Greetings,
My name is Greg Peloquin, but pretty much everyone in the Pacific Northwest Magic community calls me G Pelly.  I originally approached James with the idea of doing draft walkthrus here, but after the PTQ, I guess I have something more interesting to talk about.  As much as 40 cards >>>>>> 60 cards, the limited will wait for another day.

In preparing for this tournament, I tested with my usual playtest group from the Tacoma area.   Very early in the process, I heard Scapeshift was tearing up Magic League tournaments and was making a splash on Magic Online.  So Ian Kendall, aka Ik, showed me his list of Scapeshift.

I would say the original list was very crude, running things like Repeal, Coiling Oracle and Solemn Simulacrum.  The whole deck was a turn or two too slow and was just kold to Gaddock Teeg.  It didn’t take long for us to switch the Repeals for Into the Roils, but we were still having trouble with burn.

Everything changed when two things happened around the same time:

  • Brandden McDonough, aka McDoogle, or Doogle, showed me the Scapeshift list he had been working on.  His was radically different and much better than ours.  He had Magma Jet, Ponder, Condescend and Hunting Wilds in place of Wood Elves.  Instantly, all of us wanted to play this deck.  It was better, faster and stronger than what we had.
  • Everyone had a Scapeshift list and many of the Northwest’s best were playing it.  Once I found out 4 different groups (including our own) were on the Scapeshift plan, it became apparent this was going to be the deck to beat.

At this point, I still wanted to play Scapeshift, but Doogle wanted me to play 1 drop zoo, and he showed me a list that Brad Nelson had used to win a MODO daily.  Let me explain something about Doogle, he has no cards of his own, so he relies on me and a couple of other people for cards.  This time last year, I wanted to play TEPS, but Doogle convinced me to play Fae and give him my TEPS deck.  We both made top 8.

This time, I wasn’t going to be Jedi mind tricked so easily.  I had an invitation to test at Dwayne St. Arnauld’s house the night before the PTQ.  I was going to take both lists for a spin, play some games and then settle on whichever one I was most comfortable with.

After a few hours of testing, I realized that both decks were quite good, but I liked the zoo deck a bit more, so I ran with it.  I decided to give Doogle my Scapeshift deck and I would play zoo.   I also used my extra playset of Cryptic Commands and shock lands to help ik build a copy also.

One last event from that playtest session was we went to dinner that night at The Rock.  4 of us sat at one table and 5 at another, since they didn’t have a large one.  I was at the table of 4.  As the waitress was bringing our drinks, she spilled it all over the table and soaked James pretty good.  I was sitting next to him and barely got anything on me at all.  I told everyone I suffered splash damage.  No one laughed. [Being soaked makes one less jovial - JFX] :(

After a hearty meal, our table of 4 decided to play the credit card game.  James “won” the game, and by that I mean he paid for all our meals. So the morning of the PTQ, Ik comes over to my house since I’m his ride.  As we are assembling the cards for his deck, he said that Jed Dolbeer wanted to know if I had any Angels Graces I could lend him (Jed needed them, misplaced modifiers ftl).  I sifted through my collection and found two.

I realized they would be awesome in my deck, since if I am on the draw and racing, I often find myself a turn behind.  Plus it’s great against Scapeshift.  I immediately used them for my own board.  Anyways, here’s the list I played:


There is one fatal flaw with the main, which comes back to bite me in the ass later in the tournament.  Also the Bushwhacker is there to help with racing and to complement the ranger package for control decks and the mirror.

The tournament itself was 155 players, so 8 rounds of extended.  There was no Catch Phrase played, so that means there was nothing interesting pre-tournament to talk about.  Pairings for round 1 went up:

ROUND 1 – James Nguyen – U/B Faeries

James is a very solid player from the Portland area.  He won a standard PTQ this summer playing Grixis Faeries.  He wins the roll and begins with a mulligan.  I keep a solid hand of Nacatl, Lynx, 2 Tribal Flames, Helix and two land.   James opens on River of Tears and passes the turn.  I think he might be playing Dark Depths at this point or possibly Fae.  I play Lynx on my turn and he plays a Mutavault and a Bitterblossom.

