BFZ Prerelease 9/26/15

The Eldrazi are back! If you remember them from the first time around, you know that this and they are big. And they bring the spawns/scions and allies with them. Will Battle for Zendikar be a new thrilling chapter or just a shadow of its former self?

The usual gang of suspects showed up at the 11am Saturday prerelease at Mythic. The buzz in the room was all about the Expeditions. Wizards had inserted new art, foil promo lands in BFZ and the blue ones were already selling for over $300. Here's the list: Expedition webpage.

I sat across from Russell and said "Let's switch!" and grabbed his prerelease box. "No way, dude!" and he grabbed it back. Then he opened this:

Dang, homie! Well, what did I have in my pack?

These did not excite me because the rest of my blue was weak. The Cinder Glade promo was nice and could help a RG deck. What really stood out was my red and black spells however. Check out these babies:

Now we are talking. Filled in with 13 creatures, I was hoping to remove any obstacles to victory. Since you are here, let's go through the games:

First round vs. Taddeo, a nice kid who was rolling RW.
I mulled to 5 and then got stuck on 4 lands. Ugh. He curved out into a few dudes and then used Rolling Thunder to burn my small guys. I came back with a Malakir Familiar (2/1 deathtouch flyer), which stalled the board a bit. Then a Sludge Crawler and Dom Drone came out, followed by a Skitterskin next turn. Those Devoid guys play well together, don't they? He made a bad attack into my deathtoucher (forgot it had it?) and I finished him off. Game two, I started off slow again and he got out a Hero of Goma Fada, but said his mom was coming and he had to go. Okay, no problem... whew!

Second round vs. Brian, but I didn't write down what he was playing.
Not many notes on this one, but I won both games and wrote "7 mana burn spell EXCELLENT" on the scorepad. Previously, I had compared Serpentine Spike poorly to the old Ravnica spell "Hex" because it only targeted 3 creatures. That was then and this is now. Three targets are still good.

Third round vs. Brendan, who said he liked my tourney blog reports. Hey Brendan!
He was rocking UB with counters (Spell Shrivel) and bounce (Murk Strider). The first game was close (lives 4 to 5), but he got there. He was playing the ingest/processor game very keenly, getting maximum value off of creatures like Wasteland Strangler (-3/-3 ouch). Game two, I got him to 8 life but then he bounced and/or killed my dudes and finished me off.

2-1 was the record and minimum score 3-2 got prizes (a draft set). I liked my deck with all its removal and thought I could get there.

Round 4 vs. Matthew, who was quiet but polite, piloting BW.
He had great white creatures like the Emeria Shepard angel, who brings back cards from the graveyard. He also played a Hero of GF and the lifelink ally (Lantern Scout). My Serpentine Spike took all three of them out. Man, that felt dirty. Another close one game 2, back and forth, but my removal was too much.

Coolio, in the packs! Last round to see how many.

Next up was my old nemesis, Eric, who I have played many times. He a nice guy, but always seems to squeak out close ones against me. He was on WUB and played a new card I had not seen before...

He took two of my mountains and I lost since my removal just couldn't deal with a 5/8 brute. Oof! Game two started better for me and we both had dudes on the board. He broke it open with this play: Rush of Ice my guy and awaken a land. Next turn, play Halimar Tidecaller, return the Rush card and play it again. I could not beat the flying lands and that tempo! Good job, Eric!

Three packs it was, which is enough to draft the set next week. Jeff was the 5-0 winner and I asked him for his take:

(My deck) was a WB removal heavy deck.  The gameplan was basically to kill all their creatures so mine could take over and getting value off my many awaken cards, which were excellent for me all day.  The all stars were Planar Outburst, Gideon, and Drana.  Another card that played extremely well was Grip of Desolation.  Sick plays:

• awakening with Encircling Fissure, then awakening with planar outburst the following turn leaving my opponent with nothing and me with 2 creatures
• exiling Russ' Ruin Processor and a land with Grip of Desolation at the end of the turn he cast it, then on my turn casting Ulamog's Despoiler and being able to use those two exiled cards to put 4 +1/+1 counters on it
• casting Gideon

Props to Mythic and Reuben for running an awesome tourney. $20 pre-reg for 6 packs is some good.

Are Conor and Ryan unimpressed by Eldrazi or trying to remember how much time is left on their meters?

