2001)

TITLE: PTQ New Orleans in Sacramento - Top 8 (September 1)

After my disappointing performance at GP Denver and the PTQ that followed, I managed a much better performance at the PTQ in Sacramento,CA, on September 1. I hadn't been able to go to the PTQ the weekend before due to getting sick, so this was actually my first tournament since Denver, and I managed to make top 8 for the second time ever!

Given that I had been sick in the week-and-a-half prior to this PTQ, I didn't have much time to research or test additional decks. However, I was still pretty happy with my UGr deck from GP Denver and was familiar with it (which I think does count for a lot) so I just went with that deck with a few minor tweaks. As usual, I'll present the deck commentary first, followed by summaries of my matches, followed by the overall results of the PTQ. Here is the deck that I used:

Main Deck:
4 Blurred Mongoose
4 Gaea's Skyfolk
4 Kavu Titan

4 Mystic Snake
4 Exclude
4 Repulse
2 Fact or Fiction
3 Prophetic Bolt

4 Fire/Ice
3 Urza's Rage

7 Island
6 Forest
4 Shivan Oasis
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Shivan Reef

Sideboard:
4 Gainsay
4 Jungle Barrier
3 Disrupt
2 Tranquility
1 Obliterate
1 Unnatural Selection

Comments on the deck and some of the changes made from last time:

1) 2 Fact or Fiction and 3 Prophetic Bolt instead of 4 Fact or Fiction and 1 Flametongue Kavu:

Well, I saw the success people such as Dave Price had been having with the Bolt, but I still liked the cheaper cost, less restrictive color requirements, and greater card selection advantage of Fact or Fiction.
So, I figured to just split the difference and go with 2 of each, with an extra Prophetic Bolt replacing the similarly-purposed Flametongue Kavu.

2) Disrupt instead of Dodecapod in the Board:

Since I found little occasion to side in the Dodecapods last time, I decided to replace them with Disrupts, which also work against an early Gerrard's Verdict. Plus, the Disrupts are good against most control decks, particularly the UBR deck that has been doing so well lately. Unfortunately, I never saw a UBR deck and saw LOTS of discard (both Verdicts and Blazing Specters), so the Dodecapods would have been better in this event.

3) Tranquility instead of Thunderscape Battlemage:

I didn't make this change as much for the ability to take out multiple enchantments as I did for the ability to avoid Exclude.

4) Obliterate instead of a Thornscape Battlemage:

I felt that the Obliterate was just needed to get me out of some otherwise-unwinnable situations, particularly against decks such as The Solution and Call.

5) Unnatural Selection instead of the other Thornscape Battlemage:

Given how much of the UGr deck I had been seeing, I wanted a little something to help in the mirror match-up.

MATCHES:

OK, now on to the matches. As before, I'll talk about what decks I faced as well as the interesting highlights. There were 100 players, which meant 7 rounds of swiss followed by a cut to the top 8.

Match 1 vs. RGu, played by Chris Gacayan:

I won 2-0. Chris was playing a RG deck with a heavy splash of blue for Repulse and Jilt. I think RG probably has the advantage game 1, but I have the advantage games 2 and 3 due to the Jungle Barriers. In this case, I managed to win game 1 due to a lack of pressure from Chris (I only got knocked down to 13 life) combined with a kicked Titan on my side. A kicked Titan comes to play again in game 2 to help me win.

Match Record: 1-0

Match 2 vs. BW Arena, played by Justin Packet:

I lost 1-2. Justin was playing one of the few 2 color decks apart from RG that I've seen in this format recently. His deck was made to use and abuse Phryexian Arena, with not only Putrid Warriors but also Dega Sanctuaries! I somehow managed to win game 1, despite having to mulligan once and getting hit with an early Verdict. I think Justin's deck just failed to give him much pressure, as my life never went below 18. He did get out Dega Sanctuary, but he never kept a black permanent on the table with it. Even though I didn't see any Phyrexian Arenas game 1, I figured he must be playing with them (and this turned out to be the case), so I sided in my Tranquilities (which I was really glad to have in the Board for this match-up) as well as my Disrupts for the Verdicts, Vindicates, and Death Grasps. I did manage to successfully disrupt a Death Grasp, but after he saw the Disrupt he was able to play around it after that since it was late in the game. I also managed to cast Tranquility to get rid of an Arena, but my deck just failed to give me many creatures.

