Zvis PTNY Report Part 2 (*12th Place*)

**[Missed part 1? [Click here!](http://magic.mindripper.com/Index.cfm?ArticleID=371&SectionID=3&Show=All)]

Round 8: Jeremy Brower

I had a talk with Justin Gary before the second day began breaking down the field. Day two was over half Rebel decks, and the only other deck that showed up in numbers was Rising Waters. This is where we came up with "Forests, Mountains and Swamps" as what we wanted to see; he was also playing Waters. So it was no surprise when Brower came out with Rebels. The match basically went according to plan, and I locked him down without taking too much game one. Game two I think I took a ton of damage from a Steadfast Guard while taking control, but the game was basically in hand the whole time unless something went seriously wrong.

5-3

Round 9 (Feature Match): Alan Comer

I knew there were multiple teammates in my bracket but I was hoping this wouldn't happen. Comer has a long history with prison decks, but what happened game one was pretty simple. He got the better draw, took control and won the game. There was nothing I could do. Game two I took out the Waters but not the Eyes, and Comer kept in three Waters. His plan was to use his experience to outplay me under Rising Waters, plus he would have the advantage that he knew to fight for Eyes and he would know when Waters was coming. If I sideboarded out the Eyes I would be toast. Instead, I had the best answer for that strategy, keeping the Eyes in but taking out Waters. I got the early lead, and put Comer under pressure. He fought a counter war over an Eye of Ramos early on, so I started to suspect he might have Waters but there wasn't much I could do about it. He managed to get Eye advantage, although I tried to fight for mine. He also got his Rath's Edge out first; if I'd played mine first I could have killed him with it. He managed to take control away, which normally requires a Seal of Removal to get around. Then he finally got the Waters. I had one chance: I was mostly untapped and he wasn't, although he had more Eyes. I recast what I could, finally having drawn Zeppelins for decent pressure, so I'd have as much time as possible to topdeck the Seal. On the last turn I could, I drew it, and I thought Comer's not putting me under maximum pressure might have let me steal the game. He was at five, and I Sealed his Bouncer and dropped two Zeppelins and a Drake Hatchling. That was it, though. My mana was gone and he would retake the board soon. He drew a Seal as well, letting him take back the board just in time for the win.

6-3

Round 10: Kevin Davis

He plays an Island and once again I'm in the mirror matchup. I could live with that as long it's not the pure mirror, since I understood the matchup and my sideboard was pretty good if not quite perfect here. He got off to a quick start and got Eye advantage and Waters came out, and he got me down to five. I had one chance. I brought out the Bouncers and a Barrier with Seal of Removal and tried to kill him before he could retake the board, getting maximum pressure. The Barrier forced him to use Drake Hatchling as the creature for me to bounce. I kept bouncing it and doing one point at a time. Finally, he got a Seal of Removal and bounced the Barrier. I didn't have the mana to recast it and keep it on the table. Now he started casting multiple Bouncers each turn and I started running out of both cards and mana. I managed to do the last point of damage with no cards in hand. Game two the Waters came out of both decks and we settled into the creature battle. I don't remember the details on this one, but I managed to win it at low life.

7-3

Round 11 (Feature Match): Gary Krakower

There were six Mogg Squad members featured this round; that's got to be some kind of record. Krakower played a different version of the deck from the rest of us, although it was still based on the same principles to a large extent. He had no Daze or Brainstorm, substituting Accumulated Knowledge. I got to Daze twice early, including the second Accumulated Knowledge. Knowing he had no Dazes in his deck turned out to be huge. I tapped out with reckless abandon to get board advantage, and dropped Rising Waters. Without a Bouncer, of which he only started three (!) he had to use Drake Hatchling as the creature to constantly recast, and that let me get mana advantage with the Bouncer and kill him before he could retake the board. Game two he got two Barriers but couldn't get a third to actually mow down the flyers, and I cleared out all Gary's flyers and went around the Barriers for the kill.

