Trying To Get To Praguers, Part 2

February 25th was the Seattle qualifier for Prague. That Saturday was a perfect day for a Pro Tour Qualifier, because on the 24th, I had a birthday. See? Sure, Friday is a fine day for a party, but then you have that icky hangover at the big tournament the next day. However, delaying the festivities by 24 hours let’s us play the PTQ clear of mind and body, then get everyone in the tournament down to the bar for some drinky drink fun. All my Magic friends were at the event; all my non-Magic friends were asked to meet us at the bar at 9PM. No chance of things going past that time, methought.

An astonishing 130 competitors showed up to the tournament. Here’s a picture that should make any player’s heart swell with pride.

My day started off with a cup of coffee and half a bagel. Not an amazing breakfast for fuel, but it’s enough wake-up power to build a deck right. Lunch would be later in the day, and a little more sustaining.

The registration portion was an exercise in fear, as I opened a deck of utter garbage. I’m pretty sure the correct build of that deck was twenty-four creatures and sixteen lands ::shudder::. Luckily, I did not receive those cards back. Here are the materials I was given. Only thirty minutes to create? No problem, the deck is already in there. One merely has to chisel away the scraps.

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I hope this one didn’t take too long. White is completely unplayable, so it’s right out. Green and Red and Blue have the strongest cards, with Black having a teeny bit of appeal. I knew right away it was going to be R/G/u, but was it worth adding the Black for Last Gasp? That card took about ten minutes to figure out, after the first twenty-three were so easy. The Aqueduct, Elves of Deep Shadow, and Terrarion did make it close, as did the Izzet Chronarch… at first. However, that Chronarch is kind of misleading, since only one of those three sources is actually reliable. I knew a Swamp was asking too much, and I just didn’t feel comfortable trying to get fancy with the mana with a deck this solid. Here’s what I registered:

Torpid Moloch, while terrible, was in there just to trade with something stupid while I get my excellent cards online. Also, I was running maybe half a land more than I needed so the Moloch could dome for three in some weird scenario. This logic was almost, but not quite, correct. True, Torpid Moloch trades with a Greater Mossdog or whatever. However, my mistake was misevaluating how strong I thought my deck was. I knew it wasn’t perfect (a Compulsive Research and Pyromatics would give it that label). I did think I should win almost any game that goes really late, and that’s just not so. My mana is fantastic, my curve is good, and I have some bombs, but in no way is this the strongest deck in the room. In the beginning, the Moloch was acceptable, but as I ran into stronger and stronger decks, it was getting outclassed. The Terrarion and Moloch should be switched, although the Moloch is a fine sideboard card and can come in at a moment’s notice. For the most part, especially since my opponents on the day were so solid, the Terrarion got put in every time. Occasionally Spawnbroker came in as well, and I did look at Primeval Light once or twice. One to two mistakes in deckbuilding; getting better.

And just like that, it was fight time. Eight rounds, 130 players.

Round 1: Jason Powell
Game 1: Things definitely started out tough this time. Jason Powell is a solid player with a great deck. Hits include: double Silhana Starfletcher and double Douse in Gloom, in addition to the classic Moroii/Ribbons of Night combination.

My opening hand in game 1 has Savage Twister, as well as a Signet, Fangtail, and Greater Forgeling. A fine aggressive start, but it also gave me the option for the slowplay-Twister move as well. No need to decide now, we’ll see how the game progresses. Regardless, Fangtail was the right turn 3 play. My plans solidified a bit when Jason played Moroii and started Shell Dredge Shelling it. At this juncture I was forced into aggro, so down came Forgeling and we continue to trade hits. On the board Jason had the win. At five life apiece, he had a 6/6 Moroii and two Starfletchers to block my two guys. However, I still had the Twister. On my main phase, I ping Jason with Fangtail and Twist for 3. The only creatures left are my Forgeling and his tapped Moroii so in Forgeling came…

Jason: “Pump?”
Me: “Nah, I don’t think so”

This brought J down to one. Upkeep, Moroii, the end.

Game 2: On the draw, I seem to be a step behind Jason’s aggressive start. Jason’s Gruul Guildmage is tough, and his kicked Ribbons on my Fangtail is devastating. We’re trading cards when I can, but I can’t touch his life total. I finally manage to kill the Gruul Guildmage at three life so of course Jason Exhumer Thrull’s it back. Jason untaps with ten mana, plays the Guildmage and studies the board. I look innocent and sad and sure enough Jason takes the bait and throws two land at me, tapping out. I sacrifice my Gristleback, Jason says “d’oh”, and I start going on a killing spree on his team. Even though I’m at one life, I’m finally able to begin attacking. Jason looks slightly disgruntled until he flips Steamcore Weird off the top.

Game 3: So sad, I mulligan on the play and keep a one land-signet draw. Two lands in a row, and I get to play a turn 3 Molten Sentry. HEADS. Pow, five damage. Next turn I draw another land, Savant his guy and hit for another five, down to ten life. On his turn, Jason plays a two-power creature. At this point I’m holding Flash Conscription, so if I draw another land I take his guy and kill him right there. Alas, I do not, so I just attack and do three more points. Twenty to seven, Jason spends his turn to Dream Leash my Savant, and now Jason has all the creatures in play. I draw Galvanic Arc so I could kill my creature, but Arc looks tasty with Jason at seven, especially with Mr. Sparkmage Apprentice in hand. I keep waiting for my window to steal a three-power and attack unhindered, but Jason always ends his turn with some freshly cast dork. Finally I get my chance and Flash my own Savant to do three more points. Jason swings his guys back and drops me to four. On my turn, hoping neither of his cards are Douse in Gloom, I Arc and Spark. Jason flashes me the Ribbons and said he was thinking of using it on one of his guys but chose not to, and good luck.

