GPT Richmond, VA - Better Lucky than Good

This story begins with a misunderstanding on my part. Registration was set to start at 1:30 and the tournament at 2:00. One thing I failed to read as I was going over the details for the tournament was the paragraph stating that registration would close at 1:50. I stroll into the Convention center at 1:55 thinking that I have 5 minutes to register, only to be informed that I would have to suffer a first round match loss if I wanted to enter the tournament. (Fateful decision #1) I decide that I can probably pick up a win and even though a first round loss is bad, it's not the end of the world. I ask how many people have shown up for the tournament and find that I am number #25, the odd man out for the tournament, foreshadowing?

So, thinking I have a first round loss and only having fish bowled the deck a few times the morning of the tournament I record my deck list.

Krause CRET Belcher

4 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Burning Wish
3 Empty the Warrens
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Seething Song
4 Rite of Flame
4 Lotus Petal
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Wild Cantor
4 Land Grant
3 Tinder Wall
4 Chrome Mox
4 Pyroblast (TECH!!!)
1 Taiga
1 Bayou

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Shattering Spree
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Pyroclasm
1 Cave In
1 Simplify
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Duress

I had been following the progress of Hulk Flash and really wanted to put the list together, I even wanted to run the kill conditions of the deck that would eventually win the GPT, but thought that Worldly Tutor was a requirement, completely forgot about Lim Dul's Vault and scrapped the deck. In the earlier T1 Belcher decks they have been using MD Pyroblasts and since Force of Will is one of the only outs against turn 1 kills, it made since for Legacy Belcher in my mind.

I wouldn't change the main deck, besides taking out the blasts for Desperate Ritual as a metagame call, but the sideboard was atrocious. Infernal, Cave In, Empty the Warrens and Simplify were good, but the Pyroclasm, Red Elemental Blast and 1-2 of the Shattering Sprees needed to go. In their place should have been a Hull Breach, Diminishing Returns and either more Duress or more Infernal Tutors. It's a work in progress and the Leylines are becoming almost mandatory in the current post-errata Hulk pre-ban metagame.

On to the tournament....

Match 1 (Me vs. Tardiness) Games 0-2 Matches 0-1

So, I had a first round loss and basically sat on my thumbs for an hour. Sucks to be me.

Match 2 (Me vs. G/B/W Mid-range) Games 0-2 Matches 0-2 (Or is it????)

After the hour of solitude I go up to the wrong board and don't find my name on the list. I fume and pout and eventually see everyone in the Legacy tournament looking at the right board. I head over there and look to see where the loser’s area is and get my seat. A funny thing happens when I get up to the board and notice the number to the right of my name, 3. That was odd, somehow my match loss from earlier magically transformed into a bye match win. I have to admit; I was a bit confused but took it as a stroke of divine providence and sat down across from my opponent. We roll and I lose the die roll when he rolls a 20.

This was quite lucky for him as his first turn Duress turns my hand of OMGWTFPWNKillyoufirstturnnext gameGG with Belcher into, well, a pile of poop. I draw nothing and he rips apart my hand with Hymn, Gerrard's Verdict and Duress.

I sideboard out the Pyroblasts that were of course completely useless and side in random crap having no idea what he might bring in against me.

-4 Pyroblast
+1 Duress +3 Shattering Spree

I mull a bunch because every hand I get sucks and proceed to fizzle when he Krosan Grips my Chrome Mox with the imprint on the stack. So much for my deck so far. For the most part I played like garbage and it showed. Seeing as how I got completely destroyed by a deck that I should be able to just beat on the first turn, I hang my head in shame but know that I'm still in it thanks to God liking me and turning my first round from a loss to a bye.

Match 3 (Me vs. Goblins) Games 0-2 Matches 1-2 (Good Karma comes in handy once in a while)

After shuffling, me losing the die roll again to another 20 and him choosing not to mulligan, he throws out his first turn Mountain, Aether Vial before I have even picked up my cards to see if I want to mulligan or not. I throw out an early Belcher with a Wild Cantor imprinted Chrome Mox in hopes of just top decking into the mana to kill him. He has the Tinkerer in his opening hand and I die.

I again sideboard out the Pyroblasts and bring in assorted junk from the board, which should have included Cave In but didn't.

-4 Pyroblast
+1 Pyroclasm +3 Shattering Spree

I mulligan to 5 and get 10 goblins in play on turn 5, what a beating! By that time he has two vials, 1 Pile Driver, 2 Siege Gangs and 2 Warchiefs in play. Yeah, I die as I top deck useless mana sources. So, I'm 1-2 in a 5 round tournament but I stick in there for two reasons, I'm a glutton for punishment and I paid $20 to play some Magic and by God I was going to play some Magic!

Match 4 (Me vs. Bye) Games 2-0 Matches 2-2 (Like the title says....)

Reading that previous statement would make you think I was lucky. Oh, how very far from accurate is that statement. Not only did I have a Bye this round, I got this Bye because my opponent had actually dropped in the previous round and they had recorded this incorrectly. Nice. Bye. So much for actually playing Magic today....

Match 5 (Me vs. UGR Threshold) Games 2-0 Matches 3-2

When they post pairings after round 4, I am at the top of the 6 pointers with 8 people with 9+ points, if the 9 pointers made the smart play and drew, we were all boned. Luckily, on player decided for the greater good to play it out, much to my amusement and joy. If I can win this match I am a lock for Top 8, as Baby Jesus would want it.

Game 1 I play Taiga, reveal my hand to land grant and Pyroblast his Spell Snare. I drop a Belcher without enough mana to activate and top deck the kill two turns later.

Side boarding was a bit of an exercise with the main deck Pyroblasts being the main removal targets previously. I went very conservative and just took out some bad accelerants for some randomly good cards. This is when I realized that the REB was not needed.

