1st @ PTQ Hollywood - Mobile, AL - 2/9/2008
First, the part that you have all been waiting for. I give you blue-next-next, the right deck at the right time for a certain Pro Tour Qualifier in Mobile, Alabama. Please forgive me for the horrible programmer-esque naming of what is essentially a Next Level Blue variant. This is what happens when you mix Magic with Computer Science.
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// blue-next-next
// by Stephen Hines
// PTQ Hollywood - Mobile, AL - 2/9/2008
4 Flooded Strand // Foil, 3 signed
2 Polluted Delta // Foil, Signed
2 Windswept Heath // Foil
1 Breeding Pool // Signed
1 Hallowed Fountain // Signed
1 Steam Vents // Foil, Signed
1 Academy Ruins // Foil
1 Tree of Tales
1 Forest // Euro - Germany
7 Island // 1 APAC Map Signed Altered, 5 APAC Map Signed , 1 Summer
1 Plains // Euro - United Kingdom
// 22 Land
3 Vedalken Shackles // S. Chinese
1 Pithing Needle
4 Sensei's Divining Top // 3 Signed, 1 Foil
3 Chrome Mox
1 Engineered Explosives // Foil
1 Tormod's Crypt // Signed
// 13 Artifacts
3 Loxodon Hierarch
// 3 Gold
3 Thirst for Knowledge // Foil, Signed
3 Trinket Mage // 1 S. Chinese Foil, 1 Foil, 1 S. Chinese
4 Counterbalance // 1 Foil
4 Counterspell // Beta Signed
3 Force Spike // Legends
1 Spell Snare
// 18 Blue
4 Tarmogoyf
// 4 Green
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt // 2 Signed
SB: 3 Gaddock Teeg // 1 Foil (all borrowed)
SB: 3 Sower of Temptation
SB: 1 Threads of Disloyalty
SB: 3 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Indrik Stomphowler
// 15 sideboard
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A Brief History:
I love old cards, and since I started playing Magic (dead-end of Revised), I have always tried to meet the artists and have them sign/alter my cards. In my opinion, special versions, signatures and alterations enhance what might be your typical boring deck by allowing the Magic player to infuse some of their own personality. Most of the cards that I have acquired over my years of playing hold special value to me because they are uniquely identified by a signature and/or a great story. I have a Beta Demonic Tutor that Doug Shuler turned into a 4/4 Flying "Serra Tutor" all the way back in 1995. At that same convention, I had Mark Poole sign my 4 Beta Counterspells, as Blue and Black were my favorite colors. Playing with these cards conjures up great memories of my early Magic days. It is hard to resist the allure of playing with cards that have such grand histories.
Having played Magic for a long time, my favorite formats are Vintage and Legacy. My local store in Tallahassee had been running smaller Legacy tournaments on Sunday nights over the past few months, and UGW Threshold with Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top (SDT) quickly became my weapon of choice. After beginning to test for this Extended season, it didn't take long for me to try out Next Level Blue. Trust me, it did not help that I have fancy versions of a lot of the cards that it runs (see my annotated decklist). I started by testing the Living Wish version that Pat Chapin ran to 2nd place in a PTQ. I then migrated towards Tom LaPille's winning version of NLB, albeit with a few small changes for my own preferences. In Tallahassee, we do an unsanctioned draft every Monday night and then go out to dinner to talk about and practice upcoming formats. Everyone was really into Extended, so I had no shortage of playtesting sessions. We also managed to squeeze in games of Extended between rounds of other tournaments, like City Champs and the Morningtide Release League.
I continued to playtest with Next Level Blue, although I had also built a few other decks to play around with. Next Level Blue was always powerful, and seemed to fit quite well with my playstyle, so I was more than convinced to use it for at least the first PTQ I would attend this season. On Friday (2/8/08), I was pretty excited about heading to the PTQ, but the four-hour drive was not very appealing. A rougher day than normal at work was not helping matters much, but my understanding wife reassured me that I should just go and have some fun playing Magic. I am certainly glad that I heeded her advice.
Here is your cast list for Tallahassee's participants at the Mobile, AL PTQ. It is separated by car.
