GP Sacramento 2014

Who had two byes for GP Sac? This guy! I was very excited for this one, more than the last few. I felt I had played so much Theros, that I knew the cards and draft/sealed formats very well. All that was left was to get a pool and go to town... right?

Khaatim and I drove up Friday morning at 8am from SV to make it up before the mini-masters started at noon. We wanted to get some lunch before and didn't know what traffic would be like. Turns out we got there at 10:45am - easy peasy.

Across from the Sheraton was an awesome homemade soup and sandwich shop called Muntean's. Like eight homemade soups every day. Hungarian style. Fantastically delicious!

Mini-masters was a free event for registered players and you got a booster to start. Add some lands (like 2 of each) and play. I opened Purphoros and got him out both games, so I was on to round two. Then I opened Curse of the Swine in the 2nd pack. So I dropped green and smoothed out the mana. Won round 2 and then opened the Ageless Sphinx. Rolling the sweet bombs! I didn't get the Sphinx out, but Purph did work. My fourth pack rare was Nykthos (bummer) and I lost that round. But 4 packs for free ain't bad!

Checked into the hotel and then went to the Rubicon Brewery with Ryan and Spencer. Got the Denkel Bock and Pomegranate Cider. So good! Checked into the hotel and then in for the Foiled Again draft event. Everyone gets one foil for playing and then another for every win. Built a RG deck with Anthousa, 2 Asps, 2 Time to Feed, 2 Cyclops and 2 Rages and went 2-1.

Unfortunately, they miscalculated how many players would sign up and they ran out of foils. Really? How does THAT happen? So they gave packs as prizes, but I really wanted the foils. My one for playing was Ghor-Clan Rampager and it was sweet. Just wanted more!

Later that night, we found Shawn and went to a place called Burgers and Brews. What a beer list they had! They were out of the Lambac I wanted, so I chose Pliny the Elder. It was like a shaved rabbit.... smooth and hoppy.

The next morning was game day, so we got a good breakfast at the Capitol Garage, behind the convention hall. Really good jalepeno biscuits and gravy! Spencer got the pulled pork scramble, which was incredible too. Off to the GP to crack packs and get passed greatness. With my 2 byes, I only had to go 5-2 for Day Two. How hard could that be?

I opened the following highlights: Master of Waves, Ageless Sphinx, Fleecemane, 2 Gods Willing, 2 Wingsteeds, Erebos' Whip, Mistcutter, Relevant Hunter, Daxos, 2 Akoran Hops, 2 Sentries.

Sweet pool, right? UW flyers? Splash green for Misty and Fleecy? Sadly, I had to pass it away...

Here's what I got:
Mistcutter
2 LB Elders
2 Gods Willing
Horizon Chimera
Favored Hoplite
The white Ordeal
Stoneshock Giant
Time to Feed
Staunch Warrior
Gray Merchant
Insatiable Harpy
Cyclops...
That's it. That was the significant cards. So bad... unbelievable!!

I cobbled together a GW deck with some red, but I knew I would need some serious help to get Day Two. Like a bye and a few no show opponents. And opponent's mana screw. I had Ryan and Greg look at my deck and they couldn't believe the badness either.  Then said I should side into just GW aggro. So I sleeved up the 10 others and prepared for battle.

Our crew was Spencer, Jason, Ryan, Russell, Khaatim and Greg. We even saw Shawn, Conor, Boland, Nathan, Marina and Reuben from Mythic there too. The Santa Cruz connection was strong.

Rounds 1 & 2 = byes (yay)

Round 3 vs. Kevin
My deck actually beat someone. It curved well into the SS Giant and he didn't put up much resistance. Was I overreacting? I still sided into GW aggro and won that game as well. 3-0!

