Places to play Magic in the Seattle area

I'll be back Saturday night, vegging out on football Sunday, doing real life Monday and Tuesday, then be gone for business the rest of the week, although business may include a playtesting session with the boys at UPitt...

If you happened to stumble across this page looking for Magical information about Seattle, Zaiem made a great post over on Northwest Magic (another site you should bookmark) about everywhere you can play Magic. Honestly, I was overwhelmed when I did this research in August before I moved, I don't think any other city has so much support for Magic.

In memory - Dante Duterte, 1/11/1950 - 1/23/2009

I had to fly to the Philippines yesterday. My father, Dante Ibanez Duterte, passed away early this morning after a hard-fought battle with a brain lymphoma. He busted his ass my entire life so I could get where I am today, and I only hope I can do the same at some point.

Reconsidering the process

So now that the ridiculous first three weeks of the Extended season are gone, I now have four and a half weeks to learn the format. I nearly did what I said I would do: pick a deck I know I'd like (Zoo), test it, and ride it out for these first three weeks. I did manage to win a Trial (an 11 person trial with two scoops...), but I chickened out at the Grand Prix and played a deck I didn't know very well and picked up three draws as a result.

So now these next five weeks, I'm actually going to learn the format, and play the best deck. Maybe right now it's Faeries or TEPS, but maybe in five weeks something else will emerge. Here's the remainder of my schedule:

2/21 - Vancouver
2/28 - Standard for a Mox
3/14 - Portland
3/21 - Seattle

Right now the best decks are Faeries, GB, TEPS, Affinity, with Elves, Zoo, and Mono Red Burn lurking. Maybe a deck like Zoo will transform and get ridiculous with Gaea's Alara's Might. But right now I'm not committing to a deck for a while and when it's time to buy cards I can choose the best deck and spend the rest of my time testing the tar out of the mirror. (Btw, I'm like 2-6 in the Zoo mirror. Vomit on myself.)

Damage report

So Gavin Verhey made me chicken out of playing Zoo, so I run his GB Loam deck. Here's what happens if you weren't following:

Round 4 vs. Doran - D
Round 5 vs. Faeries - D
Round 6 vs. GB Loam - D
Round 7 vs. Swans - W
Round 8 vs. GB Rock - L, drop.

I don't know too many that have been satisfied with a record of 1-1-3. Maybe I was playing too slow, or maybe the deck needs to be jiggered with some aggro elements to win more matches in the Swiss.

Upset, I decide to go back to running Zoo, and adjust for what I perceived the metagame would be like in the PTQ based on the 2-0 bracket of Round 3 that I scouted out: tons of Faeries and GB decks. I throw 3 Dark Confidant back in the main, and I get to try out Proclamation of Rebirth (AWESOME) but decline to run Kitchen Finks in the sideboard thinking I can dodge aggro decks. Hmm, how did that one go?

Round 1 vs. Mono Red - L
Round 2 vs. UB Tron - W
Round 3 vs. Faeries - L (against a friend from NC, Game 3 he topdecks Explosives on my team, then after I Proclamation of Rebirth them back, he topdecks ANOTHER)
Round 4 vs. Mono Red - L

Grrrr that stupid burn deck.

So that was my Magic weekend.

Off to LA

I'll be leaving Seattle around 3, getting into LA around 6. I might play in a trial just to get my feet wet. (By the way, I'm going to play Gavin's Loam deck.) Expect Twitter updates during the day Saturday and Sunday, and maybe posts after each day of play. By the way, no Twitter = don't wanna talk about it generally, if you're waiting for updates.

Cactus Aggro?

