SATURDAY @PTQ - A TOURNAMENT REPORT (5-10-97) Bad news, not only did I take apart my PTQ (Pro-Tour Qualifier) deck after my miserable showing, but the deck registration sheet got thrown away. I really wanted to be able to post the deck list for this tournament because I think I made some key mistakes in deck building - however, this is not to be. So I am going to post here my notes on the match and some of what was in my deck (i.e. what I can remember). My memory is worse than imperfect but I was playing Green/Red/Blue. I decided to play Green/Red because I had some red removal and a Savage Twister. Savage Twister is almost as strong as Torch, and getting one almost always means you have to play it. I also had lots and lots of big green stuff, and a number of big red stuff including, but not limited to a subterranean spirit. I was then faced with a hard choice, the white or the blue. The white had parapet, 2 remedies and 3 to 4 good white weenies. The blue had a waterspout, a crock, Ovinomancer, and a flyer. I was leaning toward he white on the theory that my deck was to slow and the blue tho good would just slow it down more when the person sitting next to me pointed out how good the blue was. (The blue was good, just slow and the deck was already slow). So I played the blue. Here are my notes on the tournament: ROUND 1 Jon Choy In both games his playing the Aku Djinn won me the game. GAME 1 J:20,15,12 dead DH:30,18,16,1,3,8,6,5 Uses up his removal and I have a waterspout out when he plays the Aku Djinn. Take damage 1 urn then can block it. My guys get bigger and bigger. Waterspout goes up to a 8/8! GAME 2 PJ:20,19,12,8,7,6,5,1 dead H:20,19,18,20,23,22,17,12,15,14,13,8 Get out roots of life and he plays the Aku Djinn. I have subterranean spirit and other 3/3s ROUND 2 Biren Amin Playing Red/Black/Green GAME 1 B:20,19,17,15,13,11,9,7,2 dead DH:20,18,16,14,12 11 turn game. Just came out fast with small and then big stuff. He may have been a little mana screwed. GAME 2 PB:20,19,12 H:20,17,16,14,13,11,6 dead Mana hose. I have the crash of rhinos in my hand and the serpent o wall in my hand - I get 1 green. My deck cannot win with one green. (I had 7 green in the deck.) GAME 3 B:20,16,12,11 PH:20,12,14,7 dead I made a winning play in this game, and he had the one card in his deck that could stop it in his hand: I had Panther Warriors and Waterspout Djinn on the table, he has two 2/2 creatures on the table (including the wall that can sac to destroy for one black). He has no red untapped and a total of 3 lands untapped. So I do the following: I savage twist for 2 (clearing the board of his creatures and then attack for 10! This would have basically won me the game (this was like turn 5 and we were both at 20). He plays the king Cheetah and blocks and kills my panther warriors, sigh. About two turns later he gets removal for the waterspout. I did not get my second red for the spirit this game. ROUND 3 Andrew Goodman Playing Red/White/Blue GAME 1 PA:20,18,16,14,9,1 H:20,18,16,13,8,6,4,2 dead He did not play this game well - could have won about 10 turns sooner. He did not return the Hammer from his graveyard for a long time, when he remembered to do so he won. GAME 2 A:20,18,16,11,8 dead PH:20,18,16,14,12,10 I won by Ovinomancering and flaring his one blocker, then swarming. GAME 3 PA:20,19,13,7 H:20,18,16,14,10,6,4,2 dead Did not get 2nd green again. Can't win with this deck without 2nd green. sigh. ROUND 4 Jason Gordon Playing Red/Black/Green. His green was a lot like mine, but he also had a fireblast and a volcanic Volcanic Geyser! How the heck did I win? GAME 1 J:20,14,12 DH:20,16,12,6 dead Volcanic Geyser and fireblast kill ouch. GAME 2+3 J:20,19,17,11,8,5,4,3 dead PH:20,19,18,16,15,13,9,11,8,9,10,9,7,8,9,8 DJ:20,17,16,14,10,4,1 dead H:20,18,16,18,20,22,18,14,16,13,14 Won both games because of the roots of life. In the second game I got the final point by turning my giant caterpillar into a butterfly. At this point I decided to drop out, my deck was just not working right. Gray Matter was starting up a small sealed deck (8 people) and I decided I would have more fun playing in that - I was kinda annoyed with how my deck was drawing. Did very well in the side tournament - went 3-0 and then agreed to a draw with John. Loved my deck it was Blue and White with lots and lots of flyers and flankers. THE FINALS I did not watch the finals that much, but I was excited because 4 Neutral Ground regulars got in: Eric Kesselman, Adam Katz, Mathew Wang, and Alex Schvartzmanh. I was cheering for them, but none of em made it. (sigh). A SIDE NOTE In the 2rd round I was at 1-1 and the guy next to me looks at my deck box and then says some thinning like: Hey that was deck I registered. How, did you lose a match with that deck? It has all of those big green creatures? I can't believe you lost a game. I got very pissed. We were in the middle of the match and he was talking about what cards were in my deck. This is 100% against the rules of magic tournaments (and common sense.) I yelled at him, and I should not have, what I should have done is called over a judge and gotten him a warning or kicked out of the tournament. So whoever that was, if you are reading this I apologize for yelling at you, I should have called over the judge. As a note to all tournament players - Don't talk about the deck you registered with anyone, especially if you know who got the deck, and NOT DURING A GAME. This is called scouting and if you read the rules by the DCI you will see this will get you kicked out of the tournament. Sorry to all the rest of you about that, but I needed to vent a little about this idiot. It is very possible I lost that round because of his comments. I saw my opponent's play style change. Be good, H.