Ok, we’re up against Fae.  On my turn 2, I attack with the lynx for 4 (the land was a fetch) and I play my kitty.  He plays a River of Tears, get his token, and passes.  My turn 3, I play a second fetch and send in the thundercats.  My opponent taps his three lands and flashes in a Vendillion Clique before blockers.  He targets me with the ability of the clique and I respond with Lightning Helix to kill the 3/1.  James sneaks a peek at my hand, which at this point is a Path to Exile and x2 Tribal Flames.  He plucks one of the flames and I draw a land.  He then blocks the lynx with a token and takes 3.
On his turn, he misses his land drop and passes.  In fact, he never gets a fourth land.  I continue to draw lands and although he has a spell snare for my Tribal Flames, I stay on the offensive and his Bitterblossom finishes him.

I sideboard out both Slaughter Pacts and a path for 3 Thoughtseize.

I don’t remember this game all that well, but I remember he has a turn 1 Thoughtseize, and I had x2 nacatl, Lightning Helix, Kird Ape and lands.  He takes a kitty and I play the other on turn 1.  My ape gets Spellstuttered.  I get a couple of other guys down eventually, and he plays a Jitte.  I topdecked a Lightning Bolt and a Lightning Helix over the next two turns.  He still only has three lands so he equips the Jitte swings and I burn the Sprite in response with a Lightning Bolt.  He had one mana untapped, so I didn’t play the helix to play around spell snare.

I topdeck Goyf and just run it out there, and he lets it resolve.  This is where I get a little fuzzy, since he must have had another guy (I think a Clique).  He suits it up with the Jitte and since I only have three lands, I can’t bolt it.  It winds up not mattering, since I have too much offense and I just overwhelm his Jitte.
RECORD 1-0

ROUND 2 – K.C. Doyce – Burn (I may have got his name wrong)

This man is noticeable because at any PTQ he attends, he can be seen wearing his ‘Jitt’ Happens’ shirt.  He wore this back in Kami block and even then, I pointed out that it’s not pronounced ‘jitt’.   Anyway, I win the roll and play conservatively with my fetch lands to take minimal damage.  To make a long story short, he draws way too many lands and I win the race.
For sideboarding, I don’t have a lot for burn, so I brought out the Pacts and two Path for Teeg, Goblin Bushwhacker and x2 Angel’s Grace.  He had Mogg Fanatic and and no 3/1 tramplers, so the removal went out.  Game 2 doesn’t matter though, I take 4-5 damage from lands and he has Mogg Fanatic and x2 Lightning Bolt and x2 Lava Spike.  Not beating that draw.

Game 3, I keep a two lander with x2 Steppe Lynx on the play.  I hit him for 4 with the first Lynx, but I never see another land for the rest of the game.  Although I have x2 Lightning Helix to buy time, I’m not exactly applying pressure to him, and he finds the burn to finish me.
RECORD 1-1

ROUND 3 – David Mealing – Dredge

Game 1 he wins the roll and has Iona and 6-9 zombies in play by turn 3.  Not a game.

I sideboard out the Pacts and one Path for x2 Relic and a Teeg.

Game 2 my draw is a fairly average hand with no hate.  David mulligans to 5 though and just doesn’t do anything all game.

Game 3, I get busy with Jotun Grunt x2.  His dredges were fairly poor and he boarded in Nixes against me, probably figuring I’d bring in Tormod’s Crypt or Ravenous Trap.  Those are obviously totally dead against me.  The Grunts and some timely burn did him in and he explained after the match that he lost because he didn’t see my hate for game 2 and thus had to guess.
RECORD 2-1

ROUND 4 – Tyrell Wheeler – Mono Red Burn

Tyrell is a very strong Canadian player and is at virtually every PTQ.  Thus, we play each other often and I usually end up winning somehow.  I had watched him play earlier, so I knew what he was playing.

Game 1 isn’t really a game though, since Tyrell mulligans and keeps a one land hand and never finds land #2.

Since I know Tyrell is playing a more stock burn list, I board out the Pacts, for Angel’s Graces.

