So I read some of the forums after the first part of this article went up. Hmm, not so good. Turned out it never said there even was going to be a part two; not sure I let Ted know about this. What surprised me was the fact that people complained that there wasn’t any strategy involved. I talked with Ted about this at PT LA, but just can’t imagine why that’s so important. I mean, I wouldn’t want to read my strategy myself. Even though I’m good enough to consistently not win anything on the PT, especially those of the Limited variety, I might not be the one to tell you there what to do. If you want any constructed advice, particularly Extended, I’m your man. But for Limited strategy, be sure to turn to such luminaries as Anton Jonsson, Tim Aten and Nick Eisel.
When I left you at the end of part 1, Quentin wasn’t feeling too well. Fortunately the hotel owner knew just what to do and handed Q some Resolve, some powder that turns a glass of water green and makes it overflow like some Frankenstein brew. It looked like hell, smelled like hell and, according to Quentin, tasted like hell. But hey, it worked, and made Quentin feel a little better. So for all of you that like an alcoholic beverage now and then, there is help:
Arriving at the site we for once don’t have to wait long before things get started, since this GP hosts only 600 players. Oh wait, maybe we just didn’t have to wait long because we were late or just couldn’t grasp the concept of time well enough due to being (slightly) hungover. Whatever the case, I just felt pretty good about it. The cardpool I ended up with provides a very solid GBw deck, sporting double Moldervine Cloak, double Elves of Deep Shadow and double Mortipede. I ponder about splashing Red as well in this deck for Fiery Conclusion, a personal favorite in this format where instant removal is key, but ultimately decide against it, opting for consistency instead. Double Elves could create some fast draws and the Mortipedes had some nice synergy with the Cloaks and a Strands of Undeath. The deck didn’t have any brokenness apart from the Sisters of Stone Death, which is s-l-o-w and didn’t complement the consistent aggressiveness of the deck well. Although it won me two out of twenty-five games I played with the deck, it got benched almost every second game in favor of a random 3-drop, which I was very happy with.
Like I said in part 1, almost all of the games I played were pretty unexciting. Many people got screwed along the way, making me even happier with my very solid mana base up until the point where I started mulliganing and screwing a lot as well. A lot of players, including myself, tend to oversplash colors in limited. This probably results from the fact that you can accurately asses the power you add to a deck but not the consistency you lose in the process. It’s just harder to relate a bad mana base to a loss than to relate a broken rare to a win. This comes up in (money) draft a lot as well. Lately I use the rule of thumb that when I have even a little doubt about splashing for consistency issues, I just decide not to. And this has been working out fine lately. Everyone should just realize that adding two Islands to splash a Moroii doesn’t imply reliably casting it turn 4. It does guarantee however that you’re missing two mana, making it all the more likely that you’ll be staring at an Island in play when you wanted to make that Golgari Guildmage on turn 2.
The deck I build turned out really solid and I only lost one round before I had to make a choice whether I should play or draw round 8. At 6-1, and having three byes, I was reasonably solid to be in even if I lost, but if most of the other 6-1s drew, I might not make it. In the end, I figured my chances were good enough to see this as the first round of day 2, where a draw would be absurd if you’re trying to win any money. My Italian opponent desperately wanted to draw, had zero byes coming into this event, and never cast a second spell in the first game. And then he crushed me in two straight with a steady flow of brokenness and playing mistakes as is common in situations like this. He missed out on full-tilting me, which would have probably seen me joining Jelger and recent PT winner Swap in tossing their decks against a wall, by not making sound effects when my guys died or by adding the biggest beating ever laid on me after losing a match for day 2: asking to take my picture…
As every story (and Tom Cruise movie) is about the same, this is obviously not the end of it. I still got into day 2 on the back of my set of byes, needing only a 5-0 to draw into the top 8 the next day. We went to eat with all the Dutchies at the only Chinese place that was still open at that hour, played the Player Card Game (TM) and witnessed PT winner Jeroen Remie teach us a thing or two about imitating a whale:
Since every pro is collecting the Player Cards, we had to come up with some sort of game with the cards itself. Eventually we found three, but at first we only had one at dinner. It worked as follows: In a group of people, one person selects a Player Card and starts giving clues about it like: “This player has 3 PT top8s” or: “This player has $80,345 in lifetime winnings” or “Which player is called ‘The future of American Magic’?” 
This led to some pretty funny situations when some players didn’t recognize themselves after two clues or when even some Dutchies didn’t realize that Kamiel is the oldest of three Magic-playing brothers.
Other variants of games include splitting the cards you have in two stacks and flipping cards over one at a time. The better card, rated by the four separate categories of GP and PT Top 8s, Lifetime winnings, and PT Points, with PT debut as a tiebreaker (the later, the better). When a player’s stack is empty he starts again with his winnings. Only exception is that Tim beats Kai to keep things balanced. And, as we found out, with lots of doubles, you can always play memory.
At seven the next morning my alarm goes off since we have to start at 8 (why, WotC, why?) and I head to the site with Roel. The judges mix up my first draft pod and I get bumped from Nassif and Nick West’s draft to, well, basically my own. I start drafting GBw just like my Sealed since I know the cards and it just comes by. I also figured that people would underestimate the 4/7 and end up with two, and I get passed 3rd and 4th pick Bottled Cloisters, which I heard was good, but take the first one over Last Gasp, which everyone later tells me is wrong. I never know card valuations, usually just ending up being greedy, but that’s just my style. My deck ends up all right but misses a bit in the removal department.
