Here I am, sitting at the airport waiting for my flight. I just won Grand Prix Richmond, and the last thing I want to do is write – although that’s true at any time, and any place. I didn’t find my weekend particularly interesting, so this should just be a blast for you to read. In fact over the course of the weekend, as I kept winning, about five people came up to me and asked when I was going to look excited… because I looked so bored and dejected. Oddly enough, Adam Chambers wasn’t one of those people.
I guess winning loses a lot of its thrill when you see so many errors on the other side of the table. Come to think of it, that’s what this report is going to be, mostly. I can’t really recall any interesting or spectacular plays I made, just a multitude of errors my opponents made that I was able to take advantage of. I suppose I can also throw in my thoughts on the various formats, and maybe a witty remark or two along the way, but I promise nothing. I hope nobody wants to kill me by the end of this, but if you do want to, don’t let me hold you back.
In preparation for this tournament I did about four RRG drafts with Canada’s finest, and played innumerable heads-up Sealed Decks on the Magic Online beta-server. In the practice Sealed Decks, I often described my mana bases as an affront to Magic. I could say that I learned precisely how to build a Sealed Deck in this format, but in actuality I learned that it doesn’t really matter what you do. Most of the Sealed Decks I played while playing multiple tables of poker, so I just threw in all my good cards, added what was almost a reasonable number of mana sources, and came up with something resembling a deck – and somehow it seemed to work.
That said, when building my Sealed Deck at the Grand Prix, I think I had two options. A four color deck with good mana, solid spells, and a decent late game with Vedalken Dismisser, Pollenbright Wings, and Dune-Brood Nephilim, but there were two problems. One was a severe lack of removal. The only removal available was a pair of Douse in Glooms. This is a major problem in Sealed in this format, since the games very often come down to who is left with the last or best big guy, and two damage doesn’t really cut it when dealing with Siege Wurms. The second problem was the fact that I was playing four colors, without Red, leaving my best four cards in the sideboard: two Steamcore Weirds, Electrolyze, and Invoke the Firemind.
This is the deck I played. It also lacks real removal, but has many more two damage spells, so I can do the next best thing to banishing it – get two-for-one’d by their best creature.
Creatures (15)
- 1 Elves of Deep Shadow
- 1 Centaur Safeguard
- 1 Golgari Brownscale
- 1 Golgari Guildmage
- 1 Greater Mossdog
- 1 Vedalken Dismisser
- 1 Vinelasher Kudzu
- 1 Gristleback
- 2 Petrahydrox
- 2 Silhana Starfletcher
- 2 Steamcore Weird
- 1 Witch-Maw Nephilim
Lands (17)
Spells (8)
A number of people commented on my inclusion of the two Petrahydrox. Those people don’t have much experience with Guildpact. It is very rare that your Petrahydrox gets completely blown out by a repeated targeted effect with so few cheap ones at the common level. After I built this “masterpiece” I went for breakfast, and played some practice games to kill time before round 4.
Round 4: Don Smith
Game 1 I had a game loss because I ran out of time during deck construction, didn’t get to count my decklist, and had thirty-nine cards without a Telling Time. Surprisingly I only got a game loss, and they let me keep the Telling Time instead of adding an eighteenth land.
Game 2 I chose to play first, and mulliganed. My hand was very good, but lacking Red mana. On turn 4 he cast Congregation at Dawn getting Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Guildmage, and Tolsimir Wolfblood. I cast Telling Time with Steamcore Weird and Douse in Gloom in hand, and every color but Red. I saw Peel from Reality, a useless land, and Invoke the Firemind. I draw the Peel, and leave the Invoke on top, knowing that the only way I can win is if the card under the Invoke is a Mountain. Fortunately, it is a Mountain and I am able to Douse his Evangel, Weird his Guildmage, and draw an extra six cards with the Invoke to beat his Tolsimir. He cast both Putrefy and Mortify this game, but was unable to defeat the six cards provided by Invoke.
Game 3 he went first, played a Signet on turn 2, a Greater Mossdog turn 3, and 5/6 Bloodthirst dudes on turns 4 and 5. My deck is incapable of beating that draw.
3-1
Round 5: Ty Dobbertin
I have what looks like quite a good draw, but it falls apart around turn 10 after I draw five straight lands. He has a solid defense set up the whole game with Dimir House Guard and Tattered Drake. On one turn he taps out of Black, and attacks with the House Guard so I’m able to make a solid attack where I lose one creature, and he loses four due to some excellent blocks. After that turn he his much more careful about which creatures he attacks with, and I’m never able to make a reasonable attack before dying to his various evasion creatures I can do nothing about.