Game 2 is a bit better for Tyrell as he starts off aggressive and I have a Wild Nacatl that’s getting in for some damage.  He plays a Blood Moon turn 3, but I have a Goblin Bushwhacker in my hand.  I play him, kicked, using Hallowed Fountain and Temple Garden (cause I can) and hit him for 5.  He drew land, after land and those guys and a Lightning Bolt, went the distance.
RECORD 3-1

ROUND 5 – Tom Huteson – Scapeshift

Tom is another Portland player and is also very good.  He also won a standard PTQ this summer and has a Nationals Top8 on his resume, so I’m expecting a tight match here.  I win the roll and begin playing a Nacatl.  He leads with a tapped Stomping Ground, so I don’t put him on Scapeshift right away, considering it could be the mirror or Rubin zoo. Since i have a ton of fetches in my hand, I play a Jotun Grunt.  His next play is a Steve (Sakura Tribe Elder).  I have the path to remove it and bash in.  He plays a Wood Elves and I show him Slaughter Pact to remove it. I pay the upkeep and remember the Grunt’s upkeep and get him really low on life.  On his turn he is only able to get to 6 land.  That’s not enough and the burn in my hand finishes it the next turn.
Against Scapeshift, I board out the Paths and Slaughter Pacts. Although they were stellar in that last game, they are dead far more often.   I bring Angel’s Grace x2 and the Thoughtseizes.  I actually don’t bring in the third Teeg here, because Scapeshift is going to be boarding in 3-4 Firespout.  Combine that with the Into the Roils they already have and the Magma Jets some lists run, and Teeg is basically a bear. A legendary bear no less. I think wizards should totally print the following:

King Bear – 1G
Legendary Creature – Bear
2/2
(Flavor text: And they all bowed to the king and said “rawr!”)

I’d run it.

Anyways, for game 2, I’m just a turn behind killing him, although I get him to single digit life, it’s not enough and he has Scapeshift for the win at just the right time.

For game 3 I get to play, and once again I am applying pressure, but all I am able to stick is a Wild Nacatl and a Kird Ape. I get in for increments of 5, but on the critical turn he is at 8. He gets up to 7 land and flashes me Scapeshift.  I tell him to go through the motions and he does, pointing 18 points at my head with me at 13.

I show him Angel’s Grace.  Then the Lightning Helix in my hand, then I swing for lethal.

Still had all THEEESE Angels Graces!
RECORD 4-1

ROUND 6 – Dean Jones - Dredge

He wins the roll and leads off with a turn 1 Hedron Crab.  That seems questionable, since I could just Bolt it, which I did.  He played Magus of the Bazaar second turn, to which I couldn’t answer.  He used the Magus on his upkeep, went nuts, comboed out and landed two Bridge from Below in his graveyard and Dread Returned a Sphinx of Lost Truths.  Next turn he finds and Dread Returns his Flame Kin Zealot and has enough zombies to kill me.

I didn’t board the same way this time, the Pacts go out, but I want to keep a couple of Paths in since he is playing Hedron Crabs turn 1 and has Magus, so I would do well to have as many outs as possible against those starts.

For game 2, I have no answer to his turn 1 Hedron Crab, but I do have a Jotun Grunt and Gaddock Teeg. The two cards provide a reasonable clock and keep him light on action.  Since he can’t Dread Return anything, he can only throw guys in front of me.  Not good enough, as I eventually just bash through him.

For the deciding game, I once again have no burn, but I do have x2 Steppe Lynx and Teeg.  I land Teeg and keep him off Dread Return, but I can’t deal with his double Crab, double fetch draw.  He hits 3 Bridges, dumps his deck into his graveyard and it’s just a matter of time before he finds an answer to Teeg.  That is, until I rip a timely Relic of Progenitus and destroy his graveyard.  He still have the Crabs in play though, and was starting to get back into it.  I dumped Kird Apes, a Tarmogoyf and a Nacatl on the board, but suddenly he was a turn off from being able to actually race me with Bloodghasts and other goodies.  I topdeck the fetch land I need to hit land #4.  I get him for two with an unblocked Kird Ape and double Tribal Flames him for exactsies.

