DonRoyale
Get on my choppa!
- 1,723
- Posts
- 16
- Years
- Age 34
- Windsor, Ontario, Canada
- Seen Nov 5, 2012
So, over the summer, a good friend of mine who has been helping me by getting me out to play at every local FNM and prerelease event possible brought up the idea of going to a Grand Prix. He brought up the fact that many of the strongest local players had been planning to go, and thought it would be a good learning experience for me. As a player constantly looking to improve myself, I jumped at the chance of going to my first high-level card tournament since a Yu-Gi-Oh regionals I attended in like 2005 when I still played the card game.
So I spent most of my time thinking "X days until the GP, yay!" like some giddy schoolgirl waiting for her star-crossed lover to return from overseas, or something of the sort. Days, weeks, and months passed, and soon enough, the GP had arrived upon us.
Much change had occured since then. All but two of the local players who'd planned to go decided to withdraw for their own personal reasons, leaving me to go with two good friends and one of the two local players who had decided to stick to going. (He had agreed to drive there and back.)
So this is me at about 11:00 on Thursday, October 21st, thinking "The GP's on Saturday. I have FNM, and a friend's party to go to." I had quite a busy day that Friday.
So I spent most of Friday getting snacks for the road (some of which miraculously survived the ordeal) and preparing for my journey. At about 5:30, I departed to FNM.
T'was a night of Standard. I had been testing my homebrew, deathstar.dek, found here.
The TO split the 19 competitors into two pods; one of 10, and one of 9. I got placed in the pod of 10.
I ended up going 3-1, but all my wins were practically byes, so I have no idea what to do to the deck, and don't have a strong enough sample to know what to do with my deck. The one loss, RUG ramp, was the only exception; I was beaten by Oracles and Cobras, and post-board, Ruinblasters. About 7 people ran the deck, and both pod winners sported the list. (The one whom I lost to was first in my pod; I was third, behind the guy he had beaten in the fourth round.) It was annoying, because for all my metagame sniping, nobody played Primeval Titans so I could just Edge everything. Sadface.
Regardless, after FNM, I went to a party at my buddy's place. Now keep in mind, I knew full well I was leaving at 4 AM to head to Toronto. It was about 10. His place was a 45-hour-long walk from my own. I was very tired for some reason after FNM; I had slept reasonably well the night before so I was baffled by my fatigue.
I didn't stay there long; I was very tired and couldn't socialize very well due to my fatigue. I bused it home instead of walking (thanks to the grace of my friend Natalie, who gave my bus fare after FNM), and arrived back at 1 AM.
I spent the next three hours working on a neat Liquimetal Coating deck for Standard. Did I mention that card is awesome?
-11- Creatures
-1- Hoard-Smelter Dragon
-4- Manic Vandal
-4- Ezuri's Brigade
-2- Sylvok Replica
-25- Spells
-4- Liquimetal Coating
-4- Nature's Claim
-4- Naturalize
-4- Galvanic Blast
-4- Ancient Stirrings
-3- Relic Crush
-2- Voltaic Key
-24- Lands
-1- Copperline Gorge
-1- Raging Ravine
-14- Forest
-8- Mountain
I should be playing blue over red, but I like Pits and I'm thinking of even including Koths in this list for S&G's.
So I thought this deck would be silly fun to test out at the GP, so I brought it, deathstar.dek, and my Limited box along with the food I had, my DS, and my iPod, and headed to the GP at 4 when my friend Joel showed up to pick me up.
We headed to pick Natalie and my friend Brad up, and then took off to Toronto. I thought I could sleep, but I only got roughly two hours' worth, and it was very restless. His car is very uncomfortable. :(
So we arrived at the building at around 8:30 (after taking what felt like hours to find it), and got inside, settling down and completing some trades. We registered, I got my foil Jitte (yay!), and I traded Brad a Natural Order for a Nicol Bolas playmat they were offering there. Score!
Joel asked me to test Type 2, so we had a couple games with Coating.dek.
You have to mulligan aggressively into either Coating or Ancient Stirrings (how
you find your Coatings). I managed to cut him off one or even two colors in all of our games, but there were games where, again, Cobra got him there. A notable situation was where I cut him off both red and green, and he had three Islands in play, and I had an 8/8 Brigade staring him down. When I cast a second, and failed to find a land, he scooped.
The deck's success ratio is swingy. Smart players will be on the play game 2 and Leak Coating, which is when you're screwed. You rarely find a second (which is what the Keys are for), and the deck does need to draw it pretty badly in order to win. But if you win, it's a very satisfiyng deck to tempo them out of the game.
I played another guy, who played mono-green pukeoutdudes.dek. Terastodon never hit my Coatings, which is fine by me since I Claimed two of them, but then I got stomped by Elephants. (The deck is creature-light.)
Anyway, enough about Standard and my wacky delving into the deepest recesses of the hivemind. After what felt like forever (Registration ended at 9:30. It was around 11 when we actually got things going), we were given our seat numbers and told to sit down. Natalie, Brad and myself took our seats while Joel had taken to the Type 2 side events.
