High Hopes: Amsterdam PTQ - Rochester NY

Once every 3 months or so about 1 mile from the Rochester Institute of Technology the local Magic event of the season occurs, THE PTQ.  The Timmys, Johnnys, and Spikes from a 60 mile radius all show up to see who is smart enough, lucky enough, and prepared enough to sleeve them up with the big boys...

I had never played in a Constructed PTQ going into this past weekend. I either was always out of town that week or didn't have the cards to play a competitive deck  This weekend, for first time in the 13 years I have been playing this amazing game, I finally had a chance to show just how good I could be... OOOR NOT!  Plus the Pro Tour is going to be in Amsterdam! What broke college student wouldn't take a shot at that!       

My Deck & Why I Played It

As I could not shell out enough money for Jace 2.0, Fauna Shaman, Primeval Titan it was time to "stop bitching and start brewing!"  I had managed to scrap together the necessities of a Naya shell and decided to use that as my building block.

With M11 only being available for two weeks now I assumed that the tournament would be a mix of decks from pre and post M11.  Many of the local players at the store had caught wind of the Primeval Titan / Destructive Force deck and had been smashing face with it in the week leading up to the tournament so I really wanted to have decent game against that.  Fauna Naya, Fauna Conscription,  MBC,  Mass/Polymorph, Burning Inquiry Megrim, and Leyline Mono Red were also on my list of new decks to watch out for.  The pre-M11 decks I expected  to see hanging around were Jund , Superfriends, Turbo Land, and U/W control (now with Mana Leak!).

So I thought, and thought, and thought some more, until I finally came up with this.

Versions:
Magic 2011 Core Set (Foil)

The plan was simple Cunning Sparkmage everything, gain some life, and get everything that hits the graveyard back with Sun Titan!

Conscription, Naya, Turbo Land, and Primeval Titan were all on the Sparkmage everything plan.  Mono red was on the gain some life plan and anything running Terminate was on the Sun Titan come back tour.  That was how everything was supposed to go in theory, but competitive events are not decided by theory.

The PTQ

The store it was played at has air conditioning but when you put 100 stressed out Magic players and ~50 Yu-gi-oh players in a store with only 9 foot ceilings it gets hot fast. It had to be at least 85 degrees in the store on a humid Rochester day.  They sold food and cold drinks there but my normal line of "Put it on my credit card my good man!" was quickly shut down by a sign that said "CONCESSIONS CASH ONLY!" Well F my L.

Anyway my goal for the tournament was to finish with a positive record.  Doing that would make me more than happy, but still the dream of top 8, a box of M11, and ticket to Amsterdam lingered in the back of my mind.  So that morning I broke out my lucky T-shirt, grabbed a big breakfast from Mickey D's (McDonald's), cranked some Iron Maiden on the way and was ready to kick ass and play card games!   

Round 1: Mono Red

Playing a  familiar opponent (both the person and the deck) first round of the PTQ was a little disappointing.  We wished each other luck and quickly got into it.  Each of the 3 games we played I managed to get Collar and Sledge on the field.  Game 1 a series of Searing Blazes and Hellspark Elementals took me down. Game 2 I managed to repeatably sledge up a Stirring Wildwood and gain 5 life a turn to stay positive and earn the win. Game 3 I never even dealt him a damage as again double Searing Blaze took out my early dudes and I died on his turn five waiting to cast Baneslayer Angel on my turn. 

Loss 2-1, Tournament: 0-1

Round 2: Jund

Playing one of your good magic buddies in essentially an elimination round of a PTQ is straight up a kick in the nuts  He mulliganed the two games we played and when I brought back Knight of Reliquary with Sun Titan in back to back games it quickly marked the end of the PTQ for my friend.

Win 2-0,  Tournament 1-1

Round 3: Mono Red

Again the red deck came out to play  These games were a little slower than the red deck of the day. Game 1 he scooped leading 19 to 5 as a collared up Sparkmage and sledged up Sun Titan came out of nowhere. Game 2 Goblin Guide swung early and often and I eventually died to a Searing Blaze Hell's Thunder tag team. Game 3 I thought I had until Kargan Dragonlord came out and swung for 13 the following turn. Whoops kind of missed that one. 

