Grand Prix Atlanta - Day 2 (the PTQ)

Sixty-four players started the day drafting in the Grand Prix, while 240-some started another Sealed deck at the PTQ. I get passed a pool with tons of great Green and White beaters with three Akrasan Squires, 5 or 6 bears, and two Mycoloths, along with two Sigil Blessing. I was short on removal, with only Branching Bolt and the pseudo-removal Excommunicate, but the deck's plan was just to not have to remove things and run over people. I was in love with the deck because it was only playing 2 Red cards. I possibly could have cut an Obelisk of Naya for a Naturalize because I had 2 Mountains, a Jund Panorama, and a Druid of the Anima for my two red cards already... but I really didn't want to mess with the mana.

First two rounds are blowouts, as I wasn't playing against very good players. Round 3 I play Ben Stark, an old pro with a handful of Pro Tour top 8's. I already played him earlier in the weekend in a grinder, where he was late and got a game loss, then got blown out in the second game. This game, I lose the first one as he comes back, game 2 I win on the back of Mycoloth-Mycoloth, and game 3 I have too much pressure and win. He was pretty upset from the double Mycoloth since he told my friend he played the next round, but he was a lot cooler and nicer than I expected those old pros to be in the heat of battle.

I then lose the next two rounds. One round I lose in three because I cannot deal with Battlegrace Angel. The next round I lose to Scourglass and then a recurred Scourglass via Sanctum Gargoyle. I made a goof in that round where I intended to lay an Ethersworn Canonist with a Scourglass on the table, holding Elvish Visionary and Mycoloth in hand for post-Glass, but I looked down at the card I layed and it's Elvish Visionary. Since two turns before I made him burn for 1 when he overtapped his mana, I didn't even bother trying to pick it up.

I then beat Erik, who is a Raleigh player who I think is very good and whom I've never beat in like five sanctioned matches. I get blown out by Naya Charm game 1, get there with Mycoloth Game 2, then blow him out Game 3 when he can't draw his Plains for Naya Charm, which I don't feel remorse for necessarily since he was playing five colors.

I lose to an insane deck next with double Bant Charm, Naya Charm, double Oblivion Ring, and a couple other great tricks, and he just keeps drawing gas. That was one sick deck. I made one bad play where I played a Squire on a board of Ethersworn Canonist and a couple other Exalted guys, attack into a 3/3 or something, and he pays Sigil Blessing, and I'm about to tap my mana, but he notes that I have already played a spell, so I lose my guy. Felt really dumb because that's exactly what my plan was.

I blow out my next opponent, and then I go to three in my final round and lose because I can't deal with Elspeth. This includes an uncharacteristic mull to 5, the mana had been great all day, where I nearly keep any hand with a Plains, Squire, and bears. I possibly threw away Game 1 because I attacked Mycoloth into a Resounding Silence that I didn't consider. I possibly still needed the pressure to deal with Elspeth, but it was more likely a mistake and me not playing tightly at the end of the tournament.

So I went 5-4. If I had gone 6-3 I would have been pretty ecstatic given how my season has been going, but 5-4 is still the best I have done in Shards Sealed.

I gave Zack, a friend at Pitt, and he still asks me why I'm sucking the big one in Shards sealed. Maybe my deck should have been an X-3 or X-2, but I certainly can't complain about my pool, even if it did lack in hard removal. I thought this was the best day of Magic I've played this season, even if the record is relatively mediocre. It felt like while I was sitting down, I was a lot more relaxed than I have been where I put so much pressure on myself to the point where apparently I make really scrub plays.

If I had 0-2 dropped or something, I would be totally pissed, but my play today convinced me that maybe I'm not as bad at Magic as I think I am, and I probably think I'm way worse than I actually am. I think I'll still make the trip to Portland for one more PTQ, hopefully get lucky, but more hopefully to not make mistakes and get a decent enough record just so I can really tell myself that I'm not that bad.

Overall, my weekend was better than I expected. A lot of Raleigh guys that I used to play with came down, some old friends also made the trip, and I made some new friends, as opposed to not knowing anyone and sitting by myself goldfishing every round.

"Hey, Mike Ward, why did that guy just get DQ'd?"
"Language!"

Grand Prix Atlanta - Day 1

So I'm brimming with confidence going into Day 1, after some relatively good play at the Trials the night before. The deck I had had tons of Red and Black removal, and some green creatures and Necrogenesis to make Jund pretty clear, but the only fixing in the entire pool was a Savage Lands and two Obelisk of Esper. The blue I threw out immediately, so I would have to do with Savage Lands, and a 6-6-4 manabase.

Round 1 I beat someone pretty handily. Round 2 I go to three, and keep a dreadful hand of 4 Red burn spells, some Green creature, and two Swamps. I'm on the play, but I really don't want to send it back because I think I flat out win the game if I draw one of 7 red sources. I don't draw a third land even and I get blown out.

From there, wheels came off, although I don't think I played incorrectly. Round 3 I get blown out because I can't get past 4 lands. Round 4 I play against someone I beat in the trials the night before, flood Game 1 after I clear the board, then get manascrewed Game 2. Round 5 I lose to a pretty weak player who tried as hard as he could to get me back into Game 1, which I probably just should have scooped because he got to 39, and then Game 2 I don't play spells again.

