Howdy. I'm Dave Feinstein, and thanks for stopping by to read my report.

My tale begins right after my qualification for Pro Tour Prague. My ten-year-plus quest had finally ended, and I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I could now focus my attentions on Limited. Oh no wait, no I couldn't. Wizards is springing a brand new set on me two weeks before the Pro Tour. Having drafted RRG to death, continuing to do that when it isn't even the format just didn't make sense. So, since January, I've focused on teams.

No, that's a blatant lie. I've really focused on just one deck: RG beats. You know, the oldest beatdown deck in the format. Before it was known as Heezy Street, I had already put in a good 300 games with RG beats, even though I wasn't qualified for Hawaii. Although one of the reasons was to help test with those who qualified, the main reason is because I just can't resist Kird Ape. I mean really, who could say no to those eyes? I've been in love with that cutie for a very, very long time. Years ago, I pined for him to be moved off the banned and restricted list. I nearly pissed my pants when he did get taken off. I've played him in tournament legal formats for years. Yes, you bet your ass I first-picked him in Ninth Edition Drafts. Yes, I've played and won Power with him in Type 1. Yes, I clearly need to stop talking about Kird Ape or this report will never end.

So yeah, I was looking forward to teams a whole lot. One thing I realized from last season was you have to find a team you can get along with. That is the most important thing I can recommend to anyone. It supersedes deck choices and even playskill. I learned this lesson the hard way when I was the weakest player on what was a very strong Limited team last year. The only thing that stopped us from qualifying was ourselves. I won't say anything more about that, other than I felt like I was the victim of a lynch mob.

For this team season, I made sure to team with close friends, rather than being recruited as a last resort on a pro team. The main goal when entering team season for most people is to obviously qualify your team.

Not me.

My main goal was to make Brassman's life more miserable than it already was. In other words, make him a competitive player. For those who do not know of the mysterious Brassman, he is Andrew Probasco. Sad person by day, even sadder person by night. Rich Shay, one of my best friends and arguably the best Vintage player in the game today, called Brassman "The Mike Flores of Type 1."

Thinking about it, Rich was dead on. Andy has great insight, is a fantastic deckbuilder, good conversationalist...

And is not known for his play skill.

Those two facing off would be quite a sight. Imagine if something really important was on the line, too! Just a random thought.

I was hell bent [oooh, topical! – Craig] on immersing Andy into the often stressful and un-fun world of PTQs. Why would I do such a horrible act to a friend? Well, I'm evil. Besides being pure evil, I also have a knack for knowing when a Magic player is clearly not living up to their potential. I watched Rich Shay break the confines of Vintage and do reasonably well on the tour, and he still plays Vintage regularly. I felt Brassman had just as much, if not more, potential. He's not the only one, either. Vintage players often get stereotyped as easy prey, but they aren't. There are many Vintage players breaking the mould and starting to play PTQs regularly, and that is a very good thing.

Getting Brassman on the PTQ trail was no easy feat. I started lie to him about travelling to Mox tournaments. "Wow, a Mox tournament in Maine? That's going to be so easy to win! I'm definitely coming with you… thanks, Feinstein!" About two car trips in, that joy of travelling to Vintage tournaments and seeing all of his casual friends was lost. Brassman came to the sad realization that I wouldn't be taking him to any Vintage tournaments... ever... again. Muhuhahahaha! He then formed a permanent frown that he still wears to tournaments this very day. Again, I'm pure evil.

So the “make Brassman competitive” quest was in full swing, and like a champ, he hung in there. Sadly, Brassman's foray into PTQs didn't start well. He bombed every one of them. Those were also all Limited qualifiers, and he's a sixty-card specialist. Still, his hatred for me grew by the car ride. The fact that he got destroyed in a format he barely knew gave him ammo to try and weasel himself out of our team, but I wouldn't let him. When he threatened suicide, I laughed at him. He replied, "You're right Feinstein. Death would bring me the inner peace I don't deserve."

“Emo” just isn't enough to describe him, folks.

With Brassman on board, I just needed one more team-mate. You'd think this would be easy. Cutting a long story short, a ton of different potential players were considered. At one point, someone who enjoys Bill Cosby movies far too much and wears a ridiculous hat was looking like the third. Then Mouth got banned. Again. Even when I'm not remotely near him, Mouth manages to do something that negatively affects me. Usually just him being in the same room with me negatively affects me, but this time it was him being shady at a PTQ I wasn't, at and being subsequently suspended, that caused a rather interesting scenario.

