GP Vancouver June 2012

GP Vancouver June 22-25, 2012

Ryan, Greg, Russell, Nate and I all got up to Canada (eh) and planned to take down the GP. Two of us made Day Two. One of us got money and a Pro Point. Read on to find out who!

So Vancouver is a big city. And blurry. No, that's my whack camera. But it is big.

I took Friday off to fly in from SFO. I was going to meet Greg at the Vancouver airport - he came in from Denver. My flight was delayed in SF due to mechanical difficulties and we finally left 90 minutes late. Thankfully, I found room for my carry-on in the overhead and I just read my book. Snackbox for $4? What about free peanuts? Good old United.

I found Greg next to a Subway at VAN (those were everywhere up here), and we decided to split a cab to the hotel. $30 Canadian and some sprinkles got us there in 20 minutes. I had got us all a room at the Best Western downtown. Russ, Ryan and Nate were grinding at the Con Center, but came up to meet us soon. We went to a cool, little organic Japanese place and ate much sushi. Alcohol is heavily taxed in Vancouver, much to our chargin. $13 for a six-pack of Pabst. We found some 20 oz. cans for $3, which was doable. And a handle of Tacquery for $30. Guess who won the credit card game for that? Me! After too many drinks and Magic strategizing, we hit the sack to be ready for the next day.

Up early Saturday - registration at 8am. Still groggy from last night, we all walked in the rain to the Con Center. About 15 mins. I should have gotten some coffee, but we didn't want to miss anything. No cafe in the Con Center and none in the blocks surrounding. We paid and sat and got our packs.
I opened up Avacyn actually, but not much else of note. Happy to pass it along. My deck was:

RW Humans
Pillar
Somber Vigilante
Bladed Bracers
Thunderbolt
Exterminator - always got killed
2x Lit Mauler
Striker
Thraben Valiant
Inquisitor
Thatch Revolt
2x Ringleader
Moonlight Geist
Haven Vamp - surprisingly good
Seraph of Dawn
Goldnight Commander - broken
Herald of War
Spectral Guards
2x Thunder Wrath
Voice of the Provinces

And then I got a game loss. Really? I finished building and submitted my deck with 15 mins to spare. I thought "Plenty of time" to search for coffee. I had a slight headache/foggy feeling. And the stupid game hall was bottom level, way in the back. Shoot! I got back just as the judge was walking away from my table. My opponent was sympathetic, but I was mad and tilted. He played Wolfir Silverheart and crushed me game 2. Oh well!

I needed a break. I was shamed. I went upstairs and sulked. I did a crossword. I ate a granola bar.
Hey, I thought, I probably would've lost to that Wolfir anyway. Chill, dude!
Greg texted me asking where I was. I needed to get back to round 2.

I had to be out the gate fast to win with this deck. Sometimes the Herald got big, but I needed to do damage quick and then burn them out. Versus big green (there was a lot), I was toast. The Vampire was amazing with Thatcher. As was the Commander. You should definitely salute when he comes into play.

I righted the ship and got to 2-2 before losing in the 5th round. X-3 = no Day Two. Sigh.
But Greg and Ryan were rocking undefeated! Go Team SC! We rallied around them and gave support. Russ and I joined a random draft and I was amazed at how fast it went. Maybe Woodstock's drafts are too slow? Pick, pass, pick, pass, zip, zip, zip! I won the first round and lost in the second. Still good for 2 packs.

Saturday night we celebrated Ryan and Greg's records for Day Two. Another bottle of gin and another loss for me in the CC game. Running hot! Russell and I went to really good Indian food and cruised around the shops downtown. There were some ladies upstairs from our room. They chatted us up a bit, but smartly continued on their way. Didn't get too crazy, so the guys could be rested for Sunday.

No rain on Sunday! We all went down to the Con Center to support R & G. They spent some time going over strategy and draft color options. Luckily, they were in different pods. I had breakfast with Nate around the corner on the water. Very good. Took some pictures and drafted again later. Ryan played a feature match on camera vs. Paul Rietzel and lost bad. He was never in it. Oh well. Greg bombed out and ended up out of the money. But Ryan snuck in with tiebreakers at #58. Good for $200 and a Pro Point! He's a pro!

Beers at the local brewery and then another bottle of gin. I lost the CC game again - sheesh! We played Fire & Smoke (Nate's game). We played Mexicali (my game). We hit up a club. We got poutine. We watched Ryan order pizza from 3 different places. We saw a skunk in the hotel's courtyard. We saw Ryan and Greg feed the skunk blueberries. They were one with nature. 2:30am crash!!

Side note: Poutine! It's fries with cheese curds covered in a brown peppery gravy. And it's gooooood!
There was a place right around the corner from our hotel and it was open until 4am. Craaazy!
Such the delicious snack after late-night partying. Lots of different sauces too. Highly recommended.

Monday was just cloudy too. We had breakfast at the hotel and Greg, Nate and I had to catch our plane. Spent my remaining Canadian dollars at the airport on things for the kids. We flew back to SFO and I drove them back home. Russ and Ryan stayed an extra day and went to Stanley Park and the Aquarium. The story is Ryan met a girl there and made plans for dinner later, but she didn't show. Next time, man, get her number! But hey, a pro point is better than that, right?