PTQ Kyoto Tournament Report in Fort Worth, TX
November 8, 2008 | Posted by Dee
Last Saturday, I played at a Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ) in my area. There were 83 players so the tournament was seven rounds.
Here is the sealed card pool I opened from my one tournament pack and two boosters.
| PTQ Kyoto in Fort Worth: Shards of Alara Card Pool | |||||||||||
Green (8)
White (14)
Blue (10) | Black (13)
Red (8)
Green/White/Blue (1) Green/White (1) White/Blue (1) Blue/Black (1) Blue/Black/Red (2) Black/Red (2) Black/Red/Green (2) Red/Green/White (1) Colorless Artifacts (5) Lands (4) |
| |||||||||
I had a pretty good bomb, Rafiq of the Many, but I felt like the cards in his colors were not good enough.
In fact, the card pool as a whole seemed really bad. I tried playing all the best cards in a five color special but the mana fixing wasn’t working out. I don’t like to play a lot of Obelisks because they make your deck too slow and you end up playing too many mana sources.
I cut the white and played this decklist.
| Four Color Jank | |||||||||||
Creatures (14) | Spells (9)
Lands (17) |
| |||||||||
Match 1
Game 1
He killed my Dregscape Zombie with Blister Beetle. He attacked a couple times with Jhessian Infiltrator. I killed his 2/2 unblockable with Resounding Thunder.
I played Quietus Spike and Carrion Thrash. He had Skeletal Kathari and Bloodpyre Elemental to kill my Carrion Thrash. I used its ability to return a creature in my graveyard to my hand. However, he made me discard that creature with Blightning.
His 3/2 flyer went all the way as I drew land for the next couple of turns.
Game 2
He had a turn 3 Woolly Thoctar and removal to kill my creatures. I didn’t draw any removal to deal with his 5/4 so I died pretty quickly.
After the match, I realized my head was not in the game because I felt like my deck was really weak. I was making play mistakes. So, I refocused and told myself to just make the best plays and not worry about the results.
Matches 0-1, Games 0-2
Match 2
Game 1
I got a game loss for only registering 39 cards. I could’ve avoided this mistake by building my deck more quickly. I had to rush to register my deck since it took me awhile to build it.
Game 2
I had an early Kederekt Creeper and Kathari Screecher. She had removal for the Screecher. She took a couple of hits from the Creeper until she got two creatures down to double block it. I played Skeletal Kathari, which took off the rest of her life total.
Game 3
She had Dragon Fodder and Rhox Charger. I took care of her 3/3 with Resounding Thunder. However, she followed up with Flameblast Dragon. Luckily, I had Coma Veil. However, she did kill a creature before I tapped it down.
She played Violent Ultimatum destroying Coma Veil, Quietus Spike, and Obelisk of Jund. Ouch. I didn’t draw anything to deal with her big 5/5 flyer and I was soon dead.
Matches 0-2, Games 1-4
Rebuilding My Deck
At this point, I rebuilt my deck. My current deck was garbage and I wondered if I missed a better deck.
I definitely wanted to play my best card, Rafiq of the Many. I grabbed all my playable white, blue, and green cards and came up with this.
| Bant Exalted Aggro | |||||||||||
Creatures (17) | Spells (6) Lands (17) |
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The reason I didn’t play this deck in the first place was because it lacked removal. However, with my first deck doing so poorly, it was worth a try to play Bant. Also, at least I would learn which deck was better.
Match 3
Game 1
He started off with Druid of the Anima and Elvish Visionary. I played Kathari Screecher. We traded a couple of attacks. I got the first big advantage with Quietus Spike on Kathari Screecher. I got one hit in with the equipment but he had removal on his turn.
Then, he played Spearbreaker Behemoth, which I couldn’t deal with.
I could’ve unearthed Kathari Screecher and hit him again with Quietus Spike but that would’ve only got him down to 2 life. Plus, I would’ve been tapped out and he had lethal damage on the next turn.
Game 2
I sided in the Bant deck. However, I mulliganed to 5 on the play and he was the perfect aggressive draw.
Matches 0-3, Games 1-6
Match 4
Game 1
I had an early Topan Ascetic and Kederekt Creeper. He played a couple flyers, but I had removal to kill them. My two ground creatures went all the way.
Game 2
I had the quick exalted draw and beat him down pretty quickly.
I made a mistake when he acted like he didn’t have a good hand. I attacked him with Rafiq of the Many to kill him more quickly but he had Resounding Silence.
Matches 1-3, Games 3-6
Match 5
Game 1
He had the fast exalted draw and I didn’t draw enough creatures or removal to stop him.