We were given the lowdown on a very, very quiet speaker system (I could barely hear a word any of the judges ever said throughout that whole event, srsly.), and then given the product to open.
I opened a rather sick Infect deck; Skittles, Grafted Exoskeleton, 2x Tyrannax with 2x Tainted Strike, 2x Contagious Nim, 2x Plague Stinger, Trigon of Rage...just a pretty solid pool overall. I was just hoping I didn't have to play whoever I passed this to.
After registering the contents, we swapped with the person across from us. The woman passed me an absolute rubbish pool; every single rare was virtually unplayable; I think there might have been a Darksteel Juggernaut, which is fine, but it's not Steel Hellkite, Masticore, Wurmcoil Engine, Myr Battlesphere, etc...Cards that just single-handedly control games.
We then passed the decks left, and without checking, left again. These were the pools we were given. I ended up with:
White:
1 Abuna Acolyte
1 Auriok Sunchaser
1 Fulgent Distraction
1 Ghalma's Warden
2 Glint Hawk
1 Leonin Arbiter
1 Revoke Existence
1 Seize the Initiative
1 Soul Parry
1 Sunspear Shikari
1 Whitesun's Passage
-Abuna Acolyte is fine. With all of the 1/1's in the format, it's not bad at making what seems like a trade a gain in board position. I should have probably played it.
-Auriok Sunchaser is rather overrated IMO, but against decks that can't Blast or Arrest it before Metalcraft gets active, it's solid.
-Fulgent Distraction, Leonin Arbiter, Seize the Initiative, Soul Parry and Whitesun's Passage are absolutely unplayable, at least in the mainboard. Fulgent Distraction's decent in the sideboard, as is Soul Parry against Infect when your opponent inevitably uses Untamed Might.
-Ghalma's Warden is better than Sunchaser, IMO. Not a target for Arc Trail or Embersmith like the Sunchaser is without Craft.
-Glint Hawks are swingy. If you have cheap artifacts, they're great as a 2/2 flier for effectively 2, but otherwise they're terribad.
-Revoke is excellent, and a great splash spell.
-Sunspear Shikari is solid without an equipment, IMO, and scary with one.
Overall, my white's very strong. Revoke is the main attraction, as I love me some removal.
Blue:
1 Disperse
1 Halt Order
1 Inexorable Tide
2 Lumengrid Drake
1 Trinket Mage
2 Vault Skyward
1 Vedalken Certarch
-Disperse, Halt Order, the Drakes and the Certarch are all fine tempo spells, but not exactly decent at getting board position IMO (although Halt Order is very useful as a 2-for-1).
-Inexorable Tide and Vault Skyward are poooooooop.
-Trinket Mage is only going to be useful if I have at least one target for it, for card advantage and value reasons.
Overall, my blue is decent, but blue is in general probably the weakest color in Limited period unless you've picked yourself up an Argent Sphinx, Grand Architect, or the Soliton / Heavy Arbalest combo.
Black:
1 Bleak Coven Vampires
1 Blistergrub
1 Exsanguinate
1 Flesh Allergy
2 Grasp of Darkness
1 Ichor Rats
1 Instill Infection
1 Necrogen Scudder
1 Psychic Miasma
-Bleak Coven Vampires has never been a card I've played, but never been a bad card in my book. Without its ability, it's 4 power for 5 mana, which beats a lot of the creatures in this format. Its ability is an amazing swing, especially in a race.
-Blistergrub IS a good card, and certainly maindeckable, but not a card I'd probably run.
-Exsanguinate is a card I've overvalued. It is by no means Fireball, and I should stop thinking it is. Gaining life is always worse than destroying a creature.
-Flesh Allergy, double Grasp of Darkness (!), and Instill Infection seriously tempted me to play black. Seriously. However, Instill isn't a strong enough card on the splash and the rest aren't splashable period, since I lack Leaden Myr (spoiler!)
-Ichor Rats is my only black Infect creature. Cute.
-Necrogen Scudder is scary solid, btw. Just thought y'all should know.
Black is strong, due to its removal, but I'm unsure at this point.
Red:
1 Bloodshot Trainee
1 Ferrovore
2 Galvanic Blast
1 Koth of the Hammer
3 Kuldotha Rebirth
1 Oxidda Scrapmelter
2 Scoria Elemental
1 Shatter
-Bloodshot Trainee is one of those cards you really want to work, but when it doesn't, it's just terrible. I always consider it at first, but it will quickly lose the deck spot if it doesn't have the support it needs. (Note: Vulshok Heartstoker is not going to do it unless you have like 3 of them, and even then.)
-You ever die to Ferrovore? You will one day. Thing is a monster. The only thing it has going against it is 2 toughness, meaning a single untapped Mountain can hold it back.
-Galvanic Blast is possibly the most solid, flexible piece of removal in the set. It's Bolt, that could be Flame Slash! What else do you need?
