Featured Article — Looking Back at PT: Geneva

Hey folks, Cak back in action here. Last year saw me finish with 29 pro points. Good enough for 3rd

place amongst all U.S. competitors. That statistic doesn’t really matter though, as 29 is also good

enough to be one point — yes, one point — short of Level 4. An estimated $3,000 or

so. All I had to do was go 9-9 or better at Worlds in Paris to reach the coveted level, and

couldn’t pull it off. It’s going to be hard to shake that one off.

I strongly considered just completely quitting the game right then and there. At first I was

extremely excited to be Level 3 for an entire year, but I slowly learned that Level 2 is much better. As

long as you can consistently win a PTQ here and there, there are no real benefits to being Level 3.

Winning a PTQ earns you a free plane ticket to wherever the Pro Tour may be. Some of the locations (ahem,

Japan) cost a lot more than $500 to get to. In fact I just purchased my ticket for PT: Yokohama, and it

cost me a little more than a grand. Not to mention hotel is going to cost another $500 or so, and then

you have to think about spending money. Hey man, Peach Sparkling Kirin isn’t very cheap these days.

I think something should be done about this. I actually have to make, what, Top 32 to break even on

the trip? Yeah, okay… like that’s ever going to happen.

Anyway, I was looking to start the 2007 season with a strong finish in Geneva, which happened to be

booster draft, which also happens to be my best format.

To tell you the truth, I was having mixed emotions about this tournament. Limited is by far my best

format… however, there’s this, uh, streak I have going. One that I can’t seem to break.

I’ve lost playing for Day 2 in about half of the individual pro tours that I’ve had the

opportunity to play in. Half!, 50%, ½, 0.5… you get the idea.

I don’t have a problem getting off to a good start at all, just finishing the second draft out

strong has been haunting me ever since my first PT. I actually have nightmares about it. There’s a

mental block preventing me from reaching Day 2 and Geneva was another chance to break through that brick

wall.

Going into the tournament, I didn’t have much experience with Planar Chaos itself, but I did get

a chance to talk to a lot of people about the set. I listened very carefully to the opinions of Kenji

Tsumura and Rich Hoaen. Not being able to practice with the new set much before the tournament hurt, but

conversing about different card evaluations and strategies with other players is just as important in my

book.

I came to the conclusion that sticking with any combination of Blue, Green, and Red was my best bet.

Also, if I saw a strong White signal being passed my way early, a heavy White/x deck would also be a solid

option. White/Black Rebels was another option lingering in the back of my mind as a backup plan, although

not something I would look for right away.

A couple days before my flight was scheduled to leave for Geneva, I had the chance to spend a couple

of days at one Gadiel Szleifer residence. I swear to god there was a piece of exercise equipment

in every single room of the house. I also had the privilege of watching the Superbowl in

negative-thirty-below-without wind-chill downtown Chicago. Rex Grossman straight up lost me $100, and I

still think the conspiracy is true. Anyone else with me there?

We arrive in Geneva on a bright, sunny Tuesday afternoon. Our “hotel” was located just

past the Geneva border in France, which we figured wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Just as long as

we always had our passports on us at all times, we would be okay.

We tried heading into Geneva that night, neither of us remembering to bring our passport. Yeah, we

got the boot right away. I hate Europe.

Also our “hotel” informed us that it was not actually a hotel but an apartment building.

Therefore, they were not going to clean our room throughout the entirety of our stay, and we would not

be receiving any clean towels.

Please!

At least this confirms the suspicion that the French indeed don’t shower. I rest my case.

Let’s move on to the actual tournament itself, shall we?

Draft 1

Nishiwaki, Kazuhisa
Siira, Erkki
Hammerer, Lucas
Pelcak, John T.
Schwartz, Gabriel
Burton, Hunter
Reitbauer, David
Pattaro, Eloi

Here’s a nice little pod. I didn’t recognize any of the names at first, but I did

recognize the Japanese player from previous Pro Tours and such, after sitting down at the table. I was

hoping to be able to 3-0 this pod and get off to a great start.

