Grand Prix Baltimore - Day 2!
The title is slightly misleading, as I didn't actually go to Day 2, despite qualifying to do so. Instead I very happily became a Godfather again. My nephew, Benjamin, happened to have his baptism on the same weekend, meaning I was going to be near Baltimore anyway, have a place to stay for free, and have Saturday completely free. Thanks Ben!
Enough about baptisms, let's talk Magic!
I had never been to a GP before this one. Traveling to events is almost impossible for me, making GP's pretty much out of the question. But I decided to take advantage of the serendipity and attend day 1 of GP Baltimore.
Want to know how it was?
It.
Was.
Awesome!
The convention center was a very clean space. (although the bathrooms weren't amazing, more I suspect due to the sketchy cleanliness habits of many Magic players, than to the convention center itself). The ceilings were REALLY high up, so despite there being close to two thousand people in the room for most of the day, it didn't get overly loud, or feel claustrophobic. Two whole walls were taken up by dealers selling most major cards in Magic's illustrious history. Another wall had three awesome artists signing cards and showing off their amazing work. One of the artists was Steve Argyle who has drawn some of my favorite cards of all time, including the art on my playmat: Arrow Volley Trap. Go look it up. That little goblin hiding behind the shield cracks me up every time. I can't help but imagine him going, "Did I make it? Is it done?"
I spent most of the morning getting registered and making sure my deck list was complete and accurate. I knew that some people had byes from having a fairly high rating (ok, not actually THAT high, but I didn't know that) but I figured since I play nothing but FNM that I wasn't going to be even close to a bye. I actually marked off the "0 byes" section on my deck list sheet, thinking I had none. (Cue foreshadowing)
I spent the next hour or so finding the other local players I knew who were going to be attending the GP and playing some practice matches. I lost most of those matches, but was having a lot of fun anyway just reveling in the entire day of Magic I had spread before me. After what seemed like two hours, but what was actually more like forty five minutes, the standings were posted. I walked over to the A-B standings and found my name. Next to my name was 1B, but I had no clue what this meant. I did see that there were 1546 people in the tournament. HUGE field. That was probably three times bigger than any other event I'd ever attended. I wandered off to wait until they posted round one pairings.
Pairings went up a few minutes later, and I fought the hoard of backpack-toting magic players to the white sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" with tiny grayish writing on it. I ran my finger down the sheet looking for my name and table number. I found my name, but next to it, where the table number should have been, was the symbol " --- ". I had to ask someone next to me what that meant. I got a funny look from the dude and the reply, "It means you have a bye." HAH! Who knew? My rating was actually high enough to get a bye. Now I knew what the 1B next to my name in the standings meant. So knowing I'd not have a chance like this again for the rest of the day, I shoved off in search of a good meal, a clean bathroom, and maybe, if I was lucky, some amazing deals on cards from the dealers. What can I say? I'm an optimist.
While scanning the dealers, I met Omar Hernandez ( @ITOmarHernandez on Twitter, definitely follow him!) who I'd never had the pleasure of meeting in person before, but had been talking to on Twitter and Facebook for a while. He introduced me to a few other EDH aficionado's and I got to watch a very interesting four player game while eating a turkey sandwich with mustard. Omar, Andrew (@A_Magrini), Chris (@Deathofnation), and David Kolakowski (@DKolakowski) all were having a ton of fun and ignoring the main event entirely. None of them played in the main event, nor wanted to. Just goes to show that GP's really are for every kind of Magic player. After finishing my quite good sandwich I made my way to the artists table hoping to get to Steve Argyle, but he already had a significantly long line, so I found some of my local players who had finished round 1 and played a few practice games again.
Here is the list I played:
Main Deck:
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Kessig Wolf Run
5 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Primeval Titan
2 Inferno Titan
3 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Phyrexian Metamorph (My only major contribution to the deck to differentiate it from Kibler's PT DKA list)
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Slagstorm
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Rampant Growth
4 Sphere of the Sun
2 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Acidic Slime
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Whipflare
Sideboard:
2 Karn Liberated
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Beast Within
2 Autumn's Veil
1 Corrosive Gale
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Combust
1 Ancient Grudge
I felt the deck was perfect in the main, and wouldn't change a card. Sideboard, I would remove the combust which didn't come in once all day for another ancient grudge. Otherwise the side board was amazing all day. I didn't need all three Nihil Spellbombs, but seeing how many UB decks there were in the top tables, I think they would have been good in Day 2 had I been able to stay.
