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GP Portland: Is That All You Got?! – Part 2

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by Shawn Petsche

In Part 2 of his GP Portland tournament report, Shawn Petsche details his entire Day 1 experience.  Was luck on his side?  Find out inside!

Day 3: GP Portland – M11 Sealed

The tournament started late…maybe a full hour late? When opening our sealed pools, I heard the usual rumblings of "completely broken pools with this Titan and that Titan," none of which corresponded to the pool that I received. That said, I didn't mind, as I liked the feel of my deck from the moment I laid it out, standard a deck as it may have been. Here's the list I registered:

GP Portland M11 Sealed Deck: U/W Skies

image from brokencitymagic.com image from brokencitymagic.com

Creatures (15)

Spells (8)Land (17)

1 x Infantry Veteran
1 x Elite Vanguard
2 x Blinding Mage
1 x Ajani's Pridemate
1 x Wild Griffin
1 x Cloud Elemental
2 x Scroll Thief
1 x Wall of Frost
1 x Gargoyle Sentinel
1 x Clone
1 x Azure Drake
1 x Cloud Crusader
1 x Stormtide Leviathan

1 x Unsummon
1 x Pacifism
1 x Ice Cage
1 x Mana Leak
1 x Excommunicate
1 x Crystal Ball
1 x Sleep
1 x Mind Control

1 x Terramorphic Expanse
9 x Island
7 x Plains

I would have preferred to open a Stormfront Pegasus or Augury Owl to replace the Ajani's Pridemate (durr) and would've liked to be able to sleeve up a Foresee or Jace's Ingenuity over an Excommunicate, but other than that I was very happy with the list and still am. I had early pressure, some decent pseudo-removal, and three late game cards in the form of Sleep, Stormtide Leviathan and Mind Control. I sleeved it up and was ready to battle.

image from brokencitymagic.com image from brokencitymagic.com

Round 1 vs. G/B Planeswalker Control
As round 1 started I was feeling calm and focused – quite a bit better than the hungover me that played in Edmonton earlier this year. On the other hand, my opponent was absolutely frazzled. He explained that he had a terrible pool with no win conditions. I assured him that sometimes decks are better than they first appear and prepared myself for a tough match.

Game 1:
So, about that terrible deck. This is what he played:
Turn 1: Forest, Lanowar Elf
Turn 2: Garruk's Companion, Swamp
Turn 3: Swamp, Garruk Wildspeaker
Turn 4: Liliana Vess
Turn 5: Forest, Yavimaya Wurm

The game went surprisingly long for that great of a curve. I managed to kill Garruk twice (Nature's Spiral, ergh) and Liliana once as I tried to stabilize, but he just got too far ahead with his planeswalkers. 0-1

image from brokencitymagic.com image from brokencitymagic.com

Game 2:
Being on the play helped tremendously, despite him hitting largely the same curve. I managed to play a steady stream of early creatures and fliers and then play Sleep for the win just as he was stabilizing with Giant Spiders and beefy creatures. I had to off Garruk twice more and Liliana once. 1-1

Game 3:
Game 3 began with 15 minutes on the clock, and I was hyper aware that we might go to time. I once again had to face both of his Planeswalkers, and some increased air defense on his side. The board was clogged with me at 20 and him at 12 as time was called. I had a back-up Unsummon and Excommunicate in my hand, knowing that I couldn't lose save for a top-decked Overwhelming Stampede, which may or may not have been in his deck. At the same time, I knew that I couldn't attack in for the win without finding my copy of Sleep. I ended up seeing 35/40 of my cards from draws and Crystal Ball scrys when the five additional turns ended, with Sleep revealing itself as the card I would've drawn the next turn. I decided not to be upset, though, as I felt I had played well. 1-2 / 0-0-1

Round 2: U/B/r Skies
It felt like there was another hour delay between the end of round 1 and the start of round 2, giving me more than enough time to realize that, in a 10 round tournament, a draw was just about as bad as a loss.

My next opponent was from San Jose, and we chatted about food before starting up our match. I knew I was going to be going up against a strong player, as he made numerous references to previous large-scale tournaments he had played at.