Grand Prix Vegas 2015 Part Deux

Day two.
Day two.
Day two!

So happy the house we rented had a functioning coffee maker and we had the grounds. An English muffin with raspberry spread eaten, I was ready to hit the hall. Greg drove Conor and I to get to the players meeting at 9am.

I had drafted MM2015 only a few times before, but I knew most of the cards from their first time around. One good thing about being a long-time player. Greg asked me if I planned to force any archetype and my answer was just to see the cards and what was being passed.

We got our seats and filled out the required tax form. C'mon big money! Then we moved to our pod tables (Kiki-Jiki) and there was a slip of paper showing where to sit. Not as much chit-chat as yesterday since things were serious now. Pre-opened, stamped cards were bundled up at each seat. A few more announcements, then we were off. When I first made Day two before, I was put off by the countdown method of drafting. Now I knew what to expect and actually welcomed the structure.

First pick first pack was Etched Champion. Not a bomb, but a solid card in Artifacts. I had been frustrated playing against it yesterday (what do you mean I can't target it?). Next pick was a foil Qumulox... so pretty. The Blinkmoth third pick made me feel great about going artifacts. An Enforcer a few cards later sealed the deal.

5 seconds.... draft!

Pack two had another Enforcer, Glint Hawk, Glassdust and Rusted Relic. All solid for my deck. A Repel and Bauble also made the deck. Pack three had three Darksteel Citadels that made silently squeal. How many is too many? Answer: not enough! Another Glassdust and two Frogmites rounded it out. I was looking at a strong deck.

16 dudes: 2 Frogmites, Gust-Skimmer, Somber Hover, 2 Enforcers, Qlox, Servitor, Cathodion, Etchy, 2 Glassdusts, GHawk, Relic, Fae Mech and Ether Knight.

4 spells: Sunlance, Narcolepsy, Repel and Apostle's Blessing.

3 more artifacts: Bauble, Copper Carapace, Kitesail

3 Darksteel Citadels + Blinkmoth Nexus

10th round paired me with Laurence playing White. I only saw he play two plains as he got land screwed. He was able to play a Raise The Alarm before my metal guys got him. Next game, he mulled to 6 and got stuck on two lands again. My cards curved and that was that,

Next round I played a guy named Jayce. No kidding! He was GB and played a Necroskitter and a Ripper. I played Qumulox and an Enforcer, then made it fly with the Kite. Game two went longer and he put up a fight with a Creakwood Liege and Blood Vampire. He sac'd three guys to the Vampire, but I Repelled it. My flyers got in there again.

Curt was my next opponent playing BUG with tokens and pump and counters. I got him game one, but he came back strong with Overwhelming Stampede for exacties. Last game was slow for me and he hit Bestial Menace + Stampede again. Ouch.

2-1 in the first draft and feeling good. Conor went 1-2, but still felt good since there was another draft coming up. Two free drafts is such value. We got some Nathan's dogs and fries for lunch. Also, checked a vendor's buylist for the sweet rares.

The next draft for me was a trainwreck. I opened a Stampede and Hikari. Having been just stomped by the Stampede, that's what I took. Then a Tribal Flames followed by a Hellkite. Okay, RG. A Phoenix and Scatter made me feel okay, but I saw a bunch of white spirits going around. Next pack had another Hellkite, so I was dealing double dragons. Got some Rampant Growths and a DS Knight. 5 colors? Last pack I was passed another Stampede - was it a sign? Only a Rioters and an Igniter stood out after that. Here's the mess:

I was in three colors, which made the Flames and Rioters better, but getting to 5 for the Phoenix and Knight were a longshot. I should have gone straight RG.

My first opponent was the one I passed all the spirits too. Great. I mulled to 6 and watched his Thieves of Hope go to work. He drafted well whereas my deck lurched along. The Hikari finished me off. Game two I got out a Hellkite, but he Bone Splintered it and spirited me away.

Next round was against Tom running RBG, who curved out into Ashenmoor Gouger. I got stuck on three lands and two Storm Berserkers joined his side and got me. I actually won game two where I had the burn at the right time and Stampeded in. Game three was a lesson in the Spike Elder plus Soulbright combo. For 6 mana, you get 8 mana to feed the goblin. Put a Brute Force on it and it's game over.

