PTQ Kansas City *Top 4*

I hope all you Americans enjoyed your Thanksgiving this year, but a lot has happened since last we met so it's time to get back to work! Without further ado here's the recap from the recent Pro Tour Qualifier in Kansas City…

The People

Magic represents many different things to the people who play it, but as much as I love the game (and I really really really love the game), the people I meet through it are as much a reason why I keep coming back as anything. That's why I love going to Kansas City.

You see, Kansas City is home to a man known by those close to him as “Tel”. His birth certificate may read differently but Tel Parrett, so named after a Louis L'amour character by his parents in his youth, is one of my favorite people to hang out with. We met in the summer of 2003 at the San Diego Convention Center, recently home to the Two-Headed Giant Pro Tour but then the scene for the United States Nationals tournament won by Josh Wagoner. It was the first major tournament for both of us and I was fortunate to have been traveling with Scott Lewis, long time Iowa City forefather and certainly one of the better people to have as a roommate on a Magic trip. Tel, unfortunately, hadn't been so lucky as to have any of his friends qualify with him at Regionals that year and had made the trip solo.

Towards the middle of the first day of competition Mr. Parrett had approached me casually and asked “What's your record Bill?” To this day I'm not sure how Tel knew my name beyond the fact I believe we both qualified at the same Regionals tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska. I'll admit I was a bit taken aback but replied and we brokered up some minor conversation that led to further conversations throughout the day, often with the aforementioned Scott Lewis, and by the evening when Tel mentioned he was staying solo at his hotel Scott and I extended the offer to join us for dinner.

You could say we hit it off and on the flight back from San Diego we wound up seated next to one another battling halfsies using his Vintage deck with Tel occasionally white-knuckling his way through turbulence (Tel and flying go together like…well, that's a story for a different day). We've stayed in contact ever since and whenever I'm headed to Kansas City Tel's the first person I call and the first person who extends his guest bedroom should I need a place to Crash.

Of course, some things have changed over the years. Tel eventually married his long-time girlfriend Bobbie, a character in her own right who was a champion martial artist and cleverly bartered naming their cats after Star Wars characters in exchange for never doing the same to their children. They settled in the suburbs of Overland Park, conveniently just up the road from the Overland Park Convention Center, site of 2008 Grand Prix-Kansas City, and Tel is just finishing up his law degree. Oh, did I mention the time he was inadvertently shot with a .9 mil during a drive-by at a pool?

The stories could go on and on but the moral of this one is simple: Tel Parrett is a good man and I'm grateful to be playing a game that allowed our paths to cross.

Of course a discussion of my favorite Magic persons would be painfully incomplete if I didn't mention Tim Berkley. Save for my brother Mike there is no other person in the game who I have played with so long as I have been playing with Tim (and the nearly-always-close-by Blu McFarlane). It's a matter of miles really. You see, growing up in rural Iowa (on a farm near Aurora, where the newly re-elected mayor won with 20 votes…total) leaves one with few places to actually play Magic: the Gathering. The nearest shop when I was growing up was some 50 miles up the road in Cedar Falls. As luck would have it, Tim happened to live in Cedar Falls and on most days you could find him at said shop.

Our first few meetings were derisive at best, the headstrongedness of teenage boys and un-supervised competition to blame. Over the years, however, Tim slowly changed into a familiar face in sometimes foreign lands, then into an acquaintance, then into a testing partner, then one day I woke up and found myself having spent a snowed-in week at his loft in Minnesota playing cards and PTQing while looking for jobs on the possibility I would be moving north. It's almost funny how quickly that transaction happened and when Blu called me Friday night at 1 a.m. to ask me if it was true there was a PTQ in Kansas City that weekend (the Wizards site didn't have the date listed) I assumed he was joking. Even if the Cedar Falls crew left right then, I thought to myself, they wouldn't get in until 5 or 6 a.m.

Imagine the joyous surprise on my face the next morning when Tim's mug was the first I saw as I walked into the cavernous convention center. It turns out they had driven straight through to arrive at 6 a.m. all because Tim wanted to surprise me by coming down. Thanksgiving is a slow week for him at his job as a chef in the Twin Cities, so he had made the journey back to Cedar Falls then convinced the crew to PTQ and…well, I guess there you have it. A good trip had only gotten better.