You see, Mouth committed to a team that reserved GP plane tickets with him on board. Then he got “DCI'd!” So Mr. Hat stepped in. He hadn't actually agreed to team with me at that point (although it was looking good), but even if he had, I would have been fine with the switch due to the circumstances. So the hunt for the right third continued.

Enter Harry Durnan. While hanging out at a limited PTQ watching Brassman get owned, Harry walked up to me and asked if I needed a third. Why yes, yes I do. Besides being one of the genuinely nicest people you could ever come across, Harry made Top 8 at GP Orlando about two years back and, like me, travels to as many tournaments as possible just because he enjoys the game.

So now we had a team. We just needed a team name… and decks. Since team names are obviously more important than the actual decks, we spent longer on the team name then we did making the decks. We ended up with team "When Harry met Feinstein.”

Here are our deck lists:

Me: G/R Beats

4 Kird Ape (two different opponents just scooped in the presence of his dreamy eyes)
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Llanowar Elf
4 Shock
4 Dryad Sophisticate
4 Scab-Clan Mauler
4 Burning Tree Shaman
4 Char
3 Moldervine Cloak
3 Rumbling Slum
7 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Stomping Ground

Sideboard:
3 Flames of the Blood Hand
4 Giant Solifuge
3 Blood Moon
2 Naturalize
3 Rathi Dragon

Harry Durnan: U/R Mizzet Control

4 Repeal
4 Remand
4 Mana Leak
4 Hinder
4 Threads of Disloyalty (This is what happens when you only test against G/R Beats)
4 Electrolyze
4 Compulsive Research
2 Rewind
2 Keiga, the Tide Star
2 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
10 Island
4 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Shivan Reef
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Miren, the Moaning Well (If Brassman were a Magic card, he'd be this)

Sideboard:
3 Volcanic Hammer
4 Boomerang
3 Shattering Spree
3 Shadow of Doubt
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

Andy Probasco: Greater Gifts

3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Reclaim
4 Sakura Tribe Elder
4 Farseek
3 Goryo's Vengeance
1 Recollect
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Wrath of God
3 Greater Good
3 Gifts Ungiven
3 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
3 Temple Garden
3 Brushland
2 Tendo Ice Bridge
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Miren, the Moaning Brassman

5 Forest
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Island

The hottest 2am before the tournament sideboard ever:
2 Faith's Fetters
1 Cranial Extraction
1 Putrefy
1 Mortify
1 Wear Away
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Life From the Loam
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1 Ink Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Ghost-Lit Stalker
1 Nightmare Void
1 Greater Good

Over sixty teams showed, which meant seven rounds of Swiss plus a cut to top four. Just like that, we were off to the races.

Round 1 - The A Team
Remember when I talked about up-and-coming Vintage players? Ashok Chuturri is one of those players. Known as Raj the Indian in Osyp's reports, Ashok is a solid player looking for a Pro Tour slot. I didn't recognize his friends and forgot their names, but they were also solid and nice guys to boot.

I faced a friend of Ashok, piloting Hand in Hand. He seemed to be the least experienced player on the team, as Ashok was constantly coaching him. I hate hate hate this “talking aloud” rule. It substantially affects this small part of the game known as playskill, and makes the games more draw dependant. I would only like this rule if it actually helped me qualify for a Pro Tour in a clutch game 3 against the author of the Deckade. Not like that scenario could ever come up, or anything...

Anyway, I got slammed. Hard. Game 1 game down to Paladin en-Vec being joined by Umezawa's Jitte. If the en-Vec were a Descendant of Kiyomaro, I would have lost without assistance from the #1 most underplayed card in Standard, according to the author of the Deckade. Speaking of the Jitte, why didn't we run any? Simple, none of the decks required it.

I sideboarded horribly for game 2, bringing in Rathi Dragon over Rumbling Slum. Brassman gave me a confused look as I did this, but I didn't think twice since Brassman always looks confused when he isn't playing Vintage. Game 2 I dropped turn 3 Rathi, and Ashok gave his team-mate a verbal high five. Seize the Soul sprung forth from his hand.

My team-mates both got pwned as well. Harry losing to Ashok's Heartbeat, and Brassman losing to Magnivore.

0-1 and feeling grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

Round 2 - R/W beatdown with Wrath of God
My opponent's name was Dave and he was extremely friendly, as were his team-mates. They were probably the friendliest team in the room, and there was probably a good reason for that. Both Dave and one of his team-mates led with Karoo lands, then the third cast millstone. My suspicions were confirmed: we were facing purely Casual players.

