Grand Prix San Jose 2012

grind·er [grahyn-der] 

noun

1. a person or thing that grinds.

2. a kitchen device or appliance for grinding  food.

3. a sharpener of tools.

4. a molar tooth.

5. Chiefly New England and Inland North . hero sandwich.

*6* the event before the real event to acquire byes.

Grand Prix San Jose was finally here! I was scattered all week leading up to this, since my mind was primarily on the weekend festivities. After a last minute teammate swap, Shawn, Nate and myself were ready to conquer. But the first step was to play in a "grinder" the Friday before. Winners of the 32-man sealed events would get two byes for the GP.

FRIDAY - GRINDERS

I got to the SJ Convention Center with Nate after leaving my car at his place to split the parking fee. We walked around the huge, cavernous building looking for signs of Magic. Hall 3 is where the action is! We signed up our team, got cool playmats, boosters and guild pins (Izzet for me) and prepared for battle. Saw Greg as well. It was a huge hall, but only 1/3 full. Time to grind! $30 grinders ran as they filled and Nate and I got in #3. Let's see what I got:

Niv Elemental, Blood Crypt, Growing Ranks, Guild Feud, Conjured Currency & Search The City.
What a pile of poo. Has there ever been a worse six rares in a sealed pool?
I went Radkos midrange with the Crypt as my only playable rare. Some removal, but not much else. The Ranks would be good to build around if there was some decent GW. Alas, there was not.

Round one vs. Terry

He was Izzet & the hasty dragon came out quickly for 4 damage. More flyers and an Izzet Charm for 2 damage finished me. Game two was better when I had three dudes attacking on the board until he played Supreme Verdict. Ouch. Then his flyers crushed my "bye" dreams. Woof. That was over quick.

What to do next? Nate and Greg were still alive and I watched them for awhile. But, there was one event that caught my eye --> Ravnica Retro! For $25, you get 3 packs of RTR plus an old school, original Ravnica Guild Set at random. You play swiss 4-rounds and the top 4 players get a box of RTR. A whole box! Sign me up!

There were 16 of us old Rav fans playing and the judge carried a bag with all the Guild Sets in them. I reached in and pulled... BOROS! Yee-hah!

Here's the deck listing.

Come out swinging! Got the Palisade Giant, Lord of Rakdos and Corpsejack Menace as my RTR rares. I'd have to splash black for the Lord and the Giant seemed out of place to me in a speedy deck. I ended up only playing a few red cards from RTR with Lobber Crew being the best one.

Round one vs. R playing GW

He played the Evangel token maker and Eyes in the Skies to make many tokens. I played my two Swiftblades. He played a Scion and put a Fist on it. I blocked with a Keening Spirit and then sac'd it to take away the Fist. I played Dynacharge for my Swifties and swung for 12. A few swings later and the game was mine. Game two, he got out the Scion and double-fisted it. That's a decent combo. I took two separate hits of 9 damage and that was over. Game three, it was my Sunforger's chance to shine. Attach, swing, unattach for Helix. Do that twice and it's not a fair fight!

Round two vs. Josh playing WU

We both played dudes and were swinging, but his had wings and he played Fetters, which was a bummer. And then he started gaining life. Unfair! Game two he was manascrewed and my Boros legion did quick work. Game three he never touched me since my Sunhome'd dudes got in there and a double-Helix finished him.

Round three vs. Brandon playing WBG

Got him to 9 life, but then he played the Angel of Serenity. Does Wizards think that card is fair? Not if your Boros. Game two I got him to 8 life and then he played his other bomb, Armada Wurm. A couple of Disembowels later and it was lights out for me.

I checked the standings and I was the top 2-1 in the group. Brandon and another guy were above me. I still had a shot at a box! Oh man, oh man, oh man! I showed Greg and Spencer (who showed up to grind) my deck and they got excited. "That deck is nuts!"

Round four vs. Ronnie playing WU flyers

Well, fateful readers, I lost my notes from this match. Maybe I purposefully erased it from my mind since I lost. I do remember going to game 3 and getting manascrewed. I mulled to 6 and kept a 2 mountain hand with 4 white spells. I didn't draw any gas until it was too late. My opponent won a box and I got 8 packs (finishing 7th). So close to greatness. All together, I was still ahead with the 8 packs for $25 entry, but was feeling low.

