Ah, the last PTQ of the season. Except for the LCQs, it’s the last chance to qualify for the Pro Tour in Hollywood. It’s the end of the current incarnation of the Extended format. There’s lots of pressure, especially for the high level players (some would say professionals) that have not yet qualified (and those who would rather win a free plane ticket). Here in the Midwest at this last PTQ in Columbus those names included Ben Peebles-Mundy, Brian Six, Chris Ripple, Jon Swearingen and Michael Jacob (who ended up winning the thing) just to name a few. The Midwest is the toughest place to qualify on the planet, possibly tied with the southern part of Japan.

And then there’s me. More known for my videos than I likely will ever be known for my actual skills, I enter this lion’s pit to try and best the best of the rest for the last ticket to Hollywood. Sounds unlikely. But I took my shot. Again.

Let’s get to the recap.

Friday night, I decided to hang out with a couple friends of mine, Harrison and Kyle, at a Steak n Shake after my FNM so I didn’t get to bed until 4 a.m. Steak n Shake is the busiest place in town in the middle of the night. It was pretty fun, what with all of the joking around, the drunk folks, the food fight at the next table (which resulted in a well-endowed woman getting a white substance of some kind on her, ahem, chest) and whatnot. The next morning, I accidentally woke up late because I set my alarm for 9 instead of 8. I got to the site, the Columbus Convention Center, around 9:30, parked, signed up and got my deck.

I suppose ‘got my deck’ requires a quick flashback: a wek and a half ago I asked Tom Lapille if I could borrow his Zoo deck for this PTQ a week or so ago, since he got 12th in Philadelphia and the same list was in the Top 8 piloted by Ben Weinberg. He said that I could, so he hooked me up with it. At the time I didn’t know he was going to be writing an article about it for all the world to see, meaning that everyone and their momma was going to be playing it. Had I known, I probably would have played Hulk. You know, for the lols.

Anyway, here’s the deck for reference:

Lapille Might Get There

4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Windswept Heath
1 Steam Vents
1 Mountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Overgrown Tomb

4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tribal Flames
4 Vindicate
4 Lightning Helix
3 Gaea’s Might
3 Gaddock Teeg
2 Isamaru, Hound of Konda

4 Burrenton Forge Tender
4 Terminate
3 Kami of Ancient Law
3 Ancient Grudge
1 Gaddock Teeg

We get started relatively on time (particularly for a Magic tournament). PES sure knows how to run a tournament.

Total attendance: 206 (8 rounds of Swiss)

Round 1: Brian with Zoo

Not just any Zoo, mind you. The identical 75. The actual mirror match.

What was that, Tom? We’re going to tell everyone how to play this deck? Awesome.

I recognized Brian from the PTQ grind. Why can’t I ever play folks who don’t know what they’re doing?

I lose the die roll and things don’t get any better from there. Game 1 I get stuck on one land for the whole game and die in a flood of animals and burn spells. That’s how the deck works I suppose. For Brian, at least.

Game 2 I open up with a Fanatic on turn 1 and another Fanatic and a Forge Tender on turn 2. He matches me pretty well, with a Kird Ape turn 1 and a Fanatic and a Forge Tender turn 2. I saved my turn 3 Confidant from getting killed from the suicidal goblin with the Tender, which turned out to be a mistake. His Tender hit me for 6 after a Domain-empowered Mighty Kithkin hit me and a Tribal flames that followed put me at 1. I was stuck without black mana after a Vindicate hits my only black source in the mean time and I was stuck with 2 Vindicates and a Terminate in my hand for the rest of the game, so my top-decked fetch land didn’t help and he got me.

We talked about the match up afterwards. Turns out, we sided differently. Here’s what I did:

-3 Gaddock Teeg, -3 Gaea’s Might, -2 Isamaru, +4 Terminate, +4 Forge Tender

Here’s what Brian did:

-4 Vindicate, -3 Teeg, +4 Burrenton Forge Tender, +3 Terminate

I’m not sure which is better, but his was better this time. We wished each other luck and I promised to keep his tiebreakers up.

0-2, 0-1

After getting up, I talked with some friends of mine from around the Midwest that I only get to see at these big tourneys. One of these acquaintances named Tim (who top 8’d with Burn Deck Wins last I talked with him) gave up his insane tech to me during the time between the first and second round. At first it looked like TEPS, with all the trimmings like Blooms, Invasion sac-lands and other mana accelerants, but instead of Mind’s Desire he opted for Dragonstorms, Hellkites, and a singular Rorix Bladewing. Rest assured, he had a Tendrils and a Mind’s Desire in the board for Wish targets (and turning up a Dragon of any kind with Desire is pretty decent). He did pretty well, but suffered some bad luck and didn’t make top 8. Too bad, as it was a real fun deck and definitely something that could have made an impact on the metagame has the season gone on a bit longer.