8-3

Round 12: William Jensen

Jensen was playing aggressive rebels. He came out fast game one. The crucial turn was when he Rallied to kill my Drake, I countered, but he had the second Rally. That was game. I sideboarded into the aggressive version of the deck because that had worked on Jensen before and I was told he had a horrible sideboard for us and would have to leave his removal in, but Jensen's board was great: Two Sky Marshals, in there for black. In addition, he had Story Circle (amazing when I don't use Waters) and took out ALL his Seals and Disenchants. I put up a valiant effort but it wasn't happening, and my top eight dreams were at an end. All I could hope for was two more wins to get a top sixteen. Suddenly I just wanted it all to be over. Winning lets you temporarily not care that the format is horrible, but the moment you lose that spell fades away.

8-4

Round 13: Chi Jin Guo

I'd heard Krakower complain about losing to Cowardice because his last card was the Thwart he needed after he used Accumulated Knowledge to draw every other card in his deck. So when Guo sat down with a pad that said 'Gary Krakower' on top of it, I knew what he was playing. I mulliganed and ended up with a Barrier and a Drake. I got out the pressure while he searched for Cowardice. I tried to keep Porting him (I had three) so he couldn't cast it if he had it while my Drake and Barrier won the game. He got enough land and cast it. I Countered, he had to Thwart. The key was that he didn't have Tower of the Magistrate, so he needed Jolting Merfolk to bounce creatures. I kept him under the Ports to stall the Merfolk. He finally got the mana, and had to Thwart again! So I recast the Drake, and he couldn't get the Merfolk back out again in time to stop it. Whew! I put in Misdirection and Hoodwink, and switched the Barriers to more powerful Zeppelins and put in Rath's Edge which he got first anyway the time I drew it. Game two he comes out with large pirates, and my draw can't deal with them. Seahunter finally gets me in an unwinnable position. Game three I resideboard to deal with the creature threat as well. I put out a Drake, then another. He gets two Jolting Merfolk, but not much else. I let him have them so I can keep my hand full of counters. The Merfolk run out, and I win the counter war with Counterspell, Thwart and Misdirection for the win.

9-3

Round 14: Olivier Ruel

This is it, the big two thousand dollar ante match. I got paired down, and had to face Ruel. Unlike me, he was both unqualified and needed the draw or win to make top 32, so he asked for a draw. That makes no sense for someone on the train and playing for the top 16, so I explained how the money worked out and declined. He took a while then to get to the table, and I saw he was in a conference with a few other players. I assumed he was getting 'briefed' on my deck's sideboard, so I decided I would keep Waters game two regardless of what happened if he was playing rebels. Then he comes up to the table and asks if he can pull me aside for a word. He tells me:

"You want the money. I want the slot. If you throw the match, I'll give you the difference in prize money."

Of course I said no, and we sat down to play. I said "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to cheat." Then a judge asked to see me. He said there were two witnesses to our conversation and asked what happened. I'm required to tell them (in fact, as I realized later, I should have told them without being prompted) so I told them what happened. There was a judges' conference on what to do. While they're discussing that, two crew members with tough guy Brooklyn type accents talk to me and tell me 'I did the right thing.' I feel like a government informant. The whole thing is surreal. About a quarter of the way through the round, they say to go ahead and play, and any penalties will be applied before the match. So we play. He comes out first turn Sergeant, and has the draw he needs to break through for game one. Game two I shuffle in the fifteen cards and pull most of them out again, and draw a hand full of counters and lands. If he doesn't have the first turn Sergeant I've got him, otherwise I need to topdeck. He's got it. I get Rising Waters off a Gush, but I never see a creature. He never casts another spell, and I die to a rebel army. After making sure the penalties will still be applied first I sign the result slip. We shake, I congratulate him and all that. He asks what I told the judges and I tell him.

And we wait. And wait. About an hour. I'm 28th in the standings if the result stands. Finally, I get the word. He was DQed without prizes. I got the win and finished 12th.

Teammate Sigurd Eskeland goes on to win the whole PT. Go team!

Coming up soon: The rest on Replenish, and the secrets of Mogg Squad playtesting and backup decks.

Zvi Mowshowitz

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