GP Portland Part 2

Let's recap Part 1.
Went 7-2 to make Day Two. My first one ever. Stoked!
It's always sunny in Portland.
A food convoy is when two or more food trucks move to another location.
Spellskite is the kryptonite to my red burn deck.
Satay poutine is seriously good.

So, how'd I do Day Two? Well, it finally rained and I saw a bunch more Spellskites.

Entrance to the GP hall.

Did a quick Starbucks stop on the way to the 9am start. Thanks to Russ for grabbing the food. They had the Day2 players sectioned off with no public watchers in between the tables. I made sure my deck was un-sideboarded and was ready to go.

Round 10 versus Jake playing RG beats. I lost the roll. Game one was close and I saw Kird Apes, Burning-Tree Emissaries, Experiment Ones and 'Goyfs. I made a critical mistake by forgetting the Experiment could regenerate by removing 2 counters. Got him to 6, but lost. Game two was better starting with a Devil and my sided-in Searing Blazes. Two fer ones! He bloodrushed a Rampager, but I was already ahead on life and burned him out. Game three was more back and forth, but he rolled too many dudes, finishing with Kitchen Finks. Ugh. 7-3.

Okay, shake it off. Those games were quick and were all close. Let's see who's next...

Pro Magic Hall of Fame member Patrick Chapin! No prob. I got this.

Won the die roll and easily took him down to 1 life in 6 turns. He was playing UW Control. I saw Sphinx, Colonnades, counters, and card drawers. Game 2 it seemed all my spells got countered. Got him to 7 life before he stabilized and his man-lands flew over for the win. He also had a Timely Reinforcements. Ok, I was on the play. Started off well and eventually got him to 3 life. But again, he drew a million cards and countered all my attempts to finish him. "It's like you have an answer for everything." I was top decking versus his full hand of counters and it was over.

Brutal!

He explained I should have kept cards in my hand since he would be forced to hold mana up. Pro tip!! He was very nice and even gave me a button. 7-4

Round 12 was against Ryan playing Robots. I guess it's called that now instead of Affinity. It's still good. This version was running Steel Overseers and Galvanic Blasts. I didn't last long with Thopters with Cranial Plating. Game two was better and I got him down to 4 life. All the while, he was assembling the Oracle with 2 Platings with seven artifacts on the board. 16 unblockable points followed by a G-blast. Ouch. 7-5

I was dazed, shocked, flabber-ghasted even. How could my deck that did so well Day One sputter out so quickly? Well, Day Two is all about the best decks played by the best players. Russ and Greg were playing side events to marginal success and were having a much better time than I. Oh well, must forge ahead.

Round 13 I played Cody with Melira Pod. Very similar to Greg's deck. Finks, Seer, Revelark and Chord of Calling. I got him to 7 before it went off. Game two I got him to 1 life when his Seer, Melira and Redcap combo'ed me to infinite damage. You see the Seer sacs the Redcap, which comes back thanks to persist and Melira prevents the -1/-1 counter from sticking. So it does the 2 damage and shampoo, rinse, repeat. 7-6

It slices, it dices...

I won my next round! It was a bye. GREAT SUCCESS! I was out of any money placement, but I still wanted to play for Planeswalker points. Hey, it's my first Day Two...

Daniel was a very nice Canadian playing Tron. This was a good matchup for me. We both mulled to 6 and I easily rolled him with a Goblin Guide and burn. Second game I sided in all my land destruction. Got him to 8 before the Urza lands came together to sprout Wurmcoils. Multiple. Game three was a bust since I didn't draw another mountain after my first two. I saw Karn, Spellskite and another Wurmcoil. Ah well. That is one 8-7 I soon would like to forget. (Murder was the case they gave me.)

I finished the weekend at 134th place. Higher than LSV, Conley Woods and PVDR. To say I had a good time would be an understatement. Maybe I know a little bit about Magic. Maybe I'm paying my dues on the tourney circuit. Here's how I see the next steps:

Make Day Two - CHECK!
Finish in the money --
Finish Top 8 --
Win the whole enchilada!

