Hello again!
Fresh off my disappointing finish the week before, I knew I had a decision to make. There were two Pro Tour Qualifiers in Roanoke, VA, three and half hours away, or the single one in Rockville, MD, about an hour away. I ran this by my fiancée, who asked me a very good question. “Which do you think will give you a better chance to qualify?” My better half, who gave her blessing for a weekend away, made my decision very easy. After making travel and sleeping arrangements with the affable Glenn Jones, I hit the road.
As I pulled up to the tournament site, the StarCityGames.com Game Center, I started to have flashbacks to my previous PTQ experiences there. I was playing against Eric Meng in the finals of a Pro Tour Qualifier for Honolulu. Up a game, I made the mistake of thinking ahead. I imagined myself in Hawaii, playing with the best in the world. A minor punt in the second game, and we were shuffling up for the decider. A quick game 3 saw Eric come out the victor and me alone at the table. I sat there and wondered where it had all gone wrong.
After winning that PTQ Eric went on a tear, getting 26th at the Pro Tour and 5th at Grand Prix Baltimore. I could only sit on the sidelines thinking about what could have been.
As I shook these thoughts from my head, I opened the door. A lot of the usual StarCityGames.com crew was out on the road, either at the Open Series event or at Grand Prix Indy. I was greeted by Glenn, Ben Isgur, and Lauren Lee. We went off to grab dinner at Zaxby’s. There has been some debate over the merits of Zaxby’s versus Chick-fil-A. I was on the fence for a while, but after eating Chick-fil-A almost three times a week at my job I was a bit burned out on Chick-fil-A and am firmly on the side of Zaxby’s. While this is sure to be a fairly controversial choice, the deciding factor of my decision is the fact that Zaxby’s is open on Sundays. There’s nothing worse than pulling up to a Chick-fil-A drive-through on the second day of a Grand Prix only to have that sudden realization that you’ll be denied your fill of chicken.
After picking up a wild Brian Braun-Duin in our travels, we pulled up to Glenn’s home and went over some final deck choices. I was set on running the same 75 from the week prior, with BBD choosing to find room for a Wrath of God in the main and a Day of Judgment in the sideboard.
The highlight of Saturday’s tournament had to be finally meeting Lawrence Creech. For those of you who don’t know, Creech was a Pro back when I first started following Magic. I had my suspicions that he was the same Lawrence Creech when we sat down to play, but they were confirmed when the match concluded. I couldn’t help but to ask if he was the same “Creecha” from the epic Geddes Cooper Fiasco. Much to my delight, he said that he was. For those of you interested in the greatest troll of all time, you can read the IRC transcripts with some hilarious footnotes if you search for it on Google.
After a quick five rounds of Modern, I found myself on the bubble for the Top 8 on Saturday. I sat down to play against Daniel Sale, who was unfortunately piloting Grixis Delver which is an absolutely horrendous matchup for U/W Tron. After two brutal games, I was on the outside looking in to the Top 8.
I met up with Brian, and we commiserated with each other about our lackluster finishes. It turns out that I’d severely underestimated the amount of aggressive, creature-based decks that had made up the majority of the field. After a few games of Tichu, Glenn and I headed back to his house. As I was struggling over the last choices to make for my deck, Glenn made the suggestion of just sleeping on it. It was getting pretty late and Daylight Savings Time was coming that night to rob us of a valuable hour of sleep, so I took his advice and passed out.
Much too soon we were awake and on our way back to the Game Center. I met up with Brian, and we got to talking about how good his Wraths were yesterday. I knew that I wanted to fit in a Wrath and a Day in the main due to the large number of creature-based decks that we saw yesterday. I eventually cut an Arid Mesa to fit them both in.
Here’s the list from the event.
Creatures (4)
- 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
- 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
- 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Lands (25)
Spells (31)
The two board sweepers in the main were valuable all day. Being able to Gifts Ungiven for the Wrath of God and Day of Judgment allowed me to either EOT double Demonic Tutor or gave me the means to wipe the board clean.
