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Pro Tour-San Diego *Top 64*
by Jason Ford | posted at 2010-03-28 22:28:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, Pro Tour, PT, San Diego, Tournament Report, Jason Ford, Tourney Report
So here we go again, round 2 on the Pro Tour train. After mising a top 50 finish in Austin with my pathetic UB Faeries list (Agony Warp get there!) and lucking out in Draft (yay for byes in 7 person draft pods on the PT), I was given another opportunity to prove I belonged. Unfortunately, a lack of serious preparation seemed to be at work again…
You see, college is a tough place to be. Between my schoolwork, social life, and finding every which way not to be productive, I’m also stranded about 1,500 miles from anyone I know that plays Magic. Tack on the fact that I don’t have a car and the “local” game store requires me to ride a bus for about an hour and a half, and you have a kid who is very much without his fill for cardboard-based addiction.
Fortunately, we do have this wonderful tool called MTGO, but it can only do so much. I had been grinding around since about two months before the PT with a Jund list posted by Marijn Lybaert on Starcity to pretty great success and was fairly attached to the list. However, since MTGO was my only real source of practice, that meant I had little interaction with Worldwake cards outside random games on Workstation. I turned to talking some theory with my usual group including the Gemmes, Andy Roman, and Justin Desai, as well as PT Austin partners-in-crime Blaine Hatab and Brad Wocjeshonek. We shipped around some lists including updated Vampires, Monogreen, Allies and all sorts of awful control decks that we never really figured out, but in the end I found myself sticking with Jund.
I was really looking forward to this trip for a few reasons, beyond the obvious quest for money, glory, and an invite to San Juan. First, I was pretty much at war with my roommate, so any escape from confrontation is a bonus. Second, I got to dodge a math test (temporarily) that I was totally not ready for, especially with the PT approaching. Lastly, and most importantly, I got to take a freaking vacation to a place that doesn’t feature snow in February, where I can march around in shorts and enjoy quality non-dorm food, all with some of my best friends. Playing on the PT is sweet…
Fast forward to the night before the Pro Tour. Our buddy Mike had scrubbed out of the LCQ and, after securing two Raging Ravines to complete my deck, I was ready to battle. Sure I only had two drafts with Worldwake under my belt and hadn’t even physically seen a Worldwake card until I landed in sunny California, but I was supremely confident in my Constructed deck and hoped my previous Limited experience would power me through the draft portion. Maybe it was because we heard “Runaround Sue,” a cult-classic doo-wop song by Dion and the Belmonts heard by every 10 year old kid who watched “Little Big League” in a Wendy’s at midnight…or maybe I’m a little off my rocker. I digress…
We got to a slow start Friday morning, but after a quick shower and bowl of Fruit Loops we were ready to roll. Unfortunately, that meant taking a 16-block march to the convention, but what’s a kid to do? However, the trek meant that we showed up a little on the late side (a trend that continued throughout the weekend), and I found myself hurrying to sleeve my deck as round 1 was starting. Here’s the 75 I sleeved up:
4 Swamp
3 Mountain
3 Forest
Sideboard:
Round 1 – Brandon M. Scheel with UWR Control
I don’t exactly know Brandon per se, but my good buddy Andy Roman is originally from the Midwest and practically drools over this guy and Matt Hansen so I got a good chuckle that I’m paired up against him. It also led me to believe that he was playing Bant based on some information that Andy had told me, but this was quickly proven to be false.
I kept a semi-sketchy hand without any black mana but a Bolt, Bloodbraid, and some chaff after he announced a mulligan. He made an early Chalice for one but we awkwardly passed back and forth as it became apparent I was missing black and he was without red. He sent in a Celestial Colonnade that I double Bolted down, and I began to draw out of my color-screw from there. He got down an Ajani and periodically Bolted a creature, but Thrinaxes are not exactly prime targets and he never really drew any gas as my creatures got there through some bothersome Wall of Denials.