Round 1: Bye
Round 1 down and I'm 1-0. I could get used to this "having byes" thing. Slightly ironic that I played a lot of magic in order to play less magic, but there you have it.
Round 2: HyppoBlade (RWControl) Jacob C
Round 2 pairings finally posted and I made my way to my table and sat down across from Jacob C. He went turn one plains, turn 2 mountain, Glint Hawk Idol, turn 3, Ghost Quarter, Glint Hawk Idol. I complimented him on his Ghost Quarter tech for his WR Tempered Steel deck. He sort of chuckled and nodded and kept beating me down with his glint hawks. I realized too late that I wasn't playing Steel, but instead playing against Hyppoblade, the deck that Caleb Durward played at the last Pro Tour. The two decks are pretty different. We laugh about my misrepresentation of his deck as he beats me handily in game one. In games two and three my board cards (Ancient Grudge) and being able to execute my plan A (a turn 4 titan) means that he dies to poison in game two and damage in the third.
Round 2: 2-0
Round 3: GB Ramp - Michael
Michael had brought the deck to the table that I was hoping to avoid all tournament. To say that my match-up is bad against this deck is to understate the situation rather dramatically. I settled in for a rough fight, and although I put up strong resistance, I lost in two rather quick games. Michael was a really nice guy and we talked a bit about being an Actor in NYC. He currently is pursuing acting, while I had been an actor professionally for six years before becoming a teacher. Our conversation was wide ranging and interesting. I mean how does one actually balance wanting to have a family and be an actor? The answer is that I have no idea.
Round 3: 2-1
Round 4: Tempered Township - Mace
This round was such a roller coaster. I misread my table number and showed up at table 493 instead of 463, figured this out when two guys came over to the table and tried to sit in the same seat and neither was Mace. At that point I figured that I was the one who was wrong and went back to the sheet to figure out I was actually supposed to be at table 463. I barely show up in time, as I had unpacked all my stuff and set up for the match at table 493 and had to pack everything up in a hurry to change tables. I admit this threw me a bit. I wasn't on tilt, but I don't think I was thinking clearly either. I lose the roll and am instantly in trouble with a turn one mox opal, memnite, inkmoth, and signal pest. This explosive opening was backed up by dispatch and gavony township with enough mana to use it. When Tempered Steel made an appearance, I was well and truly done.
Game two was epic. I sided in all my artifact removal but realized that my Green Sun Zenith's were too slow for what I was hoping to do, and removed them as well for two Garruk, Primal Hunter. This became relevant when I was able to cast the green walker on turn four. Not quite as strong as a turn four Inferno titan, but still pretty good. However, my opponent stuck not one, not two, but three tempered steels. Ouch. That made his vault skirge a 7/7 flying lifelinker. Sigh. I'm at 9 poison, and 6 or so life and facing an inkmoth nexus (7/7), a vault skirge (7/7), and a metalcrafted Etched Champion (8/8, pro colors). I had landed a Primeval Titan the turn before last and had 3 Inkmoth Nexus of my own on the board so I could block all three creatures, any one of which would kill me. Not only that but even if I blocked all three and survived the turn, the life link off the skirge would put my opponent out of range for my attack back. He was at 16 and would have been on 23 and more than able to survive my alpha strike. I however see the out. He attacks with all three. I animate my three inkmoth and block, but before damage I galvanic blast the inkmoth blocking the vault skirge, preventing the lifelink. I'm then able to swing back and kill him with wolf run activations. I was SO excited that I actually pulled out that game. Mace was shocked that he lost that game saying that he'd never lost a game where he'd resolved three tempered steel.
I was ecstatic that I'd pulled that one out of nowhere and was boarding for game three when I noticed that I'd lost my blue Sigg water bottle. Now you have to understand, I take this bottle with me everywhere. Literally, everywhere. I have it in hand or on my desk at work all day long, every day. Since I basically talk all day, having water when I need it is really important. So I love this bottle, and I was really worried it'd wandered off. I called a judge over and she told me my best chance was to check the lost and found. She offered to stay and watch the board state if I wanted to go check now. I declined the offer and played out the match, but was distracted the entire time. I even asked Mace's friend to go and check table 493, where I'd incorrectly gone at the beginning of the round to see if it was there, but he wasn't able to find it. So I play game three and lose spectacularly. I quickly congratulate Mace on his win, collect my stuff, and head over to table 493 where I am relieved to find my Sigg bottle underneath the table. Feeling much better, despite now being on the bubble at 2-2, I head off to the restroom again.
