[Report] 115th at GP: Columbus

Well, I made Day 2 and finished 115th. I rolled through Day 1, and then just sort of lost it Day 2:

Day One:
Round One: Burn, 2-0. 1-0
Round Two: UGwr Gro, 1-1-1. 1-0-1
Round Three: Faerie Stompy, 2-1. 2-0-1
Round Four: UBW Fish (with Vials and Silver Knights), 0-2. 2-1-1
Round Five: BW Confidant, 2-1. 3-1-1
Round Six: BGR Loam Control (Terravores, Seismic Assaults, etc), 2-1. 4-1-1
Round Seven: UB Flash (Kiki kill), 2-1. 5-1-1
Round Eight: UW Landstill, 2-0. 6-1-1
Round Nine: BGR Loam Control, 1-1-1. 6-1-2

Seeded 82 going into Day 2.

Day Two:
Round 10: UBW Fish with Flash-Hulk SB, 2-0. 7-1-2
Round 11: UB Flash (Kiki kill), 1-1. 7-1-3 (This draw killed my chances to make Top 8. I'll write a little more on this match later.)
Round 12: UBW Fish with Flash-Hulk SB, 1-2. 7-2-3
Round 13: Goblins, 1-2. 7-3-2
Round 14: UBW Fish (with Exalted Angel), 1-2. 7-4-3

At that point, I was so sick of Magic, I dropped. I was getting completely out-drawn the entire day, and had absolutely no desire to even finish the last round.

My list looked like this:

Mono-Blue Control with Black and White Splash Suggested by Richard Franklin on 2007-05-19 as a Potential Deck for Legacy
by Richard Franklin

4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Scrubland

4 Dark Confidant
4 Meddling Mage
3 Mother of Runes
3 Jotun Grunt
2 Serendib Efreet

4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions

4 Force of Will
3 Daze
3 Stifle
2 Spell Snare

4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Umezawa's Jitte

SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 3 Engineered Plague
SB: 3 Rootwater Thief
SB: 2 Azorius Guildmage
SB: 2 Serenity
SB: 1 Umezawa's Jitte

It's the list I've been using for ages, except for:

-1 Daze
-1 Jitte
+2 Spell Snare

and a few minor tweaks to the mana base. I liked the list, and it worked pretty well.

Nothing eventful happened Day One, as I cruise through the day. The only problem were my draws (not intentional), which would come back to haunt me. So, I was okay with being 82 going into the next day.

I should have made it to at least the Top 64, but the draw in Round 11 pretty much put me in the wrong bracket. What happened was basically this:

I win Game One quite handily, although it takes about 35-40 minutes. In Game Two, he brings in Plague Slivers and Phyrexian Negators, but I'm able to deal with all of his threats. I hardcast a Leyline and get a Grunt out, which gets him down to single digits. He eventually finds a Pernicious Deed to clear the board, which I let through, since I'm holding two Moms and a Thief. I get the Moms and Thief out, and start beating. I start removing his Masticores (which he also sided in), Hulks, and other threats. However, he's holding in his hand his last Hulk, which he hardcasts (he's also holding his last Deed). At this point, I'm at 8 life, and he's at 4 and time is called. I ask him to concede to me, as it would be better for my tie-breakers to win 2-0 instead of 1-0. He refuses. So, I keep swinging with a flying Thief, and get him down to 2 life. He then casts the Deed he'd been holding in his hand, for which I have no answer. He clears my board, and swings with his Hulk to finish me off. Were I able to draw one last creature after he Deed'd, I would have won the round 1-0. However, he beat me Game Two, and we drew, 1-1.

To Top 8, I needed to go 5-1 Day Two. Had I won Round 11, I would've been 2-0 on the day, and only needed three wins the rest of the day, which I knew I could get. However, with the draw, I could no longer lose a match. Now, I wasn't too upset, as I knew that it was pretty much all Flash, Fish, and Threshold players at the top tables, which I knew I had a good matchup against and could outplay.

However, my luck quickly changed as I just kept getting outdrawn each round. In the next round, the Flash player combo'd off games two and three on turn two with Force of Will and Daze back up. I never opened with any of the Leylines I sided in both in Day One and Two, even when I mulligan'd. Fine. So, I'm 1-1-1 on the day, and can still Top 32 or 64 and make prize. But, I get matched up against Goblins in the next round. I get steamrolled Game One, when he draws and casts all four of his Pyrokinesis, and managed to win Game Two. But, as seemed to be the theme for the day, I get completely screwed Game Three; I open with a very strong hand with both a Jitte and a Plague in it, along with a threat or two and some counters. But, of course, he gets a completely nutty hand, and plays 3 Wastelands and two Ports, and beats me down with two Mogg Fanatics. Seems good.

I split the first two games in Round 14, but get romped in Game Three. He has a Swords/Force/Daze for all of my dorks, and eventually stabilizes with TWO Exalted Angels and a Mage on Swords. Boo.

So, I just drop, and spend the rest of the day playing mental magic with Spencer, Darren, and Doug (Hi-Val) and consuming some amounts of alcohol. Now, apparently, Ohio has some dumb law that limits the amount of alcohol in a drink. When Spencer called me to ask what I wanted Doug to buy (this was still Day One, when Spencer, Darren, and Doug scrubbed out and went on a beer run), I said Smirnoff Green Apple, hoping to come home to a nice fifth of vodka. However, they bought me those sissy Smirnoff bottles which are like 5%. I guess I didn't specifiy I wanted a fifth, but it wouldn't have mattered, because no store in the area sold hard liquor. Endless amounts of Appletini/girl jokes ensue. Whatever.

I don't have too much to say regarding Flash, other than, after seeing that most of the top tables were Flash or Aggro-Control, I think it's best for the format if it goes away.

The weekend was fun though, and I sold a bunch of cards and made quite a bit of money. I was very dissapointed with my finish, needless to say, but I enjoyed every minute of the event. And now, I'm home in time to watch the Pistons beat the piss out of the Cavs.

Props:
-Spencer and Darren for providing a ride
-Doug for providing boozahol
-Serenity (Seriously, that's my most favorite card ever.) for owning Faerie Stompy
-Paul for Top 8'ing. Way to go!!!
-Spell Snare and Rootwater Thief for being the awesomesauce

Slops:
-Spencer and Darren for sucking it up
-Flash
-Fish SB'ing into Flash
-Ohio for having dumb laws
-Drawing garbage all of Day Two

Thanks for reading.