Game two was even less exciting, as my hand was actually quite good and he was again stuck on three lands (fetches to boot) with nothing but a Snapper and a Wall. Three Bloodbraid Elfs made this a short one.
1-0
(2-0)
Round 2 – Dean K. McLaren with Summoning Trap Bant
It was Dean’s first time on the Tour, and after finding out that he’s from Edmonton, I proceeded to give him a little shit about his hockey team. However, Dean didn't appear too interested in chatting, and we proceeded on to the game.
My hand was a little slow to start, and Dean showed himself to be Bant after churning out an early Knight of the Reliquary that was quickly nuked. However, his follow-up Jace led me to believe that he was on the Summoning Trap plan. Sure enough, a few turns later, a Sphinx of the Steel Wind was hovering over the board and I found myself packing up my cards.
I kept a removal heavy hand in the second, picking off most of Dean’s early threats in the form of a Lotus Cobra and Knight. I started to draw some critters, and when Dean “only” managed to Trap into a Baneslayer with my fourth Terminate waiting in hand, I was able to finish him off.
Game 3 was something of a letdown in an otherwise interesting match, as Dean did nothing to ever really put pressure on me, and my turn 5 Malakir Bloodwitch (which he later noted he had never played against in testing) managed to go the whole distance by itself.
2-0 (4-1)
Round 3 – Benjamin R. Lundquist with Barely Boros
After somewhat looking up to Ben as a pro player, mainly because I liked most of the decks he played (UG Tron, Faeries), I was in quite a bit of shock when I quickly discovered him to be playing Monored. He displayed some unusual (or maybe not?) card choices when he ran out an early Zektar Shrine Expedition (which I Pulsed) and Tectonic Edge, so I was forced to re-evaluate the plans I used when typically playing against RDW online. I got a steady stream of guys going while I dropped to 13 from a Hell’s Thunder, but eventually ran into an unexpected Stone Idol Trap. However, the attack dropped him to 4, and after Pulsing the token, I cast a lethal Bolt in response to him cracking a fetchland.
Game 2 I got down an early Thrinax while he used a surprising Ajani Vengeant to lock down one of my lands, while keeping me honest with a Tectonic Edge. However, I had a Bolt to finish off the Ajani and he never really got any pressure on me besides a Hell’s Thunder and a last-ditch-effort Goblin Guide while my cascading army crushed him.
3-0 (6-1)
Round 4 - Yoshitaka Nakano with Jund
I was pretty excited about this match as it was my first chance to play against a Japanese player. Furthermore, I’ve played the mirror enough to the point where I’m confident despite people whining about how luck-based it is. Of course, the game ground out to the point where we were both on 6 life and I topdecked a Broodmate Dragon to his 3 Saproling Tokens, only for him to rip Bituminous Blast Bloodbraid Pulse. We both have a good chuckle about that and moved on to Game 2.
Game 2 was another resource battle, as opposed to Ruinblaster based-blowouts that postboard games sometimes devolve into. Despite him never actually touching my life total, I was largely bailed out by some lucky topdecks involving Broodmate, cascade cards, and his sixth land being Raging Ravine with 2 Dragons in hand.
Game 3 was a tight one as he mulliganed and my hand was largely based upon Ruinblasting him out. However, he got down some quick pressure with Thrinax and Bloodbraid that quickly churned down my life total. However, I managed to stabilize around 3 life thanks to Garruk Wildspeaker and his depleted mana base, and after him not drawing Blighting or Bolt for a few turns I was able to close out one of the tightest matches of my life.
4-0 (8-2)
Round 5 - Tom R. Ross with Boss Naya
While I don’t know much about Tom, I do recall him writing a States report and Top 8ing/winning various events, so I’m ready for a pretty sick match. We got some solid pre-game chat going about his New Orleans Saints as well as some side comments from the ever-friendly Matej “Big Z” Zatlkaj. I asked him about the group he prepped for the PT with to which he muttered some funny remark about Wild Nacatls. Little did I know…
Sure enough, Tom led with the most feared one-drop in Magic. I fired right back with a Putrid Leech while he seemed to do little else but get in for 3. A Bloodbraid and Bolt for his Nacatl quickly followed to make short work of him, though not before he revealed himself to be playing a Behemoth Sledge.
