PTQ Des Moines Report

Getting back to the grind is hard after awhile. Of course you never really stop looking at tournament results or even playing casually with friends but it’s not the same. There is not the same level of pressure, the same fear of failure, the same stench of 100 players inside a space not large enough.

It is not a loving feeling when the wonderful DCI sends you an email saying play or your information is getting deleted. I had planned on going to some dumb draft thing like 30 minutes away from my house. This seemed really bad in comparison to going to see my friends that I had not seen in a while as we have all moved to different spots of the state/country.

A few weeks before I had decided to go to the PTQ in Chicago I started to test and my friend and all around good player Jeremiah Nelson who had gotten 2^nd with G/W trap at a PTQ in Madison. This got me to start testing the deck and determining what it needed to be great. He told me the only reason he was not playing it was the luck factor. What a kick in the balls it is to play 3 hideaways and the best card under them is Nest Invader……yeah……awkward.

I got a lovely message from Jeremiah saying that Chicago was not going to be possible for him but if I wanted to go with them to Des Moines I can. So, essentially he was asking me to go to a PTQ that I have tested very little for and not be graced with the most delicious pizza know to man…Giordonnos. This seemed like I was getting the raw deal but I gave in as I had to play somewhere to keep my rating.

While my rating is not spectacular I did used to be good and ended at 1909. The goal for this tournament was to not let it drop under 1900. This seems easy but losing one match you usually have to win 2-3 to make up for it.

So I drove the hour to my friend Ben’s house and he would be driving to Des Moines. We were going to Cedar Rapids the night before and staying at Jeremiah’s apartment then waking up and driving the 2 hours to Des Moines….then driving back to Cedar Rapids…then 3.5 hours to Ben’s house….then an hour back to mine. You can almost feel the pain as you read that. But it is worth it right?

So getting to the apartment we get our decks together where I decided that my sideboard needs to have 4 Cloudthresher because Sower of Temptation scares me and Faeries is always played a lot. Here is the deck list that I registered for the tournament.

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Noble Hierarch

4 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Nest Invader

4 Primeval Titan

4 Lotus Cobra

4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

2 Baneslayer Angel

4 Summoning Trap

4 Misty Rainforest

5 Forest

2 Mosswort Bridge

1 Murmuring Bosk

1 Mutavault

1 Khalni Garden

4 Razorverge Thicket

2 Verdant Catacombs

4 Windbrisk Heights

1 Stirring Wildwood

1 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard

4 Cloudthresher

2 Nature’s Claim

3 Burrenton Forge-Tender

3 Leyline of Sanctity

3 Path to Exile

The Khalni Garden is a 2^nd Mutavault that I could not find and would not pay for because I am stubborn and the dealer was non-existent. Back in my day a PTQ had 2-5 dealers with overpriced cards. This PTQ had 0 real dealers but the TO had a 2-3 binders filled with mostly land and foils. You can imagine how pleased the people who needed cards where for this. I am not sure if this is the normal but it is really rough to think that it is.

We do the whole players meeting thing and get down to business.

Round 1 vs. Random barn playing Mono White-

This guy is why I sometimes hate magic. I wake up before every tournament and shower and put on clean clothes. If you are going to come to a tournament smelling of dead things and have the nastiest pony tail in the world you are not going to do well. That being said game 1 I knew this match should be highly in my favor. I eventually got to Titan and then Emrakul. Game 2 he had INFY removal and I never got 3 guys together. Game 3 was my favorite. I played well to give myself a chance against his mass removal and got a Windbrisk Heights from Titan and passed. He drew his card did something that didn’t matter and passed back. I realize at the end of his turn that I had forgotten to hideaway a card(rusty) and say I need to get a warning for this and search. He says and I quote,” That’s just how it is.” He was clearly either unknowing of the rules or just a complete moron. I call a judge and tell the judge how it should be and he agrees. The top four cards where land, Emrakul x3. I hideaway and Emrakul attack with 3 guys and he loses and gets like 3^rd grader cranky when things don’t go your way.

Mono white is an awful deck and I have no idea how people win with this deck. If you play it you are basically saying I am ok with having to hit perfect match-ups to win today. Not the best decision

1-0

Round 2 another mono white deck but worse list

He was tuned more towards the UW decks and had nothing for me a lot of the times. I beat him in an easy two games.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Bant

This match should be a home run for me. It is the only one I really tested. Game 1 I get stalled for a long time doing nothing relevant and he ends up with a sword and I can’t keep up.

Game 2 I had gotten a titan out and had him dead on board with nothing he could do as he had 4 land and a Mirran Crusader. I even had a Nature’s Claim and Noble Hierarch to cast it for a sword. He draws a land and acts like Jesus has just ascended from Heaven to rapture it up. He plays his land and plays Finest Hour and attacks. I think about it and say…go to 3? He says that is 20 and I lose. I call a judge because I did not realize that the exalted triggers stack and rather than fight about taking it back because I am a moron I sign the slip. I could have simply destroyed the Finest Hour but that was just not as fun as my costing me the match.

Round 4 vs. Mono Red guy

You could tell he thought he was the nuts and could never lose. This is funny as he was 2-1 just like me so obviously he can. I go first and play a Hierarch and he plays Figure of Destiny. I play Windbrisk Heights and found an Emrakul then played Nest Invader giving me 3 guys. All I had to do was not have one of my guys killed and I win on turn 3! I passed and he attacks. I do not block and say, “Take 2?” He thinks for a seconds and agrees then plays another Figure and loses the next turn.

Game 2 was worse for me as I drew like crap and he got there. Game 3 he was using all of his mana for his Dragonlord and I just waited and Path to Exiled it. I won with Baneslayer and two Burrenton Forger-Tender in my hand.

Round 5 vs. Boros and Ken Bearl

Or…Boy Meets Bearl….

Game 1 he did not have much going on and it seemed like I could not lose. I had my guys and they were larger. Eventually I got an Emrakul into play.

Game 2 was much of the same. I think he had some bad draws which attributed but this match-up should be in my favor anyway.

Round 6 and it’s win and make top 8 as I could draw the last round vs U/W

I had scouted this guy the previous round end and he made roughly 5 play mistakes in one game but his deck was good so he got past it.

Game 1 I beat him with not much resistance.

I lost Game 2 as he got sword early and I was too afraid of Sower of Temptation and should have just continued running our guys. He took a mulligan to 5 in game 2 but my hand was rough and he played Stoneforge turn 2 and I could not deal with the Sword and I drew Emrakul 3 straight turns which hurt something awful.

Game 3 I took a mulligan and my hand was awful but I kept instead of going down further than 5. I got to the point where I went for Titan and he countered, I had Pact but he has Spell Pierce which should have been side boarded out. He played awful in game 2 and side boarded incorrectly but I couldn’t beat sword again so I lost.

If I had played better I think I could have won but here we are. Advice would not be much help as PTQ’s are changing soon enough anyway. I am starting to test standard so I can play in a National’s qualifier and whatever I play will have Squadron Hawk as it is insane.

Any questions about the list or the deck in general leave then in the comment’s.