Last weekend was StarCityGames.com's $10k weekend. I finished 3rd in the Legacy event and though I did ok in Standard I'll focus on my win. I had a long trip down to Saint Louis Friday night from St. Paul, MN with my buds Tim Krehl and Gene Richtsmeier. We broke up the driving with a stop in Quincy Illinois at a random shop for FNM (I won standard there, off to a great start for the weekend! Ok this tournament was nothing to write home about, but it was kind of fun to stop in on a random place, even if we didn't much care for the atmosphere.)
I tend to get the 'kid before christmas' feeling the night before a big event, but that really wasn't the case Friday night. I was tired and wanted to rest up. Unfortunately, I couldn't. I wasn't even that excited for the next day, yeah it'd be sweet to play some magic but it really wasn't that big of a deal to me. I had a restless night looking at the alarm clock nearly every hour. Some coffee in the morning woke me up a bit but it was a bad start to a long weekend. I did ok in Standard piloting mono white tokens (I'd picked up William Cavaglieri's deck after his Worlds T8 finish and collaborated with him as he was responsive to my random facebook inquiries.) I started off 3-0, but caught losses rounds 4, 6, and 7 and dropped with a 4-3 finish. My buddies were still doing some playing in side events and I needed a nap before going out for dinner. I still couldn't sleep but after a little rest I was awake enough to hang out and grab some food.
Another night of seeming insomnia (kept seeing the alarm clock again at different times) and at around 5:30 AM I was actually convincing myself that it wouldn't be worth the $30 to enter the Legacy event and scrub out. I managed to catch a little more sleep and after some coffee & breakfast I'd decided I was alert enough to play (good thing too!)
I started playing Legacy about 8 months ago, first borrowing a deck from friends for a couple weeks then buying into Merfolk and later picking up duals and goyfs to branch out into other blue-based builds. Merfolk was my first deck and what I was most comfortable with, and I was able to collaborate with a top local player, Joe Barthel, who piloted the deck to some big wins at local mid-size events. He helped me a ton with an updated decklist (Kira & Truth in the MB, Spell Pierce & Divert in the SB - all Joe's idea) and a metagame analysis and sideboard recommendations. I documented all the info Joe gave me and felt confident going into the $5k. I should mention that I met Joe through some local buds when we did an all-day Zendikar draft at release, but really didn't know him that well and he really went out of the way to share his knowledge with me.
My deck:
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=30566(Starcity games had Divergent Growth listed in my SB instead of Divert. So no, I wasn't embarking on some super secret D-Growth tech, though there's been a lot of speculation on that!)
Round 1 vs Reanimator (Aaron Bradinski)
Aaron's deck:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?p=411057 (4 posts up from the bottom of the page)
Game 1 I'm owned by Sphinx of Steel Wind. Game 2 I counter his reanimate effects and beat him handedly. Game 3 I apply a little pressure and have 3 dudes on the table with him at 12. He casts reanimate and looks to me - I point out that he has to choose his target as the spell is cast, he thinks about it and picks Iona over Empyrial Archangel. I have no counter, it resolves and puts him at 3. My 3 2/2s attack next turn and he dies - he made the wrong choice and I win the game. If he'd picked the Archangel my only out would have been to draw another dude and hope to attack for enough to kill it.
2-1
SB: +2 Back to Basics, +4 Spell Pierce, +4 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Merrow Reejerey, -3 Merfolk Sovereign, -2 Kira, -1 Standstill
Matches: 1-0 (Games: 2-1)
Round 2 vs Fish (Jeff Sears)
Jeff's playing an irregular list featuring 6 man lands (2 factories) and ponder. I can't recall any specifics but he wins game 1 and I take the next 2. I do remember him forgetting a Vial counter once but I don't think it cost him the game. I've taken to always putting a counter on top of my library as a reminder and it works every time.
2-1
SB: +3 Divert, +4 Spell Pierce, +2 Propaganda
-3 Stifle, -4 Standstill, -2 Kira
M: 2-0 (G: 4-2)
Round 3 vs Rock-GBw (Josh Sales)
Josh is playing a home-brewed rock deck featuring Dark Depths, Nev's Disk, and Urborg (seems like a sweet choice.) Again, not sure of the specifics, but I take him 2-0. I do remember asking him if he's in 'sales' with his last name and he told me he was and he sells solar panels. :-)
2-0
SB: +3 Relic, +2 Back to Basics, +3 Divert, +4 Spell Pierce [I'm not sure why I sided in relics here?]
