From: "Jamie" Subject: paris ptq in Boston #2 Evening all. Spent the weekend in Boston, at the last hurrah for all the sick restricted cards. The last PTQ for Paris. Last week I was just out of it, going 5-2 in the rounds of swiss, and needing a 5-1-1 in order to qualify for the top eight. Kept the deck identical, except I put 4 terrors in the sideboard, and took out some glooms, and a cap. Hil, Doug, Rod and I decided to head down on Saturday night, stay at the red roof and get up in the morning with only a half an hour drive to the tournament. I found out last weekend how much easier this is than getting up at 4 a.m. (right about the time I'm able to drift off, the alarm goes off, and I play like an idiot all day) and driving to Boston which is four hours away. Damn that sucks. Last week, I went down with Keith, Louise, Dean, Ira, Josh, Brandon, Matt and the Lovely Mare (my gorgeous supportive wife) to the SMK tournament, and this week, they were all coming a day later. We would have the entire Five Colors of Death in Boston. (minus Canticle, and Brandon, who had to spend the weekend at home with his woman, and studying up for exams) The lovely Mare is visiting the folks, so I am without my better half this weekend. Ira will be playing his Smashstone millstone deck again, an amazing deck that I can't believe didn't sweep the field. We are all very afraid of this deck. Last weeks record with this deck - 4-1-2 Keith will be playing a white weenie deck, recalls for his restricted cards, and sea sprites for sligh. Last week – 4-1-2 Louise is playing a different deck this week, a green white erhnamgeddon deck she is very comfortable with. Josh will be going with white knights, meekstones and geddons, after having a rough time with his turbo-stasis deck last week. Hilary is going with a five color deck that pulled off the net for him with derelors, hordes, erhnams, animate dead, and just enough white for the broken cards. Doug is going with a black red necro deck Rodney is going with a transformational sideboarded Turbo stasis deck. In the sideboard, he has zephy falcons, bay falcons, and serra angels. Its totally cool, and its my idea. Jamie (me) going with the big creature discard deck. I think you all know it by now, so I'll skip a listing, and will give to you if you e-mail me. Not really important either since you can't play it anymore in type two (what a stupid format these ptq's were) So, we get down, we stay at the roof, we sleep, we watch the best Zena episode ever, the return of Callisto, which is a repeat, but we all watch it again anyway cause it's the best one. What an awesome show. And Callisto = . So, for the first time ever, we find the damn knights of columbus hall without driving in circles for a half an hour. (bunch of damn country bumpkins, that's what we are!) Keith and louise, josh and Ira are there already. Kevin Mcglaughlin, the only member from Team Pendragon ever to leave the store is here is well. Kevin and I good friends, but rivals at Magic. He is ranked three spots above me in the rankings right now, and we hate to play each other because we do so so often. A great player, and a nice guy, too bad he lives so far away, cause he had to drive down here alone. He's got a green red deck that I never see all day. The tournament starts. I'm playing off against Buddy, from Team Quaterstaff, and he gets the worst draws I've seen since Dallas. I kill him in the second game with a hypnotic spectre that beats him down from 12 life. I never cast anything else. He's playing red/green and never drew a torch, an incinerate, a bolt or a stormbind to save him from the relentless hippy. Ira and louise have to play as well, and we have four people from VT playing each other in the first round. Everyone wins who can, and two vermonters lose. Rodney is the exception. He loses as well to Brian Kibler, who I think we all know. I've never played the Kibler elf in a tourney so I don't know what kind of player he is. Rodney fills me in and I want to pass it on. Kibler was a great player who wasn't a dick. Once, Rodney almost had the lock on, and kibler threw down a vice, rodney starts his turn and takes three from the vice. The game proceeds, kibler starts his turn, realizes that Rodney had Kismet on the board, realizes the vice should have come in tapped, tells rodney, and has him put the three life back on his dice. What a good sport. Can't say that about everyone. Thanks Kibler. In the second game, rodney goes – FORM OF – A NON_TAPPER CREATURE DECK!!! And transforms it. Kibler is taken totally by surprise (I think) About the eighth turn rodney gets a serra and stasis on the board, kibler attempts the disenchant, rodney forces it, kibler conceeds. Kibler goes on to take the third, but Rodney is in good spirits cause they had such a good series of games. Most everyone that I know has lost, except Fritz and I and Kevin who sqeeks out a win against (Jason? James? Jay?). Gordon. The match ends right at the time limit, with several judges called over, angry words, and Gordon receiving an official warning, and Kevin as mad as I have ever seen him. His face is a beet red and he can barely contain himself. Kevin teaches karate for a living, and I'm sure he's about to flip off the handle and go Postal Extreme Fighting on us. But he doesn't. The next round starts, sorry no details, I can't remember who I played, sorry. Rodney has lost to a deck that seems designed just to piss him off. Its played by a really nice girl, who takes him in three. It's a manabarbs/powersurge deck, and his turbo can't handle it. He loses again. 