English translation of our very first French article at Mana D, from our newly acquired French editor, Franky Richard. I have truly never heard anyone else tell bad beat stories quite like this guy and his first submission details his experience at GP Toronto.
Translation by Kerrydan
Click here to read the original article (in French).
From the moment Scars of Mirrodin came out, my focus was on Grand Prix Toronto. The release of the latest expansion provided an opportunity for in-depth testing of this format, with twice the incentive – given that the Top 16 of the GP and winners of the two PTQs around the event all would earn invites to Paris for February 2011. This new format has been proving itself to be one of the most complex to date. The experts’ original evaluations of the format were very quickly disproved and questions instantly arose about many fundamental principles of Limited. Follow with me along the path leading up to my GP, which ended in an 8-6-0 record and no prize to speak of (not unless you count the stupid t-shirt KYT gave me in exchange for writing this article!)
At the Prerelease, I was able to confirm my friend Karim Saliba’s observation that variance in a sealed format with 6 booster packs was a lot higher than it used to be during the days of tournament packs. Myself, I opened a deck that was practically mono-white, which demonstrated that pools could sometimes be quite unbalanced in terms of colours, that there was a much greater chance of having doubles of certain commons, and that sometimes you just got pools that were ridiculously more powerful–or weaker–than the rest. One card in particular caught my attention: Perilous Myr. This seemingly harmless little robot can have a surprising effect on a game, especially in the early turns, as it threatens sometimes disastrous trades and largely slows the assault of aggressive decks. It is often the correct play to give up a mana Myr and two life, rather than let this little guy hang around too long on the other side of the table.
The rest of my preparation did not get any easier. At the Release, I thought I had a good white-red deck, with lots of removal, decent artifacts, and a Sunblast Angel to top it all off. But the wins I had were all very close and hard-fought. Going into the PTQ next, I was running on a string of consecutive defeats in our preparation drafts. My experiments with “non-poison” black proved to be a failure and I was forced to admit that Volition Reins was often a siren’s call into a commitment to blue, probably the least deep colour in the format. I finally broke the streak at the Montreal PTQ, where I opened a decent white/blue pool with lots of fliers, Tempered Steel, and Argent Sphinx. However, the pool didn’t offer up a single Arrest, which left me very vulnerable to my opponents’ bombs. I needed to win games fast, otherwise I’d have little chance in any that went long. This weakness caught up with me in the second-last round and I was quite literally smashed to pieces by the duo of Geth and Hoard-Smelter Dragon.
Having played well, though, I had high hopes for the big tournament in Toronto. I made the trip with Mauro Bongiovanni and the Great warrior-monk and erudite sage Vincent Thibeault, arriving with enough time to enter a GPT in hopes of earning a few free wins for the next day. The pool I received seemed particularly horrible, with two dual lands in the wrong colours, Tunnel Ignus, Painful Quandary and two more unplayable rares. However, I had plenty of removal and ended up registering a very aggressive black-red deck that looked straight out of Zendikar. Sorely lacking any bombs, I had to content myself with two Saberclaw Golem and the metalcraft vampire at the top end of my curve. I also decided to play Exsanguinate to at least give me a little reach, a choice which paid off and won me a few games. After winning the first three rounds, I lost to a solidly better deck, but my good performance with a sub-optimal pool was very encouraging. We rounded off the night at Zet’s, arguably Toronto’s greasiest and most wonderful restaurant!
The GP kicked off the next morning. I opened a pool that suggested a black-green metalcraft deck. I wasn’t crazy about this strategy, but nonetheless I had removal, with Ezuri’s Brigade and Myr Battlesphere as finishers. I was even able to splash a single Arrest with the help of a Horizon Spellbomb. Then my opening match began with a mulligan to 5, followed by a mulligan to 5, and I was simply never in it. The second match was a little closer, but I was again plagued by some bad hands, and my deck’s lack of synergy. The next round, I faced a visibly inexperienced player and won to bring things back to 2-2 (oh yeah, I had a bye in the first round thanks to my “pro” status).
