It’s just slightly under one month since my horrendous crash out for Grand Prix Shanghai. My lack of preparation really showed as I failed to make Day 2 for the first time in four GP’s this year. I relied too much on theory and articles and put in minimal effort in practicing which is a big no no for a complex format such as KTK Limited. My early advice to whoever who intends to do well in this format is Practice!!!
Normally I would take my mandatory one week cooling off period after a GP but with my sights set on PTQ Fate Reforged in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, I went to work the very next day after returning from Shanghai. Three weeks later, I’m sitting in my hotel room in Bangkok doing a 8-4 draft the night before the PTQ. I had already 30+ drafts under my belt and wanted to notch one final practice before the big day. My under-powered Temur deck somehow made it to the finals before falling in a tight game 3 to a Mardu token deck that had FOUR trumpet blasts and a Sorin. GG.
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-Bangkok City-
It’s my third time in Bangkok and I usually go back to my usual favourite food haunts especially for the BEST Fried Chicken ever at Som Tam Nua @ Siam Center:
And a photo of the glamorous dish:
Thailand is also famous for its Thai Iced Tea or locally known as Cha-yen. This and my previous trips, I’ve tried a number of different places which offered the said iced tea but I discovered this gem during this trip:
This lovely couple runs the little tiny shack located by the River Kwai just opposite Platinum Mall. The shop sits only four (4!) and has a side window which serves a line of thirsty customers. Awesome indeed. And the simple iced coffee for only THB35 now ranks the top my best coffees in Bangkok.
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PTQ Day
The PTQ was located in an underground mall within Chatuchak MRT station. The venue was set up in the concourse area, which amazingly is surrounded by seven hobby shops – 4 MTG and 3 Vanguard!
I wasn’t the lone international traveller on this trip. My teammate Shawn Khoo, PT regulars Chapman Sim and Kelvin Chew as well as Mark Tan from Singapore also made the trip. Chapman was visibly jetlagged after just returning from the US. Kelvin was his usual calm and expressionless self, Mark was busy trading and selling while Shawn…. was Shawn, confident and ready to battle.
73 players in total, which is the smallest PTQ turnout I have played in ten years. But with Singaporeans in the mix, I still needed to bring my A-game. The sealed pool I registered wasn’t spectacular, but the pool I got back had the following rares:
Dig Through Time
Savage Knuckleblade
Jeering Instigator
Abzan Ascendancy
Dragon-Style Twins
Rattleclaw Mystic
I had decent tools for a consistent Temur deck, but in the end I registered the following greedy monstrosity:
(Basic Lands: 5 Forest, 4 Island, 1 Mountain, 1 Swamp)
Despite looking like a mix bag of goodies which hopes to luck out with the mana, but the deck cruised to 5-1 to finally lock in for top 8. I actually curved out Temur Charger into Savage Knuckleblade into Bellowing Saddlebrute in three of my games. I won’t go into details of my matches but will highlight several of key plays (both mine and Kelvin Chew).
Play 1:
My opponent had an Armament Corps with two +1/+1 counters on itself and a Jeskai Student. The two was holding off my morph (Wooly Loxodon) and a Bellowing Saddlebrute. My opponent attacked his Corps and instead of just sending my lone morph, I double blocked the Corps with both morph and Saddlebrute. My opponent couldn’t be quickly enough to fire a Smite the Monstrous to take down the 4/5. But my Loxodon flipped up to eat the Corps. My opponents eyes rolled back and lost his Corps. The Loxodon finished the game not too long later.
Play 2:
Kelvin (on Sultai) was on a ground stall with his opponents Mardu deck. Both players were under 10 life. His opponent then tapped his Jungle Hollow for green and reveal Abzan Ascendancy – a game breaker for the board stall. But Kelvin tapped six and revealed Kheru Spellsnatcher to “snatch” the Ascendancy and play it on his own turn and send his team in. His opponent didn’t expect is own game-breaker to actually break him.