Round 4 vs. Arthur
Bestow-heavy UW deck with Hopeful, Nimbus, Observant and the white Emissary. All on a Wingsteed. No chance. Same slaughter game two but with a Battle Priest and Aquarius Form. No removal or bounce can make for quick games! 3-1

Round 5 vs. Kurtis
Aggro RW deck with burn and pumps. Split first two games, then down to the wire in game 3. I had a 6/7 Hoplite to his 3/3 Minotaur and 3/4 Adept with Spear out. At 3 life, I swung in but should have stayed back. He had enough life to take the 6 and he got me next turn. I was hoping he'd block and I'd take out a threat. I was showing pump for the win, but he didn't bite. 3-2

Round 6 vs. Sky (does this mean he'd play flyers?)
He was RBG with Polukranos, which he bestowed twice in the first game. A 10/10 first striker trampler? Concede. Got him second game with my GW aggro attacks. But game three, I was stuck on 2 mana - should have mulled - and he rolled into the Gorgon and the green legend again... so Po-lucky!

So that was it. 3-3 is no chance for Day Two. There I sat, broken-hearted...
But Ryan, Marina and Nathan made it - congrats! Jason got so close, but lost in round 9.
I've been there and it sucks. Work all day until the last "win and in" match. Rough!

The crew rolled out for a Thai food dinner and we brought some back for the players.

All hail Greg as the credit card game winner! More drinks and hi jinx later that night.

SacTown has some cool places to eat and drink all around downtown. Check out the Dive Bar indoor aquarium above the bar...

Day Two is for drafting and Ryan got into a pod with Owen T. Two-time GP winner Owen T. You'll have to ask him for the deets, but after 2 drafts (including playing Marina in the last match), he finished in the money at 55th. Cheers, Ryan!

Here's a goofy, over-sized card:

Thanks, SacTown for a fun GP!

Props: The Sheraton Hotel for being a block down from the Convention Hall.

Muntean's soups!

Ryan finishing in the money.

Broken oranges!

Slops: They ran out of foils... really?

My GP sealed pool.

The Shady Lady's bouncers.

Freaky statue is freaky.

GPT SacTown at Mythic 1/5/14

Major conflict! Watch playoff football or play in the GPT...

or

I chose Magic and am so glad I did.

Drove to Mythic for the noon start time and put 8 quarters in the meter.
It would be a long day of card flopping. Met Greg & Russell bros and Ryan who already had 2 byes, but wanted to root us on. He'd also keep us posted on the football scores back at Woodstocks.

Marina was judging the event and Boland and Nathan were also in the mix. Got food at TJ's and prepared for battle. 17 wizards were gathered.

I opened the mythic Kraken and very good green fixing with 3 Nylea's Presences and 2 Voyaging Satyrs. But nothing else of substance. Glad to pass that one on.

I received a pool with great black, green and white. The black was Grey Merchant, Thoughtseize, Sip, Emissary, 2 Disciples, Ordeal, Harpy, Read Bones and 2 Cures. But the green/white cards were made for aggro. I love aggro. Fleecemane, the white Ordeal, Soldier, 3 Snarecasters, green pump spells, and a splash of blue for Daxos, Wavecrasher, Nimbus and Battle Hoplite.

**Looking back after the games, I saw an even better deck with the red I got passed. 2 Warcallers, 2 Border Minotaurs, 2 Spearpoints, Cyclops and Lightning. Possibly BR would have been nuts!**

Round one vs. BYE - yes, that's right. A free win! Went to Woods with Ryan for a beer and a slice. It was so crowded, we had to sit outside and watch the game through the window. Ryan flirts with a server. She's cute!

Round two vs. Bryan - nice guy, but I curved out both games with dudes and threats. Easily outraced him and finished with Set Griffin both games. Feeling good!

Round three vs. Conor - he had opened my pool and knew my cards. We played 3 very close games but he won it. I could have won in the last game, but didn't attack with my Warden for the last point. I was thinking I needed it back for defense, but he beat me the next turn for exacties. Argh!

Round four vs. Boland - He mulled to 5 and I curved out and won the first game. But he came back and squashed me in 2 and 3. He had all the removal for my dudes. I kept a sketchy 2 forests, scorpion and non-G spells hand last game and he tore me up.

Round five vs. Daniel - I was ready for a battle. I needed to win to get in. My tiebreakers were good with the 1st round bye. He went to talk to the judge and came back and we started. I played two lands and a two-drop. Marina came over and said he couldn't get his prizes early if he won and so he conceded. He had to leave and shook my hand. Wow! Thanks Daniel!

I was into the Top 8! My second in two GPTs. Greg and Boland made it too but Russell was out. I technically only won one round, but still made it. Onward to draft!

