Bridges of Madison County

Another day another tournament. I met up with Jon Knapp and did some testing the night before against Deathcloud. It was a lot easier to win when he did not have darkblast in the main. We discussed the amount of Faeries we thought were going to be there and he decided to run the darkblast main. I on the other hand was running the Wizards again. I believe this deck is still very strong and I know all of my matchups and sideboarding plans. Midway through the night Jon's cousin Hans comes to get cards for his deck. He decided to opt for Chapins 4 color control from Berlin instead of the Zoo he had been playing. We both thought he was an idiot to play a deck with no experience, but to each their own. 6am rolled around fairly quick and I was running on about 30 minutes of sleep on top of being sick. Hans, Jon, and myself drive from the city to the burbs to pick up Jerret on the way. 2 hours later we arrived at Misty Mountain. On a sidenote, I did not know they still made cars without power anything. Hans indeed had a car like this. I also dont think he knew how to use the defrost. The windows were thick with frost and it was cold as hell. Anyways we get there about an hour early and register our decks and look around. Seemed like there was a lot of Faeries and Affinity. I felt fairly confidant against both decks.

Round 1: Chad with TEPS
I was on the play while Chad had to mulligan twice. We both started off with Polluted Delta to goto 19 while he went to 17 to ponder on his turn. He hit his 3rd land drop and I Cliqued him when he cast seething song. I ripped his Desire and he passed turn. Vendilion Clique got in there for the rest of the damage. I sideboard in Negates and Thoughtseizes. We both keep our opening 7 and he is on the play. He leads off with steam vents into ponder. He gets a lotus bloom and suspends. I went land pass. He fetches and island with his flooded strand and I stifle the land. My hand was gas with 2 mana leaks another stifle and a negate plus land. I ripped a Clique the following turn and knew I was on my way. Bloom came into play and I Clique him in response. He lets it resolve and I see Rite of Flame x2, Pact of Negation, Brainfreeze, and gigadrowse. I let him keep the hand. I get in with some Clique beats and he has a full grip as I do also. He attempts to go off. I let the first rite resolve, I mana leak the 2nd rite, he pact of negations the leak, he then attempts to cast desperate ritual which I spell snared. He plays a third rite of flame into a manamorphose, which goes into another manamorphose in hand with only gigadrowse in hand, I negate the manamorphose and he scoops. (2-0) overall (1-0)

Round 2: Josh with AIR
Josh won the roll and had to mulligan. I put him on TEPS or some sort of combo, since it was the first PTQ after the GP. He leads with mountain go. I figure he is burn or AIR. I went Island go. He plays a mountain and tries desperate ritual which I spell snare. My hand is fairly weak at this point if he has something the next turn. I have a Jitte, Clique, and lands. He misses a land drop and passes. I play my 3rd land and pass. I Clique him during his draw and see he drew a mountain, seething songx2, deus, magus of the moon, and demigod. I take his demigod and he looks confused. He plays out the Deus and passes. I play Jitte equip and start the race and finish. I side in negates and thoughtseizes. He keeps while I mulligan to 6. He gets a first turn Deus and I scoop it up. I have no answer to this and kind of sit there for a minute. Game 3 as very lopsided again. He resolves a first turn Demigod of Revenge and applies the early pressure. Along with Magus of the Moon I get shut down quick. I know this deck isnt a good matchup based on luck, I just hoped to not run into it since it is a weak choice. (1-2) overall(1-1)

Round 3: Sam Black with ELVES!
The round before Jerret was playing against Sam so I knew what he was playing. While I was shuffling a stifle was revealed so he had a perfect idea of what I was playing. This should be a very favorable matchup for me. We both get in some early beats and I Sowered a Wirewood Symbiote. And Played another Archmage with mana open. Sam has 2 cards in hand and he attempts to Summoners Pact. I counter it with the tapped Archmage. He then goes off at 3 life with the last card in hand being Weird Harvest. Game 2 I had to mulligan to 5 which makes it very favorable for him. He gets a turn 2 Jagged Scarred Archers. He builds up some elves, and I explosives for 1. I attempt to Sower his Archers and he kills them. I really had no options. I messed up sideboarding by not siding out my spell snares, since they board out all their converted mana cost 2 spells. I scoop it up. (0-2) overall (1-2)