0-2. Almost the entire team is 1-1. I'm 2-0 and so is Fritz Fritz and I are of course paired off in the third round. I sit down with an easy confidence. Fritz is a great player, but I know he's playing Sligh. I have a ton of big fatties in this deck, sheild spheres (greatest card ever made) to block his onlslaught of weenies, and I have three drains in the main deck. Also, fritz and I have played three times in two different tournaments, and I've beaten him every time. I'm not overconfident, because fritz is a good player, and with a good draw, I know he CAN beat me, but, I am confident enough not to be nervous. Let me also say that Fritz is one of the nicest guys I know, and I think everyone who has ever met him will agree. Also, he came down from burlington, and we're all sharing a table, sort of as a Team Vermont. We sit down and shake, and start the game, and I lose the first one. The best card in my deck (the sheild spheres) never show up. Damn, damn, damn. In the second, I side in the Darkness, but it is to no avail. Again the sheild spheres elude me, and he runs over me with his little red horde R-R-R-R-REVENGE for the Fritzmeister. I never make it through the early rounds without a lose, and then I have to fight my way back up to a winning position. The only stand out left is Fritz. He is the only member left that is 3-0. Everyone else is floudering. Kevin also loses in the third round, and I just know he and I are going to have to slug it out like we always do. At this time last week, almost the entire team was 3-0. It's the fourth rounds, and I take on a green white deck that thinks I'm playing necro. He enlightened tutors for a vise two games in a row, but really, once I'm under it, it has no effect on me. I take him in the third with two disks in the opening hand and then draw a distopia. For a long frightening time, I have him on the ropes, and for like five turns he has two land on the board, no cards in hand, and a zorb on the table. I'm sure he's going to draw the balance. They always draw the balance., But, he doesn't. After its over he looks through his deck and finds it, the third card from the bottom. O.k., back in the winners slot, cause 2-1 really isn't that great, but I really like 3-1. I think Fritz lost in this round, so he is also 3-1, Kevin is also 3-1. Just about every one else is doing o.k., but it's still too early to tell. A lot at 2-2. Rodney has won again is also 2-2 after the fourth round. Rodney is pumped. His deck performed just the way its supposed to, and he's working his way back up. Hilary's 5 color deck is doing well, and he's havng a good time. Doug is doing well, but its still early. Looking around the room, I see a lot, and I mean, a LOT of famous people. SMK is giving away free airfare to the winner, and a lot of qualified people are here vying for it. Mike Loconto is here and he plays two of my teammates. Keith and Ira both say he was very pleasant and are pleasantly surprised. Mark Lepine, who stomps Hilary right next to me in the last round. Dave Hunphries, Rob Dougherty, Tom Guervin, and many others whose names escape me. Oh wait! There was one more. Lets see, I think that was… Chris Pikula, my next opponent. You know, the guy who just won $9000 in Dallas a couple months ago with a red balck necro deck. I've already heard he won a tournament Friday night, and took second on Saturday in NY. (rumors, I have no idea how true, but he does mention that he has been at two other tournaments this weekend, and he's been driving all over the place. We introduce ourselves, and we both know each other. I lay a swamp and he says. "Oh yeah, I think you have a lot bigger creatures than me." Once again, I don't see the sheild sphere's and it really pisses me off. I love the sheild spheres vs necro. Sheild spheres should say on it - Target knight deals no damage for 4 turns. But, I do see two contagions out of the three I have in the deck. He also see's two contagions, but mine are more effective. I almost always kill two knight with my contagions, while he can make a Sengir impotent, or kill a hippy. I get two contagions, and so does he. In the turning point of the match, I hymn him, and pull two necro's out of his hand. He never gets one on the board. My creatures are a lot bigger than his, and the sengirs fly in for the kill. Better lucky than good. The hymn won me the game. In the second, I side out all my disks, cause I think 4 on one side is plenty. In go the Forsaken wastes (which were everywhere this weekend) and one vice. He hymns me early, and pulls a forsaken wastes and something else. He says he really shouldn't do this since he just saw the wastes, but he necros down to ten, and draws seven cards. Next turn I lay the wastes that I'm holding and in response, he sacs land to the zorb to go up to 14. He proceeds to lay a horde of knights on the board, but I get out two sengirs and an ihsan, and it's a stalemate. When we are both at two from the forsaken wastes… I draw the drain. I never draw the DRAIN!!!!!! I am always a day late and a dollar short when this situation comes up. Pikula screams - "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "OH NO! I'm gonna take so much grief for this! I can't believe I lost…. Look, I hate to tell you this, but I really hate that deck. Can't