Side note on bathroom breaks. I really feel that, to perform well at a tournament that lasts over 12 hours as this one did, you have to stay hydrated and fed. This can be rather difficult when you have very little time in between rounds, but with a little advance planning, can be done. It does mean finding the bathroom almost every round, but the upside is huge. I felt good going into every round all day. My Sigg was instrumental is keeping me at the top of my game.
Round 4: 2-2 (If I lose any more matches I'll be out of contention for Day 2)
Round 5: Tempered Township - Tommy
Tommy was a very nice young kid. I have no idea how old he actually was, but if forced to put an age to him I'd have said 14-15. If he was any older, he looked REALLY young for his age. He had a strong turns 1-2-3 where he played Vault Skirge, Signal Pest and Etched Champion, after which I went and slag stormed everything away, and he tilted like he was on a teeter-totter. Seriously, I haven't seen someone look so defeated in ages. I felt bad for him as I then proceeded to rather easily beat him in two games and knock him out of contention for Day 2. Dream crush #1 on the day.
I told myself that Tommy, although very nice, was not really going to be making Day 2 anyway even if I decided to give him the win, so I kept my win and gave Tommy his third loss. I'm able to win fast enough to go and buy a yogurt parfait continuing my streak of good food that kept my energy high and mind sharp all day.
Round 5: 3-2 Dream Crush #1
Round 6: Carlos R with GR Ramp
So I am very aware that the mirror match is all about the first Titan. If you hit a Titan before the other guy your chances of winning are almost 100%. However I didn't know that this was a mirror when I lost the roll and kept a hand with no Titan but did have a slagstorm and a Huntmaster. I guess in my defense I had just seen two matches in a row where an early slag storm won me the game if I had it, so I kept a hand that was horrible in the mirror. Oh well. He lands a Titan WAY before I can, and my notes say that I went to 8 poison then 10. I remember killing his Primeval Titan, but lost to his inkmoths. Hence the reason why the first guy to a Titan wins.
We move on to game two and I remember during boarding that Carlos didn't actually have the full set of inkmoth nexus. He only had 2, despite having multiple Primeval Titans that game, so I bring in Ancient Grudge and Beast Within. I play a turn 2 Sphere, which he grudges. He plays a turn 3 Sphere, which I grudge. Then on my turn I play Green Sun's Zenith for 1 hoping to find my Birds and get to four mana next turn, as I didn't have a fourth land drop and I was stuck at 3 with a lot of four and six drops in hand. What I had failed to remember was that about 3 minutes before, during side boarding, I had removed my birds from the deck because it died to galvanic blast. I was forced to fail to find. I actually said this when I cast the GSZ, "Good thing I didn't side out my Birds of Paradise". I kid you not. I laughed so hard at my own stupidity, shuffled the GSZ back in the deck, and passed the turn back. Luckily for me Carlos was also mana screwed thanks to my Ancient Grudge, just like I was due to his, so he went draw, go. I draw the land and cast my solemn simulacrum getting me to 5 mana. He draws a rampant growth getting him to four. I rip a land off the top and slam Primeval Titan fetching Inkmoth and Kessig Wolf Run (Duh), and it's all academic from there. He never even hits me and dies to my Inferno Titan that followed the Primeval Titan.
Game three Carlos keeps a fairly slow hand with no turn two ramp, hitting me for 1 poison instead. I'm really happy to see this since my hand is the nuts, and I turn 4 Titan him out.
Round 6: 4-2 Dream Crush #2 (and I told myself that it's unlikely either of us would have made Day 2 anyway and that I didn't want to spend money on side events, and poor Carlos didn't even have the full set of Inkmoths)
Round 7: Gu (Mono-green splashing mana leak off birds and some Hinterland Harbors) Peter L
This match-up is horrendously in my favor and is one of the main reasons I chose to play Ramp. I just destroy the mono green decks. He taps a green early on in game one and plays a Mana Leak from his hand instead of the birds he meant to drop. Since I know he has the mana leak and I saw no other blue source other than the birds, I slag storm away the birds, slowing myself one turn but rather severely setting back his mana, and making his leak in hand a dead card. It's fairly easy for me to turn 5 a Titan and win from there.