Not really knowing what to expect from any of these players, I just decided to stick with the

“any combination of Blue, Green, and Red” plan. I start the draft out very nicely with a

Triskelavus. Triskelavus is a card that can potentially win the late game by itself, and it also keeps

your options open in the draft. The rest of pack one sees me picking up a Durkwood Baloth, Riftwing

Cloudskate (third?), and a very late Fathom Seer. Pack two was less exciting, but I did pick up a pair of

my favorite Green card in the set, being Penumbra Spider. Pack three was also a bit weak for me, although

I did manage to acquire a pair of Pongifies, which combo very nicely with the pair of Spiders.

Here’s what I ended up with…

Consistency and speed are probably the two most important factors for me when drafting this format,

and this deck is no exception. It doesn’t look that quick on the surface, but the cards with

suspend can make up for that. One thing I wasn’t so sure about was the Fungal Behemoth. Being that

I was Blue/Green, I wanted some sort of late game card that could potentially break the game, and I

figured this had that type of potential. The card was pretty good for me in one of the games that I

played, but I would never play it again. It’s just far too situational, and it was usually just

stuck in my hand for the entirety of the game. And no, I did not mise with it and Triskelavus, ever.

Pongify was a card that intrigued me while reading the spoiler prior to the tournament. I was

thinking that it would be solid in a Green/Blue type deck that was light on removal and could combo well

with some of Green’s creatures. Low and behold, I ended up with two of them, and it ended up being

the best card in my deck by far. I can’t tell you the number of times it acted as a pseudo-Swords

to Plowshares. Oh, and did I mention that it combos insanely with Penumbra Spider? With hopes set high,

I headed into round 1 of the tournament.

Round 1: Lucas Hammerer (Blue/White with Griffin Guide)

Last time I played against Lucas I was untapping my Experiment Kraj thanks to the help of his Simic

Ragwurm at Pro Tour: Prague. I won that battle and was hoping to ride the Simic train to victory again.

Game 1 he mulligans into a weak draw and I win easily with a couple combat tricks and a nice curve

out. Game 2 I get another quick draw and he is forced to use Icatian Crier to prevent himself from taking

damage. I suspend Fungal Behemoth for 3, the only time I used it during the entire tournament. It was

actually pretty good as it allowed me to keep my creatures from dying in combat to Crier tokens. I

eventually find a Piracy Charm and finish off the game with Strength in Numbers.

Record: 1-0

Round 2: Gabriel Schwartz (Black/White Rebels)

This is probably my worst match up being that I only had two real ways of dealing with Rebel

searchers. I guess Pongify can count also, but giving them a 3/3 early in the game is not something you

want to be doing.

Game 1 I keep a solid two-land hand on the draw, but fail to hit my fourth land drop for a couple of

turns and proceed to get run over by a hoard of rebels. Game 2 is basically the opposite of game 1 as he

stalls on land this time, and I am able to win easy on the back of Jolrael. Game 3 I keep a hand of

Greenseeker, Triskelavus, Sprite Noble, and 4 lands. I figured since it would take him a while to set up

his rebel chain, I would be able to buy enough time to just win with Triskelavus. He stalls on land

early, but I fail to draw a single spell until turn 6. I manage to get down Triskelavus, but he top decks

Urborg Syphon-Mage with me at three and I’m forced to use Triskelavus tokens to kill it. I go on to

draw more and more land after that I am given my first loss of the day in a very frustrating round.

Record: 1-1

Round 3: Hunter Burton (Insane Blue/Red deck)

Hunter is an interesting fellow. Every time I cast a spell or attack with a creature, he responds

with something like “Indeed!” or “Let it be so!” something along those lines.

Yea.

Game 1 he drops an early Hivestone and I laugh at him. He then proceeds to draw all 4 slivers in his

deck and I lose to the grand master of the all, the Fury Sliver. He also Draining Whelk’d this

game, which is usually unbeatable.

Game 2 is looking pretty good for me, until he drops a couple of Bonesplitter Slivers and Hivestone

again. However, my Penumbra Spiders are holding off his team and when he attempts to deal me fifteen in a

single attack step, I have Pongify to regain control of the board. The game then stalls out and he puts a

lot of pressure on me by suspending a Veiled Oddity. He has five cards or so in hand, so when he passes

with six mana open I know he has the Whelk. I draw Triskelavus, but decide to hold onto it until he taps

out. He thinks that I’m flooded, so he does tap out and I do resolve Triskelavus the following

turn. I get him to within one attack with Triskelavus and Triskelavites when the Oddity comes into play.

