2nd At Pro Tour Khans Of Tarkir: Part 2

I am suspended over an indifferent ocean that would swallow me up if not for the safety of the warm metal tube I’m crammed in. I’m on my way to Hawaii for
the Pro Tour.

The loud droning of the engines doesn’t stop. I have ear plugs which muffles the noise, and after a while it’s barely noticeable. It’s almost similar to
the dull background noises of the feature match area at the Pro Tour. There is a sense that powerful and unseen forces are at work and the very slight
threat that things could go catastrophically wrong at any moment that result in you crashing and burning.

Right now, I’m slumped up against my smudgy airplane window looking up at the moon and then down at the silvery clouds over the ocean. Normally I would
find this scene incredibly peaceful but right now I feel stressed. All I can do is imagine the waves below.

I’m worried about the Pro Tour.

You know what anyone who was offered an automatic second place finish at a Pro Tour before it began would say?

“****ing ship it.”

Right now though, I’m worried.

Is this comforting or terrifying knowing there is nothing you can really do if the plane suddenly spirals out of control? I feel less afraid about the
things I don’t have any control over. I still have control over which deck I can play and that worries me. I can still avert a disaster waiting to happen.
If I could only see the future.

I’ve never been afraid of flying, in fact, I’ve always relatively enjoyed it. I’m just worried about Magic. Feeling trapped.

Maybe the universe can channel an answer through the clouds. Maybe the clouds will form into an image, a gigantic Jeskai symbol, to help guide my decision.
Maybe I could ask the person next to me what deck I should play and they’ll somehow know the right answer despite never having even heard of Magic. Maybe
I’m just lonely and need reassurances I don’t have. Maybe I need to feel right about something. Anything at all.

Maybe if the stewardess agrees with my drink selection that would mean my selecting skills are well tuned.

Right now it feels lonely clustered next to 100 other people gliding over the water.

So close, yet so far.

Confidence.

That’s what I need.

I do not feel confident, and I need to fix that.

Start going over all my techniques to feel present, confident, and calm.

I’m always putting off finding time to meditate. Why not do it now?

I focus on my breath and sit up straight in my seat. I immediately feel better. What if instead of being forced to sit in a tiny seat for five hours and
worry about my deck, I had chosen to sit here and relax and meditate?

Maybe this is the sign I was looking for. This is what makes me an effective representative of the Jeskai. We Jeskai would’ve complained about being stuck
with prowess as our clan mechanic, but instead, we went into the body and accepted it.

Maybe my “superpower” is not tilting. An odd thought to think when you’re currently on tilt.

My mind is wandering again.

I think of a mantra.

”

Do you believe that every note you play is right, or are you always looking for the right notes? The world is made up of two kinds of people: the ones
who play the right stuff, and the ones who are looking for the right stuff to play!”

–
Kenny Werner

Confidence in your head. Let’s face it, most of us can afford to be more confident, even if we have to apply that confidence “artificially.” Doubt creeps
in all the time, along with unrealistic fears and they are never useful. Be humble and don’t take yourself to seriously on the outside, be a core of
confidence on the inside.

Right now, I notice my mind is wandering. I relax.

I start to feel better. I had to massage it into my brain, but I eventually start to feel the positive thoughts taking hold. It feels good and warm like my
brain is expanding a little.

You just can’t control how well you’re going to do, no matter how hard you try. The best you can do is show up and be well prepared and be receptive to the
wins when they’re flowing. Imagined bad scenarios are never that bad.

I always have a consolation prize of Hawaiian beaches. Magic. Sunshine. Good Things.

The first blast of delicious Hawaiian air doesn’t hurt my mood.

I have no idea I’ll be getting second. Right now, I don’t need to.

I spend the day before the Pro Tour relaxing. Floating in the water underneath the sun and casually deciding on my last few sideboard slots. Better to be
loosey-goosey and a little less prepared rather than fretting about every little thing, especially right near the start of the tournament. After a great
night’s sleep I’m ready to draft.

The Pro Tour

Pack 1 I start with a couple Debilitating Injuries and Temur Chargers along with other assorted black and green cards as well as an Abomination of Gudul
and an Abzan Guide to allow me to splash into Sultai or Abzan if I see anything spicy later on. Pack 2 I get passed a Siege Rhino. Abzan it is then. That
is, until I take a look at the next pack I get passed, where I see a Sagu Mauler staring back at me. I decide to splash em both and prioritize picking up a
bunch of fixing and eventually end up with this spicy number after opening a Duneblast in pack 3:

Four-Color Abzan

Shaun McLaren

Test deck on 10-20-2014

Limited

Creatures (17)

Lands (18)

Spells (5)

Sideboard

This deck was awesome and quite possibly the first time I’ve looked down during deck construction after a draft at a Pro Tour and thought “Hey, I really
like this deck.”