Game 1:
My notes on game 1 are pretty sparse. I have myself at 20 and him going 20 > 19 > 16 > 11 > 7. I made mental notes that he played Liliana Vess and Mana Leak'd and Cancel'd two of my spells before he scooped. 1-0

Game 2:
I came out swinging in game 2 with Infantry Veteran, Ajani's Pridemate and Scroll Thief. Eventually, I managed to knock him down from 15 to 6 after playing Sleep with lethal on the board next turn as long as he didn't draw a Corrupt. He did, killing off my Azure Drake and getting back up to 10. When I swung in again, I took him down to 3 with myself at 20. He played the card from the top of his deck…a Mountain. He Fireball'd my board, wiping it entirely clean. I top decked a land, he top decked a Water Servant. I top decked a land, he top decked a Whispersilk Cloak. 4 turns later, I was dead. 1-1

image from brokencitymagic.com image from brokencitymagic.com

Game 3:
I was still confident in my deck, knowing that he managed to rip the two cards he needed to in order to survive the game. My opponent was nice, but with back-to-back top deck saves, I made sure to watch his draws and shuffle his deck extra vigiliantly at the start of the game and anytime he cracked a Terramorphic Expanse or Tutor'd with Liliana Vess.

The third game was a back-and-forth match with us swinging away until I was at 9 and him at 10. I felt fully in control of the game until his deck managed to provide the perfect answers at the perfect time once again (this time with the help of a Foresee, the only card in his hand). My Mind Control on his Water Servant was met with an Aether Adept the following turn. The board state, which required him to play two flying creatures or a 2-for-1 to survive, was instead met with a Fireball 3-for-1-ing me. When I got him to 1 with a Cloud Crusader on the board, no flying blockers in sight and an Ice Cage on his Royal Assassin, he managed to rip a Quag Sickness to kill off my threat. I got a land, he got a scry card of some type and 3 turns later, I had lost a match where twice in a row I had multiple turns of "win on board unless…"

I asked the rest of the crew if I had played it out wrong and kept getting reassured that it was the luck of the draw, or the strength of his deck, not misplays that led to the loss. I was happy to have the crew around at this point as I was able to stay motivated and positive seeing the rest of the crew performing well. 1-2 / 0-1-1

Round 3: ??
I was actually pretty proud of myself at this point in the day. The tournament, which was dragging on slower than Jonathan Li playing a U/W Control deck (that's for the BCM-ers) was not going my way. Two rounds in, I had killed 11 Planeswalkers in 6 games. I was win-less. Instead of getting down on myself and quitting, I reminded myself that I was playing well and that, in reality, my deck was playing out very consistently. I took Jared's advice and sat across from my next opponent with it in my mind that I was going to absolutely crush him.

Game 1:
My notes on this game are as follows:

image from brokencitymagic.com

"Mull to 5 w/ Stormtide LOL." I feel as though I won through sheer force of will. 1-0

Game 2:
My notes are equally as sparse on this game with only one thing really standing out. On turn 2 I played a Blinding Mage after he played his Sylvan Ranger. On his turn, he swung in with the Ranger w/ a single Forest open. The only problem was that as soon as he swung in, his face turned as red as Oklahoma. I decided to call my opponent's bluff and block. After that, I seemed to draw every removal card in my deck and got there. 2-0 / 1-1-1

Round 4: W/g Aggro
My opponent was an older local player who apparently would've been a State Champion chess player had he not continued to play in a tournament he had already qualified in. He made mention of many Magic Pro Tours in our pre-match chat as well, more in a recounting the glory days way than in a pathological liar way. We shot the shit quite a bit and I found him to be very kind. Unfortunately, I had played next to his friend the round before, with his match ending early, so he was fully aware of what I was playing.

Game 1:
In game 1, I drew nothing but creatures and an Unsummon. He managed to hang in pretty well with double Armored Ascension (one on Serra Angel), Condemn, Excommunicate, and some combat tricks like Mighty Leap, but I simply overwhelmed him. 1-0

Game 2:
I was absolutely steam-rolling him (20-4) when he cast Vengeful Archon.

Fuck that card.

The math never worked out and six turns later I couldn't hit the Ice Cage, Excommunicate or Mind Control I needed to win. 1-1

image from brokencitymagic.com image from brokencitymagic.com

Game 3:
Game three I flew to a pretty uneventful victory, saving my Ice Cage and Excommunicate for Vengeful Archon and Armored Ascension'd fatties. 2-1 / 2-1-1

The Real Grind:
At this point, the grind of the poorly run tournament was starting to get to me. Almost 8 hours in and we had only played 4 rounds of Magic. The pros, who had received 3 rounds of byes, finally entered the tournament at 5:00pm. We were looking at another 6 rounds (!) if things went well.

