Pro Tour: Valencia Stuff

[WiLdFiRe]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/426a


Day 1 of the PT is cancelled. The venue is flooded. We do not know whether we will be able to continue on Saturday. If you have friends in Valencia and can contact them, tell them to NOT go to the venue on Friday and to check the website for updates.

Forecast for Saturday is heavy rain also.

This is a disaster for the players and for Wizards in particular - this affects a lot of stuff, it'll effect PotY, extended testing, qualifications for the next PT etc.

[Ridiculous Hat]

It is a big logistical mess, but I don't see how this will affect everything else. They just compress the tournament a little and run the t8 on the same day as day 2.

[Barook]

That's the Wrath of God for not including Lorwyn into the format. :tongue:

Seriously, they should have postponed the PT until Lorwyn becomes legal. The way things are now, this PT is stupid.

[Whit3 Ghost]

http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/ptval07/welcome

"Two players have been disqualified from Pro Tour–Valencia today. Rookie of the Year Sebastian Thaler and his countryman Klaus Jöns were both disqualified as a result of an incident in their match against each other."

They had agreed to a prize split.

'Merged with other GP: Valencia thread. - Bardo

[Illissius]

"Both splits and concessions are legal, but together, they are venom."

Which makes sense -- the combination effectively says, "I'll give you half my winnings if you concede to me", which is clearly bribery.

[Silverdragon]

Which makes sense -- the combination effectively says, "I'll give you half my winnings if you concede to me", which is clearly bribery.

Sad but true.
I'm just hoping that they won't be suspended because they are both nice guys.

Another thing that surprised me was the feature match of Stephen Menendian. I totally expected him to bring Dredge as he's done so much work with the deck in Vintage, finding ways to defeat Leyline etc.
Maybe he was just too excited about being able to put a 4 in front of Mind's Desire on his decklist :)
Too bad he didn't win a match after round 4.

[Nihil Credo]

If you've come with Leylines, Pyroclasm (javascript:autoCardWindow('Pyroclasm'))s, and Ancient Grudge (javascript:autoCardWindow('Ancient_Grudge'))s for against Dredge, Goblins, and Affinity, then what exactly do you sideboard in against Guillaume Wafo-Tapa's Heartbeat of Spring (javascript:autoCardWindow('Heartbeat_of_Spring')) deck, or a Balancing Tings deck... 4x Hope, 3x Pray?

I laughed out loud at this one. "I side in 4x Hope, 3x Pray" simply must become MtG slang on par with "I take a trip to Paris".

[Ebinsugewa]

It was quite a bummer for me to wake up and find the event hall closed, and I was worried that the whole trip was a loss, but everything has gone smoothly so far. My Spanish is rapidly improving again since I left high school, and la Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias (the venue) is actually a sweet museum and aquarium/IMAX theater/other stuff complex. Valencia is a very nice city and our hotel is baller. Saying that having this Pro Tour without Lorwyn is somehow stale is just wrong. This is the most open and subsequently available for innovation Extended has been in a long time. It's actually an analog to Legacy. People were being lax about hate, and all of the sudden Affinity and Goblins happen again. Breakfast shows up and dominates, and we're left with a very Legacy-like format. It will be interesting to see what happens with Lorwyn only because we have Valencia as a benchmark.

[Whit3 Ghost]

http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/ptval07/top8decklist
Top8 Decklists are up.

[Silverdragon]

I laughed out loud at this one. "I side in 4x Hope, 3x Pray" simply must become MtG slang on par with "I take a trip to Paris".

The moment I saw this I was thinking "omg they really need to do a card with that name (Hope and Pray) so you can actually board it in".

[TeenieBopper]

There's an Enduring Ideal deck in the top 8.

That's probably the sexiest thing I've ever seen.

[kirdape3]

Ideal was/is the best combo deck by a ton. You don't have to have a critical mass of things going on like you do in TEPS; you just hit 7, have an Ideal, and win. Failing that, you Draco/Explosion them because they're liable to have taken four points of damage somewhere. BOOM!

Steve didn't test for the PT at all; he's far more concerned with the Invitational. He's done so much more work with Storm combo than he has with Dredge that TEPS was the first choice, plus that's what Tom and Adam Yurchick et al were playing.

[Shriekmaw]

There's an Enduring Ideal deck in the top 8.

That's probably the sexiest thing I've ever seen.


