Grand Prix Seattle, Day 0

It's Saturday morning and the main event starts in about three hours, but THIS GUY doesn't have to worry about it until Round 4, because I won one of the meat grinder trials Saturday night.

The Life Aquatic with Kyle Boddy

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Gaddock Teeg
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Dauntless Escort
2 Kitchen Finks
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege

4 Naya Charm
4 Path to Exile

4 Forest
2 Plains
2 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Brushland
3 Karplusan Forest
3 Wooded Bastion
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Treetop Village

Sideboard:
3 Guttural Response
3 Aura of Silence
3 Cloudthresher
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Windborn Muse
2 Pollen Lullaby

No girls allowed

Zac Hill's Star City Games article was about how Magic players play and act differently when a girl sits across from them in a tournament. So while it is relevant, I'd like to discuss a few issues involving the other chromosome and Magical spells.

Robin is a female Seattle player who is pretty well known among the First Pick Games crowd. She tells me a story about her Round 7 opponent, who is relatively known as well, trying to intimidate her, but justice prevailed and she won the match. Presumably, he thought he could intimidate Robin because she is a girl and presumably would not have the mental toughness to not pay heed to any of that, but it's also not unreasonable that a player might do that to everyone he plays against.

I happen to get paired against this player in the next round, and he's talking about what he played against, and makes a statement like "And then I lost to some girl last round" in a can-you-believe-that tone of voice, at which point I can make a judgment about his intentions in Robin's match. Justice does not prevail in my match, as I mulligan to four in Game 1 (but still make some mistakes) and keep a questionable hand Game 2 and lose.

If he had said "I lost to some scrub", I'd be upset because it was about a friend, but whatever, I'd move on. But the obvious prejudice, after hearing how he acted in the previous match, I found absolutely disgusting and has no place anywhere. If he had made such a statement and it weren't about a friend, I'd still think it's scummy and be a little upset.

While I'm talking about Regionals, I thought it was kind of funny hearing locker room comments about other girls playing in the tournament, when it wasn't exactly a locker room situation since they could be standing behind you watching your match. Maybe that's just me...

Anyway, wanted to jot those down while those encounters were still fresh in my head and there was a relative article out in the Magic article-sphere (was going for a blogosphere-type word). As for playing against them, I try to treat it like a game of MODO (like I'm trying to treat every game) where I don't see faces or even a person. Plus, it would suck to sit down at the Grand Prix across from a girl, start playing loosely because of it, then look at the result slip and say "Oh, YOU'RE Melissa DeTora", down a game and having to win two in a row against a ringer.

Someone took my deck!!!

Okay, not really, but this list made Top 8 down in Portland:

Daniel Lopez
7th Place - Oregon - Portland
4 Ancient Ziggurat
2 Brushland
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Mosswort Bridge
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Reflecting Pool

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
3 Cliffrunner Behemoth
3 Dauntless Escort
4 Mycoid Shepherd
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Spellbreaker Behemoth
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Woolly Thoctar

3 Naya Charm
4 Path to Exile

Sideboard:
3 Anathemancer
1 Brion Stoutarm
1 Dauntless Escort
4 Gaddock Teeg
1 Naya Charm
4 Volcanic Fallout
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege

First thing I noticed is that the deck plays twice as few lands as I do... maybe I'm just a big chicken, but 22 lands gives me so many one-landers that I generally send away unless I have 2 Birds that I can cast off of it. I already have to mulligan tons with my list, although I would consider cutting one land for a three-drop.

Then, this deck is just filled with four drops and absolutely devoid of two-drops. In fact, let's look at the mana curve for creatures:

1cc: 8
2cc: 0
3cc: 11
4cc: 14

I do like some of the creatures he did play, like Cliffrunner Behemoth (although my deck will only trigger it's haste off of one guy, where he has a few more). Spellbreaker Behemoth doesn't have a very relevant ability, unless you consider being enormous an ability.

He runs Anathemancer in the side, which he can only cast off of Birds and Ancient Ziggurat. I have problems with running the full set of Ziggurats because it can't cast Path or Naya Charm. I like the idea of Brion Stoutarm to add more reach to the deck, as if Naya Charm weren't enough (against the Fog-ish decks, however...)

Anyway, he probably rode to the top 8 on those Naya Charms, as they are so good when you play creatures like these and they're tapping out to clog the board out every turn. Go go Naya Charm!

