[Report] Split for a Mox at GP:Boston Side Event

Hey Everyone,

Many of you know me as CoolDaddyNick on TMD. I've outgrown it. My name is Nick Coss, from the land that vintage forgot, a.k.a. South Jersey. Anyway, I changed my TMD name to Iron_Chef (already getting tired of it, but what do i call myself dammit!!!) and so I apologize for the confusion.

If you want to read about decklists, and matchups, and don't care at all about me and the Grand Prix, I'd suggest skip the whole thing and go right to the decklist and matches. Just to warn you, people have been known to say i take horrible notes... about everything... ever.

Although Grand Prix Boston is a great event to attend and play in, the only reason for me to make the trip to Boston from South Jersey is the Type 1 action. The Vintage Evolution looked to be another event that offered some good competition. I look online and find fares for Ghetto Airlines, Inc. at a sweet $78 round trip. I don’t book the tickets, because I’m waiting for some friends to figure out if they want to fly and not take the train. Bad move. By the time I check the ticket information again, the price is at $140 for a round trip. Bastards. They decide to take the train and save five bucks. At this point I decide why bother, and figure I won’t go. I heard there was this football game being played on Sunday that shouldn’t be missed, so no big deal. Friday afternoon comes around and I get a call from Jeff (Samite Healer on TMD) asking am I at the airport yet. Woops, forgot to tell someone. I decide that going to the GP isn’t such a bad idea after all, so I go online and find a US Airways flight that leaves from Philadelphia at 6:30 AM on the morning of the GP. It is $158 for a round trip ticket. Subtly awesome. I call Jeff later that night and he says he’s in the middle of a big power deal, and hands off the phone to someone. I tell them I’ll be flying up early Saturday morning and to make sure there’s someone who can pick me up from the airport. I leave Jeff another message on AIM and get to packing and getting cards, etc. By the time I get to sleep its 2:30.

Somehow I wake up at 4, load stuff into the car, and make it to the airport in time to wait around for the 6:30 flight. The flight takes off, the seat belt sign gets turned off, I get soda, and then we arrive in Boston. It’s 7:30. My god flying to a Magic Tournament is awesome. I give Jeff a call and ask how long it might be until he gets here. His response: “You came after all? I’ll leave in five minutes”. He drives up and I load my suitcase into the back of his car, among cards and all. Apparently Boston doesn’t have car washes, because regardless of being a 2 month old 2005 Acura, there’s crap caked all over it. Driving around Boston into a rising sun with crap caked onto your windshield, interesting. He’s got a navigation system, and so we try to find a Western Union for his friend Aaron (also in the crap caked 2005 Acura). By GPS we are 2.2 miles and 6 minutes away, so we follow the directions. It tells us to take the right in 100 feet. We’re in a tunnel. In 100 feet there is a wall. It’s response to our not listening to its directions? “Recalculating…” There are now 12.8 miles to the nearest Western Union and it will take 22 minutes to get there. Boston and all of the Big Dig, and the construction SUCKS! Forty-five minutes of crap caked early morning blindness and driving later we find the Western Union inside a supermarket. Aaron is asked for ID, and gives it to them. Funny, that picture doesn’t look much like Aaron. We find out that it was taken when he was fifteen, is expired, and doesn’t to jack crap towards getting his check cashed. Good way to start, right? We curse off Boston some more, and drive to the GP plus 2 boxes of donuts and 18 bottles of IBC goodness.

And onto the things that actually matter:

Day One Type One Side Event: Five proxies

5/3 (UR Version)

// Mana
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Volcanic Island
1 Shivan Reef
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Crypt

// Creatures
4 Goblin Welder
4 Juggernaut
1 Duplicant
1 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion
1 Karn, Silver Golem – PROXIED BITCHEZ!!
1 Razormane Masticore
1 Platinum Angel

// Spells
4 Trinisphere
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Fire/Ice
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker

// Sideboard
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Gorilla Shaman
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Mystical Tutor

Round 1 vs. Paul Sotter playing-his own creation.

