Since returning to
competitive Magic in 2009-2010, I’ve been to handful of Star City and TCG
grinder events. I’ve had mixed results,
ending up in the middle of the pack somewhere at each of these and dropping
after I hit the magic number of 3 or 4 losses.
This past weekend was the scheduled Grand Prix in Atlantic City, NJ – an
event I hadn’t planned on going to – until an impulse decision earlier in the week. Grabbing some of card gaming crew (Bobby
King and Alex Artese), we packed my car and went on adventure to the Vegas of
the East Coast.
1646 Players. The largest tournament I’ve participated
in. Ever. Pro players dotted the landscape, impossible to tell them apart
from your standard gaming nerd, except for buttons identifying them as
pros. We even stayed with a group of
“them” Friday night when we got to Jersey.
Let me put it to you this way:
Magic pros party like rock stars.
That makes them my kind of people.
When I go to
grinders, I try not to be ME. I can be
obnoxious in a tournament setting, my lack of social skills shining like a shit
stain on my underwear. This can either
make people laugh or turn them off, either is fine by me, to be honest, and
locally I enjoy being a “character” in the game. But when I go out of town, I don’t want to piss the wrong person
off so I always tone it down to NIL. I
withdraw and keep my mouth shut and I play my favorite game. Instead of sarcastically annoying my
opponents and those sitting around me, I try to be mellow and calm with
success. This became the theme of my
Grand Prix experience. I thrived on it
– but it was also my downfall.
I came with 2
decks. My recent play has been a Bant
Mid-Range creature fest with which I’ve had some success with locally. The build is unique in some aspects and it’s
the variances of the deck that have made it successful. I also brought my venerable RDW, the deck I
won Lilac House Ravnica Gameday with.
The deck has subtly changed since I won, but kept the essence of a
typical RDW I will play. After
consulting with Alex, I allowed him to talk me into playing RDW, accepting his
sound logic that I should play what I know and what matches my play style best. This was the first decision of the weekend I
would regret making in hindsight. I do
not fault Alex for this, as his arguments for me playing the deck were sound.
Main Deck:
4 Ash Zealot
4 Hellrider
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Brimstone Volley
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Pillar of Flame
2 Searing Spear
3 Cavern of Souls
20 Mountain
Sideboard:
2 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Smelt
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Volcanic Strength
2 Zealous Conscripts
A typical RDW build
for me, sticking with my “old school” thought process of “MAXIMUM FIREPOWER”
and not going below 12 damage spells in the main board. This would be both a benefit and a bane
through out the day. My second regret
of the day was not including my Pithing Needles in my sideboard. That mistake would be critical during the
day.
ROUND 1: vs. RDW (Leo Redko)
My first GP. My first GP match. And my opponent is LATE.
Grumble.
I so do not want to
be THAT GUY, so I don’t call judge. My
neighboring players are getting on me for not calling judge, but I tell them –
I don’t want to ruin this guy’s GP. He
shows up, and get this – HE LEAVES! The
guy sitting next me laughs and says “Time to be THAT GUY?”
I call for the Judge. Leo is returns, is given a first game loss.
Leo is playing a
Vexing Devil RDW build. I didn’t see
much of it. My deck played by the
numbers. Cackler turn 1, Zealot turn 2,
Flames of the firebrand turn 3, Hellrider turn 4. Turn Hellrider sideways, win.
Poor guy dropped 2 vexing devils and a cackler the whole game.
ROUND 2: Vs. Peddler Rites (Jeff Miller)
My first real match
of the day wasn’t a very happy experience for me. Jeff was confident in his deck and showed it during play. Game 1 was all me at first, I got Jeff down
to 10 life then my deck started sputtering and his started rolling. I hate conceding with 19 life left, but I
had to after the game state got out of control with a plethora of humans on
board.
Game 2 was much
different. I got Grafdigger’s Cage out
on turn 1. He fights back by going pure
agro, throwing Huntmasters at me. I
manage to maintain a Hellrider with Volcanic Strength and win the game.
Game 3. Ugh.
I’m not going to bitch. Take
this for what it’s worth.
I manage to control
the board early and get some hits in, and then turn 5 comes. He has 1 white source (a Clifftop Retreat)
and casts Faithless Looting. AFTER casting the spell, but BEFORE he drew his
cards for the spell, he realizes he made a mistake in tapping his Clifftop
Retreat. He attempts to untap it and
tap instead his Rootbound Crag. I tell
Jeff I can’t allow that. He argues he
changed the mana source before he drew and it was legal. Now I know he can’t do this. The REL is COMPETITIVE. Once you tap a land it’s freaking
tapped. Bottom line. I call Judge.
I am not faulting
Amanda Stevens. I respect Amanda. She is a fledgling Judge and was asked upon
arriving at the event to assist in officiating. Amanda ruled that because he had not yet drawn his cards he could
adjust the tapped mana sources.
So, sticking to my
guns to NOT be THAT GUY, I accept Amanda’s ruling. This allows Jeff to cast Unburial Rites; targeting Angel of
Glory’s Rise and floods the board with Huntmasters, Nightshade Peddlers and
Izzet Static Casters.