In the second game, Tom started fairly slowly leading with a Stoneforge Mystic for a Sledge. However, he was stuck on three lands without any green sources as a Blightning showed just how awkward his draw had been as he pitched 2 Wild Nacatls. Two Malakir Bloodwitches follow, and even the BOP he tutored for with Ranger of Eos proved futile when Chandra Naalar picked it off.
5-0 (10-2)
So far, so good! Sure I thought I had a pretty good handle on Jund (as well as fully believing it to still be the best deck), but 5-0 was still quite a bit above my initial expectations. Sitting at table 1 for draft was pretty sweet, despite only recognizing LSV and having the coverage follow table 2 where Gabriel Nassif and Patrick Chapin resided. I had no real strategy for the draft, just planning on following signals and taking the best card in every pack.
Things began rolling with a Journey to Nowhere, followed by a Kor Hookmaster, and another, and I even rounded out the pack with a third as well as a Steppe Lynx and Welkin Tern. Pack 2 gave me more of the same, adding 2 more Terns and a Lynx, along with some late gifts in the form of Windborne Charge and Brave the Elements. Worldwake helped to fill out the deck, adding some Apex Hawks, 2 Talus Paladins (though no other Allies to boot), and a Permafrost Trap. I ended up with the following:
11 Plains
6 Island
1 Scalding Tarn (3rd pick!)
Notable sideboard cards: Battle Hurda, Suraka Banisher #2, Celestial Mantle, Shieldmate’s Blessing.
Round 6 - Martin Goldman-Kirst with BR
Game 1 was rather awkward as neither deck served up any early action and I was forced to rawdog out one of my many Hookmasters on turn 3 to get things rolling. I ended up drawing all three of the Hooks while he slowly deployed guys like Geyser Glider, and I used my various tricks to get in for the full 20.
Game 2 was a bit more “normal” based on what my deck should do, as I mulliganed a hand of 4 lands + Talus Paladin to a more aggressive one. Leading with Steppe Lynx, I was ahead on the race the entire game, adding some fliers to my board and finishing him off with Permafrost Trap.
6-0 (12-2)
Round 7 - Masaya Kitayama with Monogreen
Another match I was pretty excited for, as it was a second go with a Japanese player and this one was even covered by a Japanese reporter. If only the games were a little more interesting…
Game 1 I was pretty happy to lead with two Welkin Terns to his pesky Turntimber Basilisk, but when he slammed his turn 4 Tajuru Archer off the top, I was pretty sunk. He followed this up with an Oran-Rief Survivalist and it was all over from there.
Game 2 isn’t much better for me, as he led with Arbor Elf into a Timbermaw Larva and other oversized beasties which quickly crushed me. Barf.
6-1 (12-4)
Round 8 – Craig D. Wescoe with UW
Craig had just come off a feature match with LSV where he awkwardly had two Calcite Snappers to go with his Basilisk Collar, so I was ready for a tough one. We had some decent pre-game convo where I found out that he’d been playing on the Tour since I was seven (’98 for those playing at home), so that’s pretty sweet.
Game 1 my deck just does what it does, giving him the business from the start. Multiple early drops aided by a Brave the Elements and were good enough to finish him off.
Game 2 was another one-sided affair, unfortunately for Craig this time. He got some Ally action going with Halimar Excavator, Makindi Shieldmate, and Join the Ranks, making me all the happier I snagged up those Talus Paladins. However, the aforementioned creatures are a solid enough roadblock that I was never really in this game.
