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!!)