Greg, Russell, Spencer and I representing SV and SC crews. Cali style.
Early morning flight from SFO. 4:30am early. Not joking. Real early.
Hung out with Ryan the night before and watched the Giants win at Tony & Alba's. He wished us well.
Spencer crashed at my place and we met the Smith brothers at their house the next morning.
Their dad Art was kind enough to drive us up for the flight.
Some bagels and coffee later, we were in our seats and airborne. Hey, let's try the onboard wifi!
$14.95 per trip with a warning that streaming videos will be too slow. Fire up MODO. Erg, a snail's pace. Read the fine print... "online gaming is considered streaming videos". What? Fire up the online chat with support. May I help you? REFUND! No refunds, sir. REFUND! I can send you a discount on your next purchase. ARGH!
Luckily, I had packed some books and crosswords. There was also in-flight movies in the headrests. Virgin America is cool. Didn't need the $2 headphones for a James Bond movie. Nice hat, Oddjob.
Touchdown in Philly around 4pm on Friday Grinder Day. Hop a train to our hotel, which is connected to the con center downtown. Run over after dropping off the bags and... they are out of playmats. Dang! Saw them later in the weekend selling for $50 at vendor tables. Double dang!
People are talking about some tropical storm moving up the Eastern seaboard. Huh? Whatever.
We all decide to skip the grinders in exchange for some dinner and scouting the area. Holy Moley, the Reading Terminal Market (pronounced "Reading") is across the street is like Foodie Heaven. So many food booths crammed into one huge building. Greek, Chinese, cheesesteaks, Italian, Moroccan, Deli, Mexican, smoothies, cookies, bakeries, etc. etc. We get a snack and hit up Yelp for some vegetarian places. Found a cool place with a bar and small plates. Delish! And I didn't lose the credit card game. Thanks for dinner, Spence!
Up at 7am for the sealed registration. But really 4am Cali time. Erg. More coffee and snacks at RTM. Seats arranged and almost 2000 players show up. The largest North American GP ever. Natch. Opened a pool, passed it and got my own with these rares:
Hallowed Fountain, Carnival Hellsteed, Volatile Rig, Angel of Serenity (Now), Grave Betrayal & Havoc Festival. Woe is me. What to build? Here's a feeble attempt:
1cc: Judge's Familiar
2cc: Az Charm, Drama Rescue, Doorkeeper, Concor Pegasus
3cc: Seller o' Birds, 2x Stealer, 2x Lobber Crew, 2x Para Grasp
4cc: Az Justiciar, Eyes Skies, Hussar, Phantom General, Rig, Soul Spirit
5cc: 2x Voidwielder
6cc: T's Judgement, Isp's Skywatch
7cc: Angel of Serenity (Now)
What a mess. UW with R slpash for Lobbers? What was I thinking? I should have played the Syncopate & Cancel in my sideboard to be a more controlling deck. My results will tell the tale.
Rd1: played John with Golgari splash R
Game1 died to Shaman, CJack, Guildmage and removal. Game2 his Imp with +2/+2 counters did me in.
Rd2: played Jeff with Radkos
Game1 got out Angel and he scooped. Game2 was all about a timely Ragemutt taking me down. Came back game3 to win with detain and Stealers stealing many cards.
Rd3: played Ant with 4color (GBWU)
G1: was flooded and died to early beats. Game2 got out double Lobbers FTW. Game3 my Angel was too late vs. his Rhino with a Passage.
Rd4: played Mitchell with Azor plus G
Angel took game 1 without much resistance. Game two was longer, but my Lobbers did the trick.
Rd5 at 2-2 - do or die time. Played Eric with Seles plus U
Wow, his deck was good. Detainers, flyers, pumps and a Verdict for dessert. In game2, I got out my Angel, but it was supremely verdict-ed and that's all she wrote.
Well, five rounds --> drop was my worst performance in awhile. Spencer and Greg were still rolling - they had great decks. Shake it off and try some Twisted Draft. Russell decided to side draft as well. What's Twisted Draft you ask? $25 for 3 random boosters and draft them. Everyone gets a different three. Here's what I got:
Invasion (yay!) and 2x Dissention. Maybe force some old school Ravnica guilds?
Here's what I ended up with:
1cc: Spell Snare, Dispel, Vendetta
2cc: Sage Owl, Daggerdrome Imp, Mask of Ayacyn, 2x Ravenous Rats, Vicious Hunger
3cc: Encrust, Root Commando, Probe, Searchlight Geist, Minister of Imped, Balloon Peddler
4cc: Enigma Eidolon, Disciple of Tevesh, Lay Bare
5cc: Deny Reality, Homicidal Seclusion, Soul Seizer, Spire Monitor
6cc: Wrexial, Badass of the Deep!
Blue black with some tricks. I went 2-1 and split the finals for 5 packs. My finals opponent who won fanned out his packs and asked me to pick one, then open it. A Temple Garden was inside. Yes!
Greg and Spencer got to Day Two! Greg actually went 9-1. Check out his story on his webpage here:
eastwestdraftcast.com.
Check out the rest of the adventure in part two, electric boogaloo! Hey, why are all the stores closing and taping up their windows? (cue foreshadowing music...)
No comments:
Post a Comment