2001)

Having checked out the metagame from the previous night, we eagerly awaited our opponents. Only fearing the Spectral Lynx and Voice of All, Bill’s Green/Blue Machine was shuffled and waiting. Bill Flemming made this surprisingly strong deck tuned to smash through the current IBC format. The deck is based on playing a two casting cost creature (a “bear”) and then bouncing or countering away any opposition. With Fact or Fiction, Repulse, and Exclude, the deck moves smoothly with Phyrexian Arena-like card advantage. The deck had the tempo of red/green beat down and the control of Gomar.

[The deck list is printed in Dave Andrew's Origins coverage: http://www.card-shark.com/content/view_article.asp?article_id=74]

The details about the PTQ at Origins:
Date of event: Friday, July 6th
Starting time: 10 A.M.
Number of players/rounds: 132 players (8 rounds)
Format: Invasion Block Constructed
Number of Blue/Green Machine decks: 4

Kiet, Travis, Dave and I played Bill’s Blue/Green Machine. Previously in the week, we playtested it against what we felt were the dominant decks in the field (Gomar, Red/Green, Domain, R/B/U, and B/W/R) and found it to be the best. We were really happy with what we saw at the Grand Prix Trial the night before. Bill's deck was going to perform well and all of us had high hopes.

Now, for those who want the quick side of the story, here is a short synopsis of the deck’s history during the 10 A.M. PTQ:

Travis: 2-2-0 (dropped from tournament)
Me: 5-2-1 (ending rank: 13)
Dave: 6-2 (ending rank: 10)
Kiet: 7-0-2 (ending rank: 1)

Kiet unfortunately lost the first round in the top eight. He left the tournament with a full box of product and his first Top 8 Qualifier experience. Quite a nice record for a deck like this.

Oddly enough, there was another PTQ that day because there was a misprint in the schedule from Origins. They listed the 10 A.M. tournament as a 10 P.M. tournament. Therefore, all four of us had the chance to try the decks against the field. Here are the results from the seven round, 73 (?) person PTQ that night.

Me: 0-2-0 (dropped from tournament)
Travis: 4-3-0 (played Dave in round seven)
Dave: 5-2-0 (placed near the top 8)
Kiet: 6-0-1 (did top 8 again!)

I think Kiet lost the first round due to mana problems. However, two Top Eight finishes in one weekend is awesome. I was so happy that Flemming’s deck did so well. By the evening, we saw a lot more blue/green/black combinations and we were really impressed at the shift in the field. We only changed the sideboard to match what we thought was a lot of green/blue “hate” out in the field. But enough of this overview, let’s get to the specifics. I will take you to my experiences in the 10 A.M. PTQ.

Round 1:
Player: David Triplo
Deck: White/Black Arena

Game 1:
I don’t remember a lot of specifics from this game because I rolled over and died to Ravenous Rats and discard. I got him down to eight, but the Death Grasp at the end was enough to seal my fate.

Game 2:
He got the Phyrexian Arena in play, but I was coming at him pretty hard. Bouncing, countering, attacking down, his mana problems, and Arena damage was his demise. Dave told me to not side in any enchantment control against the Phyrexian Arena (save it for Domain) because the Arena would help in killing the user. I started to believe this as we shuffled for the third game.

Game 3:
This game was all about the Dodecapod! Who says you shouldn’t have them in your sideboard? I had two Gerrard’s Verdicts played against me, and I had a Dodecapod for each one. Dodecapod means DOH for the opponent. By the way, did you know that DOH has made it into the dictionary? Really. DOH-dec-a-pod.

1-0-0

Round 2:
Player: Ben Visic
Deck: Black/White/Blue

Game 1:
I came out fast, very fast. He not surprised by the green lands or the Blurred Mongoose. However, he was shocked when I played the Island. I got too see some of his deck, but I put a lot of pressure on him with creatures and bounce to end the game early.

Game 2:
What’s really bad for me? Stormscape Apprentice! That creature is nasty and I got “bear-ed” over easily. His Stormscape Apprentice cleared the way for his “bears” to smash me into the ground.