Game two Peter mulligans a one land seven card hand away, then a no land six card hand away, and keeps a no land five card hand on the play. He draws for his turn and says go with no land and no play. I again have an amazing hand against him with a Garruk, Beast Within and a Slagstorm, plus land and ramp. Turn 3 he finds a land and I let him untap with it but Beast within it on his upkeep. He casts another birds in a valiant attempt to get back into the game and I slag storm both the birds and the beast away on my turn. I cast Garruk the turn after that, then Primeval titan and draw 6. He scoops after that.
He asks me after the match what I think he could do to make his deck better vs ramp and all I can think is "Don't play mono-green" but I don't say that, instead just acknowledging that it is indeed a horrific match-up for him.
Round 7: 5-2 Dream Crush #3 (I wondered idly how he had gotten to 4-2 with that list, as it seemed pretty bad with a full set of dungrove elders and four Hinterland Harbors with some mana leaks instead of more threats or swords. He wasn't a bad player, but I doubted he'd make Day 2, so I kept going.)
Round 8: Chris with ... something that had Grixis lands...
Now I guess Chris had done fairly well for himself to make it to 5-2 with his list, but his deck definitely seemed to let him down in our match.
Game one Chris landed a Pristine Talisman and starts gaining life. I go turn 3 Huntmaster, leaked. Turn 4 Acidic Slime, Leaked. Turn 5 Titan which resolves and I get inkmoth and Kessig Wolf Run before he Doom Blades away my Titan. His poison count goes to 6 then dead after that. I never see a spell or card that could actually win a game for him.
Game two I am able to turn four titan him out. He Forbidden Alchemy'd this game and dumped a Grave Titan into the yard, and that is the only card I saw in the entire match that had the possibility of killing me. I still have no clue what he was running. He mentions as we're packing up that he'd been hoping to avoid my deck all day. I didn't say much but thought to myself that it was pretty optimistic of him to think that directly after a Pro Tour won by the deck I'm playing that there wouldn't be any GR Ramp.
Round 8: 6-2 (I still think that it was unlikely that either of us would make Day two even with only one round left to go, and take my wins) Dream Crush #4
Round 9: Trent with GRw Ramp
I never do find out what the white in his deck is for until after the match although I assumed that he had Day of Judgement and probably Elesh Norns. Turns out I was half right, Elesh Norn never makes an appearance though.
Game one I am able to turn 5 Titan after matching his turn three hunt master with him on the play while he is stuck on a Huntmaster but no lands or ramp.
Game two is a really strong game where he gets to the first titan, but I am right behind and am able to stabilize a bit, but through really good management of his inkmoth nexus and never tapping down for Kessig Wolf pumps, making my Beast Within in hand not nearly as good, he takes it poison style.
Game three he lands an early huntmaster, but I landed an early Titan which trumped his play. It was pretty easy to close out the game from there.
Trent talks a bit about how he's never gotten this far in a tournament before and that it's ok if he doesn't make Day 2 because he's going to go drinking with his friends for the evening. I tell him it sounds like a fun plan and congratulate him on the very strong game 2. I did feel bad because he'd be 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, then 6-3 and out of contention. Those last three rounds must have been rough for him. He signed the slip, congratulated me and wished me luck in Day 2. I told him thanks signed the slip and walked off to find my friends. I knew I wasn't able to play in Day 2 no matter what, so I checked the box marked DROP and turned my slip in. Dream Crush #5.
I was in 198th place out of 1546 going into round 10. I ended the day at 202nd place out of 1546. Not bad for playing 7 rounds less than everyone else who made Day 2.
I know a lot of people are going to be a bit mad that I would do that to someone, but I don't have to drop to my opponent if I don't want to. The wins are mine to do with as I please, given that I earned them. I also knew that 7-2 in a GP would seriously increase my rating, but mostly I wanted to say that I had made Day 2 at a GP. I admit I feel a bit bad for Trent, who was the only player who would have 100% made Day 2 had I scooped to him. However, I looked at the standings for Day 2 Round 10 on Wizards site the next day and I noticed all the way down at the bottom a player with 19 points who had a bye. That's right. Since I won, but dropped, the math was all messed up and a player who would not have otherwise made it, as previously you needed 21 points to make day 2 (7-2 cut-off), with a record of 6-2-1, made Day 2. To this person, I salute you for your optimism by staying in till the end and not giving up hope. Because you didn't drop, despite being told you were 100% out of the running for Day 2, you actually DID make Day 2. Not only that but you got a round 10 Bye! This put you at 22 points before you'd even played a land on Day 2, and put you higher in the standings than myself who ended the day with 21 points total. Congratulations to you, Justin Stevens. You didn't win one match in Day 2, but you got to play.
