This weekend we took some straw and turned it into gold.
Rumpelstiltskin all up in the house.
As my first real event back since returning to Magic, Grand Prix Orlando would be the perfect storm for me to come back to the game that I love on a
grander stage than just an FNM. Not only was it a tournament in my backyard, but StarCityGames was running it! This was Christmas in October, and if you’ve
never attended a GP that SCG has been in charge of I cannot recommend it enough; they run a tight ship with an absurd amount of love and care put into it.
The playmat is the most boss thing I’ve ever seen. Hella dope doesn’t even begin to describe it, but I digress.
My Sealed pool this weekend was fairly good, but sometimes you are passed a Duneblast. Platinum hits included Herald of Anafenza, Rakshasha Deathdealer,
and three copies of Debilitating Injury. I was happy to play a very removal-heavy Abzan deck with my Abzan Charm, but the call of two Sultai Charms
warranted splashing blue. My mana was nearly perfect: seven tapped multi-color lands and an Opulent Palace made the splash far more feasible. Sultai Charm
was a fantastic tool most of the weekend, allowing me to kill all mono-colored bombs, destroy opposing Ascendancies or equipment, and my favorite mode
which was drawing two cards, discarding a Deathdealer or Herald, and then attacking only to raid a Timely Hordemate and return the discarded creature to
play.
Then there was Duneblast.
Duneblast isn’t even remotely a real card in Sealed and makes you feel like you’re actively screwing the other person out of a win. Every single time I
cast it I won the game except for once, and that was only because I drew six lands in a row. In two games I mulliganed to four and still crushed my
opponent because, like Osyp said, Duneblast is a fairy godmother that sits on your shoulder and says “aw baby, don’t worry! I’ll give you a free win!” Wish
granted. A win an off-camera feature match on a mulligan to four with about twenty people watching. Their looks when I cast the Duneblast on turn 7 were
priceless. My opponent’s tilt was real. If you open this card, you should play it. There’s no better way to stick it to the man.
I started the day at 3-2, taking loses because I didn’t draw Duneblast. One key game saw me mulligan to four in game 3 on the play and be unable to cobble
together anything resembling an offense. I drew Duneblast, but was stuck on six lands for about three turns before I was killed. This meant I had to rattle
off four straight wins to make Day 2, but luckily The Duneblast Fairy would let that happen. At one point in round 8 Herald of Anafenza made thirteen 1/1
tokens. The improbable was real. During my unstoppable Duneblasting run, I Abzan Charmed a Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker. This was when I knew I couldn’t
fail. Round 9 saw me beating my opponent like he owed me a lot of money. 7-2 and in Day 2. Welcome back, Mark.
I trained thoroughly for Draft by watching ASU destroy USC with a Hail Mary and eating pizza. I’m 99% sure the QB for ASU had a Duneblast in his jock
strap. Eventually this gave way to sleep, however, and I was ready to tackle a pod which included my friend Mike Riley and Willy Edel.
The draft, to be kind, was a personal trainwreck for me. I opened a very poor pack with nothing but Savage Knuckleblade, but was passed an Armament Corps
by Willy. A Jungle Hollow followed this, so I was reserved to slide into Abzan without much hesitation. A lot of great green followed, but nothing in the
way of black or white. My next pack yielded an Incremental Growth and nothing in the way of black or white still. Snowhorn Rider and a very late Frontier
Bivouac signaled that Temur was open, so the rest of pack two saw me pick up a whopping four Snowhorn Riders and some other exceptional red removal spells.
Then pack three happened.
I was left with the decision of taking the Siege Rhino I opened and trying to splash it without any fixing at all or taking an Icefeather Aven. The pick
seemed fairly elementary, so I took the Aven and stayed the course with Temur. Then Willy passed me another Siege Rhino, meaning that I was passing a
hysterically powerful Abzan deck to the young man across from me who almost couldn’t contain his joy when I passed it to him.
My deck ended up extremely solid with a great curve, awesome threats and tricks, and a lot of closing power. Double Incremental Growth, quadruple Snowhorn
Riders along with other cards like Awaken the Bear and Savage Knuckleblade meant I could close out games quickly or amass a strong board before powering
out huge monsters. I was quite happy.
Round 10 pit me against an extremely rare-heavy opponent with Crater’s Claws and Sorin, Solemn Visitor. We split the first two games and then something
interesting happened.
I want your input on this, so get your fingers ready to type.
Did I Do the Right Thing?
On turn 4 I flipped my Icefeather Aven to bounce my opponent’s morph. He failed to reveal it and immediately returned it to his hand.
For those of you that do not know, failure to reveal a morph–in the current rule state–is a game loss. This penalty had been assessed the entire weekend.
However, as the weekend progressed, it was clear that the weight of the rule was heavy enough that the penalty had been subject to extreme scrutiny and,
upon the request of the opponent, could be downgraded to a warning rather than a straight game loss.