Game 3 I mulliganed to an aggressive 6 and got some early beats while I stalled out on 3 lands. My fliers continued to work away at him while he deployed Drakes of the Voyager and Sky Ruin variety. I Hookmastered one and Journeyed the other, to which he had a Kor Sanctifiers. However, I had a Whiplash Trap (in Trap mode because of the Sanctifiers) to ship back both of his clunky fliers, and that afforded me enough time to finish him off.
7-1 (14-3)
Finishing Day 1 in 5th place at 7-1 was definitely a sick feeling. Quickly my expectations moved beyond just hitting Top 50 to stay on, as I really felt that I could X-0 the Constructed portion and be on my way to a Top 8. I knew that my draft pod would be extremely difficult the next day, but I figured if I could leak a win or two out of it I would still be in an extremely good spot. We spent the rest of the night enjoying another great meal at Karl Strauss and proceed back to the hotel, ready to crash after a long day.
Saturday got off to a slow start, as my sleep was pretty light and I was still feeling pretty groggy. Down the chute went another bowl of Fruit Loops and after some minor delays we were ready to get on our way. Obviously, I was late again, and walked in while all the other players were filling out the necessary tax forms. I cruise over to table 1 (where I knew that I’d be drafting) and notice Benjamin Peebles-Mundy (who I knew would be in my pod) but none of the other names that I knew should be there (LSV, Nassif) were, and I doubled back to the seating board. I saw my name with a 1 next to it and returned to the full table, and a judge came over shortly. He took all of our names from the first seat and disappeared for a few minutes while I just stood around idly. Shortly afterwards, I hear them calling over the PA System “If Jason Ford will report to the judge’s center so that we can get this draft under way, that would be great.” Oops…
After sorting out that small issue we finally headed over to our draft tables where we were informed to show our picks to the reporters doing coverage behind us. The draft started as I windmill slammed a Sphinx of Jwar Isle and followed it up with a Kor Skyfisher, but white was absent after that. I picked up some mediocre blue and black cards and passed p7 with something like Timbermaw Larva, Harrow, and Grazing Gladeheart…wtf? Pack 2 started with back-to-back Living Tsunamis and the rest of the packs were pretty solid. However, Worldwake was completely dreadful and I barely managed to scrape up five playables through all 14 picks. The draft is on the coverage, so you can review the horrorshow that it certainly was.
I walked away from the draft pretty aggravated, holding a 1-2 or maybe even 0-3 pile. It certainly didn’t feel like I was in the wrong colors, but I couldn’t find anything in all of the Worldwake packs. I made some mistakes in deckbuilding playing aggressive cards (Lacerator, Guul Draz Vampire, Crypt Ripper) instead of my defensive creatures (Kraken Hatchling , Halimar Excavator, etc.). I had some friends look over the pile that was and established a sideboard plan that could hopefully secure me a match win or two. This is what I played:
1 Tomb Hex
9 Swamp
7 Island
I boarded +1 Kraken Hatchling, 1 Halimar Excavator, 1 Paralyzing Grasp, 2 Island, -1 Swamp, 1 Hedron Scrabbler, 1 Vampire Lacerator, 1 Guul Draz Vampire, 1 Crypt Ripper in most games.
Round 9 - Daniel Gardner with UR
I thought I recognized Dan from somewhere, but was drawing blanks – turns out that he’s the British National Champ or something sweet. Regardless, he was a pretty cool and chatty dude, which is always nice and makes the games a bit more enjoyable.
Game 1 I got crushed by my poor deck construction, as I led with a Guul Draz Vampire and he had a Plated Geopede. If that guy was a Kraken Hatchling…but it sure ain’t. He followed that up shortly afterwards with a Living Tsunami and that made it a quick one.
Game 2 was pretty much the same as game 1, except this time I had the Hatchling. He dropped a Tsunami with Goblin War Paint after I played Sphinx in an attempt to race, but I had a Paralyzing Grasp and it was all over from there.
