Outside Information - PTQ Vegas

The last of this summers PTQ's on this side of the Mississippi have come to an end, and while none of us Q'd, we all came closer than we have in a long time. See, before this standard season, I was the last person to top 8 a PTQ in December of 2008 for sealed. Until three weeks ago when Charley made top 8 with Time Sieve, none of us had broken into another top 8, and were at the tail end of the standard season for 2010. That's over a year and a half. We had some major incentives to do well, and I know that they drove me to do better, and as a whole we all did. At the end of the day, we put three players into the top 16; Alex into the top 8 with Time Sieve, Matt Bartimus landed 13th with his own designed UW control (no elspeth/guideon/main DOJ/Baneslayers, so yes it was his own build) and I landed exactly on 16th playing RGU Destructive Force. Matt and I both went 6-2, and extending further down the bracket you had Charley and Seth who both finished at 5-3. Heres the list that I used:

Lands
5 [M11] Island
3 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
3 [WWK] Raging Ravine
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
5 [M11] Forest
4 [M11] Mountain
1 [M11] Rootbound Crag

Creatures
4 [M11] Inferno Titan

Spells
4 [M11] Mana Leak
4 [M10] Garruk Wildspeaker
4 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 [M11] Destructive Force
4 [M11] Cultivate
4 [M10] Rampant Growth
2 [M11] Chandra Nalaar
3 [ZEN] Into the Roil
3 [M10] Lightning Bolt

Sideboard
4 [ROE] Overgrown Battlement
3 [ROE] Pelakka Wurm
2 [M11] Flashfreeze
4 [ZEN] Goblin Ruinblaster
2 [M11] Pyroclasm

Remember how Strider posted his picks per color? I agree with most of them. Ya know what was scarily consistent? A ramp spell on turn 2 or 3, a Garruk after that, untap and cast destructive force, untap, play a land, drop an inferno titan on my opponent that had zero board, and usually only two or three cards in hand. The question I got asked all day long - ALL.DAY.LONG. - was "Is inferno titan really better than Primeval titan in this?" Answer? Yes. Inferno titan gives this build the reach it needs. Sure, primeval titan ramps hard, and lets your lands recover faster after a destructive force, but is it necessary? Think about it, when your opponent has between zero and one land, whats going to help more; hitting him for six, over four turns, while you ramp fast, or hitting him for 10+, and just killing him? Safe money on the 10+. If they have the one mana removal, green titan doesn't dodge it, but it might give them the time to find it. There are situations where green titan is better, and it is a situation called R/G Valakut ramp. Red titan also crushed more opponents with its E.T.B. Arc lightning, usually destroying mana dorks, fauna shamans, and planeswalkers alike. The rest of the deck is straightforward. You have ramp spells, planeswalkers, and utility cards. The two Chandra Nalar may seem odd, but they are a huge curveball most people scramble to deal with, since two turns after she drops, she clears their board and takes them to single digits by herself. Jace is self explanatory, as is Garruk. Into the roil was amazing all day. It bounced opposing planeswalkers after I cast a Destructive Force, stopped early fauna shamans from activating, bounced fast lotus cobra fed expensive spells, and often saved my own walkers and inferno titans from being sent into Oblivion. Lightning bolt was perfect as a three of as well, usually sniping walkers or mana guys, it showed up when I needed it, and I was never sad to see an extra one.
The board is fairly standard, and obvious switches should be seen. Pelakka Wurm usually comes in for Destructive Force, either pyroclasm or flashfreeze for Chandra, ramp walls for ramp spells, and ruinblaster against anything I can color or land screw. usally for an assortment of ramp spells, chandra, and a destructive force. Which ramp spell depended on if I was on the draw or play. The deck mulls well, and wants to mull into business hands. Round 1, game 1 I mulled to 5 against 4 color Shaman (hybrid of conscription package mythic and naya) and still handily won. In my first eight games, I mulled 4 times, half of them being R1G1, but it continued about the same for the rest of the day.
My losses were in round 2 against vengevine jund, and round 6 against a naya colored monument deck. vengevine jund killed me on turn 4 game one, and game two I thought I stabalized with an inferno titan clearing most of his board until he slave of bolased my titan and I conceded. Against the monument deck, It went to game three being very close, but he had a higher threat density than I did in game three, and I sided out destructive force for some reason, which I believe to be a mistake now. Overall, if there was another constructed PTQ in the season, I would take this deck as is and run with it, not making a single change. Congratulations to Alex, who lost to jund in the top 8, and to Matt B for showing his building skill and doing very well. Thats all for now,

Steve