I know he is holding Bonesplitter Sliver by the way he has been playing, which would deal me exactly

enough damage if I didn’t deal with any of the creatures attacking following the sliver. He Rift

Bolted one of the Triskelavites, so I respond by pinging one of his guys. He just concedes right there,

although I’m almost 100% positive he could have easily won that game.

Game 3 is another very close game. He starts with a pair of Blood Knights, but I have the spider to

stop that nonsense. The board is stalled once again and it is looking pretty grim for me as he has

Voidmage Prodigy in play along with a Prodigal Pyromancer. One turn he leaves an Island and a Mountain

untapped instead of 2 Islands, which ended up being very critical. I have been drawing lands the entire

game and my draw that turn? Triskelavus. At this point he gets very flustered as he could have countered

the Triskelavus with Voidmage, and the Trisk goes all the way in a very tight match.

Record: 2-1

After feeling as if I just out-ran the giant boulder straight out of Indiana Jones, I head into the

second draft just as confident as ever. I’m no stranger to being 2-1 after pod one. Come to think

of it, I’ve been 2-1 in every single limited Pro Tour so far in my career, and have still yet to

reach the coveted day 2. Here’s my second pod:

Mark Schmit
Alex Kim
Steve Tomik
Kazuya Hirabayashi
Mattias A. Kettil
Przemek Oberbek
John T. Pelcak
Stuart D. Wright

Once again I am placed in another stellar pod. This time there are some other Americans in the pod,

so I am even more hopeful about reaching Day 2.

I start out the draft with a Firemaw Kavu and a smile on my face. I second pick a Nantuko Shaman in a

very weak pack, hopefully setting myself up for Green/Red. I then get shipped a third pick Stronghold

Overseer. Now don’t get me wrong, I love me a Stronghold Overseer. He will win you the game

literally every time you cast him if not dealt with properly. However, Black is by far the weakest color

in TTP draft, and I was going to do everything in my power to avoid it. There was also a Sudden Shock in

the pack, which ends up being my pick. Over the course of the draft I didn’t see much Green come my

way, but I end up with a surplus of Red burn spells. Here’s what I took into the last 3 rounds of

the draft…

Yes, that’s seven legitimate burn spells. I’ve also never seen Coal Stoker be

more of a house in a deck. The Blazing-Blades are pretty awkward, but I wanted to abuse Coal Stoker to

its fullest potential and this was a way of doing that. I was very happy with this deck and expected at

least a 2-1 and hopefully a 3-0, to finish strong going into day 2.

Round 4: Alex Kim (Solid Blue/Green deck)

I recognized his name from somewhere, but couldn’t put a finger on it. Probably random GPs or

PTQ Top 8 lists.

Game 1 on the draw I keep a hand of three Forests, Nantuko Shaman, Coal Stoker, Dead / Gone, and

Stingscourger. I figure if I draw one of my eleven Mountains by turn 5 or so I should be in great shape.

I do manage to draw the Mountain on turn 5, and proceed to cast Coal Stoker, Stingscourger, and kill his

last remaining creature with Dead. He makes an attempt to stabilize, but I have the burn to finish him

off. I board in an Essence Warden because I figure he wouldn’t have very many ways to deal with it.

Game 2 I mulligan into a very shaky five-card hand, but manage a turn 1 Essence Warden. The Warden

gains me about 20 life throughout the course of the game, but I have no answer for his Aeon Chronicler /

Fathom Seer combo. I did blow him out with a madnessed Reckless Wurm early in the game, but it was still

not enough.

Game 3 was very similar to game 1, thankfully. I make turn 2 Skycutter, turn 3 Blazing Blade, turn 4

Coal Stoker powering out a Stingscourger bouncing his only blocker. Once again he stabilizes with a pair

of Penumbra Spiders, but I have enough burn in hand to finish it. He tells me I should have no problem

3-0’ing the table. I was just hoping to win another round.

Record: 3-1

At this point I’m thinking that the streak stands no chance. This is it. I was going to

finally end the curse that has haunted me for years. Could we do it one time in our lives?