Game 3 was pretty frustrating. He played a turn 2 Geopede, for which I had a Paralyzing Grasp, but he had one on turn 3 too – did I mention he mulliganed?!?!? He got me down to 5, but I managed to stabilize behind a wall of Living Tsunami, Quicksand, and random dorks rolling off the top. I began making attacks with the Tsunami when I could block each of his guys plus an additional blocker to guard from removal/Goblin Shortcutter, though I was living in fear of reach such as Unstable Footing. However, I was forced to tap out to cast a Sky Ruin Drake and still attack with my Living Tsunami despite my Quicksand being tapped down. He ripped Akhoum Battlesinger, and had enough mana to kick the Burst Lightning that he’d been sandbagging forever to kill me.
7-2 (15-5)
This loss was aggravating to me for a few reasons. First, the obvious in-match punt. Secondly, I feel like if I had the proper deck set up, despite how poorly the draft went, I could have won this match as even our third game was so damn close. Finally, I was reminded how little practice and preparation I have in this format, and my Limited game in general. I was pretty disappointed with myself, as I always like to start the day off on a good foot, but quickly reminded myself I was still in solid position to Top 8 and should keep my head up.
Round 10 - Benjamin W. Peebles-Mundy with WR (?)
Peebles was one of the weekly writers on SCG when I first started playing competitively, so I was pretty familiar with his exploits (and love of Reveillark). Beyond that, I played against him in the second round of a GPT once, and basically had my face stomped and pounded into the ground by this man – he put the fear of God into me. Regardless, he’s another pretty cool guy and after shooting the shit for a while we went to work.
When you start a game with Guul Draz Vampire, and two Surrakar Marauders with land drops in hand against a non-black deck, you think you’re in a pretty good spot. Then a Cunning Sparkmage comes down and shits all over you day. On turn 3. Haste. Get that shit outta here.
Game 2, after a mulligan on each end, I led with a Marauder and Welkin Tern, and am pretty excited when he plays his third land and paused. I gleefully chime in that “C’mon man, I know you obviously have the Sparkmage.” When he replies “Yea, just trying to figure out which one to kill,” I have a pretty good laugh. And then he casts it. And then I cry. The game goes on from there, he casts a Bladetusk Boar or something, but I’m never coming back.
7-3 (15-7)
Round 11 - Masaya Kitayama with Monogreen
I was pretty pumped for this round, as I figured if I was playing against another 0-2, then my Sphinx and two Living Tsunamis should probably be good enough. I also heard that Nassif was 0-2 with some awful pile, so smashing in a man like him would make me feel even better. However…this day seemed to be going in a different direction. I faced the same guy who crushed me on Day 1, and he happened to have the pair down with a monster of a Monogreen deck.
Game 1 he absolutely slaughtered me. He led Scute Mob into Lotus Cobra into Timbermaw Larva, and I cast something like Enclave Elite. My deck isn’t that bad…I swear.
Game 2 wasn’t much better. I had some removal to deal with his Scute Mob and early River Boa, and stabilized around 2. I got down a Caustic Crawler, ready to murder off his Frontier Guide that had been thinning his deck. He Vapor Snared the Crawler, and when he fetched I knew that I was dead when he picked off my guy. However, he decided to ignore the fact that the Crawler has an ability for about six turns, and a Heartstabber Mosquito brought me back into the game. The board position gets to the point where he has no lands left in his deck (so he draws action every turn), I’m on 2 (dead to anything) and have been dropping guys every turn to keep up. He’s on 18 and I have something like Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Living Tsunami, Mosquito, the Tern, and some random land guys with a Tsunami in hand. I simply cast the Tsunami and pass back, instead of attacking with the Tern who has no defensive value. So basically, instead of putting him on a one turn clock (where he would have to make all sorts of awful attacks and basically lose), I sit back knowing that he will draw gas every turn where I can only do exactly 17 on board. Sure enough, he lets me swing with the Tern the following turn (tongue twister eh), and ships out a Baloth Cage Trap at EOT to which I die.