Round 2: Bobby with B/G Rock

I lost the die roll again (a pretty important factor in this format), but this time it was my time to win with a flurry of mammals and burn to the face. A desperation third turn tap-out for a Deed was met with my Vindicate and he was helpless to my army of 1/1s and 2/3s.

I didn’t read him for Death Cloud so I took out my Teegs.

-3 Gaea’s Might, -3 Teeg, -1 Isamaru, +3 Kami of Ancient Law, +4 Terminate

Game 2 looked similar at the outset, but this time I didn’t have the Vindicate (or my sideboarded Kamis) to take it down and he recovered, with a Hierarch and a Baloth on consecutive turns to recover and get him to the win.

Game 3 was not close. The only damage I took was the Lightning Bolts I took from my fetches and shock lands. Big Goyfs finished off what early Fanatics started and I got the win.

2-0, 1-1

I would like to discuss the new rotation schedule at this time for a short bit. Having the fetch lands in the format for another go around is equal parts good and bad in my humble opinion (or as the kids say, IMHO). Good because it let’s even the stretchiest of stretched mana bases work. Bad because it doesn’t let the more casual players that just want to play a tournament do so unless they fork over the hundred or so dollars necessary to purchase their lands.

With that said, I am happy we get another season with the fetches and shocks together. It’ll provide people with enough time to get over their love of crazy mana (outside of Legacy, of course) and then it’s back to basics.

Round 3: Boros Matt with Boros

Obviously, it is inevitable in a huge event such as this that I would play against one of my close friends. It’s a law of Magic. Matt is a friend of mine from Athens who I play with all the time. He is playing Boros, which nearly got him into the top 8 at the most recent Winter King tournament. We briefly discussed intentionally drawing, but being 1-1-1 is basically no better than 1-2 so we decided against it.

Having tested the match up, I know that it isn’t good for me. He has more burn spells and main deck Paladin en-Vecs, whereas I am at 11 life from my own lands before we even talk about the creature battles.

But I knew how to play the match up because of the testing and hoped I could execute. From what I could gather, the key was if I could get a hand with two one drops so that I could ‘play a turn slower’, meaning I didn’t have to pay 2 life per turn and play my Ravnica shock lands tapped so I don’t kill myself. Getting a Helix to recover a little helps as well.

Then again, he knows the match up just as well as I do…

I won the die roll and got the kind of hand I wanted. He was slightly mana screwed in game 1 and when I Vindicated his Foundry, leaving him with only a Mountain and Plains, it was all but over.

-3 Teeg, -2 Isamaru, -3 Gaea’s Might, +4 Burrenton Forge Tender, +4 Terminate

Game 2 was equally unlucky for him, getting stuck on 1 land even after taking a mulligan to 6. When I took out his land, leaving him with only a Mogg Fanatic on the board after 4 turns, I took it down. Unlucky for him to only see a total of 4 lands in the games we played, but fortunate for me.

2-0, 2-1

I was joking with Matt the whole time about all the animals in the deck. Apes, Hounds, KoALas in the sideboard, etc., hence ‘Zoo.’ I was a little sad as a bit of a Vorthos to see Watchwolfs replaced by Tarmogoyfs, but I guess we can give up a little on flavor for the best creature in the format.

Round 4: Andy with Burn

Andy was a very professional and collected individual. I could see that the tournament had no negative effect on his nerves and that mind games weren’t going to work if I decided that I wanted to resort to them. He was stoic and quiet, so I followed suite.

Burn is a bad match up for Zoo for the same reasons as Boros. When I won the die roll and lead with Kird Ape I wasn’t expecting a Rift Bolt from such a composed individual. To make matters worse, I didn’t draw a second land… for the next 4 turns, the rest of the game.

Now, you may think this lead to a loss. It did not.

Mind you, I wasn’t taking damage from my lands because I had none. The game plan against Burn is the same as Boros: play a turn behind. I was playing several turns behind, so I guess you could say I was following the game plan to a T. Kird Ape followed by Fanatic followed by Lavamancer took him from 20 to 17 to 14. Then he played a Sulfurous Vortex. Luckily, he couldn’t find much more burn in his library (despite 2 Magma Jets) and my Gaea’s Might for the lowly +2/+2 bonus took him to 2… just in time to get him with his own Vortex.

-3 Teeg, -4 Bob, -1 Isamaru, -2 Vindicate +4 Forge Tender, +3 Kami, +3 Ancient Grudge

Game 2 I followed the slower game plan. I could have easily played the quicker game plan with the hand I had, but I saved a ton on life by not taking so much from my lands. I ended the game at 5 life, so the lands may have been the difference. A pair of 5/6 Goyfs got me there and it was over.