Sat between two guys I didn't know in the draft. I hope the good cards come by me. Opened the first pack and saw good green with Asp, Time to Feed and Anthousa, but took the only black card, Gorgon. It has built-in removal and is a sweet 2/5 death toucher. Then I got passed a Sip. Snatch! More good black and then the white Emissary came my way. I love that card. Also got a Scholar and Divine Verdict. Pack two was lackluster except for a Sentry. What's not to like? Got passed a Merchant and felt very good to be in black. Also got an Evangel, so I grabbed every black and white card I could. They both had devotion, so I would see which I could get more of. A Phalanx Leader was a late gift as well as another Sentry. Third pack rare was the indestructible Colossus. Meh. Got the black Ordeal and a Marauder. That card can just win games. Also a Valor, Baleful and Observant. I had a slight aggro build with 2 Sentries and removal.

Game one was vs. Greg. Oh no! We both need the byes, so we had to play. He played UG and had 2 Horizon Chimeras out versus my 2 Sentries. Used removal to clear the way for victory. Game two was more interaction, but I used the Emissary to tap down blockers for the win. Sorry Greg!

Game two vs. Boland. A rematch! But he politely conceded to get me into the finals. We decided to play anyway, but he suffered major mana screw both games and I won easily. Thanks Michael!

Game three finals vs. Bryan. Another rematch. I beat him in the first round today and here we were in the finals. I asked him if he was going to GP Sac and he said it depended on his work schedule. I told him I was only interested in the byes and he could have the 13 packs. He chatted with his girlfriend and he said "deal". We would play for the VIP coupon. He was running black blue with the Colossus. My deck was too fast for him game one. He got out the Colossus in game two, but my Emissary tapped it every time I attacked. Then Marauder finished it with unblockable white creatures. Winner!

Got the byes! Ryan gave me a bear hug - we are bye brothers! I am so stoked! And the Niners won too. What a crazy, but fun day. Thanks to Mythic and Marina for a great GPT! See youse in SacTown.

GPT Sacramento at Endgame 12/13

Rock and rolling up to Oaktown with Ryan and Spencer in tow. Left way too early (8am), but arrived just as JMac was parking on the street. Free parking on Sundays? Yes!

EndGame is a cool games store with many tables upstairs. It's right across from the convention center, where GP Oakland was held last year... don't remind me... Core set sealed makes me noxious.

We had time for breakfast, so we went to the cafe a block away. I got an egg on toast with the most amazing butter I have ever tasted! Seriously, it may be worth another trip. From divine cows or something. We ate outside and Spencer got a latte in a bowl.

We registered at 10am ($25) and had time before packs were passed out, so we hit up the brewery across the street. Yes, you heard right -- a BREWERY! Morning stouts and 49ers kickoff. There was much strategizing. The Niners will crush Tampa Bay. And we will crush all noobs.

There was 19 players signed up. Enough for 5 rounds and a top 8. Odds were good some of us would get there. The four of us all sat around a table and packs were distributed. My pool was fairly average.

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I was much happier with what pool I was given...

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Ryan and Spence were happy with theirs, but Jason was struggling. Too many options in all colors. We gave some advice and he made some changes, but wasn't feeling confident. He'd just have to draw well and play like a boss.

First round, I get paired with... Jason. What? Nooooo! Sigh.
WON

Second round,
LOST

Third round,
LOST

Spencer and I jammed over to a sausage place a block down. By the way, lots of good food around this venue. You will not be disappointed. They had beef, pork, chicken, wild boar and vegan options. Every one came with two toppings: saurkraut, onions, chili, relish, etc. Lots of fancy mustards, ketchups and mayos too. The wasabi-garlic mayo was off the hook.

Fourth round,
WON

Fifth round (win and in),
WON!

Everyone but JMac made top 8 -- even me! Jason was a sport and stuck around to cheer us on. He drove over from SF and was thinking he'd split to go for a run. But how many times do your homies get 3 spots in a top 8? Kudos, Mr. MacD!

The draft started and Spencer was passing to me. The judge called out the time we had to look and then pass. We had to count the cards we were passing every time. A little more work than what I'm used to at Woodstocks. I opened Xenagos first pack and slammed it. When the booster gods give you a planeswalker, you take it... unless it's Tibalt.

