From: Tapper Mark J. Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 1997 4:02 PM To: fkusomot@ix.netcom.com Subject:Fargo extended PTQ Report PTQ Fargo 12-6-97 Pre-Game- This is my 1st PTQ, and am a little nervous, but nothing any different than on Friday nights. I hope I made the right call with the deck I made. I went the control route, with a heavy metagame for weenies, and board control, with Serras, Fat-Moti and Rainbows for beatdown. All in all my deck well...ruled. I stayed up till like 6:30 am trying to get the deck made, the lack of prep/test time did show a little bit.I will listen to Bob next time and make sure I get some sleep before I play one of these! Rd 1 U/G/b Untouchables with Hymms and counters Game 1- I get a decent draw, but he gets off a couple Hymms (one of witch I was able to tithe in response) and drops a browse, he gets PINCER BEETLE and then Autumn Willow...he beats me down. Game 2 - I decided to draw first, which prompts a strange look from my opponent...ah young Jedi, you will learn. he drops a bayou I drop a tundra, he Hymms, I tithe (Probably one of the best responses to hymm in the game)he gets a land and a POWER SINK. I drop a Legacy's and he FORCE OF WILLS it???? I see that play as the game, and I was right. I get control of the board by dropping another legacy's and then a serrated arrows. He drops a disk. I Was not sure how effective they would be anyway because of his untouchables, but when his Rainbow Efreet comes down I understand. But it is not enough, as I get a Serra and my own Rainbow down, and commence beatdown, using counters and forces to protect... Game 3 - He gets no hymms this game, and shoots his load by dropping PINCER BETTLES, Autumn Willow and Ishan, I wrath with legacy's still on the table, bad for him, the Serra Closes the door, with him sacking land to the Dark Heart of the wood, I serra him and drop an aeleopile for the kill! (1-0) Notes: If there was ever an ugly matchup for my deck, this was one of them, but I think he had a little too clutter in there. Nice guy though, kudos to him for making his own deck to play with! Rd 2 - B/R/g NecroKnightBurnErhnamHymm Game 1 - Early Legacy's Allure prove HUGE HUGE (Like I thought) this card rules, I take some early dudes, and he uses more of his cards to kill his cards and when serra comes down he is out of answers. Game 2 - Another Early Legacy's, he tries a different route, by trying to bait me to take a chump dude, I say NO and kill the early punks with arrows, he disks, I cast KARMA ....tick-tick..game! (2-0) Rd 3 - Ted Edlund W/U/g PropaPrison/Geddon/Orb Pre Game - ICK! ICK! ICK! I hate this matchup, I drove to Fargo w/ Ted and we both know what each other is playing I am not really set up to deal with his deck in game 1..plus it sucks playing a friend, but I know I have to suck it up... Game 1 - I make feeble attempts at resistance, but he gets the orb lock and geddons, I concede to save time and hope that I can win with SideBoard Game 2 - I Board in Serenity, Aura of Silence, 2 Energy Flux and a Disk. He is a little mana hosed and loses some early tempo. I had a 3 wasteland Draw but later got an Island and just decided to shoot a rainbow out there HE WENT ALL THE WAY!! with some tactical wastelanding and disenchanting his trinket mana..(a counter and a Force of will also helped.) Game 3 - This game starts out BAD for me, as Ted drops MUCH early trinket mana and then geddons' I wasteland own tundra and tithe in response for 2 more tundra's. But this is not good, as he has 3 trinket mana and lays a land after the geddon, but I have 3 mana in hand, and a couple counters, I Lay a land, he lays winter orb next turn and Propaganda, I draw and ENERGY FLUX and drop my second land, he then drops a Jester's cap.. I dare not counter it, but he cannot use it yet, I draw a Serra and lay my 3rd land, cast ENERGY FLUX....ohhhhh NO!, I say go....RIDE BABY RIDE!!!!!! he has no disenchant!! YES!!! it lives, he tried to use trinkets to pay for stuff, explained that he cannot use the trinkets till he pays for them (he had 4 out) we double check with the judge, and THEY ALL DIE ALL TRINKETS DIE!!!!!! the ORB, The CAP and THE DIAMONDS, I draw counters and an Aura of Silence, and he is pretty much shut down, Serra and Fat Moti close...tough tough game Ted is an excellent player and it was a grueling match...good game though. After this match I was mentally exhausted, and this proved telling in the next match......