My Regionals

Yesterday was Regionals, and this is the deck that I've been tuning:

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Gaddock Teeg
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Dauntless Escort
2 Kitchen Finks
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege

4 Path to Exile
4 Naya Charm

4 Forest
2 Plains
1 Mountain
2 Treetop Village
2 Ancient Ziggurat
2 Wooded Bastion
2 Karplusan Forest
4 Brushland
3 Fire-Lit Thicket

Sideboard:
3 Guttural Response
3 Windborn Muse
3 Cloudthresher
2 Behemoth Sledge
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Pollen Lullaby

This originally started as an idea of how to use Bloodbraid Elf, but he's not that good unless you can hit for 3 right away and not get chumped by a stupid Spectral Procession token, or worse, trade with a buffed Spectral Procession token.

I modeled it off of the Dark Bant deck, playing Woolly Thoctar instead of Rhox War Monk and Doran. A lot of decks can't deal with a Woolly Thoctar on Turn 2. I also chose to run some of the new GW cards like Qasali Pridemage and Dauntless Escort, and Gaddock Teeg (which shuts off Spectral Procession and Ajani Goldmane among others), and then obviously ran Wilt-Leaf Liege, which is insane.

Naya Charm ended winning so many games against BW Tokens that I ran the full set. Possibly this can go down to 3, as starting with two in hand isn't that great. I also ran 4 Gaddock Teeg in the main because it shuts off Spectral Procession and Ajani Goldmane, and gives you game against Five-Color Control.

I thought a lot about the mana base, trying to figure out how best to hit Woolly Thoctar mana on turn 2 and 3, and how to hit Naya Charm mana by turn 3. Because of Naya Charm, I'm not running the full set of Ancient Ziggurats. Plus, Ziggurat is pretty awkward with the Shadowmoor lands like Wooded Bastion.

The sideboard was a little bit thrown together, and there are changes I'd definitely make. Behemoth Sledge I actually didn't like in the maindeck because it's slow and it's really bad with Ancient Ziggurat when I need to play a threat. I bring it in against Red decks. The 3rd and 4th Kitchen Finks were also kind of just a throw-in, so I'm looking to put something actually good in.

I was hoping to play a lot of Tokens and Red decks, as I thought that's what the metagame was going to be largely comprised of. What ended up showing up was a more spread field, including various Jund flavors, Doran, Five-Color Control, and Faeries. Here was my day:

Round 1 (W) Five-Color Control - Game 1 I hit turn 1 Woolly Thoctar and have double Path. Game 2 he hits Hallowed Burial and takes control. Game 3 I stick Gaddock Teeg with Dauntless Escort backup and he can't do anything.
Round 2 (W) BW Tokens - Two absolute blowout games.

At this point we took a lunch break, and I was feeling pretty confident about the deck since things were going according to plan.

Round 3 (L) BG Rock - Game 1 I get eaten by two Cloudthreshers, I take Game 2 on the back of Naya Charm, and Game 3 I cannot deal with Garruk + double Chameleon Colossus.

After this round, they announce that there will be a delay, as the computer running the tournament ran out of batteries and corrupted the back-up file, and they had to manually reconstruct the tournament from entering the players in to manually pairing and entering three rounds of swiss. James Lee is a good man, and in that two hours we did a Cube draft (outside on the beautiful lawn on a beautiful Seattle day!). Someone needs to teach me how to Cube... I thought I would get out of the funk of losing my first two in a row in what seems like my past five premier-level tournaments.

Round 4 (L) Doran - I found out that Doran > Woolly Thoctar... also similar problems with Chameleon Colossus as the last round. So much for breaking the funk...

Round 5 (L) Five-Color Control - I messed up Game 1 not thinking about getting blown out by Volcanic Fallout (it ended up being a Pyroclasm, a miser's Pyroclasm at that), and throughout the match I kept attacking into Runed Halos for no reason... Joe let me off the hook a few times for being really freaking retarded, and I did hear about it at dinner.
Round 6 (W) - Jund Rock
Round 7 (W) - BW Kitkin - This plays similar to BW Tokens except they have one-drops and Wizened Cenn, so you can get blown out if you don't hit one of your three-drops very early on.
Round 8 (L) - Faeries - I mulled to 4 in Game 1 and still didn't play that well, walking into a Broken Ambitions on the threat that I drew. Game 2 I may have been tilting and kept 4 lands, a Treetop, and 2 Noble Hierarchs and don't draw much gas for the entire game. I'm not sure if this is a poor matchup or not, but I don't want to dedicate too many board slots for it.

So most of the matches I lost I can pin to not playing very well, which is good for my deck since I like it a lot, but bad for me since it means I suck. I would definitely rather play this deck for the Grand Prix than BW Tokens.

The mana's definitely a little weird and I had to pitch a lot of hands because of bad mana. If I add more painlands, however, I take a LOT of pain because of my color-intensive spells like Wilt-Leaf Liege, Naya Charm, and Woolly Thoctar.