And I got to say I made Day 2 of a GP, then dropped to become a Godfather, again.
Awesome.
Enough about baptisms, let's talk Magic!
I had never been to a GP before this one. Traveling to events is almost impossible for me, making GP's pretty much out of the question. But I decided to take advantage of the serendipity and attend day 1 of GP Baltimore.
Want to know how it was?
It.
Was.
Awesome!
The convention center was a very clean space. (although the bathrooms weren't amazing, more I suspect due to the sketchy cleanliness habits of many Magic players, than to the convention center itself). The ceilings were REALLY high up, so despite there being close to two thousand people in the room for most of the day, it didn't get overly loud, or feel claustrophobic. Two whole walls were taken up by dealers selling most major cards in Magic's illustrious history. Another wall had three awesome artists signing cards and showing off their amazing work. One of the artists was Steve Argyle who has drawn some of my favorite cards of all time, including the art on my playmat: Arrow Volley Trap. Go look it up. That little goblin hiding behind the shield cracks me up every time. I can't help but imagine him going, "Did I make it? Is it done?"
I spent most of the morning getting registered and making sure my deck list was complete and accurate. I knew that some people had byes from having a fairly high rating (ok, not actually THAT high, but I didn't know that) but I figured since I play nothing but FNM that I wasn't going to be even close to a bye. I actually marked off the "0 byes" section on my deck list sheet, thinking I had none. (Cue foreshadowing)
I spent the next hour or so finding the other local players I knew who were going to be attending the GP and playing some practice matches. I lost most of those matches, but was having a lot of fun anyway just reveling in the entire day of Magic I had spread before me. After what seemed like two hours, but what was actually more like forty five minutes, the standings were posted. I walked over to the A-B standings and found my name. Next to my name was 1B, but I had no clue what this meant. I did see that there were 1546 people in the tournament. HUGE field. That was probably three times bigger than any other event I'd ever attended. I wandered off to wait until they posted round one pairings.
Pairings went up a few minutes later, and I fought the hoard of backpack-toting magic players to the white sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" with tiny grayish writing on it. I ran my finger down the sheet looking for my name and table number. I found my name, but next to it, where the table number should have been, was the symbol " --- ". I had to ask someone next to me what that meant. I got a funny look from the dude and the reply, "It means you have a bye." HAH! Who knew? My rating was actually high enough to get a bye. Now I knew what the 1B next to my name in the standings meant. So knowing I'd not have a chance like this again for the rest of the day, I shoved off in search of a good meal, a clean bathroom, and maybe, if I was lucky, some amazing deals on cards from the dealers. What can I say? I'm an optimist.
While scanning the dealers, I met Omar Hernandez ( @ITOmarHernandez on Twitter, definitely follow him!) who I'd never had the pleasure of meeting in person before, but had been talking to on Twitter and Facebook for a while. He introduced me to a few other EDH aficionado's and I got to watch a very interesting four player game while eating a turkey sandwich with mustard. Omar, Andrew (@A_Magrini), Chris (@Deathofnation), and David Kolakowski (@DKolakowski) all were having a ton of fun and ignoring the main event entirely. None of them played in the main event, nor wanted to. Just goes to show that GP's really are for every kind of Magic player. After finishing my quite good sandwich I made my way to the artists table hoping to get to Steve Argyle, but he already had a significantly long line, so I found some of my local players who had finished round 1 and played a few practice games again.
Here is the list I played:
Red Green Ramp by Mike Beckwith
Main Deck:
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Kessig Wolf Run
5 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Primeval Titan
2 Inferno Titan
3 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Phyrexian Metamorph (My only major contribution to the deck to differentiate it from Kibler's PT DKA list)
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Slagstorm
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Rampant Growth
4 Sphere of the Sun
2 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Acidic Slime
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Whipflare
Sideboard:
2 Karn Liberated
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Beast Within
2 Autumn's Veil
1 Corrosive Gale
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Combust
1 Ancient Grudge
I felt the deck was perfect in the main, and wouldn't change a card. Sideboard, I would remove the combust which didn't come in once all day for another ancient grudge. Otherwise the side board was amazing all day. I didn't need all three Nihil Spellbombs, but seeing how many UB decks there were in the top tables, I think they would have been good in Day 2 had I been able to stay.
Round 1: Bye
Round 1 down and I'm 1-0. I could get used to this "having byes" thing. Slightly ironic that I played a lot of magic in order to play less magic, but there you have it.