-Oh, hi, KOTH. I literally was like "LOLWUT" when I got this. Pretty freakin' awesome. Have you ever gotten his emblem online? It's pretty ridiculous, and nearly impossible to lose when you have it.
-Kuldotha Rebirth is fine if you have a bunch of throwaway artifacts. Otherwise, it's terribad.
-Scrapmelter and Shatter are your value removal spells; the former is especially great as it often times is a 2-for-1.
-Scoria Elemental is poop. Don't ever play it, ever.
Easily my strongest color by 48.926 miles, I have no problem at all playing red, easily my favorite color in this format, and having the opportunity to play Koth makes me giggle like a tween at a Justin Bieber concert.
Green:
2 Alpha Tyrannax
1 Blunt the Assault
1 Cystbearer
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Ezuri's Brigade
1 Untamed Might
-Alpha Tyrannax is underrated. 5 toughness is a leap over 4, and it's a really strong finisher in green IMO.
-Blunt the Assault is terribad, and you should never play it unless you need to sideboard against Infect.
-Cystbearer is sadly crying itself to sleep with my Ichor Rats.
-Ezuri is pretty strong, but is at his best around Tel-Jilad Fallen or Carapace Forgers, of which I have neither.
-I have Ezuri's Brigade, though, who by himself is very strong. Very, very strong.
-Untamed Might is really only for Infect decks, IMO, though it's not a stretch to try it in an evasive or trample-aggressive deck.
IT'S A TRAP!
Green has some very strong cards, but lacks in the numbers department. Without more decent green, it's too shallow a color. Ezuri + Brigade does not make Ezuri playable IMO, and I can't splash for Brigade, as much as I'd like to, seeing as I lack Horizon Spellbombs.
Artifacts:
1 Accorder's Shield
1 Auriok Replica
1 Bladed Pinions
1 Darksteel Axe
2 Darksteel Sentinel
2 Glint Hawk Idol
2 Gold Myr
2 Golem's Heart
1 Grafted Exoskeleton
1 Infiltration Lens
2 Moriok Replica
1 Neurok Replica
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Panic Spellbomb
2 Razorfield Thresher
1 Rust Tick
2 Soliton
2 Strider Harness
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Throne of Geth
2 Vector Asp
1 Venser's Journal
1 Vulshok Replica
1 Wurmcoil Engine
-Accorder's Shield is a card I really, really, really want to like, but I always cut it for an ultimately better card. It is notably good when you want your beater back on defense, or just in general to hold off an assault.
-Auriok Replica is a fine sideboard choice against Infect.
-Bladed Pinions and Sylvok Lifestaff are solid pieces of Equipment.
-Darksteel Axe is absurd. On Bloodshot Trainee, it's one of Limited's most fun interactions.
-Darksteel Sentinel is fine against non-Infect decks. I never mainboard it; I think I should.
-2 Glint Hawk Idol and 2 Gold Myr are a perfect reason to stay white. Both are solid cards.
-Golem's Heart, Razorfield Thresher, Throne of Geth, Vector Asp, and Venser's Journal are all terrible, IMO. Throne of Geth is a card whose potential I just don't see.
-Grafted Exoskeleton's a pretty powerful card...too bad I'm not in Infect.
-Infiltration Lens, I feel, is a trap. Too many times, your opponent will just not block your creature. I think you rarely get actual value out of it, which means it's not worth it.
-The Replicas are decent, but they don't have "Sylvok" in their name, so they aren't splashable.
-Spellbombs are always solid. When you need to draw, they cycle, and when you need Metalcraft, you have them.
-Rust Tick is solid removal, though I myself haven't had much success with it.
-Soliton are only decent with Heavy Arablest, which I don't have, so they're not worth it.
-I'm not a big fan of Strider Harness. There are many things I'd rather cast for 3 mana, and with my Myr in play, many things I'd rather cast turn 3.
-Vulshok Replica is a very strong card in the color I'm going to most definitely be using. A solid addition.
-HI WURMCOIL. Koth and Wurmcoil, jeez. Is it my birthday? The thing's insane, there's absolutely no reason you don't run it.
If my Myr had been Leaden, I'd probably run R/B, splashing white for Revokes and two Idols. However, because they were white, I ended up in R/W, and this is what my deck ended up looking like:
-12- Creatures
-1- Sunspear Shikari
-1- Ghalma's Warden
-2- Glint Hawk
-1- Bloodshot Trainee
-1- Ferrovore
-1- Oxidda Scrapmelter
-1- Vulshok Replica
-1- Wurmcoil Engine
-1- Rust Tick
-2- Gold Myr
-12- Other Spells
-1- Revoke Existence
-2- Galvanic Blast
-1- Koth of the Hammer
-1- Shatter
-1- Sylvok Lifestaff
-1- Strider Harness
-1- Panic Spellbomb
-2- Glint Hawk Idol
-1- Darksteel Axe
-1- Bladed Pinions
-16- Lands
-10- Mountain
-6- Plains
So yeah, I was pretty confident in this deck. I'm a Chrome Steed, an Arrest, and a Sword of Body and Mind away from this being perhaps the most absurd Sealed pool I've ever opened period. I was really happy with what I got, and I was looking forward to hopefully 3-0ing and then proceeding to play a pro (I would've loved to play Luis Scott-Vargas or Brad Nelson, admittedly. I, of course, played neither.)