After the match he tells me he played the Magus version of Dredge because he couldn’t find Glimpses.  Also, he had no outs to Teeg except double Darkblast or Boomerang.
RECORD 5-1

At this point, standings are posted and it looks like I have decent tiebreakers and should be able to draw into top 8 with a win.

ROUND 7 – Gavin Kwok - Scapeshift

I have no idea what he’s playing, but I win the roll and figure out immediately what he’s on when he plays a shockland untapped and suspends Search for Tomorrow.  I have turn one Lynx, turn 2 Goyf.  On his turn two he plays an Elder. I untap and Path it.  Since I have Tarmogoyf in play, he elects to let the path resolve, so it doesn’t grow bigger. I still get in for 6.  I’m still a turn ahead in the race and when he is at 6 land, he surveys the board, Ponders, shuffles, draws, surveys some more, and scoops.
I sideboard same as before.

For Game 2, Gavin mulligans his opener.  I looked at a hand of Plains, 4 Fetchlands, Grunt and Tribal Flames.  No sir.  I toss mine away as well.  We each keep on 6.  He leads with an untapped Breeding Pool, casts Ponder and shuffles.

I start with a Lynx.  He draws his card and passes.  No land drop.

Waaaaah!?

I play another Lynx with a fetch and attack him to 14.  Gavin misses a second land drop. I get him for 8, but don’t have quite enough burn to finish him.  It doesn’t matter as he never gets land #2 and concedes.
RECORD 6-1

Once again, a look at the standings shows my breakers to most likely be good enough.  I’m in 6th place at this point and my breakers are at 61%.  Some of the other X-1s and X-1-1s have 55% or lower, so I’m likely safe with a draw.

ROUND 8 – Jesse Hampton – Mono Red Burn

ID.  My breakers are most likely good enough, but I’m not 100% sure, there’s a small chance I end up in 9th, but I’ll take it.  Even though it looks safe for me, I’m still nervous since having to wait an hour for the final standings is torture.
RECORD 6-1-1

The standings go up, and I’m in 7th with 5% breakers ahead of the 8th place guy, so I was fine.

Top 8 was as follows:

  1. Vince Tingey – All in Red
  2. Mike Thompson – Bant
  3. Martin Goldman-Kirst – u/w control
  4. Doogle – Scapeshift
  5. Steven Birklid – All in thopter-sword
  6. Jesse Hampton – Mono Red Burn
  7. Me – One drop zoo
  8. Franklin Dean – Tezzerator

Quite a strong top 8!

QUARTERFINALS - Mike Thompson – Bant

I didn’t test this matchup at all, so I assumed it was miserable for me since  I thought he had Jitte, Finks and Baneslayer Angel.  I felt like I was an underdog going into this matchup.  I do want to say, that although I seem to lack confidence at times, when I feel like I’m Rocky, with my back against the wall, I play tighter, better Magic.

I win the roll and open with a Steppe Lynx.  Mike plays a plains and passes.  I have a fetch and attack but he has Path to Exile.   He plays a Meddling Mage on his turn naming Lightning Bolt.  I have Lightning Helix in my hand, so on my turn I play a freshly drawn Wild Nacatl and Lightning Helix the Mage.  At this point, he is far behind since the Path accelerated me, he has a War Monk at some point, but I had a Jotun Grunt and a Slaughter Pact.  When I remembered to pay the upkeep of both, the game was over.
For sideboarding, I took out the Teegs, a Slaughter Pact and a Kird Ape for four Deathmarks.

He starts off on the play with a white source and a Burrenton Forge Tender. My first play is a Steppe Lynx.  He plays an untapped Hallowed Fountain on his turn and tanks for a moment.  He had both Meddling Mage and Jitte in his hand, but eventually just played Meddling Mage, this time he named Wild Nacatl. He attacked me with the Forge Tender for 1, obviously, I took it.

