Subject: PTQ-CH REPORT: Orlando, FL Sent: 8/10/98 7:37 PM From: emalka@bellsouth.net To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com HEY YO! It's Sol Malka again. Here's what went down at the Orlando PTQ this Saturday (8/8/98). I went with Jeff Kostick, Justin Gary (just judging), the soon-to-be-married Adam Maysonet and Melody Alder, and the already-married Dave Baumgartner and Lianne. I opened an interesting deck. It had three 1cc critters that hit for 2 (Pup, Carnophage, Sarcomancy), plus Pit Imp, Blood Pet, Foul Imp, Decoy, Trooper, Lancer, and a couple of big finishers (Rathi Dragon and Sabertooth Wyvern). Now, it isn't usually my style to play all those little critters with drawbacks, but since there were so many and they were so fat, it would have worked and produced a nice slighish R/B/w. Oh yeah, it had Shackles, Pacifism, Edict, a couple bolts, death stroke, and puppet strings. But I didn't get it back. I was handed the biggest PILE I have seen in Rath sealed. Here's the list of what I used (I built it right, there just wasn't anything to go on): Clot Sliver Dauthi Horror Dauthi Jackal Dark Banishing Thalakos Seer Whiptongue Frog Mirozel (hated to use this, should have been the mighty Sea Monster) Giant Crap (oops...crab) Capsize Whispers Propaganda Counterspell Shadow Rift Lowland Basilisk Wood Elves Avenging Druid Spike Feeder (ok he's kinda cool...'cuz he's nWo "4 Life") Charging Rhino Spined wUrm Rootbreaker wUrm (hadn't used this guy since TE Prerelease...not bad) Elvish Fury Coiled Asswi...umm, Tinviper 7 Island 7 Forest 4 Swamp ...ok, at least the mana/spell distribution was nice...takes more than that though. SB notables: Sea Monster Reality Anchor Manta Riders (for 1 toughness flyers) 4 mountains and Mage il-Vec, Wall of Diffusion, Canyon Wildcat, Mogg Flunkies (for all the black cards once) So basically the deck had _one_ direct way to remove creatures (the banish), which means a special ability dude like a Decoy or a pinger HUMPS this deck. There really wasn't anything cool about it. No graveyard manipulation. No broken cards, and a lot of mediocre ones I don't usually include. My plan was to play until I took my second loss and play side events. Round 1: Andrew Dowling 4 colors no white Game 1 he gets turn 2 enraging licid, turn 3 giant strength and attack...cool, I get to attack with my turn 3 avenging druid...I do so and drop some fat, then notice he didn't have 2 red in play for giant strength...he had sleeves and the holograms were right over the casting costs...did a similar thing with a skyshroud troll. I win w/o too much trouble. Game 2 he parises and stalls at 2 land...I go turn 3 wood elf, turn 4 spined wurm, turn 5 apply for 6 and capsize a land w/ buyback...did I mention he was a newbie? scoop. 1-0, 2-0. Wow my deck is amazing. Round 2: Chris Thomas, B/G/W Game 1 he gets a Dauthi Ghoul and another shadow, I get the seer and he puts Predatory Hunger on the ghoul...so I can't block the horror when it attacks or the ghoul will become 3/3, and every time I cast something the ghoul will get bigger...no capsize for me = I scoop. Game 2 I get GGGBB on the table with Crab and Whispers in hand, and a 1/3 and the feeder out...I get down to 7 when I get the blue for the crab. He doesn't attack. I get another U next turn and get out the rootbreaker. He doesn't attack. One more passive turn of his and I start whispering. I get the capsize and we each just sit back and build up our forces, me hitting with the frog for 1 a turn and whispering all the while, capsizing as needed. Finally with 7-8 critters on each side he attacks with everything and I declare blockers so as to kill almost all of his stuff and only lose my feeder (saccing for life) but he casts overrun MID-COMBAT...oops...all his stuff dies, he should have won as I couldn't have capsized/blocked enough. I attack for the win with 3 or 4 critters and he respites. He tries the overrun with 2 dudes next turn and it...isn't as effective. I win 1 or 2 turns later. Game 3 we have about 10 minutes, I take a little damage then get out a fatty and then the rootbreaker...you can't stop it you can only hope to contain it. I win quickly. 2-0, 4-1...but I should have lost 0-2 if he had read overrun. Round 3: Mario Robaina U/R/W Game 1: I am color hosed for blue and I stall at 2 or 3 lands total. Plus he gets the decoy. Thank you, drive thru. Game 2: I draw 1 forest, 1 swamp, and the propaganda...don't get the 3rd land before I concede. 2-1, 4-3...as I told Mario...the deck sucks on its own, it doesn't have to be mana screwed too... Round 4: Shane Myerscough, W/R/B Game 1: He outraces me with shadow, the crab simply isn't that good in a race and visionary is some good vs. propaganda...couldn't find the second green for Spike feeder. Whatever. Game 2: This time I just beat him down with fat. Game 3: By now I had seen Searing Touch and sided in the red for the black. He gets me very low with an aggressive start but I lay lots of dudes and stabilize at 3 life with a 1 counter feeder in play. I have a Whiptongue vs. his Spirit en-Kor and am chipping away with a Thalakos Seer. After several turns of this he attacks with the Spirit. I give the frog flying, he shocks it, I DECLINE TO BLOCK, he kicks himself, I go to 1. Shortly thereafter I get a Mage il-Vec after he had Shackled my Seer. I draw some lands and start hitting him for 1 a turn, he can't find an answer in time. Had he shocked after I blocked with the Frog, I wouldn't have found an answer for the Spirit in time. 3-1, 6-4...1 win vs. a total newbie and the other 2 wins should have been losses. Round 5: Mike Wolek, B/U/W. Game 1 he gets out some flyers/shadows and a decoy vs. my Spined Wurm, guess he wins that race (no prop or banish for me). Game 2 I draw 9 land as I did game 1, again w/o the blue buyback...can't race a turn 1 spindrift like that...Propaganda WHERE ARE YOU?!?! I go down in flames quickly. 