Steve Hines - blue-next-next - 1st place
Frank Hines - Zoo - 14th place
Carl Cantrell - Doran - 16th place
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Pat Harrity - Affinity
Pat Price - Death Cloud - 12th place
Ed Scoggins - Rock
Aras Aziz - Rock
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Travis Kirkland - Mono-Black Control
Zack Enos - Death Cloud
Josh Wheelis - Dredge
Frank, Carl and I left my house some time around 7:00pm, expecting to stop on the road for dinner. We talked about great movies, school, South Park, and of course Magic. The car ride was quite pleasant and we made it to the same hotel that Travis and his car were staying at. We were able to get a room one away from theirs, leading to an almost all-night playtest session. I loaned out a slew of cards so that everyone could play a deck that they liked for the tournament. I never mind letting people borrow cards, so long as they return them undamaged in a timely fashion. Here is a brief list of the cards that I let everyone borrow:
4 AN City of Brass
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
3 Godless Shrine
3 Tarnished Citadel
1 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Death Cloud
1 Lilliana Vess
4 Street Wraith
2 Thoughtseize
1 Cabal Therapy
4 Ravenous Baloth
4 Troll Ascetic
We ended up staying up until 4:30am CST, which means that I was awake for about the last 23 hours (and let's not forget that I drove four of those hours). We set our alarm clock for 7:30am so that we could all shower, get ready, and eat breakfast in the morning.
Deck Choice Explanation
My testing showed that certain cards were often underwhelming. In particular, Threads of Disloyalty had not been the stellar performer that some claim it can be. We were expecting a lot of Aggro, Dredge and Combo at the PTQ, since many people from Florida would be driving up (since it was a shorter distance than Atlanta for most people). Dredge was quite popular at the earlier Orlando PTQ, and Combo seemed to be on the rise with everyone starting to pack maindeck anti-Aggro elements like Threads. Similarly, Spell Snare could go blank in a few bad matchups, and my brother Frank has a love for Force Spike that could not be denied. Thus on the morning of the PTQ, we swapped out 3 Spell Snare for 3 Force Spike and 3 Threads of Disloyalty for 3 Loxodon Hierarch. Loxodon Hierarch is just too good versus the Aggro decks in the format, and the maindeck Tormod's Crypt can help to keep opposing Tarmogoyfs smaller than him. We also adjusted the manabase to support a heavier White/Green component by playing a basic Forest and Plains, as well as swapping 2 Polluted Delta for 2 Windswept Heath. These changes allowed me to sideboard in Gaddock Teeg and actually expect to be able to play him on turn 2 in the necessary matchups. Thus the deck is basically a refinement of several other variations on NLB. I was extremely happy with these choices throughout the day, as Windswept Heath-untapped Forest or Plains-Hierarch seemed to happen quite a few times, and turn 2 Gaddock Teeg won me 2 games in the single-elimination rounds.
As far as the sideboard goes, Gaddock Teeg was probably the single most influential card. He greatly improves the Combo matchup. With the increased pressure of more creatures, you more than likely beat them before they can find Boseiju, since you can very often counter their other accelerants and anti-Teeg measures. Tormod's Crypt is still a necessity in this Extended season, as Dredge will continue to make appearances at the top tables. It is a threat that simply cannot be ignored. Similarly, Affinity has also regained some popularity, perhaps due to an increased shift towards cards like Threads. Many of their creatures can't be stolen that way and Arcbound Ravager can be a great sacrifice outlet as well. Ancient Grudge has never failed to perform well in these matchups and it can also help to improve the mirror match. Indrik Stomphowler is present for the mirror match and for the Ideal matchup to get around Dovescape. The 3 Sowers and the Threads were mainly for other Aggro matchups.
We ate the hotel breakfast (cereal and eggs) and drove to the tournament We arrived about 45 minutes before the tournament would start to make sure that our friends (10 people total from Tallahassee present) had all their necessary cards for the day. I forgot to buy sleeves the day before in Tallahassee, so I had to settle for a box of Gold Dragon Shields. The dealers pretty much ran out of useful sleeves. They still had boxes of pink, clear, and white sleeves, but I have seen way too many deck-check penalties for dirty/marked sleeves, and it always seems to happen to those colors. In the future, the dealers should bring more tournament-quality, dark, opaque sleeves to events to prevent unintentional infractions.
