Subject: [REPORT] LA PTQ: Birmingham Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 12:45:47 -0500 From: "Heaven, Zachary" Hola! I am sure you will see better tournament reports generated here about this qualifier, but I did stay until the end so I am going to write it in the context people will use it for better purposes. My girlfriend and I drove in Friday night to crash, so I took a while to vamp my deck. I made a couple of mistakes that only took toll in the very last game I played, but otherwise effective. I had two decks to play. I had a Necro deck, similar to that one played by Randy Beuhler in Chicago, or a fattie beat down deck I made up. I liked the beat down deck, it won more often, but the problem I forsee is that we have heavy counterspell/control oriented decks, and I did not have the duals for it, which are of course needed. So, I opted for Necro. I made some real modifications from the Chicago variant, since there were some Tempest cards I deemed worthy of playing. More on that later. I'm one of 7 Atlanta players(WarZone!!) here to represent. Most of the other good players are obviously in Mainz at the time, so I assumed we would dominate the Birmingham field. I was right. Only problem is, I'm the scrub of the bunch. We have Jay Shneider(sp, sorry Jay), David Leader, Ben Chen, Eric Ewald, Jerry Winkelstein, and a friend Eric brought along. I would normally include you too Rick/Kim but I've heard you're not from Atlanta. ;) Kim was the only female participating in this event, which didn't shock me to see. Round 1: Craig G/U/R - AntiNecro (Oh joy, Anti Necro deck, Round 1. Craig is playing Sudden Impact/Storm Seeker, 4 Sand Golems, 4 Gurrela Tactics, etc. Main!) Game 1: Craig got a Pump Knight beat down. I know he had ways to handle these things, but he couldn't force the weenies away. He threw down a Winter Orb, then Propaganda as well. Since I'm playing disenchant, the Propagada didn't last long. He managed to get off a Sudden Impact or Storm Seeker on me, reducing me to 7. It was hard to manage this one, as I went down to 6 with 7 cards in hand. He Impacts me, but I manage to Firestorm him for 1 reducing my damage to 1. The Knights serve from there. Game 2: I obviously got lucky again. This time I have no real weenie hoard, just manage to start sucking his counters away with stuff like Ihsan's Shade and critters. He does have the Winter Orb out on the table, which definitely slowed me down. I'm average on life, after dropping Necro it starts to bite me 1 at a time. I manage to get a Hymn off that got a Sudden Impact AND a Storm Seeker. Somehow I had gotten around the 2 Sand Golems in his hand, as well as any other stuff that might have killed me. He thinks I'm the luckiest bastard alive, and at this point, he's probably right. I disenchant my Necro to start drawing again and manage to top deck a lake, and lake drain him out. 2-0; 1-0 Round 2: Doug G/U/B/R? Hell I don' t know... (Doug is playing a very confusing deck, probably his own idea. I liked it. Used "The Tour Guide", Control Magic, Hymn, Lobotomy, etc.) Game 1: This game is tough to remember. Neither of us had phenominal draws. I remember having two pump clerics out and him throwing down a quake that saved him and hurt me. I eventually got down to 1 life and couldn't necro any more. Hymns from both sides pretty much took care of our hands and left us with basically nothing to do but stall. He eventually plays a Frenetic Efreet which gives me a target for a 3 point Firestorm. To him, me, and Fred. This kills us both, since I couldn't Necro anymore I had to go for the Draw. Game 2: I don't remember much. His early Hymn got a my necro and a land I needed. I couldn't get up fast enough as Ehrnam beat me to death with in a few minutes. I can't find my creature control for the life of me. Game 3: This was a fast paced game. Early Necro on my part, early Ehrnam's on his. I'm drawing like mad, keeping him at bay for a while, but eventually