I would like to highlight an epic sideboard choice of his: Dragon’s Claw. I chuckled a bit, but it turned out the Tenth Edition Pre-Con All-Star is pretty insane. I had to Vindicate it so that its effect didn’t make every spell he played a mini-Lightning Helix many of the spells I played a liability.

2-0, 3-1

Round 5: Jared with Burn

Ugh. More Burn. I can’t possibly beat this deck twice in a row without a ton of luck.

I lost the die roll (more good news), but unlike Andy, Jared acknowledged that he was tired and didn’t get a lot of sleep. He was also obviously much less comfortable near the top tables. I surmised that I could possibly rattle him if I needed to.

Game 1 he got there with burn spells. That’s how the deck is supposed to operate and I can’t complain too much.

Same sideboard plan as the last round.

After boarding, I shuffled his library and noticed that a few cards were facing the opposite direction and decided to call a judge. I did not expect any foul play, but I called the judge for this for two main reasons. Number one, you can never be certain who is cheating and who isn’t. Second, I said before that I wanted to find an opportunity to rattle him and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. Call it scummy, call it unfair, call it unsportsmanlike, whatever. He presented what I thought to be a suspicious deck. I was within my rights as a player to call the judge for anything out of the ordinary.

The judge said that there was no pattern in the order of the sleeves and we got back underway.

I won the next two games relatively easily. Domain spells hit him for 16 in one turn game 2. Game 3, I saved a Helix to mess with his math and I ended up winning the rubber match.

2-1, 4-1

Apparently, he made a severe misplay in game 3. He had an Ensnaring Bridge but didn’t play it. If I didn’t have a Vindicate or Ancient Grudge then he would simply have won the game there and then. Turns out I had the Vindicate, so even if he had played it I would have killed it immediately and not slowed me in the slightest. But this is the kind of thing I was trying to do with the mind games. I didn’t need it this time, but I could have.

I discussed this with friend who is a judge and he said that it was definitely scummy (which I agree with), but said that it wasn’t unsportsmanlike. The fact that it was round 5 and that we were near the top tables features into his decision. I’m interested to know what you think of this kind of ‘gamesmanship’ in competitive Magic. Leave your comments below. I will likely be discussing this more in depth in a later entry.

Round 6: Tab with Mono Blue Faerie Wizards

This round I lost the roll. I took ten (!) from Bob in game 1 off of only 4 cards (2 Vindicates and 2 Goyfs), and adding that to my lands I basically started at 6. Pretty unreal. In spite of getting him to 5 (from the full 20, mind you) he beat me up with a Mistbind Clique a couple times and it was off to the sideboards.

-3 Teeg, -1 Bob, +4 Terminate

I Terminated his turn 2 Mutavault that was attempting to block my Grim Lavamancer, slowing him way down. He eventually put a Threads on my tapped Ape, but it was all over by then.

Game 3 he mulls to 6, but I missed every land drop beyond the first and flying dudes beat my face in.

1-2, 4-2

Sigh. No Top 8 for me.

After the round, I learned that my friend Derek piloting the Bubble Hulk deck that we had redesigned had gone 6-0 up to that point and was in a position to draw in. I was very proud of that, as I feel like Derek and I are the foremost Bubble Hulk authorities in the United States, having worked on the deck since it was debuted here on TCGplayer and (in my humble opinion) improved upon it.

We are going to be working on an incarnation of the deck for next Extended season after the rotation of the sac-lands and Living Wish, but not to worry. Hulk will still be in the format, wrecking people’s days with Kamigawa crap rare shenanigans.

Round 7: JJ with Dredge

The first time I faced Dredge this season was in Detroit in the first round of the very first PTQ of the season. This, the second-to-last round of the last PTQ, is the second time. I somehow have managed to avoid the boogeyman of the format in every tournament in between. Quite a random feat.

I won the roll and led with a Mogg Fanatic. My little animal beats from dubs Fanatic and dubs Grim Lavamancer (and a timely sacrifice to avoid Bridge tokens) knock him down to 8. On the penultimate turn, I attack with a Fanatic and a Grim (down to 6), activate another Grim (puts him to 4), cast a Helix (down to 1) and finally sacrificing the last Mogg Fanatic. Quite difficult.

The timely Mogg Fanatic sacrifice mentioned above was contested, by the way. The important thing to remember is that there is a passage on Bridge from Below that says “as long as Bridge from Below is in your graveyard.” Since my Fanatic hit the yard before the creature it was killing he got no tokens.

He said that it was the first time he lost a game 1 that day. I was rather proud.

-3 Gaea’s Might, -2 Vindicate, +4 Forge Tender, +1 Gaddock Teeg

Game 2, I mulled to 6 and was stuck on two lands, but my opening plays were Mogg and Teeg so I had a chance. He didn’t hit any Bridges or Narcomoebas off of a huge Breakthrough, so it looked like I could get there. Unfortunately I ran out of gas and he killed me with Ichorids.