Swiss Matchups (110 players):
The following is a recap of the matches that I played during the day. They are accurate to the best of my knowledge. If I played against you and made a mistake in my description, please let me know and I will try to correct it. I tried to take some notes during the tournament, but I may have swapped two game descriptions (never the results, however). Similarly, my sideboarding strategies may not be 100% accurate with what I actually did. It is hard to remember what I sided out in some matchups, as it really depends on the player, the deck and the previous game's results. In particular, Force Spike had a habit of disappearing after games in which my opponent was devastated by it in the previous game. Another example is that I had gotten used to only playing 3 Counterbalance and SDT in Legacy Threshold, so I often cut 1 of each when I felt that it was not extremely beneficial. A single Thirst for Knowledge came out in a few matchups because it can cost too much against fast decks and I would prefer to just draw another creature in its place. Rather than chronicling my journey with absolute 100% accuracy, I now present to you, the reader, my interesting tale of a Control deck gone Aggro.
Round 1: Carl Cantrell (Doran) - Win (1-0)
As per standard operating procedures, not only do I get paired against someone I know in the first round, and not only is he from the same place that I came here from, but I drove the car that he rode in. We playtested this matchup a bit on Friday evening before setting out from my house in Tallahassee. I was winning the majority of the time, so I am pretty confident that I should be able to take my first match of the day.
Carl's build of Doran, however, does feature some interesting card choices. He played singleton Nantuko Monastery and Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree. These cards can be downright troublesome for a blue deck, particularly one that plans on only swinging with a few creatures at a time. It also doesn't help that I haven't really seen him make many mistakes while playing it.
G1: Win
This game goes back and forth for quite some time. He gets out Vitu-Ghazi, and manages to hold off one of my Tarmogoyfs for quite some time. I finally manage to top-deck a Trinket Mage, which lets me go get an Engineered Explosives to prevent him from blocking for a turn. He did have a monastery that he could have left up that turn with a different tapping of his mana, but most people don't think about Explosives ruining their blocks when the opponent is on the offensive.
G2: Win
-1 Tormod's Crypt
-3 Force Spike
+3 Sower of Temptation
+1 Threads of Disloyalty
I take out Force Spike since I am pretty sure Carl will play around it in any case. I stabilize at around 3 life this game against the traditional Doran creatures using Sower of Temptation.
Round 2: Clark Price (Dredge) - Win (2-0)
G1: Lose
I win the die roll and keep a mediocre hand. I don't see Tormod's Crypt at all this game and lose to a bunch of zombies.
G2: Win
-3 Vedalken Shackles
-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-2 Loxodon Hierarch
-1 Counterbalance
-1 Thirst for Knowledge
+3 Tormod's Crypt
+3 Gaddock Teeg
+2 Ancient Grudge
We both mulligan this game, but fortunately I have a Tormod's Crypt. I play out several threats including a Tarmogoyf and I am able to race his fliers for the win. Even though he dredged quite a bit (nothing spectacular), I see no sideboard cards (and in particular no nasty artifacts), so I feel safe in sideboarding back in my Loxodon Hierarchs.
G3: Win
-2 Ancient Grudge
+2 Loxodon Hierarch
He and I both mulligan our opening hands for this game. I keep a spectacular hand of 3 land, Tormod's Crypt, SDT and Counterbalance. He goes first and plays land, Chalice of the Void for 0 and Pithing Needle naming SDT. At this point, you would think that the deck would just give up (essentially getting a mulligan to four), but I manage to actually locate threats and start racing him. He gets out a Tireless Tribe and a Putrid Imp and is attacking me in the air, but I keep attacking with a Tarmogoyf and a Loxodon Hierarch, which he keeps blocking and discarding to. I finally am able to kill him when I draw a Trinket Mage for Engineered Explosives for 1, wiping out his side of the table.
There was a 30 minute break for lunch, giving us just enough time to get to McDonald's and back. Most of the PTQs and other larger events that I have attended often do not give time for a break. On the one hand, it makes the day longer, but it sure was nice to not have to wait 12+ hours before eating again after breakfast. The tournament staff seems to have run things pretty well, which is quite impressive considering that there were 110 competitors, let alone others who were just watching/trading.
Round 3: Mike Zhang (Affinity) - Win (3-0)
G1: Lose
Mike has the affinity curve out with turn 1 land, Springleaf Drum, Ornithopter, Arcbound Worker. Turn 2 shows a Ravager and it gets pretty hazy after that. Needless to say, my notes show that he didn't take a single point of damage, and that I lost from a point where I had 12 life. That is pretty much the definition of flawless victory.