While I'm very good against token creature decks that play a lot of dudes, I wasn't very successful against decks that play fat like Doran, Chameleon Colossus, and Cloudthresher. Unfortunately, my colors don't let me play a lot of great removal like Terror, but I do have Condemn, which is very efficient. I'd probably replace two Kitchen Finks in the board for 2 Condemns, just as Path to Exile #5 and #6.

Guttural Response could also become Vexing Shusher or Eyes of the Wizent, but with Guttural Response being just fine and Sanity Grinding lurking, that change probably won't happen. All the other cards in the sideboard are just fine. Pollen Lullaby had to be my favorite card of the day, almost more than Naya Charm.

I'll be running this deck next weekend at First Pick's cash tournament. I would recommend trying the deck against the field, there's nothing like a turn two Woolly Thoctar or blowing people out with a Cryptic Command-like tap-your-team effect from a green deck.

GPT Seattle Event Coverage - Federal Way

26 people showed up in Federal Way to earn some byes for our hometown Grand Prix, and I wrote match reports on my laptop from round 3 onward.

Round 3 - Zaiem Beg vs. Grant Bolanos
Round 4 - Kent Ketter vs. Andrew
Round 5 - Ian Kendall vs. Josh Searl
Quarterfinals - Alex West vs. Blaine Rybacki
Quarterfinals - Zaiem Beg vs. Grant Bolanos, Game 3
Semifinals - Zaiem Beg vs. Alex West (Coming soon, I had to handwrite notes, so it will take more than a few minutes to write a report.)
Finals - Zaiem Beg vs. Kent Ketter

And you know what that means? I did the big 0-2 drop. I was going to play a homebrew Naya deck that I really thought had legs, but I could not finish the deck without Wilt-Leaf Lieges. Needing a deck to play, I was handed a Jund Ramp deck. I played like an absolute donk who doesn't know what his cards do in Round 1, and in Round 2 I lost to GW Tokens to not being confident in the hands to start. I feel like it's the wrong attitude to have but.... meh.

GPT Seattle at Federal Way, Finals - Zaiem Beg (BW Tokens) vs. Kent Ketter (BW Tokens)

Kent won the die roll and started with a Windbrisk Heights and Zaiem started with a tri-land. Kent played a tri-land on his second turn, while Zaiem played a Fetid Heath and a turn 2 Tidehollow Sculler, revealing Spectral Procession, Glorious Anthem, Cloudgoat Ranger, Tidehollow Sculler, and two lands. Glorious Anthem was removed from the game.

Kent played the revealed Tidehollow Sculler, revealing from Zaiem two Cloudgoat Rangers and lands, and obviously took one of the Cloudgoat Rangers. Zaiem played a Windbrisk Heights and shipped the turn. Kent played a Spectral Procession and a Caves of Koilos and passed. Zaiem played a Mutavault and a Glorious Anthem on his next turn and shipped the turn with Arcane Sanctum up. At end step, Kent Path to Exiled Tidehollow Scullers to get back his Glorious Anthem.

Kent untapped and played a fifth land and his newly returned Glorious Anthem and attacked for 9, making the score 11 to 19 in Kent’s favor. In his second main, he flipped Ajani Goldmane from under his Windbrisk Heights and buffed his team to end his turn.

Zaiem played a land and tapped five mana for Cloudgoat Ranger and passed. Kent played his own Cloudgoat Ranger, buffed his team with Ajani, and attacked with his three Spirit tokens and Tidehollow Sculler. “I should probably block,” Zaiem said, and thought about blocks for a while. “Let’s not even pretend I can win this one,” Zaiem said after a few moments and scooped up his cards.

Kent leads 1-0.

Game 2

Zaiem started with two Arcane Sanctums while Kent went Plains, Fetid Heath, Bitterblossom. Zaiem played his Bitterblossom a turn late and missed his third land drop. Kent played a third land but passed with no action. Zaiem found his third land and curved out with Wispmare, destroying Kent’s Bitterblossom. Kent played a fourth land and still passed with no action. Zaiem now had Bitterblossom advantage, and played a Glorious Anthem, to which Kent responded with Zealout Persecution to kill a pair of tokens.

Kent hit his fifth land and as expected played a Cloudgoat Ranger. Zaiem attacked with Wispmare over the top and Kent took 2, then Zaiem played a fourth land and played Wrath of God. Kent played another land and Cloudgoat Ranger and shipped. Zaiem played a fifth land and played a Murderous Redcap, destroying Cloudgoat Ranger thanks to Glorious Anthem. On his next turn Kent attacked with his team of three Kithkin and Zaiem blocked with Murderous Redcap. Kent played Zealous Persecution, and took 2 damage, and the dead Murderous Redcap which traded with a Kithkin in combat killed another Kithkin on the persist. In his second main phase, Kent played a Spectral Procession and shipped the turn.