I draw my card for
my turn, I’ve got some outs. A Bonfire
would be nice, I say to myself.
I pull Grafdigger’s
Cage.
ARE YOU FREAKING
KIDDING ME????
Scoop phase. Handshake.
I lose my match.
Let this serve as a
lesson to all – if at any time during and Competitive REL you feel a judge has
made a bad call – GO OVER THEIR HEAD AND APPEAL!
Amanda caught up
with me later in the day, admitting she had made a bad ruling. I do not fault Amanda for this, she is still
learning. And did she ever learn from
this experience. And I learned
sometimes I do have to be THAT GUY.
I am now 1-1 going
into Round 3.
ROUND 3: Vs. Rakdos
Zombies (Jonathan Silvestri)
This is a quick
match. I knew all day I would have the
advantage over RDW and Rakdos with my superior firepower. It proved me right this match. Game 1 is by the numbers. Game 2 I win with double Hellrider on the board.
Who’s NEXT?!?! I’m 2-1.
ROUND 4: Vs. Naya
(Andy Tan)
Andy is a brilliant
player. He made top 8 in the 2012 NY States
tournament playing an Azorious build.
He came to the GP with Naya, a fantastic deck for the format. We play 3 hard games.
Game 1: Andy’s deck sputters with land issues. My deck plays by the numbers and I win on
turn 5.
Game 2: My Fudge Up. Andy’s deck rolls from the gate.
I’ve maintained a decent board state, throwing out creatures as fast as
he does but he’s getting the answer every time. During a combat exchange, he attempts to block a Stromkirk Noble
with a Huntmaster. Initially I don’t
think of it, and then while he is still hemming and hawing over his block
assignments, I realize he still throwing the Huntmaster in front of the
Noble. I eventually ask him if he’s
passing priority, as I want to get this game moving. He does, and when I tell him the Huntmaster can’t block the
Noble, I realize he could never have assigned him as a blocker to the Noble to
start. We call judge and explain the
issue at hand, feeling it would be better to have the judge handle the
mess. Andy is given a warning for
essentially for not knowing his cards better and I am warned for not reminding
Andy of the impossible block.
In the end, Andy
gets the win game 2.
Game 3: Andy starts out immediately having mana
issues. The right colors are not coming
up. My deck once again plays by the
numbers. Finally, on turn 7 I am able
to swing with a Hellrider and searing Spear him for the win.
3-1 Match record
going into Round 4.
ROUND 5: Vs. Esper Control (Elijah Herr)
Elijah was a fun
opponent. He came all the way from
Bangor, Maine. Game 1 goes to Elijah
when I can’t deal with his board state.
Game 2 is a by the numbers win for me, again. Game 3 I get him to 5 life, I can’t keep creatures on the board
because Elijah is blowing up the board left almost every turn. We play pass-mill for a number of turns, as
he’s rocking a pair of Drown Yards on me. I’m not afraid, as I only need one of
the 8 3-damage sources I run to beat him (I am holding a Pillar of Flame!). He mills me out.
And my earlier
mistake in the day of not adding Pithing Needle to my sideboard bit me in the
ass.
3-2 going into Round
6. I am in do or die now to make the
day one cut and the day is only half over.
ROUND 6: Vs. Jund (Jeff Schoellkopf).
Jeff hailed from the
Reading area of PA and we had a great time playing our match. He didn’t want to be there any more, neither
did I. Exhaustion and fatigue had taken
their toll on both of us by this point. He asked me a dozen times during our match to please win so he could go to bed. I tried to accomodate him but things failed to work in my favor.
Game 1 I win with
double Hellrider once again getting me there.
Game 2 is all Jeff as a pair of Thundermaw Hellkites win it for
him. Game 3 is in my favor until turn 6
when Jeff drops a series of Thragtusks after I had beaten him down to 3 life –
and I had a Brimstone Volley in my hand but not enough mana to cast it. He drops a Thundermaw shortly after, Rancors
one of the Thragtusks and quickly overwhelms me, getting the win.
3-3 now. I’m exhausted and drop from the GP and enjoy
my time dealing with vendors and artists.
I learned much from
this Grand Prix. When choosing decks I
should always go with my gut and, not what’s easiest for me to play. Would I have had more success playing my
Bant build? No one knows. What I do know is sometimes I do have to be
THAT GUY, but now I I’ve learned a healthy balance of the 2 and I intend to project
that going into the future, locally. It
makes the gaming experience more pleasurable for my opponents and myself. I
need to discover a way to facilitate sleeping into my schedule when I travel
out of town. Fatigue is the #1 reason a
person will make a board state mistake or keep a loose hand and I do credit
some of my play errors to that. Could I
have changed what the fates had in store for me that day by playing tighter and
being more aggressive? It’s possible, but the Gods of Magic randomness always
seem to throw something different at you when you least expect it.
Before I forget my
companions for the trip, Bobby went 5-3, so did Alex – they were both playing
some form of Rakdos and were in it right up to the cut, both losing in round
8. Both had strong performances. Note that Bobby has played Magic for only
about 2 months now and did as well as a seasoned player like Alex and outshined
his mentor (that’s me!). Good job,
brother.
Until he next time I
call JUDGE!
. . . PEACE!