G2: Win
-1 Tormod's Crypt
-1 Counterbalance
-1 Thirst for Knowledge
-3 Loxodon Hierarch
+3 Sower of Temptation
+3 Ancient Grudge
Mike keeps a hand with 1 land and no other plays. This is probably overconfidence from winning game 1, but I think that it was a bad move on his part, considering that I am sure he knows that NLB plays Ancient Grudge in the board. I play a fetch land and say go. He merely draws and passes the turn. I am holding an Ancient Grudge, but I want to make sure that it goes through, so I bait with Tarmogoyf, knowing that I have enough mana/creatures in hand to let it get countered. He Spell Snares it, so I was correct about him having an answer for Ancient Grudge. The following turn I Ancient Grudge his land and find a SDT. I locate another Ancient Grudge and killing him with a Trinket Mage and a Tarmogoyf is purely academic after that.
G3: Win
Mike is able to play out some cards this game, but I manage to draw into Ancient Grudge again. I have a Tarmogoyf and I steal a Frogmite of his at one point in the game. He gets Blinkmoth Nexus, but I am able to Pithing Needle it. On the turn before I win he has a Frogmite out with a +1/+1 counter on it. I have an untapped Shackles to steal it with and 5 Islands in play. He cannot move his Cranial Plating to it, because I will steal it with the Shackles in response. He is holding Fatal Frenzy, which he uses to fizzle my attempt to steal his Frogmite (becoming 6/6), but the damage is not enough for him to be able to win this turn.
Round 4: Chris Connell (Zoo) - Win (4-0)
Pat Harrity walks past this round and lets me know that I am not allowed to go back to Tallahassee if I lose to Chris, who is a friend of his. This is purely due to the fact that Chris is wearing a University of Florida shirt. I really don't have anything against UF or any other school for that matter, but Pat is quite the Seminoles fan, and he is wearing an FSU shirt. Even though I attend FSU and am about to graduate with my PhD, I usually don't wear FSU shirts unless I am going to a football game. I am instead wearing a nice dress shirt and jeans, otherwise known as camouflage for poor graduate students. Again, I assume it is just a preference of mine, similar to playing with signed, fancy cards.
G1: Lose
He gets started with a mulligan to six on the play. He immediately summons a Kird Ape and then a Tarmogoyf. He vindicates two of my land during the course of this game. I am losing life very quickly to Tarmogoyf and Kird Ape, so I know that I have to play smart in the next games.
G2: Win
-1 Tormod's Crypt
-1 Pithing Needle
+1 Sower of Temptation
+1 Threads of Disloyalty
G3: Win
I don't remember anything spectacular about either of these games, other than that blue-next-next just did its thing with Vedalken Shackles, Loxodon Hierarch, and Counterbalance/SDT. Chris played a great match, and it was lucky for me to be able to beat him both post-sideboard games.
Round 5: Jonathan Marsh (UB Tron) - Lose (4-1)
Jonathan is also from the Florida panhandle, and he is friends with the other guys from Tallahassee. I first met him at Grand Prix Daytona this past Winter. He is a great player and is packing UB Tron, which should be a pretty rough matchup for me.
G1: Lose
Jonathan is playing first, and neither of us mulligans this game. He drops a Chalice of the Void for 1 on his second turn. This shuts down a good portion of my deck, particularly SDT. I manage to get out a Tarmogoyf but he eventually kills it using a Smother. I have Counterbalance in play but no real way to guarantee that I can counter any of his spells. He is eventually able to locate all the Urza-Tron pieces but is 1 mana shy of going infinite with Academy Ruins and Mindslaver. After several alternating turns of this, however, he goes to break a top-decked fetchland from my deck and I concede in response, so that he does not know exactly what smaller cards I am playing (only 1 Spell Snare, 3 Force Spike). I had already shown him a Force Spike, but I figured that it was better that he doesn't know that I have Loxodon Hierarch and a heavier White/Green manabase.
