It was a long, long weekend. But more importantly, it was a long, long trip out to Chicago.
When we decided that we wanted to make the trip out, we had a slew of people from Syracuse going, and everyone came to the same conclusion - no one wanted to drive for 11 hours. We considered our options. A) We take a plane to and from Chi-town, and in doing so, spend little time and a bunch of money to get there, or B) we take the train, and we spend a bunch of time, and slightly less money to get there. Well, we decided that the train sounded like a much more fun way to go, and we booked our tickets for the 13 hour trip - or at least most of us did.
Thursday night, after a long day at work, making money for the Man, I picked up a ticket for munkie, since he managed to make himself broke. Fortunately, he also managed to accumulate plenty of saucy cards to sell to vendors so he could both repay me, and fund his return trip. We arrived at the train about 9, my car included Nat Howland, another player on EPIC (my legacy team), and we settled in to wait for everyone else. There ended up being 8 of us on the trip together, along with another local, Danny Meeker, who managed to win the Rochester GPT - which had all of 12 players at it.
I'm not gonna lie, that kinda pissed me off. Rochester has had a GPT for every legacy GP. At the first, for Philly, there were 70 players. I came in 10th, on breakers. At the second, for Columbus, I was the only Flash player, and I came in 6th, losing in top 8 to Thresh with MD Meddling Mage and Stifle. There were 50 players. This one was not advertized anywhere. It was completely off my radar screen, and I feel like I lost three byes because of it. Anyway, he got the byes, and was on the train as well.
We depart Syracuse at 10, and head almost immediately to the Lounge, where we test, and test, and test, and test. And then play casual formats for a while. I went about 60-40 with my deck vs. TES, which I saw as a good thing, as I expected to see a bit of combo on the weekend. For the purposes of getting it out of the way, here's the list I decided upon:
NOThresh (MD by Alix Hatfield)
4 Force of Will
4 Counterbalance
4 Daze
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 Werebear
3 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Natural Order
1 Progenitus
4 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
Sideboard:
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Path to Exile
3 Krosan Grip
3 Back to Basics
1 Empyrial Archangel
I could discuss the list to some detail, but the long of the short of it was this - it was solid all day, I didn't really have any issues with the deck at all. The manabase was excellent, rarely did I have any issues with my mana, even in the face of Wastes, Ports, and Stifles. I'm not comitted to the board - Path ended up being boarded only once, but it wasn't terrible, and it did exactly what I wanted it to. The deck was really strong.
So, after a hell of a long night on the train, we arrive at Union Station at 9am EST, 10 local, and start drinking. Chicago doesn't have open container laws, and we can pretty much walk around with beer. It was kinda awesome. So, we hop on the Metra (their public train system), and head out to whereverthefuck the hotel and GP are. After another hour on the Metra, and about 10 minutes cramming 9 people in a 5 passenger cab, we get there, and the hotel is AMAZING. It's beautiful, and you can tell it's brand new. The place is decked out to make the best impression for the travelling businessman, and it was full of scummy gamer nerds. Oh well.
We head up to the room, which features such amenities as a tv in the bathroom mirror, extremely comfortable beds, a table perfect for testing sessions, and a $4 bottle of water. After getting settled, we head to the convention center. Trading happens, selling happens, a few people head to grind, in the vain attempt to get them byes. I register and recieve my GP playmat, which is immediately sold for 10 bucks. Thanks, Wizards. After that, we find some people from the East Coast to hang with, and get ourselves into as much trouble as possible. I end up passing out at about 8pm, and sleeping all the way through the night until I wake at 7am in my hotel room, with Colin's bony ass cuddled up next to me. I swear, it isn't as gay as it sounds.
The morning of the event, I'm feeling well rested, and I'm ready to pop some Advil and take on the world. We head downstairs and get ourselves into gametime focus. After the player's meeting, I have a bye, so I use the time to get some grub, get a bunch of stuff signed by Rob Alexander (nice guy, by the way), and poop. Then its showtime.
Round 2 - Jordan Benson, with UGR Counterbalance Thresh
Game 1, I'm on the play and open with Mongoose, followed by turn two Counterbalance. He Dazes. I Daze back. He Forces. I Daze back. I'm now up cards on him, with Counterbalance and a threat in play to his empty board. It's academic from there.