My opponent was given a game loss, but because I personally felt like that was too extreme, I asked the head judge to downgrade it to a warning. The head
judge agreed that if I–the opponent of the penalized party wanted to–I could give my opponent a break and have it downgraded.
This was Day 2 of a GP. I was 7-2. I could have easily said “Sorry, mate! Those are the rules!” and received the win.
I didn’t.
I told the judge I would like to have it downgraded.
The judges confirmed that my opponent only had a single creature with morph in his hand and that he was telling the truth (hopefully).
From that point on he proceeded to Crater’s Claws my 4/4 Aven, cast Sorin with a couple of creatures in play, and easily win the game from there.
I shook his hand and wished him well and the best of luck. He was incredibly humble and thankful. Had he not forgot to reveal, he would have won anyways,
but I suppose that’s not really the point. A ton of people weighed in on social media regarding my choice to have it downgraded.
Some people called me a straight-up idiot. This was a GP. This was Day 2. Losing meant I was out of Top 8 contention, and I should have held him
accountable for his mistake. I was ridiculed for doing something people thought was just plain stupid.
Then there was the much larger camp of people who believe what I did exemplified good sportsmanship and not winning on a technicality when it was very
clear he would dominate that game.
I left the match feeling slightly conflicted, but overall believing I had made the right choice. I believe in upholding the integrity of the game at all
times, but several judges who I am very good friends with expressed to me before and during the event that they believe this rule is far too extreme and
will eventually be amended. I don’t think people cheat wantonly and intend to screw you over. I want to believe that, more than anything, your opponent is
a good person. Perhaps it is a naïve concept, but when my opponent saw that his offense was being downgraded, he legitimately looked like he was thankful
at my compassion.
I respect our community very much, and sometimes I believe that doing what I did means more than winning.
Am I right or wrong?
You tell me.
I went 1-2 in the pod, losing to friend Mike Riley when he cast back-to-back removal spells when I had him dead on board for two turns in a row. Dead Drop
is a helluva Magic card. It was his only out, but Mike played to it very well, and I was happy that a friend at least could benefit from my losing. The
next round allowed me to blow off some steam on an underpowered Mardu deck. I was disappointed with a 1-2 finish with what I believed to be a very good
Temur deck, but overall I was pleased with how I played and drafted.
My car was just about ready to leave, but my friend John Dean and I decided to stay in anyways and draft to at least see if we could pull some sweet rares.
The table seemed incredibly torn on what to draft, and everyone pretty much agreed their decks were awful. I again went with Temur Dinosaurs, but at this
point I was mostly ready to head out. My body decided to bless me with a pretty bad cold that was coming to fruition, so I half-heartedly played the next
round and then gladly dropped to eat and make the three hour drive home. A Steak-n-Shake milkshake took the edge off, and I was quite happy to be home.
Overall this tournament was a great “coming home.” I had a ton of fun, was able to talk to a whole bunch of my readers and friends about my return to
Magic, and saw some people I missed in my absence. It was a great way to come back. I’m glad to be back.
FNM Hero! You Voted!
The results are in and with over 1,036 votes it looks like Jeskai Tempo is the clear winner of what deck I am going to be battling with for the near
future.
After looking into the cost of the deck it appears that I was wise to invest in several parts of it before it exploded in price.
A few weeks ago a friend sold me a set of Goblin Rabblemasters for $20! This was when they were floating around ten a piece, so nailing down one of the
most expensive aspects of the deck when they are currently going for roughly twenty a piece was extremely lucky. Mantis Rider was an easy investment when
they were going for $2 a pop, so another lucky break means we have another key component of the deck at a massive discount to what it would be now.
Then there’s Sarkhan. He is roughly several million dollars at the moment, or he might as well be. A single Sarkhan is roughly two Keranos, so that’s
something to keep in mind. Chandra is cheap, however, so going with her might be the best option.
Thankfully painlands are in the format and they’re not very expensive, which means that our manabase is affordable and will be pretty close to the real
deal.
I was able to get all of the commons and uncommons for this deck for under ten bucks, so Jeskai Charms, Mystic Monasteries, and all the burn spells will be
accounted for. I can’t wait to kill people with Seeker of the Way.
For right now, we’re roughly $60 into the deck and have almost all of the requisite parts for it.
That begs the question – What else should we spend our money on?
Should I try to get some Sarkhan, the Dragonspeakers at a good price? Would you recommend getting Flooded Strands?
What version of this deck should I be aiming for? Have your own? Feel free to share it!
If my cold goes away I’ll be trying to attend Magic this week and give this deck its first run, so your input always helps.
As for now? I’m going to go drown myself in Dayquil and orange juice.
I wish one of you could bring me some chicken soup.
Stay healthy, kiddies.