The pan handle state.
And its capital was the site of the GP Sealed Theros.
Greg "Top-8 GP Philly" Smith and I packed our bags and prepared for the trip.
We both tried to get as many limited games with Theros in as possible, but it wasn't very much.
I had won a draft on the back of three Gray Merchants - who wouldn't? - but opening that many in sealed would be uncommon (get it?). The night before our flight, some of the SV guys came over and we looked at some sealed pools. This early in the season however, it's hard to nail down a plan.
Friday, Oct. 4th - Our flight from San Jose was delayed too much for us to make the connection in Denver. Greg got on the phone and found a later flight through Phoenix. Thanks Greg! We got in too late for any grinders, but did get a thunderstorm welcome. I threw open the curtains in our 6th floor hotel room and began singing "Riders on the Storm" off key. Greg thanked me for getting it stuck in his head. Wifi was $9.99/day... wtf? We'd have to check our fantasy football teams in the lobby computer center later.
Saturday, Oct. 5th - We had both pre-registered, so we had time to hit the breakfast buffet. Yogurt, fruit, cereal, an omelet chef, bacon, sausage, biscuits/gravy, oatmeal and grits. Not bad, but the coffee was terrible. Anyone who knows me knows this is bad. No amount of gravy can fix bad coffee.
We walked across the street to the Cox Convention Center and were pleasantly surprised at a round 1 bye for both of us. They were counting points from the spring, so our Las Vegas trip paid off again!
We still had to sit down, crack and register a pool, then get one passed to us. 1000+ players in this one.
I opened a mostly a "meh" pool with two Fleecemane Lions and Nylea's Bow.
I got passed a pool with... wait for it... two Fleecemane Lions and Heliod. YES! Now that's an upgrade.
Fleet Sandals, Unicorn, Burn Hart
GOLD/LAND
Chronic, Unknown Shores, Spell Chimera, Ak Hoplite, 2x Fleecemanes
WHITE
2x Ordeals, Wingsteed, Snarecaster, 2x Peggy, Phal Leader, Set Griff, Heliod, God Willing, 2x Last Breath, Artisan, 2x Ray of Diss, Hopeful, Favor Hoplite, 2x Decor Griff
BLUE
Curse of Swine, Voyage, Vaporkin, Pre Chimera, Wave Triton, 2x Crack Triton, Styme, 2x Fate Foretold, 2x T's Bounty, Lost Labyrinth, 2x Agent Horizons
GREEN
Battlemaster, 2x Staunch, N's Disciple, Fade Antquity, Hunt the Hunted, Defend, Commune,
Sy Caryatid, N's Presence, 2x Feral, Ness Courser, Leaf Dryad
RED
Light Strike, P's Emissary, Flamespeaker, 2x Border Minos, Fanatic, Coord, Firedrinker, 2x Rambler,
Spark Jolt, 2x Portent, Demolish
BLACK
Merchant, Read Bones, Cavern Lamp, Hemlock, Insat Harpy, Blood Harpy, Felhide, Returned Centaur, Flesh Steed, Returned Phal, Cutthroat, Loathsome
Went GW to get some Lions going.
Tried to build aggro, but found that Heliod was more of a control card. Some flyers and enchants. No removal to speak of... Get humans flying with Pegasus. Battlemaster and Staunches good enchant targets. Since I had the Unicorn and Hart, I splashed blue for the Agents.
I found Greg still building, looking a bit frazzled. He had all the cards laid out and was trying to get a good deck built. No bombs to speak of, but a good player with average cards can still be formidable. Since we each had a bye, we played our decks against each other. When round 2 started, we wished each other luck. Starting 1-0!
Round two vs. Taylor
He was playing UW with lotsa little dudes, the Spear and bounce/tricks. My lions came out and applied pressure but he would bounce them before they got monstrous. He was able to beef his dudes with ordeals - those cards are good! Each game went to time. He won game two on a Sea God's Revenge. I came back and won the last one with a pumped Agent of Horizon. 2-0
Round three vs. CJ
RG was his deck with the Hammer. He trampled over me with a monstrous Cyclops for exacties game one. I got him with a flying Staunch Warrior game two. Game three when to time and we tied, even though I had a 11/11 lifelinker! I should have been attacking more. 2-0-1
Round four vs. Deanna
Another RG deck with big dude and tricks. Long stall game one but my two Agents of Horizons got in there. Game two was too fast for me with his soldier with dragon breath and the red ordeal. Game three
was a heart-breaker since I started slow versus her fast dudes and a crushing Portent. 2-1-1
Round five vs. Matthew
Mister UB was playing not one, but two Styme spells and I fell for both of them. Talk about killing a fast start. He also had the Whip and the Bounty spell, but didn't play any dudes game one. Game two I saw a Sphinx and the Overlord. I guess he had dudes after all. Game three was over quick since he was mana flooded. 3-1-1
Food at the hall was dreadful. There was a Pizza Hut stand that was out of pizza and a hot dog stand that was out of mustard. Which is worse? The hot dogs were tiny! They also served "coffee" which was really lukewarm brown water. I would have killed for a Peet's!
Round six vs. Jesus - DECK CHECK! 7 minutes added to time. Had to swap 3 sleeves.
He said he had driven from Sacramento (!) and got pulled over by a cop. He showed his magic cards and got off with a warning. I need to remember that one. He played UB with double Griptide. Luckily, my deck rolled out one creature after another for game one win. Game two was more of the same - Lion, Heliod, Lion... win! 4-1-1
Round seven vs. Jonathan
A tricolor deck with UBG. Crashed me game one with Harpies, Agent of Fates (sick card) and Gray Merchant. Game two, I rolled off Phalanx Leader with white Ordeal, then Griffin then Pegasus. More of the same game three with Lion -> Agent -> Peggy -> Heliod. Sometimes you roll hot. He said he had 3 Merchants!! 5-1-1
Round eight vs. Mike
He was playing UG and had two Sphinx, two Grips and Swined my dudes. I got game two by his mana screw, but he did play Nylea and her Bow. Game three was no chance since he Swined me again, then played Nylea + Bow again. Ouch. 5-2-1
That was that. Out of Day 2. Greg went 7-2 and got in. His losses were to an undefeated player (who went on to Top 8) and Shuihei. I'm glad one of us got there!
Went out to a victory beer in Bricktown. It was a renovated warehouse district nearby. Found a cool brewery and sampled the local beers. Not too late since there was more Magic tomorrow at 9am!
A quick wrap-up: Greg drafted a 1-2 deck and eventually dropped to catch our flight out. He finished 98 and out of the money. I drafted in side events and went 0-4. Yes, I'm a spicy player. I have not figured this format out at all. I overheard someone say it was a "Voltron" set and I agree. Since removal is very scarce, you just build up your dudes with enchants and swing for the fences. Man, I need to practice some more.
Next sealed local GP is in SacTown in January. See you there!
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