Dallas PT Report- Better Late than Never
Chris Pikula
So, I wasn't going to do one of these, but I saw somebody request a
report from someone who did well. So, here it goes:
I didn't expect to do well in Dallas simply because I made top 8 in
Atlanta and figured I had only so much luck in me. I was qualified
for the Type I in addition to the Type II, but due to Cornell
University treating me like a bitch, I could not make it to Dallas in
time for the Type I. Oh well, I would've sucked anyway, I'm guessing.
Anyway, I'd been playtesting with Ithacans Dave Price and David
Bartholow for weeks, and I had been doing extensive communications via
e-mail with Worth Wollpert. Worth and I were planning on playing a
B/R Necrodeck with much heavier red than most. I arrived in Dallas
Friday afternoon, watched a little Type I, and then decided to play a
little Type II. So, Worth and I went to the NJ room to play against
Jon Finkel's new R/U Hammer deck. Two bad things came of this trip-
first, Finkel beat me like a bitch and I almost decided to ditch my
deck altogether. Second, Ross Sclafani decided that while I was there
I stole some of his cards and he was going to have to kill me. Later
in the weekend Ross found the cards on top of the TV. Anyway, the
next playtest session took place in Mario Robaina's room with Mario
and Dave Humphreys. Mario was playing U/W Prison and Dave was playing
G/W Geddon with a weird creature collection. Nothing substantial came
from this testing except that it didn't look like Dave's deck could
beat Mario's. That certainly didn't help me much. Anyway, Worth and
I worked through the night and this was the final version of my deck,
which will also appear in the Duellist Sideboard:
12 Swamps
4 Sulfurous Springs
4 Mountain
1 City of Brass
1 Lava Tubes
1 Strip Mine
4 Dark Ritual
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Order of the Ebon Hand
2 Knight of Stromgald
4 Black Knight
3 Drain Life
3 Necropotence
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Fireball
4 Bolt
3 Incinerate
2 Shatter
1 Zuran Orb
1 Black Vise
Sideboard
4 Dystopia
4 Anarchy
1 Shatter
1 Infernal Darkness
1 Contagion
1 Ivory Tower
1 Necropotence
2 Pyroblast
Anyway, tournament time:
Round 1 v. Midwestern guy playing monoblack/recursion creature thing:
So, on my first turn of the PT I cast a Specter. A fine start. He
plays a swamp, so I figure it is another Necrodeck. The first time
the Specter hits him he loses an Ashen Ghoul, the second time he loses
a Krovikan Horror. Fortunately, my quick start and a Necro gets me the
victory before he hits endless creature loop. Second game, he
sideboards in Forsaken Wastes to counter my Necro. This makes it much
easier to bolt him to death.
I'm 1-0. Games don't mean much, so why keep track.
Round 2 v. Rob Dougherty (sp?) from Mass.:
Rob had beat me the week before in NYC playing Darwin Kastle's
Frenetic Efreet/Lion/Bolt deck. I expected a burn deck of some sort.
I was right. These games lasted about 2 minutes each as he Orcish
Artilleryed, bolted, Orgged, and Hammered the shit out of me. I knew
his deck should beat me, but I was really worried about the number of
very Red decks I saw all around me. 1-1 after 2 rounds.
Round 3 v. David Dittmer of Mass and Team SMK:
Well, I had no idea what SMK guys were playing, so after Dave played a
first turn Plains I ritualed out Necropotence, guessing he was playing
control. Bad guess. He casts a Order of the White Shield on his 2nd
turn. Normally, this is bad. However, I was the proud recipient of
my Zuran Orb off the Necro and bolted most of his creatures and beat
him down with Knights. Game 2 featured my evil sideboard- 4 Anarchy.
White decks bring in all kinds of crazy Disenchants, Divine Offerings,
and some even bring in Mind Bends against me. Of course, none of
these cards do crap against Anarchy. None of this really worked the
way I wanted it to in Game 2, unfortunately. My mana draw was not
strong and I came out way too slow. I pulled out Game 3 due to a
triple Ritual Fireball and Dittmer having 2 or 3 anti-artifact in his
hand. 2-1.
Round 4 v. Eric Tam playing Lake of the Dead/Discard/Necro:
The first game of this match is my favorite of the whole tourney. I
do some early damage, he does some early damage, our creatures die.
We are both at something like 16, when Tam does some crazy
Lake/Consult/Necro/Disk madness, putting him at 11 or so. On my turn,
all I have in my hand is 2 Rituals and a Drain Life, so I figure I
better use them or they will get Stupored. So I Drain him down to
five. On his turn, he stares at his hand for a few minutes, and then
says "I guess I'll go for it." He then taps his only swamp, sacs it
to the Lack, blows the Disk, Rituals, and plays an Ihsan's Shade. At
this point I'm at 20 or so with on cards, 4 land, and Mr. Shade on the
table. I can't kill Mr. Shade with my deck, so I've got 4 turns to
kill Tam, which is probably impossible due to his Contagions. My draw
is interesting- Strip Mine. I strip the Lake, leaving him with zero
land. On his turn he attacks and is done, still playing no land. On
my turn, I draw the Black Vise, and the Vise kills him before the
Shade can kill me. Strong. We split the next 2 very close games, but
I take the match. So, I'm 3-1.