And of course there were the usuals. Larry Waymon and the St. Louis crew came down sans the apparently newly-girlfriended Tim Galbiati (their very own Mike “Pimpin'” Donovan actually registered the pool I got to play with). There was a young crew from Nebraska featuring not one but two Rolf brothers though hardly a member out of high school. The intrepid Ames guys made it sans Steve Locke, who managed to qualify in Wichita, instead adding Nick Mohon to the mix. The man they call Money had a rough night off it on Friday when they got into town. It seems the crew had gone out to enjoy some of the local pubs and a misunderstanding led to quite an unfortunate scenario. Nick mistakenly believed the gentleman who had purchased them a round of drinks early on in the evening was speaking with an Irish accent in jest and followed along with the ruse. Turns out said gentleman was…um…actually Irish and didn't take kindly to Nick's mimicry.

Calm heads and wise words nearly prevailed until the bouncers decided to remove Nick forcibly for the affront, pinning his arms to his sides and leaving him defenseless. The aforementioned Irishman, sensing an opportunity, planted a boot front square and center on poor Nick's mouth while he was unable to defend himself, then quickly disappeared into the night. Suffice to say Nick had a fat lip, a hangover, and a tip of the nose that read “Doctor Martens”, though a fine lesson had been learned about running accents before determining why everyone else in the room is running one. Still, it takes more than that to keep a good man down, and Nick is one of the best. He managed to find the time to enjoy himself in between griping about his swollen lip and lack of sleep.

Things I Learned

Those of you who read my blog from PTQ-Kansas City had a chance to see my entire sealed pool with the promise I would reveal my actual list in this article. Here is what I played (and if you want to see the entire pool, click on that link silly):

1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Vivid Meadow
7 Plains
7 Mountain

1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Footbottom Feast
1 Mulldrifter

1 Austere Command
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Crib Swap
1 Avian Changeling
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Kithkin Greatheart
1 Hillcomber Giant
1 Lairwatch Giant
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Sentry Oak

2 Tarfire
1 Consuming Bonfire
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Chandra Nalaar
1 Lowland Oaf
1 Thundercloud Shaman
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Axegrinder Giant

I gave Ingot Chewer a shot in my maindeck after discovering just how good Springleaf Drum was the previous weekend in Madison. For this Sealed Season I have found myself building decks from my pool which provide the minimal amount of “weak” resources to allow me to survive the early game and focusing on overwhelming the late game with large-monster threats like Axegrinder Giant and Oakgnarl Warrior or bombs like Chandra Nalaar and Austere Command. Of course one can't take credit for being given decks with a few bombs in them but I still hate the feeling of an opponent stabilizing at 8 life while you pray to find your one flyer, hit on a Lash Out clash, and rip the Giant's Ire on your way to a three-outer.

Ingot Chewer, then, is a medium-sized threat with a not-irrelevant ability. This is certainly no format dominated by artifacts but enough targets exist to have convinced me to try the lil' 3/3. Thoughts of trading with Hill Giants after bashing a Drum, Runed Stalactite, Dolmen's Gate, or forcing a Moonglove Extract to go off when my opponent hadn't planned it to danced in my head and eventually came up. Sure throughout the day Ingot Chewer mostly just killed opponents or traded for other creatures, but the second ability was relevant from time to time. Would I play it again? I would certainly move it to my pile of playables, though I consider it a 23rd caliber card.

I've mentioned previously that I've been pretty greedy so far this season when it comes to splashing powerful effects from other colors. Lorwyn makes it so easy! The Vivid lands, Springleaf Drum, Shimmering Grotto, Wanderer's Twig; nearly any sealed pool is capable of playing the most powerful off-color spells available with a minimal amount of effort. In Madison I discussed such splashes with Sam Black who said the card he most wanted to open for splashing in his pools was Footbottom Feast. I agreed the Bone Harvest retread was very solid, but pointed out I would prefer Mulldrifter, what I consider the top common in the set (even if it means being at odds with those who feel Nameless Inversion is the better card).