All three of us swept here, but I can’t stress how much I envy Casual players. They had fun the entire time, and we had great conversations. That view on the game is one I’d like to think I still have, but deep down I know it’s long gone.

1-1

Round 3 - Michael Durocher with G/B control
I recognized Michael from a recent Vintage tournament, and although he's friendly enough, I distinctly remember his extremely sloppy play. He attempted to draw a Mox from his graveyard when he was artifact-less and Goblin Welder was out. I'm not going to say he was cheating, because I don't think he was, but the play stood out in my mind because it was one of several sloppy things that happened that match.

This match would unfortunately be no different. When we sat down he said, “you're in my house now.” I haven't even seen you in a PTQ in the ten-plus years I've been playing them, but okay, whatever. I guess I missed the name on the mailbox.

Game 1 he leads with three Birds of Paradise, but is stuck on two lands. I can't draw a Shock for the life of me, and have a slow start. He picks up two cards at some point here, and as they make the way to his hand, I inform him that he's in fact drawing two cards. He then apologizes and promptly puts one back. This would have been fine with me if he hadn't actually seen the second card, but he did. I didn't bother to call a judge because I felt I was going to beat him anyway, which is a stupid reason. Needless to say, he gets out a Plague Boiler and pops it. Grave-Shell Scarab comes out to play shortly after, and I lose.

Game 2 I'm still having issues with his sloppiness, but I simply don't care as both my team-mates are crushing. I remember racing a turn 3 Kodama of the North Tree that beat me down to 1 life. Somehow, I win.

Game 3, and he's telling his team-mates he's already won the match because I had a slow start. This definitely annoyed me, but I roll with it. He ends up barely beating me off Ghost Council and Svogthos, the Restless Tomb. After the match, he promptly complains about not drawing Culling Sun. I resist the temptation to say anything negative and just shake his hand.

My team-mates both won. I don't remember what they played against.

2-1

Round 4 - Zoo
I recognized some of these guys, and wish I had remembered their names. They were all cordial and had plenty of game.

My opponent was playing Zoo. This matchup is as much of a coin flip as PT Honolulu coverage would have you believe. If you don't run out of gas, you'll win. Or you can resolve Blood Moon.

Game 1 I drew more burn and won. Game 2, he drew more burn and won.

I knew Blood Moon crushed in this matchup, but I didn't side it in for game 2 because I was on the draw. I hit myself nice and hard in order to come to my senses for game 3, doing the Cloak-for-Moon swap.

Game 3 I had opening hand of guys plus Blood Moon. I anxiously awaited his turn 2... He dropped a land and passed. Whew. Without fear of Kami of Ancient Law, down came the Blood Moon and that was match.

Andy won against G/R beats, and Harry defeated Greater Gifts.

3-1

Round 5 - Ken Krouner with U/R control
I've always respected Ken Krouner. Meeting him in person raised that level of respect even higher. He was nothing but class when I kept a one-lander in Maine, while he kept a two-lander and got screwed. This time around, I had a mini-conversation with him since I semi-knew him. For the record, I agree with Ken's viewpoint stated in his last article: I also want my all-star game back.

Andy played a friend of Ken's whose name I didn't catch, using GR beats. Harry played Dan, whom I did recognize and have played previously. He played with Ghost Dad. My opening hand was slow and I mulled into a Heezy-ish draw of Kird Ape, Scabby, and Burning Tree. Ken had Disrupting Shoal (a card we wanted for Harry but didn't own) for the Shaman, but Kird Ape and Scabby ended up being enough when combined with triple Shock. Ken would have been in decent shape had he drawn a Red source, but it never came. I sided out Moldervine Cloak for Flames of the Blood Hand.

Game 2 I believe Ken mulliganed, and his draw didn't seem stellar. I again had a nice one, with Kird Ape and multiple Dryad Sophisticates. He just didn't seem to draw anything, but once again was very gracious about the loss.

Brassman lost a close three to GR beats, and it was Harry's turn to win the clutch match. Harry ended up winning with a Niv-Mizzet on extra turns.