Whew! Round 1 is not supposed to be that tough.

1-0

Round 2: Mark McNelly
Game 1: What I remember about Mark was this tired posture, an almost apathetic manner, yet Mark loved attacking. I could tell; every time he attacked with some creatures he was totally into it. This match was also the first time I whipped out my play mat, ever. It’s a sharp looking mat, but cumbersome.

Matt went Mountain, Plains, Thundersong Trumpeter; Forest, Moldervine Cloak. That’s a pretty good start. I have the quick Fangtail, but that’s what Faith’s Fetters is for. That’s okay; I get to Savage Twister the board. Mark gives me a turn to get a little damage in, which gives me a kicked Gristleback. That’s helpful later when a Skyknight Legionnaire finds the very same Moldervine Cloak that plagued me previous. At five life Drift steps in front for a turn, and then Gristleback lets me go to three. I’ve got lots of mana and some decent cards at this point, but I really need one of the two bounce spells. Woot, a Repeal off the top… but how best to use it? Mark has a Votary of the Conclave, Order of the Stars (Red), and that 5/5 flyer, in addition to six mana. Conventional wisdom would be to bounce on his turn, in case I can trap him for an extra card. Obviously that makes no sense; Mark is not going to put a Galvanic Arc on it before attacking. So instead, I randomly main phase Repeal it. As hoped, Mark dredges back the Cloak and plays Legionnaire and Cloak in the same breath. In response to the Cloak, as well as Mark tapping out, I Cleansing Beam the 2/2 Red and White creature. This crushes his attacking team, which is obviously nice when there’s a Cloak in the grave. My fatter guys start coming in and a Galvanic Arc finishes Mark off.

Game 2: This was a little less exciting. I have a strong tempo draw ending in Ogre Savant and Repeal while Mark is missing a color. I take a few points here and there but Mark is on the back foot until the end.

2-0

(Mark McNelly)

Thirteen top 8 pins on the mat, which is why I never bring it anywhere. It’s kinda heavy, especially with a Mortal Kombat pin in one corner and a JFK campaign button on the other side. I think Kennedy has a really good shot at winning the presidency before being removed by one.

Round 3: Josh Lytle
Josh is both a staunch Conservative and he used to write for the other site, so that’s two strikes against him. He’s also a friendly and intelligent guy, and I enjoy talking with him, so I guess it’s okay. While this was his pre-release, he’s definitely a competent player; not a pairing I was particularly fond of.

Game 1: On the play I keep a draw with all my colors, but it’s slightly mana heavy. I really have no problem tossing hands like that, but Josh was looking annoyed with his initial seven (Never look at your hand until they choose!), and besides, all the colors at once is a nice gift. I keep, and Josh sticks with his next six. Unfortunately for me, that next six is pretty good and I’m taking beats while continuing to flood. It’s obvious Josh has no idea Savage Twister is around; if not in the format, than at least in my deck. It’s also obvious that I need said X spell pretty quickly or I was going to go down. I didn’t draw it, but near the end of the game, an unusual situation came up:

Josh tapped a Plains, Elves of Deep Shadow, and Gruul Signet to play a kicked Shrieking Grotesque, and I dutifully pitched a Mountain. An astute reader may notice there’s no way to get White and Black mana out of that tapping scheme, which is something both Josh and I missed. However, a spectator jumped in and did point that fact out to us. This was kind of interesting, since the Good Samaritan was completely correct, but also out of line in pointing something like that out in a game in progress. Josh and I were playing at table one, which was right near the judge station. A nearby judge saw this exchange and pulled the observer aside for a conversation. Josh and me didn’t much care about the Grotesque; it was pretty obvious the Mountain was not going to affect things one way or another. Josh admitted his tapping error, I picked up the land and we continued. The judge asked if we needed assistance or a ruling, and we told him we had it covered. I still didn’t draw the Twister in time and lost.

Unfortunately for the spectator, it wasn’t the end of the story. The judges conferred and decided to award the man a game loss, applicable to his beginning of round 4. I was frankly shocked at the severity of the ruling, although I still cannot say it was right or wrong. No one thought there was anything shady going on (he wasn’t my confederate or the like); I imagine the judges just wanted to send a message to other competitors, as well as avoid the appearance of favoritism. I still don’t know how I feel about the punishment for such a well-intentioned infraction. I can see both sides, and I’d be curious to hear from the readers their thoughts on the matter.

Game 2: This was a blowout. I don’t have detailed notes, but I didn’t take a point of damage. I suppose Josh was missing mana, but more importantly, there almost certainly wasn’t a Savage Twister from my side. There’s definitely a card you like to show for the first time in game three.

Game 3: A very interesting game. Despite the relative imbalance of the first two, they did take a while. In addition, game 3 had both of us with strong cards and all our mana, so no automatic wins. Savage Twister definitely made its first appearance, and of course it was a wrecking ball. I think Josh did it see it coming; I didn’t play much for the first few turns. He had out a Wayfinder with a Fists of Ironwood on it and didn’t want to play anything else. But…

Josh: “I’m not going to give you anything more for your Savage Twister”
Me: “Ok, don’t”
Josh: “Greater Mossdog”
Me: “Twister for 3”
Josh: “…”

Anyway, I attack and he lets it through, going very low. That’s nice, but we are in turns here. I play Izzet Chronarch and get back Repeal, less useful with Privileged Position in play but not awful. I could have gotten back Savage and locked up a draw, but c’mon.

Josh, needing for me to mis-click badly, double lures my two untapped creatures. I Fang him down and block with Chronarch. He thinks and tries to off it, I Repeal it in response. He blows it up again, which is fine because now he’s mostly tapped out. He especially didn’t have the Green to recurse it (played a land before attacking). Josh studies the board for a quite a while but in the end he knows he’s done and extends the hand.