I saw that Affinity was rampant at the top tables the day before, so I made room for the two Hurkyl’s Recall’s in the sideboard. Having the ability to reset their board, buy a turn to solidify your board, or play a trump in Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite would be key against the Machine Menace.
The rest of the sideboard was an assortment of hate cards for Splinter Twin, graveyard-based strategies, and aggressive decks.
After the short player’s meeting I took a quick glance at the pairings for round 1; my heart sank. Of course I would have to battle against Eric Meng, the same person who knocked me out of my last PTQ finals. I steeled myself and mentally prepared myself to face my nemesis. Â
Eric kept a pretty loose hand in game 1, not drawing a second land until it was too late. In game 2 my grip contained two Surgical Extractions that I used to first peek at his hand, removing his Manamorphose. I then baited one of the two Echoing Truths out of his hand by Disenchanting his Pyromancer Ascension, which allowed me to Surgical Extraction his Truths away and cleared the way for an Iona, Shield of Emeria to lock the game up.
That win took the monkey off my back. Being able to avenge my previous PTQ finals loss against Eric allowed me to breathe easier and gave me the sense that today wouldn’t be a re-run of last time. Getting that weight off my shoulders was a great way to start the day.
In the second match, I sat down to face Doran. Thanking BBD in my head for the suggestion to include the Wraths, I was able to sneak out a win in three games. My opponent made a slight error in judgment by not being aggressive enough with his creatures in the final game, which allowed me an opening to start dropping Flying Spaghetti Monsters onto the battlefield.
Round 3 greeted me with a match against Lee McLeod, who had gotten to the finals of the previous day. Putting him on Splinter Twin, an easy guess as that was what he used to reach the finals the day before, I mulliganed to five in search of a hand that wouldn’t die on the spot. A timely Repeal on his Deceiver Exarch with a Spellskite in play allowed me to take the first game. The matchup became much better after sideboarding. Being able to take out all the dead anti-aggressive cards for Purge, Disenchant, and Torpor Orbs were a big plus. I was able to win fairly soon after I landed an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite that locked him out of the game.
I picked up my first loss of the day against eventual Top 8 competitor Brian Schneider. I had played against Brian the weekend prior, where I bested his R/G Boom/Bust aggro deck to take a spot in the Top 8 in Richmond. I thought that he was on the same plan, but I was thoroughly punished in game one for keeping a hand that was great against creatures. I was unprepared for him bringing U/R Fairies to battle. A quick game 2 had the same result, and once again, my back was against the wall with two rounds to play.
Shaheen Soorani and I took a calculated risk in round 5. When he offered the draw, I mulled over my options. I knew that he was playing a favorable matchup, and my reasoning was that I’d rather play against him in the Top 8 and roll the dice that I’d face one of the many creature-based aggressive decks that surrounded us at the upper tables. After I thought it over, I accepted the draw and used the time in the round to gather myself for my win-and-in the next round.
For the second day in a row I found myself battling for a spot in the Top 8 against an opponent who was battling with W/G Aggro. I threw away game 1 by not discarding my Elesh Norn to an earlier Thirst for Knowledge, which left me unable to return it to play with a Gifts Ungiven for Unburial Rites. I was overrun by a Sworded up Strangleroot Geist shortly thereafter.
I won a long, drawn out game 2 with about twelve minutes left on the clock. Towards the end of the third game, the clock became a second opponent that I had to beat. I don’t believe that my opponent was intentionally trying to run the clock out, but because a draw would’ve been the same as a loss to me and a win for him, I felt it necessary to call a judge to watch for slow play. Fortunately I was able to survive his early rush and won with Emrakul on the fourth turn after time was called.
After a brief moment to settle myself, I met with Glenn and Shaheen who both had made it to the elimination rounds. After some good-natured trolling of Glenn, it was time to play for a spot on the Pro Tour.
Quarterfinals – Jason L with Splinter Twin
I knew that I was in for a tough road when I faced Jason. While I believed that the Splinter Twin matchup was favorable, Jason also had maindecked Blood Moon which proved to be troublesome as we split the first two games. The third game came down to an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite that I was able to protect and ride to victory.