-2 Kira, -2 Echoing Truth, -3 Merfolk Sovereign, -4 Aether Vial, -1 Curse Catcher
M: 3-0 (G: 6-2)
Round 4 vs 43 Lands (Owen Turtenwald)
Owen's deck:
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=30565I'd never played against his deck before and I didn't really know how it worked. I thought he was playing aggro Loam for a while too. He mulled twice game 1 and once game 2. I remember him putting down 1 each of his enchantments early both games but he must've had bad hands because he never got to a point to use them. I do remember seeing an intuition cast which I countered, that must have been when he had his Manabond early. I also recall him plopping Tabbernacle in one game, but I already had Wasteland on the board so I just destroyed it at his EoT.
SB: +4 Relic, +4 Back to Basics, +4 Spell Pierce
-2 Kira, - Aether Vial, -1 Reejerey, -3 Sovereign
2-0
M: 4-0 (G: 8-2)
Round 5 vs Zoo (Mark Larson) ** First Feature Match **
Mark's deck:
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=30567This was my first feature match of the day and it was covered by
ggslive.com. I don't think I was nervous or intimidated by the feature match - I do remember one silly thing was I had my name and contact info written in the flap of my deck box and I revealed it to the camera when taking my deck out. I was worried I'd get a bunch of phone calls but it never happened (I don't think you could read my info in their vid.)
I was hoping that since Zoo is running a bunch of cheap dudes and not many lands I'd be able to disrupt him with wasteland or stifle and keep him off mana while I setup my board. This never really happened and I was owned pretty handedly. I remember a situation where I had a lord and some dudes and I had to make blocks. I fully knew that he'd blow out my lord with some removal and toast my entire team but there really wasn't much that I could do. I made the blocks, my lord bit it, and the rest of my team hit the bin. Bad matchup all around. Catching my first lost sucked but I didn't feel that I could have done much differently there.
0-2
SB: +2 Back to Basics, +3 Spell Pierce, +3 Divert
-4 Aether Vial, -4 Standstill
M: 4-1 (G: 8-4)
Round 6 vs WUrb Control (Colin Wu)
His deck looked a lot like landstill and that's what I thought I was playing against throughout the match. He had Decree of Justice, factories, and counters among other things. I think he may have been sporting Firespout too so maybe it was really 5-color control, though it was pretty much just WU control with some small splashes (black for Extirpate, for example - which of course he left in the board.) I had gotten him down to 5 game 1 but Pulse of the Fields was in his main deck and he climbed back up to a healthy 21 points (I was at 24 from his Swords to Plowshares.) I wanted to stick it out and make him actually kill me but a substantial amount of time had passed and he had things on lock down so I scooped it up while still at 24 life.
I don't remember the specifics of games 2 and 3 but I got them both, game 3 may have went to time with me pulling out the win in extra turns.
2-1
SB: +4 Spell Pierce, +3 Divert/Daze (kept Daze when I was on the play), +2 Back to Basics
-4 Standstill, -2/3 Sovereign, -3 Daze (When Divert came in)
M: 5-1 (G: 10-5)
There were only 7 rounds of swiss so after round 6 they post standings and they look great! There are 3 guys at 6-0-1 and a handful at 5-1 with me on top of them and in 4th place under the undefeateds (I'd only lost to Mark's Zoo deck, one of the T3.) I'm looking to draw into the T8 with either McGregor, Mark, or the 3rd guy. Sweet!
Round 7 vs Dredge (Chase Lamm) ** Second Feature Match **
Shit. Apparently the two non-Mark dudes were paired and since I already played Mark I was paired down. My opponent couldn't draw in and I was forced to battle for Top 8.
Second Feature and this time it was at a table separate from the ggslive setup and Bill Stark (
thestarkingpost.com) was doing a play by play on his laptop while we battled. Again I wasn't very nervous of being in a feature, but this was a deciding match for Top 8 - yikes!
I'd played against Dredge at a local shop, Games by James, several times with my buddy Matt or another guy, Brad, piloting it so I had some experience here at least. He's got an alternate list from what I've seen before featuring Tireless Tribe. I really can't remember too many specifics of this match, the only thing that sticks in my head is me playing very slowly trying to make the right decisions every time. We had a judge sitting at our table who at one point (after I deliberated for a long while over what to tap or untap with a Reejerey trigger) commented that I needed to play quicker as I really didn't have too many options there. I was thinking things through so much that I was overdoing it by a bit. Him playing a list different from what I'd battled against before through me off some as well.