4-1

At this point, the venue had to be moved into the parking garage. I wish I were making that line up. Apparently TO Tom Shea was forced to move there by the owners in a rare miscommunication. In fact, in five or so years I've played at Tom's events this was the first major snafu I've ever seen in one of his events. It wasn't an issue at all, because he handled it superbly by announcing it to everyone and the move was prompt. The nice thing about the move was I had time to draft! Despite Harry pleading with me not to, and Brassman looking sad about it, I hopped in a draft with some Ghetto guys. My defense to the team was that half of the people in the draft were also 3-1, and if they could draft in between rounds, it was clearly fine for me to do so. Obviously this was just BS justification to draft, despite my team wanting me to focus on the event. Evil incarnate, baby. My draft deck was pretty sweet, but I didn't have time to play because of…

Round 6 - The Ghetto
The Ghetto is just an extremely large group of Boston players who are all friends. They always have multiple people in the top 8 of PTQs, and many of them are former to current Pro Tour attendees. One even almost won a Grand Prix, but instead played around a Maggot Carrier and forgot to kill Oiso because of it, thus beginning the famed “Japanese Invasion” of last year. I talk with them at every tournament and have gone on extracurricular field trips with them to Montreal in the past. For those of you constantly on Magic Online, these are the guys who all have accounts named after the 1990 Dream Team in captial letters. I would tell you the identities of each one, but then they'd kill me. These particular three Ghetto representatives are all people whom I consider friends, and they are all very dangerous with the Magical cards.

Harry faced Smokes Mc Cloaks with Ghost Dad, I faced Goochie in the G/R beat mirror, and Brassman was against Angry Brian's Boros deck.

Harry was crushed by Smokes in about ten minutes. I beat Goochie in about twelve. I wish there was more to say in those matches, but there wasn't.

So, it was down to a certain man of brass to defeat Angry Brian. Don't ask him why that's his nickname, or he'll hit you with a steel chair. This is coming from first-hand experience.

Game 1, and Brassman looked like he was going to take care of business… but down came…

Hidetsugu's Second Rite?!

Good grief. Nice one-of.

Game 2 was a quick Yosei lock. Game 3 saw Angry Brian come out flying, with turn 1 Isamaru, turn 2 Leonin Skyrider. AB was stuck on lands, while Brassman dropped the lone Kagemaro into play. The board was wiped clear. AB dropped a Zo-Zu much later than planned and by the time it came out Brassman had spliced Goryo's Vengeance online.

5-1

Had that Zo-Zu came out on turn 3, I'm pretty sure we lose. The Ghetto went back to the draft, while I had to continue on to…

Round 7 - Team Tom Gweevin
More neighboring Massachusetts friends. Player A was Dominic Menucci, a.k.a. “The Rising Star,” with Greater Gifts. Player B was Ryan Durney with G/R beats, and player C was Ben Ashman, one of the Ghost Dad pioneers. I talk with these guys constantly, and all three of them are top players in the area. Ashman just came back from his first tour, barely missing the money in Honolulu. Menucci and Durney both have multiple PTQ Top 8s under their belts, and I suspect will be going to a tour in the very near future. They had Top 4 locked in, while we were forced to play it out, since we came into this round at 4th.

For the first time ever, I asked for a concession. They considered it for a while and politely declined, mainly due to the fact that a concession would hurt the team rating and that could be an issue if they don't win this qualifier. I totally understood, and we were off…

I'm facing Ryan, who has Heezy Street card for card. I like my matchup because of the maindeck Slums, in there specifically for the mirror. I also have Rathi Dragons in the board, but they were one of the teams I did heavy playtesting with, so I suspect I'll be facing those as well.

Game 1, I draw more guys and win. Game 2 he drops Dryad Sophisticate and Jittes it up. I have no answer.

Game 3 I have a nice start of Ape and Scabby, but he comes out swinging with Dryad and Jitte again. I'm upset about his start and let it tilt me…

See, a good player would not let this happen, remaining calm to pay as close attention to the game as possible… but I didn't. I just started racing him. We went back and forth, me with solid guys, him with Jitte plus Dryad. I kept laying Shamans trying to get them to stick, but he had the burn every time. Finally I got one to stick, and he said “Resolves.” He then tried to backup the game state and remove a counter in response to it, but I held him to it. I felt extremely bad about it, and he wasn't happy, but you need to hold your opponents to their plays regardless of who they are.

So the Shaman stuck, but Ryan had just drawn Moldervine Cloak. With that a Dryad suddenly cloaked up and swinging, I only had one more turn to live. I can get him to one life and he can no longer use Jitte, but I must draw a burn spell or I'm toast to his cloaked Dryad…

I untap and draw my final Burning Tree Shaman. He quickly asks if he has the match.

I tell him to hold on a second, and start surveying the board. He then asks the same question, repeatedly, within a 30 second span. Now I know something is wrong… why would he do this? Ryan isn't the badgering type… he wants me to scoop for a reas-

Holy crap! I have no non-basic lands in play!

