Madison PTQ for PT NY (1 slot ptq)
Saturday, Feb 7 1998
Format: 7 rounds Tempest sealed swiss (1 starter, 2 boosters), Top 8 Tempest
Rochester Draft
Right off the bat I'm gonna tell you I went 3-2 and dropped, so this is no
story of glory and victory. It's just been a long time since I've written a
report, and I just felt that it needed to be done. No proofreading either,
so expect some major spelling errors :)
I'm gonna give you a little background here, because at a lot of tournaments
I go to I hear "why didn't you try to qualify for Germany or LA?" and "what
happened to the Crew?" I think this should clear things up a bit and maybe
I won't be asked as often. After PT Chicago my team (The Crew - Ron Serio,
Francis Keys, Max Szlagor and me, Sam Heckman) sort of fell apart, we were
all pretty discouraged by bad showings in a PT Format we felt we understood
and would do well in. Ron, Max and myself played in a couple of small
tournaments after that, but we all decided that it really wasn't worth it to
try and go to Germany. Between the cost of going to all the qualifiers and
then Travel costs to Germany we would have to place relatively high just to
break even. We were thinking "What's the point of a PT if you don't make
money?" Francis kept playing all the time, although discouraged he still
had PT hopes and dreams. Francis didn't do anything to pressure us into
playing, but it seemed obvious that he was dissapointed he was the only
person exherting any effort. So throughout the Germany PTQ season we did
basically nothing. I think this helped our personal lives quite a bit, I
got a new Job, a new girlfriend, and my friends who felt I was lost to Magic
started hanging out again.
By the time the PTQs for LA came around I was at a big disadvantage.
Not only did I not own any Tempest cards, I didn't know what the majority of
them even did. I honestly felt like I had no reason even trying to compete
at that level in an environment that I didn't even understand at all. I
hadn't completely lost touch with the game though, I still spent a lot of
time in #mtgpro on irc. Not too much strategy is discussed there, but the
tidbits I got helped out quite a bit. I started to get a feel for what was
good in the new environments, but I still wanted to find out more. I
constantly checked the dojo and looked up any cards I wasn't sure of (what
the hell does cursed scroll do?) The next step was going to tournaments and
just watching games. I learned a lot about the new t2 from watching Brandon
Rutter play at Heroes, and I went to 2 of the PTQs in Chicago and watched a
lot of ACD matches there. I also bought some Tempest from Todd Hansen and
got a clue as to what most everything did.
Throughout this time I really tried to analyse why I still wanted to
play the game. It costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time, and only a
handfull of people can play and even break even on the costs of travel,
cards, and what not. It seemed for me that the answer was that the game
creates a lot of friends, and that I really enjoyed to play. If it wasn't
for all the cool people that I hang out with at tournaments I don't think I
would have gone to a tournament ever again. After talking to Bob Maher I
decide that I really should play in these NY ptqs. I got a lot of
encouragement from Cathy Nicoloff and Jason Opalka too. Everyone had been
so cool at all the tournaments I watched that I thought it would be fun to
get back into things. I know that I will probably make dime one playing
Magic, but I had to do it For the Love of the Game.
So that brings us to Wednesday, Feb 4. I talk to Francis Keys and he says
he is going to go and bring one of our Juniors Melissa Lang. I give Ron a
call just to see if he's interested in going. He doesn't sound too
thrilled, and since Francis and Melissa are going from Minneapolis and I'm
leaving from a suburb of Chicago I have to make the trip solo. Friday night
I decide I need to get some sleep so I can leave at 6am Saturday morning.