Lo' and behold my pool in Kansas City offered up both, as well as just enough mana fixing (I believe) to splash the two. Ultimately that's what I opted to do with a Twig and on-color Vivid Meadow but I was surprised to see other players whom I hold in high esteem disagreeing with that decision. Brandon Scheel, generally regarded as the top Iowan player and the individual who knocked me out of the Top 8 in KC, offered up a list that was only red and White. Here's what that looked like:

8 Mountain
8 Plains

1 Austere Command
1 Avian Changeling
1 Axegrinder Giant
1 Chandra Nalaar
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Consuming Bonfire
2 Crib Swap
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Hearthcage Giant
1 Hillcomber Giant
1 Kithkin Greatheart
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Lairwatch Giant
1 Lowland Oaf
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Sentry Oak
1 Surge of Thoughtweft
2 Tarfire
1 Thundercloud Shaman
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Wispmare

Describing the list he said “I think you don't have enough fixers for more than two colors. Red/White are the pool's strongest colors and share your obvious tribe.”

One area a lot of bloggers keyed into was the fact that the pool offered up a number of creatures to combo well with two Makeshift Mannequins and the Footbottom Feast I opted to play. Rickaroni offered up this list:

1 Cloudgoat Ranger
2 Crib Swap
1 Austere Command
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Avian Changeling
1 Sentry Oak
1 Hillcomber Giant
1 Kithkin Greatheart

1 Lowland Oaf
1 Hearthcage Giant
1 Axegrinder Giant
2 Tarfire
1 Chandra Naalar
1 Thundercloud Shaman
1 Fire-Belly Changeling

2 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Footbottom Feast
1 Mournwhelk
1 Thorntooth Witch

1 Wanderer's Twig

1 Vivid Meadow
6 Plains
7 Mountain
3 Swamp

Said Rick “I think you play enough black cards to warrant a splash. Footbottom Feast is a no brainer, and I felt that it would be worth it to splash the Makeshift Mannequins because of the quality creatures you could get back with them (Cloudgoat Ranger, Hearthcage Giant, Thundercloud Shaman, Mournwhelk). I also splashed for Mournwhelk (as stated above) and Thorntooth Witch. You have five Treefolk spells you can cast (2x Crib Swap, Avian Changeling, Fire-Belly Changeling, and Sentry Oak), and in my limited experience (LOL PUNS), it is amazing.” Rick couldn't have guessed how close he was to the build I almost ran with, for exactly the reasons he mentioned, though I had Mulldrifter in that build as well. Ultimately I decided that the consistency of being RW with only two minor splashes would be more successful, but I was BWru until about 10 minutes left in deck registration.

In addition to the builds focusing more on black, a lot of players opted to consider blue as a serious contender as well. I think the version of that deck I liked the most came from Savaj Cheetr, aka Grand Prix-San Francisco Top 8 competitor Zack Smith, who offered up this list which also managed to sneak in some green cards:

1 Stonybrook Angler
1 Silvergill Douser
1 Silvergill Adept
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Sygg, River Guardian
1 Streambed Aquitects
1 Avian Changeling
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Aethersnipe
1 Mulldrifter
1 Hillcomber Giant
2 Crib Swap
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Ego Erasure
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Austere Command
1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Briarhorn
1 Gilt-Leaf Ambush
1 Lairwatch Giant
1 Kithkin Greatheart

2 Forest
1 Vivid Meadow
7 Island
7 Plains

Explaining the process by which he came to that conclusion, Zack said “White is an easy inclusion as it has your best removal, a legitimate bomb, and some solid creatures. From there, I look at what color offers the most solid creatures in addition to what I've already got, and look to splash cards from there based on available fixing and power level concerns. Blue offers Sygg, Aethersnipe, Mulldrifter, and Douser, along with some other fine early game men. Green has some decent creatures and the mighty Briarhorn, black is fairly weak, and red has some quality cards but lacks the depth to be a base color.”

Other players opted to splash Briarhorn as well, there were some UWb lists, and truly some interesting things being discussed on the forums attached to the blog. Ultimately I think you simply have a lot of evidence that the format is a very complex one for Sealed and Draft play and at the end of the day I'm not sure whether choosing power or consistency is the correct play. At Pro Tour-San Diego Randy Buehler watched Jon Finkel finish a draft on Day 2 with teammate Josh Ravitz. Buehler complained that Jon had the bad habit of drafting for card advantage and potentially weakening his manabase when he could, it seemed Randy felt, get just as far being consistently minded instead. While Lorwyn is certainly different than Time Spiral in regards to Limited play, those are still two very solid minds grappling with the power versus consistency argument.