The fifth round played out in a weird way. My opponent managed to Imprint one of my Carapace Forgers on a Mimic Vat, and I was being beaten down a little bit at a time. After he decided to counter one of my spells, he didn’t have the mana to activate the artifact and block, so I seized the opportunity to attack and take him down to 10. The next turn, I attacked again with my Molder Beast and a myr into his Mimic Vat, but this time I had a Grasp of Darkness for the blocker. I also just happened to have a Perilous Myr that I sacrificed to pump the beast and deal the exact damage needed for the win. The next game was even crazier, with my own Ezuri’s Brigade getting imprinted on the Mimic Vat. We each raced to deal the 20 points of damage, but this time I pulled off a miracle, barely winning after I sacrificed almost my entire board to kill his, and then produced a Flesh Allergy that managed to be fatal.
The following round I faced off against a white-red deck. I lost the first game after being on the receiving end of multiple Arc Trails, but I smashed back in the second to get my revenge. During the last game, I noticed that my opponent was now playing his deck entirely without sleeves, which meant his entire sideboard. I quickly discovered that he had switched into a black-green infect deck, and once he brought out an Ascetism I died with a hand full of removal. I dropped from the GP at 3-3 and signed up for the PTQ the next day.
For my last sealed pool, I again received a black/green combination. This time, though, I had tons of cantrips: double Instill Infection, Horizon Spellbomb, and Tel-Jilad Defiance. I had a huge bomb in the form of Engulfing Slagwurm, to which I added a Corrupted Harvester. This card can be really hard to handle for some decks, and benefits greatly from two common equipment, Bladed Pinions and Accorder’s Shield, making it all but unstoppable in combat. I won the first round of the PTQ partly thanks to the Harvester, which even my opponent’s Sunblast Angel couldn’t contain. My deck seemed to work well, my acceleration helped me play my bombs and my cantrips allowed for good trades all while keeping my hand full of cards. I won round two mostly thanks to my opponent’s mana screw and mulligans.
Now at 2-0, I was paired up against Craig Wescoe, who was also undefeated after two rounds. The first game was very close. He dropped Kemba and two equipment, but I accelerated into Slagwurm AND Corrupted Harvester. A well-timed Tel-Jilad Defiance on the Kemba ultimately led to its demise and I went on to win game one. Game two, he mulliganed into an aggressive start with several fliers who quickly beat me down. I tried to stabilise, but I was still taking damage, especially the inevitable three points from a Vulshok Replica. I dropped the Slagwurm, but had nothing to block his Glint Hawk Idol and the game was looking very close. I had two life left, and he was a turn away from having to block my Wurm to keep from dying. I managed to play Perilous Myr and Corrupted Harvester as a solution to his Hawk, but he had the Shatter for my Myr and for the win. The third game was all his; I drew very little action and he dropped Hoard-Smelter Dragon which very quickly ate up all my artifacts. An equipment on the dragon meant that even my Grasp of Darkness and Instill Infection couldn’t pull me out.
I’ll save you the suspense – the next round was my last. I ran into a very solid Infect deck sporting a key piece of equipment, Infiltration Lens. It showed up in both games and drew my opponent an obscene amount of cards, because I was very quickly forced to block to survive. In game two, he managed to get me to double-block twice, first with Tangle Angler and again with Necrotic Ooze copying its ability. After drawing eight cards, he finished me off without too much difficulty and put an end to my tournament.
My experience in Toronto taught me a lot, especially that the format has very little margin for error. It is difficult to play around unlikely situations, like a topdecked Darksteel Sentinel mid-combat to activate a Rusted Relic. In my opinion, you really have to be really playing your best and still have a bit of luck to make it all the way. And for those people in Montreal, the format continues this week. I hope to see lots of you at the PTQ and may the best player win!
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.