Format: Modern
Location: Retfala, Osijek
Date: 24.01.2015
Judges: Matija Vlahovic (L2, Head Judge), Riccardo Mangano (L1), Filip Mrso (L1)

With the new changes to the qualification process for the pro tour, the first season of a new type of tournament, the preliminary pro tour qualifier, is underway. As this was only the second PPTQ held in Croatia, it was all still very new for players and judges alike, a big change from the big PTQ’s of the past, it seems to me that PPTQ’s are proving to be much smaller events. Still, not knowing exactly what to expect, we were quite prepared with 3 judges on staff. In the end, a lot of players who were planning to attend cancelled at the last second, mostly because of the weather, and we ended up with 10 players attending. Still, as I needed to judge the event (and had undergone quite a trip to do so) to work towards my L2 requirements, and as Filip and Matija had each won a PPTQ the previous weekend, we decided to go on with 3 judges, joking that we had better staff conditions than the world championship.

The PPTQ tournament structure was not the only thing that was new, with the modern format shaken up in an exciting way by both the new set, Fate Reforged, and, much more relevantly, the update to the banned list, which saw Birthing Pod, Treasure Cruise and Dig through Time join the likes of Skullclamp and Deathrite Shaman, while Golgari Grave-Troll became the fourth card to leave the list since the format’s inception (after Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl). It could easily be said that we had a whole new modern format. All the players adapted to it, and we had no problems with people still having banned cards in their decks. Still, some players were forced to undergo last-minute deck changes, and we had cases of players asking to check their decklist between rounds to make sure they de-sideboarded correctly – an experience much more typical of limited events. Somewhat unexciting, there were no Golgari Grave-Trolls and no Fate Reforged cards played.

The tournament begun at 11:30, as was arranged in advance, because the originally announced start time of 11:00 would have meant that me and one of the players, coming with the first morning train from Zagreb, would have been unable to attend. The tournament was held in Osijek (as opposed to nearby Vinkovci) to make plans easier for players wishing to attend both PPTQ’s that weekend, with another one being held in Osijek the next day. Our train arrived on time to the Osijek railway station, where we were picked up by one of the local players and the tournament was underway as soon as we arrived. The tournament area had been set up to hold a number of players quite larger than the 10 that attended, which created a somewhat atypical atmosphere. Also set up there was a tribute to our fellow player and judge Tomislav Trnski, who passed away earlier this year. Being from a different part of the country, I didn’t know him well, but I knew of his great role in the community and I could feel how much he would be missed by everyone there.

The tournament lasted 5 rounds, with top 4 playoffs. We got to work counting the decklists as soon as I arrived, and we noticed 2 mistakes. One was a case of a 55 card decklist, while the other one had 60 cards, with “61 cards” written underneath. I might not even have noticed that one, but Filip and Matija knew that the player always played 61 cards, and in fact immediately knew that the missing card was a Lightning Helix that they had seen him add to the deck prior to the tournament. We had a brief discussion on what to do in such situations, and after checking the IPG concluded that in both cases we would update the decklists to reflect the actual content of the decks. The topic of adding basic lands came up, but that is not done in situations like those two: basic lands are added to a deck (and decklist) only in the case that, after removing all nonlegal cards, the deck does not contain the minimum required number of cards (60 for constructed, 40 for limited). Since there were so few decklists, we were able to notice those mistakes before the players had begun with the first round, so we corrected them before they could have any impact. We had deckchecks in rounds 1, 2 and 4, and found no problems during those.

There were two interesting situations during the tournament.

During one, we were called over while players were resolving a Vendilion Clique trigger (the Clique had been killed with an Electrolyze in response). The question that we were asked was “Does he get to see the card that I draw?” Thinking that the players were talking about the card drawn by the Clique’s effect, we said no. The Clique’s controller chose a card for his opponent to put on the bottom of his library, and then the opponent drew 2 cards.

We stopped them and inquired about the second card drawn, and then realized that the original question was regarding the card drawn with the Electrolyze. We had the players back up the situation, and repeat the choice for the Clique’s effect with the card drawn by electrolyze now revealed.

The other situation involved a complicated stack, which went like this: first, NAP cast Lightning Bolt targeting AP’s 2/2 Inkmoth Nexus (1 exalted trigger had resolved). AP responded by casting Mutagenic Growth on the 2/2, NAP responded by targeting the Mutagenic Growth with his Spellskite and AP responded by casting Dismember on the Spellskite. At this point, NAP called us over asking “what will happen now?”

We explained how the items on the stack would resolve with no further additions to it (with the Dismember killing the Spellskite, the Spellskite being unable to redirect the Mutagenic, and the Mutagenic making the Nexus 4/4 before the bolt resolved). The players then didn’t have any responses to any of the spells and abilities, and the stack resolved that way.

It is relevant to point out that NAP didn’t ask anything except what would happen if they both did nothing else, as he had the option of responding to the Dismember by targeting the Mutagenic Growth with the Spellskite once more. This wouldn’t have saved the Spellskite, as it would already be dead before getting the +2/+2, but it would prevent the Nexus from surviving the Bolt, as the Mutagenic would have already changed targets, only to later be countered by having no legal targets. It is important during competitive events to correctly identify what information we give and what information we withhold when answering judge calls, and to remember that a relaxed atmosphere does not make the event’s REL any less competitive.

We ordered food and had a lunch break after round 4, with one order somehow getting lost so in the end everyone shared some of their food with Matija. An unintentional draw during round 1 complicated the standings a bit, and the calculations on who could ID in the last round lasted during all of the lunch break and more, before the players on table 1 in round 5 correctly identified that they could draw into top4. The top 4 decks proved how much the format had been shaken up, with Monogreen infect, Faeries and two different Zoo decks (one Tribal, one Naya) making the top 4, with Naya Zoo taking the title in the end. The modified play-draw rule, stating that the player with the better position in the Swiss gets to chose whether to play or draw first, was used, as is now the norm in all competitive events. With that many aggro decks, the top 4 didn’t last long, and the day concluded with a draft side event, after which everyone went home, mostly ready for another PPTQ the next day.

In conclusion, the event ran as smoothly as one could reasonably expect. It showcased a lot of new and exciting changes, both with the tournament structure and the format, and has provided us with a good idea of what to expect in the future. It is unfortunate that so many players that planned to come were unable to attend, but at least there was a second PPTQ the next day, and as I understand more people attended that event. Overall, having 3 judges at a 10 player event has been a very unusual experience, one that I don’t know if I will ever have again. Most of all, I will cherish the experience of going to a more distant part of Croatia and seeing the players and judges that I rarely see (and when I do, it is usually during large events) in a much more different atmosphere, that of a small, local event, even given the tournament’s competitive status.

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