Nate and Spencer had gone home, so Greg was my ride. But he was still playing in the second grinder and was in the finals. Wow! His Radkos deck had all sorts of removal and I was happy for him when he won it all. Whoop! Two byes and 18 packs! Not bad at all, Mr. Smith! We wandered around in downtown SJ looking for his car and we vowed to do even better tomorrow...

SATURDAY - DAY ONE

Rolled into SanJo at 8am and found a parking spot for $7 all day. Got coffee and met up with the crew. Hardy slaps on the back of Greg for taking down the grinder. Jeff flew in all the way from Florida to play today. Everyone was going over practice sealed builds. Found Shawn and Nate and we dubbed ourselves "Woodies on the Wharf". Perfect! 1,700+ players for 500+ teams. 11 rounds said the head judge. "Groan", said the players. We were all seated by 9:30 and we got our sealed bags. There was some confusion about passing the registered bags around, especially since some of the bags were trashed. But we finally got it going and here's what we did. I got to play Azorous, Nate got Selesnya and Shawn played Rakdos. Shawn's deck was the strongest by coming out hard and fast with red black beats. Good removal to back it up. Nate had 3 Common Bonds and lots of green white dudes that could multiply. I was all flyers with a Saber and some tricks. No bombs to speak of, but lots of synergy.

Match one, game one vs. Patrick (Selesnya)

He rolled out small, medium and big dudes with all kinds of tricks. Rootbound defenses, Common Bonds and the Selesnya Charm. Finished me with Rhinos. Game two I came back and my flyers slowly pecked away at his life. My Familiar countered his Rhino sorcery (after Nate pointed out that it could) - he was out of mana to prevent the counter. Thanks Nate! Game three was all about my Skyknight with a +2/+0 Saber FTW. Shawn and Nate both won their matches and we were riding high.

Next round I played a multicolored deck who had removal (Augur), fixing (Mana Bloom) and a decent finisher (Hellsteed). Ouch. Game two I tried to fight back, but this time it was his Armada Wurms that got me. Luckily, Shawn and Nate took down their games. 2-0!

Round three, we faced three guys from Denmark. They were speaking Danish loudly and even high-fived each other before we started. Wha? Ok dudes, prepare to be beaten. My opponent was playing Rakdos and removed my early flyers. Then he dropped a Pack Rat. Aw geez. By the end of the game, there were 5 5/5 rats facing me down. Erg. Game two he ratted me out again. Go Nate and Shawn! Yes, they won. We are 3-0!

We were all starving, so Nate and I ran out to find food. Around the corner from Original Joe's was a cafe serving baguette and panini sandwiches. But then they were out of baguettes! Luckily, the paninis were quick and we still had time to get back and eat before the next round.

My deck took awhile to get established and will lose to a fast Rakdos deck. And to bombs like the Pack Rat, since I only have the Detention Sphere to deal with them. Next round, I faced another bomb in the form of the Angel of Serenity. That plus 2 Eyes of the Skies and the token-pump general made for quick beats. This time the team took a loss. 3-1

Round 5 I couldn't believe the sight of another Pack Rat across the table from me. But this time I had the Sphere in hand. I purposely chumped a rat, to which he discarded to make it bigger. Then, next turn, I was able to Sphere them all away! Hooray small victory! But I soon got manaflooded and he burned me out. Game two was also a loss for me and we all lost the round. 3-2

We played the next round, but we knew our odds were long. Only X-2s advance. Our decks were good, but by round 6, you are facing really good decks now. We were outclassed and quickly it was over. By now, it was 4:30 and Shawn said he had to split. Nate and I watched some of the others play. Greg, Ryan and Russell were still alive. Spencer, Nate, Jeff and Jeff's brother, Jason all went to get beers and bring back pizza. Many bad beat stories were told. Spencer wanted to get upstairs to the overlooking windowed room, but we got stuck in a stairwell instead. We found our way out, wished Greg's team the best and went home to crash. They ended up losing in round 9, which is still a great achievement. But no day two for the Santa Cruz guys this time.

Next up, GP Philly in two weeks!