Round 4: Aaron with Bubble Hulk
I mainly stayed in because Jerret and Jon were still playing and noone wanted to cube draft yet. My opponent sits down and looks pretty terrible, you can get that sense sometimes. He leads off with a flooded strand into a watery grave. Then ponders. I play a land and pass. He plays a shivan reef and attempts to desperate ritual which is met with a spell snare. I play a land and pass. I attempt to Clique at the end of his turn, in reponse he cast seething song into through the breach and puts down Protean Hulk. I say ok and let him keep his hand. The through the breach trigger wouldnt activate until the end of my turn. I had a sower in hand and could care less. I untap cast sower and sad days are ahead for him. I board in thoughtseizes. Game 2 had little action from him. He took a lot of pain from his lands digging to find his combo. I bashed with mutavaults with counter backup and get there. (2-0) overall (2-2)

Round 5: Kevin with Burn
He opens with mogg fanatic and passes. Fanatic gets in twice. I spellstutter a magma jet and he sacs the fanatic. He incinerates me to put me at 12. I have Clique with jitte active and hitting him for 5 a turn. He shrap blast me to 7 and then incinerates me with no cards left. He draws 2 lands and thats game. We go to sideboard and he pulls out a sheet of paper. I ask him what that is for and he said it is to tell him how to sideboard. I immediately call a judge and inform him of the infraction. The judge goes over to the head judge and he offers a match loss because of outside information. (2-0) overall (3-2)

Round 6: David with Affinity
There werent many notes this game. I seemed to have a spell snare at all the right times. And Sowers his Master both times. (2-0) overall (4-2)

Round 7: Steve with Tezzerator
Game 1 went fairly quick with attacks with mutavaults and he took 6 points of life off his lands. He resolved Tezzeret game 1 but I was able to keep him off the table to get to dangerous. I sideboard in negates. His first turn was pretty sick. He had double chrome mox land thirst, but didnt hit an artifact. His next turn he thirst again, and didnt hit an artifact. I lay a land and pass. He plays another land and tries to play tezzeret which I negate. He hits land land and is frustrated and scoops it up. This matchup seems really bad for me and I got lucky off of his bad draws. (2-0) overall (5-2)

Round 8: Josh with Affinity
I didnt take good enough notes to remember this round. He never damaged me game 1. I sideboard in 3 damnations. Game 2 he gets me 2 5, I resolved 2 visions this game and draw into damnation. Sweep the board and clique and activate jitte and the rest is history. (2-0) overall (6-2)

I finished in 15 out of 160. I was dissapointed with my earlier losses in the day, but there are other PTQ's. Cryptic command was insane everytime I drew it. Owen played 2 that day and he ended up winning the PTQ. The next PTQ is in STL and I should be there. There are Conflux prereleases and release parties to attend the next 2 weeks.

Well it has been a few days since the GP has been over and I had not had the time to update being busy with work and being sick. This past weekend was overall a disappointment as far as Magic goes. I went 5-3 (6-3 with my 1 bye). Ending up in 188 out of 834 players. Anyways, Friday morning I woke up about 8am got ready to catch my flight. Traffic ended up being backed up and the ride to the airport was anger filled. I'd like to thank my girlfriend for putting up with that and picking me up from the airport when I got back. Anyways, security was a pain in the ass and I got searched twice. My flight had announced final boarding, to find out the gate had switched! So I ran over, but to my luck the line had just started due to airport security deciding to do screens before people got on. I saw Zach Gray and chatted it up then got on the plane. We landed in Los Angeles about 25 minutes earlier than scheduled. It was 80 degrees and could not be nicer, considering when I had left Chicago O'Hare the temp plus windshield was -40. I went to the tournament site to see what was going on. Saw Rashad and a bunch of Wisconsin and Michigan players testing various decks. Looked as though Faeries and Deathcloud were going to be the most played deck for the weekend. I went to check in for the tournament and received my free playmat and chrome mox, which I preregistered for online. The TO told me to take my info to be entered into the system, the guy missed that I had preregistered and handed me another mat and chrome mox. Thanks I do like a free 30 dollars! Anyways I checked into the hotel room and waited for AJ to arrive. It was only 5pm there, but with the time change everyone was starving. We walked down to the In N Out Burger for dinner. For my first time it was ok, nothing special. Im still weirded out by the sauce they put on their burgers. We go back to the tournament site and I watch Owen Turtenwald play in a grinder. He had 2 byes, but was playing for the 3rd. He had a few interesting opponents. One of his elf opponents was nice enough to not pay for the Summoner's Pact and then proceded to ask if they could move back! LOL. Then a girl ripped a sleeve while shuffling up for game 3 and did not have a replacement. The judge staff was terrible in getting this resolved. Cedric, Nick, and Anderson all arrived from Indianapolis and we checked in for the night. I decided on Faeries, AJ was playing his RG loam, Cedric and Nick also played Faeries, and Chris decided on MonoWhite last minute instead of Elves.

