On the night before the PTQ, I find out that Hans had decided to switch to playing Dark Depths, which naturally prevents me from borrowing his playset of the deck’s namesake. I piece together the Thopter control deck with which LSV recently 4-0′d a recent MTGO daily, mostly due to a lack of having any other options. While I don’t have as many reps in with the deck as I typically would like going into a tournament, I figure I’ve played it and similar decks in other formats enough to be able to do fine.

1  Academy Ruins
1  Ancient Den
1  Ghost Quarter
2  Hallowed Fountain
3  Island
3  Marsh Flats
2  Misty Rainforest
2  Mystic Gate
1  Plains
1  Scalding Tarn
1  Seat of the Synod
2  Snow-Covered Island
1  Snow-Covered Plains
1  Tolaria West
1  Watery Grave

2  Trinket Mage

3  Chrome Mox
2  Cryptic Command
1  Day of Judgment
2  Engineered Explosives
2  Gifts Ungiven
3  Mana Leak
1  Muddle the Mixture
3  Path to Exile
1  Pithing Needle
4  Spell Snare
2  Sword of the Meek
1  Tezzeret the Seeker
4  Thirst for Knowledge
3  Thopter Foundry
1  Tormod’s Crypt
1  Vedalken Shackles
1  Wrath of God

SB:
1  Chalice of the Void
3  Cranial Extraction
1  Engineered Explosives
3  Kitchen Finks
2  Negate
2  Pulse of the Fields
1  Tormod’s Crypt
2  Vendilion Clique

Given what happened last week, I am not happy to be facing Hypergenesis early in the tournament again for the second consecutive PTQ. I once again keep a hand that doesn’t stand a chance against it game one; he casts a turn two Hypergenesis as I feel stupid holding two Spell Snares while his two Angels of Despair blow up both of my lands. Game two is more of the same; despite boarding in a lot, I can’t find anything more than a Mana Leak to stop him. He plays around it by building up a storage land and puts two Sundering Titans into play. 0-1, 0-2.

For round two I sit across from a young lady playing Hive Mind; it turns out that this is her first tournament. When she tries to cast a Seething Song with two mana untapped, I cast Mana Leak on it; she responds with a Remand targeting my Mana Leak, which I Spell Snare. At this point she exclaims, “You’re just exploding all over my face!” There was a moment of silence among all those in earshot; one guy proves unable to contain his laughter, and I refrain from making a comment that would probably have gotten me ejected. I soon find Cryptic Command and Muddle the Mixture to stay safe, and then assemble the Thopter combo for the kill. A Vendilion Clique early in game two gets rid of her Hive Mind and kills her before she can find another. 1-1, 2-2.

I’m paired against the regionally-trendy new Martyr deck the following round. I make some silly mistakes in game two, but win anyway because it seems like my deck is just better at pretty much everything than his. 2-1, 4-2.

Next up is a midrange Zoo deck packing Punishing Fire and Reveillark. He wins game one as I draw far too many counters and not enough business, but getting the Thopter combo going and protecting it proves pretty easy in the following games. I don’t think I spend very much time in either postboard game below fifteen life. 3-1, 6-3.

I play the 75-card mirror in round five. I win a rather lengthy game one mostly on the back of patience; he would go for something, and I’d win the ensuing counter war, untap, and have a field day. Game two I keep an awkward six with a land and two Chrome Moxen for mana, with the third Chrome Mox on top of my library. I manage to actually get Thopter-Sword going, but he just has too much more business than me. I ship two one-landers to start game three, but it’s irrelevant as we start the game with only five minutes remaining in the round anyway. 3-1-1, 7-4-1.

Unfortunately, Carlos and I get paired in round six. This is doubly unfortunate as he’s playing the Scapeshift build with Tarmogoyf, Finks, and Jitte, which is reportedly a pretty miserable matchup. I get Thopter-Sword going somewhat early in game one, and thanks to it barely manage to stay stable above his active Umezawa’s Jitte. Unfortunately, I don’t manage to get above thirty-six life or find a Cryptic Command before he gets to eight lands and a Scapeshift. Game two goes pretty much the same way. I have an untapped Ghost Quarter that scares him into thinking I actually have an out to him going off for a while, but after going into the tank he decides to go for it anyway and I die. 3-2-1, 7-6-1, drop.

I hang out for a while, mostly conversing with Hans and several judges concerning various issues of judging principles and ethics. (Supposedly some of these are going to be discussed on JUDGE-L and/or amongst the L3s in the near future.) Joe Timson invites me to head over to his place along with Zach Gray, Lampert, Gleicher, and Marc Pozsgay to have dinner, watch the second half of the football game and draft.

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