Props:

My Woodies team for rooting each other on and not getting too grumpy when losing.

Elspeth and Lady Sorin, who agreed to pose with yours truly!

Pizza My Heart for deliciousness and Widmer on tap.

Slops:

11 rounds makes for a long day (even if we only made it through 6)

Loud and unruly Danes

24 packs difference from a manscrew (c'mon man!)

1K RTR Sealed @ Legends 10/7/12

Legends in Cupertino was running a 1K RTR Sealed event - how can you pass that up?
Met Spencer and Nate there. Grabbed a $5 footlong before we started to munch between rounds.
$30 prereg or $35 at the door. 6 packs. Write up what you open and pass them along.
33 players, 5 rounds and a top 8 cut for a draft.

Let's see what we got.

Rares: Pithing Needle, Mercurial Chemister, Hallowed Fountain, Stream Vents, Trostani & Wild Beastmaster. Well, there's some money! And the Beastmaster and Trostani go together. Haven't played with the Chemister yet, looks interesting.

Removal: 2x Augur Spree, Stab Wound, Explosive Impact, Electrickery, Arrest.

Other cards of note: 2x Tower Drake, 2x Skywatch, Voidwielder, Korozda Guildmage, 2x Rhinos, 2x Monitors,  Eyes In The Skies, Call of the Conclave.

And that's about it. A few more flyers, a counter and the Saber. Ugh.

I really wanted to play Trostani, but I had only 2 token makers! And the removal was pretty good, but in the wrong colors. Maybe play the Arrest and the Detain guys? GW splash blue? It would gum up the ground and then the flyers could get in. Trostani would also give me life, right? Hmmm... Let's see...

Here's what I turned in:

1CC: Dryad, Saber, Giant Growth

2CC: Brushstrider, Keen App, Arrester, Drudge Beetle, Call Conclave

3CC: Centaur Healer, GW Keyrune, Griffin, Vassal Soul, Arrest, Wild BM

4CC: Eyes Skies, 2x Monitor, Trostani

5CC: 2x Rhino, Voidwielder

6CC: 2x Skywatch

Hallowed Fountain, Promenade & 2x GW Guildgate

If only I had more populate targets. But I liked my curve and manabase. Here's the action:

Round one vs. Eugene (Golgari splash W)

He came out strong with many ground-beaters, but I had mine too. But a well-timed Golgari Charm gave all creatures -1/-1 and made my blocks horrible. A Judgement later and I was out. Game two was better after I sided in a Rogue's Passage to break any stalemates. I also Arrested his Pack Rat on turn 3. I think that's the right play since it can get out of hand pretty fast. The Passage gave my scavenged centaur the way to win. Game three he was mana screwed vs. my curveout. 1-0

Don't let the rats multiply!

Round two vs. Luke (Selesnya)

Wow, what a deck he had. 2x Call o' Conclaves and Centaur's Accord made for lots of 3/3s. Too much, too fast. The second game I sided in the Dramatic Rescues to bounce his tokens. To start, I played Dryad turn one, then Saber turn two -> attack for 4! Heh. His deck was slow and I got in 3 hits like that until he stabilized. He made centaurs and I played both Rescues and the Voidwielder. But he made more. Then the centaur army squashed me flat! 1-1

Good against tokens!

Round three vs. Shawn (Azorius)

Shawn was a big guy with a lot of tattoos. And big earrings. And friendly! We chatted about our pools and what we passed. "Oh man, I opened a pool with Trostani and nothing else. It was so bad. Glad we didn't keep what we opened!" Um, yeah.

He played walls and small flyers and we were trading hits back and forth. Then he slammed the Angel of Serenity. Oof. Three of my guys went away and he got in very quickly for the win. I sided in 2x Paralyzing Grasp to deal with his flyers. Game two I curved and he was mana screwed. Game three was the same a game one, but no Angel this time. My Grasps and Arrest helped me get there. 2-1

I didn't have the heart to tell him that I opened his pool...

Beware of this 7-drop game changer!

Spencer was 2-1 and Nate was 3-0! 3-2 might get in on breakers, but best to stay away from a second loss.