Game 3 my deck just decided to hate me. My first hand had only 1 land, and so I mulliganed into a 6-card hand that also had only 1 land. I decided to mulligan again. Now, I discussed this with several people and opinions seemed to be split. My opinion is that it is almost ALWAYS best to mulligan a 6-card, 1-land hand when playing first (as I was) and is often advisable to mulligan the same hand even if drawing first. The reason I chose to mulligan is that I only have a 45% chance of drawing land on my second turn. In fact, it is 29% likely that I won't draw land on either of my next 2 turns, leaving me really mana-screwed. On the other hand, if I mulligan, I have a 69% chance of having at least 2 land in my 5-card hand. I believe those odds tell me to mulligan, so I did (of course, I didn't know the odds EXACTLY at the time, but I was able to approximate them close enough) Unfortunately, my 5-card hand only had 1 land, but at least it had an island and a Disrupt. I did manage to Disrupt a second turn Verdict, but it wasn't enough as I failed to draw another land for the next FOUR turns and then my only land was Vindicated! Oh well, there wasn't much I could have done about that came,

Match Record: 1-1

Match 3 vs. RWU, played by Matt Densmore:

I won 2-1. I won game 1 due to Matt not seeing any white mana for a long time. Game 2 Matt due PLENTY of land and I failed to draw many creatures, and I eventually got killed by Rage with kicker. Game 3 was just like game 1, unfortunately for Matt - not much he could do.

Match Record: 2-1

Match 4 vs. RG, played by Don Villanueva:

I won 2-0. Game 1 I managed to stop his offense when I was at 8 life and then took control from there. Game 2 was REALLY close, with me going down to 3 life and being within Rage range before I managed to win.

Match Record: 3-1

Match 5 vs. RGu, played by Adam Lane:

I won 2-1. Somehow I always get matched up against Adam (affectionately known as ´´Mongo´´ to his friends) at major events – I played him at GP Detroit, at one or two other PTQs or GP Trials, and now I was matched up against him here. I know him to be a good player and good guy so this promised to be a tough but fun match. Despite my disadvantage in game 1 of this match-up, I manage to pull out a win at 4 life. Game 2 I stall out at 3 land, none of which produces green mana, for several turns and die largely to a Blurred Mongoose. Game 3 we start off by trading a couple of Blurred Mongooses. Then, I cast a Jungle Barrier to stabilize and then later cast a Gaea's Skyfolk and start beating him down with it. At one point, Adam casts Rage on the Skyfolk, to which I respond by attempting to Repulse the Skyfolk, which he attempts to Scorch in response to my Repulse, and then I Snaked the Scorch. The Skyfolk eventually dies, but not before getting Adam down low enough so I am able to cast Rage with Kicker on him.

Match Record: 4-1

Match 6 vs. BWR, played by Robert Wong:

I won 2-1. Robert's deck had Blazing Specters but no Verdicts that I saw so I was beginning to regret my replacement of the Dodecapods with the Disrupts in the Board. Anyway, I win game 1 pretty easily but game 2 I stall on 3 lands and he wins pretty easily. Game 3 I just get the insane flying beatdown draw with Island, Yavimaya Coast, 3 Gaea's Skyfolk, and 2 other cards in my opening hand. I was able to win pretty quickly with that hand.