Luckily, Spence figured out I was red green (cuz he's awesome) and I got a sweet deck. Three Fanatics! Got good green with Arbor and Nemesis, but no ramp or fixing. No removal either made me go aggro. Get there with little fast dudes, 2 red Ordeals and finish with Fanatics.

First round was versus Ben. He's a good player I've played before at other California tournaments. His friend sat next to him (I hate that). He played Bant colors with bounce and heroic dudes. I led with Flamedrinker, but he mounted a defense quickly. We traded damage and were both under 10, when he Time to Feed'd my Flamedrinker, causing me 5 damage instantly and then got in for the rest. I would have had him next turn! Game two was all me and all red, finishing him with 2 consecitive Fanatics for the last 8 damage. So good! Game three was me keeping a sketching hand: a 5 drop, 2 Fanatics, Cyclops, Ordeal, and 2 mountains. He had to mull, so my heart soared. But I never saw another land and he rolled me. Dang! Jason said if I mulled, I would be hoping for 2 lands again, so the keep wasn't that sketchy. I don't know - what do you think?

I got $5 store credit for my troubles. And 9 packs for the $25 buy in. And planeswalker points. I'm not complaining! Ryan and Spencer made it to the finals after some wheeling and dealing with their store credits. It was Ryan's BW hoplites vs. Spencer's ?? Spencer won game one fairly easily, but game two was a battle. Life totals swung wildly form 32 to 2 and back again. Ryan snuck it out and tied it up. The last game was even more crazy with Ryan going down to 2 and then up again to 30. At one point, I said "Spencer wins!", but it was premature. Ryan battled back and eventually took it all.

Ryan gets two byes! It used to be three until WOTC decided that was too good. Really? The judge said there may be a VIP voucher included as well if the store qualifies. Ryan left his email in case they send it. He and Spencer each got $25 store credit and Spencer picked up the board game "7 Wonders" he had been looking at. Must make plans to play that with him.

We said goodbye to Jason and headed back down the state. Got back around 9pm - whew! - a full day of Magic and good times. This is why I play the game. Challenging strategy and bro companionship. Congrats again to Ryan - he gets to kick back in Sactown!

GP Oklahoma City

Oklahoma!
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.

ARTIFACTS
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!

GP Oakland August 2013

So yeah, Grand Prix Oakland happened last weekend and it was a GP of mixed emotions for me.

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?!?

M14 Prerelease @ Mythic 7/14/13

Walking up the steps to the top of the parking garage, I could see the smashed PBR cans by the lamp post. Spencer, Ryan, Logan and Boland were gathered 'round.

"The best way to prepare for a core set is to drink!" Ian and I agreed as we shared in the cheap brew.

Boland's Saturday deck was the main topic, where he went 5-0 with no rares and three Siege Mastodons. There must have been some sweet uncommons in there at least. Mark of the Vampire did some major work. Everybody was happy to be gaming and even though core sets are mostly reprints, the thrill of cracking packs to battle was still there.

Let's see how my sealed pool looks:

RARES
Dismiss into Dream
Clone
Tidebinder Mage
Darksteel Forge
Savage Summoning
Ogre Battledriver

NOTABLES
2x Messenger Drake
2x Divination
2x Coral Merfolk
2x Wall of Frost
Nephalia Seakite
Zephyr Charge - enchantment that makes dudes fly
Opportunity
Cancel
Charging Griffen
Capashen Knight
2x Congregate
2x Hive Stirrings
Sentinel Sliver
2x Angelic Wall
2x Corpse Hauler - a poor man's gravedigger
Blightcaster
2x Death Cockatrice - does not look like a chicken lizard!
Wring Flesh
Bubbling Cauldron - alas, no newts...
Encroaching Wastes - better than encrotching wastes
Groundshaker Sliver
Rumble Baloth
Kalonian Tusker
2x Deadly Recluse
2x Hunt the Weak
Naturalize
Elvish Mystic
Mana Sliver
Giant Spider
Windstorm
3x Giant Growth
2x Trollhide
Plummet
Dragon Egg
2x Cyclops Tyrant
Marauding Maulhorn
2x Academy Raider - intimidate makes it better than I thought
Molten Birth
Reggie Firecat
Shiv's Embrace

So what would you build? I first look for bombs and removal. I felt this pool was seriously lacking in both departments. Not enough Slivers to go crazy either. But there was a sweet c-c-combo in there. Did you see it?