Game One: I started off with a turn one Thirst for Knowledge off artifact mana and a fetch. I draw into a tinker, and I pitch a jug to TFK. I see only volcanic islands before tinker resolves for Sundering Titan, killing his lands and swinging for the win.

SBing:   -Duplicant, -Juggernaut, -Karn
   +3 REB

Game Two: My opening hand has workshop, trinisphere, volcanic, REB, and some other goodies. I open with volcanic, go, so I can back up trinisphere with the REB. Turn 2 I play workshop and cast trinisphere. He fows, and I REB blast it. He plays and wastes my workshop. I play another workshop and crucible, followed by a strip mind and a juggernaut on the next turn. Turn 5 Titan seals the deal.

Matches: 1-0   Games: 2-0

Round 2 vs. Jack McCarthy playing-Control Slaver

Game One: He wins the die roll and goes first, Fetch, Mox Sapphire go. I fetch a Volcanic and lay a first turn Welder which is drained. His following turns consisted of Demonic followed by Recall into Tinker - Slaver, and also a strip mine. Then it only gets better as he Yawg. Wills and Recalls again, tinkers up Pentavus while slavering me again. I was severely owned and we go to game 2.

SBing: OUT: 4 Goblin Welder, Razormane Masticore, Mana Crypt, Wasteland, Crucible
   IN: 3 Rack and Ruin, 2 Blue Elemental Blasts, Mystical Tutor, Tormod’s Crypt, and Gorilla Shaman

Game Two: I attempt to play first turn Trinisphere but it is Fow’ed. Another one hits the board. I have a tinker and strip mine so I get a Crucible through tinker. I also Fire/Ice his welder. I lock down the board and we go to Game 3.

Game Three: First turn Trinisphere! I look at my hand and see Mox Ruby. I am awesome. Turn 2 is Mox and wasteland. Turn 3 is Strip Mine and Juggernaut. Turn 4 is Crucible. Juggernaut goes all the way.

Matches: 2-0 Games 4-1

Round 3 vs. Bryan Wells playing RGBU beats/hate.dec

I sit down at table one and wait for the round to begin. It does, without an opponent. Game loss is at 3 minutes so Kowal lays out his watch (look, he says, the band was made of pants at one point). 3 minutes comes and goes and no opponent, so that was Game One.

Game Two (no sideboarding): He gets to play first due to his game one loss and he leads off with Bayou, duress. He takes mana crypt. I lay a land and pass. He plays Kird Ape, a Taiga, and passes. I lay a land, artifact, and pass. Kird Ape swings, and along with another land, he passes. I draw tinker and go get titan. Titan nukes his land, and he lets a swing through. I play a Jug and pass turn. He passes, I Fire/Ice the Ape, and swing for the win.

It absolutely sucks to have a game loss due to time (especially at 3 minutes). We play another game and he absolutely smashes me swinging with third turn double river boa, troll ascetic, and pernicious deed in play with mana open.

Matches 3-0   Games: 6-1

Since I was done pretty quickly I wander back over to Jeff’s table where Kowal joins us and we agree to draw round 4 (out of 5) as we are the only undefeated people. Guess again. Demonic Attorney gets paired with Kowal (he was undefeated as well) and they draw, so I end up playing.

Round 4: vs. Daniel Cunningham playing Meandeck Oath

Game One: He plays first and starts with fetch, go. I don’t have First turn Trinisphere on this one, and he ancestral recalls, and drops some gas including an Oath of Druids, using a Forbidden Orchard he just played to give me a spirit. He Oaths up Beaters and without much in the way of board position I die quickly thereafter.

SBing: OUT:    3 Crucible of Worlds, 4 Juggernaut, 1 Karn, Silver Golem
   IN   4 Chalice of the Void, 3 Red Elemental Blast, 1 Mystical Tutor

Game Two: My opening hand has a turn 2 Cotv on 2 with Reb Backup. Of course, he has the turn 1 Orchard + Oath. I die very quickly.

Matches 3-1   Games: 6-3

I look at the points and as the pairings are announced there are ten people still in the tournament, all of who could possibly make the top in some way or another. The points ranged from 6 to 10 each, with me at 9 and decent tiebreakers. I’m paired down, so I have to play.