I needed this last round to place in the money. Robert stood in my way with a UW deck, flyers and equipment. His Skyhunter equipped a Sickleslicer and I had no burn. I rallied in game two since he flooded out and my dragon got there. Game three was more of his equipped flyers and my burn was no where to be seen. Sigh.

All the guys were rooting for us all day and suggested the Wynn buffet for food. So worth it. Got my just desserts.

Make no mistake - GPLV was monumental. The day two was the icing on the cake. Finished at 265 and they paid out to 230. It's my third day two, however, so I feel I'm moving in the right direction. Hopefully, the Las Vegas GPs are a regular addition to the schedule. Do yourself a favor and start planning for the next one. So much fun!

Saw a planeswalker!

Minutes before Alex fell asleep watching Conor combo out.

GP Vegas 2015 Day One

Vee-vah Las Vaygas!
Once again friends, into the land of cheap (and not so cheap) buffets and free drinks. Also, a little gathering of Magicians from the world over. It's time for GP Vegas Modern Masters 2015!

The troops, led by our fearless leader Greg, were arriving on the Thursday and Friday before the event. Greg found the best house ever with a pool, basketball court and many beds/couches. Lots of deflated basketballs too. Tom Brady must have stayed there before us.

Yeah, GPLV was big. 7500+ players big. But staying focused and playing mistake-free Magic was still the same. They split the horde into two separate GPs. And each GP into four sections named after famous Magic cards. I was in Iona with matching white tablecloths.

Ryan, Conor and I were surprised we each had a bye - running hot! They gave out long storage boxes with the playmat, packs, scorepads, etc. inside. No sleeves this time. We opened packs, registered and then passed to a neighbor. That was what we played. My deck:

Wayfarer's Bauble & Sphere of Suns for fixing.
Arrest, O-Ring, Sunlance, Nameless Inversion and Blinding Souleater for removal.
2 Fortifys for pumping.
Scatter, 3 Raise Alarms, 2 K's Preds, 2 Dread Drones, and Bestial Menace for tokens.
Both Lieges (Creakwood and Wilt-Leaf) - stoked!
Pelakka Wurm, Spellskite and Conclave Phalanx for good measure.

So, starting on round 2, I lost to an Algae Gharial (amazing vs. me), but won the next. Ugh. Round 4 was against a five-color deck with Overwhelming Stampede and Comet Storm. And a bunch of good artifacts. I took a game, but he crushed me in his wins and I was 2-2.

It was a pain to run over and meet up with the guys between rounds to check in. We met up at the prize wall in the middle. Almost everyone was doing better than 2-2. Conor, who said his deck was terrible and wouldn't win a round, was 4-0. Must be nice!

I shrugged and buckled down. I knew my deck had some wins in it. Just focus on each round, each game. Make tokens, use the removal, pump with Fortify and Lieges. How hard is that?

I went on to win all the rest of my rounds that day. Day two with 7-2!

Most opponents were more than two colors, which makes sense. The set is arranged for multicolor goodness. So many great cards. I didn't see any Karns or Elesh Norns, but survived a Wildfire and Prime Time. My little 0/1s and 1/1s got there as they swarmed in. Several games were won on exacties.

Through it all, I stayed calm and as relaxed as possible. I scarfed a Cliff bar and peanuts and drank my water. Didn't look at the time, since I tried to focus on my deck and side-boarding options for each kind of deck. It was 100+ degrees outside, but I stayed cool and calm.

Conor made Day two going 8-1. The gang was stoked for us and we found a Thai place near the house to chow-down. We had agreed the players with the best records picked the sleep spots. I turned in early for some quality sleep. Day two started at 9am sharp!

Read more in GP Vegas part deux!

Dragons of Tarkir Pre-release 3/22/15

So, if you haven't been keeping up with the current Magic story, there's this planeswalker named Sarkhan who's obsessed with Dragons. One day he cruises over to Tarkir, where they are supposed to run wild. Only he finds they have been all killed off by tri-color khans. He's like "Screw that!" and travels back in time to find Ugin, a kick-ass highlord of all dragons dude, and wakes him up. Now back in the current time again, there's more dragons than ever. Like 2-3 in each booster pack!

I dedicated my Sunday to Magic and signed up for the 11am and 6pm pre-releases at Mythic. Conor took my money and asked what dragonlord did I want to hitch my wagon to.

"All of them!"

"There isn't a five color option, broham."*

"Dang. Make mine Kolaghan then."

