From: mikewise@interlog.com (Tracey Wise) Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc Subject: PTQ Toronto report Date: Sun, 10 Aug 97 17:36:29 GMT Well, i just got back from the qualifyer we had here in Toronto today, and as I'm sure the spelling and grammar of this report will reflect, I'm exhausted. That being said, it seems that the winners of induvidual tournaments have had the reponsibility of writing these reports, so that responsibility falls to me. All week long I'd been playtesting white/Blue decks and then Blue/Black decks. The meta game was constantly changing, starting with the burn decks (I'd lost in the quarters of the Detroit PTQ with a skill deck to top deck burn), followed by the Blue white decks inspired by Hammer's victory at Origins and that deck's ability to beat burn. This change in the environment lead to a number of 4 Boa 4 Meerkat 4 Centaur decks. In short, the Tornto environment was creature, but no one knew which ones. I did some experimenting with Bosium Strip which I finally decided was just too slow, with Aether Flash, which just didn't do enough, and with a number of other cards as well. Yesterday, I was testing two decks: an anti Red W/U deck with Hazeriders and Honerable Passages, and a Blue Black Ophidian/Good Stuff deck with 10 counters. I went down to 401 Convenience (The center of M:TG in the city) and did some playtesting with both decks, not doing especially well with either when my houseguest arrived at the store. Mike Donais, a good freind and fellow Weedwacker (Our team) made his appearance at around 11:00 as a bunch of us were doing a team draft. When we finished that, MIke and Gary Krakower decided to play some Mirvishlight, and that was when Mike broke out his 'fun' deck, a 35 creature Ertai's familiar deck that looked like this: 4 Skulking Ghost 2 Fledgeling Djinn 4 Circling Vultures 4 Man O war 3 Nekrataal 4 Fallen Askari 4 Shadow Guildmage 4 Ertai's Familiar 2 Necratog 4 Barrow Ghouls 4 Song of Blood 1 Rocky Tar pit 1 Bad River 3 Gemstone Mine 3 Undiscovered Paradise 1 Mountain 2 Island 10 Swamps ...and he promptly crushed Gary. The most important thing, Mike pointed out, was how much fun the deck was to play, but the deck worked! I'd heard about the Familliar/Tog decks on the net, but they were more complicated, using Necromancy's, Tombstone Stairwells etc.. Mike and I returned to my house and proceeded to play the deck until 3 in the morning, by which time it had crushed everything from my MVW decks to his EXTENDED DECKS!!! I was sold. We started talking about the sideboard, and I went to sleep, the deck half built, the board in a shambles, my basement a mess of cards. A couple of hours later, I woke up, showered-changed-etc. and headed downstairs to greet the awakening Mr.Donais. Now, I have to pause here to praise Mike for a moment. This was not the first time I'd played a deck of his, and while many people think that his rating is inflated due to his playing environment, he and his brother are the real thing. The two of us put the finishing touches on the sideboard, coming up with a couple of good ideas before we left, and headed out. My board looked like this: 1 Bone Dancer-Never came out, but i know it would have been good 2 187 Knights aka Knight of the Mist 2 Mind Harness - for scalebanes elite only 1 Bubble Matrix - Anti Flash 2 Serrated Biskellions - against 'Tog's and Duskriders 1 Urborg Justice - Never came out, but would have been good 1 Island 2 Tombstone Stairwell The other 3 aren't coming to mind (sorry, I'm tired) but weren't useful I retrospect, I should have had one more justice, one or two more Dancers and biskellions, one more knight, and take out the stairwells and the three unnamed cards. We got to the tournament and found out that the field was going to be a little stronger than expected: Shawn Davies and the Ottawa crew were there as were Dennis Bentley, Mike Kats et. al. from Rochester. Alvaro Marques led the London contingent, Javed (a soon to be pro on the Toronto scene. Look for him to do well at Grand Prix) and the guys from Milton, and some of the best palyers from Quebec had shown up too. Among the notable locals were Matt Villaneau (spelling) who had to qualify, Gary Krakower, two time reigning Canadian Champ, who was running the same thing as Mike and I, and Ed Ito, Canadian Team member, who celebrated his 19th Birthday the night before. After vomiting in the first round, Ed realized it wouldn't be his best tourney.:-> The tournament started at 10 o'clock. Round one- David Lamb U/W anti Red David was playing one of the two decks I'd thought I was playing just a day before. He's a decent, creative local player, and we've locked up a few times before. A pretty good test run. Game one- Wow, I have 4 creatures out before his first!!! I " give him the Barrow Ghoul beatdown" and blow him out of the Waterspout. Game two, much of the same. We were done in 5 minutes. David had a stunned look on his face. Last I heard, he was 3-2. This thing was for real!!! Round two- Sebastian Sauve R/abeyance/passage Sebastian Travelled from Montreal fro the qualifyer, a six hour drive. We'd played in the sealed portion of the Nationals, where he had an even weaker sealed deck than I did. A pretty good player. Game one- I hit him hard earl, getting him down to five. Finally he acheives parody and starts bolting him, holdin gme off with an emmisary. I drop a Fallen askari after the table is cleared, he Pacified it. I drop a skulker, he incinerates. I drop anothe