Game 2, he Dazes my turn 1 Top, and I never see a second land.
Game 3 looks a lot like game 2, except I Brainstorm 3 times in the first four turns looking for my second land, and he has about a dozen counterspells for my plays.
I start the event off with a loss, and go to the X-1 bracket. Not exactly how I intended my GP to go.
Round 3 - Mitch Blumenshine - MUC w/Grindstone Painter
Mitch gets a game 1 loss for tardiness, as he was stuck in line getting cards signed. He's pretty chipper about it, all things considered, and we go to game 2. I note that when he set his deck on the table (face up), I see an Extract on the bottom of his deck.
I see an opener of Turn 2 Counterbalance with Daze backup, but it has Progenitus in it. Knowing he has Extract, I see this as a good thing, and keep. I turn 1 Ponder, he turn 1 Extracts. I inwardly chuckle as he looks through the deck, and doesn't see the target for the NO. Eventually, a Goose goes the distance, after I Swords three Painters.
2-1
Round 4 - Tyler Hanft - 4C Counterbalance Control
Game 1 is won for me on the back of another second turn Counterbalance. This seems to be a trend. It's important to note that while I've seen four colors from Tyler, I still have no friggin idea what the hell he's playing. First, I thought UGW thresh. Then I was thinking ITF. I ended the game with no clue.
Game 2, I resolve another counterbalance and a Goyf. He's sitting on three duals, and he Mainphase Ponders, and tries to StP my Goyf. I reveal Back to Basics, and think. I Daze the Swords, knowing he has the mana to pay. He thinks, and let's the Swords be countered. I play B2B, and he's down to one land. He plays a second B source, and scoops his yard up for Tombstalker. My Goyf is a 4/5. I eventually find a second Goyf, which means I win the race, and he's forced to play defense. I find a Krosan Grip, and swing into his Stalker with both men. Before damage, I grip my Counterbalance, as I'm not affraid of his board of no untappable lands, and win on the spot.
3-1
Round 5 - Matt Severa - RG Goblins
Game 1, I make a critical mistake, and do not Force of Will the second of Matt's Vials. This allows him to shut off my entire hand, and use his lands to stop me from ever resolving another spell. I don't know why I didn't Force the Vial, but it was an error I can only blame on myself. I try to shrug it off, and hope my 8 Swords will get there game 2 and 3.
Game 2 - I have all white and green cards in hand, which is great for me in this matchup. The key to winning against Gobs with Thresh is to put them on defense. I open with Mongoose, he opens with Vial. I end up using three "swords" this game, but he drew all four Ringleaders, and hit two to four guys on each, including two Siege-Gang Commanders. Not exactly what I was hoping for. So, I go to the win or I'm done bracket.
3-2
Note that up to this point in the event (the halfway point, if you don't count byes) I have not yet seen the card Natural Order at any point in time. Had I seen it against Matt, I am certain I win that match. I resolve to start a new tournament right now, and go 4-0. If I do, I make day two. And so begins the new tournament.
Round 6 - Michael Carey - UGW Thresh with NO (Noble Hierarch build)
Game 1 is a victory for me on the back of turn 2 Counterbalance on the draw. He has the Daze and the Force, but so do I. He doesn't resolve anything before I kill him.
Game 2 is the first time on the day that I see Natural Order. Unfortunately, I'm locked under CounterTop, and it's stopped by a Natural Order on top of his library. Goyf with +2/+2 from Hierarchs wins this game.
Game 3, I again resolve Counterbalance, and he's stuck on a 1 land Hierarch draw. He can't mount any offense, and can't resolve any cantrips through my Balance. He scoops it up to a Swords on his mana guy.
4-2 (1-0 in the new tournament)
Round 7 - Kitt Howland - Ichorid
Shit.