The only upside to the massive delays between rounds was that our crew was able to constantly re-assemble and talk about our matches over casual games. I found this to be extremely helpful. Not only did it give a nice boost to hear that Ian Baker and Paul MacKinnon were fairing so well, it also allowed me to continue to play games with my deck. I wasn't overly concerned with playing tight Magic, I just wanted to keep getting a feel for how my deck would start and play out in different scenarios.

Round 4: G/U Tempo
At 2-1-1, I had the same record as another pal of ours, Brian Ziemba. Brian and I had actually had the same record since round 1, including the less common draw, sitting next to each other in each subsequent round. We had decided that, if matched up, no matter what, we would make sure that we not end our match in a draw so as not to eliminate both of us from the tourney. When pairings went up, I once again found myself sitting next to, not across from, Brian.

Game 1:
I kept a hand of Stormtide Leviathan, Blinding Mage, Pacifism, Plains, and 3 Islands. I drew perfectly and managed to stick my Stormtide Leviathan for the first time and Clone it on the following turn. I won the game at 14 with him sitting at -13 after he played an Obstinate Baloth. 1-0

Game 2:
In game 2, I hit what seemed like every one of my fliers and supported them with a more offensive-minded Blinding Mage (tapping on their turn) and Pacifism. The match was over in about 10 minutes. 2-0 / 3-1-1

Round 6: U/W Fliers
I somehow lost my notes on this match, so I apologize for that, especially considering how ludicrously it played out.

Game 1:
It was a back and forth bash fest that ended when he stuck a Baneslayer with counter-magic back-up. 0-1

Game 2:
Arguably the nuttiest game of Magic I have ever played. The first four turns we played were absolutely identical down to the lands we played and how we tapped them. As nutty as that was, it was what followed that blew my mind. Now I'm not sure on the exact order of things, but it essentially played out as:

Him: Baneslayer Angel, Clone (same turn)
Me: Unsummon Baneslayer Angel so that he Clones a weaker creature
Me: Nothing involving Baneslayer Angel
Him: Baneslayer Angel
Me: Clone Baneslayer Angel
Him: Unsummon his Clone, then Clone Baneslayer Angel
Me: Mind Control Clone
Him: Pacifism on my Clone'd Baneslayer Angel and Solemn Offering on my Mind Control, getting Baneslayer Clone back
Me: Ice Cage on Baneslayer Angel
Him: Clone #2 on Baneslayer Angel

image from brokencitymagic.com

The board state was absolutely ridiculous. He ended up winning (that happens when you've got 3 Baneslayer Angels on the board), but we were both so blown away by the match that we tried to re-create it for others. This (above) is as far as we got before we agreed that we should stop bothering the matches next to us. 0-2 / 3-2-1

With that, my GP was over. I was fairly happy with my results, and happier still with my play, losing to a deck that simply outclassed mine. The Broken City crew was in really good position with Ian Baker, Paul MacKinnon and Robert Brews all still in it to win it going into Round 7. I made an audible to run back to the hotel for a drink and some dinner, so that I could come back to cheer them on in the key matches (the cut-off for Day 2 was Round 9). Jay came with me, as he had dropped out earlier, and though Jared was out of Day 2 contention, he stayed in it for rating.

Grinders #8-9: Sazerac, Mr. Manhattan (not pictured)
The bartender back at the hotel was pretty well versed in cocktails and made me up a tasty Sazerac while Jay went up to Skype (read: bitch) to his lady back home about his poor results. I ordered up a Buffalo chicken wrap while waiting for him to get his ass downstairs for Quesadillas and drink #2. I ordered a twist on the Manhattan while he ordered something which I only remember we both laughed at.

image from brokencitymagic.com

We returned for Round 9 to see that Paul and Ian were still in it at 6-2. If either of them won their match, they'd make it to day 2. I think I was more nervous than they were, with Baker's match in particular being a nail-biter. I won't spoil anything more than I already have though, as hopefully we can convince the whole crew to write up some tournament reports for us.

Anywho, after round 9, shortly after midnight (!), we returned to the room with more PBR in hand, ordered some pizza, and I promptly passed out on the floor from exhaustion.

Stay tuned for Part 3, the conclustion!

This article was originally published over at the Broken City School of Magic.

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