G2: Lose
-3 Vedalken Shackles
-3 Force Spike
-1 Spell Snare
+1 Tormod's Crypt
+3 Gaddock Teeg
+3 Ancient Grudge
This game starts out with Chalice on 1 from Jonathan. It quickly goes downhill from there as there are only about 10 minutes left in the round, and I am feeling pretty bad about the last game. It eventually comes down to a turn where I have about 5 mana in play and need to shut down his Mindslaver. I have Gaddock Teeg in hand and Plains and Forest in play. I cast Trinket Mage, somehow believing that Pithing Needle will work (which it won't since there is Chalice on 1). I take the Pithing Needle and immediately realize just how bad a choice I have made. To make matters even worse, I tapped my only white source to pay for Trinket Mage! Thus I am now unable to play Gaddock Teeg, and I have pretty much no chance once he can start recurring his Mindslaver. I pride myself on managing my lands almost optimally in any situation, even if it is just a casual game of Legacy Highlander. To screw up so badly just made me feel terrible. I scooped the game to him when he played a Sundering Titan the following turn. I am pretty devastated that I lost in the pair-down match, pretty much making it so that I have to win out to make top 8. The terrible misplay I had with Trinket Mage really had me down, but fortunately, my friends were able to reassure me that I would not make any critical mistakes in the remaining rounds.
Round 6: Marcus Bailey (Erayo Affinity) - Win (5-1)
G1: Win
I win the die roll and keep a sketchy opening hand that features 1 Island, 1 Spell Snare, 1 Force Spike, 2 Counterspell and 2 Counterbalance. It seems pretty greedy in retrospect, but I managed to draw a Chrome Mox on turn 3 and land on turn 4. Actually it even seemed greedy at the time, but I was still not really over that last round loss. Marc mulligans his first hand and keeps his six cards, although he is visibly not thrilled with it. He plays an artifact land, an ornithopter and says go. I just pass my second turn and he continues on to attempt a Dark Confidant on his turn 2, which I Force Spike. I then play a Chrome Mox imprinting Counterbalance and then another Counterbalance. He returns the Chrome Mox to my hand using repeal. He then plays an Erayo, Soratami Ascendant, which unfortunately lands. I continue to play for several more turns, accumulating lands and eventually a SDT. Once I have SDT going, I am able to fetch up a shackles and steal a Dark Confidant. This provides way too much advantage for me, and I eventually win with Tarmogoyf.
G2: Win
-1 Pithing Needle
-1 Tormod's Crypt
-1 Thirst for Knowledge
+3 Ancient Grudge
Marc mulligans his opening hand again this game. I have a great opening hand featuring SDT, Tarmogoyf and Thirst for Knowledge. I play the SDT on my first turn and follow up with a Tarmogoyf on turn 2. I Ancient Grudge a land of his and start swinging with Tarmogoyf. I proceed to SDT into another Tarmogoyf and have Counterspell backup. Two more turns go by (as I am attacking him), and I draw a third Tarmogoyf. At this point, Marc scoops up his cards. I quietly thank Wizards for printing the best blue/white/green/red/black creature ever. How can you not play Tarmogoyf in any format that it is legal in?
Round 7: Jared Warthen (Dredge) - ID (5-1-1)
ID
When standings were posted, I noticed there were a lot of 5-1 records at the top, which definitely happens when you have slightly less than a power of 2 (110 < 128) competitors. This meant that some 5-1-1 records may not make it into the top 8. Pat Price and his opponent Matt Pritchard seated to my left decided to play out the 5-1 matchup. There was one other match that played it out. My opponent Jared had better tiebreakers than me, but I felt it was worth the risk of intentionally drawing to make top 8. He offered me the draw and I accepted. Unfortunately for him, my tiebreakers got quite a burst in the last round, pushing me into 8th and him into 9th. >
Side Note: Chill Out
The top tables were quite abuzz in this round with news that a player still in contention for top 8 was found to be sideboarding a card that is not even legal in extended. There was a lot of speculation over what the card might be. Some guessed that it was only a card of minor relevance, but it actually turned out to be quite the card for this tournament. Apparently, someone made it to 5-0-1 packing Chill in their sideboard. When they dropped it turn 2 against a red deck, it is likely that they were pretty excited. However, I am sure that their excitement died (not to mention their PT hopes) when a judge came over and confirmed that Chill is indeed not in the extended cardpool.
