12.17.01 - GP Houston Trials - Waco 12/15/01

I have been watching the extended format shape itself week after week.  It's been highly entertaining (especially since I'm not a big fan of the format).  But anyway, we ran a GP Houston Trial this past weekend. We had the honorable Jim Shuman overseeing our event.  He was top notch as usual.  Here are the specs:

Location:  The Game Closet
              5201 Sanger Ave, Suite #K
              Waco,TX 76710
              254-751-7251

Format: Extended
Prize: Lots of product and 3 Byes at GP Houston
# of participants: 16

I did notice a few small play errors throughout the day.  Mainly because of people not being familiar with particular decks and cards.  The playing field was fairly competitive as we did see several pro players from out of town make the journey to our store.  Unfortunately attendance was hurt by some really bad weather.  I would again like to say thanks to everyone that make the trip to our tournament this past weekend.

Here are the final brackets:

QUATERFINALS    SEMIFINALS FINALS

Rob Lawing
Milton Vasquez
                       Milton Vasquez
                       Chad Koss
Chad Koss
Jeremy Simmons
                                               Chad Koss
                                               Jeff Lambert
Jeff Lambert
Jason Matthews
                       Jeff Lambert
                       Michael Taggart
Michael Taggart
Akil Steele


Here's what I can tell you form what I saw from the various matches.  Milton was playing an intersting version of Donate with Grim Monolith and Fact or Fiction.  He got the first game without a whole lot of effort.  The second game went all the way down to Milton's last card.  The crowd seemed to enjoy watching this match.  he ended up generating a ton of mana and had Masticore running the table.  Rob had a couple of chances to win, but failed to draw anything but land when it was important.

The match between Chad and Jeremy saw no real action.  Jeremy drew a minimal amount of creatures and Chad drew up the few answers that he needed.  The match ended fairly easily in a 2-0 sweep with Chad taking the set.

Jeff and Jason had an intersting match, but it was pretty lopsided.  Jeff's deck had this one from the onset.  Jason started to make some headway in the first game, but couldn't pull enough damage through for the when and eventually succumbed to the madness that green/black decks and dish out.

Rounding out the quarterfinals were Michael and Akil. This was another one-sided match.  Michael had better draws and got out the right fatties early on.  A couple of play mistakes from Akil made Michael's job easier and secured the win.

Moving on the semifinals, there was a ton less action than the quarterfinals.  Milton and Chad have played against each other a ton in local events, so they knew each others tendencies.  However, all of that was irrelevant.  The match ended in a 2-0 win for Chad.  Milton was unable to get his combo out and honestly never really got rolling in this match. The heavy disruption from Chad was probably pretty key in this matchup. Unfortunately, I wasn't very aware of what was happening in the other semifinal match.  All I know was that the match ended with Michael Taggart dying to his own Forsaken Wastes.

The finals were a draw.  The two competitors decided to split the prize.  Chad didn't want the byes and Jeff definitely did.

I would also like to take this moment to say that I frown on situations like Chad's here, because why play and why rob other players of the chance at the prize...in this case, BYES at a Grand Prix.  Simply don't play.  Let people play that want the prizes.

Anyway, here are the decklists from our event.

FINALIST

Jeff Lambert

Green/Black, no Rock

1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Dust Bowl
4 Swamp
8 Forest
4 Treetop Village
4 Bayou
4 Duress
3 Wall of Roots
3 Yavimaya elder
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Phyrexian Furnace
4 Spike Feeder
4 Spiritmonger
3 Vampiric Tutor
2 River Boa
1 Mirri, Cat Warrior
1 Spike Weaver
1 Living Death
2 Elvish Lyrist
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
1 Recurring Nightmare
3 Pernicious Deed

Sideboard
1 Coffin Purge
1 Living Death
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Living Death
3 Diabolic Edict
2 Bind
3 Tsunami
3 Emerald Charm

FINALIST

Chad Koss

PT Junk  (61 Cards)

3 Vindicate
3 Mystic Enforcer
4 Gerrard's Verdict
4 Spectral Lynx
4 River Boa
4 Tithe
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Call of the Herd
4 Duress
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Treetop Village
3 Wasteland
2 Forest
4 Savannah
4 Scrubland
1 Bayou
1 Plains
2 Grassland
3 Swamp