Game 2 I have a great draw and curve out with Guildmage, Gristleback, Steamcore Weird, and Vedalken Dismisser. He eventually stabilises the board, so I use the Invoke the Firemind I didn’t want to show if possible.
Game 3 is another blowout. I am able to three-for-one him with Electrolyze, and maintain board advantage from turn 4 onwards.
4-1
Round 6: Eugene Khutorsky
I win the roll, and choose to draw. I keep a draw with two Steamcore Weirds, all colors of mana except Red, and a Golgari Guildmage. Turn 3 I still don’t have red mana so I attack my Guildmage into his Torch Drake, he thinks for a while, and decides not to block, putting me on Gather Courage. The fact that he didn’t block there, and then played around a nonexistent Gather Courage for the rest of the game, likely cost him the win. Eventually, we got to a point where I had the Guildmage and a couple of other creatures, to his Djinn Illuminatus, Selesnya Guildmage, and Torch Drake. I Peel his Djinn at end of turn, and send in my non-guildmages (after replaying my Guildmage), with mana open to pump them. He takes it, which puts him in a position where he has to block all of my creatures each turn. He decides the best course of action from here is to make two tokens each turn and block with those, instead of replaying the Djinn. He can’t play the Djinn because he still thinks I have Gather Courage in hand from my attack on turn 3. Eventually I play one of the two Steamcore Weirds in my hand – still without Red mana, but it gives me sufficient creatures to get past his Guildmage.
Game 2 I played turn 4 Witch-Maw Nephilim. He doesn’t kill it immediately and has a little trouble dealing with a 7/7, then an 11/11.
5-1
Round 7: Mark D Schmit
Game 1 I keep a hand that is very good… if I ever draw one of my eight Green sources on the draw. I don’t get there, and get crushed.
Game 2 I am able to cast spells, but am still losing to his Drooling Groodion and Siege Wurm. The pivotal play of the game comes when he attacks with Siege Wurm, and I double block with Vedalken Dismisser and Greater Mossdog. He uses his Groodion to pump the Wurm, and kill the Dismisser. This allows me to stack damage, then use my Guildmage to return this now-dead Dismisser to my hand, which gives me enough tempo advantage to win. If he makes any creature in play except the Dismisser smaller, he wins.
Game 3 I run him over with a Guildmage, Gristleback, Weird, Peel from Reality curve.
6-1
Round 8: James M Beeton
My back has been aching all day, and he is begging me to draw. I eventually give in and go back to the hotel to lie in bed for an hour. Many people disagreed with my decision to draw this round, but I think it makes sense from a tournament perspective, even ignoring the fact that my back hurts. Since my only goal is to win the tournament, not make Top 16 or Top 32, and the Top 8 cut-off record has a draw in it, it makes sense to draw this round instead of Day Two, since I would rather play a match of Draft than a match of Sealed.
6-1-1
Eventually I go for dinner with some World of Warcraft nerds, and an elderly married couple. We find a diner with great food, and excellent service. At about midnight I make it back to my hotel room, looking to get some sleep. This plan didn’t come to fruition however, thanks to the aforementioned “great food”. I spend the next few hours alternating between trips to the bathroom to vomit, and episodes of season 1 of the OC on my laptop. I eventually fall asleep at about 4 am.
When the alarm goes off at eight the next morning, I push every button on it in attempt to stop the horrific noise coming from this little box six inches from my head. In the process, I manage to set the clock forward an hour. This comes back to haunt me as a very agitated Patrick Sullivan stops me just before I turn on the shower, yelling that we’re late for Day 2. The issue is eventually settled as we all check our various timepieces and discover that it is in fact eight o’clock, not nine o’clock.
A great day already.
We get our coffees, and head to the site just in time to wait about an hour for them to start the player meeting.
Pod 1
My pod is likely one of the more difficult ones, with Gerry Thompson, Gerard Fabiano, and Tomohiro Kaji as the players I recognized.
Going into the Draft I have a small preference for blue cards, but I’m still willing to draft anything… with the exception of R/W, just like in triple Ravnica. I open a decidedly mediocre pack and take Halcyon Glaze over Veteran Armourer and Scatter the Seeds. Next I take Vedalken Dismisser over Stinkweed Imp, then Dimir House Guard over Stinkweed Imp, in attempt to keep my deck more aggressive to go with the Glaze. I get a fourth pick Mark of Eviction, which many people seem to think is absurd. I, however, think the card is just playable and absurdly overrated. I don’t get many more playables out of the pack, and get the distinct feeling that I’m getting cut off one or two seats ahead of me, but I’m so far in that I just have to hope the next pack bails me out. And bail me out it doesn’t.