Mon bon ami, Ryan had played in the midnight pre-release and chose this one too. He said the speed and removal were optimal and went 5-0.

Cracking my box of goodies, here's the highlights:

Rares:
Kolaghan's Command (seeded promo)
Palace Siege (still good)
Volcanic Vision (too expensive/conditional?)
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit (white weeny pumper)
Arashin Foremost (more warrior goodness)
Pristine Skywise (gee, a dragon?)

Removal in RB:
Sarky's Rage, Tail Slash, Death Wind, Roast & Defeat.

Warriors in RB:
Blood-Chin Rager, Kol's Aspirant & Skirkmisher and 2x Hand of Silumgar.

Dashers:
Mardu Scout, Reckless Imp, 2x Screamreach Brawler, Kol's Forerunners & Sprinting Warbrute.

Other cards of note/sideboards: Butcher's Glee, 2x Magmatic Chasm, Bloodfire Enforcer, Dragon Fodder, Volcanic Rush (of Battle), Stormwing Dragon, 2x Sil's Butcher, 2x Hardened Berserker, Virulent Plague.

My non-RB didn't have much to make me break ranks: Cunning Breezedancer, Mindscour Dragon, Pacifism and Stampeding Elk Herd.

Red/Black dashing warriors it was!

2CC: Scout, Aspirant, Skirmisher, Rager, 2x Hands, Chasm, Fodder, Defeat, Roast
3CC: Imp, 2x Brawler, Berserker, (Toyota) Forerunners, Glee, K's Command, Tail Slash
5CC: Warbrute, Volcanic Rush, Palace Siege, Sarky's Rage
XCC: Death Wind (like when your brother is eating burritos)

Went 4-1 and split packs with Chris. Sweet curve. I was smashin' and dashin' and burnin' and lootin'. Well, not really lootin', but you get the idea.

Most games, I got in enough damage before the big flyers got out. The Rage (aka Lava Axe) card did work. Other games, it was the warriors and the Rager making with the Goblin War Drums. One game was against another RB speed deck and we traded blows until the last turn, where he had me for lethal, but the Glee bought me the life I needed to win on the swing back. My only match loss came to another RB deck, where I had only three lands on turn 8 game one and lost a close one game two.

Have you tried the 'Bowling for Promos'(tm) game? Officially called Dragonfury, using your included D20, you smash Tarkir minions for points and hopefully land on the big x2 circle. Foolishly, my first attempts were done standing directly in front of it and only scored the Evolving Wilds promo. After watching some other techniques, I figured out you should stand back a few feet and whip that sucker in there like a heater from Madbum**. I scored 21 points! Unfortunately, they were out of one of the promos, but got the other three.

In between games, you try to make yourself busy by scouting other games and going to grab food. I made it all the way to the Falafel Hut, ordered and back within 15 minutes! Mythic also has many other cool games for sale on shelves around the store, so I usually check them out. The Ascension Year One Collector's Box looked especially righteous.

Pre #2 I picked Ojutai, which is all about the flyers and is fun to say too. O-Jah-Tai. Why ask why?

Here's my sweet rare pool from that box:

Myth Realized (seeded promo - dude or enchantment? both!)
Ojutai's Command (all-star)

Temur War Shaman (meh)
Sunscorch Regent (my kind of flyer)
Blessed Reincarnation (randomized removal)
Hedonist's Trove (is this good? seems expensive)

UW flyers: Belltoll Dragon, Cloudform, Silumgar Sorcerer, Scion of Ugin, 3x Ojutai's Summons, 2x Updraft Elemental

UW removal: Whisk Away, Reduce in Stature, Pacifism, Sandblast, 2x Dromoka Dunecaster

Other cards of note: Stampeding Elks (go Team Elmer), Epic Confront, Herdchaser Dragon, Virulent Plague, Death Wind, Twin Bolt

UW Flyers it was!

1CC: Myth Realized, 2x Dromoka Dunecaster
2CC: Silu's Sorcerer, Cloudform, Elusive Spellfist, Dromoka Warrior, Orator of Ojutai, Pacifism, Artful Maneuver
3CC: 2x Updraft Elemental, Whisk, Reduce, Sandblast, Zephyr Scribe
4CC: Oj's Command, Sunscorch Regent, Blessed,
5CC: 2x Oj's Summons
6CC: Scion, Belltoll Dragon

My plan was to stall the early game to get to my flyers late. Bounce, counters and removal to help. Since the 6pm tourney only had 8 players, it was going to be 3 rounds. Which was okay for me since I was getting a little tired. Two sealeds is like day one of a GP!