Round 5 v. Josh Bradford playing B/U Necro/Counter/Madness:
This is a damn close match. First game I'm stunned as Josh Arcane
Denials and then Force of Wills my Necropotence on consecutive turns.
Other than that, I don't remember anything other than the match was
damn close and I fucked him with a Strip Mine at some point. I pull
it out 2-1. Josh says he doensn't mind losing to me until I tell him
that I sideboarded out my Hymn to Tourach, at which point he said that
he lost all respect for me and he should have won. 4-1, baby.
Round 6 v. Kyle Rose playing White Weenie:
This is a very uninteresting crush white weenie match. I bolt
everything and kill him with Knights. Anarchy is key. 5-1.
Round 7 v. Marc Hernandez- MonoBlack Classic Necropotence:
Game 1 I rough him up with a first turn Necro. Game 2 I have the
rudest thing I've ever had done to me in Magic occur. Hernandez casts
a Disk, blows it killing my Zuran Orb and Vise, and then Grinning
Totems my Ivory Tower. The next turn he Totems my Necro, drops his
Orb, and I concede. That was my Necro and my Tower. How rude. Game 3
I play first and this is my draw: Swamp, Springs, Strip Mine, Ritual,
Pump Knight, Specter, Black Vise. I play a swamp and a Vise. He
takes 3 and plays a Glacier. Next turn I Ritual out a Knight and
strip the Glacier. He then takes 3 more and plays another Glacier.
He is basically dead before he gets a swamp in play. I'm 6-1.
Round 8 v. John Pennock playing R/W Utility/Control:
This deck is very simple and effective, but I'm surprised to see it
doing this well. It has Orders, Serras, Emissarys, Eron, STP, Bolts,
and Tomes. First game Necro is too much for him, and he can't quite
keep up. Second game, every creature I plays dies, and he gets out an
Emissary which I can't deal with. I play a desperation Necropotence,
and get 2 blocker out the next turn, backed up with a Bolt.
Unfortunately, I'm raped by Pyrokinesis and the Emissary kills me.
Game 3 Anarchy is huge as it kills a nasty Angel and I draw a lot of
Direct Damage and pull it out. At this point I'm 7-1 and a draw would
put me in the final 8. However, I was in the same position in
Atlanta, and was the only 7-1 who was not paired with another 7-1, and
therefore was not allowed to draw. In between rounds, I beg Mark
Rosewater and Henry Stern to not pair me with someone with a worse
record. My begging works, and I'm paired with George Baxter, who is
also 7-1. We happily draw and make the final 8. Woo-hoo. Worth also
does very well, ending up 6-2-1 and finishing 19th. His draw is a
load of crap though, as Mark Justice takes 30 seconds and more to
discard Plains late in the game. Earlier in the match, Justice asked
Worth to hurry his play. When Worth reminded Mark of this during
Mark's excursions into inactivity, Mark responded "I never said I
wasn't a hypocrite." Mark Rosewater was said to have the "Hey, its
Mark Justice" look on his face. I was going into the final 8 seeded
3rd, so I would have to play Baxter on Sunday morning. I knew he was
playing mono-white Prison, and I was a bit worried.
Sunday:
I wake up at 7:30 to take a shower and such. I'm supposed to be
downstairs at 8:30, but I get there a little early and decide to
wander into the 24 hour playing area. I decide to chat a bit with
Finkel and Feming Chan, who appear to be playing Sealed Deck ante
games. When Feming sees me, he cries "Dude, what the fuck are you
doing? Get some sleep, you have to play in the morning." He is very
confused when I explain to him that it is 8:15 AM.
Round of 8 v. George Baxter:
I have mixed emotions when I find out that George must forfeit the
first game because his deck does not match his sheet. Lucky for me, I
guess. I only have to win one. I should have won the first game, but
George gets the always ridiculous Land Tax/Zuran Orb combo, which my
deck simply can't deal with. Bolts don't do shit when he is gaining 6
life a turn. Second game, I first turn vised his ass- nothing quite
like restricted card revenge. My victory was sealed when he Geddoned
with an Icy and my Specter in play, and I Shattered the Icy in
response. The Specter and Bolts finished him off.
Round of 4 v. Jason Zila:
Zila is playing a deck 5 or 6 cards different from Robaina's deck-
this Winter Orb deck is far more anti-Necro than Baxter's due to
Tutors and Karma and COP:Black. I get murdered in this match- first
game due to mana screw, 2nd game due to Black Vises, and 3rd game due
to his deck just plain beating me. No invite to Worlds for me. $9000
ain't bad, though. I attribute my success to a strong deck and to the
fact that in 9 rounds of swiss I had 1 opponent play Wrath of God, 1
opponent play Serrated Arrows, and zero COP:Blacks played against me.
I also faced no decks with Green, interestingly enough. I never
touched my Dystopias. Anyway, I got schoolwork to do. I wish I could
have done a better report, but I have no time and no memory. By the
way, I'm only the 5th player to reach the top 8 in consecutive PTs-
I'm preceded by Hammer, Preston Poulter, Scott Johns, and Olle Rade.
Pretty good for a guy from Indiana. Later.
Worth Wollpert
And you even gave me some props...
Heh...congrats again dude.
Worth