M14 Prerelease @ Mythic 7/14/13

Walking up the steps to the top of the parking garage, I could see the smashed PBR cans by the lamp post. Spencer, Ryan, Logan and Boland were gathered 'round.

"The best way to prepare for a core set is to drink!" Ian and I agreed as we shared in the cheap brew.

Boland's Saturday deck was the main topic, where he went 5-0 with no rares and three Siege Mastodons. There must have been some sweet uncommons in there at least. Mark of the Vampire did some major work. Everybody was happy to be gaming and even though core sets are mostly reprints, the thrill of cracking packs to battle was still there.

Let's see how my sealed pool looks:

RARES
Dismiss into Dream
Clone
Tidebinder Mage
Darksteel Forge
Savage Summoning
Ogre Battledriver

NOTABLES
2x Messenger Drake
2x Divination
2x Coral Merfolk
2x Wall of Frost
Nephalia Seakite
Zephyr Charge - enchantment that makes dudes fly
Opportunity
Cancel
Charging Griffen
Capashen Knight
2x Congregate
2x Hive Stirrings
Sentinel Sliver
2x Angelic Wall
2x Corpse Hauler - a poor man's gravedigger
Blightcaster
2x Death Cockatrice - does not look like a chicken lizard!
Wring Flesh
Bubbling Cauldron - alas, no newts...
Encroaching Wastes - better than encrotching wastes
Groundshaker Sliver
Rumble Baloth
Kalonian Tusker
2x Deadly Recluse
2x Hunt the Weak
Naturalize
Elvish Mystic
Mana Sliver
Giant Spider
Windstorm
3x Giant Growth
2x Trollhide
Plummet
Dragon Egg
2x Cyclops Tyrant
Marauding Maulhorn
2x Academy Raider - intimidate makes it better than I thought
Molten Birth
Reggie Firecat
Shiv's Embrace

So what would you build? I first look for bombs and removal. I felt this pool was seriously lacking in both departments. Not enough Slivers to go crazy either. But there was a sweet c-c-combo in there. Did you see it?

 

It would take a bit to set up, but then WHAMMO! So to make this work, I'd need to stall the board. Here's my initial build UG:

Groundshaker Sliver
Rumble Baloth
Kalonian Tusker
2x Deadly Recluse
Elvish Mystic
Mana Sliver
Giant Spider
2x Trollhide
2x Messenger Drake
Divination
2x Coral Merfolk
2x Wall of Frost
Nephalia Seakite
Zephyr Charge
Giant Growth
Dismiss into Dream
Clone
Tidebinder Mage
9 Islands + 8 Forests

I soon switched out the Growth for Cancel and a Trollhide for Naturalize. Everyone was playing enchantments! This deck was midrange with some beaters and some controlish. I didn't expect 5-0, but was hoping to win some packs. (Comment on other builds you would have done!)

RD1 - Will playing RG
His beats and burn took me out in game one. Especially since I was drawing all lands. Game two I curved nicely with my mana dorks and won on a Trollhide'd Tucker and Giant Growth. Slamma-Jamma! Game three, it got crazy where we stalled with dudes on the board, but he took the advantage and swung. I blocked most and went to 2 life. Then I topdecked the Zephyr to complete the combo and killed three of his blockers. Swung in for the win. WHEW!

RD2 - Casey playing BW
These games went fast. He had mega-removal and lifegain too. That Blightcaster made short work of my guys - he's amazing! Game one life total = 1 to 44 and game two = 2 to 22. He said he had 9 removal spells, 2 Blights and 6 enchantments. Wowzers!

RD3 - Cody playing RWG
Cody had some great cards, including the Scav Ooze and attacking pinger Sliver. But first game, I walled up and he hit a land flood. My flyers flew in for the win. Game two was all about his Slivers and the attacking rare dude. I went fro 20 to 18 to 1. Dang. Game three went long and I assembled the c-c-combo and he was sorry to see it.

So far, my all-stars were the Walls/Recluses, which were great to stall the ground and the Baloth/Tusker beef. The Tide Mage was good to tap down opposing Recluses too.