Game 3:
The was the best game of the day. I was drawing amazingly well. If I didn’t top-deck like crazy, I would have soundly lost the game. At a critical moment, we got into a counter-war and I came out ahead. It was intense. We had a huge stack of spells:

He casts: creature (can’t quite remember what it was, but it was REALLY bad for me)
I cast: Mystic Snake (to counter)
Him: Dromar’s Charm (to counter)
Me: Gainsay (to counter)
Him: Dromar’s Charm (to counter – and depleting his hand)
Me: Gainsay (to counter – depleting my hand)

So we ended that exchange during his turn, and I had a new critter in play! With both of us with empty hands, I hoped for a good draw. I got a Mystic Snake! I turned my creatures sideways for the rest of the match.

I believe that there are a couple of cool Magic players that are good for the game and need to be recognized. He is one of them! He came in with a “Solution” like deck and played with some rogue “bears” that acted like a beat down deck. He was always friendly and complimentary. We rooted for each other between rounds, and it was great to have some outside encouragement. Just like William in the previous tournament, I think there are some excellent personalities that need to overshadow all of the rules-lawyers, cheaters and shifty people that seem to get all of the attention. There is a happy ending to this story because Ben made top 8 with a 6-2-0 record. He kept telling me that my tiebreakers gave him the slot. You’re wrong Ben, YOU got yourself into the top 8, not me. Good luck in the future.

2-0-0

Round 3:
Player: Nick Eisel
Deck: Black, Blue, Red Control

Game 1:
Nick controlled the game by countering every threat and destroying every creature. We did everything during the end step of each other’s turns. Fact or Fiction, Rushing River, and other spells were all going on the stack. He never damaged me with any creature. He hit me with the Impulse Bolt (Prophetic Bolt), Undermined me twice, and used Urza’s Rage with kicker for the victory.

Game 2:
We shuffle diligently and he gets no blue mana. I smash him. Unfortunately, he gets a Lobotomy to see my Gainsay and Disrupt sideboard tech.

Game 3:
We are hurrying for time, so we shuffle quickly. I was talking to a curious person (asking about the Card-Shark shirts and site) sitting next to him during the shuffle. During my conversation and shuffling, I noticed something very shaky about Nick’s shuffle technique. I understand looking at the deck before you sideboard, but he looked at the deck and “arranged” the cards (perhaps to avoid a mana clump). Then he did one quick riff and presented the deck to me. What to do? I shuffled his deck.

He looked surprised because he saw me only cut his deck the previous two games. Did he think that I wasn’t paying attention? Did he intentionally sort his mana? I am not too sure, but I had to shuffle his deck to make sure. He pile shuffled my deck the previous two games, so I didn’t feel bad about taking some very common advice: ´´Always shuffle your opponent's deck!´´

Guess what happened. He got mana screwed again! He kept his hand, he got the wrong color combos (I think he couldn’t get his second blue) and I rolled over him. Onto round 4!

3-0-0

Round 4:
Player: Derek McClasky
Deck: Green/Red beats

Game 1:
This was the dreaded match-up for me. I remember playing this deck the previous day and it was a monster of tempo. I stumbled, and I died. In nine turns, I laid a land every turn, but I only had two creatures to show for it. All of the Excludes and Repulses in the world will not help you unless you find a creature to stop the pain.

Game 2:
I stumbled again by NOT getting my critical third-turn land drop. I was at two mana for most of the game. I anxiously awaited my third mana to bounce and counter critters and draw some cards. By the time I got my third and fourth mana, creatures were smashing my face with glee. My opponent showed the most expression when I played the Jungle Barrier. He gave me a sincere compliment for the metagame choice, and then overran me with creatures.

Note to Troy Skinner (fellow friend and excellent magic player): You are SO right. In his words, “If the opponent is playing against green/red, and they stumble, THEY DIE!” Yep, that’s what happened to me, Troy.

