One, several Magic buddies were out of town. Something about a Scottish wedding.
(If it's not Scottish, it's crap!!)
Two, Oakland isn't on my list of favorite places to travel. Something about the high murder rate.
Three, my personal plans weren't lining up for free time that weekend.
So I said if it happens for me, it happens.
Then I got a text from Ryan. And Nate. And Greg (Peterson).
I did have a 1st round bye from Vegas. I think anyone who played there did.
But M14? Ugh. Core sets are quite the letdown after a sweet, fun block like Ravnica.
Luckily, switching plans around were not too difficult. Ok, I'm in.
Saturday morning, Ryan met me at 7am and we drove up. There was traffic around the Bay Bridge, so we detoured on 580 to go around. Well, I missed an on-ramp or something and we got to see beautiful downtown Dublin! Quickly resetting our course, we made it to the GP with time to spare.
We found Greg and then got coffee at a nearby cafe. Passed a sausage place and brewery. Awesome!
1600+ fools to play in a core set sealed event. Can you tell I am not impressed?
They delayed the start 30 mins. because of the traffic issued I mentioned above. So that's a nice thing for those who planned for it. Finally got the cards. Opened Ajani's Chosen, 2x Pacifism, 3x Dawn Paladin, Serra, Jace's Mindseeker, Wind Sphinx, Doomblade x2, Liturgy, Chandra and her Phoenix, 2 Shocks... kinda a rough spread. Some bombs in there though.
I got passed a mega green pool without any true bombs. Highlights were the rare Hydra, Enlarge, Hunt the Weak x3, Wolfpack, and various Slivers. I added white for Pacifism and more Slivers.
Nathan Holiday and Michael Boland were also playing and they got some sweet pools. Nathan was building right next to Ryan and their pools were very far apart. Ryan had his job cut out for him.
Round one - BYE! Got a sausage with grilled onions and sauerkraut. Cuz it was like noon.
Round two vs. Asif playing RG.
My green rolled him with Hunt the Weak being good removal. Game 2 he rolled out Slivers and then played Seismic Stomp. Ouch. Game 3 was tight until he Seismic Stomped me a second time. Geez.
Round three vs. Collette playing UG.
Collette's Witchstalker with Trollhide and Enlarge was pretty good. My Wolfpack for 6 game two did the trick though. Game three, I top decked an eighth land for my Behemoth to get trample FTW. Whew!
Collette travelled from New York to play in this GP. She knows Jon Finkel and plays with him regularly. So I beat a friend of Finkel! Whoo hoo!
Round four vs. Issac playing UB.
He had a lot of annoying cards like Essence Scatter and Mind Rot, but Wolfpack for 8 was good for game one. Only saw a Sengir Vamp and Frost Breath game two before my green dudes crushed him.
So 3-1 was promising. Every time a round ended early, Nate, Ryan and I would run over to the brewery for a quick pint. The bartender was cute and called us wizards, so you know... we wanted to hang out there. How did the pints affect our play? Well...
Round five vs. Kyle playing GU.
I think anyone playing green is most likely to have the Wolfpack. Kyle did and he rolled into it for 5 and it was too much. He played a fast, tight game and his Time Ebb, Negate and Phantom Warrior make quick work of me game two.
Saw Jordan, Tully and Casey at the GP too. They were having fun and Tully gave me some cool token cards. A buffed-out deer holding a broken bottle... where does he get these things?
Round six vs. Anthony playing RG... on the Day Two Bubble!
Yah, he had a deck. How he was 3-2 at this point is unknown to me. Garruk's Horde, Chandra, Enlarge, Groundshaker. I kept up with him game one until his Groundshaker was Enlarged plus Giant Growth. Then my mana flooded me with no dudes vs. his rolling Horde. Never felt in that one.
Drowning my sorrows in anudder brew, I vowed at least play one more round. Planeswalker points add up to future byes, ya know. Was my deck really that bad? Yes, yes it was.
Round seven vs. Edgar playing RB.
Edgar was a nice guy from Watsonville. I told him about the new game store opening down there. Peter, who used to run Mythic, opened a place just the other week. He was stoked to know about it.
Game one we each played dudes causing a ground stall. Then he Seismic Stomped me for 15. Game two my green guys rolled out and he was mana screwed. Game three he Treasoned my Hydra, then sac'd it to a Blood Bairn. Yes, he got the counters. SO UNFAIR!
At the end of the long day, I was way out of Day Two with a 3-4 record. I did drink some delicious brews and had a Feast of Nachos (1RW - Target player's belly gets full) with Nate. So I decided to think of the day as option B...
A) Drive very far. Play 9 hours of Magic. Fail going 3-4.
B) Drive very far to hang out with friends and drink beer. Play some Magic. Eat Nachos.
Looking at like that, it was not too bad. Congrats to Boland for making Day Two!
I sure will be happier when Theros rolls around though. Have you see-ee-een the spoilers?!?