 

It would take a bit to set up, but then WHAMMO! So to make this work, I'd need to stall the board. Here's my initial build UG:

Groundshaker Sliver
Rumble Baloth
Kalonian Tusker
2x Deadly Recluse
Elvish Mystic
Mana Sliver
Giant Spider
2x Trollhide
2x Messenger Drake
Divination
2x Coral Merfolk
2x Wall of Frost
Nephalia Seakite
Zephyr Charge
Giant Growth
Dismiss into Dream
Clone
Tidebinder Mage
9 Islands + 8 Forests

I soon switched out the Growth for Cancel and a Trollhide for Naturalize. Everyone was playing enchantments! This deck was midrange with some beaters and some controlish. I didn't expect 5-0, but was hoping to win some packs. (Comment on other builds you would have done!)

RD1 - Will playing RG
His beats and burn took me out in game one. Especially since I was drawing all lands. Game two I curved nicely with my mana dorks and won on a Trollhide'd Tucker and Giant Growth. Slamma-Jamma! Game three, it got crazy where we stalled with dudes on the board, but he took the advantage and swung. I blocked most and went to 2 life. Then I topdecked the Zephyr to complete the combo and killed three of his blockers. Swung in for the win. WHEW!

RD2 - Casey playing BW
These games went fast. He had mega-removal and lifegain too. That Blightcaster made short work of my guys - he's amazing! Game one life total = 1 to 44 and game two = 2 to 22. He said he had 9 removal spells, 2 Blights and 6 enchantments. Wowzers!

RD3 - Cody playing RWG
Cody had some great cards, including the Scav Ooze and attacking pinger Sliver. But first game, I walled up and he hit a land flood. My flyers flew in for the win. Game two was all about his Slivers and the attacking rare dude. I went fro 20 to 18 to 1. Dang. Game three went long and I assembled the c-c-combo and he was sorry to see it.

So far, my all-stars were the Walls/Recluses, which were great to stall the ground and the Baloth/Tusker beef. The Tide Mage was good to tap down opposing Recluses too.

RD4 - Boland playing UG (hey, great minds...)
Always fun to play one of the Woodstock crew! Beaters and flyers were the decks we played and my Baloth went the distance in game one. 4/4 for 4? Yes please. Game two was about his Air Elemental tapping my flyers down and a big Illusionary Armor to finish it. Ouch. Game three I was getting him down on life - to 2 as a matter of fact - but then came the Primeval Bounty. Then another. Yes folks, you read that right... TWO BOUNTIES! Play a land, gain some life. Play a dude, get a beast. The turnabout was huge and it was over soon. Oof.

RD5 - Caleb playing UR
Caleb was rolling with flyers and burn, but I was keeping it stalled. Until the Whale came out. Islandwalk? Geez Louise. Game two had no whales (thank goodness), but did have a pesky Air Elemental tapper guy. So I cloned it and the tap wars began. He missed a few possible taps and I was able to fly in for the win. Game three I was winning an early flyer war with my Messenger Drake when he dropped Jace. JACE! Luckily, he didn't have any air defense and I took the planeswalker out, but not until I was milled for 20. I cloned the drake and flew in for the win with 5 cards left in my deck. Another close one!

I finished 3-2 and won 3 packs! Greg Peterson (4-0) played Casey (3-1) in the finals, but Casey got him, so no 5-0 player! One player pulled 2 Chandras from his prize packs. Nice. Everyone in our group won packs, except Logan, which was very unusual. I don't think he was drinking enough. The event was over by 4:30 - amazing! Kudos to Rueben for a smooth running, 19-player tourney. Mythic is the place to be if you are slinging spells in Cruz Town!

Props: Mythic!, c-c-combos; pre-tourney parking garage drinks; post-drinks at the Wood; big green dudes.
Slops: Warm PBRs; Islandwalking whales (really?); Recluses holding back flyers - not cool, bro!

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!!)