Round four vs. Jon (Golgari splash W)

His deck was so good. Full of scavenge dudes. And Corpsejack. And Death's Presence. Really? We were stuck in a stalemate until he got those rares online. Then anything I killed would come back as many +1/+1 counters on another guy. I lost when his Zanikev Locust was a 20/20 and flew in. Game two was more of the same, but with a 6/6 slime with 6 counters and the Golgari Decoy (lure dude) attacking. Ouch! 2-2

Well, that was it for me. Both Spencer and Nate won, so they were looking good. I wanted to get back to Santa Cruz to draft with the guys at the Wood. 

Way to make Top 8, Nate!

I heard later Spencer made Top 8 too, but they both lost in the first round. Still, not a bad day when you top 8! An extra draft and a shot at the big prize.

Props:
Legends for a clean, open space to play.
Subway. Easy snacking, baby.
Two money lands. Makes the 2-2 record a little more bearable.

Slops:
Legends for a slow registration and start. They ran out of new player DCI cards and called other stores to get new numbers. Ugh.
Golgari - for never showing me the way, but my opponents playing it always get there.

Here's my take on the best guilds:
Selesyna
Izzet
Radkos
Golgari
Azorius

Agree? Disagree? Post in comments!

RTR Art Review 10/5/12

Return To Ravnica Art Review 10/5/12

Hey kids!
Here's my take on some of the artwork in the new Ravnica set.
I love the game and all the strategies it lets you play, but I also dig the art.
At GPs, I like getting cards signed by the artists and asking them where they got
their inspiration. Let's see if we can make some guesses and see how they did.

Chaos Imps

Fail.
Wikipedia says that "An imp is a mythological being similar to a fairy or demon".. not a baby dragon.
Here's what imps look like, Mr. Jacobson. You're welcome.

Destroy The Evidence

Wow, I have never seen someone in the foreground and an explosion in the back.

Doorkeeper

Hey, look who showed up from Pixar!

Hellhole Flailer

This guy takes me back to a card in Odyssey - strike a pose!

Hover Barrier

Anyone else get a 2001:Space Odyessy flashback with this one?

Keening Apparition

I call this the Dawson Creek card. Hubba, hubba!

Martial Law

I remember the guy in this card in a Goya painting from 1808. He sure gets around.

Necropolis Regent

This one is similar to a card from the previous set! Just in the other direction. Must be related.

Pyroconvergence

This guy is using similar equipment to a card from Nemesis.

Seek the Horizon

This artwork's angle seems familiar.

Stab Wound

Sssssss! Ow! Sssssss! Ow!

Traitorous Instinct

When I see this...

I think of this...

Much better.

---

So today's is RTR Release Day. No more Launch Parties, but at least we get the new packs. I'm playing FNM draft tonight and a sealed event on Sunday. Next weekend is GP San Jose with Team Sealed. Should be a blast. I hope to test with my homies some time this coming week. We will open 12 packs, build 3 decks and test them out. Then in three weeks, I'm going to GP Philadelphia. Cheesesteaks and the Liberty Bell. I'll be sure to write up a report on both.

Thanks for reading!

Mythic RTR Prerelease 9-30-12

Here we go again. @ Mythic 11am for RTR Pre on Sunday.
All the SC riff raff and some SF riff raffs joining in the fun.
Going Azorius this time. Will law and order uphold the dignity of Ravnica? What?

My pool:
Azorius Justicar
Soul Tithe
2x Keen Apparition
Avenging Arrow
Sunspire Griffen
Tros' Judgement
2x Seller o' Songbirds
2x Trained Caracal
2x Armory Guard
Fencing Ace
Azor Arrester

2x Tower Drake
2x Cancel
2x Doorkeeper
3x Inspiration
Aq Steed
Dispel
Syncopate
Inaction Injuction (what's your function?)
Skyline Predator
Soulsworn Spirit
Isp's Skywatch

2x Terrus Wurm
Mind Rot
Ultimate Price
Ogre Jailbreaker
Grim Rastabout
Daggerdrome Imp
Desecration Demon
Tavern Swindler
Sewer Shambler

Batterhorn
Electrickery
GH Chainwalker
Lobber Crew
Tenement Crasher

2x Rubbleback Rhino
Chorus o' Might
2x Urban Burgeoning
2x Stone Croc
Horncaller's Chant
Axebane Guardian
Drudge beetle
Oat St. Innkeeper