I do remember making 1 mistake here - I played silvergill adept with reejerey in play then started talking about the order I was putting the card draw & the tap/untap on the stack. To clarify: when the adept's card draw trigger hits he's already in play and the reejerey effect has passed. I guess there was also a time game 1 when I could have just tapped his city of brass to kill him when he was at 1, but I didn't and sent in swimmers for the win instead - I don't know that it really mattered but it probably wasn't the most sound play.
In game 2 we went to time. Yeah I was playing slow and this is where it put us. I think he was pissed since I needed a draw or a win to move on and he had to win, and with me up one game that was out of the picture as the time dwindled. I knew it was to my advantage to not hit game 3 but I wasn't trying to stall, I was just trying to make the right plays - and with so many "board" factors (including everything in his graveyard) it was a lot to consider.
So time was called and I've got 2 4/x guys and a 3/3 lord available for my final attack. He's at 4 and I'm at 1. He's got a 20/20 grave troll in play and a stinkweed imp - and he has 4 ichorid in the yard that he can bring back to kill me next turn. I'm toast if I pass the turn so I go in for the attack knowing full well that all he has to do is block my 4/xers and let my lord hit him then untap and draw our match. Instead he considers the board, scoops up his cards, and gets out of there without saying anything (I think he was fuming a little from my methodical & slow play.)
I didn't want to rub in that he could have tied it (maybe he just didn't want to?) So I just started picking things up, but Bill Stark asked me if I could show him what I had in play there. We talked about it and agreed that Chase must have miscalculated and thought he'd lost. Bill commented that maybe he was taking the high road and giving the win, but a) I didn't need it to move on and b) he'd likely have finished in the top 16 with a draw and won $100.
The full match report is here:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/18448.html2-0
SB: +4 Relic, +2 Propaganda
-4 Standstill, -2 Sovereign
M: 6-1 (G: 12-5)
The judge takes my deck after the win as it needs to be deck-checked before the T8 I guess. I check back and forth several times to make sure I've un-sideboarded properly.
I've done so-so in large tournaments like this before, but it's usually that I start off with a few wins then catch losses here and there and end it early (as happened in the standard $5k where I went W-W-W-L-W-L-L drop.) I'm not sure at what point it hit me (maybe when the standings were posted prior to round 7?) but I was definitely excited to have done so well and make the top 8 (even though I hadn't quite made it yet when reviewing those standings before round 7.)
With the swiss concluded they gather up the top 8 finishers and sit us at a table to fill out a tax form and a player profile. They tell us that once the paperwork is gathered and they're ready to start the top 8 they'll poll each player at random for whether they want to chop prize or not and it's stated that if even 1 player doesn't want to then we'll play on and a chop will be offered again at top 4 and again at top 2. They also mention that they do not want us at all collaborating or discussing any split. They're just going to sit us down and ask us right there and that'll be it.
We fill out our info and I'm blanking when writing my profile. I've read these before and always think that people should have said something cooler and now I'm in that spot after two long days of play and a long car trip and I don't have much to say. I ramble something and drop Joe Barthel's name for helping me out with the deck list & meta. I have no idea what to write for my best & worst matchups - I really don't know my deck, the meta, or the format as much as people are giving me credit for. I remember writing in some favorable matchup then thinking it'd make me sound stupid so I scribbled it out so noone could read it.
For previous accomplishments I jokingly wrote that I T8'd a Pauper Premier Event (magic online) & added a smiley face, but I think it was lost in translation. :-) I've played Magic since Revised/Fallen Empires and have done many tournaments in the past including some PTQs, but I've really only focused on ramping up my game play since the recent Minneapolis GP (I won a grinder the night before for 3 byes and ended with 3 losses and in around 250th out of 1200, well out of the day 2 cut.) I did alright at states but finished 26th out of nearly 200.
We sit down for the final matches and I'm the first player to be polled on the prize split. It's really funny but I remember not wanting to say the wrong thing - I wanted to split but didn't know if I was supposed to say "Yes I want to split" or "Yes I want to play on" or "No I don't want to split" or "No I don't want to play on". Yeah, I was pretty burnt out at this point and I thought it'd be really unfortunate if I accidentally made us play it out inadvertently. :-) (God I hope I wrote down my address right so they'll send the prize check to the right place!)
Luckily I say the right thing and everyone else wants to chop prize too. We lock in a nice $525 each and the pressure is off! It's time to battle for that sweet trophy.