getting more Ehrnam beat down. Control Magic on my cleric did me in. Where is my damn creature control! He had an early Hymn that won him the game by getting BOTH my opening hand Drain Lives. He killed me while he was at 6 life because I had bolted/incinrated him down. My perish was the next card. This puts Doug in 1st place because he got an extra point from the draw. I should have won, but who cares, it's just a game. 2-2-1; 1-1 Round 3: Matthew R/G Ehrnam LD (I hate this deck. Bad match up for me.) Game 1: Yeah, I lose the roll. He gets his first turn Vineyard as I start to burn to death. The fat creatures and me having no land didn't help either. I think I might have hit him a couple of times, I don't know. I died mainly to land screw. Game 2: I go first but of course can't do anything. He goes and doesn't play a vineyard!! He looks frustrated. I start to Hymn stuff and lay pump clerics. Not too long into the future I get him down enough to drain him to death. Birds of Paradise aren't very good blockers. Game 3: He goes with his Vineyard again. Then starts to blow up my land. I have enough land, and some creature control finally, but not enough to keep from burning to death on his Vineyard after he blows it up. I hate that thing against this deck. Land screwed again. 3-4-1; 1-2 Great. 2 Losses. I can't lose again or I stand no chance in the 7 round swiss format. Round 4: Julius B/R Necro (Yes! Necro vs Necro. This should be fun.) Game 1: Same old, same old. Hymn, Hymn. Necro, Necro. He plays land, I play knights and clerics. Start to beat him down, he starts to drain/beat me down. I eventually end it with a drain of my own. Game 2: I think I had the advantage here. He probably hit some mad land pockets but I think I hymned away most of his good stuff. He got another pump knight/cleric beat down with a drain to top it off. He didn't Necro right anyway, he lays it down and doesn't draw cards as I am starting to take life away. He was a nice guy though, I have to admit. I hate jerks at this level. 5-4; 2-2 Round 5: (??) Sligh (Oh damn. I was doing well, and didn't want to see this deck. I hate you Paul for playing this. :) This guy was a total scrub too. The deck did well.) Game 1: I forget to Hymn, so I get Fireblasted/burned to death. I can't draw cards obviously. Game 2: About the same. "Boom, Boom. Red decks are so dumb." -- Flores. I needed 1 more black, but drew a Wasteland. Of course I drop. The top 8 consisted of: 1 -- ??? -- Fruty Pebbles 2 -- Jay Shneider(sp) -- Fruity Pebbles (Atlanta!) 3 -- ??? -- ??? 4 -- Mike -- (read his report) 5 -- Eric Ewald -- Randall: The Berzerker (Atlanta!) 6 -- Sean -- Necro 7 -- David Leader -- StOmPy!/Anti-Atomic Bomberman (Atlanta!) 8 -- Ben Chen -- Weenie/Pox/Blackstuff (Atlanta!) Quarter: Ben managed to squeak a win from a Pebbles deck. Leader beat Shneider with his own deck. Sean beat ???(some tall guy I don't know, seemed pretty cool though) Eric beat Mike Semi: Eric beat Ben Leader beat Sean Finals: Leader beat Eric 2-1 Randall made it to the Finals! But Stompy won... Winter Orb was HUGE. Lauer/Beuhler Necro B/r/w Variant (I am definitely no mad genius deck builder, props goes to the maker. I just used some of my own play testing ideas and uses to boot.) 4 x Necropetence 4 x Hymn to Tourach 4 x Drain Life 2 x Demonic Consultation (Yes, I know Randy, it should have been 4 like yours) 4 x Pump Knights 3 x Pump Clerics (Only have 3, can't find the 4th) 1 x Ihsan's Shade (Never got to use him!) 4 x L-Bolt 2 x Incinerate 2 x Firestorm(God send) 3 x Diabolic Edict 3 x Disenchant 2 x Lake of the Dead (Should have been 3) 7 x Swamp (Should have been 8) 2 x Wasteland :( 3 x Gemstone Mine 4 x Scrubland 4 x Badland 2 x Fetch Land Side: 1 x Disenchant 1 x Firestorm 1 x Mind Bend 3 x Pyroblast 2 x CoP: Black 3 x Terror 2 x Perish 2 x Dread of Night I know what you're thinking. Where the HELL are the Honorable Passages. I don't know, I forgot. They should have been in there.