Kansas City saw a marked rise in the number of players opting to draw after winning the die roll. In Madison there were only a few rounds, one or two, in which my opponent both won the die roll and opted to play second. I feel that is the default choice in this environment, preferring the extra card to the unremarkable gains from making the first land drop, and apparently others are coming around to that decision as well.

One of the important things I've learned in this format is that it's not always right to play a card with clash simply because you're able to. In this deck that became particularly apparent when playing with Sentry Oak. The repetitive card filtering is actually a potential problem when stabilizing against an aggressive curve hell-bent on finishing you with the last few points. During one particular match I had stabilized at a paltry 4 life; while firmly in control and unlikely to lose through the combat phase I was certainly within reach of the Giant's Ire my opponent was telegraphing was in his deck. A Thundercloud Shaman had cleared his board and provided ample sized beatdown but when I drew Sentry Oak I wasn't quite certain what to do. I could try to “get there” each turn with the clash, which you're always a slight dog to win, but that meant slowly filtering my opponent's deck into possible outs.

Instead I opted to keep bashing with the Giant, then when he dealt with that I started clashing, winning two quick and ending things before my opponent could change the outcome. I believe the correct play (I'll leave the argument to the forums to determine for certain) was to avoid clashing when I had a separate clock, but that sitting doing nothing seemed worse than being pro-active and taking the risk of clashing my opponent into Giant's Ire in order to attack. I do the same thing against opponent's who are mana/card-screwed; given the choice I'll play non-clash cards until the point where not playing them to get ahead on board is more damaging than clashing my opponent into whatever it is they need.

The Swiss

Round 1 I was naturally paired with Tim Berkley, who had made the trip all the way down to visit. I won the first in resounding fashion, lost the second and, in a trend that would sort of define the weekend, faced off in an all-or-nothing third game. Tim managed to take it down as a Burrenton Forge-Tender seriously impacted my ability to utilize Chandra. After the match Scheel pointed out a strictly better series of plays I could have made with said planeswalker and I was forced to admit I had just failed to think the course of action through clearly enough. 0-1

Clay Gillette was my opponent for Round 2. Poor Clay Gillette. The last PTQ I played at in Kansas City I started 0-1. My second round opponent? Clay Gillette. It sucks to play someone “good” so early in the day, particularly with a loss, but such is life. Unfortunately for Clay, just as last time, I managed to take the match in three games, though unlike last time it wasn't because I ripped two Shrapnel Blasts to seal his fate. 1-1

Next up was John Rolf, a young Nebraska player I knew from Facebook through mutual friends. We went to three games again but I was able to push through on the back of Chandra and two Wrath of Gods though in the final game John put me to 4 on a last-ditch Final Revels, possibly hoping to draw a Profane Command or other “burn” spell. 2-1

Shelton Watson was in the Air Force and my opponent round 4 so we chatted about military life before we got things under way. In the first game I was setting up Austere Command by slow rolling my hand, but hadn't seen the sixth land drop after playing my fourth land. What I had seen was my Swamp, which allowed me to play Footbottom Feast with no targets to try to cantrip into the sixth land in time. There was a rules call on whether you could play the card without targets (you can) and the extra card did net me the land I needed, allowing me to stabilize at something like 8 life. I was blown out of the second, then in the third had Crib Swap for a Timber Protector so that I could untap and Austere Command for a second time in the match. 3-1

John Pennick is a young Gerry Thompson underling who works on a forum group I use to hammer out decklists. His friend Andrew Vick was my opponent for round numero cinco and he was playing a hyper aggressive deck that indicated to me his overall sealed pool was weak but that he was doing the best he could by going to the face so quickly an opponent wouldn't have time to utilize their bombs. That's exactly what he did in the first, so I boarded in Boggart Forager (yes Boggart Forager) and Flamekin Brawler for some of my more expensive threats in order to lower my curve and put up a fight long enough to allow me to Overwhelm. Game 2 was the game where I had Sentry Oak but was concerned about Giant's Ire and got there anyway. The third game was the least close as the early drops showed up to stymie his initial offense, an Ingot Chewer blew up a Runed Stalactite, and an Austere Command showed up to destroy a second Stalactite and his >3 casting cost creatures leaving my monsters on the board. 4-1