Semifinals- Mikuel Conrow with R/U/W Delver
There are certain games that will stick with you for a long time after they’re concluded. After swapping God-draws with Mikuel, it seemed like I was in for a long, disappointing drive home. In the third game, Mikuel was able to land two quick Delvers that I had no answer for. With nary a Wrath or Day in sight, all I could was develop my mana to Eldrazi size and wait for the inevitable turn where they’d both flip. Amazingly, turn after turn they remained unflipped.
It came down to turn nine, six full turns after both Delvers had entered the battlefield. I was at a precarious five life. On my turn I was able to cast an Emrakul but whiffed on an answer to his army of two Delvers and a Snapcaster Mage. I swung in with my extra turn and annihilated Mikuel’s lands and Snapcaster.
Dead to a spell on top of his library, I couldn’t bear to watch. After some discussion as to how to how best reveal the deciding card, he allowed me to flip it. I tried to avert my eyes as I flipped it over but couldn’t help but peek. I had never been so happy to see a Geist of Saint Traft in my life. Mikuel was a great sport about it and wished me good luck in the finals. I could only imagine the level of table flipping that would’ve occurred if that level of variance had struck, say, Glenn Jones. Fortunate does not begin to describe how lucky I’d been to escape this match, and I finally began to entertain the thought that this was my day.
Finals- Jesse Piland with Bant Aggro
Standing in between me and the invite was Jesse. I was confident going in. I knew that the additional board sweepers had set me up well against him, and after Wrathing his board twice I was able to ride Elesh Norn to an easy victory.
Game 2 was a different story. My back was against the wall almost immediately to his turn 1 Noble Hierarch, turn 2 Geist of Saint Traft, turn 3 Elspeth. Five minutes after we started the game was over.
Slowly the flashbacks started up again. The parallels were eerie. It was in the same venue, a favorable matchup, a victory in game 1, and a demoralizing loss in the second. I tried to shake these thoughts from my head and tried to shield my face from my opponent with my sideboard. I couldn’t let him pick up any signs of weakness, a battle I knew I was losing.
Right before we presented I felt my phone vibrate before I heard the ring. It was comical: the tension around this match was palpable yet cut with the sound of my phone quacking. I smiled knowing that it was my fiancée Crystal who was calling to check up on me. Just like that, all the tension and nervousness that I was feeling just faded away. Sometimes we all can get the feeling that a match is life or death. However, it was great knowing that, win or lose, I had someone in my life who would love me regardless. I was at ease, able to clear my mind and prepare for one last game.
Jesse and I began to develop our boards. Jesse threw a curveball when he cast Gifts Ungiven at during my end step. He fetched an Unburial Rites and Iona, something that I didn’t expect from his Bant deck. Fortunately, I was able to negate his Reanimation plan by fetching an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre with Eye of Ugin. Jesse countered with a Path to Exile on Ulamog and swung in with a Vendilion Clique and a Kitchen Finks to knock me down to four life. I ripped a Day of Judgment to get rid of his Clique and reduce his Finks and passed the turn. After he drew, Jesse tapped all his lands to throw one final haymaker: his own Elesh Norn that would’ve been lethal. Fortunately I’d sandbagged a Remand for just such an occasion. At the end of his turn, I Tutored Emrakul and annihilated his board. After passing the turn, Jesse drew and dropped his hand full of irrelevant creatures.
I had finally done it. After shaking Jesse’s hand, I received what all PTQ grinders yearn for: the blue envelope. After I accepted congratulations from my friends, I went outside to make a very happy phone call.
“Crystal, I did it! We’re going to Barcelona!”
It was a great relief to finally close an event. After making Top 8 four times this year and walking away empty-handed each time, I began to doubt that I would ever qualify. Getting that blue envelope validated all the hard work that I’ve put into the game and gives me the desire to work even harder for Pro Tour Avacyn Restored. Huge thanks to all the people who offered their support and loaned me cards, I couldn’t have done it without you guys. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally making my way back to the big leagues.
Looking ahead, there’s much more Magic to play between now and the Pro Tour. I hope to see you all at the StarCityGames.com Open Series: Baltimore featuring the Invitational this weekend!
As always, thanks for reading.