I actually forgot what I played here, I think it was a Goyf though.  At about this point, I attacked him after playing my land and he didn’t block. I forgot to crack my fetchland and he took 2 less as a result.  That kids, is a P-U-N-T.  On well, Soldier on.  For his turn, Mike played a Treetop Village and the Jitte he was holding.  I had a Lightning Helix for the mage, and I played the Nacatl I was holding.  Eventually we wound up in a standoff when he played double Goyf (instant, creature and land in the yard) to my one, Lynx and Nacatl.  I ripped a timely Jotun Grunt and suddenly things aren’t looking so good for Mike, since the Goyfs are about to get smaller.

He suits up the Jitte on a Goyf and attacked.  I double block with both a Nacatl and my Goyf.  His guy dies, then he removes a counter with the Jitte and kills off my Goyf.  This still winds up being a very poor exchange for him, since I shrink his remaining Goyf down to 2/3, and swing with everybody after playing a land.  I had a fetch land untapped the whole time as well, so the Jitte couldn’t kill the Lynx.  He has to make some bad blocks to survive, he uses the last Jitte counter to go up to 9, he takes 7 from the Grunt and Nacatl and drops to two, but he can’t do anything after that as he is at two and I have an army in play.
RECORD 7-1-1

It turns out that he had no Finks or Baneslayer in his deck, so the matchup is actually quite good for me.  I found out after he left, that it was also his birthday.  I guess that makes me a douche. =/

In the other end of our top 8 bracket, Martin Goldman-Kirst lost to Jesse Hampton, despite being a heavy favorite (Martin has Finks and Pulse of the Fields main, and COP Red in the board). I’m happy for that, since I was a dog to Martin as well.

SEMIFINALS – Jesse Hampton – Mono Red Burn

I lost the roll, rolling snake eyes no less.  We both keep and I’m a turn behind being able to kill him.  I threaten lethal at 9 life.  He plays Flames of the Blood Hand on my end step, then untaps and shows me Shrapnel Blast with a Blinkmoth Nexus already in play.

I sideboard the same as I did against Tyrell, out go the Slaughter Pacts and in go two Angel’s Graces.

Game 2, I’m conservative with my lands, and I have a Jotun Grunt, which stymies some of his Hellsparks.  I’m still a turn ahead of him though and he has to kill me while I’m at 11.  He isn’t able to and we move on to the decider.

Once again we both keep, and both come out guns blazing. He has Rift Bolt and I have a double Lynx draw.  He plays a Marauder to stabilize, I had Lightning Helix to remove it. I also play a Kird Ape.  On the critical turn I have the Lynx, plus a Nacatl. And he’s at 5.  He slaps the top of his deck and top decks the land he needs, he Incinerates me, then plays Flames of the Blood Hand for game…

Except I had Angel’s Grace.  The people watching the match look on in shock.  Jesse didn’t seem quite so shocked.  He asks in a deadpan voice, “Can you kill me?”  I show him the Blood Crypt I’m holding, point to the Nacatls and that’s that!
RECORD 8-1-1

For the other semifinals, Doogle is playing Vince.  Doogs manages to punt away game 3, by trying to counter a Deus with a Condescend for 1, when Vince was tapped out.

There was a Chalice for 2 in play, so the Condescend was countered.  Doogle had another untapped land, and could have Condescended for 2.  The Deus sticks and goes the distance.

FINALS – Vince Tingey – All In Red

I win the dice roll and lead off with a Lynx.   The silence in the room and the intensity in the air are palpable.  You could seriously hear a pin drop.  I wanted to win this so bad.  I’m sick and tired of all the top8s I’ve had and yet I still have never played on the Pro Tour, a fact that continues to motivate me to stay on top of my game.

For my opponent’s turn he leads off with, Rite of Flame, Desperate Ritual, Seething Song, Simian Spirit Guide, Deus of Calamity.

Frown town.

I do have Lightning Bolt in hand along with a Tribal Flames, so my plan is to just burn it out.  I instead play a Teeg on my turn and ship it.  He attacks with the Deus and the Lynx jumps in the way.  I eat five trample damage and because I fetched for two untapped lands, I’m now at 9.  He plays a land and passes.  On my turn, I draw Path to Exile.

How lucky!