Whew! Round 3 is not supposed to be this tough!

3-0

Here’s a picture of the very end of game 3. Note my handwriting on the notepad. Very poor. My mommy says I can be a doctor when I grow up!

Round 4: Lucas
Game 1: Lucas, whose last name was apparently too intimidating to write down, was a gentleman I didn’t recognize. At the 3-0 level, you have to give the guy credit for a strong deck, so I figured I was in for a bit of a fight. What I didn’t expect was the colossal rout game 1 turned out to be.

My opener is just Green and Blue mana, with Flight of Fancy and some of the better Red cards. It’s not ideal but I figure the Flight gives me enough opportunity to find the missing color, of which I have an awful lot of in the deck. Lucas’ turn 3 play is Searing Meditation, soon followed by a Sunhome Enforcer. Troublesome. I’m putting the right guys in the right place, but I’m still hamstrung by the missing color. My Bramble Elemental gets Faith’s Fettered, which was a double whammy with Searing in play. Despite drawing as many cards as I can, I continue to only draw Forests. At very low life, still facing that Enforcer and now a Mourning Thrull, I have to pack it in.

Game 2: Searing Meditation, huh… Well, the effect is powerful enough, but it’s so inconsistent. Should I bring in something to deal with it? I mull this over during sideboarding time, but ultimately go with the old standby: kill them before they kill you. Primeval Light was a little tempting, but it just wasn’t enough. Plus, my deck still contained The Man.

For all that consideration, game 2 wasn’t really much of a game at all. Lucas had no White, I had Green and Red and ended things pretty quickly. My notes indicate something with six power… Streetbreaker? Greater Forgeling? No matter.

Game 3: Besides that Thrull, Fetters and Enforcer, Lucas’ deck also had Lightning Helix. Maybe Searing Meditation did have a place. My big move this game was getting my Bramble Elemental Fettered again. This was great; next turn I played The Man (a.k.a. Nullmage Advocate). For The Man, she’s great. Her, plus tokens, plus an incapacitated Elemental equal a lively eight points of power. Lucas, after his lifegain spells were gone, did play the Searing Meditation late into the game. I’m embarrassed to say I considered sparing an attack to kill it. I don’t know what that was all about, but I came to my senses and kept swinging. The team was good enough.

4-0

While I was playing Lucas, some people came up and discussed my playmat, specifically the top 8 pins. I heard gems like “nobody could have won that many”(untrue), “he got them all on eBay”(untrue), and “all those top 8s, he probably never actually won one”(untrue, but getting truer). That’s the other reason I never use the playmat. It’s too cool! Very unfair for the rubes.

Also on the spectator front, an eliminated young man came and asked us if he could watch the match. I think it’s great that he was interested in watching people to presumably improve his game, and I liked his politeness in asking if he could intrude to do so. However, there was one problem. Game 1 I had that flood problem, and every time I drew another Forest, he would audibly suck in his breath and/or sigh. Now if I could hear him, Lucas could have too. So after the game I had to ask him to leave, for my own sake. Most spectators are pretty good about keeping their reactions in check, but it can still be a problem. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I think something like eleventy hundred games of Magic have been won or lost due to reactions from the audience. It’s definitely not fair for anyone, and like what happened here, sometimes that means asking someone to leave. If you have people behind you and your opponent keeps darting his eyes up, you should probably tell those watchers to go somewhere else. Odds are there’s nothing malicious going on, but why waste precious mental energy concerning yourself with factors like that? You gotta do what you gotta do. I told the spectator afterwards why I asked him to leave. He said he understood, apologized, and was totally courteous the rest of the day.

Round 5: Geoff Ziegler
Good old Geoff is a Northwest staple, but is usually seen slinging the Moxen and Loti, as opposed to the Limited environments. He’s a nice enough guy, and I hate him very, very much.

Game 1: Geoff has some early Mourning Thrull action, but I’m just biding my time. Soon enough, Twister comes and I get 453453654:1. Pook Pook Pook went Geoff’s life total and that was that.

Game 2: This was by far the most frustrating game of the tournament. On the draw, I’m always a step behind Geoff’s monsters. The mana was a real issue this game; I was stuck on four for far too long. Finally, finally, I started drawing the lands I needed to be able to deal with his guys and start making a comeback. Geoff is at something silly, like twenty-seven to my five (Loxodon Hierarch was brutal), but at least I can begin attacking.

At the late, late game I have out some creatures, which include a brand new, Fangtail and an Elvish Skysweeper, versus Geoff’s Mausoleum Turnkey. After tapping mana for my new creatures, I’m left with a choice. I still have four mana untapped, as well as a land in my hand. I could play the land, but I don’t really see a reason to. The only effect I need five for is Skysweeper. Geoff is G/W/B, so why bother? On the other hand, he could play Strands of Undeath or Shrieking Grotesque, and in that instance, having a pitchable land would be very useful. So I don’t play the land and Geoff draws and drops a backbreaker: Pollenbright Wings. Ugh, did not see that coming. So I take the hit down to two and Geoff makes some Saprolings.

I untap and study the board. I’ve got the five mana for Skysweeper. I’ve got a Terrarion untapped, as well as five more mana. Here I make the really big error and play a bounce land instead of another regular one. I had Flash Conscription in my hand but my thought process was that I was going to need that extra mana later. After all, I don’t need Flash right now; based on the board I’m still alive… but what’s this? Scatter the Seeds? Oh, that’s enough to kill me. Had I played that sixth regular mana I could have Flash Conscripted through the Terrarion, gained some life and actually been in okay shape. But I didn’t, and I died. The Skysweeper mana turn I’m ok with; Pollenbright versus two common discard spells. But the Flash mana, that was just silly. Looking back on it, I was probably tilting. Either way, two missed land drops and the game was gone.