Testing at First Pick with Peter, Joe, and Zaiem plus some help from Dwayne, Chris Lawson, and Charles Wong when they were not drafting, I decided to try the Blue Zoo deck. Here's what I tried:

22 aforementioned lands

4 Wild Nacatl
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Kird Ape
2 Figure of Destiny
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Kitchen Finks

4 Tribal Flames
4 Lightning Helix
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Bant Charm
2 Flame Jab

Sideboard:
3 Proclamation of Rebirth
3 Duergar Hedge-Mage
3 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Stifle
3 Gaddock Teeg

I thought about sideboarding on the bus to First Pick, and I identified the decks where you are the beatdown and where you are not, and sideboarded accordingly. I.e. if you are the beatdown, avoid taking out one-drops. Mogg Fanatic can still be good for 2-3 damage on turn 1. Adding Proclamation in those matchups makes it okay (those are generally the matchups where they have Wrath effects.)

So I'll try to run-down what I played against:
A couple against Dwayne playing Zoo - Played only a couple preboard and I drew excellently. Sideboard is where I get an edge because their Hedge-Mages are really bad. I can bring in Hedge-Mages, one or two Procs, and the Stifles. I have not tested this matchup thoroughly enough at all.

A set against Pete playing Faeries - Yuck, I have no idea where the edges are in this matchup at all. I got wiped 0-2 preboard, but we split 5-5 postboard. Combine this with a set we played before where I think I was up, and you have a pretty even matchup. The Stifles come in and shouldn't hit lands generally, only Engineered Explosives or counters. Proc is pretty saucy too. Teeg's a little worse against just Explosives, but I guess you have to fight Chalice. Bant Charm is great. Shackles is Bad News Bears for us. Couldn't tell you how to beat this deck. Just draw well. Flame Jab is not as good as I thought it would be in this matchup.

A set of preboard of Chris playing GB Loam - I tested this last night and got beaten pretty badly 0-2 pre then 3-5 post. I think this actually came out even, and the Flame Jabs were actually great against Tribe-Elders and then sitting there waiting to do more damage. I need to play around Death Cloud better. This is still a poor matchup, especially losing Jund Charm. Kitchen Finks is surprisingly good as they have to two for one to get rid of it, whereas you can trump their Finks with Bant Charm.

A few against Charles playing Mono Burn - About the same as I thought. Two Nacatls will win you the game. Otherwise, don't take damage from lands and just look to soak up damage. Bant Charm saves you from Magma Jets that set them up and Shrapnel Blasts for the win, but doesn't save you from Sulfuric Vortex like Oblivion Ring does. Maindeck Finks are really good too.

A few preboard against Charles playing Affinity - I think I won once. Bant Charm helps, but still slow. This matchup is still atrocious.

Those are my thoughts. I will probably play this deck, but GB is a back pocket deck if I chicken out still.

I am such a coward

Spent the past thirty minutes at work thinking about Zoo... I independently thought up that Bant Charm is better than Oblivion Ring in the mirror by a mile because it can't be Duergar Hedge-Maged.

Bored at work, I went to Brainburst hoping to see a tournament report by Alex but instead happened on a little guide to Zoo with some ideas that may be worth trying.

Here's what I want to try:

4 Wild Nacatl
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Figure of Destiny

4 Tribal Flames
4 Lightning Helix
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Bant Charm
2 Flame Jab

4 Flooded Strand
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
1 Steam Vents
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Overgrown Tomb (I think you play this instead of Blood Crypt because it makes Bant Charm colors)
1 Plains
1 Forest

SB:
2 Proclamation of Rebirth (Probably better than Ranger, because you can bring it in against decks with board sweepers like Faeries, where you'd like to run out 3 one-drops but you know you will get wasted by Engineered Explosives.)
3 Duergar Hedge-Mage
4 Kataki, War's Wage (maybe three of this and one more Hedge-Mage...)
3 Stifle
3 Gaddock Teeg

I'm about to chicken out of playing GB Loam because I think Engineered Explosives will cost me an arm and a leg at the event site (neither of the main shops that sell singles in Seattle has them, and Star City doesn't have them either). It will be easier for me to borrow or buy Flooded Strands, too.

No live testing tonight, but maybe some MWS, so I'll be giving this a spin to see if I like it or not. One thing I am considering is the difference in metagame between Day 1 of the Grand Prix with three byes and a PTQ. Less Mono-Red burn starting 3-0?