I quickly lose to the insane GB deck on the table but manage to beat the RWg monstrosity that had some stinkers like a certain 3/3 for 5 and a screw. The guy, Aaron, was really cool though, and played hackey sack with me during our deck check, up until the point a judge tried to kick us out of the players’ area. We told him we were getting deck checked and that was fine at first, but the second time it was “probably too dangerous” to hang around there, and he sent us back. Spoilsport. So back at our table Aaron whips out a deck of playing cards and ask if I play poker. The judge approves by saying: “Now that’s a game you can play!” [Guess somebody didn’t get the memo — Seamus] and we quickly arrange for chips. Just as I’m dealing the first hand another judge comes over telling us that poker is against WotC policy or something. Seems pretty hypocritical when the Dave Williams hype is milked all the way with courtesy invites and whatnot. We argue for a bit, since there’s nothing else to do, but he’s saved by the return of our decks.
The third match is against a German guy I beat day 1 when he got double screwed and has now drafted a UBrw deck that focuses on his double Galvanic Arcs. He has double [[Drake Familiar and splashes (I wouldn’t) for white Godo. While I certainly believe that my deck is more consistent, I’m not too good against flyers or Arc shenanigans and end up losing a close one.
The second draft I’m still in the dead last pod but can still make money if I 3-0. I draft accordingly, straight GB this time and am offered the choice of Bottled Cloister and Last Gasp again fourth pick of the second pack. I’m passing to a guy that I lost to in the first round who kept talking how insane it was I got Cloisters third and fourth that draft. After shipping Cloister, having learned my lesson now, I may or may not have sent a non-verbal signal in his direction. The deck I drafted seems great, highlighting trips Last Gasp, some Dredge, some guys and some combat tricks. They call for half of the players to leave their tables. I wait a while since our table hasn’t been called yet but eventually go anyway, just two seconds before they call for us to go, and sit down to build my deck. Just as I’m starting to build my deck these two judges come up to me who were watching my draft. The first one seems a bit inexperienced, but eager to do well, and the other one seems to be higher in rank. The first one gives me a warning for leaving the table early after confirming my name and rank, while the other one is nodding in approvement, proud of his prodigy who just learned the joys of authority. It was a beautiful sight and I didn’t say anything, both to not kill their moment and out of pure flabbergasm. Apparently judges are trained this way nowadays.
The only decision in deck building is whether or not to splash White for Seeds of Strength and Selesnya Guildmage’s ability. After thinking for a long time, I ultimately make the obvious decision not to, but it’s hard not being greedy. I changed my list at the last minute, got my lands and only realize when I’m sleeving my deck that I missed a card on the registration sheet, not registering Vigor Mortis after cutting Seeds. I immediately go over to the judge where I just handed in my list not even two minutes before and tell him that I misregistered, missing a card. After much deliberation the head judge rules that I get a game loss even though there is no competitive advantage to be gained since I never left the deck building area and there was still ten minutes left for building a deck. Head judge won’t bulge and I’m stuck with the game loss.
I figure that if I ever can deal with a game loss it’s with this deck and easily crush my fourth round opponent and his mill deck. My second opponent is the same guy I lost to in the first round of day 2 and has a pretty good deck now as well. The first game I lose to him transmuting for Followed Footsteps, while I have a slow start and my fatties suddenly become irrelevant. The next game I get stuck on two lands for a while but make a comeback when it turns out he’s a bit flooded. In the decider I screw again, stabilize, but then lose to flyers and Netherborn Phalanx, which seems to be really good against green decks, always doing 5+ damage. I’m pretty sad that I lost but play the last round anyway and win it without too much trouble.
After this round is over the head judge comes up to me and asks me if he can have a word with me. I sense trouble but listen anyway and our conversation goes like this:
“You know, some other head judges would have ruled differently with that game loss.”
“Are saying that you screwed up there?”
“No, I’m just a very strict judge.”
“All right, then let me put it this way: Could I say, when I’m out with my friends tonight, having a beer in the local pub, that I got f**ked by the head judge?”
“I’d just say you were unlucky.”
And that is it.
So in the end I win stone nothing, probably courtesy of some of my smaller mistakes. I liked hanging out with everyone though, making the trip worthwhile anyway.
Next up: my PT LA report where I may or may not have done better, all without using a single [[Lightning Angel]!
Ruud
PS: Yeah, I realize I don’t get away with not telling you guys about those two DQs. They always used to post DQs on the GP webpage, making for some spicy Trey Van Cleave, Ryan Fuller or Dan Clegg stories. Nowadays you have to hear stuff second hand, and that’s where I come in, as your personal gossip journalist! Disclaimer: everything is heard second hand and therefore may not be entirely true. But hey, everyone reads Osyp’s articles…
DQ 1: I heard about this on day 1 but decided to ask it the man himself why he got DQ’d when I talked to him on the second day. Johnny Chapman told me that for some reason the recorded his first losses wrongly and that he got 6 points for them in the standings and pairings. Either by being stoned or by just being an idiot (his words) he didn’t report it and the WotC crew, sharp as always, found out, then disqualified. There’s probably a nice lesson in there for the aspiring Magic player, but you’re all smart enough to figure that one out by yourself.
DQ2: This story is even better. I have no clue who this is about, only heard it’s a German guy. Apparently this guy handed in his deck registration sheet ten seconds late and received a game loss for this offence, courtesy of the head judge. Afterwards he told the story to a friend and went off about “that stupid head judge this” and “that stupid head judge that”. When someone passed by and ask him what happened he told her his antics with the same amount of negativity. Her reply: “that stupid head judge is my husband”. Thanks for playing, penalty upgraded to DQ.