Game 3: Speaking of missing drops, another game decided by mana. I manage to kill the Hierarch the first time, but Turnkey is disaster. Then, those damn Wings. I’m just too short on mana to stay alive, and I go down in a hail of flying elephant. Sigh.

4-1

I’m mad at this point, so I go outside and walk around to cool off. I shake it off when I realize I’m just that much closer to getting to the party. Now it’s a win/win scenario. With new resolve to play my best and not actually care about the outcomes (fine philosophy regardless), I head back into the fray.

Round 6: Dan Diamant
It’s never fun having to play your friends, much less ones you’ve traveled across the state and practiced constantly with. Still, it means we’re doing something right, meeting this late into the tournament, with very positive records. We had shown each other our decks at the beginning of the day, but that was a very long time ago. I had no idea what he was playing at all. He might not have remembered my deck either, except every free chance I got I galloped around the room with the two Signets, Savage Twister, and the foil Steam Vents, shouting “look what I got, look what I got!”

Game 1: Dan flips up Forests and Plains this game, but they don’t do a whole lot. My Ex-peri-ience in the format indicates Dan is missing a color. Sure ‘nuff, Dan inhales some quick beats. He finds his Red in the last couple of turns, but it’s not soon enough.

Game 2: This game was one of those fun affairs where each player is so aggressive. Trading beats and spells back and forth, never giving up an opportunity to do points at any point possible. As often happens in this kind of thing, we stop to breathe and take stock after many turns of back and forth. Dan forced my Twister at a time where I wasn’t able to take advantage of it. The real problem was being forcing to put Flight of Fancy on his Trophy Hunter. The Hunter itself was giving my hand fits. I was planning on just Repealing it later on, but something else required my attention, so Dan was allowed to keep shocking me. I do manage to Savant the Trophy Hunter but Dan ups the ante in a big way with Chorus of the Conclave. And collectively, they Forestwalk! Ants at a picnic.

Dan’s upgraded from Shocks to Bolts. I Chronarch back the Savage Twister, hoping I’ll be alive long enough to use it for ten. Dan hits me down to five and plays a bigggg Trophy Hunter. I trickily attack with the Chronarch and Dan asked me if I had played a land. I said no and Dan blocked anyway with the 9/10 Trophy Hunter. Sure enough, I threw down a necessary land and Twistered away the entire board. Dan looked annoyed until he threw down a hasted Gruul Scrapped and Helixed me out. Oh yeah, I totally remembered: Dan had Lightning Helix.

Game 3: We had about seventeen minutes left for the final game. There were so many people in the tournament that it’s possible a 6-2 was going to make it, but 6-1-1 was a sure thing. On the other hand, neither one of us actually wanted a draw.

I had sided in Spawnbroker for game 3, on the assumption I could trade a Scrapper or bloodthirst guy for Conclave. I had a three power guy in play and Spawnbroker in my hand for a while in the beginning too. Earlier, Dan had played Civic Wayfinder and gotten his second Plains and confidently slammed it down. I assumed this meant he had the Chorus in hand and was getting ready to pump it out as soon as possible. And I’d be ready. Unfortunately, my read was a little off, to the tune of one Chorus of the Conclave. It wasn’t the end of the world; there was never a great time to use the Spawnbroker anyway. I did take an extra hit because I wanted to save and trade the Scrapper, but only for one turn. Since Chorus didn’t materialize, it was traded off at the next opportunity.

Unfortunately through all of this, Dan was the aggressor and I was on the backpedal. I wasn’t doing the damage necessary to actually win the game, so the new plan was play for the draw. I hate being in that role. You’re forced to “play bad,” and you’re doing it for a single match point, which sucks for you and screws over your opponent as well. Alas, the hand we’re dealt.

With Spawnbroker still in hand and a ton of mana in play I drew Flash Conscription. Spawny plus Flash is a pretty slick combo, but there just wasn’t anything worth taking. I kept looking, but it never materialized. Dan made his grand error a little later on and blew his Fiery Conclusion a touch too early. This allowed me to make a solid Flash trade on his two best guys, useful since time had just been called. At six life I drew Savage Twister, perhaps locking the draw or perhaps leaving me wide open for haste plus pump/burn if I blew my load too fast. That turn, 2/5, was (I believe) my longest of the tournament. Over and over in my head I kept doing probabilities, trying to figure out exactly what was my greatest chance of staying alive. Finally I laid out some guys and passed. Doing it this way meant I was going to take two damage, but I was comfortable at four. In addition, it gave me an extra card in hand to weather my own wind storm, giving me something more in case Dan had a trick. The turn played out as expected and I dropped to four. On my turn I blew up the world and passed, Repeal still in hand. On the final turn, Dan flips me the Lightning Helix and the grip of lands, pissed at himself for making the big mistake that cost him the win. I could sympathize.

4-1-1

Well the slight advantage to the draw is that we can both make top 8. Win out the last two and we’ll be having some Draft fun. I’m not a fan of the situation of being forced to win out (who is?) but it’s better than elimination.

Here’s a photo of Nate Saunders and Gabe Carleton-Barnes. Nate also had a recent birthday, and Gabe just has a fantastic fashion sense.

We should all be so lucky.

Round 7: Eric Reasoner
Readers may remember Mr. Reasoner from part one as yet another traveling and testing companion. Again, we seemed to have a good handle on the format, enough to get us all strong win percentages. Eric was playing my favorite combination, the one I was lucky enough to open.