Round 5: vs. Jared Robideoux playing Meandeck Oath (again???)

Game One: I play and mull to 6, not seeing too much but its 2nd turn Jug, so it’s probably going to be better then any 5 card hand. I play a land and pass the turn. He lays a land and says go. I play my 2nd turn Jug and pass, into Oath, how nice. He Oaths up Akroma, and that puts my Jug at a severe disadvantage. I die, again, quickly.

SBing: same as Round 4:

Game Two: I’m on the play, he gives me some tokens and activates Oath for Iridescent Angel. I have tinker, duplicant, platinum angel, workshop, and another land. I play out all my mana sources while getting beat up at 4 a turn. He oaths again and shows that there isn’t anything left in the library. He is tapped out and swinging with pristine. There are a few opportunities for me to duplicant it but I’m stuck at five mana, three of which is from a workshop. I draw a Mox and tinker, looking through my library for anything that would help. I choose titan and nuke his lands. He swings with pristine again, putting me to 4. I swing with titan, and 2 tokens (which being an idiot, I had not swung with until that point in the game) putting him to 5. There’s nothing I can do, and he finishes me off and we wait for top 8 to be posted.

Matches: 3-2   Games: 6-5

I’m somehow in top 8, which definitely works.

Top 8 Match: vs. Demonic Attorney (Demonic Attorney) playing the copyrighted Rich Shay Slaver.

Game One: He plays first and plays a fetch and passes. I play a Shivan reef, go. He lays another blue land and passes. I attempt a Thirst for Knowledge, and it gets Mana Drained. I lay workshop and pass. He lays welder and passes back. He swings with the welder for a few turns. And along with shivan reef this takes me to 15. I save spells until I have the ability to cast 2 on 1 turn, to try and bait out a counterspell. I get slaved, but it’s not a permanent lock, and he sees that I have Crucible and a Strip mine in my hand. The following turn I cast Thirst for Knowledge, which gets forced, and then I cast Crucible. He looks at is, and says that he meant to counter the Crucible, but doesn’t make an issue about it. Demonic Attorney, you’re a stand up guy. Strip Mine every turn isn’t enough to give me the match, as he breaks out the platinum and starts swinging. It makes short work of my life total.

SBing: same as Round 2:

Game Two: My opening hand has First Turn Welder and tormod’s crypt, so I figure that that is good enough. They both resolve. Don’t I wish that I had a trinisphere. Oh well. He plays out a Mana Crypt and some draw spells but nothing really serious. He has the absolute worst luck with crypt, as he gets hit for 3 4 times out of five or 6 turns. I’m a little sketchy on the details at this point, because I was too busy concentrating to take notes, but I got out a titan somehow and hit him down to 1, where 2 turns later he lost due to the mana crypt.

Game Three: Turn 1 he Mystical Tutors for Ancestral, which is very cool being that turn 2 he goes nuts with Ancestral and Thirst For Knowledge off Mana Crypt (I think). My first turn involved Tormod’s Crypt, Land, and Go. I Fire/Iced 2 Welders a turn later, working the tempo magic for me. I’m also sketchy on this, but I get out a crucible lock, while gorilla shaman goes on the beat down path. He was beating with a welder for a few turns but I stabilized at 15. My shaman took him from 15 down to 2 with the help of one mana crypt flip along the way. At this point the judge calls time. Wait, time? In a top 8 match? Yup, the top 8 matches and the top 4 and so forth were all timed for some reason. And if we ran out of time it was decided on life totals. We weren’t told this and I’m sure that if we were Chris wouldn’t have played the mana crypt and he would have played much more aggressively. He played welder tricks with my larger threats, bringing in the useless stuff over and over again. He also Rack and Ruined a Trini and my Tormod’s Crypt, which I crypted him in response, but getting nothing amazing. The game ended when he had 3 untapped lands and I wasted one, and he ended up floating a mana, so I changed phases and Fire/Iced him without him having the ability to do anything about it.

By far this was the most challenging match of the tournament, and it was great playing Chris again (we had played in the seventh round at Waterbury, with the same result). I look forward to the next time we play.