Mad props to my traveling buddies, Russ and Greg! If you've been on a Magic weekend trip, you know how much fun it is to share the highs and lows and strategize for the next round.
Mad props to the town of Portland! I totally could see me moving up here, especially if they have regular Magic events. Even Seattle is a quick drive. And of course, all the breweries. Like Deschutes!!

GP Portland May 2013 Part 1

Into the great northwest, my Magic adventures continues with Grand Prix Portland. The format was Modern. "But dude", you say, "you've never played Modern before." This is very true, mon ami. But what is living life without trying something new?

Let's see the deck I threw together -

THE BURN
4 each of Rift Bolts, Lava Spikes, Lightning Bolts, Skullcracks
1 Devil's Play and 1 Searing Blaze
THE DUDES
4 each of Hellspark Elementals, Keldon Marauders, Goblin Guides, Grim Lavamancers
3 Vexing Devils, 2 Hell's Thunder and 2 Ash Zealots
THE LAND
19 Mountains (I should've played Zen lands since it would help the 'Mancers)
THE SIDEBOARD
4 Molten Rains, 2 Ghost Quarters, 2 Pithing Needles, 2 Tormod's Crypts, 2 Elixirs of Immortality, 2 Searing Blazes and a single Smash to Smithereens

Just what the burn deck needed.

I'm sure you are scratching your head on most of those choices. True be told, I took a netdeck and tried to build it with what I and my buddies had around. The Rains and Quarters were for Tron, Crypts for Living End, Elixirs for the mirror, and Smash for Affinity.

It was 80 degrees sunny in Portland. Wait. Read that sentence again. It might as well say "it was snowing in Equador". Locals were wandering the streets in a daze, looking at the big ball of fire in the sky.

"Put on your sunglasses, you fools!", I pleaded. But alas, they did not own any.

Since the Magic bros weren't arriving until tomorrow, I decided to search about the city. I found Guardian Games was a cool store with lots of bookshelves full of games and lots of tables in back for gaming. They only had two Zealots for $2.50 each. No tax! You heard about that, right? I handed over a $5 and I didn't need to scramble for any change. Oregon, you have a place in my heart. I asked the clerk where to get some food. "Around the back, there's some food trucks..." Oregon, you have a place in my stomach. One Greek gyro later and I was a satisfied man.

This place looked good, but I went for a gyro.

Got our playmats at the con center the next day at 10. They had Progenitor Mimic artwork, if you are into angels with smoky eyes. There was a free mini-master game for entrants and we all got two packs. But I dropped to explore the city some more. OMSI, Powells, breweries and Voodoo Donuts. I freaking love this city!

Digging in the pink box.

Saturday morning was a quick stop at Starbucks, then inside for the 10am players meeting. No pros there of course, since they had the sleep-in special. I guess that's worth it. Greg was playing Melira Pod and Russ had a Jund deck. Off to battle!

Russell practices his victory pose.

My first round opponent was Chris playing I don't know what. I only saw a Glittering Wish for an Abrupt Decay before my red dudes got there. Second game, there was a Magma Jet and two Snapcasters. Burned him out. The guy next to me said my deck was too hot to handle. Chris didn't like that.

Only from sideboards in constructed.

Round two was Alex playing Splinter Twin. Ca-ca-ca-combo. We both mulliganed and I tried burning him up, but he played Remand and Cryptic Command before getting the win. Kind of heartless tapping into 30 million dudes. Game two, he didn't draw counters and his life went from 20 to 16 to 13 to 12 to 9 to 6 then dead. Game 3 was the counters and combo kill again. Unfortunately, I'd needed two burn spells to take out a 4-toughness Exarch. Sigh.