Match Record: 5-1

Match 7 vs. BRW, played by Bryce Currence:

I intentionally drew. This was a VERY interesting decision. At the end of round 6, there were 2 people (Bryce being one of them) at 16 points, 7 people (including myself) at 15 points, 2 people at 14 points, and 1 person at 13 points. In other words, drawing in was NOT safe. Plus, I had the second-lowest tiebreakers out of the 7 people with 15 points, being in 8th place.

Here's what the pairings were:
1) Bryce (16) vs. Me (15/50%)
2) David (16) vs. Patrick (15/58%)
3) Justin (15/60+%) vs. Tom (15/52%)
4) Corey (15/60+%) vs. Ernie (15/47%)
5) Grady (15/60+%) vs. Nathaniel (14)
6) Andrew (14) vs. Eu-Ming (13)

If I drew with Bryce, he would end up higher than me. I figured David and Patrick would draw for sure. Both of them would end up higher than me. Also, Corey and Ernie would almost assuredly play, as Ernie's tiebreakers were even lower than mine. Grady and Nathaniel HAD to play, as did Andrew and Eu-Ming. The winner of each of those 3 matches would be higher than me, with the possible exception of Eu-Ming if he won. Justin and Tom were the big question mark. If they played, only one of them would end up higher than me. That would make AT MOST, 1+2+3+1=7 people who would be higher than me and I would make the top 8 as #8.

If Justin and Tom did NOT play (or unintentionally drew), I STILL would have at least a chance at the top 8, as Eu-Ming could win but I could have higher tiebreakers than him and/or I could leap-frog Tom in tiebreakers, which would be helped by my having been slightly paired up vs. Bryce.

In essence, I felt pretty good about my chance if I drew in. Also, I knew Bryce from way back when I used to live in Los Angeles and we sometimes played together at the same local shop, and I also knew OF Bryce from his having made the U.S. National team a few years back, so I knew him to be quite a good player. Plus, we had discussed our decks previously and he had a lot of sideboard cards against me and I had less against him, so I wasn't too confident in my chances of beating him.

So I decided to intentionally draw with Bryce, and Justin and Tom did in fact play so I made it into the top 8 as the #8 seed!

Match Record: 5-1-1

Quarterfinals vs. BW Arena, played by Justin Packet:

I had to play Justin again! Anyway, he had the mad verdict draw this match. Game 1 he Verdicts me once and then I snake a second Verdict. However, he Routs away all 3 of my creatures the next turn and then takes control and wins. Game 2 was INSANE. I thought I was OK, as turn 2 Justin didn't do anything. However, turn 3 he Vindicates my lone source of red mana. Then on turn 4 he proceeds to DOUBLE-VERDICT me! I hadn't drawn any Disrupts or Snakes yet, so I just had to discard. Then Justin Vindicates another one of my lands (my only blue source) and gets out both Arena and Dega Sanctuary! Well, at this point I am desperately searching for an answer while holding a couple of Excludes to deal with his creatures. However, I fail to draw one of my Tranquilities or any other counter-magic, and he casts a THIRD Verdict to get rid of my Excludes. Oh, and then he just casts a little Desolation Angel with kicker to top things off. I was SLAUGHTERED. And my next 3 cards? Tranquility, Disrupt, and Disrupt! So it was a good run but I end up losing in the quaterfinals and placing 8th overall.

Match Record: 5-2-1

METAGAME AND RECAP:

In the end, I was feeling pretty tired and had a 2-hour drive back so I left and wasn't able to see the full top 8, but I do know it consisted of at least:

UGr (me)
BW (Justin)
BRW (Bryce)
Solution

Also, throughout the day I made notes of what decks people were playing around me. Here are my totally unscientific non-statistically significant results of the major decks:

RG / RGu: 20%
RWU: 16%
Domain (mostly Dark Domain): 16%
UGr: 12%
BW: 8%
BRW: 8%
Other Decks: No-Mar, Go-Mar, Solution, BWg.

A surprising lack of blue, and my fear of the mirror match was relatively unfounded. Oh well, I'll have another shot in two weeks in Los Angeles.

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