7-4 (15-9)
I was pretty annoyed at the fact that he won after I stabilized after such a good start by him and he messed up for forever with the Crawler, but really I was just ticked that I'd punted a second match and just 0-3ed the draft. But that was behind me, and I was certainly looking forward to Constructed again. If I X-0ed, which I thought was quite feasible with my deck and familiarity with it, I could still Top 8 and three wins would keep me in the money.
Round 12 - Petr Kludka with Jund
Petr seems like a pretty nice guy, but unfortunately for him the games weren’t particularly close. I had the sick start of Leech into Thrinax into Bloodbraid in game 1 while he pretty much had stone nothing, and in game 2 he kept a two-ander (non basics) with Great Sable Stag (cause that’s fantastic in the mirror right?!?!) and ended the game with two Forests after my Ruinblasters run him over. People complain that the mirror is too random and skill less, but I can honestly say that there are plenty of little ways beyond something outrageous like maindecking Ruinblasters to pick up edges.
8-4 (17-9)
Round 13 - Dennis Stone with Bant
Dennis was playing against Big Z during my last round of constructed on Friday, so I knew he was running Bant – another matchup I felt confident in, as it always just felt like a worse version of Jund (same with Naya). I also played with the deck for a good week on MTGO before switching to Jund, sick of getting crushed by “lucky cascades” that really weren’t so lucky and rather just cascades…
Game 1 was just a blowout, as I think he started with a mulligan and a Hierarch, but had no real gas after that. I proceeded to beat down with a Leech and some random friends, and picked off the few relevant threats he had.
Game 2 is actually a bit closer, as we both trade threats for a while until he got out a Baneslayer and suddenly I was struggling. At 5 life I skillfully ripped a Bloodwitch, shutting down his offense (he was somewhere in the 30s at this point however). He ripped a second Baneslayer, but once again I was right back at it with a second Bloodwitch. He played an irrelevant threat and I drew Pulse, giving me a window to start beating. Chandra came down shortly afterward, forcing him to make some poor attacks and helping clear the way as I beat him down from 38.
9-4 (19-9)
Round 14 - Aras Senyuz with Wg Aggro
I met Aras earlier in the tournament when building my first draft deck, and learned that he was an Italian speaking guy from Turkey which is pretty sweet. He was pretty friendly too, which is always good…so yeah.
Game 1 he quickly revealed himself to be some White Weenie variant and I slowly started to get beat down. However, between some sick rips and slow accumulation of an army, I was able to force him into some tough blocks and drop him to 4 with me at 6 and a Baneslayer on board. He tanked for about five minutes and I was forced to call a Judge, something I hate doing but is necessary at a point. This kind of ticked him off and I felt bad because he was so friendly before…but the game at hand is what matters. He beat me to 9 and dropped a Knight, which threatened to basically end the game. I ripped Bituminous Blast which can hit anything except for Leech, Garruk, or Thrinax for lethal. It hit Terminate, I praise God and finish him.
Games 2 and 3 are pretty aggravating. In both, it just felt like he had superior draws, and I never draw into my sideboard Bloodwitches or any real gas despite plenty of creature kill. I eventually succumb to some Kor Firewalkers or the likes, though the fact that he had protection bears hardly mattered. He did sideboard out his Devout Lightcasters game 3 after noticing that I didn’t have any Thrinaxes game 2 which is pretty acute of him – I possibly should’ve brought back in my Leeches for that reason, especially since I would be on the play. Regardless, I got rolled and was pretty ticked, as I felt all the White Weenie decks were pretty awful and I had continuously crushed them online.
9-5 (20-11)
Round 15 - Bernhard Sternbauer with Wg Aggro
Bernard is playing a similar pile to my last round opponent, so I was delighted at a second shot to smack around this pile. He got some sick start game 1 involving multiple Steppe Lynxes or something with protection bears, and my hand was too slow and ill-equipped to deal with it. He did make some sloppy plays that I took note of, sensing some general weakness that I might be able to take advantage of later on.