Round 8 (Quarterfinals) vs NO-Bant (Jeff Cosgrove)
Jeff's deck:
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=30571Starcity games has a concise write-up of this match here:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/18449.html.
One thing that wasn't covered is one cool play I had where I attacked with a Lord of Atlantis and Mutavault. I declared attacks and pointed out islandwalk on the Mutavault and played it so he'd think that I thought both guys had islandwalk. He points out that my lord doesn't have islandwalk and blocks the 3/3 atlantis with his war monk to my "oh.. crap you're right", then vial in another lord to take out his monk and crush him.
2-0
M: 7-1 (G: 14-5)
I didn't note my sideboards, but I'm pretty sure I brought in Spell Pierce, Divert, and Back to Basics, but I'm not entirely sure on what I took out.
Round 9 (Semifinals) vs Aggro Loam (Pat McGregor)
Pat's deck:
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=30564It was cool to see Pat here. I had met him through a mutual friend some years back when I was working at Unicorn Games in Oakdale, MN. I knew he loved the loam deck and had played it for a long time. I'd never played against it before and didn't really understand the matchup. I knew I wanted to board in Relics and Back to Basics but I didn't know much more than that. My hope was that he'd have an insufficient land draw and I'd blow him out with Wasteland or Stifle.
I managed to take the first game and made a very questionable play game 2 where I FoW his Mox Diamond putting me 2 cards down and him in a position to just play the land he'd have pitched later. This wrecks me game 2 and game 3 I keep an awkward hand with Vial and Wasteland on the play. I was hoping to blow out his land, vial in some dudes, and win out. He pulses my vial and I'm toast. Probably shouldn't have kept that.
1-2, at least Pat went on to win it!
SB: +4 Relic, +2 Back to Basics, +3 Spell Pierce
-3 Daze, -4 Standstill, -2 Kira
M: 7-2 (G: 15-7)
My day is done and I'm ready to be done playing magic for the weekend. I just want to chill, eat some food, and hang out with my buds. I call my wife to let her know of the win and fill her in on the weekend. I make one final sweep through the arena to talk briefly with other contenders (Sam Black, also piloting Fish in the top 8 wanted to pick my brain for card choices and sideboard options, which was very cool but I was entirely burnt out at this point. We did get a sweet pic shaking hands and holding Lords of Atlantis.)
I was overwhelmed by my performance and the cash prize. I bought my buddies dinner after the win at the Steak 'n Shake and am springing for some sweet chinese cards for my buddy Joe's fish deck (he's been trying to foreign his out and I had to do something for him as I couldn't have placed without him!) I surprised even myself by doing so well and hope this is just the first of many top finishes for me.
Some final props/slops mentionsProps to starcity games for running these events, it's awesome to have these events available.
Props to all of the players that traveled out there as well, glad we put up a good showing in St. Louis and was especially happy to see so many local Minneapolis players out there.
Props to the Saint Louis Arch for being amazing (we made a special stop to visit it during the return trip.) Here's a view of the city I snapped from up top!
Slops to the douchebag that lost round 4 or 5 to Tim Hunt's Spread 'Em deck and made the comment "I can't believe anyone would drive all the way from Minneapolis to play a crap deck with no chance of winning the tournament" and proceeding to talk trash for 10 minutes after Tim left the table. For those unaware Tim T8'd with that deck. :-) I'd wanted to say something to this DB but didn't want to draw up a confrontation during my match, later I thought the apporpriate response would have been "I can't believe anyone would pay $30 to enter an event to act like an asshat." :-D
Slops to the guy running FNM in Quincy for being shady about prizes. They bust packs then players choose from rares & uncommons based on their standings. This would have been fine except he busted all the packs before bringing them to the table for choosing where the best thing that turned up was a Scute Mob. :-(
Slops to Iowa for being a terrible state to drive back home through, especially in icy conditions. ;-)
Thanks for reading!
Derek and I squared off over lunch yesterday with 3 games of Zen (see my previous "Magic Lunch" for an explanation) with 7 card ante.
After some turns Derek draws an answer to the Gwyllion in the form of Vampire Nighthawk - absolutely devastating in this format usually, by the way. Unfortunately, he's a little too attached to his Vamp and won't make the trade on my 4/4 (Twilight fanatic perhaps?)
Game 3 opens ok as any 3rd land allows me to play two semi-potent spells: Stonybrook Schoolmaster & Ethersworn Shieldmate.