Round 1 –
Armel Primot – R/W Aggro

I win game 1 handily and as he’s packing up I remind him to show a morph he is about to forget to reveal. Game 2 an Act of Treason and Rush of Battle run
me over. Game 3 ends as I Duneblast the world except for one of my Abzan Guides. Drawing Siege Rhino all three games didn’t hurt things either.

1-0

Round 2 – Matthew Sperling
– Temur Tempo

Game 1 I’m under a lot of pressure and tantalizingly close to stabilizing and unloading my stacked hand, but a series of timely draws manages to finish me
off before I can assemble enough land. The first real test of any Limited game is seeing if any player stumbles, and this is a very mana hungry format. I
side in a Sultai Banner after getting manascrewed. Games 2 and 3 I have plenty of mana, and Sagu Mauler makes an appearance, and combined with a removal
spell during a gang block, seals the deal.

2-0

Round 3 – Marcelino Freeman –
Crackling Doom Mardu

The two Crackling Dooms I saw floating around during the draft had found their way into my opponent’s deck, and let me tell you, Crackling Doom is one heck
of a card. Game 1 I barely stabilize with an Abzan Guide and inch back to victory. Game 2 is a Crackling Doom type of game which doesn’t end well for me.
Game 3 the only non-land cards I draw for the first six turns are two copies of Abomination of Guduls that keep looting into more lands. Eventually they
find me some gas off the top and continue to do so for the rest of the game. I even won without getting my Sagu Mauler Crackling Doomed.

3-0

The tournament paused for a short lunch break, and all the players were treated to a mini buffet, which probably boosted the overall play in the tournament
by a few percentage points for the rest of the day and kept the tournament running quickly. Having readily available food during Pro Tours is awesome.

Time for Constructed:

Jeskai Aggro

Shaun McLaren

2nd Place at Pro Tour on 10-12-2014

Standard

Creatures (9)

Planeswalkers (2)

2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

Lands (25)

Spells (24)

Sideboard

Round 4 – William Jensen – U/B Control

I’m paired against Huey Jensen and called over to the feature match area. The game starts with his Swamp into Thoughtseize and me playing a Temple and
scrying an Anger of the Gods to the bottom. After all, what are the chances Huey would be playing aggro? It turns out he is, in fact, on U/B Control. I
apply some burn spells to his forehead and chip away with a goblin token. It looks like Huey is going to stabilize and take the game after a bunch of card
draw despite me having him low. I topdeck a Lightning Strike that would kill him if he has nothing and aim it at is face. Turns out he didn’t find a
Dissolve and I’m up a game.

Game 2 the game stalls when he dispatches my early attempts to resolve a threat. We are jockeying for position with card draw and then at the end of my
turn Huey announces he’s going to cast Pearl Lake Ancient.

I’m completely surprised.

“Is this a bluff?” I ask.

It’s not, and it kills me.

Game 3 we get into a similar stalled situation. At the end of Huey’s turn we fight a mini counter war over one of my Dig Through Times, which Huey wins,
but it left him tapped out. I untap and land a Keranos, God of Storms which helps me blast a bunch of Jorubai Murk Lurkers and amass a bunch of cards.

4-0

Round 5 –
Peter Steinaa
–
Jeskai Tokens

I wasn’t too familiar with the matchup, but it seems like I could easily get overrun by a good draw, especially in game 1.

Game 1, I slowroll Anger of the Gods but never need it since my burn gets the job done.

Game 2 is a long drawn out affair when I make some awkward decisions, like racing a Nyx-Fleece Ram only to allow him to play a Jeskai Ascendancy.
Eventually I just Dig Through Time enough to win.

5-0

Round 6 – Paul Rietzl – Jeskai Aggro

Game 1, I have a great draw that curves out perfectly.

Game 2, I somehow just don’t die despite him have more cards than I do and manage to sneak through just enough burn thanks to some nice topdecking.

6-0

Round 7 – Mike Sigrist – Abzan Aggro

I learn Anafenza is huge. Sigrist runs me over easily game 1.

Game 2 ends in a sweat where I need to topdeck a burn spell or die the next turn. Unfortunately, burn spells just haven’t quite warmed up to me enough to
allow me to will them to the top of my deck.

6-1

Round 8 –
Omar

Beldon –
Abzan Aggro

Once again I am easily slaughtered by beefy green creatures.

6-2

It’s kind of an odd feeling to be 6-2 after starting 6-0 on the day. It was a record I was happy with, but not really one that would be likely to easily
propel me into the Top 8. I would need to work for it tomorrow.

I’m also feeling a little worried about Draft and running into more Abzan decks.

Draft 2

Sultai

Shaun McLaren

Test deck on 10-20-2014

Limited

Creatures (16)

Lands (18)

Spells (6)

Sideboard

Draft 2 I succumb to lure of the Slytherin, err Sultai. The draft went pretty straightforward. I started out base green and black, but the Green quickly
dried up from both sides and became my splash color. The mana isn’t quite all there, but the strategy of flying over while dropping some big butts seemed
solid enough.