Round 5: Stuart Wright (White/Green/Black Slivers)

This was the most frustrating match of the tournament. Game 1 I keep a hand of Stingscourger, Firemaw

Kavu, Grapeshot, and 4 lands on the draw. I proceed to draw an astounding 6 lands in a row before I get

run over by a bunch of Watcher Slivers. Game 2 I am forced to mulligan down to five into one of the most

embarrassing hands I’ve ever seen. To top it off I draw all lands for the entire game. Awesome.

Record: 3-2

Feeling like I just got a match loss, I composed myself and just focused on winning the next round.

This was it…

Round 6: Przemek Oberbek (Mono-Black, the only Black drafter at the table…)

I keep a solid hand on the draw, but “Przemek” has other ideas. Turn 1 he suspends

Corpulent Corpse and follows with two more on turn 2. Nice. He misses some land drops, but still manages

to kill every single creature I play.

Game 2 he doesn’t suspend Corpulent Corpse at all, but he does manage to kill every single

creature I play again. Gorgon Recluse is a house against my deck. He also cast a Tendrils of Agony for

thirty, probably.

So there you go. Same old, same old. 3-1, 0-2 blah blah blah.

Before I leave you, I would like to say a couple of things.

Quick thoughts about TTP draft:

I still believe I had an optimal drafting strategy going into the tournament. Blue, Green, and Red

are by far the best colors in Planar Chaos, although I may have underestimated White just a bit.

Whitemane Lion is actually a very good card and it isn’t getting the credit it deserves.

Another card that isn’t getting the credit it deserves is Saltfield Recluse. It reminds me of

Kabuto Moth the more and more I play with it.

The Sliver strategy is also something that should be reconsidered. With the addition of Sinew Sliver

and Poultice Sliver, a White-based Sliver deck might be something worth looking into.

The reason why Slivers were weaker before Planar Chaos was because of the fact that they were just too

fragile. If your Bonesplitter Sliver got killed, that was usually game over. This is where Poultice and

Sinew Sliver come into play. They both make it hard for your opponent to kill your Slivers, especially

the Poultice, which is something the deck was lacking prior to Planar Chaos.

Blue/White got a whole lot better with the addition of Planar Chaos as well. It now has removal

spells in the form of Shaper Parasite and Erratic Mutation as well as multiple controlling on-board

tricks.

Black in Planar Chaos is like the Minnesota Timberwolves of this year’s basketball season.

Yeah, that embarrassing. However, everyone knows this fact, so if you see powerful lack cards

being shipped early, take advantage of that.

Green is the deepest color in Planar Chaos by far, although none of its commons scream out first pick

to me besides Mire Boa. Green is good, but I think it might be a bit overrated.

Red is solid and it has the best common in the set in Dead / Gone. However, its creatures are pretty

weak and it lacks any real way of finishing the game.

Side note:

Gerard Fabiano came up to me after round 6 of the Pro Tour, saying he had some “great

news.” Knowing Gerard, this could literally mean anything. I asked him what it was, and he said he

dropped the idea by someone to have an “everyone makes Day 2” pro tour. I was thrilled after

hearing this. It actually makes no sense to have a cut off in the first place. You travel around the

world to get cut in draft by some random Worlds team member who doesn’t know how to read signals at

all to miss Day 2 by one round. It just doesn’t seem right to have a cut off. Who would be against

an idea like this? Pros have less of a chance of getting “screwed” out of Day 2, and

newcomers to the Pro Tour get a chance to play more rounds against pros to improve their game. It’s

also a lot more fun for everyone.

Please put the “Play the Game” back into “Play the Game, See the World.”

So what do you guys think? Shall we start a petition?

Also, what was the deal with the turtle neck shirts given away in Geneva? Nobody likes to wear turtle

necks. Period.

I should have a Dallas article coming up soon that will tell you how I managed to secure a top 8 slot

playing my deck dubbed “Ambien Affinity” with 3 rounds remaining in the tournament. I wish it

was always that easy.

Thanks for reading and see you in Boston!

The Mother F***ing Cak

PS: Tubby Smith is now coaching for the Minnesota Gophers (we did it).