I path the Deus, get in for two and play a Marsh Flats, but don’t crack it right away.  He plays land #3 on his turn and has Magus of the Moon.  I bolt that, then go fetch a Hallowed Fountain.  I attack with Teeg again and have x2 Tribal Flames in hand.  I sit there for a second and think.  He’s only at 16, should I point a Flames at his head or not?  I decided there’s no reason to yet, and just ship the turn.

It’s a good thing I did, because he has Seething Song and another Deus.  I draw another land on my turn and I say out loud,

“Well, it’s either do this, or lose the game.”

I point 10 points of Tribal Flames at the Deus.  That hurt.  I drop him to 14 and pass.  On his turn, he has Magus of the Moon and plays it.  I draw another land, but can’t do squat.  He doesn’t want to attack either, so a standoff ensues.

Until I rip a Lightning Bolt and get in for more damage.  But I still had all these lands. :(    He then finds Blood Moon.  I attack him to 10, now locked out of playing anything relevant.  Vince draws a Chalice and passes.  He then hits 3 straight blanks, I find Bolt #3 and burn him out.

For sideboarding, I don’t have a clue what to do, since I didn’t really test this matchup.  I board out Lightning Helixes for Deathmarks, and I think I took out Slaughter Pact, which was probably a mistake since it deals with Magus of the Moon.

In any case, in game 2 he plays and insta keeps.  I soon find out why; turn 1 Blood Moon.

This isn’t even a game.  I die to Demigod a few turns later.

Whilst shuffling up for game 3, we exchange our ritualistic small talk.  I ask the crowd where this Pro Tour is, because I don’t actually know.  I was told Puerto Rico.  Without missing a beat, Vince says “Don’t worry, I’ll send you a postcard.”

Burn.  Sick burn.  I had nothing.  No witty reply. =/

For game 3, my opener is something like a Grunts and 6 lands.  Terrible.  I have to mull, he snap keeps again.  My 6er is a Verdant Catacombs, 2 Scalding Tarn, a Thoughtseize, a Nacatl and a Tribal Flames.  Gotta keep.  I lead off with the Seize, after taking 5 damage.  I see the following hand:

x2 Mountain
x2 Simian Spirit Guide
Deus of Calamity
Magus of the Moon
Blood Moon

Ouch.  What do you take there? At this point, it should become painfully clear what the problem with my deck is: I have no basic Forest.  I had never tested against AIR, and in fact never considered it a real deck. If I had the Forest, well, it wouldn’t have mattered really, since I had the wrong fetches all around.  The best play here is to take the Blood Moon, and hope to topdeck an answer for the Magus in time to deal with the Deus.

Instead I took the Spirit Guide.  My reasoning, was I wanted a chance to topdeck another seize or a better fetch to find a forest, or at least a Goyf to offer a race.  In retrospect, I fully admit this was wrong.  He draws his card and just passes.

I draw a useless Tarn, and play it.  I summon Wild Nacatl and pass.

He removes the Spirit Guide and plays the Blood Moon.  I swing for two, draw a land.  He plays Magus of the Moon. Lovely.  I draw Gaddock Teeg, but can’t swing anymore since my lands have put me too low on life to race.  He swings with the Magus and I take it and pray for a topdeck.

Land of the nonbasic variety. No good.

He plays Demigod and swings with it and the Magus.  I throw the Nacatl in front of the Magus and drop to 7 or 9 or something.  Basically, to live I need to hit a plains or a path in this draw, then the other in the second.  That doesn’t happen and I’m now drawing dead.  I extend the hand.
RECORD 8-2-1  2nd place

I give him my address because I’m holding him to the postcard.

To make matters worse, our prize packs were awarded based on standings in the Swiss, so alls I got was 18 packs =/

Anyways, Zaiem Beg buys me dinner at an outstanding Thai restaurant David Derrickson recommended to us near the Seattle Center.  Daniel Duterte hooked G Pelly up with beer.  Thanks alot guys.

Not much more to say after that, but I’ve gone on long enough.  I just really want to win a PTQ and not get painfully close.  This is my 3rd finals appearance and my 3rd loss in the finals.  Rather than be frustrated, I’m driven because I know I’m good enough to get there, it’s just a matter of time.