-1 Tinder Wall -1 Burning Wish -1 Wild Cantor
+1 Duress +1 Shattering Spree +1 Infernal Tutor

I Duress his Engineered Explosives away and proceed to poop out 14 Goblins on the second turn. He dies two turns later, fulfilling my destiny for the day and getting me into the Top 8.

I go around the tournament hall like a giddy little school girl telling everybody about my making top 8 and being extremely lucky. They laugh at me and call me names; I kick them in the nuts. Fair trade.

A note on the top 8, I don't know names that well and only recognized Gearheart of the 8 of us but here is a breakdown of the Top 8 for the GPT:

David Gearheat - (I forget the name) Something involving Squees, Zombie Infestation, Devastating Dreams and Conflagrates, with some Life From the Loams and Solitary Confinement thrown in
Me - Belcher
Some Guy - UB Kiki Jiki Hulk Flash
Some Guy - UBG Disciple Hulk Flash
Some Guy - GWB Mid-Range
Some Guy - Red Death
Some Guy - Solidarity
Some Guy - UGW Threshold

Top 8 (Me vs. GWB Mid-Range) Games 2-0

The same guy from before? How nice! I even win the die roll, extra special! How lucky!

I drop Belcher with one permanent mana source for activation and top deck the kill two turns later.

I sideboard out the Blasts for good cards and keep wondering why they are in there in the first place, oh yeah, Leyline is good sometimes...

-4 Pyroblast
+1 Pyroclasm +1 Simplify +1 Duress +1 Infernal Tutor

He goes first turn Top, I go first turn 12 green angry men, and his Engineered Plague is 6+ cards from the top of his deck. Win for Team Jesus!

After the 5 minutes it takes me to win the match, I have to wait almost 2 hours for the Solidarity player to knock the UGW Thresh out of contention. Why can't everyone play stupid combo decks like the rest of us?

Top 4 (Me vs. Red Death) Games 2-0

I win the die roll and drop my hand minus a Wild Cantor to get a Mox and a Belcher in play. His duress tickles the Cantor and two turns later a Simian sacrifices himself for the good of Team Jesus.

Side boarding was the same as the previous match with only one change.

-4 Pyroblast
+1 Shattering Spree +1 Simplify +1 Duress +1 Infernal Tutor

I mulligan a crappy hand with a Belcher in it into a crappy hand with an LED and an Infernal Tutor in it. I top deck a mana source and make 14 Goblins. He doesn't top deck his Engineered Plague and Team Jesus advances to the Finals.

I call my girlfriend and tell her I'll probably miss the dinner she cooked for me, I had predicted 0-2 drop since I hadn't played Legacy in a year and made plans accordingly. She was upset, so I was upset. Frowns.

Finals (Me vs. UB Hulk Flash) Games 0-2

He was playing the deck I wish I had played, using the Kiki Jiki kill and making up for the fragility with more disruption than you can shake a stick at. Sigh, I can't wait for this deck to die a horrible, horrible death and the funny part is, this is the underpowered version sans Future Sight.

I win the die roll and die the turn after he forces my first turn Burning Wish. He didn't really need to Force it as he had the kill in hand apparently and could have let me have infinity dudes as they all didn't have haste.

Sideboarding was a beast as I had a bunch of cards I really wanted with jack shit for slots to take out. I ended going with something like this...

-2 Burning Wish -2 Tinder Wall -1 Wild Cantor -1 Empty the Warrens
+4 Leyline of the Void +1 Duress +1 Red Elemental Blast

Don't ask me why I made those choices, my mind was thinking of shrimp getting cold in my girlfriend's fridge and how much I wanted his deck to stop working, insert obligatory rant about the stupidity of the changes made to Flash and the timing of those changes with respect to the Grand Prix.

I have an opening seven with a Leyline but no action and keep. After taking an exceedingly long time to decide, I make the wrong decision, get The Fear and don't go for the Burning Wish -> Empty the Warrens plan. I go for the Wild Cantor beats instead. A few turns later I go for the Burning Wish plan any way and die the next turn. Apparently it didn't matter what I did as he had top decked the Echoing Truth on his first draw along with opening hand double Force backup so there was basically no chance for me. Big Frowns.

So, after a series of fortunate events I made the finals, got 12 packs and even got to eat the refrigerated remains of dinner later that night.

A run down of the Top 8

Red Death BEAT David Gearheart
UB Hulk Flash BEAT UBG Hulk Flash (His first turn after Force of willing his opponent's first turn kill no less. Fair, no?)
Solidarity BEAT UGW Threshold
Belcher BEAT GWB Mid-Range

UB Hulk Flash BEAT Solidarity
Belcher BEAT Red Death

UB Hulk Flash BEAT Team Jesus Belcher

A few thoughts on Hulk Flash. There were 5-6 Hulk Flash in the GPT and 2 of them made it into the Top 8. These were untuned versions of the deck and I am confident that if the two Hulks had not paired off in the Top 4 or Top 8 it would have been a Hulk on Hulk finals. The deck is absurd and needs to go away. Whoever decided to make the change at this point in the GPT season should be reprimanded severely, as it makes me as a tournament player want no part in GP Hulk Flash. Sure there are decks that can beat it and it can draw a bunch of useless cards, but these are untuned lists without the Future Sights cards that will send it into competitive with Type 1 decks range. It needs to go, and honestly it needs to go before the GP otherwise there is a better than zero chance it will make a joke of the format. Chicken Little, blah blah blah but the card needs to go.

I had a good time and actually opened some things I was looking for in my packs for once, which was especially nice since the only way I got them was through shear dumb luck.

Props to Jesus for making me lucky.
Props to my girlfriend for cooking me shrimp.
Slops to Wizards for being idiots.

Josh
KrauserKrauser