Game 1: Eric showed me his deck at the beginning of the day too. I remembered it was R/G/U, and that it had good spells and bad critters. I suppose if Eric got color screwed in the first game I’d have a chance, but that sounds pretty unlikely…

Game 2: This time it was my turn to have mana troubles, of the flooding variety. My first play was to transmute Drift (O Compulsive Research, I miss thee) and pick up a Galvanic Arc, a great card to telegraph against G/U. A little later Greater Forgeling took the Arc and started doing his 6/1 first strike magic. Sounds good, right? Well sure, except all this time Eric is wrecking the rest of my minimal team with Wildsizes and Gazes of the Gorgon.

(Nothing gets a brother more action than correct plural usage.)

Anyway, Eric was throwing guys in front of mine at the right time, while doing unpleasant bounce/Chronarch tricks. For a while, I was ahead on the life race; perhaps I was winning in a technical sense. However, both Eric and I knew I was getting drowned in an avalanche of card disadvantage. Soon enough it was my empty grip versus Eric four cards. You know what happened next… For those that need closure: Repeal.

Game 3: Now, the fun game. Eric insisted I report his two major errors this game, like I wouldn’t have anyway. I do wonder if I could have won without Eric mistakes, but lord knows they sure made things easier.

Eric on the play and leads with Gatherer of Graces and Civic Wayfinder. Half of that is a pretty good start. Off a Signet, I play Nullmage McAwesome. Eric, before playing his fourth land, attacks with both his 1/2 and 2/2. Hmm, that’s an easy block. Nullers steps in front of the 1/2 chicky. Eric confidently plays Wildsize on it and I confidently give him the thumbs up.

Teachers, I love them, they’re great. Such a boon to society. Sometimes I wonder how these unsung heroes can do their job day in and day out, fighting crazy kids, angry parents, and teeny tiny paychecks. But I think I have it figured out. For one, they’re good people who want better for society. For another, once in a great while a little kid will have that flash of recognition where they get it. It’s a great feeling, to know the person you’re talking to finally gets it, and you know they’ll remember the lesson for a very long time. In Magic, if you’re lucky, you’ll get to witness something similar.

Eric, to casting Wildsize: “Any response?”
Me, tapped out: “Nope.”
Eric, smiling, confident: “I pass.”
Me, giggling on the inside, stony on the outside: “Yeah, I guess I pass.”
Eric, smiling even more broadly, if possible: “Damage…?”
Me, fake sighing: “Yeah, damage.”
(some pen scratches)
Me: “All done?”
Eric: “Ummmm…”
Me, eyebrow raised: “hmmm…?”
Eric: “Ummmm…”
Me:, smiling: “hmmmm…?”
Eric: “…
…
…
…
…
…
…

$#%#$%#$%#$^!!!”

Oh man, it made my day. That was mistake one, and while it may look like no real loss, try to imagine the tempo of wasting your fourth turn, plus pointlessly cycling a very good card. That window game me time to set up, start doing my own damage and develop a board presence. Still a very intense game. Eric Chronarched back the Wildsize but actually never had a chance to cast it until the very last turn (to avoid dying – it didn’t work).

A little ways later, Eric has out a Siege Wurm and dorks minor versus some quality fat on my side of the table, including the wonderful Null(ifytheirchancesofwinning)Mage Advocate. Eric, once again showing brazen, bizarrely inappropriate confidence, taps out to slip a Wurmweaver Coil onto his Siege Wurm. He reflects on turning it sideways for a good couple of minutes, while I’m projecting “attack” “attack” “attack” beams to his head. Once again telepathy fails me as Eric passes, presumably to have mana open for the Coil sacrifice and/or Wildsize. End step, tap four peoples and pop the Coil. In retrospect, that made my day.

Now those are decent mistakes, but still Eric was in it. I’ve got Fangtail pinging when I can, but basically we’re just amassing armies. Eric, with Wildsize and mystery card in hand, is really putting down a lot of creatures. I’m matching him on the army front, and I have Repeal in the grip. However, it’s not a sure thing. Eric has Chronarch in play, so if he draws a Peel from Reality, or just decides to play the one he’s holding, I’m going to take some very big hits. At nine life to Eric seven, I draw Galvanic Arc. Now it’s decision time. Yes, if those other two cards in his hand are nothing I can kill Eric this turn. But if either one is a bounce card, or even a Runeboggle(!), I’ve very much blown my load. I thought about waiting, but in the end I had to go for it. The card that forced my hand was a card Eric didn’t even have anywhere near his card pool: Predatory Focus. It was a major out, even though it turns out it didn’t exist. That was part of it. The other was giving Eric extra turns to draw the cards I was afraid of is just stupid. So I toss Arc onto his Siege Wurm and it resolves, three to his face. I attempt to Repeal Arc. Eric grimaces and cycles Wildsize (again). Nothing flips up, and the second Arc plus Fangtail wins the match. Eric next card? Peel From Reality.

5-1-1

Still on the freeroll. Make the Draft or make the party. It was getting on, too; maybe quarter to eight at this point. Dan won his last round as well, so we’re doing some scouting. At the end of round 7 there were two other 5-1-1s, and both were quality players with very strong decks. One guy had Gleancrawler and Moldervine Cloak all over the place; the other seemed to have infinite Pyromatics and what looked like six Glares of Subdual (oh yeah, you like that, don’t ya baby). I really had no preference which of the decks I was matched up against; both were way better than mine. What else is new? I thought my deck was good in the beginning of the day and all I’ve seen were sick builds, where every damn match was a gigantic struggle from behind. Magic is really fun sometimes.

Round 8: Ty “Scanman” Scandora (Gleancrawler/Cloak guy)
Ty’s deck appeared to be very hard on his mana, but with a lot of reasons to try. Besides the Moldervine Cloak, Ty had a big Dredge engine, quite impressive for Sealed. The standard removal spell suite was, of course, a key player.