Tor was my first opponent and had big white/green creatures. None of them had reach, however and I quickly flew in for the win both games. He played the dragon tutor card twice (Sarkhan's Triumph), but I had a counter for it with the Command and Sorcerer. I asked to see his deck after and politely made some suggestions. Pre-releases bring out all kinds of players, from the casual to the blood-thirsty. I try to be welcoming and friendly to all.

Next game was versus Nathan, who normally plays in Watsonville. He was RGW with big dudes too. Game one, he got out Dragonlord Dromoka and I tried to counter it. NOPE!

I came back in game two with my flyers, whittling him down before the big guns arrived. Game three was all about the big beats again, sadly coming in my direction.

Last match was against Alan, who was swinging with dashed dudes and removal. I couldn't keep up with the onslaught, finding no stalls, bounce or counters. RB dash is fast and furious!

Speed always rules in the beginning of a new format and there's no exception here. You don't need to figure out how to play it, just smash and dash. It will take a bit for the other colors to get good I think. My Kolaghan box was so much better than all the decks I saw that day.

Props:
Mythic and Conor for running smooth tourneys
Dragonfury, for a bonus activity that didn't suck
Splitting with Chris last round - have fun in Japan, you lucksack!
More dragons you can shake a stick at

Slops:
Minimal turnout for the 6pm - I wanted to play more
Lack of coffee machine in-house (Kerigs are cool, bro!)
Uncounterable dragonlords

See you for Game Day on April 18th!

---

* 'Broham' added for effect, he really didn't say that.

** This is a player in a game called baseball. He throws baseballs at a high speed.

Fate Reforged Game Day

What happens when a limited player tries to play some standard? He goes to Game Day!

WOTC Game Day link

But what to play? Well, since it was both Saturday and Sunday, I could play two decks. One of them was a lot better than the other. See if you can tell.

Rolled into Mythic on a beautiful sunny February day and signed up for $6. Got a full art promo for playing (the Shadowspear), but would have to top 8 to get the other (Sup' Plantform).

My deck for Saturday was UB Mill. Yes, you read that right. Mill in standard. Check it:

Millers
Ashiok, Altar of the Brood, Pyxis of Pandemonium
Removals
Bile Blight, Drown in Sorrow, Hero's Downfall
Bouncers
Aetherspouts, Whelming Wave
Walls
Wall of Frost, Dragon's Eye Savants
Carddrawers
Dictate of Kruphix
Devotioners
Master of Waves, Nykthos Shrine to Nyx

This was mostly a TWoo concoction, but he admitted it wasn't very good. Do you see the sweet devotion combo? Get out an Altar and cards with blue symbols (like the walls and Dictates), then hit a Master to spring forth multiple elementals. Each one mills your opponent. Buy time for this awesomeness with removal and bounce. What could go wrong? 11 players for this tourney. Didn't get the bye.

Round one vs. Yvonne: She was playing RW aggro and started with a (Taylor) Swiftspear. Then Hammerhand made it bigger. Then a Phalanx Leader joined up and she Launched the Fleet. Ouch. Game two, I got out some walls and Dictates, then two Masters in a row for 19 total horses.

Not bad in multiples...

Game three, she was stuck on 3 lands and I did the two Masters trick again for 11 this time. 1-0

Rd. 2 vs. Riley playing Abzan. I have never seen so many Rhinos in one place. Like a crash of rhinos. Seriously. Game two, played Hero's Downfall on my Ashiok, Stain the Mind'd my Master of W and finished me off with a pair of Wingmate Rocs. Such dirty birds. 1-1

Rd. 3 vs Alex also playing Abzan, His deck played Heir of the Wilds, that just got bigger after the Rhinos. Game two was longer and I stabilized at 4 life and with 14 devotion on board, played two Masters to mill him for 28. Woo! My success was short-lived, since game three, he got out Garruk Apex and the Banana Boy (Tasigur). It was ugly. 1-2

Okay, well, I didn't think I was winning it today with a mill deck. Game Day is a cool vibe where guys like me play funky decks like this. Everyone likes to see what people are brewing. Is there an anti-Rhino card?