So after a little bit of time spent catching up on the status of my friends, the first round began.
Round 1 - vs. Red/White
Red/White is THE archetype you're playing, unless you're playing Infect. It's pretty hard not to play the color combination, with its combination of the most powerful removal spells, and the most solid, aggressive creatures.
So I sat down with my opponent, also a first-timer to the big tournament scene. I was a bit nervous to play, but I realized that if I scrubbed round 1 I'd really just be pissed at myself, so there was no choice but to win.
Turn 2 Gold Myr. Turn 3 Koth. Turn 5 emblem. BAM.
Game 2 didn't go too much differently ; Idols and Hawks beat him down quite handily, and I got there pretty fast.
1-0
Checking on my friends, Brad had won 2-0 to a timely Grasp of Darkness targeting his opponent's Skittles, who was about to swing for lethal. Natalie, however, wasn't so lucky, and lost her first round.
I checked on Joel's progress through the side events. He had apparently lost in a single elimination match in a Standard side event after he Mana Leaked an Inferno Titan only for his opponent to double Summoning Trap into Primeval Titan and mainboarded Gaea's Revenge. Yikes.
We got in line to have Chippy and Steve Argyle sign our playmats and cards. I got my two Consume the Meek (one of which was foil) signed, but most had came to get their Skittles (mat or card), their Sarkhans, their Cobras, or their DvD Akromas signed. (In the case of Natalie and Brad, it was all of the above) We had to wait in line for Chippy for what felt like FOREVER; in fact, we had to have Joel take our spot while the second round started.
Round 2 - vs. Red/White
Not surprised to see that I'm against this deck again. My opponent had a first-round bye; not a good sign for me, whose Limited rating is poop due to me being an active player for all of one year and only going to sanctioned prereleases and the TO of the store I used to play at not recording all of the drafts we did.
Regardless, game 1 ended very stupidly when he Revoked a Glint Hawk Idol to remove my last blocker, which would have him get in for lethal, only for me to resolve Wurmcoil next turn. What does he do? Untaps, casts a second Revoke to exile it, and kills me. Expletive.
I won game 2 very quickly with a Koth emblem. Did I mention Koth is awesome?
Game 3 went pretty well until he resolved a Hoard-Smelter Dragon, and things went from bad to worse when he untapped with it. Let's just say you don't let that thing live if you can...but there isn't much I can do against a non-artifact threat with 5 toughness, so I simply conceded.
1-1
I checked on Joel first. He had just gotten to the front of the line with Chippy and was getting our stuff signed. Brad, who had lost, joined us, and Natalie joined us soon after, explaining that she had lost the will to play, so she simply dropped after winning game 1. So it was me and Brad, both at 1-1, fighting to keep our heads above the water. Neither of us had any expectation to day 2, but you never know. Regardless, after we finished eating, round 3 started.
Round 3 - vs. Red/Black
He mulled to 5. I had a turn 3 Koth. Smash.
Game 2 he gets two Necrogen Scudders on board and I can't race them.
Game 3 I have a buttload of equipment on the board and an active Ferrovore. I give it Bladed Pinions and kill him with it. Awesomesauce.
2-1
I check on Brad, who unfortunately lost, and subsequently dropped. So I was the last one standing. No pressure or anything.
After a while of waiting around, the fourth round began.
Round 4 - vs. W/(U/g or G/u; I couldn't tell which was his splash)
For the record, I was sitting next to Richard Hagon for this one. Despite how eccentric he is when commentating on Pro Tours and other large events (oddly not this one; though Brian David-Marshall was around in the middle of the rounds, not playing), he was intensely focused while playing. It was...odd to witness him be so serious.
Game 1 he casts his foil Molten-Tail Masticore (!). I Revoke it. He proceeds to drop a bunch of dudes and attrition me out through sheer numbers.
Game 2 I get Koth's emblem, I think. He again attempts to Masticore, only to have it meet Revoke.
Game 3 I Revoke Masticore a third time, but by this point he has Myrsmith, 4 Myr tokens, Argent Sphinx and Chrome Steed. My Ghalma's Warden with Metalcraft is holding it back, and I manage to resolve Wurmcoil Engine, but what else does he topdeck but Venser when I'm at exactly 14 life. A very intense game, but what can I say, sometimes Wurmcoil just isn't fated to turn sideways...EVER.
2-2
I subsequently dropped, and looked for Natalie, Brad and Joel. We were going to join a side event draft, where I could force Furnace Celebration again, but they weren't up for it, so we just left.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with how I did. I got to live for 40% of the first day, which is pretty decent for my first GP. I could have done better, but I had no expectation of Day 2ing. I had fun, and got my Nicol Bolas playmat, and a Koth. I am extremely pleased with the turnout.