I start off well with a Disembowel, and a Last Gasp, but follow that up with some empty packs from which I take Lurking Informant and Roofstalker Wight third and fourth. The rest of the pack remains fairly mediocre, with the exception of a late Peel from Reality.
First pick of the third pack I have a big decision to make, one which will pretty much decide how my deck will end up. I have to choose between Red and White for which guild to splash. The decision is forced on me right away with a choice between Mortify and Steamcore Weird. I take the Mortify because it is better, and there are more commons that fit into my deck in Orzhov, even though the Izzet cards are more powerful. I am rewarded for this decision with a Pillory of the Sleepless, a Blind Hunter, and Orzhov Signet in packs that would have been empty for me had I chosen the Steamcore Weird.
I ended up with a deck that was solid, if a little underwhelming in the creature department. It featured three Roofstalker Wights and a Poisonbelly Ogre. I did have good solid removal and good tricks, so I expected to at least 2-1, and hopefully 3-0 the pod.
Round 9: Tomohiro Kaji
I didn’t have much information on Kaji’s deck because I’ve never drafted with him before, so I don’t know what his color preferences are. I thought he was in Blue from the way the second pack went, but if he played Forests or Mountains then he’d have the Savage Twister I passed him.
Game 1, he started off with a Skyknight Legionnaire and some dorky creatures like Sabertooth Alley Cat and Silhana Starfletcher. I was almost able to get him into a Vedalken Dismisser/Mark of Eviction lock, but he drew Privileged Position before I could Time Ebb him a third time. At this point I had a couple of 2/2s he couldn’t get through, and my dorks couldn’t get past his Starfletcher. Things were looking good though, as I had a hand full of removal – including a Mortify for the Position should I ever draw one of my five sources of White mana. I had about eight turns to draw a White source, including turns where I cast Compulsive Research, and Train of Thought for four, but I still couldn’t find White mana. Eventually he was able to play a Streetbreaker Wurm, and Savage Twister away my team. I drew a Dimir Infiltrator which I was able to Transmute into an Orzhov Signet — letting me destroy the Position – but when I went to Dismisser his Wurm, he cast Ghostway which made my Clinging Darkness fall off his other creature, put my Dismisser on the top of my deck, and let him draw a card with his Carven Caryatid. Not bad.
Next game I mulliganed into a hand of Swamp, Orzhov Signet, Orzhov Guildmage, Clinging Darkness, Disembowel, Mortify. A pretty easy keep, since it is a great hand if I draw a land. I drew a Plains on turn 2, and the Guildmage went all the way almost by himself, as I was able to remove every creature he played.
Game 3 was a very close race, as we both had good draws. It ended up coming down to his one mistake which cost him two life. On his main phase he used a Silhana Starfletcher to convoke a Sundering Vitae on my Halcyon Glaze. This meant his Starfletcher was unable to block my Roofstalker Wight, and those two points proved pivotal in the end. The only explanation for this I can think of is that he didn’t know that the Glaze remains an enchantment even while it’s a creature.
7-1-1
Round 10: Ray Tautic
I again didn’t have any information on Ray’s deck coming into the match, but he knew a lot about mine since my match was last to finish thanks to Kaji bucking the Japanese trend of playing exceptionally fast.
I had a solid draw game 1, with a turn 2 Guildmage, and turn 3 Douse in Gloom for his Selesnya Evangel. Unfortunately, he had Gather courage to save it. I also made a small error when I Doused the Evangel. I simply tried to kill it right away on my turn 3, when the correct play would have been to pass the turn, and kill it in response to his creature since with evangel in play he would rather play his two-drop than a three-drop so that he can make a man. Small things like using little tricks to mess with people’s mana curve very rarely matter, but once in a while can be the deciding factor in a game. After turn 3 I had a couple more creatures to add to the board, including a Poisonbelly Ogre, which punished him for using his Evangel, but not enough to overcome the glut of land I encountered. I ended up losing to a Rally the Righteous in combination with his seven Saprolings.
Game 2 I had another seemingly solid draw with two Swamps, a Plains, Roofstalker Wight, Douse in Gloom, Dimir House Guard, and a Blue card. Unfortunately, I drew five Blue cards before I drew another land, by which point I was being overwhelmed by his Saprolings, Sandsower, and Oathsworn Giant. The standard flood/screw loss, although to be fair his deck was likely better than mine and he played well.