RD4 - Boland playing UG (hey, great minds...)
Always fun to play one of the Woodstock crew! Beaters and flyers were the decks we played and my Baloth went the distance in game one. 4/4 for 4? Yes please. Game two was about his Air Elemental tapping my flyers down and a big Illusionary Armor to finish it. Ouch. Game three I was getting him down on life - to 2 as a matter of fact - but then came the Primeval Bounty. Then another. Yes folks, you read that right... TWO BOUNTIES! Play a land, gain some life. Play a dude, get a beast. The turnabout was huge and it was over soon. Oof.

RD5 - Caleb playing UR
Caleb was rolling with flyers and burn, but I was keeping it stalled. Until the Whale came out. Islandwalk? Geez Louise. Game two had no whales (thank goodness), but did have a pesky Air Elemental tapper guy. So I cloned it and the tap wars began. He missed a few possible taps and I was able to fly in for the win. Game three I was winning an early flyer war with my Messenger Drake when he dropped Jace. JACE! Luckily, he didn't have any air defense and I took the planeswalker out, but not until I was milled for 20. I cloned the drake and flew in for the win with 5 cards left in my deck. Another close one!

I finished 3-2 and won 3 packs! Greg Peterson (4-0) played Casey (3-1) in the finals, but Casey got him, so no 5-0 player! One player pulled 2 Chandras from his prize packs. Nice. Everyone in our group won packs, except Logan, which was very unusual. I don't think he was drinking enough. The event was over by 4:30 - amazing! Kudos to Rueben for a smooth running, 19-player tourney. Mythic is the place to be if you are slinging spells in Cruz Town!

Props: Mythic!, c-c-combos; pre-tourney parking garage drinks; post-drinks at the Wood; big green dudes.
Slops: Warm PBRs; Islandwalking whales (really?); Recluses holding back flyers - not cool, bro!

GP Vegas 2013

There were a lot of factors that made going to GP Vegas the must-go event of the year. First was the format, Modern Masters. A limited release set with all the all-stars cards from the Modern format. Including Mister 'Goyf, which was a cool $100. Crack a foil and get $350. Then there was Vegas. People tell me it's a fun town. This was a good excuse to finally get there. Yes, mon amis, it was my first trip. Lastly, our good friend, Jeff, who's getting married this summer, would be flying in from Flo Rida. We couldn't get on that plane soon enough...

Southwest $200 roundtrip booked a few months in advance. I arrived first Thursday afternoon. I couldn't wait! Russ and Ryan drove in the Super Prius with all the consumables that mattered. Keep away from open flame!

We booked rooms at the Four Queens downtown, old town, off the Strip on Fremont Street. You get more for your money there. $70 rooms vs. $150 and up on the Strip. A little dingy and little run down, but it's all good. More cash for cards and fun!

Russ and Ryan were hungry when they arrived. Let's hit the Wynn buffet! OMG, so good.

We had one suite with a queen bed and two sofas on the 6th floor and another room with two doubles on the 14th. We all hung out in the suite because of the extra room. Many cube games were played, many drinks were made.

Friday was register day to get your playmat. Russell, Jason and I head out. Huge lines awaited us, but Khaatim, a friend from Santa Cruz, let us get into the line ahead of most. SCORE! We had all pre-reg'd since they capped the event at 4500. This made it the biggest Magic gathering ever in the history of the game. They were buying the playmats at $60-65 around the hall. I kept mine for historical purposes. Got some Vegas sleeves and the All Is Dust promo too.

They ran a mini-masters for those who pre-reg'd, so we got one pack to build a 30-card minimum deck with. I opened Moluku, which wasn't too bad. Win the round and get another pack to rebuild. I won and opened Glen Elendra in my second pack. Again, not too shabby. Won and opened Glimmervoid in the third one. Ran into a rebellious deck and couldn't keep up. Oh well, got 2 extra packs at least!

Modern Masters Sealed Deck

The main event! I opened a very mediocre pool and was happy to pass it along. What I got was waaaay better. Valkyrie, Oona, Ephermeron, Path, 2x Tromps and many mana fixers. TOO COOL! Two Reaches, a Search and 3 Vivids. The guy who passed it said "You got to go blue white.", but I was being greedy and wanted to play all the colors!