End of Swiss Results
Carl stayed in the tournament to finish 5-2 in 16th place. Interestingly enough, his only other loss was to Pat Price (Death Cloud), who also drove to Mobile from Tallahassee. Pat Price lost in the final round to Mike (Ideal), giving him a 5-2 overall record and 12th place. My brother Frank finished 5-2 in 14th place. Jonathan (UB Tron) also made top 8. This combined with Carl's amazing run pushed my tiebreakers just over the edge to let me squeak in as the 8th seed. Jared politely asked me to drop from the tournament to allow him to play on, but I declined. He knew the status of the tournament prior to round 7, and he made the conscious decision that it was better to potentially draw into the top 8 than lose and be completely out of contention. I made the same decision after coming to the conclusion that I played a great day of Magic no matter what. I am sorry that you didn't make top 8 Jared, but I think you would have had a hard time beating me in round 7 in any case. We had a 30 minute break to eat/relax before the top 8 matches would begin.
Single Elimination Matchups (Top 8):
Quarterfinals: Matt Pritchard (Ideal)
Matt just finished beating Pat Price in Round 7, locking up top seed and eliminating my friend from the competition. I believe that Matt was wearing a Vanderbilt shirt, thus continuing my trend of facing off against college students. Having watched this match, I am absolutely certain that it is going to come down to Gaddock Teeg. I just hope to continue playing without making any further mistakes.
G1: Win
I win the die roll and start out with a relatively quick opening hand. I drop a Tarmogoyf on turn 2 and Counterbalance on turn 3. Sensei's Divining Top pops up the next turn and allows me to pretty much lock him out. He casts Insidious Dreams for 3 cards, leaving 1 card in his hand. He thinks about it for several minutes, but then convinces himself that he has made a mistake. I was ok with him taking a while to make this decision in the untimed rounds, but in the Swiss, he would have definitely been in trouble for delaying the game. I was very confident that my hand was good enough to beat whatever he fetches with Insidious Dreams. A second Tarmogoyf lands and it is over before he even gets to draw the third card that he searched for.
G2: Win
-3 Vedalken Shackles
-1 Tormod's Crypt
-3 Force Spike
-1 Spell Snare
+3 Gaddock Teeg
+3 Ancient Grudge
+2 Indrik Stomphowler
I need to bring in Gaddock Teeg (shut down Ideal) and Indrik Stomphowler for certain (to break up Dovescape, Solitary Confinement, ...). I also side in Ancient Grudge, as I would like to be able to destroy Lotus Bloom and Pentad Prism before he can use them. Ideal runs very few one drops that I care about, and many two drops that I do care about (Pentad Prism, Burning Wish). Additionally, he knows that I am playing Force Spike, so he will more than likely continue to play around it.
I look at my opening hand and see the foil Gaddock Teeg staring back at me. I am so glad that I listened to Frank about playing with more G/W action and fewer Control Magics. My hand gets even better when I see a Counterspell. Turn 2 brings Gaddock Teeg, and I then proceed to draw a second Counterspell before Matt can even do anything at all. When he tries to Deathmark Teeg, I am able to counter it, since he cannot use Boseiju to pay part of its cost. I drop a Tarmogoyf and ride to victory, holding a Counterspell in reserve through the end of the game.
Two other matches have finished, but one is still going on at this point, despite the minutes that Matt spent on the Insidious Dreams in game 1. I recognize that my next opponent is playing Dredge, since I watched him beat my brother earlier in the tournament. He is also wearing an Auburn sweatshirt, so I should continue my college-crushing tour.
Semifinals: James Owen (Dredge)
G1: Win
He wins the die roll and mulligans his hand down to four cards. I look at my seven and see Tormod's Crypt, fetch land, Island, Academy Ruins, and Sensei's Divining Top, among other things. I drop crypt and then proceed to show him the Academy Ruins on turn three. I finally find Tarmogoyf and go to work with the Crypt recursion backup plan.
G2: Win
-3 Vedalken Shackles
-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-2 Loxodon Hierarch
-1 Counterbalance
-1 Thirst for Knowledge
+3 Tormod's Crypt
+3 Gaddock Teeg
+2 Ancient Grudge
I bring in Gaddock Teeg again for the Shackles. Tormod's Crypt is vital here, but I cut three underperforming cards in this matchup for them. I bring in 2 Grudges for 2 Hierarch, since I am wary of Pithing Needle and Chalice of the Void.
