The Extended metagame according to Portland

So I walked around the room Round 3 of the PTQ (since I was not playing anymore) and wrote down what decks I saw.

Top Tables (2-0 at the time)
6 Mono Red Burn
5 Zoo
3 Affinity
2 Faeries (I lump Mono Blue as Faeries even if you might call it Wizards... most Faeries decks were of this variety)
2 Tezzerator
1 Swans
1 Proclamation
1 GB
1 UB Tron

All Tables (presumably all decks not 0-2 drop)
12 Mono Red Burn
10 Zoo
10 Faeries
9 Affinity
7 UB Tron
6 GB
4 Swans
3 TEPS
3 Tezzerator
And then the fringe decks...
2 Proclamation
2 Bant
1 All In
1 Dredge
1 UW Cloudpost
1 Beach House
1 Mono Red Beats (think Arc-Slogger)

The top 8 ended up being
3 Mono Red Burn
1 Tezzerator
1 Proclamation
1 Zoo
1 GB Death Cloud
1 Faeries

In the quarters, Burn beat Burn, Faeries beat Zoo, GB beat Proclamation (in 108 minutes), and Burn beat Tezzerator. In the semis, Burn beat Burn and GB beat Proclamation. Burn beat GB in the Finals. (Congratulations Eric Shaller!)

PTQ Portland damage report

We left Salem pretty late, decided to stop for dinner (Indian food twice in three nights... but doesn't beat Red Robin three times in one night), thought we wouldn't be able to make the trip up that night, but then ventured out anyway when it stopped snowing and started raining.

More tonight, as I am very late for work, but here are my results:
PTQ (97 players) - 0-2 drop
Sat. GPT (14 players) - 3-1 (received a scoop), lost in T4
Sun. GPT (11 players) - 3-1 (received a scoop in last round), received a scoop in T4, beat carmate Alex West in the final

Saturday the scoop was from Zaiem who likely could not make T4 (he maaaaaybe could have because there was an ill-advised ID at the top)

One of the scoops I actually lost but he scooped me in when his friend who was trying to get in lost (a little shady, more later), I received a scoop going into Game 3 in the T4 from someone who was not sure he was going.

I played Zoo all weekend, with a minor tweak to the sideboard to adjust for the metagame. (Since I was not playing Round 3, I took the opportunity to scout the room. That straw poll also comes later.)

This weekend I might be switching decks to a more positioned deck. In LA we may be playing something even more different. More on that... later. Real life beckons.

PTQ Honolulu 2009 schedule ...... NOT POSTED!

This is more of a trick to get people using Google to come here, because I know people will be searching for it since it seems to be non-existent on the mothership. So conceivably there could be a PTQ in your state but you may not know about it unless you're tournament organizer publicizes extremely well, or your tournament organizer has a web site and you are extremely web-savvy. (I asked someone who has said he wants to get more competitive at Magic and has the means to travel why he didn't go down to Portland a month ago, and he didn't know about it. To anyone reading this from the area... www.northwestmagic.com and www.cascadegames.com)

No more Shards Sealed! PTQ Portland damage report

This past weekend was the Portland PTQ, the last PTQ of the season for most of us. I rode up with Zaiem, Dave Derrickson, and Chris Pauly on Friday night, so there wasn't a quiet moment the entire trip, for the better of course, and had some kickass Indian food at India House. I'm normally not a fan of Indian food, but man did this Indian food rock. The hotel room Zaiem and I stayed was entirely too cold.

The sealed pool I got back was similar to the PTQ pool from Atlanta, except no double-Mycoloth triple-Squire for me to get there with. It was very much GR and I splashed White for Naya Charm and Realm Razer. I kept siding in 2 Resounding Silences. Initially I just wanted to avoid color screw as much as possible, but splashing for 4 in a color isn't all THAT bad since other than the Charm and Razer, I didn't have Gold cards or double casting costs.

Round 1 I play against a girl who was clearly someone's girlfriend and was just tagging along.
Round 2 I lose to a Eugene player who made Top 8.
Round 3 I play against very chatty person and come back after losing the first one. Round 4 I play against Dwayne who's a Washington player who Top 8'd the Seattle PTQ. Our first two games were absolute epics, we played like 15 spells each game 1, then 20 spells each game 2 and I pretty much had his entire deck written down at this point. I play faster because I don't want to draw the third game, and he keeps a 2 lander game 3 and doesn't get there.