Game 1: I have to say, this is the game I’m most proud of. Ty’s opening was so strong, that if I made any single play differently on the fifteen to twenty turns of the game, I’m 100% gone.

Ty’s deck was four colors, mostly Green and Black, but with a little Blue and a tiny bit of Red. Ty starts off with Transluminant and Izzet Guildmage, fine early drops. In addition, Ty already has me behind with Darkblast, which he’s been copying with Izzet Guildmage to good effect. I get in a position to kill both of his guys, suspiciously, when whoops, Gleancrawler comes down and brings them both back. Okay…

I’ve got Savage Twister, and Ty knows I have the Twister (in my deck, at the very least), but I’m nowhere near eight mana. I’m continually chumping, looking for more mana, when I take another gigantic hit after Izzet doubles a Last Gasp. Ogre Savant bounces Gleany for a turn, and ends up trading another creature back to Ty’s hand during the end step. At this point I did manage to kill the two 2/2s, and Ty wisely refrained from playing them again. At 3 life, my move is forced and I Twister away just the Insect Horror. Ty retorts with those same irritating two drops. I Arc the Izzet Guildmage, finally, and play Forgeling. Ty upkeep Darkblasts my Forgeling and dredges it back, revealing Moldervine Cloak, and attacks with Transluminant yet again. I’m forced to take it to one life, but now I have a plan.

My hand is Flight of Fancy, Scab-Clan Mauler, a land, and Elvish Skysweeper. The Skysweeper was near worthless, due to that Darkblast, but at nine mana it picked up a little appeal. Forgeling attacks and drops Ty to fifteen (or something silly). But it did its purpose; it allowed me a kicked Scab-Clan Mauler. There were a lot of people watching this game, and a few went aside to talk. I couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but I think it was something like, “why the hell not play Flight of Fancy there?” Well, why play it? I’ve already got the cards I was hoping to draw.

Anyway, the 3/3 comes down versus Ty’s Transluminant. Now Ty is forced to dredge something, either double Darkblast or Moldervine Cloak. The Cloak is the right call, and he puts it on the Transluminant, all according to plan. Once again, the only way to deal with Cloak is to get the enchantment plus every single creature dead. Ty was dredging like crazy, and that Cloak grab put his library very low, enough so that he couldn’t return a revealed Stinkweed Imp. Ty attacks with the 5/5 and I block with my 3/3.

On my turn I play Flight of Fancy on the Transluminant and draw the tenth land I needed. Skysweeper comes down and sacrifices himself right away to kill the Transluminant. Now at one life, it’s my Forgeling versus Ty’s empty board and his very small library. Forgeling sticks around and a few turns later, Ty was out of cards and I was up a game. Leaning back, I doled out the high-fives to everyone, just for coming back in a game that looked hopeless.

Game 2: This game also turned out to be pretty exciting. Ty once again gets an early start, with Stinky doing some work leading into a pumped Gristleback. I’ve got Nullenstein in play for blocking, although Last Gasp or Darkblast is a concern. Ty removes me from the equation by playing a Moldervine Cloak to Gristleback, which is a fine combo in addition to the general 6/6ness of it. Smash. I play a third creature and take another fat blow from Gristleback and Stinky. At six land and five life, I pass with all my guys and mana up, about to make the grand play. Ty, before attacking, puts a Fists of Ironwood on the Gristleback, which changes things slightly. He attacks with the 6/6 trampler and Stinky. Casting Flash Conscription, I grab the Stinkweed Imp, block the Gristleback, and tap my (now) four creatures to remove the Fists, so as not to die to trample damage. Ty made a mistake here and let damage go on the stack before sacrificing Gristleback, allowing me to kill his Stinky. Ty was visibly shaken by this move, which left him only two tokens and a Transluminant versus my Fangtail, Null, and Streetbreaker Wurm. On my turn I Savant the Transluminant and attack with everything. Ty begins chumping with tokens and dredging Stinkweed. I find a Skysweeper to use to continuously chuck creatures at Stinkers and keep attacking. This continued for a couple of turns; my luck was drawing a steady stream of creatures to throw at the recursed Imp. Ty was too far behind and never got a chance to stabilize, short his Darkblast or Gleancrawler.

6-1-1

Whoop, top 8, another pin. Nice, no doubt, but it was already 8:30 at this point and I was planning for the party to start at 9:00. They delayed the final Draft while I made phone calls to tell folk the party was being pushed back a bit. It was around this point I realized I hadn’t eaten since that “breakfast”. My buddy Mike offered to run to the grocery store to get us something. I asked him to grab me some water and a sandwich at the deli. Mike, what a swell guy, came back with rice pudding, a pickle (Hebrew National, natch), and a package of Lunchables!? The pudding and half a pickle were great. The weird thing to me is just how sated someone can feel at these events. I had literally only eaten a cup of coffee and half a bagel for almost twenty hours, yet there wasn’t even the hint of hunger. One-third Adrenaline and two-thirds focus is all one needs to keep a body going, and at no cost. We got to drafting.

My favorite style is Dimir into Izzet. Lots of power, tons of potential. I’ve heard this is everyone’s favorite style, but I knew from last time I was going to do my best to avoid Green. It’s the most popular Sealed Deck color, and by extension, the most popular Draft color in a Sealed top 8. The Dimir plan went pretty well. My first pack, the relevant cards were Peel from Reality, Shambling Shell, Selesnya Evangel, and foil Peel From Reality. The Evangel got a look, but I took the foil Peel. I had a plan and I wanted to stick with it.