you just throw a Necro in it? Maybe a couple in the sideboard? C'mon, you have everything you need to make this a necro deck! You have drains, the zorb, contagions, etc Tower? No. I try to explain that necro requires weenies and I hate weenies. Big creatures clog your hand with a necro, unless you play with only a small number of them, like McCabe. But he doesn't care. He listens, but you can tell hes a devout necro player, and thinks that every black deck should have one. Now, don't get the wrong idea about the above conversation. Pikula was very cool, and when he was talking about my deck, I took it to mean that he thought the deck would do better with necro. Chris was very cool to play, and even cooler to beat. Even though it was his second loss, he laughed the whole time, and talked with me for about ten minutes afterwards. Side note Man, I hate being right on the cusp. There was a ton of name players there that I kinda know, but, not really. I think everyone knows I want to be a name, much like a ton of people that are reading this report right now. I really want to go to Paris. I want another pro tour under my belt and on my sig file. I really want to do well at a pro tour. I know I have the skill, I just need another shot like dallas, and pray I don't get land screwed all weekend long. I've just beaten Chris Pikula, and that's quite an accomplishment. I know a lot of it had to do with luck, and a lucky hymn, but I'll take it. I'm so close to being a real name. Many people will read this and wonder what the hell its doing in here, but hey, I wanted to write it. I know theres a ton of people out there that identify with every word I just wrote. Like Andy. Side note ends Andy was the guy I played in the last round of the Dallas PTQ, and I beat him to become the number 2 seed, and he came in 9th place. He was also at the PTQ last weekend, and I beat him again, just keeping him out of the top eight, because we both finished 5-2. Andy is, like me, now 4 and 1. Kevin is also 4-1, and I think Doug is 4-1 with his necro red deck. Rodney has won again, and is now 3-2 after a disappointing start, and I think Hilary, Keith and Fritz are all 3-2 as well. One more win and I draw. No matter what I draw. So, in the sixth round, I have to face off against Walter. Walter is a nice guy who I met last week at the SMK PTQ`. A quiet thoughtful player, playing a pox deck. I took him two straight last week, and he doesn't look happy about having to face me. He, and two other guys are 5-0. The two other guys take the draw, and I am 4-1 and playing the 5-0 guy. I get one land on the draw, he chokes it, and I die rapidly. First game to Walter. In the second game, I get a really slow start, and I think he stupors a land out of my hand, slowing me down even more. It takes me forever to get going, and eventual, I get a lake of the dead on the board, sac a swamp, tap the other swamp, Ihsan's shade. Next round, I draw a swamp, tap, sac, sengir. God I love big creatures. I can't attack with both because I am so low on life (seven I think), and he has a pump knight on the board. I get a hit in with the sengir once I think, maybe twice, but then he draws a disk, clears the board, and lays down a pump knight. I drop the sheild sphere that I have been holding, and the knight is neutralized. I have a mishra on the board, and he can't attack. I'll just block with the sphere, and kit him for two a round. We are both at seven if I remember correctly. I draw nothing for a number of turns, and I have yet to see a drain yet. Both our decks stall, and he gets the lake of the dead before I get to the first of my three the drains. He drains me for a ton, and I die. I'm out of it now. We find out there is an infintesimal chance that a five and two will get into the final eight, but not likely. We play it out. Kevin and I are both 4-2, and luckily, we still do not meet up in the last round. I take on a sligh deck, and I get four sengirs on the draw, and take out all my frustration on him. In the next game, I get a lake out, and I go for it. I don't even care if he's holding a pillage, cause I know I'm out of it already. I get a sengir out, then a shade, then a nother sengir, they abysasal spectres that are too big for his artillery to hit alone, and I just mow over hime. He was also very nice, but he had no chance. I drew every big creature in my deck, more than enough land to cast then all, and I killed every artillary he put out as soon as it hit the board. Where the hell were these draws when I needed them last round? I finish 5-2, so does Kevin. Keith, Hilary, Rod, and Doug all finish at 4-3. Everyone is so tired we are giddy. We get home at 3:02 a.m. and I have to work at 8:30. All in all, an excellent weekend. Two qualifiers in a row I go 5-2 but don't make it in. (with my sucky little deck that two pro players have told me they can't see how it wins, the other being Mike Flores who flat out told me it sucked. But also in a good way with lots of smiles and kidding. I beat Chris Pikula, and tell my story about our match to anyone who will listen, And to top it all off, I don't have to fly to Paris, and that's a win too, cause I hate to fly, and would have had to get some serious drugs to get me on a plane again, but I would have gone if I had qualified. Hoepfully, I'll see you all in New York. Later Jamie C. Wakefield Bard of the Five Colors of Death 18th at Pro Tour 1 Just About Dead Last Pro Tour Dallas