After going to 11 on his upkeep, Zaiem attacked with a Faerie and Redcap to take Kent to 13, then on his second main phase tapped three for Kitchen Finks (taking a pain) to go to 12, and also playing a Spectral Procession to finish his turn. Kent played an Ajani Goldmane, buffed his team and attacked with three Spirit tokens with two Reflecting Pools open. Two Spirits blocked two tokens, and Kent played Zealous Persecution to win the fight and get in for three damage.

Zaiem went to 8 on his next upkeep, and attacked Ajani with his entire team and killed it, then followed up with a second-main Spectral Procession. Kent attacked with his team of Spirits, which Zaiem blocked with tokens, Zealous Persecution be damned, but successfully traded. Kent played Kitchen Finks to go up to 15 and a Spectral Procession and passed.

Zaiem went to 7 on his next upkeep, and with no cards in Kent’s hand, activated Mutavault and sent in a Spirit, Mutavault, and Redcap to connect for 7, putting Kent at 8. Zaiem played a Windbrisk Heights afterwards and passed the turn. Kent drew his card and shipped the turn. Zaiem went to 6, and went in with all that he could (three Faeries, a Spirit, Kitchen Finks, and Redcap). Kent blocked Finks with Finks, 2 tokens with tokens, and let 6 come through, going to 2, and after Finks persist triggers, the score was 8-4 in Zaiem’s favor. Zaiem played another Spectral Procession and passed the turn. Kent drew his next card and began shuffling up for the third game.

Match tied 1-1.

Game 3

Kent mulliganed his seven, but kept his 6. Zaiem thought about his 7 and kept it. Kent played two Reflecting Pools then a Fetid Heath and a Bitterblossom. Zaiem opening went Reflecting Pool, Windbrisk Heights, Pool, Wispmare on the Bitterblossom. On Kent’s fourth turn, he played a Kitchen Finks and a Fetid Heath.

Zaiem played a fourth land and played Spectral Procession and beat over the top with Wispmare. Kent found a fourth land and played Glorious Anthem and beat with Kitchen Finks for four. Zaiem hit Ajani Vengeant, buffed his team and attacked for 8, putting the score to 16-13 Zaiem. Kent attacked with Kitchen Finks and a token took one for the team, and passed the turn.

Zaiem played a fifth land and played Murderous Redcap targeting Kent’s face for 2, putting him at 11. Ajani was activated and the team took Kent to 2. Kent played a Mutavault and tapped five lands for a Cloudgoat Ranger. He attacked Ajani with Kitchen Finks, killing the planeswalker, but then scooped up his cards with no way to win in hand.

RESULT: Zaiem Beg wins in 3 and earns three byes for Grand Prix: Seattle.

GPT Seattle at Federal Way, Quarterfinals (Game 3) - Zaiem Beg (BW Tokens) vs. Grant Bolanos (Bant)

Grant beat Zaiem in two in the Swiss, but now in the elimination rounds, one game would decide who would move on to the Semifinals to play Alex West.

They both kept 7 cards and Grant started with Forest into Noble Hierarch. Zaiem made a Windbrisk Heights and passed. For their second turns, Qasali Pridemage came on the board for Grant, and Zaiem made a tap land and passed. A second Pridemage came online on turn 3 and Grant was able to beat for 5. Zaiem played a Mutavault as his third land but still had no plays. Grant beat for 5 again and then made Stoic Angel.

Zaiem played his fourth land and flipped Wrath of God from his hand to wipe the board, tapping his four lands as fast as he could, as fellow Top 8 competitor Paul Waite commented. Grant only played a Birds on his next turn and passed. Zaiem beat for 2 with Mutavault, and then played a Kitchen Finks on his next turn, threatening to turn the game around.

After a turn of nothing, Grant tapped four for Wilt-Leaf Liege and was able to attack for 1 with Birds of Paradise over the top, putting Zaiem at 11. Zaiem played a Glorious Anthem and attacked, to which Grant responded with Path to Exile on the attacking Kitchen Finks. Grant attacked with his Wilt-Leaf Liege and Birds of Paradise, and Zaiem played Terror on Wilt-Leaf Liege to take 0. Grant then played a Rhox War Monk in his second main phase and shipped the turn.

Zaiem asked how many cards Grant had in hand (none), then played Wrath of God and followed up with Kitchen Finks to go back to 13. Grant had no play, and Zaiem attacked for 7 with Finks and Mutavault, putting Grant at 10. He then played a Murderous Redcap to knock Grant to 7. Grant drew his card and played Dauntless Escort, which Zaiem end-step Terrored, and Grant scooped them up.