The packs, for the most part, cooperated well enough. I took a little White in the beginning, just on the chance I wanted to Dimir into Orzhov. On pack two, I received a nice gift of a fourth pick Moroii. In Guildpact I opened Steamcore Weird and never looked back, including an insane fifth pick Gelectrode; possibly the second strongest uncommon in the set. Now, the strange thing was that the person on my right played the exact same colors as me, although his card rankings were obviously much different. Nobody around us was Blue, and there was only one other Blue drafter at the table (mostly), so me and my daddy were still in fine shape for goods. If anyone is wondering, he took a third Chronarch to go with his three Peels instead of the Gelectrode. We agreed later this was a mistake. I found out much later that Geoff Ziegler, the drafter on my left (whom I hate) had opened Cerulean Sphinx as the G/B/W drafter and decided to pick it up for some reason, although he did pass the Moroii later on. Geoff ended up running the Sphinx with double Searchlight in the deck, yet I have to wonder on how my deck would have looked with the 5/5 flyer playing clean up. Ah well, here’s the final version.

It’s not overwhelming with power, but I do like this deck. It has synergy, card advantage, and evasion, and that a good deck makes. The Muddle the Mixture was the last card, and it was close between that or Dogpile or Runeboggle. Ultimately I went with Muddle, because of Alex Rockwell. He was the man on my right, and he was playing the same colors. His deck, despite being short one Gelectrode, was sick and I thought there was a good chance we’d meet in the finals. If so, that Muddle was going to come in mighty handy. The Sewerdreg was because I needed guys, although it turned out to be excellent.

By the by, another top 8 competitor was March Chalice of PCL fame. This is a team maybe one reader is raising his walker to in salute. Chalice still plays and he’s still got it! Who knew?

Top 8 Erik Nickerson
Game 1: This was a nicer guy, maybe mid-thirties, who seemed a little inexperienced with the format. Erik was playing hardcore B/U/W, with Keening Banshee and Belltower Sphinx as his best cards. That’s quite good against this deck, but Erik’s build was overall quite slow. My early creatures and tricks just kept coming, and Mark of Eviction was exactly what was needed at the right time. Both Stinkweed Imps were too much to deal with.

Game 2: I got flooded this game, and lost because of it. Erik didn’t get his Black mana until late, but I just had too many lands to take advantage. When he did draw his Swamp, he played Tattered Drake with the regen mana backup. I had out a fresh-cast Stinkweed Imp, along with Gelectrode. Erik looks at the board and starts to ask the judge what happens if I block with Stinks and ping with Gelectrode, will he lose his drake i.e. does he have to regenerate twice? The table judge starts to answer, and starts to answer incorrectly. I interrupt and explain the judge isn’t allowed to give prophetic answers like that, which is true. The table judge looks startled and agrees, and says he can’t answer a question phrased in that manner. Nonplussed, Erik attacks with the Tattered Drake. I ping it during combat and block with the Imp. Sure enough, it needs to double-regen… and since Erik can’t pay for it, the Drake dies. Erik asked the judge if this was so, and the judge agreed. I’m not exactly sure what was going on with the judge reversing himself (or whatever), but I chalk it up to him being very tired after a long day. No slops to Crazy Tony for a mistake from an underling. After the match, Tony and the judge had a long talk and everyone, except Mr. Nickerson, was better for it.

I still lost the game; too much mana. The real kick in the jimmies was my Sewerdreg getting Frazzled. After that, and Erik’s Exhumer Thrull, I was done.

Erik was really happy to win that game, saying he was glad we “now had a match”. Good attitude.

Game 3: Erik was missing one of his colors this game, which ended up being decisive. Daggerclaw and Stinkweed Imps come out quick and start taking big chunks out of Erik’s life total. I hold back on Dimir House Guard for a turn, afraid of Frazzle, but it didn’t matter. Erik’s final turn was to combo out Poisonbelly Ogre and Hunted Horror (yeah), because Erik wanted to “going out in style”. Indeed.

Semifinals: Bryan Peterson
Bryan’s a nice guy who either judges an event or makes the top 4. Doesn’t seem like much of a choice to me, but Bryan’s a good guy.

Game 1: Drooling Groodion is in a word, trouble. I’m messing around with Mark of Eviction and House-Guard and flyers, but Scatter The Seeds really drives the disadvantage home. In a fit of benevolence, Bryan allows me to trade nineteen creatures to kill his Groodion before playing the second one. GG

Game 2: Aside from Scatter, I didn’t see many spells from Bryan’s deck, so I switch the Muddle for Runeboggle.

We trade some cards for a while, and I’m purposely dredging Stinky quite a bit. The reasons are clear when I play Dimir Infiltrator and slip a Necromantic Thirst on it. A steady stream of beats come forth and it’s too much for even Bryan’s Groodion to handle. The Infiltrator eventually dies, right before a recursed Daggerclaw Imp and Moroii kill him.

Game 3: I get some quick evasion for the first few turns. On Bryan’s turn 5, with five mana in play, he taps out to cast Scatter the Seeds. I have the Runeboggle in hand, but is it the right time to use it? One of those two Groodions would certainly be preferable to counter. However, if he doesn’t have the Groodion on turn 6, I look like a chump… plus it’s certainly diminished with three less creatures in play. While I’m pondering this Bryan predicts the card in my hand. I give him the nod and cast Runeboggle!!!! (pronouncing it exactly like that). Sure enough, Bryan does cast Drooling Groodion next turn, but as hoped, he’s still too low on creatures. My draw is very aggressive, but Bryan does make a game of it, using my Moroii pings and his guys to damage me when he can. However, I once again draw the Thirst and it once again provides too much advantage. I end up going pretty low to set it all up, but Bryan is minus one miracle to pull it out. I am wished luck in the finals.

Finals Geoff Ziegler
The finals? C’mon, why won’t you people let me get drunk at my own birthday party, now past midnight! Here’s a picture of the two final competitors.

