Subject: PTQ Report - Dallas Date: Sun, 31 Aug 97 21:41:55 PDT From: "Scott Gerhardt" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Howdy everyone and welcome to another PTQ report from yours truly, Scott Gerhardt. This week our adventures took us to Dallas, Texas. The story starts with me piling in a car with another friend at 4:30am and heading off from Abilene to Dallas. After determining that we took the long way and over 3 hours later, we arrive at the Holiday Inn for the tournament. I run through the registration process thanks to my deck listing already being typed up. By the way, this is a great idea for anyone to do - it will allow you to get to the tournament later, register faster, and the judges will love you for it since they don't have to read quickly scribed handwriting. Speaking of deck listings, I should get to that. First of all, I had totally trashed my Psychic Stairwell deck that did so well in Houston. I took it to the PTQ in Lubbock and got my ass kicked, so I decided that the deck was no longer very viable due to people's preparedness for the Stairwell. I did, though, still like the idea of a Necratog-style deck. So I cruised over to the Dojo and started researching 'tog decks. I got a few I liked and incorperated them into one I liked. The result looks a little like this: 1 Vampiric Tutor (GREAT last minute add) 4 Skulking Ghost 4 Shadow Guildmage 2 Crypt Rat 3 Necratog 3 Barrow Ghoul 3 Nekrataal 3 Cloud Elemental (strong against Duskriders, Ghosts and Elephant Grass) 2 Song of Blood 4 Man-O-War 4 Circling Vultures 2 Fledgling Djinn 4 Ertai's Familiar 1 Mountain 3 Islands 8 Swamps 4 Gemstone Mine 3 Undiscovered Paradise 1 Rocky Tar Pit 2 Bad River Now that I had the deck, I had to come up with a sideboard. My playtesting told me that I would really only have problems against 3 deck - red celerity, another 'tog deck, and an anti-tog deck. With this in mind, I needed to come up with a sideboard to fight all of those. My least problem was red as I could usually race it pretty close. Anti-tog and 'tog gave me the most fits, so I went with the following 5 color sideboard. 2 Honorable Passage (NO ONE saw these coming) 3 Disenchant (strong against 'poise, Sands, Grass, Flash, Roots of Life, etc...) 4 Ray of Command (the BEST board card. These turned games!) 2 Dirtwater Wraith (never used one - should have been good, though) 1 Benthic Djinn (never saw him either - should have been a death stick) 2 Elephant Grass (STRONG! This IS the edge against another 'tog deck) 1 Elkin Lair (last minute add on a suggestion from a friend. Works well against control, but I don't think was needed. Should have been either another Disenchant, Benthic, or Passage) This sideboard was simply winning games for me, as you will see. Well, now off to the big show. Round 1 vs Wayne Hudman (red celerity) Game 1 was pretty good. He got some quick damage on me, but spent a lot of heat lighting up my creatures. This was not good since I had 36 and kept them coming. In his defense, though, he did get a VERY effective Heart of Bogardan off on me for some good mass-kill, plus damage to me. Eventually I ran him out of cards with an Ertai and a Ghost on the board. They quickly got him from 10 to 2. I was at 6, and his hand was empty with about 8 mana on the board. What do you think he drew? Yeppers - da Torch. I can now see that the theme of this tournament was going to be "How to be top-decked into defeat". Game 2 was crap. I saw a swamp and a gemstone early. That was it. I got down a couple guildmages and a ghost. At one point he screwed up and tapped 3 mana to torch one mage and incinerate the other. This was a PTQ so I held him to it. He bitched and called over a judge saying that the spell's mana could be adjusted after being in the grave. I was upheld and the mage lived. Didn't matter much excpet he made a good blocker. Eventually he got a couple of Viashino "Drive-by" Sandstalker hits on me, lowering me down to 8 fast. Despite my bad mana I was able to get down a Barrow Ghoul and he administered a little lovin', knocking him to 12. After a hammer and an incinerate, I went to 2. He had gotten down a Wildfire and a Goblin Elite Infantry. I had an untapped Ghoul and Guildmage. He casts a Drive-by and attacks. At this point I have only a swamp and a gemstone with 1 counter left, both untapped. I block the Emissary and the Goblin, then am able to Passage the Drive-by, getting him to 8. I only have 6 power in creatures, though, and he can recycle his hammer next turn, plus throw it. I do have another Passage in hand, though. I drew, hoping for some white source. No luck. With it, I win, but this was the mana screw game. Match (0-1) Games (0-2) Round 2 vs Ken Warrix (red/green) Game 1 I don't remember much. I know I got some good quick creatures, plus Man-O-Wars and Nekrataals. It was ugly. Game 2 was more of the same, but it took a little longer due to Roots of Life. He didn't have any Grasses, though, so I was easily able to outrace him thanks to a Ray of Commands on a Talruum Minotaur that he had to Fireblast and Passages. Match (1-1) Games (2-2) Round 3 vs Athena Walker (ErTog) This was a quite ironic round. Only 3 of us were there from Abilene. I have to play Athena and a teammate has to play her boyfriend Jeremy Baca (yeah, the junior finalist in PT-Dallas). Athena is a damn