(3-0) Rd 4 - B/R/w Tongo Nation (off The Net) -Christian ??????? Game 1 - I start slow with a little mana hose, but manage to get a legacy's down and take a dude, he uses some of his cards to kill his wildfire, I use arrows to keep Frenetic at bay but dude ranch wears me down (I shot a wasteland early on a dual land....duhhhhhhh. I lose to the dude ranch. Game 2 - I side in blue blast, COP Red, and honorable passage-This is the game where I prove that I suck. I had 2 wastelands on the draw and shot one of them early on a tundra (he was a little hosed mana-wise) and as soon as I made that play, the DUMBASS ALERT sounded internally. I maintained Excellent board control with arrow, and Legacy's, got the COP red down, he gets a dude ranch, I strip it, he impulses and gets ANOTHER DUDE RANCH>>>>AAAAAGGGHHHHH!! I knew it was time to pay for my scrubbish early play, he can only win by dude ranch, which he does, This was my worst played game of the day, lack of sleep, along with the grueling previous match caused me to die. Christian was a good player, and well....good players make you pay. He later commented that the board control I had pretty much shut his deck down, as I saw him discarding creatures. This was a fast match, and I got to rest and relax between rounds this time. I needed to clear my head and regroup..more caffeine and fritos and I was ready to play again. (3-1) Rd 5 - Some Girl playing Stompy/ernham/orb Game 1 - She shoots out weenies, Rogue Elephant, Centaurs, riverboas etc, and WORB, I take some early beatdown so I am at 10, she was 3-1, but I think a little inexperienced, as she shot her load too much, and the turn 4 wrath was BRUTAL, that combined with the fact that I had a legacy's with 3 counter on it was NOT good, I follow with Arrows and wait for Serra, she comes and closes the door. Game 2 - I Board in a disk and a couple hacks.. just for choke or tsunami, it does not really matter as I get early legacy's and arrows, wrath with allure still down, take a dude and throw down Fat-Moti and close. (4-1) Rd 6 - Francis Keys Playing sligh/red Game 1 - Well it is getting close, final 8 appearances are becoming clearer, and Francis seems to be slamming through people pretty well with his red deck. Francis is one of many Minneapolis players (can we say Phoenix and Dreamer's in da' house!) in contention for final 8. I expected a tough, well played match, but I also expected to beat sligh, as I metagamed weenies and red in preparation for this PTQ. I get early legacy's and take a punky offering he put out there for me, he then played wildfire emissary, he looked for a counter...uhh no, I Control Magic it!! he shot 2 of his cards to kill another one of his cards, and well....that kind of card advantage usually is game, with another allure and 2 serrated arrows he concedes when the Fat Moti comes down. Game 2 - He punks me early and never redblasts the legacy's (?????) which means I take a dude and he uses his cards to kill it, he beats me down early, but I have arrows out so ball lightning will not be a factor, he gets me down to 7 and I purposely tap out on blue at the end of the turn to impulse, the bait works, as he sacks 2 of his 4 mountains for fireblast, I watch, he then sack his last 2 for another fireblast, I tap some white and Honorable Passage the 2nd blast....oops!....I lay Serra and beat him down. Rd 7 Noah Wiel playing a PTQ winner off the net (Texaco or something) Pre-Game- this is the deck check round, and well ...uhhhh I forgot a POWER SINK on my decklist. THAT IS SHITTY!!! I suck, Arrrgghhhh!!! how could I be so stupid. This is bad, as I start out against Noah down one game to none. I am psychologically at a huge disadvantage, (also down a game) this is no good! Game 1 - Can we say SHITTY DRAW (for some reason after a deck check my deck really acts poorly, this was no different) I counter a couple things, get a shit load of land and nothing else, Noah cook and burns me right on out of there. (5-2) I CAN BEAT RED!!!!!! REALLY....damn what a way to go. Well I guess a person's 1st PTQ is supposed to be a learning experience. And I learned :-0... Here is the Decklist ( Legacy's Advantage) 1 - POWER SINK 1- Dissapate 4 -Force Of Will 4 - Counterspell 4 - Legacy's Allure 1 - Control Magic 2 - Swords 2 Plowshares 3 - Wrath of God 2 - Disenchant 3 - Serrated Arrows 2 - Aeleopile 3 - Tithe 2 - Impulse 2 - Serra Angel 1- Rainbow Efreet 1- Fat - Moti (36) 4 - Tundra 10 - Island 7 - Plains 3 - Wasteland (24) Control is Alive and Well in extended, and after playing this deck, I think adding a couple Outposts and maybe a millstone would be the only changes. This deck performed quite well. and I think it has a definite chance of going all the way. I think the addition of Outposts and millstones as another victory condition is all it (maybe) needs.. Props: Team Phoenix!! hell of a showing, 4 players in top 12. Chuck Heck (helluva' Job winning it all)Jamie Gorham (3rd Place) Bob Korshak (11th) Me (12th) Colin Bender and Ted Edlund. also to Francis Keys, Noah Wiel, Jason Webster (Dreamer's !) Fat - Moti and Dual Lands! Slops: WoTC and the DCI. Minneapolis players NEED EVENTS IN THE TWIN CITIES!!, If this don't show ya, what will??? To those that Dissed' The Allure.....Feel the Power!