It's about a 2 hour drive to Madison for me. Nate Clarke tells me to just
stay up all night, but I know that would never work. At 10:30pm I take some
Nyquil and by 11 I'm out. I get horrible sleep, waking up about once an
hour. At about 2:30am I wake up for good. So much for rest. I kill some
time untill about 5am and take a shower and get ready. By 5:30 I'm out the
door, a little early, but I need to get some gas, money and of course
Gatorade. Gatorade is the most amazing "stay awake" drink there is on this
planet. By 5:45am I'm on I90 going west, on my way. I had to take the
"Nastymobile" to the tournament. It's my old 84 Accord that barely runs,
the name comes from an old band I was in called Nasty. Somebody stole my
radio and amp from the car so it has no tunes and a broken window. It's
strange to drive and hear no music, the time goes a lot slower. This is
also the first trip I've made alone to a major tournament. Normally if
nobody else wants to go I won't, but this time I feel I need to play. I
stop a few times to pay tolls and get some McDonalds. When I called the
site, Neil's Diamond to get directions they asked "Are you coming from
Chicago?" I said yes and she goes "Figures." I got the worst directions and
got really lost. I still made it there by about 8:30am with some help from
a dude at a gas station.
This site is incredibly strange, don't get me wrong, I liked it. The
tournament area is big with individual tables for matches. Downstairs there
is a bar that serves sandwiches, and such. There is also a BOWLING ALLEY!!
Even though I don't bowl I was very impressed. Outside these crazy guys and
playing softball in the snow, and there were people IN THE STANDS!! Noah
Weil is the only person I recognise when I first get there. He is playing a
game with the oversized Arena cards and what not against the woman that owns
them. I eventually play Wyatt Agard with the oversized cards, my draw
Swamp, Lotus, Ivory Tower, Mirror Universe, Juzam, swamp, Necro. I win.
Well at this point I'm feeling lucky. Soon we all sit down to register
decks. Francis and Melissa come at the very last minute. The deck I
register is ok, but I really didn't want to get it back. Apparently I made
a error registering and gave the guy a Canyon Drake insted of a
Wildcat...oops. Francis brought a mono-green portal deck to give to my
sister, 4 plant elementals make it a real powerhouse. Thanks again Francis.
I finally sit down and get my deck for the day..here's what it is:
What I *didn't* play
B Reanimate
B Sadistic Glee
B Dark Ritual
1B Rats of Wrath
1B Dauthi Horror
BB Enfeeblement
2B Dauthi Embrace
2B Coercion
1BB Reckless Spite
3B Marsh Lurker
3B Darkling Stalker
3B Darkling Stalker
3B Soul Drinker
XB Endless Scream
U Shadow Rift
U Manta Riders
1U Winged Sliver
UU Thalakos Seer
XU Ertai's Meddling
2G Tranquility
2G Needle Storm
GG3 Natural Spring
R Shadowstorm
R Mogg Conscripts
1R Heart Sliver
1R Blood Frenzy
2R Stone Rain
3R Firefly
2RR Flowstone Giant
1W Cop Red
1W Cop White
1W Cop White
1W Master Decoy
1W Oracle en-Vec
1W Armored Pegasus
2W Er33t Javelineer
2W Soltari Crusader
3W Mounted Archers
3W Cloudchaser Eagle
3W Cloudchaser Eagle
2 Manakin
3 Static Orb
3 Torture Chamber (looks damn good in my sideboard don't it, the power of
torture chamber wasn't revealed to me until after my decklist was in...fuck
me)
Pine Barrens
Wasteland
Forest
Mountain
4 Plains
4 Swamp
So that's what I had to work with, a lot of high cc stuff and really good
buyback and counters. This mix made sure I was down really low in life
before I got anything going. Every single game seemed like a comeback.
btw. I'm sorry if I get names wrong. I copied the sheet that was filled out
by the T.O. and the handwriting was rough :)
Round 1 Kevin Dolbeave
Game 1: I mulligan, he gets a fast start with mogg conscripts and heart
sliver. I can't get a searing touch going because he played a Goblin
Bobardment. Eventually I get so low on life that the bombardment gives him
an easy win.