7-2-1
Round 11: Doug Hidlay
This round I had a little information on my opponent’s deck since GerryT was standing next to me as pairings went up, and he had played Doug. Gerry told me he had a mediocre deck with dorky Red creatures, Galvanic Arc, and Pyromatics.
I was sure Gerry told me about the wrong person after game 1. Doug was Red/Blue as Gerry had said, but he didn’t play any dorky creatures, he just two-for-one’d me with every card he played. Drake Familiar for his Galvanic Arc, Voyager Staff for his Vedalken Dismisser, Steamcore Weird and Pyromantics for my other creatures. Towards the end of the game I had a look at the fifteen spells in my graveyard and felt a little squeamish seeing how thoroughly I had been destroyed this game.
Games 2 and 3 the deck Gerry told me about came out to play, with Viashino Slashers, Goblin Spelunkers, and other Red Magemarks all over the place.
This deck I had very little trouble beating. I merely held him off in the early game until I could Train of Thought for four or five, and overwhelm him with card advantage.
8-2-1
Pod 2
I was once again pretty happy with my Draft pod, with Mark Herberholz as the only other pro at the table. With him sitting next to me, I figured the Draft would go quite well.
I was fortunate enough to open Flame Fusillade this time. Second pick held a rather mediocre pack, so I took Nullmage Shepherd over Snapping Drake since I knew Mark sitting to my left really likes Red/Blue. I think I made a mistake with my third pick due to inexperience in the format. I took Selesnya Sagittars over Shambling Shell because I thought Green/Red/White would be a better color combination than Green/Black/Red, since I have access to all three Guilds. My thinking was wrong, because I don’t really want to have my deck spread over all three guilds as my manabase ends up terrible. I should have simply taken the more powerful card. I didn’t have many more decisions to make in pack one, and end up with a bunch of dorky Red creatures, a couple of Signets, and a couple of double lands.
I don’t recall what my first pick of pack two was, but my second pick is quite easy to remember. I got passed a Vulturous Zombie in return for passing Mark the Blue cards. This makes me regret my decision to take the Sagittars, as do the three Golgari Rotwurms in a row after the Vulturous Zombie. I again get a Signet, and a couple of double lands to round out the pack.
Going into pack three I expect to be able to take the best card out of most of the packs since I have a lot of mana fix, and will be able to play the best Gruul and Orzhov cards. This is exactly what happens as I get a Mortify, Pillory of the Sleepless, in addition to a Streetbreaker Wurm and some more Signets and double lands.
My deck ends up being quite good, although I’m a little short on cards and have to play a Wild Cantor to fix the mana.
Round 12: Benjamin Peebles-Mundy
Game 1 I have a very good draw, with turn 1 Wild Cantor, turn 2 Elvish Skysweeper and Elves of Deep Shadow, and two Rotwurms and a Bramble Elemental on turns 4, 5 and 6. He had Szadek to trade with one of the Rotwurms, but couldn’t handle the other boom-booms.
Game 2 is similar, but I was a little lucky this time in drawing a White source to use the Mortify and Pillory in my hand, stopping his Gleancrawler and Szadek from blocking my Rotwurms.
9-2-1
Round 13: Mark Herberholz
Game 1 was close, until I played the Vulturous Zombie that Mark passed me.
Game 2 was a complete blowout. Mark was on the play, and made a turn 2 Ghost Warden, while I had a turn 2 Signet. Turn 3e he missed a land drop and played a signet. This set him up for a one-sided affair when he attacked with Ghost Warden next turn: I had Seed Spark to destroy his Signet and block his dude. I followed that up with a fatty every turn, and he just couldn’t compete.
10-2-1
Round 14: Phil Napoli
I’ve only met Phil briefly, but I knew him well enough to know that he is a really good guy, so I hoped that his tiebreakers would hold up to make Top 16 after I beat him.
Game 1 he got ahead with Ogre Savants, since I had an awkward draw with many double lands. I gained control on about ten life with Selesnya Evangel, which led to a game-ending Flame Fusillade.
Game 2 was much closer. Phil was once again able to get ahead with Ogre Savants, and I was forced to play into his tricks since I was falling so far behind on the board. I was eventually able to stabilize the board, with only his Tibor and Lumia able to attack. Phil managed to convince himself that I had a trick though, even though I never really made a play that would send that message, so he missed a couple attacks with Tibor and Lumia that may have proved pivotal.