As we were about to start game 3, JJ offered me a draw. I mulled it over in my head: Zoo is good in the draw bracket, I don’t have a good match up against JJ anyway, I have no chance at top 8 regardless and a few other reasons factored into my eventual decision to accept. We shook hands and left, which I did quite briskly to use the restroom (which factored into my decision to draw mightily).

Turns out that my friend Jon Swearingen defeated Randy Wright during this round in no small part thanks to what has been described to me as a runner-runner-runner-runner miracle series of top-decks of land-land-land-Oblivion Ring. This helped him top 8. What a lucky guy.

1-1-1, 4-2-1

Round 8: Jacob with UB Faeries

Faeries, as I have since been informed, is apparently not a good match up for Zoo. Spellstutter Sprite counters every spell in the deck and Mistbind Clique can end games quickly, just as cards like Pestermite and Cryptic Command can hamper my tempo. In addition to that, this version with black has Smother and Bitterblossom, both of which can be a beating. The Bitterblossom cuts both ways in this match up though, as his life loss could become relevant in a long game.

Jacob had a friend behind him who said he was going to tally all of his play mistakes. We joked about Magic, Faeries in Extended, illegal decks and everything in between for the extent of the match. This was a fun match to be a part of.

Game 1 I won the roll, but a turn 2 Bitterblossom (that I had no answer to) followed up a few turns later by a Scion of Oona to pump his Bitter army were enough to kill me in short order. I theoretically could have Craig Jones him at 1 life while he was at 5 (and I had an active Grim Lavamancer in play), but unfortunately I couldn’t pull off the miracle and I was shuffling up for game 2 facing a possible (and exceptionally mediocre) 4-3-1 final record straight in the grill.

Apparently there were some misplays on his part, as his smart-ass friend over his shoulder tried to explain, but they weren’t grievous enough to warrant too much distraction.

-4 Vindicate, -3 Teeg, +3 KoALa, +4 Terminate

I open game 2 without a play, but Jacob opens with turn 1 Chome Mox (imprinting smother) and Island into Bitterblossom. Turn 1! Thankfully, I had the Kami to take it down immediately. He had nothing after that and I took care of him in no time flat with Goyf beats.

His friend was sure to mention “Nice job, getting rid of that Smother.”

He pile shuffled me before game 3 and just about gave me a heart attack when he counted my deck and said, “sixty-one?” I stared at him wide-eyed for a few seconds before he let me off the hook and telling me he was joking. God, it would suck to lose like that.

The last game of the last PTQ of the season lived up to the expectations of an epic battle. We took shots back and forth for several turns. We were both around ten by the mid-game.

The crucial play turns out to have been surrounding fetch land and shock land timing. I had a Lightning Helix in my hand with one untapped Shock land and one untapped fetch land with the capability of playing the end-of turn-Helix on one of his two blockers when I had two creatures able to attack during the next turn and a Gaea’s Might. He had an untapped Island. I searched out the Sacred Foundry and put it into play (whether it was untapped at this point or not was the point of contention). It was at this point I said, “I’ll play it untapped,” and continued shuffling, ready to burn out the impeding Faerie. Then, after some more thought, I said, “actually, I’ll play it tapped,” considering the possibility of a Force Spike. He said that it should remain untapped and decided to call the judge, which I saw as completely acceptable and made sure that he knew I didn’t mind his calling of the judge at this point.

What’s good for the goose, etc. This is why the judge system is here. I love the DCI and the fact that situations like these are handled by trained professionals instead of it being like the Mike Long Wild West days.

The judge ruled that the land should end up tapped, a decision which was appealed to the head judge. The head judge actually overruled the first decision, but not in the way you might think. He ruled that, as the judge was called while I was shuffling and not after I had completed my shuffle and offered a cut, I was still in my shuffling time and allowed to then make a decision. I thought some more about it and decided that I would play the land tapped and that was that.

I honestly don’t remember whether it was originally put into play tapped or untapped, but if I was lying by accident then I truly apologize. Regardless, the final judge ruling made it clear that the original position it came in with was irrelevant so I feel like I didn’t do anything wrong and neither did my opponent.

During my next turn, with no fear of Force Spike (which, as it turns out, he actually had), I Helix’d a blocker, declared attackers, Might’d the unblocked one, and burned him out for the final few damage.

2-1, Final Record: 5-2-1, 28th of 206

Good enough for ten packs, which was basically the 25 dollar entry fee. So you just read what amounts to about eight or so pages of useless information, when basically I could have just as easily said, “I paid 25 bucks at ten in the morning, got ten packs in exchange at ten at night.”

But this was hopefully more exciting, enlightening and entertaining. Thanks for reading. Good luck in Hollywood.

Reubs

Tags: Tmp The Main Phase Extended Zoo Might Get There Or Maybe It Won't

Related to: Magic: the Gathering

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