RESULT: Zaiem wins in 3.

GPT Seattle at Federal Way, Quarterfinals - Alex West (BW Tokens) vs. Blaine Rybacki (GW Overrun)

Alex won the die roll and started with 6 cards. Alex played Reflecting Pool, and Blaine played Windbrisk Heights. Alex hit turn 2 Bitterblossom, and Blaine laid a Treetop Village on his turn 2. Alex made a second Bitterblossom but missed his third land. Blaine, however, did not miss his third land and played Dauntless Escort. Alex played a Mutavault and then Glorious Anthem and hit Blaine for 2, putting him at 18.

Blaine played another Treetop Village and Dauntless Escort and passed the turn. Alex made another pair of tokens and thought before attacking with three Faeries to put Blaine at 12. He then passed the turn to Blaine, who played a land and a Cloudgoat Ranger in his first main phase. He sent in his pair of Dauntless Escorts and Alex took 6 damage to go to 9, and then 7 on his next upkeep. Alex played Zealous Persecution and Blaine proclaimed his death.

Alex leads 1-0

At the beginning of Game 2, Blaine rolled his eyes and kept his initial 7, as did Alex. Blaine started with a Forest and Alex started with Windbrisk Heights. Blaine played a turn 2 Steward of Valeron and Alex played a turn 2 Bitterblossom. On his third turn, Blaine made a precombat Noble Hierarch and attacked with Steward for 3, then played a postcombat Wispmare to deal with the Biterblossom. Alex played a tri-land and played a second Bitterblossom.

Blaine played a Windbrisk Heights and another Wispmare as well to destroy Bitterblossom #2, then beat for 3 again. Alex missed his fourth land but played Kitchen Finks to go back to 16. Blaine declared attacks with Steward of Valeron and two Wispmares, and Alex declined to block. Blaine played a Wilt-Leaf Liege from under Windbrisk Heights during combat to get in for 8, then cast Spectral Procession and played another Windbrisk Heights and passed.

Alex hit his fourth land to cast the Wrath in his hand, leaving him with a persisted Kitchen Finks and two more life, to go up at 10. Post-Wrath with five lands, Blaine played Ajani Goldmane and gained 2 life to go to 22 and passed. On Alex’s next turn, he played a Reflecting Pool and attacked Ajani to put him at 2 loyalty counters, then played another Kitchen Finks to go up 2 more life to go up to 12. Blaine played a sixth land and opted to Martial Coup for 4, short 1 of activating its Wrath effect, then put counters on all of his tokens, and passed the turn.

Alex tapped four on his next turn and played Murderous Redcap to finish off Ajani Goldmane and shipped the turn. Blaine attacked with his four 2/2 soldiers, and Alex placed his two Kitchen Finks in front of them. Blaine flipped Overrun from his Windbrisk Heights, and facing 17 damage, Alex scooped up his cards.

Match tied 1-1.

For Game 3, Alex kept his 7 cards. Blaine mulliganed and then flashed a one-land five-spell hand and shipped again. He kept 5 cards. Alex started the game with two tri-lands while Blaine started with two Windbrisk Heights. Alex hit his own Windbrisk Heights and played a Bitterblossom on his third turn. On Blaine’s third turn, he completed three-of-a-kind on Hideaway lands but still had no action. Alex started generating Bitterblossom tokens and played Spectral Procession and passed. Blaine played a Treetop Village and matched with Spectral Procession himself and passed.

Alex hit his fifth land, and played a Glorious Anthem and a Zealous Persecution to wipe Blaine’s Spirits and beat for 12 with four guys. Blaine played his fifth land but had no play again. Alex now had 6 tokens in play with five ready to attack. He tried to go to attack step and Blaine evoked Cloudthresher to Wrath the board and make the score 18 to 6. Post-Cloudthresher, Alex played a Cloudgoat Ranger and passed. Blaine played another Treetop Village on his next turn and again, had no play on his own turn.

Alex played his seventh land and thought again, considering the blocks of Treetop Village and potential tricks on the other side, and then sent his team in. With only one blocker, Blaine had to take at least 6 damage, so he extended the hand.

RESULT: Alex wins in 3.

GPT Seattle at Federal Way, Round 5 - Ian Kendall (Jund Ramp) vs. Josh Searl (BWR Tokens)

The top four tables intentionally drew, with a clump of players at 10 points. Ian Kendall was sitting at 7 points paired down against Josh Searl with 6 points, so Ian is playing for a chance to steal a spot in the top 8 on tiebreakers.