Rd. 4 vs. Holden playing green devotion. He said he chose it when he heard it won a GP recently. Gulp. We agreed to split the prize packs (5 for 2-2 record) and play for the extra one. His deck played Voyaging Satyr to untap Nykthos and then the Bounce Kitty (Temur Sabertooth) to repeat it. And Temur Ascendancy for good (hasty) measure. I lasted about 2 minutes each game until his combo went off both times. Dang! 1-3

This kitty is no joke!

So, not a winning record, but I got two packs and a promo. Made some fun trades too. The top deck of the day was RW control with Chandra, Chained, Stormbreaths and Rabbles.

I wanted a new deck for Sunday, so time to hit the books. This is what I decided on:

Jeskai Control
3 Anger of the Gods, 3 Divinations, 3 End Hostilities
2 Banishing Lights, 4 Chained to the Rocks, 3 Mastery of the Unseens
2 Dig Thru Times, many counters (Disdain, Dissolve, Negate)
Card drawers and 3 Wild Slashes

The win condition? Manifest dudes. Don't laugh! It went 3-1 online, so it's got to be good... right?

It's my destiny to manifest.

I needed a few of the cards, so I got to Mythic early on Sunday. Conor was good enough to ring me up.

$1.36 for an uncommon? Ha!

Nine players today, so win a match and get into top 8 and a promo. Sweet! My first opponent was Kirin playing UW Heroic. There were Hoplites and Ordeals flying around like crazy and he got me down to 6 life, but I was able to come back by Ending the Hostilities and Mastering the Unseen twelve times. Game two, he played a Dictate of Heliod, but all his dudes were chained to the rocks. Made more manifesters and got him. 1-0

Round 2 vs. Sam, also playing a control grinder. It's like we were camping, because these games were intense! Game one he played a Perilous Vault, but I Banished it. After like 10 turns, I finally played the Mastery with counter backup, but he had two! Mastery -> he counters -> I counter his counter -> he counters my counter. What?!? Then Mr. Garruk Apex showed up and made many beasts. Game two I was lucky and drew a Mastery in my starting seven. After four attacking manifests per turn that I protected with counters, he conceded. Game three was another early Mastery and I rode it to the win. 2-0

Well, this is much better than yesterday. Bonus promo!

Round 3 vs. Bryce playing RW aggro, and I mean AGGRO. Seekers, Hordeling Outbursts, Rabblemasters and Brimaz. And lots of burn. Game one I faced all these wonderful cards with two Disdaining Strokes in hand, which laughed at my misfortune. Game two I sided in two Prognostic Sphinxes. Try to burn that guy!

Sweet beard, bro!

He got me to two life, but I had a Sphinx out and was drawing counters to his burn. The Sphinx got there. Game three, no Sphinx and many Stoke the Flames to my chagrin. 2-1

My final opponent, Zack was playing a Conor special. He played Hero of Iroas and Sylvan Carytids and proceeded to enchant them many times to draw cards. Then a Sage's Reverie would make things crazy.

Who thinks of these things?

I held my ground by drawing cards and countering spells until my Mastery took over. Game two, he joined the counter party by using Swan Song on my Dig and Chained. This made two swans for me and with a few manifests, I eventually got there. Whew! 3-1 We agreed beforehand to split the packs and play for the extra one (3-1 got 5 packs today).

Swans for the win.

Wow, what a wild weekend! 1-3 day one, 3-1 day two. Got the Sup' Plantform promo! No playmat, but hey, that's something for next time. If you are a limited player like I was, I would encourage you to try constructed. Sure, the decks can be expensive, but I traded and sold some cards to get some staples. Reading tech online helped on the metagame. And for $12 buy-in, I got 5 packs and some fun games. I wish there were more limited tourneys like GP San Jose was, but there's lots of standard ones.

Props:
Mythic and the staff for a fun, on-time event
Mastery of the Unseen as a sweet new card
Conor and Riley for awesome trades

Slops:
Rhino, oh Rhino, why u b so mean?
Mill decks - don't do it!

Grand Prix San Jose 2015

Khans and Fate Sealed format for GP San Jose. Russell, Ryan, Jason and I met in the big tent on Friday, a day before the main event. For signing up, $50 got you entry, a playmat, ten PrizeWall tix (more on this later), sleeves, tokens, packs and a Griselbrand promo. And a man hand.