I yelled the above italicized sentence (with the exception of “crap” being substituted for something else). Durney immediately exclaimed “@!#$^%!” He was now left with drawing a burn spell or losing, since he was out-manned and at one life, unable to remove any more counters that he could produce because of the Shamans. He draws a blank, and I win.

Sometimes I'm so good, it's scary.

Brassman got destroyed by Dominic, which makes sense because even though it's a mirror match, Dominic has no maindeck Hierarchs. He's able to have more combo pieces main deck because of this, and that gives him a definite edge. Down it came to Harry and Ashman in game 3.

The game was long and drawn-out with Ashman drawing three Sickening Shoals in like five turns. He ended up extracting Harry out of kill conditions somewhere in here, but there were threads left. Harry started stealing things but Ashman was able to easily kill them, since they were all 2/2s. Harry ends up out of threats, but Ashman has no pressure and the game ends in extra turns with no winner. So we end up drawing unintentionally and crossing our fingers for the Top 4 squeak-in.

5-1-1

My friend from Cape Cod, Chris Thoms, approached me at this point and told me he won also. We'd be competing with his team on tiebreakers. Top 4 is announced and we snuck in with a .007 tiebreaker difference from my friend's team. At this point I do my best Tom Cruise on Oprah impression and act totally insane. One spectator, who may or may not be the author of the Deckade, asked why I was so “aggressive.” Harry lets out a sigh of relief and for a brief second, I swore a caught a half smile out of Brassman.

Besides my team and Tom Gweevin, the other two teams were unknowns (but they seemed friendly) and Top 8 Magic, led by none other than the author of the Deckade himself, Mike Flores! What an exciting Top 4 this turned out to be…

Semi-Finals: Tom Gweevin
Here we go again. They weren't happy, nor was I. Oh well.

I face Ryan again, and our first two games were exactly what you'd except a beatdown mirror match to be: whoever went first won. Luckily, I won the die roll back in game 1, which meant I would be on the play for our inevitable game 3. I stuck with the exact same Rathi for Slum swap I had been doing all day for the mirror.

Game 3 I have an unexciting hand of Dryad Sophisticate, some Shocks, and a Rathi. I keep it because I had three lands already, which made turn 4 Dragon almost a lock. This ends up happening with no major bumps, since he also had a slow draw. He laughed when I played Dragon, responding with the same play. I then drew Moldervine Cloak. All was silent. Being on the play, I was able to win the race handily with my bigger Dragon and backup burn.

Harry had awful draws and got smoked by Ashman, which was a real shame because I was certain that the U/R Mizzet on Ghost Dad matchup was about even. I actually suggested that it favored U/R slightly, to which Ashman scoffed. The loss didn't help backup my claims, but our version wasn't optimized and Harry did get awful draws. I still believe the matchup is about even.

Again, it came down to Brassman, currently in game 2 after getting a fantastic draw in game 1. Dominic looked to be in good shape, with a much larger hand. The two had traded Nightmare Voids, so they knew what they were up against. Mortifies had also been flying back and forth, mostly from Dominic's side since we only had one. I don't remember exactly what happened here, but I believe Brassy topdecked his last Greater Good and Yosei locked him out of the blue. Dominic lost what appeared to be a favorable game, and just like that we were in…

The Final: A) The author of the Deckade with B/W/G Houseguard.dec. B) Steve Sadin with Magnivore. C) Paul Jordan with Heartbeat.
I had tried making conversation with the one and only Mike Flores at various points earlier in the tournament, to no avail. I was a little hurt by this. Mike is finally forced to talk to us and asks for the slots; we politely decline and state we’re playing it out. I then ask him for a copy of his book, to which a friend of his in the crowd responds: “I have a signed copy!” Me: “You must be so proud.”

I admit it, I came out swinging in this finals match encounter with lots of verbal barbs… and they were all aimed at Mike. It's not that I don't like Flores; I have nothing personal against the man. I think he's a fantastic writer, and his deck building skills are obviously second to none. My issue with him is that whenever he rolls into PTQs around my area, he acts like he owns the place. I've seen him repeatedly talk down to players who had no idea who he was, and that always bothered me. While I aimed to keep the comments in pure jest, I definitely wanted Mike to get a taste of his own medicine.

We got the deck lists, and I loved my matchup. Harry's looked slightly favourable, and Brassman's was horrendous. Flores immediately knew it, and started throwing out all sorts of stats. Mike: “I can't lose if I make it to turn 3.” Me: “He could always outplay you.”