Round 2: HyppoBlade (RWControl) Jacob C
Round 2 pairings finally posted and I made my way to my table and sat down across from Jacob C. He went turn one plains, turn 2 mountain, Glint Hawk Idol, turn 3, Ghost Quarter, Glint Hawk Idol. I complimented him on his Ghost Quarter tech for his WR Tempered Steel deck. He sort of chuckled and nodded and kept beating me down with his glint hawks. I realized too late that I wasn't playing Steel, but instead playing against Hyppoblade, the deck that Caleb Durward played at the last Pro Tour. The two decks are pretty different. We laugh about my misrepresentation of his deck as he beats me handily in game one. In games two and three my board cards (Ancient Grudge) and being able to execute my plan A (a turn 4 titan) means that he dies to poison in game two and damage in the third.
Round 2: 2-0
Round 3: GB Ramp - Michael
Michael had brought the deck to the table that I was hoping to avoid all tournament. To say that my match-up is bad against this deck is to understate the situation rather dramatically. I settled in for a rough fight, and although I put up strong resistance, I lost in two rather quick games. Michael was a really nice guy and we talked a bit about being an Actor in NYC. He currently is pursuing acting, while I had been an actor professionally for six years before becoming a teacher. Our conversation was wide ranging and interesting. I mean how does one actually balance wanting to have a family and be an actor? The answer is that I have no idea.
Round 3: 2-1
Round 4: Tempered Township - Mace
This round was such a roller coaster. I misread my table number and showed up at table 493 instead of 463, figured this out when two guys came over to the table and tried to sit in the same seat and neither was Mace. At that point I figured that I was the one who was wrong and went back to the sheet to figure out I was actually supposed to be at table 463. I barely show up in time, as I had unpacked all my stuff and set up for the match at table 493 and had to pack everything up in a hurry to change tables. I admit this threw me a bit. I wasn't on tilt, but I don't think I was thinking clearly either. I lose the roll and am instantly in trouble with a turn one mox opal, memnite, inkmoth, and signal pest. This explosive opening was backed up by dispatch and gavony township with enough mana to use it. When Tempered Steel made an appearance, I was well and truly done.
Game two was epic. I sided in all my artifact removal but realized that my Green Sun Zenith's were too slow for what I was hoping to do, and removed them as well for two Garruk, Primal Hunter. This became relevant when I was able to cast the green walker on turn four. Not quite as strong as a turn four Inferno titan, but still pretty good. However, my opponent stuck not one, not two, but three tempered steels. Ouch. That made his vault skirge a 7/7 flying lifelinker. Sigh. I'm at 9 poison, and 6 or so life and facing an inkmoth nexus (7/7), a vault skirge (7/7), and a metalcrafted Etched Champion (8/8, pro colors). I had landed a Primeval Titan the turn before last and had 3 Inkmoth Nexus of my own on the board so I could block all three creatures, any one of which would kill me. Not only that but even if I blocked all three and survived the turn, the life link off the skirge would put my opponent out of range for my attack back. He was at 16 and would have been on 23 and more than able to survive my alpha strike. I however see the out. He attacks with all three. I animate my three inkmoth and block, but before damage I galvanic blast the inkmoth blocking the vault skirge, preventing the lifelink. I'm then able to swing back and kill him with wolf run activations. I was SO excited that I actually pulled out that game. Mace was shocked that he lost that game saying that he'd never lost a game where he'd resolved three tempered steel.
I was ecstatic that I'd pulled that one out of nowhere and was boarding for game three when I noticed that I'd lost my blue Sigg water bottle. Now you have to understand, I take this bottle with me everywhere. Literally, everywhere. I have it in hand or on my desk at work all day long, every day. Since I basically talk all day, having water when I need it is really important. So I love this bottle, and I was really worried it'd wandered off. I called a judge over and she told me my best chance was to check the lost and found. She offered to stay and watch the board state if I wanted to go check now. I declined the offer and played out the match, but was distracted the entire time. I even asked Mace's friend to go and check table 493, where I'd incorrectly gone at the beginning of the round to see if it was there, but he wasn't able to find it. So I play game three and lose spectacularly. I quickly congratulate Mace on his win, collect my stuff, and head over to table 493 where I am relieved to find my Sigg bottle underneath the table. Feeling much better, despite now being on the bubble at 2-2, I head off to the restroom again.