Josh started with 5 cards and played a Caves of Koilos. He missed his second and third land drops while Ian accelerated with Tower of Abundance into a turn 3 Kitchen Finks to go to 22. Josh found his second land and Terrored Ian’s Kitchen Finks on his attack step. Ian played another Kitchen Finks and passed. Josh missed again but had a second Terror to finish off the smaller Kitchen Finks. The score was 26-14 in Ian’s favor.

Josh found a third land and played his own Kitchen Finks to go to 16, but was Shriekmawed by Ian, and as a 2/1 chumped Ian’s 3/2 Kitchen Finks. On his next attack step, the third Terror finished off Kitchen Finks #2 once and for all. Ian played his third Finks to go to 30. Josh continued to take pain to cast spells, this time off of Spectral Procession.

Maelstrom Pulse dealt with the Spirit tokens and Ian beat for 6 with Finks and Shriekmaw. Josh found Reflecting Pool for land #4 and took pain again to play Tidehollow Sculler, revealing Banefire x2, Broodmate Dragon, and Lavalanche. He took Lavalanche and bemoaned being slow rolled. Ian drew and flopped another Lavalanche.

Josh: “Did you draw that?”

Ian: “No, I cheated!”

Ian leads 1-0.

For game 2, Josh kept 7 and decided to predict how many cards his opponent would start the game with.

Josh: “Uh oh, I smell the mulligan to 5 on the other side.”

Ian: “I’m gonna mulligan, hopefully just to 6. If I mulligan to 5, you’ll know it’s just because I’m being nice.”

Ian mulliganed and then, as predicted, mulliganed again. Josh rooted for the mulligan to 4, but Ian kept 5.

Josh lead off with a Vivid Meadow and Vivd Marsh while Ian lead with a Fire-Lit Thicket and a topdecked Treetop Village (with a wipe of his brow in relief). Josh played a turn 3 Kitchen Finks and Ian indicated another topdecked Treetop Village.

Josh beat for 3 and passed, while Ian played his own Finks, but missed his fourth land. Josh attacked and the two Finks got smaller. In his second main, Josh played a Murderous Redcap to finish off Ian’s Finks, and laid a Windbrisk Heights for his fifth land. Ian missed land but played Fertile Ground on his Treetop Village.

Josh beat for 4 to put Ian to 17, then played Bitterblossom for his next turn. With a Forest off the top providing five potential mana for Ian, he went into the tank, and tapped four mana for Chameleon Colossus and passed.

Josh made a Token and played a Path to Exile on the 4/4 Shapeshifter and beat for 4 to put Ian to 13. On Ian’s turn, he played a land, made a Garruk Wildspeaker, untapped two lands and tapped 5 mana to play Primal Command to bounce Windbrisk Heights and gain 7 life to go back to 20. Windbrisk Heights came back down, and Josh attacked to take down Garruk and beat for 1 with a Faerie token.

Ian played a tri-land and played Broodmate Dragon and passed. Josh Terrored the Dragon token at end step, and then beat with his team of Redcap, Kitchen Finks and two Tokens into the Broodmate Dragon, which blocked Kitchen Finks. Josh then played Siege-Gang Commander and sacked a Goblin to finish off the Dragon and passed. Ian played Infest the next turn to wipe the board and have Redcap ping him, then Ian beat with Treetop Village. Josh attacked and then played Spectral Procession. The score was 17-13 in Josh’s favor.

Ian played another land and beat with 2 Treetop Villages. The Spirit tokens ganged up to block the Treetop Village with Fertile Ground on it and took 3, and Josh wondered if that was a bad idea to trade Spectral Procession for the man-land and acceleration. Josh beat for 2 with Redcap and a Token, played a land and passed to make the score 13-11 in his own favor. Ian beat back with Treetop to put him to 10. Josh lost 1 and beat for 3 and then activated Windbrisk Heights to reveal a Spectral Procession and passed.

Ian was now staring down 7 1/1’s (three Spirits, three Faeries, and Murderous Redcap). He Maelstrom Pulsed the Spirit Tokens and beat for three again with Treetop Village and passed. After Josh’s next Bitterblossom trigger, the score was 8-5, now in Ian’s favor, who had no cards in hand. Josh played another Windbrisk Heights. He only attacked with 1 Faerie token, leaving back 3 and Redcap.

Ian drew and beat with Treetop Village and traded with Redcap and two Faeries. His draw was another Treetop Village to replace it. Josh made another Faerie to go to 4 and had to leave his team of three back. Ian put Trace of Abundance on Treetop Village in case of removal, attacked and took out his team, and passed. Josh played a land after going to 3 and passed. Ian passed his turn and Josh went to 2, attacked for 1 to 6, and passed. Ian played a land and passed. Needing a topdeck, Josh went to 1 and drew and revelaed a hand of Path to Exile and Bitterblossom. Only able to attack for 2 and with Ian at 6, Josh was dead on his next upkeep.