I plan to go to Grand Prix Montreal next year, and hopefully, I'll do better this time around. Though it'll be tough to top opening something like Koth and Wurmcoil.
I hope you enjoyed my little tournament report, hahaha. More to come in the future! =)
So I spent most of my time thinking "X days until the GP, yay!" like some giddy schoolgirl waiting for her star-crossed lover to return from overseas, or something of the sort. Days, weeks, and months passed, and soon enough, the GP had arrived upon us.
Much change had occured since then. All but two of the local players who'd planned to go decided to withdraw for their own personal reasons, leaving me to go with two good friends and one of the two local players who had decided to stick to going. (He had agreed to drive there and back.)
So this is me at about 11:00 on Thursday, October 21st, thinking "The GP's on Saturday. I have FNM, and a friend's party to go to." I had quite a busy day that Friday.
So I spent most of Friday getting snacks for the road (some of which miraculously survived the ordeal) and preparing for my journey. At about 5:30, I departed to FNM.
T'was a night of Standard. I had been testing my homebrew, deathstar.dek, found here.
The TO split the 19 competitors into two pods; one of 10, and one of 9. I got placed in the pod of 10.
I ended up going 3-1, but all my wins were practically byes, so I have no idea what to do to the deck, and don't have a strong enough sample to know what to do with my deck. The one loss, RUG ramp, was the only exception; I was beaten by Oracles and Cobras, and post-board, Ruinblasters. About 7 people ran the deck, and both pod winners sported the list. (The one whom I lost to was first in my pod; I was third, behind the guy he had beaten in the fourth round.) It was annoying, because for all my metagame sniping, nobody played Primeval Titans so I could just Edge everything. Sadface.
Regardless, after FNM, I went to a party at my buddy's place. Now keep in mind, I knew full well I was leaving at 4 AM to head to Toronto. It was about 10. His place was a 45-hour-long walk from my own. I was very tired for some reason after FNM; I had slept reasonably well the night before so I was baffled by my fatigue.
I didn't stay there long; I was very tired and couldn't socialize very well due to my fatigue. I bused it home instead of walking (thanks to the grace of my friend Natalie, who gave my bus fare after FNM), and arrived back at 1 AM.
I spent the next three hours working on a neat Liquimetal Coating deck for Standard. Did I mention that card is awesome?
-11- Creatures
-1- Hoard-Smelter Dragon
-4- Manic Vandal
-4- Ezuri's Brigade
-2- Sylvok Replica
-25- Spells
-4- Liquimetal Coating
-4- Nature's Claim
-4- Naturalize
-4- Galvanic Blast
-4- Ancient Stirrings
-3- Relic Crush
-2- Voltaic Key
-24- Lands
-1- Copperline Gorge
-1- Raging Ravine
-14- Forest
-8- Mountain
I should be playing blue over red, but I like Pits and I'm thinking of even including Koths in this list for S&G's.
So I thought this deck would be silly fun to test out at the GP, so I brought it, deathstar.dek, and my Limited box along with the food I had, my DS, and my iPod, and headed to the GP at 4 when my friend Joel showed up to pick me up.
We headed to pick Natalie and my friend Brad up, and then took off to Toronto. I thought I could sleep, but I only got roughly two hours' worth, and it was very restless. His car is very uncomfortable. :(
So we arrived at the building at around 8:30 (after taking what felt like hours to find it), and got inside, settling down and completing some trades. We registered, I got my foil Jitte (yay!), and I traded Brad a Natural Order for a Nicol Bolas playmat they were offering there. Score!
Joel asked me to test Type 2, so we had a couple games with Coating.dek.
You have to mulligan aggressively into either Coating or Ancient Stirrings (how
you find your Coatings). I managed to cut him off one or even two colors in all of our games, but there were games where, again, Cobra got him there. A notable situation was where I cut him off both red and green, and he had three Islands in play, and I had an 8/8 Brigade staring him down. When I cast a second, and failed to find a land, he scooped.
The deck's success ratio is swingy. Smart players will be on the play game 2 and Leak Coating, which is when you're screwed. You rarely find a second (which is what the Keys are for), and the deck does need to draw it pretty badly in order to win. But if you win, it's a very satisfiyng deck to tempo them out of the game.
I played another guy, who played mono-green pukeoutdudes.dek. Terastodon never hit my Coatings, which is fine by me since I Claimed two of them, but then I got stomped by Elephants. (The deck is creature-light.)
Anyway, enough about Standard and my wacky delving into the deepest recesses of the hivemind. After what felt like forever (Registration ended at 9:30. It was around 11 when we actually got things going), we were given our seat numbers and told to sit down. Natalie, Brad and myself took our seats while Joel had taken to the Type 2 side events.
We were given the lowdown on a very, very quiet speaker system (I could barely hear a word any of the judges ever said throughout that whole event, srsly.), and then given the product to open.