Sideboard:
2 Wax/Wane
3 Choke
3 Overgrown Estate
3 Coffin Purge
2 Slay
2 Massacre

SEMIFINALIST

Milton Vasquez

Donate

1 Capsize
2 Fire/Ice
3 Fact or Fiction
3 Brainstorm
3 Illusions of Granduer
4 Force of Will
4 Donate
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Grim Monolith
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Counterspell
3 Pyroblast
2 Shivan Reef
4 Mountain
16 Island

Sideboard:
1 Rushing River
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Hibernation
3 Ruination
1 Stroke of Genius
2 Disrupt
2 Earthquake
1 Morphling
1 Masticore
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Hydroblast

SEMIFINALIST

Michael Taggart

Reanimator

4 Duress
4 Vampiric Tutor
4 Entomb
4 Exhume
4 Renimate
3 Buried Alive
2 Zombie Infestation
1 Perish
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 contamination
1 MAssacre
1 Animate Dead
1 Harbinger of Night
1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
1 Krovikan Horror
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Irridescent Angel
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Nether Spirit
1 Crosis, the Purger
1 Verdant Force
17 Swamp
4 Rishadan Port

Sideboard:
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Contamination
2 Perish
2 Diabolic Edict
1 Null Rod
1 Massacre
1 Coffin Purge
1 Forsaken Wastes

QUARTERFINALIST

Rob Lawing

Uncle Wiggly (61 cards)

4 Plateau
4 Mogg Flunkies
2 Goblin Trenches
1 Clear
1 Goblin Ringleader
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Incinerate
4 Goblin Lackey
3 Fireblast
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Goblin Recruiter
1 Furnace of Rath
2 Cursed SCroll
2 Rathi Dragon
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Goblin Legionaire
4 Wasteland
10 Mountain
3 Plains

Sideboard:

2 CoP: Green
1 CoP: Red
2 Pyroblast
2 Clear
2 Price of Progress
3 Phyrexian Furnace
3 Reprisal


QUARTERFINALIST

Akil Steele

Rock and His Millions

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Yavimaya Elder
4 Wall of Roots
3 Deranged Hermit
3 Duress
3 Spike Feeder
3 Spiritmonger
2 Spike Weaver
3 Vampiric Tutor
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Living Death
3 Treetop Village
3 Llanowar Wastes
2 Dust Bowl
7 Swamp
8 Forest


Sideboard:

1 Spellbane Centaur
1 emerald Charm
1 Choke
2 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Kavu Chameleon
1 Bottle Gnomes
3 Coffin Purge
2 Wasteland
3 Scragnoth

QUARTERFINALIST

Jeremy Simmons

Elvis at the Buffet

4 Auratog
4 Exploration
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wild Growth
4 Rancor
4 Argothian Enchantress
3 Spirit Link
2 Abeyance
3 Ancestral Mask
2 Sterling Grove
2 Verduran Enchantress
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Crop Rotation
1 Sylvan Library
4 Savannah
3 Plains
2 gaea's Cradle
1 Serra's Sanctum
9 Forest
1 Treetop Village
1 Brushland

Sideboard:
3 Choke
2 Emerald Charm
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Uktabi Orangutan
2 Abeyance
1 Bind
2 Tarriff

QUARTERFINALIST

Jason Matthews

Sligh

16 Mountains
4 Rishadan Port
2 Ghitu Encampment
2 Barbarian Ring
4 Fireblast
2 Hammer of Bogardan
2 Urza's Rage
2 Price of Progress
2 Viashino Sandstalker
4 Ball Lightning
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Jackal Pup
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Incinerate
4 Seal of Fire

Sideboard:
3 Boil
2 Price of Glory
1 Price of Progress
2 Anarchy
3 Pyroblast
2 Powder Keg
2 Ruination

Our next PTQ is scheduled for January 19th 2002.  Hope this is useful to all of you preparing for GP Houston.

Remember to keep checking out www.pojo.com/magic and www.thegamecloset.com (still under construction) for Magic strategy, tourney reports and decklists.

Until next time,

DeQuan Watson
PowrDragn@pojo.com