Game 2: I take out my red and put in white for Torture chamber cloudchaser,
cop: red, master decoy, and er33t Javelineer. I'm really worried about that
bombardement because my deck is slow and it stops my buyback from being
effective. I get a slow start with 2 Islands and a Plains for the first 5
or so turns. He plays a Apes of Rath. He boils the 2 Islands and gets out
a puppet strings. With nothing on the board I die really fast.
0-1
Round 2 Jeff Como
Game 1: I play a 3rd turn Rootwater Hunter and protect it with Broken Fall +
Countermagic. He was holding a lot of 1 toughness creatures that he could
never use effectively.
Game 2: I side in Shadowstorm, Thalakos Seer and Torture Chamber. He was
pretty hosed, with a hand of black cards and no swamps.
1-1
Round 3 Todd Schry
Game 1: I get sorta steamrolled, Master Decoy stopped me from blocking at
all and he got me really low early. I hung on for a long time, but
eventually he got a Cloudchaser that I couldn't block.
Game 2: He was really manascrewed and I got a quick start with a Heartwood
Dryad and a Canyon Wildcat. I kindled and countered his early defenses,
eventually getting into capsize range.
Game 3: This game goes on forever, we had to get a couple simple rulings, I
forgot how regeneration worked before regular damage dealing, and there was
some confusion about Giant Crap. It ends with me surviving long enough to
get board control and finish things at a really low life total. It was a
rough game for me, when it was over I didn't even realise it was the 3rd.
2-1
Round 4 Noah Weil
Game 1: I don't remember details of the first game because it was so
overshadowed by the 2nd. Maybe Noah will post a report and shed some light
on it. I think that Phyrexian Hulk and Stalking Sands finished it, while I
prtected them with Broken Fall.
Game 2: This was my most intense limited game since PTLA1. I shit you not.
Noah gets me really low while I struggle to chump block Apes of Rath with
Heartwood Dryad and regenerate with Broken Fall. I have Capsize, Elvish
Fury AND Searing Touch in my hand at one point. I can never spare the mana
to cast them and buyback. I get out the torture chamber and start killing
his creatures. I have to take some damage from the chamber to kill his
fatties. Eventually I'm at one with the chamber out and all my creatures
have a one toughness. I use up the Fury and Touch to help kill fat. My
whole offense it a Thalakos Seer. I have to ping him down slow, praying I
don't get burned out. This goes on for at least 10 turns while I'm on the
defensive. I get out a hunter and eventually I can capsize and I pull it
out. Even though I won this game took forever. In my tired state it really
mentally drained me. I think for Noah it was frustrating too, becuase he
did have burn left and eventually I was right out of counters.
3-1
Round 5 Don Schaman
Game 1: He beats the hell out of me. He has early fast black while I have 2
fatties edicted away, yes 2 in a row. Rats of Wrath stop the capsize and I
get wrecked. It doesn't help that I'm too tired to concentrate right at
this point. Adrian Sullivan comes over and says he wants to get a picture of
our match because we are both the baldest guys at the tournament. I don't
know if he actually did it, but it was amusing nonetheless.
Game 2: He gets an early start but I get the Torture Chamber going and start
to comeback. We both make some mistakes, mine bigger than his. Sooner or
later he pulls his 2nd mountain and Rolling Thunders me out. I was holding
a spell blast but couldn't have stopped it anyway.
I tell Don I'm dropping, so we look at each others decks. He had some good
stuff, and I wished him luck.
At this point I left. I'm sure Adrian will post the results of Top 8.
Thanks to: Francis Keys, for showing up when he probably didn't want to and
especially for giving my sister that deck. She's gonna beat the hell out of
me now. btw. Stay away from my mom. Melissa Lang, for getting me those
cursed scrolls I wanted at a good price. #mtgpro, for being so cool to a
person that has never made a PT Top 8. All my opponents, esp Noah for the
quote "you're much more talkative on irc". Cara, for putting up with me
going away to play cards, and The Sensei.