I opened a rather sick Infect deck; Skittles, Grafted Exoskeleton, 2x Tyrannax with 2x Tainted Strike, 2x Contagious Nim, 2x Plague Stinger, Trigon of Rage...just a pretty solid pool overall. I was just hoping I didn't have to play whoever I passed this to.
After registering the contents, we swapped with the person across from us. The woman passed me an absolute rubbish pool; every single rare was virtually unplayable; I think there might have been a Darksteel Juggernaut, which is fine, but it's not Steel Hellkite, Masticore, Wurmcoil Engine, Myr Battlesphere, etc...Cards that just single-handedly control games.
We then passed the decks left, and without checking, left again. These were the pools we were given. I ended up with:
White:
1 Abuna Acolyte
1 Auriok Sunchaser
1 Fulgent Distraction
1 Ghalma's Warden
2 Glint Hawk
1 Leonin Arbiter
1 Revoke Existence
1 Seize the Initiative
1 Soul Parry
1 Sunspear Shikari
1 Whitesun's Passage
-Abuna Acolyte is fine. With all of the 1/1's in the format, it's not bad at making what seems like a trade a gain in board position. I should have probably played it.
-Auriok Sunchaser is rather overrated IMO, but against decks that can't Blast or Arrest it before Metalcraft gets active, it's solid.
-Fulgent Distraction, Leonin Arbiter, Seize the Initiative, Soul Parry and Whitesun's Passage are absolutely unplayable, at least in the mainboard. Fulgent Distraction's decent in the sideboard, as is Soul Parry against Infect when your opponent inevitably uses Untamed Might.
-Ghalma's Warden is better than Sunchaser, IMO. Not a target for Arc Trail or Embersmith like the Sunchaser is without Craft.
-Glint Hawks are swingy. If you have cheap artifacts, they're great as a 2/2 flier for effectively 2, but otherwise they're terribad.
-Revoke is excellent, and a great splash spell.
-Sunspear Shikari is solid without an equipment, IMO, and scary with one.
Overall, my white's very strong. Revoke is the main attraction, as I love me some removal.
Blue:
1 Disperse
1 Halt Order
1 Inexorable Tide
2 Lumengrid Drake
1 Trinket Mage
2 Vault Skyward
1 Vedalken Certarch
-Disperse, Halt Order, the Drakes and the Certarch are all fine tempo spells, but not exactly decent at getting board position IMO (although Halt Order is very useful as a 2-for-1).
-Inexorable Tide and Vault Skyward are poooooooop.
-Trinket Mage is only going to be useful if I have at least one target for it, for card advantage and value reasons.
Overall, my blue is decent, but blue is in general probably the weakest color in Limited period unless you've picked yourself up an Argent Sphinx, Grand Architect, or the Soliton / Heavy Arbalest combo.
Black:
1 Bleak Coven Vampires
1 Blistergrub
1 Exsanguinate
1 Flesh Allergy
2 Grasp of Darkness
1 Ichor Rats
1 Instill Infection
1 Necrogen Scudder
1 Psychic Miasma
-Bleak Coven Vampires has never been a card I've played, but never been a bad card in my book. Without its ability, it's 4 power for 5 mana, which beats a lot of the creatures in this format. Its ability is an amazing swing, especially in a race.
-Blistergrub IS a good card, and certainly maindeckable, but not a card I'd probably run.
-Exsanguinate is a card I've overvalued. It is by no means Fireball, and I should stop thinking it is. Gaining life is always worse than destroying a creature.
-Flesh Allergy, double Grasp of Darkness (!), and Instill Infection seriously tempted me to play black. Seriously. However, Instill isn't a strong enough card on the splash and the rest aren't splashable period, since I lack Leaden Myr (spoiler!)
-Ichor Rats is my only black Infect creature. Cute.
-Necrogen Scudder is scary solid, btw. Just thought y'all should know.
Black is strong, due to its removal, but I'm unsure at this point.
Red:
1 Bloodshot Trainee
1 Ferrovore
2 Galvanic Blast
1 Koth of the Hammer
3 Kuldotha Rebirth
1 Oxidda Scrapmelter
2 Scoria Elemental
1 Shatter
-Bloodshot Trainee is one of those cards you really want to work, but when it doesn't, it's just terrible. I always consider it at first, but it will quickly lose the deck spot if it doesn't have the support it needs. (Note: Vulshok Heartstoker is not going to do it unless you have like 3 of them, and even then.)
-You ever die to Ferrovore? You will one day. Thing is a monster. The only thing it has going against it is 2 toughness, meaning a single untapped Mountain can hold it back.
-Galvanic Blast is possibly the most solid, flexible piece of removal in the set. It's Bolt, that could be Flame Slash! What else do you need?
-Oh, hi, KOTH. I literally was like "LOLWUT" when I got this. Pretty freakin' awesome. Have you ever gotten his emblem online? It's pretty ridiculous, and nearly impossible to lose when you have it.
-Kuldotha Rebirth is fine if you have a bunch of throwaway artifacts. Otherwise, it's terribad.