RESULT: Ian wins in two, and will have to cross his fingers to not end up in ninth place.

GPT Seattle at Federal Way, Round 4 - Kent Ketter (BW Tokens) vs. Andrew (GW Overrun)

The top two tables intentionally drew, so the top table playing was a pair of X-1 players: Kent Ketter playing B/W Tokens, and tournament newcomer Andrew playing a version of G/W Tokens.

Both players kept their 7 and Kent started with a Windbrisk Heights and then another Windbrisk Heights. Andrew played a Brushland and made a Steward of Valeron on his turn 2. Kent made a Reflecting Pool and Glorious Anthem on his third turn. On his next turn, Andrew attacked for 2, laid a land, and made 2 more Steward of Valerons. Kent made Ajani Goldmane on his fourth turn and gained 2 life to go back to 20.

Andrew made a Wilt-Leaf Liege his next turn to pump his Valerons. Two Valerons killed Ajani and one put Kent back to 16. Kent made his fifth land on time and made a Cloudgoat Ranger. Andrew drew and served with his three Stewards again, which Kent took to go to 4. Andrew made a Green-White Borderpost and a Kitchen Finks to go up to 20 and passed.

Kent drew, went into the tank, and made Kitchen Finks to go up to 6 and shipped the turn without attacking. Andrew made a second Wilt-Leaf Liege and attacked with his set of Stewards and Kitchen Finks, and Kent scooped them up.

Andrew leads 1-0

Kent started with Arcane Sanctum and a Plains, while Andrew started with two Windbrisk Heights. Kent hit turn 3 Spectral Procession, which Andrew matched with his own Spectral Procession. Kent played a land and a main phase Zealous Persecution, wiping Andrew’s board and beating him for 6. Andrew played Knight of the White Orchid to fetch a Plains and with his land for the turn made Kitchen Finks to go back to 16. Kent beat for 3 with his Spirits to put Andrew back to 13 and he curved out with a land and Cloudgoat Ranger.

Andrew played his sixth land and made Wilt-Leaf Liege and declined to attack. Kent made a Glorious Anthem and beat with his Spirits for 6, putting Andrew to 7, and passed leaving up a Plains and a tri-land. After clarifying how Windbrisk Heights works, a botched explanation (apparently if you attack with three creatures, you can play the card from Windbrisk Heights for the rest of the game, according to GPT winner Greg Peloquin), and thinking some more, Andrew sent in his team and before blockers played Overrun and Garruk Wildspeaker from under his pair of Windbrisk Heights. Kent blocked Wilt-Leaf Liege with Cloudgoat Ranger and took 14. Back in his second main phase, Andrew realized that he would die to any crack back and scooped them up for game 3.

Match tied 1-1.

Andrew mulliganed one time, and then another time, and kept 5 cards. Kent mulliganed as well, but kept his 6. Andrew led off with Windbrisk Heights and a Forest and Kent played Arcane Sanctum then Windbrisk Heights. Andrew failed to find a third land on time, but Kent did and played Spectral Procession. Andrew missed his third land but played Steward of Valeron off the top of his deck.

Three tokens hit the red zone for Kent and a Glorious Anthem appeared from under his Windbrisk Heights to make it 6. He played his fourth land and passed. Andrew hit with his Steward of Valeron before playing Wrath of God to reset the board and hope to get back into the game. Kent made a Bitterblossom post-Wrath and played a tri-land for his 5th land and passed. Andrew found his fourth land in Brushland and went to 11 to make Spectral Procession, which Kent negated with Zealous Persecution at end step. Kent played a Mutavault and passed, ending the turn with the score 17-11 in his favor.

Andrew found his fifth land and made a Cloudgoat Ranger and passed. Kent beat with a token on his next attack step to put him to 9. In his second main, Kent made his own Cloudgoat Ranger and passed with two Reflecting Pools up. The score was now 16-9 Kent.

Andrew looked at his Windbrisk Heights on his next turn and played a second Windbrisk Heights and a Kitchen Finks to go back to 11. Kent went to 15 on his next turn, activated a Mutavault and moved to his attack step and swung with his team of Mutavault, 3 Kithkin Soldiers, Cloudgoat Ranger, and two Faeries, buffed by Glorious Anthem. Before blockers, he played Zealous Persecution to kill Andrew’s Kithkin tokens, and with only 2 blockers, Andrew was dead.

RESULT: Kent wins in 3.