Okay, not so simple. I hope I don't see that deck again! Round 3 was a Tron player named Jeremy. I got him to 12 before the Tron lands went online and a Wurmcoil came out. But I had Skullcracks to prevent him from gaining life twice and got there. Game two I sided in the Molten Rains and Quarters, but I didn't see them and he played Karn and a Spellskite. Brutal. Last game was more like it however, with multiple Rains blowing up Urza's lands. 2-1

This guy wrecked me all weekend!

In the middle of the last round, an announcement was made. "JIMMY, we have your CELL PHONE and your MOM wants to talk to YOU!" Now that's funny.

Round four was vs. Brock in aviator sunglasses. He obviously wasn't from around here. He played Smiter, Aven Mindcensor, Horizon Canopy and Honor of the Pure. Burned him out fast. Game two I had him down to 8 life when he played a Voice of Resurgence. Before it resolved, I emptied my hand of a Bolt and Skullcrack. Then I drew a Lava Spike. 3-1

Thar's a new sheriff in town...

My next opponent was Anand, a sharp dressed guy playing Zoo. Kird Apes, Rampager, Boars and Experiments filled the board, but I went to his face with burn. It was a close race, but I was faster. I sided more Searing Blazes, which I wish I had main decked. Game two was even quicker with 3 Skullcracks, 2 Spikes and a Bolt. 4-1

Shane from Edmonton, Canada was my next round. I asked how his flight was. He said they drove. 18 hours! He was playing Affinity. Arcbound Ravager, Signal Pest, Thopter and Blinkmoths. We went back and forth, but I won the life race at 7 to 1. In went the single Smash! Second game I mulled to 5 and he flew in with Cranal Plating on an Blinkmoth. Game 3 I got mana deprived with just two mountains. This time it was double Platings on a Vault Skirge. Ouch. 4-2

Greg and Russ were also 4-2 at round 6. Whew! For my first Modern event, I was having fun! Forever the limited player, I could see what the lure was for constructed. Know your deck. Know the meta. Know the sideboard. It's like a puzzle you figure out. Limited is more random for sure. But I was digging Modern.

Greg checking the totals.

Round 7 was Nathan. I wrote down the spells (and his life total) I played game one. Spike (17), Marauders (16), Spike (13) attack (10), Rift (9), Bolt (6)(3). Then drew the Blaze (0). Game two was even faster with a Goblin and Devil too. I think he was playing Tron... 5-2

Eryk was my next opponent and he had a huge moustache. Like you could hide a small pistol in that thing. It looked like a RB burn deck with Bump in the Night. We traded Hellsparks and Goblins and Bolts, but I won the close race. Game two he played a Blind Obedience. Whoa, didn't expect that. And he didn't expect to only draw two land. Sorry, moustache man! 6-2

Wow, I could not believe my record. Russ was 6-2 too, but Greg was 5-3. It was x-2 to get to second day for sure. We all high-fived and went to our last round of the day. It was already past dinnertime, but there's no sky in convention centers. Must keep playing!

Sam was from Australia and he got a free ride from winning a local tourney. Congrats Sam! He was playing UW Control with Snapcaster, Sphinx, Mana Leak, Celestial and Dismember. Luckily, I had the burn when he didn't have the counters. I went Devil, Spike, Marauder, Thunder and unearth Thunder. Game two, he sided in Timely Reinforcements, but I still beat him even with 6 extra life. He got stuck on three lands which helped. I never lost a life either game. And I was onto Day Two!

A blast from Alara. So good!

What a ride! The guys were both 6-3 with a small chance to day two, but were stoked for me. We went back to the hotel and then to dinner at some food trucks. We met Rian at the Spirit bar last night and he works at a truck, so we hit him up. Mmm, deep-fried BBQ meatpie! Also, crazy poutine with Satay sauce. And another visit to the other Voodoo place after that. Life is good! Part two coming up next!

Delish poutine! Fun to eat. Fun to say.

Voodoo, you do it well.