My opponent was Steve Sadin, and there was no question in my mind he was the best player on their team. He had a very quiet demeanor, and was much more intense than Flores or Jordan. I realize Flores and Jordan both had their share of Pro Tour success (the one time I played Jordan, in a PTQ 8 years ago, he creamed me), but I had heard stories of Sadin and I knew he was extremely dangerous. It seemed that he played a lot more than the other two, since Paul and Mike commented on how hard it was to get out of the house and play Magic without their wives knowing.

Besides being quiet and intense, Steve was also very polite. Going into this match he didn't really smile or talk, and I think that's because he didn't expect to win. The first words out of his mouth were “I think you're going to need to win, guys.”

Game 1: I won the die roll and my opening hand was Kird Ape, Kird Ape, Stomping Grounds, Mountain, Dryad Sophisticate, Scab-Clan Mauler, and Shock. I won this game without much trouble.

I side boarded out three Shocks, three Moldervine Cloak, and three Rumbling Slum for three Flames of the Blood Hand, four Giant Solifuge, and two Naturalize.

Game 2: I kept a hand of three lands, two Dryads, a Shock, and a Naturalize. It was definitely questionable, but I liked the fact that I could battle Threads with this hand. That was stupid reasoning, as I really should have mulled it into a faster hand. If I'm reactive, he's going to win. I ended up dropping both Dryads; he does in fact Threads one. I respond with the Naturalize and get it back, but it just doesn't matter because he's not under enough pressure. He ends up drawing a lot of cards, pumping his graveyard full of sorceries in the process. He drops the inevitable Magnivore and then casts Wildfire while still in the double digits for life total.

I realized my sideboard plan was flawed. I shouldn't be reacting to Threads in this matchup; I should remain pro-active and continue dropping guys and launching burn at his head. That wasn't even my biggest mistake while boarding.

Why am I taking out a 5/5 against Wildfire?

This was just plain silly. Past testing had shown that a resolved Rumbling Slum was almost always game against this deck. Combine that with the fact that he most likely sided out his Eye of Nowheres to make room for four Threads and four Volcanic Hammers, it's easy to see why Big Rumbles should have never left the main. So back came all three Slums, out came both Naturalizes and one more Shock.

Game 3: My opening hand is Dryad, two Slums, Llanowar Elves and three lands. Works for me. I open with turn 1 Elves. The follow-up is the Dryad, and I cross my fingers hoping for the turn 3 tap out. He casts Compulsive Research, and I'm trying to hold in my joy. I untap and drop Rumbles. He again makes the comment to his team that they are probably going to need to win. He untaps, draws and then taps out yet again. I forgot what he cast here, I believe it was another Compulsive Research. I drop the second Rumbles on turn 4 and it was academic at that point. To Steve's credit, he responded with a 6/6 Magnivore, but he was already too low on life. I swung with both Rumbles and drop Steve to three, losing one in the process He asks if I have the burn. I show him two Flames and a Char, and that was all she wrote.

I turn my attention to Harry and Paul, entering game 3. Paul had a terrible start of three forests with no plays whatsoever. Harry taps out to cast Meloku. Paul untaps and plays Kodama's Reach, finding an Island and a Swamp. He passes the turn leaving an Island up and four cards in hand.

Alright, it's time for you to tell me the correct play. Harry untaps and draws. His hand is Hinder, Niv-Mizzet, and three lands. Harry's board is five lands and a Meloku. Harry swings with Meloku, dropping Paul to eighteen. He drops lands number six. That's all the setup, now here's the decision:

Do you drop Niv-Mizzet, tapping out with Paul having five lands on board and four cards currently in hand, or do you pass the turn with one Hinder in hand, plus Meloku on board and six lands?

Think about it, because it is literally a match-winning decision.

…

Almost done?

…

Okay.

After conferring with Harry for a considerable amount of time, we both agreed the optimal play was tapping out to drop Niv-Mizzet. We did this because we know we need to apply pressure quickly, and the odds of him going off were slim at that point. It appeared he was still trying to recover from land screw. He also packs two Gigadrowse and four Muddle the Mixture post board, so playing the waiting game seems fruitless unless we know we're drawing into more countermagic. Granted, we can represent multiples for at least a turn or two, but that's just giving him setup time. With our play, if we are able to untap with Niv-Mizzet we pretty much win.

Obviously, Paul draws his fifth card, and has the exact combination of cards to go off right then and there. We lose a heartbreaker, and then get trashed by some spectators.