-Scrapmelter and Shatter are your value removal spells; the former is especially great as it often times is a 2-for-1.
-Scoria Elemental is poop. Don't ever play it, ever.
Easily my strongest color by 48.926 miles, I have no problem at all playing red, easily my favorite color in this format, and having the opportunity to play Koth makes me giggle like a tween at a Justin Bieber concert.
Green:
2 Alpha Tyrannax
1 Blunt the Assault
1 Cystbearer
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Ezuri's Brigade
1 Untamed Might
-Alpha Tyrannax is underrated. 5 toughness is a leap over 4, and it's a really strong finisher in green IMO.
-Blunt the Assault is terribad, and you should never play it unless you need to sideboard against Infect.
-Cystbearer is sadly crying itself to sleep with my Ichor Rats.
-Ezuri is pretty strong, but is at his best around Tel-Jilad Fallen or Carapace Forgers, of which I have neither.
-I have Ezuri's Brigade, though, who by himself is very strong. Very, very strong.
-Untamed Might is really only for Infect decks, IMO, though it's not a stretch to try it in an evasive or trample-aggressive deck.
IT'S A TRAP!
Green has some very strong cards, but lacks in the numbers department. Without more decent green, it's too shallow a color. Ezuri + Brigade does not make Ezuri playable IMO, and I can't splash for Brigade, as much as I'd like to, seeing as I lack Horizon Spellbombs.
Artifacts:
1 Accorder's Shield
1 Auriok Replica
1 Bladed Pinions
1 Darksteel Axe
2 Darksteel Sentinel
2 Glint Hawk Idol
2 Gold Myr
2 Golem's Heart
1 Grafted Exoskeleton
1 Infiltration Lens
2 Moriok Replica
1 Neurok Replica
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Panic Spellbomb
2 Razorfield Thresher
1 Rust Tick
2 Soliton
2 Strider Harness
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Throne of Geth
2 Vector Asp
1 Venser's Journal
1 Vulshok Replica
1 Wurmcoil Engine
-Accorder's Shield is a card I really, really, really want to like, but I always cut it for an ultimately better card. It is notably good when you want your beater back on defense, or just in general to hold off an assault.
-Auriok Replica is a fine sideboard choice against Infect.
-Bladed Pinions and Sylvok Lifestaff are solid pieces of Equipment.
-Darksteel Axe is absurd. On Bloodshot Trainee, it's one of Limited's most fun interactions.
-Darksteel Sentinel is fine against non-Infect decks. I never mainboard it; I think I should.
-2 Glint Hawk Idol and 2 Gold Myr are a perfect reason to stay white. Both are solid cards.
-Golem's Heart, Razorfield Thresher, Throne of Geth, Vector Asp, and Venser's Journal are all terrible, IMO. Throne of Geth is a card whose potential I just don't see.
-Grafted Exoskeleton's a pretty powerful card...too bad I'm not in Infect.
-Infiltration Lens, I feel, is a trap. Too many times, your opponent will just not block your creature. I think you rarely get actual value out of it, which means it's not worth it.
-The Replicas are decent, but they don't have "Sylvok" in their name, so they aren't splashable.
-Spellbombs are always solid. When you need to draw, they cycle, and when you need Metalcraft, you have them.
-Rust Tick is solid removal, though I myself haven't had much success with it.
-Soliton are only decent with Heavy Arablest, which I don't have, so they're not worth it.
-I'm not a big fan of Strider Harness. There are many things I'd rather cast for 3 mana, and with my Myr in play, many things I'd rather cast turn 3.
-Vulshok Replica is a very strong card in the color I'm going to most definitely be using. A solid addition.
-HI WURMCOIL. Koth and Wurmcoil, jeez. Is it my birthday? The thing's insane, there's absolutely no reason you don't run it.
If my Myr had been Leaden, I'd probably run R/B, splashing white for Revokes and two Idols. However, because they were white, I ended up in R/W, and this is what my deck ended up looking like:
-12- Creatures
-1- Sunspear Shikari
-1- Ghalma's Warden
-2- Glint Hawk
-1- Bloodshot Trainee
-1- Ferrovore
-1- Oxidda Scrapmelter
-1- Vulshok Replica
-1- Wurmcoil Engine
-1- Rust Tick
-2- Gold Myr
-12- Other Spells
-1- Revoke Existence
-2- Galvanic Blast
-1- Koth of the Hammer
-1- Shatter
-1- Sylvok Lifestaff
-1- Strider Harness
-1- Panic Spellbomb
-2- Glint Hawk Idol
-1- Darksteel Axe
-1- Bladed Pinions
-16- Lands
-10- Mountain
-6- Plains
So yeah, I was pretty confident in this deck. I'm a Chrome Steed, an Arrest, and a Sword of Body and Mind away from this being perhaps the most absurd Sealed pool I've ever opened period. I was really happy with what I got, and I was looking forward to hopefully 3-0ing and then proceeding to play a pro (I would've loved to play Luis Scott-Vargas or Brad Nelson, admittedly. I, of course, played neither.)