My suspicions feel only further confirmed when he led with at turn 1 Steppe Lynx and had no play except for lands for the following four turns. Naturally I was able to crush him, Blightning’ing away his only slow business and beating down with far superior creatures.
Game 3 got to the point where he had been slowly beating me down with a lonely White Knight when he dropped a Baneslayer. My board was Bloodbraid Elf and Borderland Ranger with both of his creatures untapped. I drew and played my sixth land and considered my hand of Bituminous Blast, Broodmate Dragon, and double Jund Charm. The Dragon doesn’t really do anything for me, and sending out a Bit Blast in hopes of hitting a removal spell seemed rather poor. I decided to push on sensing weakness and attack with both of my guys, hoping to draw one of them and double Jund Charm for a Baneslayer Angel while leaving me with a dominating creature. He thought for a long time on my attack, managed to figure it out, and double blocked my Bloodbraid. I was pretty surprised by this, and kind of panicked. I threw out a Bituminous Blast which hit Jund Charm, causing even more disappointment. As I’m pretty tilted at that point, I resign to losing and just put some counters on my Borderland Ranger, failing to notice that I could kill the Baneslayer (along with my two creatures) via the Pyroclasm effect. He untapped, played a Sigil of Distinction for like 30 and killed me.
9-6 (21-13)
Pretty disappointed at this point, as I’ve lost twice in a row to what in my mind was a terrible deck, and now I find myself a loss away from falling off the train after starting 7-1. Going 3-5 has never been so difficult in my life. Again, I think I fell in to a lot of trouble here as my goals continued to fluctuate. After 0-3ing the draft, I reassessed my goals and started aiming for Top 50…but that kind of caused me to play down to a 10-6 record knowing that was all I needed. Time to come up big here...
Round 16 - Demostenes Tsatsos with Summoning Trap Bant
Demostenes seemed like a pretty cool kid from Greece, and this was his first PT so he was obviously a little nervous. Not that I wasn’t, as I obviously wanted to keep the PT dream alive, but I guess I was able to keep my nerves cooled a little bit more than I would have if I hadn’t been in the position before.
Game 1 wasn’t very exciting as he mulliganed and didn’t do anything except cast a turn one Noble Hierach and turn three Harrow while I beat down with a Putrid Leech and some random other dorks. Seeing Harrow told me that he was probably going for some ramp approach like Summoning Trap, so I kept that in the back of my mind.
Game 2 I was on the draw and he got a quick start with Hierarch and Cobras, and was able to Summoning Trap out an Iona on black before I ever really get my offense rolling. I conceded at that point to make sure I had plenty of time for game 3 to avoid any awkward situations of “who’s going to concede?”
Game 3 was a bit of a mess, and marred in some controversy that I’ll do the best to explain as the entire Magic player base in Greece now hates me. The game started simply enough, as I cast a turn three Blightning to which he discarded an Iona and some other chaff, and I follow that up with a Garruk to make a token. He untapped to his board of Lotus Cobra and Knight of the Reliquary, drew, and tanked for a few minutes. Eventually, he cast the second Cobra and went through the shenanigans of making lots of mana. Despite the fact that his English was not great, we are constantly communicating and confirming the total mana count. He ends up making BGGGWW with a Forest and Plains untapped, so I assume that he’s trying to cast an Iona. However, he confirms the total count about six different times and sort of panics, and I realize Iona actually costs nine (and he can clearly only make eight). At that point he kind of shrugs and just casts a Sphinx of the Steel Wind instead. I untap, draw, and realize that he couldn’t have possibly cast the Sphinx with the mana that he produced, and called a judge.
After getting a Greek translating judge, the ruling table judge comes to the conclusion that because he could have possibly made the correct mana, that the play stands. I obviously rip shit about this, as I’m not about to let my dreams be crushed when this kid messed up and appealed to the head judge. After about another 25 minutes of discussion, where I show the judges the written mana counts on both ends, prove that we were in verbal confirmation, and even go so far as to claim that my opponent probably had an Iona in hand and messed up (which he did), the judges rule in my favor.