GPT Seattle at Federal Way, Round 3 - Zaiem Beg (BW Tokens) vs. Grant Bolanos (Bant Aggro)

Zaiem started the game, after keeping an “interesting hand” in his words, and lead off with a Windbrisk Heights. Grant play a land and said go. After Zaiem played another Windbrisk Heights, Grant played a turn 2 Gaddock Teeg, which in this matchup turns off important spells like Spectral Procession and Ajani Goldmane.

Zaiem played Knight of Meadowgrain but missed his next two land drops and Grant followed up with Dauntless Escort and Rhox War Monk. Zaiem played a Caves of Koilos and attempted to Terror Gaddock Teeg, but Grant sacrificed Dauntless Escort to save it. Zaiem played a Kitchen Finks on his next turn, and Grant added Wilt-Leaf Liege to his board of double Rhox War Monk and Gaddock Teeg, On Grant’s alpha strike, Knight of Meadowgrain and Kitchen Finks blocked Gaddock Teeg, putting the score to 30-6 in Grant’s favor. Zaiem untapped, and when Grant flashed a Path to Exile, Zaiem started to shuffle up for game 2.

Grant leads 1-0.

Game 2

Zaiem started with 6 cards and Grant kept 7. Grant played a Noble Hierarch on his first turn, and Zaiem responded with a Bitterblossom. Grant accelerated into a Turn 2 Rhox War Monk. Zaiem added Knight of Meadowgrain to his board along with a Faerie Rogue token and shipped the turn. Grant attacked for 4 with Rhox War Monk and played Pithing Needle naming Ajani Goldmane, and a Birds of Paradise. Zaiem attacked on his next turn for 3 to make the score 19-16 in Grant’s favor, and he shipped the turn. Grant served with Rhox War Monk and Zaiem chumped with a token. Grant played a Treetop Village (now with two on his side) and made a second Rhox War Monk. Zaiem attacked with one Faerie token on his next turn and made a Cloudgoat Ranger and three Kithkin.

On his next turn, Grant made Dauntless Escort and put his Rhox War Monks into the fray. Zaiem chumped with a Token and threw Cloudgoat Ranger in front of the other War Monk and tapped his Kithkin to trade. Grant played Gaddock Teeg in his second main and passed, and Zaiem did nothing on his next turn. The score was now 28-14 in Grant’s favor.

On Grant’s turn he activated two Treetops and attacked with the villages and a Rhox War Monk. Zaiem traded 3 tokens for a Treetop and a Faerie token and Knight of Meadowgrain for the other Village and took 3. Grant added a Noble Hierarch to his side and passed. On Zaiem’s turn he played a Murderous Redcap, targeting Gaddock Teeg. Grant considered the play for a while, perhaps whether Spectral Procession would follow, and let Gaddock Teeg die instead of sacking his Escort, and Zaiem passed. Score 29-12 Grant.

Grant attacked with Rhox War Monk and Zaiem chumped with a Faeries token. Grant played a Gaddock Teeg off the top and passed. On Zaiem’s turn he made Glorious Anthem and passed. Score 34-11 Grant.

Grant drew his card and shipped without attacking. Zaiem put a third Faerie into play (“First time in the game,” he commented) and got in with two Faeries for 4. He played a land and passed, with the score 30-10. Grant’s next draw and play was a Qasali Pridemage. Grant attacked with Rhox War Monk and Zaiem resumed chumping with Faerie tokens. In his second main, Grant popped the Pridemage to deal with Bitterblossom and passed. Zaiem drew and attacked for 4 again, laid a land and passed. Score 32-10.

Grant played an Island and this time attacked with Birds of Paradise for 2 in the air and passed. Zaiem declined attacking on his next turn, meaning Birds of Paradise couldn’t attack and neither could Rhox War Monk in fear of Redcap, so Grant passed, followed by Zaiem passing as well. On Grant’s next turn, he attacked with Rhox War Monk and Zaiem chumped with Redcap and upon Persisting targeted Gaddock Teeg. Since Zaiem’s Glorious Anthem meant Redcap was threatening to kill Gaddock Teeg, Dauntless Escort had to be sacked. Grant made a Rhox War Monk and passed. Zaiem passed his next turn, and Grant added Wilt-Leaf Liege, making his Rhox War Monks awesome, and sent them in. Zaiem chumped one of them and tried double blocking with a Mutavault and Faerie token, but goofed on the modified toughness granted by Wilt-Leaf Liege and lost his team. Zaiem passed, and on the next attack step, Zaiem flashed a hand of Spectral, Spectral, Wrath of God, and Ajani Goldmane that Gaddock Teeg had blanked.

RESULT: Grant wins in 2.