The VIP reg was actually a sweet deal since for $100, you got everything above and 3 more playmats, that were selling for $30-50 total. Also, a water bottle, a pin, 100 PrizeWall tix and lounge access. Russell told us about his value all day!

We wanted to play in the free Mini-Masters event and then practice a team sealed too. The GP wasn't in the main convention hall, but in the "south hall", which is a big tent in back. It made for terrible acoustics all weekend. And don't get me started on the porta-potties outside.

I opened a Daghatar rare in my first MM Fate pack and proceeded to win the next two rounds with a Citadel Siege and Wildcall. For the sealed, it was $25 each, single-elimination for 8 teams and you got a playmat. Didn't have to pass the pools, but we did need to register all the cards. I opened some decent cards including 2x Dragon-Style Twins, Arcbond and Ghastly Conscription! Not. Luckily, Jason and Russ' cards were better than that and we made it to the finals and won it in three rounds. That was 360 PrizeWall tix, which is basically a booster box. We drove back to Santa Cruz victorious, feeling great about the main event. We met up at Jeff's to playtest with Ryan and Greg.

Russell pulled up the Nerd Party Van (TM) at 7:15am the next morning to pick me up. The newest edition to his family's transportation, it easily fit the six magical, conquering wizards. Team MacDonaldSmith and team LallaSmithMuscles. First stop was SV Market for sandwiches and snacks. Thanks to Jason for his Pepper Plant sauce purchase and sharing! Up and over Hwy 17, we parked in an all-day $5 lot near the event.

665 teams showed up and the place was mostly full. In the tent, there was a single row between all the aisles, which made walking through a jam-packed hassle. Since the tables were so long, dancing through the chairs became an Olympic-style event. Good thing I'm nimble.

Seatings were posted about 40 minutes late (which we are all used to now), and we shambled through the crowd. Black bags containing the 12 packs were distributed by the judges. We split them up 4 between us. On the "go" signal, we cracked and sorted. Russell wrote all the cards down for our team, then we exchanged pools with our neighbor. That was it - one pass! A mediocre pool - we had 2 1/2 decks.

I took the aggro Mardu deck (good), Russell got the Temur beats (good) and Spencer took Sultai delve (not so good)... sorry Spence! The first guys we played said it was their first GP. My Mardu Ascendancy spewed out goblins and Warflare finished him off both games. Russell won and Spencer struggled and lost, but 2 out of 3 is a win.

Round 2 was against some guys from Denmark. They spoke Danish while crushing our decks. Fun times! Round 3 was versus some Chinese guys. We lost. Mob Rule had something to do with it. We need to learn another language. Klingon?

Sitting at 1-2, we knew the odds were against us. But we shook it off and bolstered the team. We won the next 4 rounds to be at 5-2. Bubble babies! Hogan got us some Vietnamese sandwiches, which were awesome! His team was with Jordan and Stephan, down from SacTown. Hey guys!

Round 8 - fight!
Our opponents had Anime Imports shirts on and were from SF. Their middle player was friendly and talkative, but mine was silent and solemn. First game, my army got him down to 3 life and then I chose Dragons on my Outpost Siege with three guys out. He blocked my attackers and the Siege did the last points of damage. Game two, he stalled and traded guys until his dragons came out. Last game, I made some questionable trades, when I think I should have been attacking YOLO. Again, his dragons got me in the late game. Spencer and Russell had split their games, so it was up to me, but I lost. It's good to have the team all making the decisions together. That way, they don't ask "what happened?". Rough match.

It was 10pm when we got knocked out. Team MacDonaldSmith also lost that round. We all walked to the PrizeWall to trade in our tickets. They had all kinds of crazy stuff for sale. Oversized Siege Rhino and Treasure Cruise cards, playmats, figures, old cards, packs and boxes. They even had some uncut foil sheets from Wizards. Shiny! I got an Odyssey and an Avacyn Restored pack for a future chaos draft some time.

Fate and Khans packs were 10 PW tix each, so about $4 equivalent. Older packs were between 20 (Theros) and 200 (Urza's Saga). Check out the website for all the prizes: www.gpsanjose.com

I believe I played fairly tight and made only few mistakes. 5-3 is disappointing, but we all know about the randomness in the game. Sometime you're the windshield, baby, sometimes you're the ball.

Next West Coast limited GP is Vegas Modern Masters II in May. See you then!