Mike, didn't you play that deck a few times back in standard when it was legal?

The two decks that interest me the most was the enduring ideal deck and of course tarmogoyf/top.

Oh yeah, Affinity made top 8 also, just for the record. :)

[Silverdragon]

Ideal was/is the best combo deck by a ton. You don't have to have a critical mass of things going on like you do in TEPS; you just hit 7, have an Ideal, and win. Failing that, you Draco/Explosion them because they're liable to have taken four points of damage somewhere. BOOM!

Just wanted to point out that André's version does not have the Draco minicombo because Tops are better according to him.

Steve didn't test for the PT at all; he's far more concerned with the Invitational. He's done so much more work with Storm combo than he has with Dredge that TEPS was the first choice, plus that's what Tom and Adam Yurchick et al were playing.

You're right I forgot about all the tournaments Steve played with Grim/Pitch Long and I also forgot about the Tendrils kill with all his Giftsdecks.

[kabal]

Looks like Tarmobalance won it all (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/ptval07/standfin).

EDIT: The winning List (http://www.wizards.com/magic/samplehand.asp?x=mtgevent/ptval07/top8decklist&decknum=4)

[Peter_Rotten]

Looks like Tarmobalance won it all (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/ptval07/standfin).

Ha. "Threshold" is good in that format too.

[Whit3 Ghost]

Where do you get the magic card backed sleeves?

Those are sweet.

[Mijorre]

Most stores arond here carry them. Ask your local dealer for your fix?

[Fons]

abugames.com sells them, I almost ordered them yesterday.

[etrigan]

Ha. "Threshold" is good in that format too.

Check out the maindeck Threads of Disloyalty. What a metagame choice.

[calosso]

Check out the maindeck Threads of Disloyalty. What a metagame choice.

The deck has been like that for weeks on magic online. He probably didn't even choose it as a metagame choice. The deck is card for card as the MTGO list.

[Ebinsugewa]

Venser is also on Wizards sleeves too, but they were 10 Euro, so I said fuck that. I'll find them online or through Andy. I was watching the finals next door on the projector, what an interesting match. I thought it was funny when the kid's hands started shaking cause he knew he had the goods. Everyone should experience the Pro Tour at least once, it rules. Three days straight of everything good about Magic. We can only hope for a Legacy PT someday. Think of the Mana Leak times three in an actual venue with infinite side events and even sicker prizes.

[kirdape3]

I've heard that those Upper Deck sleeves actually aren't very good.

[Ebinsugewa]

Is that who makes them? Probably not very good then, but Venser is the man, so I'm going to at least give them a shot.

PS - A word of caution to those of you who ever come to Spain. Don't ever expect anything to be open, ever. Because you won't ever be able to find something to eat after like 8 PM. Very strange. Going to see the sights tomorrow, and heading back to the States on Tuesday.

[Versus]

Ha. "Threshold" is good in that format too.

What format is this?!

edit: Oh, Extended. Reading FTW.

[Silverdragon]

I've heard that those Upper Deck sleeves actually aren't very good.

Bit off topic but I just had to confirm that those "official tournament sleeves" with a black back and the "Magic" logo are the worst sleeves ever. Seriously they just fall apart after 8 rounds of tournament play and I'm by no means a bad shuffler (I still use some sleeves I bought back in 2000).
Now to get back on topic André Müller should definitely get into more PT Top8's. He's just such an entertaining player.

[b4r0n]

Was there video coverage of the Top 8? Written coverage is nice and all, but it's even better to actually watch the matches play out.

[Nihil Credo]

Whee - an Italian in a PT Top 8! I wonder when was the last time that it happened. I think it was in Mirrodin Block Kobe.

Edit: Then again, the Enduring Ideal archetype was (to my knowledge) first seen in Italian PTQs, so I guess some semblance of a pro scene is starting to develop.

Edit2: Also, Tarmogoyf is in fucking Affinity. I feel like crying.

Edit3: Tenacious Tron is back!

[freakish777]

371 Folinus, Jeffrey [USA] 2

Ouch. I was kind of hoping Gekoraatal would do better. Anyone know what he was playing?

[Ebinsugewa]

371 Folinus, Jeffrey [USA] 2

Ouch. I was kind of hoping Gekoraatal would do better. Anyone know what he was playing?

I didn't even see him about or know he was there or else I would have checked. Other notables are Kenji and Evan Erwin not doing well.