He mulligans to five this game but passes the first turn directly to me. I keep a hand that lets me drop a turn 2 Gaddock Teeg that I can protect. He drops a turn 2 Putrid Imp, but fortunately cannot start dredging just yet. We each continue to trade attacks, until he gets to 9. I am holding both Ancient Grudges and a Counterspell. He dredges a good portion of his deck using Cephalid Coliseum (about 15 cards left). He has a Putrid Imp, and a fresh Narcomoeba with 2 Bridge from Below in his graveyard. He flashes back a Cabal Therapy using his Narcomoeba. He misses, but wants the Counterspell, so he sacrifices one of his 2 new zombies to do so with another Therapy. I then know that I desparately need to find a Tormod's Crypt or the game will be over (due to Ichorid, Bridge from Below, and many other cards in his graveyard). I exlaim "Tormod's Crypt for the win", and proceed to draw a Trinket Mage. I fetch up the Crypt and leave him with a 1/1 Putrid Imp and a 2/2 Zombie to my Teeg and Mage. He still almost manages to come back by drawing into the appropriate Golgari Grave Troll. I find a Tarmogoyf and am able deal him the remaining damage with non-Gaddock Teeg creatures.
Finals: Phil Smith (Red Deck Wins/Goyf)
When Phil finishes his match with another Counter-Top deck, I ask him if he would like to split the prize. There are 90 packs to first and 48 to second. He is not certain about going to the Pro Tour, so I offer him 3 of the boxes so that I can take the slot. He says he would rather play, so I shuffle up and keep my opening hand.
G1: Win
My hand has a near-useless Tormod's Crypt (remember this point), but it also has Sensei's Divining Top, Vedalken Shackles, and a good mix of land/spells. I play the Top and pass the turn. He plays a Grim Lavamancer. I untap and just draw a card like an idiot (instead of activating SDT). I have never made it to a PTQ finals before (4 previous top 8s), but I am certainly underperforming now. I play a land and pass the turn. Phil drops a Kird Ape and sends it back to me. Being on tilt from missing the SDT last turn, you would assume that I would certainly remember to activate before my turn this time, and you would be wrong. Without even looking at the spectators, I can feel their eyes staring in disbelief at how my Pro Tour chance is quickly evaporating.
I drop a third land to play a Vedalken Shackles. Phil untaps and Molten Rains a Steam Vents. I am now down to an Island and an Academy Ruins. I play a Tree of Tales and use Tormod's Crypt, so I can steal his Grim Lavamancer and keep it untapped to block the Kird Ape. He kills it with a Lava Dart and then plays a Tarmogoyf. I am now holding a Loxodon Hierarch but missing the fourth mana (White), and I only have 1 Island with my shackles to stop the Kird Ape and Tarmogoyf. I continue taking damage from his creatures as I am using SDT to try to find an answer. Eventually I return Tormod's Crypt to the top of my library before my next turn. I then play Crypt and pop SDT to play another Island. I Crypt Phil and take Tarmogoyf while he is tapped out, since he is merely a 2/3 due to only artifacts and lands in my graveyard. Phil asks the judge about the wording on Shackles and when the power condition checks, but I know the ruling so I get to keep his Tarmogoyf until I untap Shackles or it dies.
I am at 3 life and now trying to stabilize. I find a Windswept Heath and am able to fetch up the singleton Plains to play a Loxodon Hierarch, moving to 6 life. Meanwhile, Phil plays out yet another Tarmogoyf. I manage to play Counterbalance and combined with SDT, there is not much that Phil can do except try to out-creature me. I have Force Spike on top of my library, but not much else is relevant. I don't have many reshuffles, and I am still within range of being overpowered on a single turn. He plays a Mutavault to go up one in the creature department, so on the following turn I use Pithing Needle to disable any potential shenanigans. I SDT before my next turn and quickly maneuver another Loxodon Hierarch to the top. I play the second Hierarch and things have quickly changed. Phil plays another Tarmogoyf, making it two for him and one of his for me. I am still not 100% safe, so I wait to remove another creature of his so that I can both attack and block freely each turn. I top up a Vedalken Shackles in the ensuing turns and take another Tarmogoyf of his. Once I begin attacking with his Tarmogoyfs, he concedes the game.