It's just so frustrating because I honestly can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I don't think I could be as aggressive mulliganing with this deck because my mana was so awful, but then should I keep hands like I kept in Round 2? I'll post the deck list eventually.

I'm not totally convinced that this just doesn't happen to better players. I watched Tomaharo Saito keep 4 red removal cards, a Jund Obelisk, a Cavern Thoctar or something, and a SWAMP, on the play, Game 3, and he rips land land and wins it. Like what the hell??? I'm not going to call shenanigans on that, but how do you keep that EVER?! Is that what it really takes?

More mana issues would arise in the draft I signed up for. I drafted a removal-heavy Grixis deck that played pretty well in Round 1, but then in Round 2 I don't draw land and don't draw spells and I lose. Normal land screw this time, but still unbelievable.

It's hard for me to put this one behind me because it's happened all season, and I honestly don't have any ideas how to get better, and I really don't want to just say that it's the format, because obviously some players are still winning more consistently than I am, and I'd like to think there is something I can do to become better.

I need to clear my head somehow for tomorrow's PTQ, start with a clean slate, and just play well. I thought I was playing well today, but I wish I could see an indication. UGHHHHHH why did I miss the one Constructed tournament in what seems like years last weekend?

Grand Prix Atlanta - Day 0

Despite terrible weather and flight delays, I get into Atlanta, checked in, and at the site just in time to jump into the first flight. Turns out there were no less than three big pros in the tournament in Player of the Year frontrunner Shuhei Nakamura, Australian national champion Aaron Nicastri, and the old Deadguy pro Chris Pikula. Just great.

The pool I opened in the first pool was pretty good that I stretched to four colors. I end up losing the first round in two because both games his Hell's Thunder was good for 10 thanks to Court Archers. I didn't think I made any mistakes.

The next pool is maybe not as powerful, but I kept it to three colors: RGW with Obelisk of Jund for my Resounding Thunder. I won the first round against an old pro because he was late and got a Game Loss and then got blown out Game 2.

The second round I played against a Georgia Tech student. I scooped up game 1 after about 40 minutes, and then blow him out game 2 as time expires. The way it works now is we play five turns of Game 3, then check the life totals to determine the winner. So I take out my 3 Rakeclaw Gargantuan and put in Behemoth's Herald, Goblin Mountaineer, Angelsong, Soul's Grace (the one that gains life), and some other card. He has to mulligan to 5 on the play, hopes that I don't have a turn 1 play, but drop a Goblin Mountaineer. After his turn 3, I win because the score is 19-20. Pretty darn funny.

Third round I win in two. Fourth round I get stuck on two with my 6 and get blown out, then blow him out game two. Game three I have to mulligan to 5, but I nearly stabilize and try to do the little things to keep me in the game. With me at 7, he has a Skeletal Kathari, Vithian Stinger, and Court Archers, and I have a Rakeclaw Gargantuan and a Sigiled Paladin. I am at 7, and he attacks. I decide I need to Soul's Fire to not die, so I run it out after his attacks choosing my Rakeclaw to hit his Kathari to make him at least sac a guy. For whatever reason, I did not specify that Exalted was on the stack. I think I thought he was had 8 mana and could cycle Resounding Roar, making my timing irrelevant, but that was not the case. He does have Resounding Roar and I die to lethal damage because I was extremely lazy. I decided not to push it, and talking to L3 judge Tony Mayer, it would be implied that I let the trigger resolve. Probably my one mistake the entire day. Ugh so close to three byes just to be careless and throw it away.

I felt really really good about how I was playing. I was very relaxed, like I didn't want it as badly as I have in the past. I just focused on playing correctly, which is what I was telling people about how I was doing: I felt I was playing correctly. Hopefully I will keep it going tomorrow and make a strong run, because judging by today, the mini-break from Magic is helping me.

Alright, no more jinxing this, time for bed, got a big day tomorrow.

Incremental Growth goes to the Grand Prix

While me having to be in North Carolina for the week is a very very unfortunate and unpleasant circumstance, it does give me the opportunity to make a stop this weekend at Atlanta for the Grand Prix. Personally, I need something like this to get my mind off of such heavy matters so that I can resume normal life upon returning to Seattle.

But preparation? I pretty much stay up all night at the hospital with my work laptop, which rules out Magic Workstation, and then sleep all day. I have zero product with me, as I wasn't worried a whole lot about Magic cards when I made the trip, so when I arrive on Friday for the Trials, I will have not played Magic for the entire week.

But I wonder if that will have a positive or negative affect on my game? I've taken two relatively long breaks from Magic from doing drum corps for the entire summer, and both times I have come back pretty rusty at my game and lacking focus, and I would need a few weeks or an entirely new format to get back into it.

But I've been doing three paper Shards drafts a week since it come out, certainly more if you consider side drafts at PTQs and the couple draft-all-days. I'd like to say that I have a general grasp on card evaluations and what synergies and combos are available, yet I'm still making on-board mistakes and such. A semi-fresh look at the format will hopefully open my to things I'm not seeing and free me from some shortcuts and mental blocks that have been negatively affecting my game.

Alright, hopefully I'll find some things on the Interweb to write about before the Grand Prix.