Now, some people (none of whom I personally know) are pretty pissed at me because of this. First, they claim that I just did this as an act of desperation, because I was going to lose anyhow and might as well. That’s absolutely ridiculous…I would never just embarrass myself in such a manner, especially at a professional event, and the game was far from over. I was holding a Malakir Bloodwitch (which can infinitely block while only giving up 2 points of damage), and if I were to draw a second I could race. Secondly, I’ve been accused of taking advantage of a foreigner, as if that was some plan of mine to take advantage of the fact that I can communicate with a judge. There was a Greek judge present and translating to the head judge the entire time, and my intention was never to get the player DQ’d or anything. If they rewound the game to the point where he had the mana that he created and cast anything that he could (as in, irrelevant cards basically), I could untap and kill the Knight to pretty much lock up the game anyhow. However, the judges ruled that he broke the rules with intent, knowing that he couldn’t actually cast the Sphinx.
10-6 (23-14)
Now, I felt pretty bad after this, as I somehow inadvertently probably just ruined this kid’s first trip to the States and first time on the Tour. So, I guess I’m kind of sorry, but in the same light, I shouldn’t be, as I didn’t do anything wrong – but as a human, I can’t help but somehow feel involved. Not guilt, just linked to the situation. On the other hand, I could not be more elated as I knew I was locked for another top 50 finish that would keep me on the train and some small cash that should cover my next trip.
After finding out about my finish (46th, $730) I pretty much just wanted to jet from the convention center as I was burnt out from Magic and exhausted in general. Declining a team draft with a few of my buddies against some of the ChannelFireball crew (Matt Nass, Lucas Siow, etc.), Mike and I met up with some of his SoCal friends from the Star Wars TCG back in the day and headed off to some fancy Brazilian steak house. People, if you haven’t been, it really is just as good as everyone writes about. The meal is delicious and never ending, and the experience unique, even if the bill will run you about twice as much compared to anywhere else you’d eat at. Some dancer chick even came in and put on some wild five minute performance out of nowhere, so that was pretty sweet. After the meal we said some goodbyes and started the march back to our hotel, passing by some street performers, homeless people, and 16 year old girls hanging out of a limo in their prom dresses. San Diego really does have it all…
The trip pretty much raps up there. We headed back to the convention center the next day for some Standard tourney, though I just birded for a while because my flight was at around noon. I caught a cab ride to the airport, only to find out that my flight had been messed up and was booked for March instead of February. Great…on top of that, the next flight that I could catch was for Monday, when I was supposed to make up my math exam. I ended up spending the rest of the day in the airport sleeping and studying for that test I didn’t even end up having to take (MISE!), being a cheap ass and not returning to the hotel to meet up with Mike and Matt who were staying until Monday. I met up with them on Monday morning as we were now on the same flight, and pretty much just slept the whole way on my return to being just another college student trying to pathetically hide the hobby that he loves so much.
So what’s the takeaway from all this? I need to spend more times on both sides of my game much more. Even if I was cut off from playing with Worldwake, I could at least have drafted ZZZ a bit more online to get a better understanding of what pick orders were pre-Worldwake (I played very little Limited after Austin) and sharpened up my general understanding of Limited matches. Aceman recently wrote an article where he stated that people should prepare just by playing more Limited – Block, Tempest draft, whatever, just to familiarize yourself with combat and in-game decisions like racing. I think this is quite true, as I lost at least two games to not understanding fully what was going on in the match. As far as Constructed goes, I think I did what works for me – find a deck and become familiar with it. I know that I am by no means a deckbuilder, so breaking the format seems rather unlikely. Rather, some minor tuning and knowing matchups in and out should be good enough to get you there most of the time. So, if I can keep doing that (though now I have to play BLOCK ughhh) and get some more Limited games in, I should be in a good spot to keep pushing my game in the right direction. Until then…
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