2001)

Tournament Report: PTQ Detroit 9/15 (T9)

Size: 109 Players 7 Rounds

I decided about in the middle of the week to attend the PTQ in Detroit and get some much needed practice for the Grand Prix in Minnesota. I didn't expect to do to well having of not played in two weeks and deciding to play a deck I've never played, but Dave said it was good and usually what Dave says is write. So I decided on black-blue-white discard. So on the long drive to Detroit (after making a “great” decision of staying up all night and watching T.V.) I asked Dave tons of questions about the match ups and what to sideboard, and what decks/cards to anticipate. This is my decklist:

4:Recoil
4:Fact or Fiction
4:Dromar's Charm
4:Gerrards Verdict
4:Vindicate
4:Specteral Lynx
3:Ravenous Rats
2:Lobotomy
2:Desolation Angel
2:Rout
2:Yawgmoth’s Agenda
4:Coastal tower
4:Salt Marsh
4:Caves of Kolos
5:Swamps
5:Plains
3:Islands

SIDEBOARD

4:Galina's Knight
3:Addle
2:Manicles of Decay (for Spectral lynx in the mirror match)
2:Dodecapod
2:Gainsay
2:Aura Blast (MVP vs. Agenda )

Round 1 vs. Richard Hunley playing U/W rouge answer

Game 1: I know Richard from Grand Rapids and know his decks to be a bit off the wall - but nothing to laugh at. First game Rich dropped a Tidal Visonary and a Crimson Acolyte (combo) and was punishing my bad draw pretty well. Just when I was about to start to take control via agenda, something bad happened. I go to cast my Gerrard's verdict on two of the last three cards in his hand. He discards a Dodecapod on me and I had only a Vindicate to get rid of it. Believe me, I was scarred. On his turn he attacks for five putting me at seven. So on my turn I vindicate and he absorbs it ending my life.

Game 2: This game went quick not like the 30 minute first game. I hit him hard early with discard luckily making my decision to keep the discard in a good one. I cleared the board with rout on turn five and ended the game with Desolation Angel on turn seven.

Game 3: We had only about seven minutes to play and I was thinking win but knew it was going to be a draw. So after going back and forth for seven minutes it was an exciting draw.

Round 2 vs. Jason Kieran playing B/R/W control 0-0-1

Game 1: I had to mulligan a one-land hand away into a less than stellar draw. I put some early pressure on with a Spectral Lynx but the lack of discard eventually led to Jason getting a two Phyrexian Arena/Goblin Trenches/Nega Sanctuary butt kicking. I will admit a thought the Sanctuary was a weird decision at first but it kept Jason from losing to Arena.

Game 2: This was a better draw for me and after siding in 4 Galina's knights I felt pretty good. I played a Galina's knight second turn and played Lobotomy on his Death Grasp's turn four. That left him with only Void to kill the knight but I had counter backup ready and was winning the
race. Due to a Goblin Trenches the game was close. But when I drew a second Dromair's charm and could safely gain five life to ensure the win.

Game 3: To make a long story short I drew two Galina's Knights with counter backup and drew a third on turn five. Game Over.

Round 3 vs. Jason Marks playing Turbo Obliterate 1-0-1

Game 1: I had to mulligan down to five cards, but opened up with a Verdict and a rat. This striped Jason's hand rather well. This gave me an opportunity to Vindicate one of his tap-lands and keep him out of Obliterate range. I eventually drew a Spectral lynx for the eventual win.

Game 2: My hand wasn't anything great but I had a pair of Vindicates to go after his land (not to mention the Fact or Fiction in my hand). I hit his land early and held the FOF and a land for when the dreaded obliterate came (but it didn’t come). A blurred mongoose caught me off guard. Without a Spectral lynx, I ended up taking ten from it and getting Urza's Rage with kicker for the other ten. So there was no need for Obliterate that game.

Game 3: This was a close battle that went to the last of the five extra turns.

I eventually lost to three Blurred Mongoose creatures, two Mystic Snakes and a good Exclude top deck for my Spectral Lynx. The best I could have done anyway was a draw. Three games, no obliterate, and I still lost.

Round 4 vs. Dave Urbin playing Dark Domain 1-1-1

Game 1: I got out a Spectral Lynx early and never saw a Collective Restraint or Spiritmonger. So after a counter battle over an Allied Strategies, Dave got to draw his five cards but turned up nothing useful and he eventually lost.

Game 2: I drew two Vindicate's right off the bat which is pretty good against domain. I hit his forest early and dropped a Lynx. When he finally got enough mana to harrow I countered it. Game Over.

Round 5 vs. Matt Diesch playing Sligh/splash blue 2-1-1

Game 1: If I could think of a bread and butter match this would probably be it. Although game one was scary seeing two early 2/1 threats and a Flametonge Kavu on my rat, but Rout ended the threat and Desolation Angel ended the game.

Game 2: I sided out all of my discard for Addle, Manicles of Decay, Galina's Knight (how good is this guy?). This change was due to Dodecapod being the only card that scares me other than bad draws in this match. In this game, a second turn Addle uncovered a Prophetic Bolt and four lands leaving Matt with only the Fireband Ranger in play for offence, but a Vindicate soon took care of him.

The lack of offense on Matt's side let me ride a Galina's Knight all the way for the win.

Round 6 vs. Chris Morling Mirror Match 3-1-1

Game 1: It always sucks to play a teammate in the late rounds when a loss ends his or your day and a draw is not an option. In the first game a couple early rats gave me card advantage and punished Chris's bad draw. In the later game after the rats put Chris to ten. It looked like the rats
might finish the job but then Chris Probed and countered my Dromar’s Charm. Chris was tapped out and couldn't play what he drew but emptied my hand so it looked good for him. Until my turn when I top decked a Desolation God (oops, I mean Desolation Angel) for the win. What a lucky, lucky man I am.

Game 2: I sided out most of my discard but not all of it for Manicles, Addle, and Dodecapod. My opening hand was four land, two Fact or Fiction, and a Recoil. I thought it would be all right until a fourth turn lobotomy left my hand looking like a toothless hillbilly. After that it was kind of a blur. I remember an unleashed Dodecapod from my Recoil, and a Desolation Angel to finish the job against me.

Game 3: We were both mana screwed this game, but thanks to a Vindicate I had three land and Chris was stuck at two. This went on for about eight turns. My Spectral Lynx was dealing the damage and I felt pretty safe at three mana with three Dromar’s charm in my hand. Game Over.

Round 7 vs. Scott Ebby playing B/R/U control 4-1-1

Game 1: We both had a less than perfect draw this game. I put out an early Spectral Lynx and protected it all game. A mid game Blazing Specter scared me a little bit but when there was no counter for my Vindicate, I knew it was game over.

Game 2: This game was bad for me. Basically I got stuck at three mana and I wasn’t able to cast one of the two Fact or Fiction's in my hand. Eventually a Blazing Specter with counter backup ended my life.

Game 3: A couple early Vindicates kept Scott without black mana and an early Galinas Knight put the pressure on. Eventually I got an agenda out to take control. Scott did have a late game flare with an agenda of his own and me with no counter, but my trusty Aura Blast did the job just fine.

Game Over.

With an overall record of 5-1-1, I thought I was definitely in the top 8 but ended up missing the cut by five percent on tiebreakers. Although I was disappointed on not getting my chance to qualify I was happy to get half a box for taking ninth and raise my rating back into the 1800's.

Well until next time - Peace Out.

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