Top 4 Match: vs. Sean Abbot with cool workshop oriented things

Game One: He played first and dropped 2 moxen and a workshop, and I dropped first turn Karn off mana crypt and a Mox and a workshop. I made one of his moxen a creature and pretty much decided the match right there. I then played a Trinisphere and played havoc with his mana base, giving me the free turns to swing with Karn. I played a Juggernaut and a second trinisphere. I animated the first one and swung, dealing enough damage to seal the game a turn faster.

SB: Same as Round 2

Game Two: He played, and I mulled to 6. He tinkered up a colossus and smacked the crap out of me with nothing I could to about it. Vamp tutor is awesome in that deck…

Game Three: I played first, and he STP’ed an early welder. He got out a colossus, but I had the duplicant. He ended up dealing with that but a juggernaut came in to finish him off.

Finals: vs. Ben Kowal playing Stax

Game One: We drew

SBing: I was so confident in the results of the match that I didn’t need to sideboard

Game Two: We drew

Game Three: we found out there had to be a winner so I got the unsanctioned win and we split the Mox Ruby. In effect, we drew!

We also wandered off to play some b.s. games and I was keeping hands with the first play being 3rd turn Thirst for Knowledge. Regardless of the idiocy, we soon had an audience of people thinking that we were in fact playing for the Ruby.

Total Entrants: 22
Price per Head: 20
Total money: $440

Total Prize support: 1 Mox Ruby (VG+)
No really, there wasn’t any other prize support…

We hung around the GP until about 11 that night, when Jeff, Mike Sanchez, and I headed off to find food, IHOP it is. For those of you who have heard of XM radio, it’s awesome. At 10 dollars a month, it provides crystal clear reception and a wide range of channels. But wait, there’s more! For a measly 2.99 more a month you can have a premium channel, of which there are 3. The best of these, by far, is the playboy channel. The route to IHOP was adults calling in saying the strangest things, mothers, Eiffel Towers, the stories go on. To find out more, buy Playboy Radio, on XM radio. If you do, liquefaction has a whole new meaning to it. By this time Jeff is entirely out of it, drifting in and out of sleep... while driving us to IHOP. At a red light, he puts his head down, and Sanchez and I just randomly scream, and he throws his head up in a panic. He says that we shouldn't do that to him while he's driving. He's not driving, we're at a stoplight. Anyway, we ended up spending twenty dollars each at IHOP on appetizers, mozzarella sticks for everyone, and maybe a dinner. We headed back to U. Mass where we found out that the campus cops had raided Jeff’s dorm for alcohol. SO MUCH LAMENESS. Anyway we headed to sleep around 12:30, expecting to get back to the GP by 9 in the morning.

Sunday:

“Jeff, its 10:00” no response.

“Jeff, its 10:30” I think I heard something mumble.

“Jeff, its 11:15” I hear “Call Aaron and see if he’s there”

“Jeff, its 11:30” and “what?”

We get to the GP around 12:45, and I find out that the Type 1 event started about 20 minutes ago. I go to see if they are accepting late entries, but since there are exactly 64 people signed up, they are being anal about letting others join. I go to try and bug Mikeatog, saying that since I “won” the type 1 event I should have a Round 1 bye. No luck. Brassman also wasn’t allowed in, and we wander around a little bit. Some people end up dropping and playing Type 4, which I watched on my wanderings. Monday came along, and I got back on a plane to go back to New Jersey. All in all it was a great weekend, and although Boston seems to hate people with cars, I think I’ll make a second visit and maybe even more!

Props:
Jeff for providing transportation to and from the airport, letting me sleep at U. Mass

Kowal, Jacob, Rich, and all the other TMDers for making it a cool weekend

Jack McCarthy for Rack and Ruining a trinisphere and a mox ruby while I had a 2nd trinisphere out.

US Airways for making travel time less then two hours total

Slops:

Jeff Anand for taking 50 bucks off me in poker.

Some GP Judges for acting condescending towards Type 1 and its players.

The campus police for raiding Jeff's dorm room of alcohol before Superbowl Sunday

The GP staff for offering a Mox Ruby as the only Prize support for a 22 player event.