I still defend the play. His odds of going off that turn were slim. Paul commented that we should have just returned lands at the end of each of his turns, representing counter magic the whole time. The problem with that comes down to pressure. We can't return enough lands to represent a fast enough racing clock, because if we return too many he's able to go off at will. That leaves us with being forced to represent at least two hard counters while swinging for three or four every turn. This gives him up to four turns to setup and crush us with just one Gigadrowse or Muddle. By making the play we did, he's under pressure to win three or four turns earlier. Granted, he did combo off, but I believe going with the play we did gave us more odds of winning the game.

So I won, Harry lost, and it's down to Brassman and Flores. Fasten your seatbelts, folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

My focus fell on the game in the middle of the second. Mike ripped him to shreds game 1, and made sure to tell Brassman just how hopeless the matchup was the entire time. Game 2 looked equally good for Flores, as he had Cranial Extracted the crap out of our poor metal hero. Brassman was out of Greater Goods and Yoseis.

Mike passed the turn, but not before telling his team-mates to get ready to book some plane tickets. Brassman started to apologize to me. My response, word for word…

“Beat Flores or find a ride home.”

The crowd roared with laughter.

I guess they thought I was joking.

Brassman nodded his head, untapped, and won.

Mike couldn't believe it. Neither could I. Harry was playing some fun games with Paul, but had he been watching, I'm pretty sure he would have been shocked as well. Brassman apparently had one Goryo's Vengeance remaining in the deck, and topdecked it like a champ. With Miren on the board, Kokusho in the yard, and Mike at five, that was a wrap.

Enter game 3. Brassman went over his sideboard with me one more time, which I approved. Out: three Hierarch, four Wrath, In: one Greater Good, one Ghost-Lit Stalker, one Putrefy, one Mortify, one Wear away, one Ink Eyes, and one Cranial Extraction. Go ahead, poke fun at it. I sure did.

So off we went… and I start bleeding! Oh nose! Bah, that's not good. I ask head judge Jeremy Smith if I may go to the bathroom and come back. Although it's technically against the rules to leave the table then come back, it's clear I wasn't plotting anything and I just wanted to stop my running faucet of blood, so Jeremy made the exception. As I stood up, I asked Brassman if he was fine with me cleaning myself up while he played. He responded with the typical Brassmanian answer, “Sure, if that's what you want to do.”

Being gifted in Brassman-speak, that really means: “Please don't go. I'm on no sleep and will probably screw up the biggest match of my tournament life if you leave the table for even a second. I am a former Vintage player, you know.”

So I promptly sat back down. Personally, I think it was all a ploy by him to get me to bleed to death. In the interest of the team, I took my nosebleed like a man and sucked it up. It was probably for the best…

Game 3 Brassman opens with a hand of Ghost-Lit Stalker, Greater Good, Putrefy, and 4 lands. He asks for the mulligan, I raise one eyebrow. He argues the draw isn't juicy enough. Somewhat valid, given it has no accelerants, but Mike doesn't come out fast at all. His big pile of Gifts hate takes time to setup. I explain this to Andy in as few words as possible to not give away his hand, and he agrees on keeping it. He leads with Ghost Lit-Stalker. The same one Mike was laughing at when Extracting Brassman in game 2.

Mike doesn't hesitate in casting Putrefy on the little bugger. A gifts Ungiven is drawn somewhere in here. Mike gets a Hierarch out on turn 4. Brassman gets his Gifts on. He starts sifting through the deck, thumbing all monsters to the top. I immediately point him to a Greater Good. He responds by showing me the one in his hand. I point back at the GG, he shows me the one in his hand again. This goes back and forth a few times. I tell him he needs a backup plan, and to just trust me. What I really wanted to say here is with Mike having a full grip and the knowledge of four Mortify in his deck, we must grab a Greater Good here because it allows us to know if he has Mortify or not.

We grab Yosei, Goryo‘s Vengeance, Reclaim, and Greater Good. He gives us Greater Good and Goryo's, which is exactly what I expected him to do if he had Mortify in hand. Brassman picks up on this and immediately runs out a Greater Good. Mike gleefully casts the Mortify and passes the turn. I believe he had a swinging Hierarch out there and we were at sixteen.

Brassman untaps, drops land number 6, and casts the other Greater Good plus the Goryo's Vengeance. Mike's jaw drops, and I think we have him right there. Yosei comes in for five, we lock him down. Mike passes back to us, we have a top out but no gas in hand. We're forced to cast Kodama's reach to continue digging. Another top afterwards reveals all blanks. Roughly twelve cards deep in two turns, and no Recollect or additional Vengeances/Dragons. We're forced to pass. Mike untaps, and then knocks on his deck… I guess he's holding blanks. He comments that we whiffed on drawing any Goryo's Vengeances, and says he hopes he draws Cranial right about… now. He does in fact draw it, and runs it right out there, naming Goryo's Vengeance. Crap.