Round 5 I play Peter Beckfield, who has rallied the Seattle troops, so to speak, to come to Portland and steal this PTQ. If anyone deserved to win this one, he did. Game 1 he blows me out. Game 2 I blow him out with Realm Razer. I had played a Relic of Progentius in that game and cycled it in the midgame. Game 3 goes to the midgame and I stick a Realm Razer. I throw the lands to the side and see some extra cards in my sleeves. It turns out they were from the Relic of Progentius cycling from Game 2... I don't want to beat anyone dishonestly, especially someone I know, so I point it out and fill out the win for him on the sheet. He even offered to replay Game 3, but we both realize that it wouldn't be smart for whoever's in his seat if we're trying to Top 8.

SERVES ME RIGHT FOR NOT PILING GAME 3. I often neglect pile shuffling Game 3 because generally the clock becomes a factor, but this time it bit me. Chalk another loss up to being lazy.

The next two rounds the wheels fall off, and Round 8 I totally blowout a Blue Moon and a Bayou Burger at Red Robin. I left my credit card in the bill envelope, so not even that round ended without a bad beat story.

I felt pretty good after 3-1, but then I started thinking about how I have to win the next 3, maybe even 4 to top 8, and it started to feel really daunting, especially since I'd have to beat four really good players. I somewhat felt it in Atlanta when I started 3-0 then fell to 3-1 and realized I wasn't even halfway through with the tournament. Oddly, I didn't feel that when I started 4-1 in the Philadelphia PTQ, so maybe I'm more confident about Constructed formats than Limited, since I haven't had much success with Limited or even felt comfortable in the slightest sense about my skills until very recently. I've got to learn to have amnesia and just take it one match... or something.

So the PTQ season is over, but the next one is about to start! Here's my tentative schedule:

Jan 3 - Portland (GPT LA same day same venue)
Jan 10 - Seattle (GPT LA same day same venue)
Jan 16-18 - Grand Prix Los Angeles
Feb 21 - Vancouver
March 21 - Seattle
May 20 - Grand Prix Seattle (Standard... actually not sure if this feeds Honolulu or Austin)

I am not sure about GP LA right now, as while plane tickets are cheap, I don't really want to take a day off of work, which I can probably do, but would involve flying out Friday night and missing the trials, and flying back in Monday morning and going back to work from the airport.

I told Alex that I was going to qualify. Here's to only needing one!

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!"

Seattle PTQ

So I scrubbed out of another PTQ yesterday. I thought my pool was okay, I was RGW splash Blue for Stoic Angel. I left Vein Drinker in the board because there were too few playable Black creatures. I of course misregister my deck and leave out a Rakeclaw Gargantuan, which I realize in Game 2 of the 1st round. What happened was I layed out RGW in the beginning, really liked it, and then started laying out the other decks. With around 8 minutes to go I lay out RGW and start registering. I knew something was weird because I was short a playable, so I threw in something terrible like Incurable Ogre. (I need to join the "Incurable Ogre sucks" bandwagon really soon.) Ughhhh...

Round 1 I throw away Game 1 by Time Walking myself via an onboard Vithian Stinger against an aggressive start. Round 2 I lose to a pretty tight player and I don't think there was a lot I could do. 0-2, but I'm going to ride it out.

Round 3 I blow someone out. Round 4 I lose in three, both times to Flameblast Dragon, but in Game 3 he needed help from Spearbreaker Behemoth. I really love Sealed deck...

I still decide to stay in because I want to keep playing with the pool. My opponent doesn't show up Round 5, but it becomes a bye so I don't even get rating points. Round 6 I blow someone out who got flooded. Round 7 I beat a newer player. Round 8 I pretty much get blown out. 4-4, but I still got a draft set out of it for 60th out of 196.

I have no idea what to do to make myself stop playing awfully. I wish I could play Limited as much as I can playtest for a Constructed format, because I don't make nearly as many mistakes in Constructed as I do in Limited. This three weeks will be glorious, getting to test out a new Constructed format.

My thoughts right now on Standard are
- I hate the 5-Color mirror.
- I hate Kithkin because it cannot win against 5-Color.
- I (right now) hate my Bant deck because it cannot beat Kithkin.
I think I can tune up my Bant deck to have a little better game, because even if the matchup is terrible, it won't make up a huge part of the metagame. It played surprising well with "fair" decks like Doran. I've also ran the mono-Red deck a couple times on Magic-League and kind of like how that plays out.