rskulker hti gets him down to two, I drop a Barrow Ghoul, game. I was at 5 he had a fireblast. game two- I go aggressive witht he second turn Barrow Ghoul, discard the vultures, Song of Blood for four creatures, attack, but he casts Shadow bane. He's at 28, and I start playing the lands 11 in my first 16 cards. Fortunately, he has the screw of a different kind, and I eventually get out the creatures to beat him down. He finished 4-3 2-0 Round three - Steve Wolfman B/U/R good stuff Steve, whos participated many times in the Junior PT, beat me at Nationals, and this was a chance for revenge. We play together at 401 a lot, so we got down to business without the psyche job BS. These two games lasted about a dozen rounds in total, and I gave him an absolutely savage beating. When you are at 20, your opponent is at four and he torches himself just to end the pain, things are going well. 3-0, still haven't lost a game Round four - Mike Croft B/U/R good stuff and Big guys Mike is a really good guy from Milton whomade top 4 at regionals a few months ago. Very good guy. Game one - I forget to play a Man O war and lose my attack, but top deck my way to the win by drawing the second man o war when he was at 3 Game two, much of the same as the Race between his Morenfin and my Ghoul, Vulture, Akari and Skulk is not an even one 4-0 Round five - Mike Katz Mono Black Katz and I have palyed on a numbe rof occasions including PT Dallas where he gave me my first loss. Experience three time PT player who knows his shit. His deck slaughtere U/W, using Urborg Stalkers (??? one point of damage for a non black permanent) and good black stuff including the 5/5 Trampler and Flyer. Game one - My start is too fast for him as I play creature after creature. Game two - The Man O wars are the difference as I I clear the past for the last few points. Aside from ours, I think this was the best deck there. 5-0 STILL haven't lost a game At this point I'm feeling pretty good, knowing I'm gonna be in the top 8, but I still want to play. After not making worlds with a 1905.5 composite, I went 21-0 in my next three sanctioned tournaments, so right now I'm 'DCI Sensitive'. The other undefeateds were: Mike Donais, whose opponents had managed 2 game wins off of him, Matt Villaneau who was playing a green creature deck with incinerates and John Robertson, a very nice guy whose been around the local scene for as long as I have, who was playing his own Ertai's deck. The three of them wanted to draw, and after Matt anxiously pleaded with me for few moments, I consented to the draw as his ranking is way up there also. In the final round, I was matched up with John whom I also drew with. As a result, after the swiss, I was in Third place at 5-0-2 with no game losses. The final eight looked like this: 1 John ? (He had to play his final match and passed all of us. New player, this was his first top 8) 2 Mike Donais 3 Gary Wise (me) 4 John Robertson 5 Matt Villaneau 6 Steve ? (At this point I was so tired that everything was a blur. He was from Rochester) 7 Anthony De La Torre 8 Kyle Christenson While Kyle was beating John ?, and Mike stoped on Anthony, Matt and John Robertson had a good match which John Finally won. Quarter Finals Steve ? Mono Black Steve was playing the same deck that Katz was in the Swiss, so I knew I had a good chance. I don't know much about him except he's a two time PT player and he's from Rochester. Game one - Vulturs and ghosts and Man o Wars Oh my!!! Game two - he acheived parody on my high land draw and then drops the DIRTWATER WRAITH!!!. I lose. I LOST A GAME. This was the first such game of the tournament, a harrowing experience. Gmae three - Some fast beats complimented by Man o war, Knight of the Mist finally are stopped by the 5/5 Trampler, but Man o War kicks ass and I win the game. Now, the match I've been dreading, me vs. Mike, I'm using his deck, the winner goes to pro tour. Semi Final Mike Donais Ertai's Familliar Deck Game one- I get the fast start, but he's got the Ertai's, and eventually takes control witht he Necrotog, Barrow Ghoul and Vulture. Game two - we beat on each other until I'm at 6 and he's at 7. He has an Askari, a Nekrataal and a Necratog with 2 creatures in the grave yard. I have a Barrow Ghoul, a Biskellion and an Askari. He attacks with all three. I block the 'tog with the Biskellion, he assumes I'm going to tap the Biskellion and doesn't pump the 'tog. I declare no effects and he realized his error. I'm at 2. I draw...SONG OF BLOOD, and ride on through with the cavalry for the win. Game three was a little rushed due to time, but due to a bad draw on Mike's part, 8 lands, compared to my 6 and my getting down the Necratog to protect myself from the Bone Dancer, I pull it out. I'm back in the Pro tour, but I can't help but feel a little bad for Mike, after all it was his deck. Fortunately, I'm pretty sure he'll a qualify on rating. Meanwhile, John Robertson wins his match by disrupting a Torce...ouch. For more on that read John's report. Well, thats it. John and I split on the prize and he gave me the 'victory', making it 4 of the last 7 Toronto qualifyers I've won. Hopefully this time there won't be a mana screw at PT. I would give some notes on the deck, but I'm dead tired and want to go to sleep. Feel free to e-mail me at yyyy1@hotmil.com for questions about the deck. Good night, and see you in Chicago. Gary Wise PS If anyone reading this has Bob Maher's E-mail, I would like to get in touch with him. Please let me know.