I think I look fat in that photo, but at least my hair isn’t stretched across two counties. For luck, I put on the JFK campaign button. “The man for the 60’s!” It’s a lenticular button; very cool.

Playing Magic since 9AM, for fifteen hours, makes a very long day. Some of the party invitees had already left to go to the site, and I didn’t blame them.

I made two big mistakes in the finals. The first was before we started. I approach Geoff and tell him I’m willing to give him everything for the slot. He declines and says he wants to go just as bad, but why don’t we just give all the product to the loser? Seems good, minimize the sting of second place, right?

Bzzzzz, wrong. So very very wrong. I agreed to this plan off the bat; it sounded reasonable enough. But oh, what that scenario gives up. I think agreeing to this split was one of the biggest mistakes of the day. Let’s say the hindsight vision does not need Lasik.

Game 1: My opening hand is six lands and a Drift, on the draw. That seems bad but for two things. One, Geoff’s G/W/B(U) deck isn’t that fast. Two, Drift nicely transforms into Compulsive Research. I keep, Geoff goes turn 3 Shrieking Grotesque. I’ve drawn a Repeal and Muddle since this point, and I transmute the Drift. I’m looking through my deck for Compulsive when my eyes glance past Gelectrode. Hmmm, did I pass any Douse in Gloom? Pillory yes, but I don’t think much else. And Compulsive, what am I hoping to draw? Gelectrode. Let’s skip the middleman. I grab the weird and Geoff visibly blanches. Well, it was either the Gelectrode or Geoff missing land drops. Either way, my hand gets better while his just gets bigger. He tossing some more Grotesque out for the discard effect and I’m happy to oblige. Some more creatures from my end and nothing from Geoff’s and I’m up a game.

Now I’m ahead by one, and truth to tell, it was a pretty one-sided victory. Now that big mistake really comes together.

Me: “Hey Geoff, would you now like to concede?”
Geoff: “I do actually, but there’s no reason for me to.”
Me: “Right, cause there’s nothing left to give. Umm, yeah. Let’s say we weren’t splitting, and I offered you that box I had left to offer. Would you scoop then?”
Geoff: “Oh sure, probably”

Sigh, I split myself right out of the equation. What the hell do I care about a box? My mattress is made of Mirrodin and Legions boosters. I’m there for the slot, not product. This analysis was quite late in coming, after copious amounts of alcohol (see below).

Game 2: Muddle goes out, Runeboggle goes in. This game was absolutely mine to win. I had in play Sewerdreg enchanted with Necromantic Thirst, Drift of Phantasms, and Thoughtpicker Witch, in addition to Steamcore Weird in the yard. How can you lose from that position? Well, a lot of things have to come together.

First was Geoff’s Searchlight, pinging me like crazy. Then, Geoff’s Evangel, also doing the same. The Thoughtpicker did what it could when it could, but I didn’t actually get the “lock” until much later. Geoff had out Divebomber Griffin, which I needed to kill with a recursed Steamcore. Unfortunately, Geoff had the Gather Courage, forcing me to transmute Infiltrator for Peel, a serious dip in my tempo. As Geoff’s creatures kept attacking, he upgraded to Root-Kin Ally at some point. I had Compulsive in hand but playing it was too big a gamble. If I drew a two-drop or Darkblast off it, I was in great shape; if I didn’t I threw away the game. Still, my Dreg kept coming and still Searchlight and the tokens kept hitting me back.

Then one turn I had to use Thoughtpicker twice, to get rid both Master Warcraft and Flash Conscription (B/G/W/U/r). It was a brutal necessity when I needed my forces alive for blocking. Still the Dreg kept coming in. On one turn Geoff’s life was thirteen, so I Sparkmage Apprenticed him instead of a token. I knew I was going to have to do it at some point to get his life a factor of three for the Dreg, and at the time I wasn’t in much danger. That danger rapidly increased after that play and when Geoff was at exactly three, I died to the tokens plus Root-Kin plus Searchlight.

I know I could have won that game. There’s no doubt in my mind that even with the improbably draws of Geoff, I had it won if I concentrated. Unfortunately, I went on autopilot. I lost focus. I think it was some combination of hour sixteen with no food that caused my brain to die, but I don’t know. What I do know that if I had played as well in that game as I had been leading up to the finals, I was in the money.

Game 3: My opening draw is Island, Boilerworks, Steamcore Weird, Drift, and some black cards. I never drew a Black source, and Pillory was enough to knock me down and out.

The loss hurt. That’s all I can say about it, but no use getting upset yet, I had a party to go to. Actually, that was what pissed me off most about it, cause I would have just dropped in the semis to have an extra hour to hang out with my friends.

I got to the bar at 1:15AM, which in this state means fifteen minutes before last call. All my drunken friends drunkenly commiserated with the final showing, but there was no time for regret. I had to get blotto, pronto. The dozen or so people who stuck around after everyone else had gone home at midnight graciously helped me to get really $^$@ed up. In my favor was the fact that I still hadn’t eaten a thing all day, so the alcohol hit pretty quickly. Here are some pictures taken at 1:30 in the morning:

Man I was wasted! It was a good time; I think I had five drinks in twenty minutes. Being around so many awesome people was a real mood lifter and I think everyone had a good time. I say think because I don’t remember too much, although I seem to recall kissing a lot of folk, half of which were definitely probably women. After we get kicked out I take a brief sidewalk repose, while Eric may or may not have peed in a doorway. My girlfriend is amused and disgusted and drives me home. I wish everyone a drunk bon voyage and concentrate my remaining willpower on not tossing it. Mission accomplished!

Questions or comments are always welcome. It was a good day.

–Noah Weil
[email protected]

P.S. The morning, not so great.