grind·er [grahyn-der]
noun
3. a sharpener of tools.
4. a molar tooth.
*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!
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!)
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