Side note on bathroom breaks. I really feel that, to perform well at a tournament that lasts over 12 hours as this one did, you have to stay hydrated and fed. This can be rather difficult when you have very little time in between rounds, but with a little advance planning, can be done. It does mean finding the bathroom almost every round, but the upside is huge. I felt good going into every round all day. My Sigg was instrumental is keeping me at the top of my game.
Round 4: 2-2 (If I lose any more matches I'll be out of contention for Day 2)
Round 5: Tempered Township - Tommy
Tommy was a very nice young kid. I have no idea how old he actually was, but if forced to put an age to him I'd have said 14-15. If he was any older, he looked REALLY young for his age. He had a strong turns 1-2-3 where he played Vault Skirge, Signal Pest and Etched Champion, after which I went and slag stormed everything away, and he tilted like he was on a teeter-totter. Seriously, I haven't seen someone look so defeated in ages. I felt bad for him as I then proceeded to rather easily beat him in two games and knock him out of contention for Day 2. Dream crush #1 on the day.
I told myself that Tommy, although very nice, was not really going to be making Day 2 anyway even if I decided to give him the win, so I kept my win and gave Tommy his third loss. I'm able to win fast enough to go and buy a yogurt parfait continuing my streak of good food that kept my energy high and mind sharp all day.
Round 5: 3-2 Dream Crush #1
Round 6: Carlos R with GR Ramp
So I am very aware that the mirror match is all about the first Titan. If you hit a Titan before the other guy your chances of winning are almost 100%. However I didn't know that this was a mirror when I lost the roll and kept a hand with no Titan but did have a slagstorm and a Huntmaster. I guess in my defense I had just seen two matches in a row where an early slag storm won me the game if I had it, so I kept a hand that was horrible in the mirror. Oh well. He lands a Titan WAY before I can, and my notes say that I went to 8 poison then 10. I remember killing his Primeval Titan, but lost to his inkmoths. Hence the reason why the first guy to a Titan wins.
We move on to game two and I remember during boarding that Carlos didn't actually have the full set of inkmoth nexus. He only had 2, despite having multiple Primeval Titans that game, so I bring in Ancient Grudge and Beast Within. I play a turn 2 Sphere, which he grudges. He plays a turn 3 Sphere, which I grudge. Then on my turn I play Green Sun's Zenith for 1 hoping to find my Birds and get to four mana next turn, as I didn't have a fourth land drop and I was stuck at 3 with a lot of four and six drops in hand. What I had failed to remember was that about 3 minutes before, during side boarding, I had removed my birds from the deck because it died to galvanic blast. I was forced to fail to find. I actually said this when I cast the GSZ, "Good thing I didn't side out my Birds of Paradise". I kid you not. I laughed so hard at my own stupidity, shuffled the GSZ back in the deck, and passed the turn back. Luckily for me Carlos was also mana screwed thanks to my Ancient Grudge, just like I was due to his, so he went draw, go. I draw the land and cast my solemn simulacrum getting me to 5 mana. He draws a rampant growth getting him to four. I rip a land off the top and slam Primeval Titan fetching Inkmoth and Kessig Wolf Run (Duh), and it's all academic from there. He never even hits me and dies to my Inferno Titan that followed the Primeval Titan.
Game three Carlos keeps a fairly slow hand with no turn two ramp, hitting me for 1 poison instead. I'm really happy to see this since my hand is the nuts, and I turn 4 Titan him out.
Round 6: 4-2 Dream Crush #2 (and I told myself that it's unlikely either of us would have made Day 2 anyway and that I didn't want to spend money on side events, and poor Carlos didn't even have the full set of Inkmoths)
Round 7: Gu (Mono-green splashing mana leak off birds and some Hinterland Harbors) Peter L
This match-up is horrendously in my favor and is one of the main reasons I chose to play Ramp. I just destroy the mono green decks. He taps a green early on in game one and plays a Mana Leak from his hand instead of the birds he meant to drop. Since I know he has the mana leak and I saw no other blue source other than the birds, I slag storm away the birds, slowing myself one turn but rather severely setting back his mana, and making his leak in hand a dead card. It's fairly easy for me to turn 5 a Titan and win from there.
Game two Peter mulligans a one land seven card hand away, then a no land six card hand away, and keeps a no land five card hand on the play. He draws for his turn and says go with no land and no play. I again have an amazing hand against him with a Garruk, Beast Within and a Slagstorm, plus land and ramp. Turn 3 he finds a land and I let him untap with it but Beast within it on his upkeep. He casts another birds in a valiant attempt to get back into the game and I slag storm both the birds and the beast away on my turn. I cast Garruk the turn after that, then Primeval titan and draw 6. He scoops after that.