2x Sunder Growth
Heroes' Reunion
Centaur Healer
3x Goblin Electromancer
Nivix Gmage
Izz Charm
Grisly Salvage
Dreg Mangler
Sluicy Scorpion
Treasured Find
2x Skull Rend
Hellhole Flailer
Search Warrant
Judge's Familiar
Isperia Supreme Judge
Righteous Authority
Hussar Patrol
Archon Triumviate (promo)
Golgari Keyrune
Volatile Rig

Hallowed Fountain
Blood Crypt
Az, Rak & Golg Gates

I went crazy and built two decks: Azorius and Jund with the Rig swapped into both.
The Az deck had 5 detain cards, 10 flyers and Isperia and Authority. The plan was to survive until the late turns to cast my bombs. The Jund deck was more play dudes and beatdown deck. The removal was sparse in both. The Demon was my only bomb in the Jund.

(Not going to list the decks to save space -- they were pretty straight-forward.)

Round one vs. the great Sean Keenan (playing Az)
So Az vs. Az can be slow and this round went to time. I mulled to 5 first game and we both played detain dudes (detainees?) until my songbird got the Authority on it. A 7/7 flyer that drew an extra card? OK!
Game two was more of the same race but got my Sphinx out and drew 5 cards one turn. They were all lands (running hot), but I still got there just as time was called. Whew! 1-0

Round two vs. the great Mike Cartmill (playing Rak)
Here's a matchup I did not want to play. Fast beats vs. my small dudes? Ugh. Game one I saw Dreadbore, Dynacharge, Augur and Electrickery. Woof.
Game two I sided in counter like a madman. My only hope. I dispelled his 'Trickery and Cancelled his Augur. Got out my Archon. He managed to play Traitorous on it, but I survived and won next turn.
Game three was beats back a forth, but my counters worked and my flyers got there. 2-0

Round three vs. Neil playing Rak
Super. I started with 2 lands and should have mulliganed. He played Destroy the Evidence on my land and it was downhill from there. I dealt him no damage. Time to swap decks!
My Golgari deck splashed red for 'Trickery and the Lobber. Love the Lobber! Got out the Demon on turn 4 and then more dudes for some big swings. Got there on a Chorus o' Might.
Game three was more beats, but his removal held up. Played Destroy again and did a 6 card mill. Needed the lands in there. Ugh. 2-1

Round four vs. Andrew playing Rak (did I play all of them?)
This time I got the Demon against me. But my Seller sac'd a songbird for it and later I played Judgement on it. Second game I kept my Az deck, but my detain guys were no good vs. his 2x Keyrunes. They key-runed my day. Game three, he hit all his removal and big unleashed guys. I played the Authority on my songbird, but he Augur'd it. Prolly should have kept that for a bigger toughness dude. 2-2

52 players in the tourney today and prizes to the top 28. Can our hero make it?

Round five vs. Joe playing Golgari with red splash
Didn't write many notes on this match, but my score sheet says I did all the damage in games 1 & 3. I remember one time my Rig blew up and killed 3 of his dudes. Sweet! I also remember he said the f-bomb a lot. Like every time I did damage to him. Like 16 times. Too funny. 3-2

Good for 15th place and 2 packs!
Larry and Paul both went 5-0 and Paul got first on breakers. Way to go, guys!

Props:
Mythic for a clean, well-lit, breezy space to play. Some of the tables were small, but no stinky smells!
Jason for running a 5 color deck. Or 4? Either way, you are my hero.
All the Magic brothers who chatted and goofed in between rounds. Great to hang with y'all!
Ian, for having a birthday and organizing the post-pre after-draft. Sorry to miss it!

Slops:
Russell for being one too many on the waitlist. Shoot! But he cleaned up at Epic in SV. That-a-boy!
Me for not rolling for beers. I'm such a wimp. Worst case is buying brews for my bros. Next time!
Missing the Niners kicking some NY tail. Way to bounce back from the Viking loss.

Next weekend is the Launch Party. Will they do the cool bento boxes again? If not, let's get a sweet promo card, mm'kay?

Spencer is ready for more Magic!

Ryan after hearing my "keyrune" joke...