1-- I got the lock out quick, wisdomed up to 25 and it was over. Game 2 – he got a weenie rush and beat me down Game 3 – see game 1 (1-0) Round 2 – green red fast mana big creature Game 1—He started with a taiga and an orcish lumberjack. Turn two he laid a tinder wall, a mountain and a big old shivan dragon. Gulp! I didn’t have a plow but luckily I had decided to take out 4 counters and put in 4 plows just last night, I also was holding a wrath. I had a chance. However, he dealt 9 damage on turn three(shivan pumped plus lumberjack), and another 11 on turn four(shivan pumped with sacked forest) before I could wrath him(he went first) Ugly! Game 2—I wasn’t that scared as the deck seemed to be a newby deck, but it could beat me, and now I had to beat it twice fairly quickly. Luckily, game 1 only took all of 2 minutes. This game went fast as 1 wrath wiped him out and the Armageddon that followed left him mana short until I got out the duel icies and the worb. Game took about 8 minutes. Game 3 – See game 2 except he conceded after the initial wrath/Armageddon. That was great. I finished a match in under 15 minutes using prison. I was among the first to turn in results and got the only break I would have for a while. (2-0) Round 3 – big creature black I recognized this guys name and later learned he was a neutral ground regular. A really nice guy and a good player. This could be tough. Game 1 -- I got a pretty decent draw —2 tax, 2 scroll, 1 propaganda, and land. However, it turned out great as I laid the tax and rack and felt pretty good, but I had no answer for the disk which took those out along with a diamond and a prop. Luckily, I got the tax-rack out again, plowed a sengir, and ancestralled for the next 8 turns. 24 extra cards usually spells doom for an opponent. Game 2—I really was feeling badly for my opponent at the end of this game. I got another god draw and he really had no chance though. He had a solid deck but some draws cant be beaten. Round 4--Sligh Against another really nice guy playing sligh with forsaken wastes. Game 1 – He got a creature assault going but a prop and an orb slowed him down. He then applied the burn hitting me with a bolt bringing me to 4. He then fire blasted me. With my one untapped blue I disrupted, and drew a gerrards off it. Got back up to 12 and then locked him up. Got the combo going and managed to get to another wisdom about 5 turns later, except this one got me 20 life. Nice! Game 2—See game 1 (4-0) Round 5—W/R with scroll/tax Unfortunately for him my deck plays the rack/tax game a little better than his and was really pre sided to beat him. Game 1—I fended off an early rush protecting 2 props and then got the combo going-game Game 2 – mana screw-1 land—quick death Game 3 – see game 1 but replace props with wraths. Same story (5-0) Round 6 – Prison with gaea blessing and misras. I offered a draw as this was going 8 rounds I figured a draw would leave us both needing only 1 win out of two to get in. Besides prison on prison is very painful and exhausting and probably not worth playing in swiss rounds. Unfortunately he declined so we played Game 1 –His deck was a lot readier for mine then I was for his. He started at least 3 aura of silence main and was able to get two quick ones out which pretty much slowed me down. He then got out 3 icies and along with my orb, they created a real problem. By that time I had a land tax, two scroll racks, and 3 diamonds on the table with some land and a propaganda. I also had 48 life so I felt pretty safe as his misras would take forever to get through and a titanias song(if he had one which I doubt also would not do too much). He soon sacked an aura to take out my worb, layed his own and sacked another aura to take out a diamond. He cast a third and took out another diamond. He then began attacking with misras. I just wanted to draw his counters so I tried to plow one and it got countered and the same happened to another plow. He also began laying land to pay the prop and let me get the combo rolling. By this time he had used 3 counters(one on an earlier armageddon), I guessed he had 4 and no other counter magic as I had seen almost all of his deck. Had about 15 cards left in library. He had a blessing in the graveyard as well. Though he had me locked, I still had 1 diamond out and land left to play in my library. I also was holding a winter orb and 3 force of wills, along with some blue junk. I had another force in my library left as well as another disenchant. I actually was pretty confident I was going to win but their was only 10 minutes left. I disenchanted one icy and put the orb back into my very thin library to try to get the other disenchant or another blue spell. He began hitting me with misra and had me down to 24 when I redrew the winter orb. I was not going to play it until I was down to about 12 or so, as I wanted him to play his second gaeas first. I intended to force it, and I hoped he would not counter figuring he would kill me before he was decked but I had 2 other forces to back it up. Anyway, time was called with me at about 18 the game was a draw. I think he thought I was stalling as I was taxing and scroll racking every turn, but I actually needed to as I was trying to find the forces, disenchants, and worb to beat him. I think I would have won the game but who knows. Anyway, a duel prison game really sucks. (5-0-1) Round 7 – tonga deck Game 1- I Armageddon his outpost with 3 diamonds out and then got combo going. Game. Game 2 – Pretty similar to game 1 though he had me down to 4 at