11-2-1
Top 8
The Top 8 was pretty well covered on MagicTheGathering.com. The Draft was quite easy, since I got passed a Drooling Groodion to follow my first-pick Golgari Rotwurm, and I was never given a reason to get out of Green/Black. I did get a fourth pick Last Gasp with all three uncommons and the rare left in the pack. I am still quite curious as to what was taken out of the pack before me, since I believe Last Gasp is the second best common behind Faith’s Fetters. The third best common – Civic Wayfinder – was still in the pack.
The only other interesting pick of the draft was an Ivy Dancer I took over a second Mortipede. I took the Ivy Dancer because I was playing Eugene Harvey in the quarterfinals, and I knew he always plays Green. The pick turned out even better than expected, since all three of my opponents were playing Green.
Quarterfinals: Eugene Harvey
My games against Eugene were particularly uninteresting. He had a lot of 1/1 and 2/1 creatures, and his deck pretty much got shut down by a Greater Mossdog. He was outclassed on all levels. He would play a 1/1 untargettable, can’t be blocked except by flyers… I would play a Mourning Thrull. He would Savage Twister, and I would just come back with two more creatures to his empty hand.
I did, however, make my biggest mistake of the tournament against Eugene. Playing first, he played a turn 1 Elves of Deep Shadow, turn 2 Bloodscale Prowler, which I blocked with Orzhov Guildmage. Turn 3 he played a Signet and a War-Torch Goblin, while missing a land drop. I had Dimir House Guard and two Brainspoils in hand. I thought for a little while and decided to Transmute Brainspoil for Golgari Rotwurm. As soon as I put the Brainspoil on the table I remembered I have a Rolling Spoil in my deck to Transmute the House Guard for and absolutely decimate him. It didn’t end up mattering, as even when Eugene did draw lands, his spells were easily outmatched by my Rotwurm, House Guard, and Brainspoil.
Game 2 was even more one-sided, as I was able to untap with Drooling Groodion, eight lands and three creatures.
Semifinals: Adam Chambers
Game 1 Adam chose to draw. I kept a hand with a bunch of four drops, two lands and a Golgari Signet. I never drew a fourth land.
Game 2 I chose to draw, and was able to blow him out by killing a Caregiver and a double land with Rolling Spoil. He was almost able to recover from that, but I had Vigor Mortis for my Drooling Groodion after he Lightning Helixed it.
The third game was looking down until I topdecked Rolling Spoil again. I attacked in a way that he almost had to block my 3/1 with his 1/4 and my 3/3 with his 3/4 even though he knew about Rolling Spoil. I had it, and was able to cut off his Red mana in addition to destroying his board. That card’s pretty good.
Finals: Jon Sonne
I was pretty intimidated coming into this match. Jon Sonne has won two Grand Prix finals, where as I couldn’t even beat Jordan Berkowitz in the finals of Detroit. I was also a little annoyed that I had to play against Sonne because he plays an incredibly slow game.
Game 1 was a complete blowout, as Jon kept a mediocre hand. My maindeck Ivy Dancer combined with Mortipede to put him on a very fast clock.
Game 2 I kept a hand of five land, Drooling Groodion, and Restless Bones. I drew fairly well from there, but couldn’t handle his Tolsimir Wolfblood. The nail in the coffin was when he called my bluff when I attacked my Centaur Safeguard into Tolsimir.
Game 3 I mulliganed, and decided to keep a one-land hand on the play that was quite good if I drew a couple lands before he could develop his board. I missed my land drop on turn 2, but drew three straight after that which was good enough to beat Jon’s mediocre draw. My decision to keep was made easier by Jon’s very uncharacteristic decision to mulligan before I finished all of my mulligans. Let’s just say that saving time isn’t really Jon’s style.
By winning this tournament, I was finally able to achieve a goal I’ve had for a couple of years – to have a Limited rating over 2200 after a tournament finishes. I’ve hit 2200 a couple of times during tournaments, but never had it afterwards. I know my rating is totally irrelevant, but it’s nice to have evidence that I’m the best in the world at something – or at least I can tell myself that.
Since this tournament, I’ve been in Hawaii drafting RRG two or three times a day with the best Limited players in the world. Maybe I’ll have some down-time from Drafts and beer-pong to write something about the new format… don’t count on it though.
We have figured out why the Japanese are so much better than us at Constructed. We are here, in Hawaii, supposed to be testing for the Standard Pro Tour coming up. We play ten games of Constructed, and then do a Draft: not the most productive plan in the world.
The Japanese are the opposite. When they test for a Limited Pro Tour, they do a Draft and then play fifty games of Constructed to cure the boredom.