We pass back and forth for a while, with minimal action. Somewhere in here Keiga dropped, was promptly targeted with Putrefy, then targeted at Hierarch, which Mike obviously sacrificed in response. We're starting to run thin on kill conditions, and Mike is well aware of that. He draws into Dimir House-Guard. A prompt transmute gives him Cranial, but he doesn't have enough mana to cast it. If he gets off that Cranial it's gonna be all ova, baby. We're down to Recollect, Kokusho, and two Yosei's with him at eleven. Alright Brassman, time to rip…

Your only Cranial Extraction. Good, now aim it at Mike. Good. Now stay silent while Mike laments his poor luck. Okay, I guess you can fire one comment back at him in the name of entertainment. Brassman: “Wah Wah Wah. I'm Mike Flores and I get mad when other people topdeck Cranial Extraction to stay in the game.” Good Brassman, good! That was actually funny.

So we drew a nice one, but we aren't home yet. Mike gets some hot Weathered Wayfarer action on. With him at eleven, we draw into a Sakura-Tribe Elder. It attacks the following turn and Steve tells him not to block. Mike points out to Steve that going to ten gives Brassy extra outs, i.e. one less necessary swing with a dragon, or being able to suck five from out of the blue after an attack with a recollected Kokusho. So Mike correctly makes the block. The Wayfarer did its damage anyway, finding Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree. Mike then makes a lot of tokens while we draw a lot of lands. What puzzles me here is that Mike's hand, while having as many cards as ours, is actually pretty hot. At no point in the five or six turns he's making tokens and swinging does he drop either of his Phyrexian Arenas or the Helldozer in his hand. We know this from the earlier Cranial Extraction. Mike is aware we have one Wear Away in hand, but there's nothing to splice on it. He really should spend one turn dropping both Arenas and the following turn dropping Mr. Dozer. Helldozer is something we are forced to use our only Mortify on, which Mike also knows is sitting in our hand. Obliterating Helldozer leaves us wide open to Ink-Eyes, which Mike will probably draw sooner rather than later when he's getting two cards a turn, since we can only destroy one Arena. Fortunately for us, Mike does none of the above and just keeps making 1/1's.

Although a small army is being amassed, an Ink-Eyes of our own - plus some additional Tribe Elders - gives us plenty of time to finally draw our threats. With less than ten cards in the library, Andy draws Recollect. We have a Greater Good out there, so we immediately bring back Kokusho. Mike aims a Mortify at it and we sacrifice in response… Mike's down to six. Alright deck, gives us a damn Yosei. Blank, Blank, Blank, Blank… Yosei! Ding.

Mike untaps, draws and passes. We drop Yosei. He begs his deck for help, claiming he has over twenty outs left. Mike's face is expressionless when he sees his drawn card. He passes. Swing. Mike's at one. Untap, draw… Mike starts commenting how much damage he can get through if he destroys Yosei and swings with tokens that won't get tapped down.

Right there, I know it's over. While he talks aloud about more about potential plays, his entire back section is silent. He makes a comment about Andy's incredibly lucky fortune to draw the Cranial…

Then extends the hand.

Thank you, God!

7-1-1, and we win the imaginary blue envelopes and free airfare to Charlestown.

Final records: Me 7-2, Brassman 6-3, Harry 4-4-1

Completely exhausted, we shake hands with Mike's team and I tell him I have nothing but respect for him, which is true. No matter your opinion of him, the man is a Magic icon. There's a reason he's the only non-PT regular to get voted into the Invitational. He is that important to the game.

So all goals were achieved. Brassman is officially on the tour (whether he likes it or not), Harry is back on after over a year, and I've lived my dream again by winning the second qualifier in a row to guarantee myself my first two Pro Tours ever. Can't complain.

Props to:
Ryan Durney, Ben Ashman, Dominic Menucci, Chris Butcher, Chris Thoms, Ben Goodman, James Sanguenetti, Brian Lynch, Melissa DeTora, Jim Dyke, Brian Siu, Angelo Santiago, Lucas Glavin, all of the locals from Disposable Heroes, and most importantly…

My team-mates, Harry and Andy. Thank you so much.

And thank you all for reading my report.

Dave Feinstein
(Dxfiler on forums and MODO)