3-1-0

Round 5:
Player: Ben Angel
Deck: Red/Black

Game 1:
My notes are a little shaky about this round. I just remember getting hit by a lot of direct damage and discard. I had a lot of board control, but my deck stalled out after about ten turns. I lost.

Game 2 and 3:
I won both of those games based on the same reason: Mystic Snake is good! I remember drawing three of them and casting all of them in game 3. His life went 18 (bear), 14 (two bears), 8 (three bears got through), and 2 (three snakes were in play at this time and other various critters too). He didn’t draw his Void. He lost.

4-1-0

Round 6:
Player: Dale Martin
Deck: Gomar

Game 1:
It was a seesaw fight with life totals swinging in the balance. He tried to play his Dromar with no success as I Mystic Snaked it away. It took a long time for use to finish this first game. Between his Routs and my Blurred Mongooses, it was an excellent battle.

Game 2:
He went first, and he was able get one step ahead of every spell that I tried. A well-timed Yawgmoth’s Agenda dragged the game out for a long time and I ended up losing to the Dromar that sneaked past my defenses. We finished the second game only to have four minutes left four round three.

Game 3:
I sided out all of my Gainsays (that I had sided in for game 2) to bring back the most aggressive parts of the deck. Alas, we didn’t finish in the time allowed. This was another awesome player that I would have liked to thank and spend some time talking to. Unfortunately, we had to quickly re-shuffle and de-sideboard for the next match.

4-1-1

Round 7:
Player: Mike Stewart
Deck: Red/White/Black Discard

This match was a real mess for me. Mike did some play testing with the exact deck I was playing. His first-hand knowledge with my deck was a real set back for me. The deck he played was a rock to my scissors. I got trashed.

Game 1:
Turn two and turn three Gerrard’s Verdicts were very bad for me. He used Ravenous Rats to make me go into top-decking mode as I was pounded by Blazing Specters.

Game 2:
I made my worst mistake of the day right here. In my hand, I had two Dodecapods. He played a Blazing Specter. I countered it with a Mystic Snake. Why didn’t I just let the Specter come in and get the Pods on the table? Well, I was just dumb. I could have used the Mystic Snake to counter a Void or Terminate, but I was a bit shaken and I didn’t play smart. I lost badly and deserved it.

4-2-1

At this time, I was thinking about dropping. With two losses, can I get anything? I knew top 8 was out of the question, but I thought of the prizes and the tie breaks for Ben and Dale, so I stayed in. I was glad I did.

Round 8:
Player: James Hustad
Deck: Forgot to write it down, but think it was Black/Red/Blue

Game 1:
Blurred Mongoose is a nightmare. This critter went a long way home. I don’t think it did all of the damage, but my score pad moves down in even numbers from 16 to 2.

Game 2:
I get another quick start, and he plays his Yawgmoth’s Agenda. I learned from Dale’s Agenda, that I can out-cast the counterspells if I just have a counter for every creature I play. I had a great hand and I Mystic Snaked every attempt at his creature removal or I Repulsed it back to my hand. It was also key that I rolled into the Fact or Fictions when he was finally able to destroy one of my creatures. I think if he had held the Agenda off until a later time in the game, it would have been far more in his favor.

So the evening ended for me with a respectable record of 5-2-1. This gave me 13th place, and I won half a box of boosters. I was proud of the Card Shark team, the amazing sideboard tech that Dave Andrews help refine, and the fantastic deck that Bill Flemming designed. It was a great way to spend a Friday!

On a final note – this was NOT my highlight of the convention. Travis suggested that I go to the ´´Smithee Awards´´ to see the awards given to the worst movies in history. Frankly, it was the best thing in the convention. Dave, Travis, Kiet, and I laughed until the tears rolled down our cheeks. Dave and I stayed for the last few awards and the “Worst Picture” category reared its ugly head. Believe me, we will be scrambling for a copy of Ninja Thunderbolt any day now. We laughed all of the way home to Battle Creek, Michigan while remebering the AMAZING roller-skating Ninjas chasing after an electric three-wheeled car.

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