3-2, 6-6...time to play some side events. I TOLD you I'd live to regret blocking with those Zealots en-Dal and throwing away that Shackles a few weeks ago in Miami. I play in the $10 single elim mox type 2 with my WW/r/u I posted last week (see my dojo rept) Round 1 I play a dude named Ken, who has decided to play a blue buyback medallion deck with such powerhouses as Dominating Licid, Sage Owl and Mirozel...no manowars, no impulses, they're bad cards I guess. Yes, at this point I am a tad spiteful. Game 1: turn 1 mox/shadow, turn 2 paladin = he scoops...only damage I took was a 2 pt firestorm to us both. Game 2: He clears the board at 4 life w/ a disk, then drops a medallion w/ 2 mana open...I draw a disenchant w/ a hand of a priest and some mana...I know he has a forbid since he used it already, so logic says I should chant the meda...OH CRAP I cast the priest he forbids. I cast the White Knight I draw next turn and that gets countered too (he had no cards left, and had not bought back the forbid last turn). I draw several straight mana and get the Mirozel beatdown. Game 3: I threw away game 2 so OF COURSE I get humped on the draw game 3, just to show me... no double white, just 2 wasteland and a plains...both of my torture chambers get countered and so do my first couple creatures...I never get anything going and get beat down by Mirozel again. Oh well, fastest 25 points and ten bucks I ever gave away. I go watch Lianne (who is 4-1) playing Anthony, a cool guy and good player from Ft. Lauderdale who is 3-2. Anthony has dome great cards in U/B/W but has 6 lands of each color and lots of UU. Game 1: Lianne gets turn 3 2/2, Anthony gets turn 4 harpy, Lianne gets turn 4 lightning elemental and Anthony takes 6. He untaps and convictions the harpy (lots of land in hand). Lianne pacifies it and hits for 6 more...Anthony never gets another critter. Game 2: Anthony draws about 4 UU spells and no second Island, just one U, one W, and about 5-6 B. He scoops and drops. Lianne is 5-1 and looking strong. She is G/R/W. Dave, her husband, is our group's only other hope at 4-1-1. I go get in a booster draft. I get a decent U/B with 2 shamus, 2 Foul Pimps, 2 other flyers incl. Maddening Imp with 2 wall of tears and a shifting wall, plus gravepact...a bit thin on removal though. I play 9 swamps and 8 islands since the shamus are my only UU. I play Anthony. He is U/W/B just as in his sealed. Game 1: I paris, get UB then U...both shamus and a Pimp in hand...he gets some flyers and then Ertai, I die horribly. Game 2: I paris, get UB and nothing else with both shamus AGAIN...As Sean O'Brien said in his Origins '97 report, Magic Sucks. (R) Like a compulsive gambler I get in another booster. In the meantime I check on Dave and Lianne. I see Lianne with red eyes and I'm almost afraid to ask. Dave tells me she was up 16 life to 2 in game 3 of round 7 (hence would have been in a position to draw in w/ a win) but drew SIX STRAIGHT LANDS and lost. Magic Sucks. Dave, meanwhile, is still alive at 6-1. In the draft I open a Burial, then get a Horror and Slayer...and virtually nothing else. Mental note: Avoid Black in testex draft. I knew that already. What's my problem today? I play a R/W that is better than my deck. Plus he has a Bullwhip I can't stop, and he got it both games. He got it fourth pick. Whatever. Chalk up another 25 points. At least today doesn't count toward the PT Chicago invite list, it's too late. Dave wins his last round to finish 6-1-1. He is looking forward to top 8, as he made the semis last time in Miami but has never made a PT. Eight people finish at 6-1-1. Six of them make top 8. Dave finishes...ninth. Magic Sucks. You all have GOT to read Sean's Origins '97 report, in the Dojo's archives. It was so cool. Everyone else goes back to the rooms. I stay and watch top 8 because I am a tool. So were some of the people in top 8. 13th pick Flame wave? Early pick Oath of Druids? And how, HOW is a Mirozel better than a Wayward Soul, people, if you're playing primary blue?!?! Anyhow, the finals are between Daniel Mondragon of Central FL's GoodFellas and some dude in a GOLDBERG shirt (Yesss!!!) who I learn is Bryan Hubble from TX. Goldb...umm, Hubble wins in 3 and gets the slot at 2 AM. WHO'S NEXT! Nothing else happened this weekend that pertained to Magic, so I guess it's time I shut up. Next stop: PTQ in Atlanta, GA on the 29th, and my last chance to qualify (rankings notwithstanding...Yeah right, maybe if I played in Malaysia). Props/Slops: Sorry...none this time. I'm still buzzed from sleeping on the floor with a bath towel for a pillow. Sol Malka nWo Hollywood (FL) THE king of Mana Screw (sorry Adam) AND mana flood AND color hose emalka@bellsouth.net until August 20 or so gs11slm@panther.gsu.edu after that