He asks me after the match what I think he could do to make his deck better vs ramp and all I can think is "Don't play mono-green" but I don't say that, instead just acknowledging that it is indeed a horrific match-up for him.
Round 7: 5-2 Dream Crush #3 (I wondered idly how he had gotten to 4-2 with that list, as it seemed pretty bad with a full set of dungrove elders and four Hinterland Harbors with some mana leaks instead of more threats or swords. He wasn't a bad player, but I doubted he'd make Day 2, so I kept going.)
Round 8: Chris with ... something that had Grixis lands...
Now I guess Chris had done fairly well for himself to make it to 5-2 with his list, but his deck definitely seemed to let him down in our match.
Game one Chris landed a Pristine Talisman and starts gaining life. I go turn 3 Huntmaster, leaked. Turn 4 Acidic Slime, Leaked. Turn 5 Titan which resolves and I get inkmoth and Kessig Wolf Run before he Doom Blades away my Titan. His poison count goes to 6 then dead after that. I never see a spell or card that could actually win a game for him.
Game two I am able to turn four titan him out. He Forbidden Alchemy'd this game and dumped a Grave Titan into the yard, and that is the only card I saw in the entire match that had the possibility of killing me. I still have no clue what he was running. He mentions as we're packing up that he'd been hoping to avoid my deck all day. I didn't say much but thought to myself that it was pretty optimistic of him to think that directly after a Pro Tour won by the deck I'm playing that there wouldn't be any GR Ramp.
Round 8: 6-2 (I still think that it was unlikely that either of us would make Day two even with only one round left to go, and take my wins) Dream Crush #4
Round 9: Trent with GRw Ramp
I never do find out what the white in his deck is for until after the match although I assumed that he had Day of Judgement and probably Elesh Norns. Turns out I was half right, Elesh Norn never makes an appearance though.
Game one I am able to turn 5 Titan after matching his turn three hunt master with him on the play while he is stuck on a Huntmaster but no lands or ramp.
Game two is a really strong game where he gets to the first titan, but I am right behind and am able to stabilize a bit, but through really good management of his inkmoth nexus and never tapping down for Kessig Wolf pumps, making my Beast Within in hand not nearly as good, he takes it poison style.
Game three he lands an early huntmaster, but I landed an early Titan which trumped his play. It was pretty easy to close out the game from there.
Trent talks a bit about how he's never gotten this far in a tournament before and that it's ok if he doesn't make Day 2 because he's going to go drinking with his friends for the evening. I tell him it sounds like a fun plan and congratulate him on the very strong game 2. I did feel bad because he'd be 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, then 6-3 and out of contention. Those last three rounds must have been rough for him. He signed the slip, congratulated me and wished me luck in Day 2. I told him thanks signed the slip and walked off to find my friends. I knew I wasn't able to play in Day 2 no matter what, so I checked the box marked DROP and turned my slip in. Dream Crush #5.
I was in 198th place out of 1546 going into round 10. I ended the day at 202nd place out of 1546. Not bad for playing 7 rounds less than everyone else who made Day 2.
I know a lot of people are going to be a bit mad that I would do that to someone, but I don't have to drop to my opponent if I don't want to. The wins are mine to do with as I please, given that I earned them. I also knew that 7-2 in a GP would seriously increase my rating, but mostly I wanted to say that I had made Day 2 at a GP. I admit I feel a bit bad for Trent, who was the only player who would have 100% made Day 2 had I scooped to him. However, I looked at the standings for Day 2 Round 10 on Wizards site the next day and I noticed all the way down at the bottom a player with 19 points who had a bye. That's right. Since I won, but dropped, the math was all messed up and a player who would not have otherwise made it, as previously you needed 21 points to make day 2 (7-2 cut-off), with a record of 6-2-1, made Day 2. To this person, I salute you for your optimism by staying in till the end and not giving up hope. Because you didn't drop, despite being told you were 100% out of the running for Day 2, you actually DID make Day 2. Not only that but you got a round 10 Bye! This put you at 22 points before you'd even played a land on Day 2, and put you higher in the standings than myself who ended the day with 21 points total. Congratulations to you, Justin Stevens. You didn't win one match in Day 2, but you got to play.
And I got to say I made Day 2 of a GP, then dropped to become a Godfather, again.
Awesome.
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