Saturday morning came and got ready for the tournament. After waiting infinite time for an elevator we walked down to the site. On a side note I will never stay at a Radisson Hotel again. When we sat down to register our decks, the word was going around that everyone had decided to play TEPS. Mainly Luis, Gerry, and their crew.

Round 1: BYE Rashad, Bernat, Nick, Chris, and I went to In N Out Burger for some nourishment. I dominated this round with Fresh Fries and a Double Burger.

Round 2: Peter Szigeti with Affinity
Peter had just sat down before the round started and was jumbled. He introduces himself and I kind of recognize him from older events. Turns out he had just been unbanned from the DCI a couple months ago. We roll the die and he is on the play. We both keep our opening hands and he goes Ancient Den into an Arcbound Worker. When I noticed Affinity I knew it was going to be a rough round. This matchup is almost impossible to win until after boarding. I played an island and suspended an ancestral visions. He swung in for 1 and played another Worker along with a Frogmite. I played a land and passed. My hand was Spellstutter, 2 spell snare, 2 land, Venser. He swings in for 4. Im down to 16 and he tries to play Crainial Plating which is met with a Spell Snare. He plays a third Worker and passes, nice deck! I laid my land and passed. He swings in with 3 Workers and Frogmite I flash in a Spellstutter and block a Worker. He moves the counter onto the Frogmite, then tries to play Ravager, which is Spell Snared. He thoughtcasts then drops Myr Enforcer. At this point the game is basically over. I dont draw my 4th land and pass. He plays Master of Etherium and I scoop. I side in 3 Damnations for 3 Stifles and 1 Engineered Explosives for 1 Glen Elendra Archmage. I go on the play. No land, I ship back and mulligan to 6. This hand is semi better with Strand, Mutavault, SpellSnare Leak, and SpellStutter. He went land Thopter, drum, Frogmite pass. I drew a land and passed. I spell snared his Ravager and he gets in for 2. He casts Thoughtcast and passes. I drew another land and pass turn. He bashes for 2 and casts Master, which is Mana Leaked. He then plays another Frogmite and passes. I draw a Vendillian Clique and pass. Clique him duringhis draw step and reveal Frenzy, Ravager, and Plating. I took the plating and he draws into another Master. How lucky! I was bitter and had Damnation as my only out. Draw and scoop them up. (0-2)overall(1-1)

Round 3: Caleb Morris with Affinity
Caleb sat down and flashed me a Ravager as he was shuffling. I could not believe it. Of all tournaments I have to play against Affinity again. There werent many notes from this round because my opponent did not do much. He mulliganed to 5 both games. The most damage I took was from my own Fetch and Dual. (2-0)overall(2-1)

Round 4: Michael Kwon with TEPS tendrils
Starting this round I had a headache and took less notes from this point out, therefore it wasnt as detailed as the beginning. Michael led off with 2 fetchlands in his 2 turns. I had him on either Faeries or TEPS. He cracks them and reveals Steam Vents. I neutered his hand with Clique and got him down to 2. He basically has 2 outs. He can draw a desire or hit a desire off his manamorphose. He missed it off the draw plays out his spells and lucks off a manamorphose into a ponder and hits another manamorphose into a desire. MUST BE! He Desires with a spell count of 7 and flips a Desire with the first and that gets my concession. I have nothing to board in against this matchup as I already play Stifle main. Game 2 is almost the same as game 1. He Gigadrowses me the turn before he is about to go off. Im helpless with an Archmage out and Stifle in hand. He goes off but turns out he is 1 mana short from the desire. He tried playing it off but I always keep track of storm and mana when my opponent is playing solitaire. He punts this game and we are off to game 3. Similar to the other games, he ends up desiring for 6 with 1 card in hand and 2 black mana floating. He misses hitting anything relevant except a ponder and a lotus bloom. He ponders into a rite cast the bloom and reveals the tendrils in his hand. Close, but no cigar. (1-2)overall(2-2)

Round 5: Rex Mendoza with Affinity
I dont have much to say about this round. This is where I wanted to kill myself. Game 3 I was in control with the board, but we were short on time due to his slow play. He has 1 card in hand and an ornothopter with 2 plating on it. I need to get aggressive. I saw Fatal Frenzy Game 1, so I had him on this. I tapped out to play Clique with no blue mana floating because I had out Riptide and Mutavaults. He plays Soul's Fire targeting me for lethal. I couldnt believe it. I kind of just sat there in shock. He expresses how he got extremely lucky and I kinda just ignore him.
(1-2)overall(2-3) at this point I was going to drop, but I continued to try and get some points back.

