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!
No comments:
Post a Comment