Game 2
I sided in my Bant deck. This time I have the broken exalted draw. He chumped block for awhile but then I played Angelic Benediction to deal with his blockers.
Game 3
My deck showed its power. I got Quietus Spike, Angelic Benediction, and Rafiq of the Many all on the board with a couple other creatures including Akrasan Squire. With only one creature on his board (that I tapped with Angelic Benediction), he had to use Resounding Silence on Akrasan Squire, because it was a 4/4 double striker equipped with Quietus Spike.
He played other creatures as chump blockers. I finished him off after he ran out of chump blockers.
Matches 2-3, Games 5-7
Match 6
Game 1
We both kept slow draws. He got mana flooded and I killed him with 2 Mosstodon. He was able to cast Titanic Ultimatum, but since he only had one creature (a 2/2), it was not very impressive. I had enough life to take the hit and then swing back for the win.
Game 2
I had the advantage late in the game with my bigger creatures. However, he played Titanic Ultimatum, which would’ve been a one-sided wrath for him. Plus, he would’ve gained 29 life. I conceded.
Game 3
He got mana flooded again and I had the fast exalted draw for the win.
Matches 3-3, Games 7-8
Match 7
My opponent didn’t show up.
Matches 4-3, Games 9-8
I did play another person with a 4-3 record, whose opponent also did not show up. I beat him 2-1.
I got 30th place out of 83 players.
Comparing My Two Decks
In actual games played, the four color deck went 4-5 while the Bant deck went 5-3.
I think there are at least 6 reasons why the Bant deck is a stronger deck.
- It has more creatures. This makes Quietus Spike much better.
- It’s more synergistic with the exalted mechanic.
- It has a more solid mana base. This is important because I lost a couple games with the four color deck because I didn’t draw the mana I needed.
- It plays my best card, Rafiq of the Many.
- It plays less mana sources.
- It has a lower mana curve.
So, I definitely should’ve played the Bant deck from the beginning. The four color deck has more removal, but if you’re stumbling on mana, having all that removal may not be enough.
Also, I would replace one Couriers Capsule for Call to Heel in the Bant deck. The bounce spell seems like a better fit in a beatdown deck.
6 Responses to “PTQ Kyoto Tournament Report in Fort Worth, TX”
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I think you should have tried B/R/G you would have had the removal with the creature curve. It is too bad you didn’t open any dragons or large fliers. They seem to be the ones who seal the deal in limited.
Good idea. I totally missed that. I think Jund would’ve worked and I could’ve played both Bone Splinters since I have 2 Dregscape Zombie, Sprouting Thrinax, Blister Beetle, and Dragon Fodder.
As I read the report I went back up and looked at the pool. I think you definatly should of played Jund. It would of been aggressive, with decent big hitters and solid removal. Got to the comments and saw others said the same thing.
2 mosstodon
Topan
Drumhunter
Cylian
2 dregscape
Carrion Thrash
Sprouting Thrinax
Goblin Death Raider
Skeletal Kathari
Blister Beetle
Dragon Fodder
Undead Leotau
Ridge Rannet
Rockslide Elemental
Thorn-Thrash Viashion
Exuberant Firestoker
Infest
2 Bone Splinter
Onyx Goblet
Gift of the Gargantuan
Resounding Thunder
Blightning
Oblisk of Jund
That makes for a pretty sexy list to cut down to 23 cards from. Goblete is the only wtf? card but it can work in an aggressive sealed deck that doesn’t have a lot of finishers.
Yeah just taking a quick look I would have gone B/R/U splash white for some of the flyers.
Hello There Sir!
Happy 2009 Dee, and congrats on your finish at the PTQ in your area.
I’m not sure how often your going to these qualifiers, but I think your placing wasn’t bad at all.
Keep up the great work okay.
Nice ” About Me ” page.
I’m sorry that I have not checked to see what you have been up to of late, but I have been busy with 4 blogs now, so time is at a premium. I’ll check back soon and see what’s happening and do a post and a link okay.
I also remember when we drafted ” Shards ” here at the homestead, and I wound up ” Hate Drafting ” and splashing white, but I had 22 lands because I drafted several cards that had muti color requirements to play from my hand, in a 50 card deck, and wound up actually winning that night, which doesn’t happen often with my friends.
Lew
Thanks for the link and a happy 2009 to you too! Here’s to gaming goodness in the new year
Wow, 4 blogs. That’s pretty impressive. I can’t keep up with one lol.
Good job with the draft. I love multicolor cards in Shards of Alara since five color control decks are my favorite decks to draft.