Round 9 –
Charles Hinkle
– B/W Warriors

He mulligans to oblivion game 1 and still mounts a good showing with Seeker of the Way. Game 2 my double Mystic of the Hidden Way draw quickly ends things.

7-2

Round 10 –
Paul Rietzl – Temur Tempo

Not a time for revenge. I overcome his army of Smoketellers when he can’t quite muster enough to push through my wall of creatures.

8-2

Round 11 –
Ivan
Floch – Temur

I sideboard in anything that’ll be good against his three Chillwind Yeti’s eerrr… Summit Prowlers and Sagu Mauler, which means I get to side in
Meandering Towershell, which comes in handy in game 3 when I get to make a 9/9 Kin-Tree Invocation token. I barely manage to push through enough damage in
the decider thanks to Thousand Winds.

9-2

Round 12 –
Lee

Shi Tian – Ascendancy Combo

http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptktk/round-12-feature-match-2014-10-11

Game 1, he manages to combo off the turn before I have lethal. Games 2 and 3, my over-prepared sideboard helps easily seal the deal.

10-2

Round 13 –
Jacob Pleasants
– Abzan Enchantments

Jacob is on an interesting build of G/B Devotion that also appears to be splashing Soul of Theros. In game 3, a Keranos, God of Storms pushes my control
strategy to victory.

11-2

Round 14
– Christian

Seibold – Sultai Reanimator

Game 3, I have a double Goblin Rabblemaster draw versus his slow start and with that I lock up my second Pro Tour Top 8. Needless to say, I was pretty
happy.

12-2

Round 15 and 16 – ID

12-2-2, first seed going into Top 8.

I spend the night relaxing and figuring out my sideboard plans with my brother Dean and Tyler Blum.

I’ll go over the entirety of my Top 8 match in a video analysis to discuss my sideboarding, thoughts on the matchups, feelings, and decisions that I made,
so I won’t get into it too much here.

Quarterfinals — Win vs
Lee

Shi Tian – Ascendancy Combo

This one was fairly straightforward. Unfortunately, it would be Siege Rhinos all the way down from here. It was quite enjoyable watching Team Face to Face
attempt to figure out the sideboard of a madman before the semifinals.

Semifinals – Win vs Mike Sigrist
–
Abzan Aggro

My main plan this match was to be aggressive and it worked.

Finals – Lose vs Ari Lax
–
Abzan Midrange

I try not to think about how I’m in the finals of a Pro Tour. Ari is excited and chatty. I didn’t have much time to figure out a plan here. But the
aggressive plan seemed good since my control plan was expected and fairly susceptible to hate.

When you play a “burn” deck you’re basically obligated to imagine how you will handle the classic situation where you need to topdeck a burn spell on the
last turn. I had thought through the scenario and figured I would slam it if it was the final game. In game 4, the topdeck or lose situation presented
itself, and I choose to slowroll things in the heat of the moment. I placed my card down and gave it a little peek. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it
was multicolored. Then my brain registered it was Mantis Rider. I sat thinking of the optimal play for a few moments. I would need to topdeck Dig Through
Time into two burn spells next turn and not die. It wasn’t meant to be.

I extended the hand.

I had lost.

The Feelings

It felt like my face and emotions were split in two. I had a smile on my lips, but it felt like my eyes betrayed a sense of sadness and loss. I went up and
accepted my second place trophy. I was happy and not happy.

Something inside me, the sense of impending victory so close to becoming a reality, had died.

Having just recently won a Pro Tour probably makes the bad feel a lot less bad. Also losing what you feel is not a great matchup as opposed to one that you
should be winning probably helps.

What if? What if? What if?

Who cares.

It didn’t take long for my fake smile to become a real one.

You have what you have, and once you accept it, what you have is never that bad. There was even a song about it in that recent Disney movie about the
important of letting things go. I believe it was called “Do You Want To Build a Snowman.”

We play to win. All is decided on the battlefield. When we do lose, we leave our hearts charred, bolted, gored, exhausted, bleeding, or drained in the red
zone.

There is a big emphasis on the winning is everything mentality in Magic. While we might feel that way, is that the way Magic (or life) should be? Should it
really be all or nothing?

One day you’re a Pro Tour champion, the next you can’t win a PTQ to save your life. These things happen. Enjoy and appreciate the times when you aren’t
finishing in first place just a little bit more. There really isn’t that much difference between the two when you pay attention to what really matters.

Thanks to my family, my Mom, my Dad, Maia, Dean, and everyone who wished me well. Congrats to the rest of the Top 8, it’s not every day you make Top 8. And
once again, a big congrats to Ari Lax.

Looks like I’ll get at least another year to continue living the Magic dream, and right now, I’m looking forward to that flight to LA.

This one is for the losers, because sometimes losing isn’t quite all that bad.