one point and I was worried as I did not have combo out. Top decked a wisdom followed by the second icy I needed to lock him up and it was game. (6-0-1) Round 8 – intentional draw (6-0-2) Final Eight Seeded fifth and ended up playing only other undefeated deck. The Other prison I played round 6 which was seeded fourth. Match 1—Prison with gaeas blessings, silvan libraries, 4 counters, gerrards wisdom, 4 misras, and 3 aura of silence standard. Game 1 – I drew one land and he got 3 early misra out and beat me up pretty bad. Round over in about 2 minutes. Wow, pretty rare for duel prison. I actually was glad as after sideboard I felt I could win the next two and was glad there would be time. Game 2 – I sided in 2 auras and 2 disenchants, 2 caps, 3 blueblasts as I saw red earlier and expected wildfires(plus I needed stuff to throw to force anyway), and 2 serras. Eleven cards. I took out the prison part of the deck. The armagedons, winter orbs, and propogandas all came out. I also took out the wraths. I basically turned my deck into a control deck with 7 disenchants. Tough for prison to beat. Got out a very early serra and forced a plow. He got 2 wildfires down and I hydroblasted a third. I was at 12 and he at 14. I gerrards and that was game. Game 3 – got out 2 early auras to slow him down. I disenchanted two icies and then layed a serra, which he countered and I countered back. We fought over auras for a while. He cleared my auras and layed a third icy which I disenchanted. I had the rack/tax out for a while and was getting mad advantage holding 3 force a disrupt and a disenchant. He was holding 4 cards and had no artifacts on the table including no diamonds—I had two—a saphire and a pearl. He then armageddoned?????, layed an undiscovered and then plowed. I disrupted the plow which left him with 1 card in hand. I dont know why he armageddoned. Really weird. Especially since I had a tax out. Anyway he was at 8 life and I still had 3 forces in hand and the combo going. Felt real real strong especially since his only land was a tapped undiscovered paradise. I thought there was no way to lose until I set aside 7 cards but I though I had set aside 8 and drew 8 off the rack. The judge saw my hand and the game situation and knew it was unintentional as I had the win virtually assured so he made the proper decision and gave me a stern warning. What a freaking idiot I am. However it was midnight, I got no sleep the night before, drove forever to get here at and was playing prison all day. I was beat but I still am a freaking idiot. Anyway. Serra came by that turn and the next and the next and that was game. I think we finished three games in about 35 minutes. Not bad for duel prison game. Match 2—black red weenie-no necro Really bad match up for this guy, though he was a real real nice guy and did the noble thing and conceded when I had the game locked up since it was 1 in the morning. This guy was a class guy and I was going to give him the foreign packs I won for not making me play out the game but he disappeared. Oh well, instead I gave extra packs to the friend I drove with. Game 1—got combo out early, plowed and wrathed early threats and wisdomed up to 58. Game 2 –got an early lock out and the combo and was holding 1 counter and 3 forces and 3 disrupts with 2 icies and worb on table and him with no land. After a gerrys he conceded. Well played game and a real good guy. His deck was actually pretty strong and I think he gave most opponents fits throughout the day as he was seeded one. He had a real fast deck. Luckily I had swords to answer. Match 3 About to get kicked out of the hall we drew the game and split the prizes. He was playing fruity pebbles and I think I could have beat him game 1 and would have felt very very confident games 2 and 3 after boarding. But dont know since I didnt even see his deck.. Just glad to get to go home. The Deck First a caveat. Do not play this deck. I had the worst time and contemplated quitting magic even though I was going undefeated. It is boring as hell and really taxing through 8 rounds of swiss. Also, I think it matches up poorly with other prison decks and could face trouble along the way against other oppenents. I think my match ups were rather fortunate. Anyway, I dont usually play control and lock decks suck in general. I think they should be banned and I dont think I would play one again. They just dont make the game fun. Anyway, enough preaching from this hypocrite. >From memory 4 tax 4 rack 4 plow 4 force 4 disrupt 3 wrath 3 prop 3 wisdom 3 icies 2 disenchant 2 worb 2 armageddon 1 aura silence 1 counterspell 4 saphire diamond 2 mind stone 1 marble diamond 16 land-4 tundra, 4 adakar and 8 basics Props To neutral ground for great tournament even though there were so many people Guy I played in semis who conceded instead of taking the ˝ hour to reach inevitable defeat My girlfriend for putting up with me and helping me test this deck To the Mass people who made the ride up and placed 3 people in final 8. Since I go to school in Mass that makes 4 Mass people in a final 8 in boondock Penn To Brian Kibbler for being a real nice guy. I dont know him at all but he took the time to explain to me an rack/tax w/r weenie deck which he played at a local tournament which he dominated with that deck. He helped me get a grasp on extended field and I really appreciated his knowledge and its nice to meet a nice guy. Slops To me for drawing an extra card of rack when I had the game certainly won. Stupid. Again to me for playing a painfully boring prison deck.