G2: Split
I ask the judge if I can offer another prize split at this point, since I am determined to go to Pro Tour Hollywood. There is no rule against splitting at this point, so I again offer box+slot for me and 3 boxes for him. I could play another PTQ in Seattle while I am away at a conference, but that would be quite difficult for me, since I wouldn't know anyone else there. He counter-offers with 1/2 box+slot for me and 3 1/2 boxes for him. I shake his hand and I know that I have finally qualified.
Some of you may question the logic in offering a split after going up a game. I felt that I was quite lucky in getting good matchups all day (particularly post-sideboard). I didn't have to mulligan below 6 in any game that I played. Barring my round 5 misplay in a losing position against UB Tron, I felt that I had made no mistakes during the Swiss rounds. Sure, there was a judgment call to be made in my round 6 hand, but it paid off greatly. I made some terrible early mistakes in game 1 of the Finals (SDT???), and that probably made the game more of an uphill struggle than it needed to be. I had to play extremely tight for the remainder of that game to just barely squeak out a victory (from a starting point of 2 life). The real fact of the matter is that I can go down the street and buy boxes of Morningtide; I may never have the chance to win a spot on the Pro Tour again in my entire life. Once I realized this, I knew that getting any packs at all was just a bonus.
I have been playing since 1995, and I still remember making top 8 at a PTQ playing Necropotence with a singleton maindeck Dystopia. This was perhaps my favorite deck ever and I still have the stack of Arena Swamps to prove it. I made top 8 playing Urza's Saga limited in 1999, losing to bad mulligan decisions. I also made top 8 playing Oath and lost out a hard-fought match to Antonino DeRosa in 2000. I played the Ichorid deck to a PTQ top 8 at the very end of 2005, losing in the top 8 by mistaking a Stinkweed Imp for a Putrid Imp in my opening hand. I really didn't feel the need to add another potentially wasted PTQ top 8 to my resume. It has always been a dream to make it onto the Pro Tour, and it is great now that it has finally come true. I have confidence that I will continue to do well on the Pro Tour.
Conclusions:
Winning/surviving a PTQ is not about flawless play. Nearly everyone makes mistakes, particularly when you have to play for 12+ hours. It is recognizing those mistakes and playing to correct them that made it possible for me to prevail. There is also a significant luck factor involved in Magic. Mulligan decisions, top-decks, and match pairings play quite an important role in determining who wins, however, these are not the only factors. Even a deck that faces its best matchups all day can lose in the hands of an unskilled pilot. I suggest that anyone still planning to play in PTQs focuses hard on winning those games in playtesting that seem nearly impossible to win. I don't think anyone gave me a chance when I was down to 3 life against a Red Deck and I only had one Island and several non-Islands. Yet I was able to recover due to knowing how to play my deck very well. It also helped that I felt the absolute "need" to win this PTQ, and thus I was able to focus even after such a long day and a bad mistake or two. Practice may not make one perfect, but it can sure help.
Acknowledgments:
Thanks to everyone for making the PTQ my most memorable tournament ever (even better than splitting for a Black Lotus in Pensacola). I have to especially thank Frank for his morning deck suggestions and his constant support for everything I do. He is always supportive and anybody who knows anything knows that a positive outlook can mean all the difference in the world. He is the best blue player I have ever met, even when he is not slinging Islands (or if they are just there to +1 a Tribal Flames). Thanks for also letting me borrow a Gaddock Teeg. I thank Leonard for letting me borrow two Gaddock Teegs (1 Foil) that were so critical during the whole day. Leonard also called several times during the day for updates and to send some kind words of encouragement. I thank Carl for sticking in there despite losing round 1 to me and then round 4 to Pat Price. I am fairly certain that his record was singlehandedly responsible for me finishing 8th after the Swiss rounds. Frank and Carl were also great car companions, keeping me entertained and most importantly, alert throughout the 4 hour ride each way. I am glad that my opponents were all very civil and I had great conversations before/during/after matches with most of them. I would like to thank the judging staff and Kite and Anchor Events for organizing/running one of the best events I have ever attended. I would also like to thank the rest of the Tallahassee crew that I play with. Those of you who were present were great moral support, and those of you that missed it have always been great playtesting partners. All of you, however, have some work to do in Miami/Jacksonville/GPs to make sure that I have company in Hollywood.
Putting Tallahassee back on the map (Island),
Steve Hines
Tags: Magic Ptq Hollywood Mobile
Related to:
Magic: the Gathering