Play 3:
Kelvin again, up 1-0 with time running out. Not only that, but his deck was running low on cards. The board was stalled with over fifteen non-land permanents in play but his opponent had just drawn a Zurgo Helmsmasher to break the stall and started smashing in. Kelvin looked at the clock and pondered his blocks. He sacrificed one of his team offered a token for the Zurgo. His library dwindled by another draw step and passed. Zurgo crashed in again and Kelvin checked the clock and pondered once more. His opponent was not winning by damage but Kelvin was VERY low on cards. He blocked again and his opponent passed. Kelvin drew a card and time was called. He had only two cards left in his library. His opponent had three attack steps, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to punch through. Another lamb was offered to Zurgo and Kelvin drew his card and passed. Zurgo once again attacked and Kelvin wisely blocked and passed. Kelvin drew his final card of his library and passed. His opponent attacked and ate another creature before passing. At that moment, he clapped his hands in excitement realizing that he had escape death as Kelvin was decked. But the table judge had pointed out to him that his turn was THE FINAL turn of the game and Kelvin didn’t have another draw step! So Kelvin had won the match 1-0 with zero cards in his library!
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Top 8
Kelvin and myself both had made top 8. I was seeded 3rd while Kelvin was seeded 6th and we should be facing each other in the quarters. But the Head Judge had done the draft seating randomly and we somehow ended up not being paired unless it was the finals.
After 30+ drafts it came down to this. My pack one was a Bloodstained Mire, a foil Meandering Towershell, Longshot Squad, Jungle Hollow, chaff, chaff, chaff….. So I unceremoniously had to first pick a Jungle Hollow. But my second pick I windmill slam a Craters Claw which left me pondering what the guy on my right took over the powerful fireball (which I never did find out).
Pack 1 picks:
Jungle Hollow, Crater’s Claw, Mardu Heart-Piercer, Winterflame, Misfire Weaver, Summit Prowler, Valley Dasher
With my colours locked into red and blue, I could go either Jeskai or Temur. But my pack 2 rare screamed at me – Hooded Hydra! I wanted to make sure I was playing my Hydra and started cutting off green to my right by taking a pair of Wooly Loxodons and a Temur Charger in succession.
Pack 2 picks:
Hooded Hydra, Wooly Loxodon, Wooly Loxodon, Temur Charger, Thornwood Falls, Valley Dasher, Arrow Storm.
My final pack gifted with a Ghostfire Blade and I rounded my deck with a few more morphs and two-drops to finish with a nice aggressive red-green deck splashing some blue removal.
(Basic Lands: 8 Mountain, 5 Forest, 3 Island)
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-The games-
My quarterfinal match ended in 10 minutes as my deck curved out and opponent stumbled with his lands. Craters claw did the rest.
For the crucial semi finals match, I was on the draw this time and had to mulligan to five. I never recovered against my opponents aggressive Mardu draw. For second game it was my turn to go on the offensive as I went Valley Dasher, morph into Summit Prowler. A Force Away took care of a blocker and the team crashed. A ferocious Barrage of Boulders later ended the match and we were off to the decider.
My opponent kept his seven but I mulligan into a hand that had no mountains. The mountain came on my third turn, but missed my opportunity I was off my curve not being able to play my War Named Aspirant on turn 2. My opponent went on the offensive with a Mardu Roughrider. Briber’s Purse made things complicated for me as well. But a timely block with my unmorphed Hooded Hydra took all his winning math away. It was my turn to crash in and revealed a Snowhorn Rider, eating a huge chunk of his life away. A Barrage of Boulders in hand threatened to end the match the following turn. But my opponent ripped Sorin, the Solemn Visitor and my dejavu of the previous nights draft came to mind. The planeswalker upped his loyalty and he commanded his team to attack, gaining 19 life putting him out of reach. He also left back enough to defend Sorin. I had one final chance to seize control of the game. I only needed to draw a 7th land to cast my Boulder and attack to take down the Sorin and cast a post combat Heart-Piercer to take out his last significant threat – an Unyielding Kumar.
But I didn’t draw that crucial land and was forced to Boulder anyway to kill the Sorin. The Kumar then held ground and he slowly rebuilt his board with several outlast creatures. Every turn passed and I could feel the game slipping further away and finally he went for the kill, revealing Master of Pearls to decimate my entire board.
With that, the run was over. Kelvin had also lost in the semi finals and both of us dragged our feet out the venue, feeling disappointed coming this close. Chapman later on told us that our decks weren’t the best in pod and in fact my opponent had both Sorin and Sarkhan in his already broken deck while Kelvin’s opponent had FOUR Abzan Guides and a slew of quality removal spells.
Kelvin will be back for the next PTQ @ Sparta and so will I. See you then!!
PM
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