Subject: PTQ Salt Lake City Date: 16 Mar 98 01:40:59 GMT From: "Your_Real_Name" Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy I FINALLY WON A PRO TOUR QUALIFIER!!!!!! I worked all night, had a four hour drive to Salt Lake City Utah, and got there just in time. I felt like a genuine Magic player. I have never made a tournament Report before, and I don't remember all the details from every Match I played, but here are some Highlights: My original deck was a Black/Blue/White deck with several shadows, and several fliers. It was really fast... coming out quick to deal tons of damage. My gamebreaking card in the deck was Fevered Convulsions. Win I first registered the deck I didn't think it was that great. I was worried about losing to some fat deck that I couldn't deal with, but as luck would have it... I won my first 5 mathces in the seven rounds of Swiss. I only lost 1 duel in the entire 7 rounds of Swiss. I went 5-0, and then I took a draw in the 6th round with Aaron Muranaka. I am glad we drew, as his deck was so good, and he would have kicked me all over the place. We played a game for fun, and if I recall corectly... he proceeded to destroy basically everything on my side of the table, and beat me down with a few creatures. I then took another draw in the 7th round with Michael Callahan. So my record after 7 rounds of Swiss was 5-0-2. I was seated 1st going into the top 8, out of a tournament field of 91 players. (Not quite as big as the PTQ in long beach I entered, with 250- something), but none-the-less, it was the biggest tournament I have ever won. Ok, so now into the top 8... we (Aaron Muranaka, Michael Callahan, Jason Harper, Myself, and 4 others... sorry didn't remember your names) did a rochester draft that took longer than I expected. I started drafting mostly Blue Green, and I took some red, and black that I didn't want to play against when there wasn't something I really wanted. I noticed Aaron got 2 dark banish, and a Living Death. There was only 4 or 5 rolling thunders total. The packs were not that exciting. There was about 5 really good packs, and the rest were pretty boring. I got 4 counterspells, 2 Rootwater hunters, 3 Rootwalla, 2 gaseous form, and several other green, and blue creatures. I only had 2 shadows, and 3 fliers. I noticed that my opponent drafted 2 rolling thunders, and drafted some good blue cards maybe just so I wouldn't get them. I did notice he didn't draft many creatures. I took most of the good cost effective green creatures, and there wasn't a perish in sight... unless I was sleeping when one showed up. My deck had 10 green creatures, and 7 blue creatures. I had some COP's in the side, and I was ready to go. Again my deck was pretty fast, and I seemed to always get Rootwater hunter on the table early in the game, stopping my opponent from playing certain creatures. The first match in the top 8... my oponent was playing Red/Blue/Green. His deck was really slow, but the first duel I had a slow draw, and he beat me down with 3 Rootbreaker Worms!!! Can you believe that... 3 creatures that will be in your hand until the 7th turn. I knew that if I came out quick he would die, so I sided in two more creatures, and beat him down the next two duels. My next opponent was playing Blue/Red... Uhmm! I don't really remember... I know it had Blue. I recall he drafted 3 Capsizes. All I remember about that whole Match was when I Spell Blasted his Capsize after he payed a whopping 6 Mana. The games went pretty quick, and I was on to the Championship Match. I forgot what his name was, but I think he was from Centerville, Utah. He had a Black/Red/Green deck that didn't seem to have many creatures. I beat him down the first game, and he smaked me up the 2nd game with a Darkling Stalker, and I drew way too much land. The next game I got second turn shadow, and third turn Rootwater Hunter, then Rootwall, and a couple of other creatures. I got him down really low in life. I think he was at 6, and I was at 16. Then this game got really exciting. He attacked with all his creatures, and I would surely win next turn if he was bluffing. He was either bluffing me into blocking, or not blocking. If I blocked, and he had Rolling thunder it looked as though he could kill possible 4 of my creatures after combat rather than just 2 creatures. I neglected to remember that he was the one who took the Apocalypse. So I didn't block... that took me down to 9 life, and him at 6 life. "I am so glad you did that", he replied while casting Apocalypse. My advantage was I was holding 2 cards in my hand. Well it was all luck from here, as I top decked a land, and three turns later I put out my second Rootwater hunter. He played a Wall Of Diffusion, and I put out that 2/4 blue flyer (see how bad I am... I don't even know what the cards are called). I thought I had won, as we were both racing to draw the needed. He was in a do or die situation. He tapped his swamp, played dark ritual, and spinal grafted my flyer. This drew laughter from the crowd, and then he tapped his 2 mountains for a giant strength. This drew more laughter, and cheers. So he took one Mana Burn, and was at 4 life after I poked with my Rootwater. I played a Trained Armodon, and he top decked a Bottle Gnomes that bought him time. I got him down to Zero, and he sacked the Bottle Gnomes. I layed another creature, and played my 16th draft pick... Jinxed Idol. I am so stupid that I didn't know what the card did. For some reason I thought I could only use it on my upkeep, so I waited until then... that put me at seven Life, and after I attacked I sacked a creature to give him the Jinxed Idol. It was pretty much game over from there, and I had just won my first PTQ. Now I am on my way to New York. My first step is to read all the cards in Tempest and Stronghold so I know what they do!!! I mostly play Magic for fun... I just love games, but I guess it is time to actually take it really serious. Oh I will have to learn how to draft good too... Zig Laing