Loss 2-1, Tournament: 1-2

Round 4: G/R/B Fauna Vengevine Monument Siegegang 

Game one was going swimmingly with a collared up Sparkmage right until Eldrazi Monument landed. Using sledge I got him down to 1 and myself up to 16 through some indestructible goblins until he made the best top deck of the day against me. Draws Vengevine pitches it with Fauna Shaman gets Bloodbraid Elf casts Bloodbraid Elf into another Shaman bringing back Vengevine and swinging for 17 in the air. In the words of family guy "OHHHH NOOOO!!!!!!" Game 2 was won with a sledged Bloodbraid compliments of yours truly. Game 3 went to extra turns with me able to kill him exactly with a Sun Titan swing and a Sparkmage ping for the victory!!!

Finally things were starting to look up again and top 16 was still a possibility, little did I know that this awesome victory would be my last of the day.  

Win 2-1, Tournament: 2-2

Round 5: Fauna Conscription

This opponent never stopped talking and I mean never. I didn't mind it as I am a chatty guy myself but it was worth noting as this guy easily put stereotypical 80's business men on cocaine to shame. I really thought I had game one until Sovereigns with Baneslayer on board landed. Can you say 30 life swap. Game two I was really grasping at straws as I had to burn a Path to Exile on Fauna Shaman early only to let a flying Vengevine from Elspeth take me down shortly after.    

Loss 2-0, Tournament: 2-3

Round 6: Red/Black

I really didn't think I should have lost this match. His deck was slow but had a lot of removal. Game 1 I lost to an Earthquake for 6 just as i thought I had stabilized. Game 2 I burst out with turn 4, 5, and 6 Sun Titans only to run into Doom Blade, Gatekeeper, and Doom Blade with only an Arid Mesa to bring back 3 times! I again lost to a late Earthquake as I kept drawing lands.   

Loss 2-0, Tournament: 2-4

Round 7: Super-Friends

With a .500 record and top 16 now completely out of reach I should have dropped and cut my losses  But I had committed this day to the playing of card games and I wasn't going to leave without putting another round in. Another familiar face popped up in the last round at 2-3-1     

Loss 2-0, Tournament: 2-5

Final PTQ Game Record: 6-11

Versions:
Shards of Alara (Foil)

What Just Happened?

So I spent $25, killed my constructed rating for the next few weeks, and came away with nothing solid to show for it. But I did learn a lot about my deck! First my mana base for the deck was pretty solid.  In 17 games I had to mulligan once all day. I never got stuck with less than 4 lands in a game and never really had trouble hitting my colors. There were a few times however where I had to wait on playing a spell for a turn as the land I just played came into play tapped. Activating Raging Ravine always seemed like it cost  too much, so for the next tournament I will probably cut 2 of them for another fetch land and a 3rd Mountain.

The deck really needed another 3 mana threat!  So many times I cascaded into equipment with nothing really hefty to throw it on!  I really really regretted removing 4 Woolly Thoctar from the deck 2 days before the tournament for +1 Basilisk Colllar, +1 Stoneforge Mystic, and 2 Qasali Pridemage main.  I put Woolly back in and 4-0 ed a Standard tournament yesterday. 

Planeswalkers don't really care about Manabarbs so I think I would put 2 more Pridemage in the board instead. The last change I would make would be taking out at least 1 if not both Sarkhan Vol for Ajani Vengeant!  The only thing I left him in against post board was control and even then he wasn't fantastic.

I think with these changes I really could have had an awesome day. As it is, I was a little disappointed by my showing but I gained a lot of knowledge about how M11 has changed things and what improvements to make to my deck. I was glad I participated and would highly recommend giving any PTQ you can a shot when it swings through your area. Hey you never know!