good player in her own right. Game 1 is going back and forth with one gaining control for only a turn or two until the momentum swings. At critical life totals, though, it became hers for good when she top-decks 2 consecutive Abductions, getting my Barrow Ghouls. Top-decking again, eh? Sounds like a there is a theme here. Game 2 is ugly. She's pretty mana hosed and I jump all over her real quick. Ugly. Real ugly. Game 3 was unbelieveable. She gets the quick Ertai and tog down. I have my own tog, but no Ertai. She is eventually able to overwhelm me. I died with 4 mana on the table - 3 black and 1 red. I had 3 Ray of Command, 2 Man-O-War, and 2 Ertai's Familiars in hand. Damn color hose. Match (1-2) Games (3-4) Round 4 vs Doug Cowsert (cocaine) Doug and I are teammates. This sucks as his deck which I have dubbed cocaine (as it is straight white) has done not as well as he thought, and also the fact that he clubbed me several times in playtesting. Game 1 was all about me getting mana screwed HARD. He got a Zhalfirin Commander and started doing massive damage with it. I couldn't do anything about it, so I lost badly. Game 2 was awesome. He gets down all four of his Duskrider Falcons quickly, which is bad news. I was lucky to be able to hold them off due to the Cloud Elemental and eventually kill them through Ray of Commands and a clutch disenchant of one of his Parapets. He was able to play a couple Zhalfirin Crusaders, but I Nekrataaled them away. Eventually it looked like he was going to gain control for good when a Commander hit the board and could kill off anything. I was lucky and drew into a Shadow Guildmage so I could recycle my Nekrataal. This was bad for him. Even though he has a Mangara's Equity out, I was still able to kill off enough of his army to push through the winning blows. I was only at about 2 life at the end, though, so thank goodness the Guildmage made an appearance. Game 3 was quick. Early Man-O-Wars and Nekrataals combined with Skulking Ghosts and Cloud Elementals made for a quick game. By the time he had me under control, he was way low on life, and a Crypt Rat finished him off. Match (2-2) Games (5-5) Round 5 vs Mark Whittle (R/G with AEther Flash standard) Game 1 was quick. Two early Aether Flashes and I conceeded. My deck has no way of handling 2 Aether Flashes first game. Game 2 I brought in my 3 toughness or greater creatures, Rays of Command (since I assumed his critters had a way around the flashes). Disenchants, and Passages. We played for a while with me pinging him here and there. His Roots of Life slowed the damage, but 2 Ray of Commands on his River Boas were too much. Game 3 was pretty much a game 2 repeat. I got patient when he played Elephant Grass. I let 2 of them go the entire cycle and just built an army. When the 2nd left and the 3rd hit, I tutored for a disenchant to kill it off. Depsite the Aether Flash and double Roots of Life I was able to get through with a 19 point Necratog and kill him the next turn. Patience pays even with a 'tog deck sometimes. Match (3-2) Games (7-6) Round 6 vs Victor Coffield (U/W control) Game 1 was about quick Guildmages and Ghosts getting him low, then Man-O-Wars and Nekrataals clearing paths for the win. Short game Game 2 was shorter. Two quick guildmages hit and did some damage. I then dropped a Ghost to add. He plays a spout, and I Man-O-War. He plays a spout and I Man-O-War. he abducts my Nekrataal and I Ray of Command. Game, set, match. Match (4-2) Games (9-6) Round 7 vs James Jenkins (R/B/G anti-tog) Well, I had already seen a red deck and a 'tog deck, why not an anti-tog deck. Game 1 was all about my 13/14 Necratog getting Deliriumed and a couple creatures Kaerverk's Purged. Heat finished me Game 2 was longer. Unlike game 1 he didn't get the 1st turn Furnace and I was able to get Ertai rolling to help some Vultures going (I'm scared to pump a 'tog now and I pulled the Ghouls). I got him down to 1, but after a few Kaervek's Purges and Deliriums, he top-decks the Thunderbolt and bolt and blast me. He would have died next turn Match (4-3) Games (9-8) Well, this was all for me. I knew I was gone then, plus I had to get home for work. On the way home we stopped at Taco Bell and they screwed up my order pretty bad. Seemed like a fitting end to a rather disappointing day. Here are my final thoughts on 'tog and this environment. Necratog/Ertai decks are the single strongest deck in the environment. They beat almost everything pretty consistent. That is why people have started building and running serious anti-tog decks (i.e. Sandapoise, Elephant Grass, Aether Flash, Delirium, Scalebanes). These are the decks that beat 'tog. Due to 'tog's dominance in the past, these decks are now commmonplace. I feel that anyone running 'tog will have a difficult opportunity running through a field and not hitting one of these decks. They completely dominate 'tog and you have little chance against them. I suspect I will hang up my 'tog deck and not be running it at my last PTQ in Oklahoma City due to that fear. I'm not sure what to run, but I think 'tog is a little too vulnerable right now. That's just my advice. Well everyone, I hoped you enjoyed this little report and I'm probably going to send another one in a week, hopefully with it saying that I won the PTQ. Have fun until then. Scott Gerhardt Team Abilene Vatos