Round 6:Justin Holb with Affinity
Justin shows up late round 6 and gets a game loss. He is on the play and says he is in a hurry. I asked him why didnt he just drop last round. He concedes to me and is off.
(2-0)overall(3-3)

Round 7:Scott Vanessen with Rock
While Scott was shuffling I saw a Baloth so I was happy to not be playing Affinity for once. Game 1 Scott does little to nothing and I went Aggro Faeries on him. I did not sideboard, because I thought he was a weak player. Game 2 was very close. He gained back an advantage with life gain then resolved persecute on me. My hand was raped and he bashed in. His board was clear and had him at 2. I was at 8. I had him on no outs and off the top he rips DEMONFIRE! haha for lethal. I was kinda like WTF nice deck and went to game 3. I couldnt believe I lost a game to this donk. There were about 10 minutes left in the round. I had to go aggro Faeries if I was going to win. Clique got in for 3 and revealed some hilarious cards. He was playing Spectral Force. I took his Baloth and passed. I bashed with Clique and 2 Mutavaults. He plays Force and passes. Topdeck and get a Sower. This was justice for ever losing to a demonfire at a GP. (2-1)overall(4-3)

Round 8:Luis Antonio Magisa with Burn
This matchup is awesome to play. After the first couple turns they wont be resolving many spells. I won this round fairly quickly. A resolved Archmage is mos def GG.
(2-0)overall(5-3)

Round 9:Jeff Meadows with Mono Blue Faeries
I sat down and was next to Shuhei Nakumara. Turns out Shuhei was having just as bad of a day. He was also rocking the Faeries. I didnt take many notes during this round as I just wanted to be done playing for the day and leave on a positive note. I started both games off with an Ancestral Visions. This seems like the key to the mirror. If it resolves you are good to go. Everytime he played an Archmage I had a Sower ready for it and would bash in. Jeff was very frustrated and couldnt believe the draws I had, but this happens when you resolve a Visions...
(2-0)overall(6-3)

I plan on playing this deck for most of the season and just making adjustments to the sideboard as the meta shifts and we welcome Conflux into the season. I will see everyone at Madison and hoping I take it home there!

Decisions for Destiny in Los Angeles

Well I have made my decision on a deck. I will be playing the following build with a few changes on the sideboard when I get there depending on what I see when I watch people in the grinders.

1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
3 Sower of Temptation
4 Spelltutter Sprite
4 Vendillion Clique
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Mana Leak
4 Spell Snare
3 Stifle
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4 Mutavault
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
2 Riptide Laboratory
4 River of Tears
4 Secluded Glen
6 Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain

Sideboard:
4 Bitterblossom
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Vedalkan Shackles
2 Thoughtseize
4 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Negate

If I have access to the internet I will be updating the blog with my progress through the day. You can check up on www.magicthegathering.com for all the live coverage.

In other news I think you should check out www.lichslair.com This is the store that I play at. They have been getting around 12-15 people every Friday and about the same for Drafts on Sunday. The Lich's Lair is always home to the 10 dollar draft set. They will be holding Pre Releases and Release tournaments also. So if you are up for a new, friendly environment, then come check out the Lich's Lair 3429 Ridge Road Lansing, IL 60438 708-251-2500 Located Inside Stand-Up Comics. FNM and Drafts start at 7pm. Check the website for other events and store hours. Also Steve is taking Pre-Orders for Conflux which looks like it will add some excitement to Shards Draft and hopefully shake up the dull Std Environment.

Extended PTQ Season is now upon us....

Wizards has released the dates for the PTQ's for Honalulu. I will be attending the following PTQ's and GP in order to try and capture the blue envelope.
January 17 Grand Prix Los Angeles
January 18 PTQ Los Angeles(Only if I do not Day 2)
January 24 PTQ Madison
February 14 PTQ St Louis
February 28 PTQ Indianapolis
March 8 PTQ Chicago(Only if I do not Day 2 Grand Prix Chicago)
March 21 PTQ Detroit(Garden City)
March 28 PTQ Indianapolis
April 4 PTQ Chicago
April 11 PTQ Louisville
There will be 10 opportunities for myself to win the blue envelope. Currently my deck choices are U/B Wizards(japanese list from Worlds, some minor changes), All In Red, or Dredge. I feel fairly confidant with all three decks, but I feel like Wizards will give me my best shot at obtaining my goal. I have heard, and seen some people on MODO using Trinket Mages now in their decks, not only as a wizard, but to also search up Engineered Explosives. It seems like an alright option, but also slow at the same time. I need to test this actually.