Game 1 on the play, Kitt opens with Breakthrough for 0, which is Forced. I play a Goose, and he draws and says go. I swing and play cantrips, he draws and says go. I swing and play cantrips, he draws and discards Grave Troll. I swing and FINALLY CAST NATURAL ORDER. He dredges, and gets a Moeba. 2 Ichorids, no Bridges in the yard. I swing. I swords his Moeba. He dredges, hits nothing and scoops. (I beat Ichorid game 1, with WHITE THRESH)
Game 2, I keep a disaster of a hand with 4 land, Werebear, Swords, and Ponder. I don't know why, but I felt like it was going to get me there. I can't explain the feeling, but it just felt right. I dunno. He keeps, and opens with LED. I do not force. He plays Underground Sea, and Careful Study. I do not Force. He discards Sea, Flamekin Zealot. I do a happy dance in my head, cause he's got no dredgers! I play a land and Ponder into Goyf, Swords, NO. That's turn 3, baby. I keep the NO safe from Therapy and pass. He draws, plays Coliseum, and hardcasts Moeba. "That's how it's gonna go this game, huh?" "Yep. Pretty much." I play my turn 2 Werebear, and pass. He plays a second Coliseum, and a second Moeba. Turn 3 I NO into Big Progs, and he slumps. He draws, plays a second LED, and casts Breakthrough for 0. He draws 4, and dumps no dredgers. He cracks LED, activates Coliseum, and dumps no dredgers. He activates Coliseum, and dumps two Stinkweed Imps, finally. Burns for 1, says go. I swing 10. He dredges into garbage, and scoops. I saw zero Crypts this match, but for the first time, got to win with Progenitus.
5-2 (2-0 in the new tournament)
Round 8 - Alex Wice - Belcher
Game 1 I keep a mediocre hand, but I can tell he's thinking about his plays, and he's probably playing combo of some sort. His friends ask if he won game 1 already, so I guess Belcher, and am right. I daze a Manamorphose on his turn 1 which buys some time, but turn 2 he Land Grants and I see he's probably going all in on Warrens. He does, and I lose.
Game 2 - He again makes some mana and I stop him. Unfortunately he rips off a Manamorphose like a champ, and he Land Grants showing me Magus of the Moon, Blood Moon, Deus of Calamity. Fuck. He drops Magus to my board of Trop, and my hand of 3 fetches, and I'm screwed. I have a shot when I drop a Goyf off the basics I've gotten to around 10 life, but when he goes for a Demigod, and like a MORON I FUCKING FORCE WITHOUT RESOLVING THE TRIGGER FIRST AND LOSE THE GODDAMN GAME EVEN THOUGH I WROTE AN ARTICLE ON IT LESS THAN A WEEK BEFORE MOTHERFUCKERIHATEBEINGBADATMAGICANDIDESERVETOBEKNOCKEDOUTOFTHEEVENTTFORPLAYINGLIKESUCHAFUCKINGCHOADAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
5-3 (3-1 in the new tournament)
Round 9 - Jason Nielsen - MUC
Game 1, we get in a huge counter battle over a turn 1 Mongoose which lets me know he's playing MUC. I think its cute that he's playing all the FoFs from the Jace vs. Chandra deck. I win the battle, and my Goose goes the distance.
Game 2, he gets the jump on me with a bunch of rediculous plays, and a disrupt on my EOT Brainstorm. He's ahead the whole game, and I never really get back into it.
Game 3, I'm swinging with a 2/3 Goyf for a while, while trying to keep his stupid Shackles off the table. We have some serious counter wars, but I force him into positions where Daze will be relevant, and I manage to stop his stupid friggin Call of the Skybreaker twice, and Goyf puls it through.
End result - 6-3. I think it's respectable, and there were little mistakes that cost me two rounds. It's nice, for once, to realize that there were small plays that were sooo important that if you had simply played them correctly, you may have won, and made day two. I think its these plays that will stay with me the most after this weekend, and help me grow as a player. Perhaps if I can minimize those mistakes next time (and maybe go in with a couple more byes), I can make a run at it for real.
After the main event, we decided to start the party. None of us made day two, although there were three of us in contention. I ended up with the best breaks, and as I said yesterday, placed the highest, but Colin and Carl were both X-2 going into round 9 - unfortunately they both had bad beats and lost. We got a little crazy until about 4am, and we all fell asleep as soon as the lights went out.
On Sunday, we hung out around the hotel for most of the day, drafting, playing casual decks, trading, and rooting for our friends that made day two. Eventually, we did an 8 man draft (which we lost due to overthinking our opponents - we all drafted the underdrafted colors, and left them the retarded red decks), and then headed back to the train station. We were accosted almost constantly by bums and beggars, and were yelled at on the train ride home. We crashed into our seats, and passed out - a long weekend of Magic and fun fading off into the distance behind us. Monday morning came too soon, and we all went back to the real world.
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