Rares:
Oona Queen of the Fae
Academy Ruins
Cryptic Command
Slaughter Pact
Adarkar Valkyrie
Angel's Grace

Highlights:
Armorer
2x Blind Beams
Cloudgoat
2x Gleams
Bound in Silence
Path
Avian Changeling
2x Tromps
Nan Shaman
Imperiosaur
Mossdog
Spell Sprite
Latchkey
Ephemeron
Drag Down
Tribal Flames
Pyrite SBomb
Electrolyze
Trygon Predator
Finks
Lightning Helix

So yeah. I wanted to play all the colors! Ended up with GUWR. The bombs were sweet - if I got the Valkyrie, Oona or enough dudes for a Tromp, I was looking good.

Round one was Keith playing Goblins and Artifacts. He has Perstermites, Shackles and two Epoc guys and we split the first two games. But Oona came out in game 3 and that's all she wrote! 1-0

Round two was Nick from Georgia. He had Giants and red burn, but Oona again spread her might and he was ousted in two games. 2-0

Round three was against Tannon, a smooth operator from New Orleans. He bragged about how he makes a living playing poker and will stay in Vegas on his winnings. Slick, dude! His Cloudgoat Giant brought many dudes to the party and was bounced back with Otherworld Journey too. A Stir the Pride gave me my first loss. 2-1

The Santa Cruz gang (plus Alex, Jeff & Jason) all hung out with Spencer, since he had a VIP seat due to his big toe. The nail had come off a few days ago and it was all bloody and quite impressive. At least for a VIP seat! We all were either 2-1 or 3-0 and feeling good.

Round 4 was Aaron, who had endless removal and burn. Helix, Glacial Rays, ExCaps and Bolts. Ugh. But he had no flying defense and my guys outlasted him. 3-1

Round 5 was Chris playing RW aggro. I got flooded in the first game, but came back and won the second. Then I made a bone-head play. After declaring attackers, I played Tromp, which is illegal since it's a sorcery! Hmmm, I could blame the long day and lack of sleep last night. Either way, it's on me making that mistake. He was surprised, then happy because he swung back and won. Dang! 3-2

Round 6 was Mark playing Thallids. Sower kept me tapped and Armorer made it tough to fight, but my flyers won again. 4-2

Alex had bombed out and was going to get food for everyone. There's a sweet sandwich place called Capriotti's and we ordered 4 veggie cheesesteak and 4 meatful subs. But they messed it up and we had four extra cheesesteaks. Score for the meat eaters! Props to Alex for going back for the veggie ones!

Round 7 was Brett from SF playing WGR. Lots of dudes and tricks. He had Tromp too, but I countered it with Logic Knot and went on for the win. Whew! 5-2

Round 8 and I'm still alive for Day 2. Just need to win out. They were saying only x-1-1 would have a chance at Top 8, but I just wanted to finish in the money. x-2 can do that. My opponent was Eddie playing WGR (deja vu?). I saw Bound, Verdict and Baloths, but won the first game. He Tromped me in the second and then I was stuck on 2 lands for the third. A loss! He also played the Valkyrie, so I was beat by my same cards. Oh well... 5-3

I wanted to keep playing for Planeswalker points, so my next round was versus Bobby. I didn't take notes, but the scorepad read I took game 1 then lost the next two. So much for points!

We all went deep, but came up just short of Day 2. But even if you lose, we were in Vegas, baby! Lots to do and see with a Sunday in Sin City!

Good times with good friends. Some serious shenanigans. Vegas is a trip and if you haven't been, you need to book a flight right now. So much to do and see and eat and drink.

We are all hoping for another Modern Masters set in the future. How could they not? Wizards did a great job to make it one of the top 3 draftable sets in my book. Bring on MMII!

Props: Brothers MacDonald, brothers Smith, Spence, Ry and Alex. Insert Coin bar arcade. Wynn buffet. Fat Tuesday's yard longs. Cheesesteaks. Playing Craps for the first time. Wizards in the Desert.

Slops: Dishonest taxicab drivers. La cucarachas. 100+ degree heat. Missing toenails... (it's all good though... plenty of fun in sun!!)