So after a little bit of time spent catching up on the status of my friends, the first round began.
Round 1 - vs. Red/White
Red/White is THE archetype you're playing, unless you're playing Infect. It's pretty hard not to play the color combination, with its combination of the most powerful removal spells, and the most solid, aggressive creatures.
So I sat down with my opponent, also a first-timer to the big tournament scene. I was a bit nervous to play, but I realized that if I scrubbed round 1 I'd really just be pissed at myself, so there was no choice but to win.
Turn 2 Gold Myr. Turn 3 Koth. Turn 5 emblem. BAM.
Game 2 didn't go too much differently ; Idols and Hawks beat him down quite handily, and I got there pretty fast.
1-0
Checking on my friends, Brad had won 2-0 to a timely Grasp of Darkness targeting his opponent's Skittles, who was about to swing for lethal. Natalie, however, wasn't so lucky, and lost her first round.
I checked on Joel's progress through the side events. He had apparently lost in a single elimination match in a Standard side event after he Mana Leaked an Inferno Titan only for his opponent to double Summoning Trap into Primeval Titan and mainboarded Gaea's Revenge. Yikes.
We got in line to have Chippy and Steve Argyle sign our playmats and cards. I got my two Consume the Meek (one of which was foil) signed, but most had came to get their Skittles (mat or card), their Sarkhans, their Cobras, or their DvD Akromas signed. (In the case of Natalie and Brad, it was all of the above) We had to wait in line for Chippy for what felt like FOREVER; in fact, we had to have Joel take our spot while the second round started.
Round 2 - vs. Red/White
Not surprised to see that I'm against this deck again. My opponent had a first-round bye; not a good sign for me, whose Limited rating is poop due to me being an active player for all of one year and only going to sanctioned prereleases and the TO of the store I used to play at not recording all of the drafts we did.
Regardless, game 1 ended very stupidly when he Revoked a Glint Hawk Idol to remove my last blocker, which would have him get in for lethal, only for me to resolve Wurmcoil next turn. What does he do? Untaps, casts a second Revoke to exile it, and kills me. Expletive.
I won game 2 very quickly with a Koth emblem. Did I mention Koth is awesome?
Game 3 went pretty well until he resolved a Hoard-Smelter Dragon, and things went from bad to worse when he untapped with it. Let's just say you don't let that thing live if you can...but there isn't much I can do against a non-artifact threat with 5 toughness, so I simply conceded.
1-1
I checked on Joel first. He had just gotten to the front of the line with Chippy and was getting our stuff signed. Brad, who had lost, joined us, and Natalie joined us soon after, explaining that she had lost the will to play, so she simply dropped after winning game 1. So it was me and Brad, both at 1-1, fighting to keep our heads above the water. Neither of us had any expectation to day 2, but you never know. Regardless, after we finished eating, round 3 started.
Round 3 - vs. Red/Black
He mulled to 5. I had a turn 3 Koth. Smash.
Game 2 he gets two Necrogen Scudders on board and I can't race them.
Game 3 I have a buttload of equipment on the board and an active Ferrovore. I give it Bladed Pinions and kill him with it. Awesomesauce.
2-1
I check on Brad, who unfortunately lost, and subsequently dropped. So I was the last one standing. No pressure or anything.
After a while of waiting around, the fourth round began.
Round 4 - vs. W/(U/g or G/u; I couldn't tell which was his splash)
For the record, I was sitting next to Richard Hagon for this one. Despite how eccentric he is when commentating on Pro Tours and other large events (oddly not this one; though Brian David-Marshall was around in the middle of the rounds, not playing), he was intensely focused while playing. It was...odd to witness him be so serious.
Game 1 he casts his foil Molten-Tail Masticore (!). I Revoke it. He proceeds to drop a bunch of dudes and attrition me out through sheer numbers.
Game 2 I get Koth's emblem, I think. He again attempts to Masticore, only to have it meet Revoke.
Game 3 I Revoke Masticore a third time, but by this point he has Myrsmith, 4 Myr tokens, Argent Sphinx and Chrome Steed. My Ghalma's Warden with Metalcraft is holding it back, and I manage to resolve Wurmcoil Engine, but what else does he topdeck but Venser when I'm at exactly 14 life. A very intense game, but what can I say, sometimes Wurmcoil just isn't fated to turn sideways...EVER.
2-2
I subsequently dropped, and looked for Natalie, Brad and Joel. We were going to join a side event draft, where I could force Furnace Celebration again, but they weren't up for it, so we just left.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with how I did. I got to live for 40% of the first day, which is pretty decent for my first GP. I could have done better, but I had no expectation of Day 2ing. I had fun, and got my Nicol Bolas playmat, and a Koth. I am extremely pleased with the turnout.
I plan to go to Grand Prix Montreal next year, and hopefully, I'll do better this time around. Though it'll be tough to top opening something like Koth and Wurmcoil.
I hope you enjoyed my little tournament report, hahaha. More to come in the future! =)