Mark concludes his tale from Grand Prix Toronto, sharing in-depth draft analysis and game runthroughs. His Top 8 match versus Jelger Weigersma was a mammoth encounter, and Mark experienced both highs and lows while marching towards his outstanding finish. With zero byes, he nearly went all the way… an excellent and enlightening read.
With zero byes and low expectations, Mark managed to impress the world and confound the odds to finish in the Top 8 of Grand Prix Toronto! Today he regails us with part 1 of his report, cataloging his Day 1 performance and Sealed deck building techniques. Cracking the good stuff helps, but you need more than luck to raise hell from zero byes… read on to hear Mark’s tale!
The Ravnica block Limited environment, with Guildpact, has proven to be one of a kind. Some have celebrated the challenge that it presents to players in maximizing deck power while minimizing losses due to poor mana bases. Others complain about the impossibility of building a solid, consistent two-color deck like we did this time last year. Mark takes us through his highly taxing Grand Prix Richmond card pool. How would YOU build it?
Jason knew he didn’t want to play Affinity for the same reasons I didn’t: Too many weaknesses. He also didn’t like Goblins because of the fact that it was something everyone would be ready for…. So we needed another option. I liked Slide and thought that it would be solid without Wild Mongrels and Circular Logics giving it hell, so I agreed. He came up with a list and I assembled it. We played a few games, but basically didn’t have time to test it at all. I had to rely on what I knew about Slide from the past to guide me.
