From: Chris Krasen [bigred2k01@hotmail.com] Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2001 8:48 PM To: TournamentReports@pojo.com Subject: Three-Duece PTQ Osaka *Top 16* Hi everyone. Extended is an interesting format right now. Just about all of the archtypes you can think of are playable, Donate, Three-Duece, Stompy, Sligh, Finkula, Raisin Bran. There is a little bit for everyone. I went to the PTQ expecting a lot of Trix. However this didn't happen. There still was a fair sized Trix showing, it wasn't phenominal though, mainly PT Junk, The Rock and his Minions, and Sligh (much to my surprise). So, expecting as I did, I went with Three-Duece. I figured that even if there wasn't a lot of Trix it would still have a good chance of winning. Here is the version I played. Creatures: 4 Granger Guildmage 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 River Boa 2 Skyshroud Elite 2 Golbin Legionaire Spells: 3 Cursed Scroll 4 Rancor 4 Land Grant 3 Cursed Scroll 3 Call of the Herd 4 Seal of Cleansing 4 Swords to Plowshares 2 Wax/Wane Land: 4 Taiga 4 Savannah 4 Plateau 3 Wasteland 2 Mountain Vally 3 Treetop Village Sideboard: 4 Pyroblast 3 Scald 3 Sanctimony 1 Hunted Wumpus 1 Cursed Scroll 1 Wax/Wane 2 Dwarven Miner The Report: Round 1: Brice Sligh In game one, I draw 3 River Boa. However, I only draw 2 green sources. It meat my demise to a mob of pups and other red creatures. Game 2 goes smoother. I start hitting pretty early, and, I get some Sanctimony support from the board. He managed to anarchy the Sanctimony away, however it provided too much of an advantage already, and he couldn't overcome it after I sent a Ball Lightning plowing. Game three he does hit for some damage, however Cursed scroll basically took him down by itself. 1-0 Round 2: Nathan Heiss U/G Tradewind In game one, he gets 2 Tradewind Riders. He also gets enough creatures to activate both of them. In game two he starts taking large chunks out of my life total, before I am able to draw the second seal of cleansing I need to kill it. I am at four life when he starts hitting me with a Tradewind Rider. I am at 3 life when I pull River Boa off the top. It was too much for him since he was at one life already. Game three we don't have much time left. He keeps a one land hand with Quirion Ranger and Tropical Forest. Basically Wasteland hits after his ranger was disposed of with Scroll. He doesn't see much of anything the rest of the game, and I comence beating with River Boa. He drew no anwser for them. 2-0 Round 3: Max McGuffin Turbo Land Turbo land is never a fun matchup. He gets an oath down to anwser my beats from a Rancored Legionaire. My offence is virtually non existant after Oath hits, and he gets the engine going, not fun. Game two is basically the same three, only with even less offence from me. He goes infinite pretty early, when he casts Time Warp with Scroll Rack on the table I concede. 2-1 Round 4: Paul? Sligh Game one i am raped by the good ol' creature, creature, creature, creature, burn your creature draw. He is at 22 life at the end of the game thanks to a feeble STP. Game two goes much better. 2 Scrolls and the land to activate them. I also managed to aviod Price of Progress, which would have dealt somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-14 damage. Game three is rather humorous, it goes something like Scroll, Sanctimony, Hunted Wumpus (he played Viashimo Sandstalker). When he is at 8 life River Boa joins the fray, and leaves him with no choice but to concede. Round 5: Ozzy Tinker In game one I lose to 2 Phyrexian Processor. I got stuck in that situation because, like an idiot, I didn't kill the Metal Worker before he became active. Game two, I remember not to make the same mistake. I Seal all of his mana producers, and Wasteland his Ancient Tombs, and his City of Traitors. I slowly take the Mogg Fantasitics to victory lane. Game 4 I try to do the same thing, however he sees too many lands, and I see too few Wasteland. I lay beats for a while, before he Upheavals. So, I have to start over. River Boa hits 2 turns after Upheaval, and Rancor follows a turn after. When he is at 7 life he Tinkers for Phyrexian Collosus. At three life, he plays crumbling Sanctuary. I sigh, and announce that it resolves. I draw the top card, it is a my 3rd Seal of the Game. Lets here it for dumb luck! I play it, and smash the already Crumbling Sanctuary. 3-1 Round 6: 4-Color Finkula This guy was a real jackass. I sent beats to his dome in the first game with River Boa and Scroll. Game two he beat the crap out of me with Masticore, 2 Finkel, and a Meddling Mage. Game 3 I mulligan to five cards. I drop a fanatic, and keep his land down thanks to Wasteland. He only drew 4 land the whole game. After the game, he sits the bashing me right in front of me to his friends. Calling it all luck (granted I was pretty lucky, however I didn't see all that much luck involved in game 1). He also bashes me for playing "Bad cards". Oh well, I could sit here and complain for a few hours about this, but I believe it is time to move on. 5-1 Round 7: Noah Trix Finally, a matchup I was expecting to see. I hit him for a lot with Treetop Village, Boa, and Guildmage. He sucessfully drops the combo on me, however I gain two life off a Skyshroud Elite. I sit at two life for the rest of the match, and he can't find Fire/Ice. In game 2 he keeps the combo in, and has a counter for my Wane, and my Pyroblast. He wins when I can no longer afford upkeep. Game three, goes similar to the prior two, he Donates the Illusions to me. I Swords my Skyshroud Elite, in an attempt to stay alive. However, this time he has the Merchant Scroll to find Fire/Ice. Slightly dissapointed, I accept the loss in possibly one of my best matchups, and move on. 5-2 Round 8: Steve Miracle Grow I lay some Fanatic beats for a few turns. Then I get double Call of the Herd. After I go for the third elephant, and he can't find a counter, he scoops. Game 2, Scroll shoots him, while Granger Guildmage shoots his creatures. He has propaganda on the table, which is preventing me from attacking. I drop a more offensive threat (Goblin Legionaire). At the end of his turn I Pyroblast the Propaganda, and he concedes. 6-2 I pass the remaining time talking to a few people. I know I am in top 16, I don't know about top 8. I really doubt 6-2 is able to make top 8. I stick around cause there are prizes for top 16, and prizes go to the top 4 amatuers, that aren't in top 8. When standings are posted, I find out that I am in 12th place, which gets amatuer prizes also. Cool by me! So, I walk away with a box for my efforts, and $20. Ultra props: To Alex and his dad for lending me the duals for this deck, and also giving me a ride to and from the PTQ. Props: Most of my opponents throughout the day. There is that one exception though. Three-Duece for being such an amazing deck. Egghead Games Inc. for being the BEST store for M:TG in Ohio. Final thoughts on the deck: Would I play this deck again. Most definitally! Three-Duece is one of my favorite extended decks, and to make matters better, it wins! However, I don't think I would play this exact version again. Here are the changes I would make: -2 Wax/Wane -2 Mountain Valley +1 Call of the Herd +1 Wasteland +2 Incinerate Sideboard: -3 Scald +2 Incinerate +1 Sanctimony Sligh was so popular today I think the 4th Sanctimony is necessary. I should have also been playing Incinerate because PT Junk, and The Rock and his Minions were still very popular, and very good. ~Chris Krasen BIGred2k01@hotmail.com