For the next-to-last round I would face David Rolf, John's (from round 3) younger brother. He looked to be all of 13 or 14 but one thing you learn as you grow older is that your ability to determine the difference between 13 and 17, something that seems so simple to do when you're 13-17, gets worse and worse. It's entirely possible the young Mr. Rolf is pushing 20, but that's beside the point. What isn't beside the point are the first and third games we played in which David was partially manascrewed. In the first he contributed to his own demise by Boggart Harbinging up a Warren Pilferers despite not having a fourth land drop. In the final he simply didn't get there, and I managed an ideal curve of turn 2 Fire-Belly Changeling, turn 3 Avian Changeling, and turn 5 ripping the land for Thundercloud Shaman to wrath his board after being destroyed in game 2. 5-1

The final round of the day saw me square off against Chelsea Torrez. I was 5-1 but in 10th place meaning I needed to win to make the single-elimination rounds. She was in a similar position. Unfortunately for her it would be the only matchup in which I was comfortably ahead the entire series. In the first she revealed herself to be a tempo-oriented UW deck and I knew which Counterspells to play around as a result of her shuffling face-up. I led with a few “must-counters”, then Austere Commanded her board, played a Giant, and bashed. In game two she pushed all in, hell-bent on beating me before I hit the Wrath. That's not a play I completely disagree with, as it gets really good if you hit one of your Counterspells and are able to sit back on it. The problem was that I had threats in the meanwhile, dropping a Cloudgoat Ranger which met Oblivion Ring, before using Austere Command when her hand was empty. She ripped a blank, then I ripped Wispmare which nailed the Oblivion Ring and returned my Cloudgoat Ranger. I had sideboarded the ‘Mare in to nail Ring, but I never thought it would be that good. It was over soon after that. 6-1

The Top 8

The Top 8 struck me as relatively inexperienced. I mean nothing disrespectful to the other members of the final table, of course, but simply mean that the nervous energy at the table was very high and there was a great deal of excited chatter. Scheel and I, anxious to get the draft started so we could finish up and go home, exchanged knowing glances from across the table. After your dozenth PTQ Top 8, when it has started to become semi-automatic and you're no longer satisfied with nearly making Top 8, playing the single elimination rounds loses its “new car” feel and becomes more of a second nature, like playing FNM at your local store but with higher stakes.

I was seated next to Kenny Castor to my left and an unknown to my right (meaning I didn't recognize him or get his name, but not that his play was questionable in any way). Scheel was on the other side of Kenny, and the packs opened up pretty strong. I started with a Moonglove Extract intending to keep flexible. I saw some early Merfolk cards going by, but not the ones that make you go into the archetype (Deeptread Merrow, double Veteran of the Depths). I've drafted Merfolk more times than any other tribe in the format so I felt comfortable with it and have had some success with the fishies. When the choice between Consuming Bonfire and Neck Snap came up, I opted to take the Neck Snap in case Merfolk presented itself. Sure enough in the next pack I saw Silvergill Adept, Merrow Harbinger, and Fathom Trawl.

Those are some saucy picks.

I love Silvergill Adept because I'm a huge fan of drawing cards in Limited but it simply doesn't compare in power to either the Harbinger or the Trawl. I was worried shipping the Harbinger would send signs to someone to my left that Merfolk was open (I had sent a few solid-but-middling picks down the line earlier to give that impression), but Fathom Trawl was simply too insane. Brandon Scheel disagrees with that pick, but I'm just too greedy to pass on 3 action cards in a format relatively devoid of natural card advantage.

After that I picked up 2 Judge of Currents and some tabled Merfolk cards though neither Veteran made it back. I figured the drafter sitting next to Scheel had probably gone Merfolk but that that was more than enough distance between us to both draft fair decks.

In the second pack there were plenty of cards for my deck but none of the marquee bombs I was looking for like Drowner of Secrets or Summon the School. Still I did manage to open Brion Stoutarm so I was pretty happy. The final pack rounded things out nicely with 2 Silvergill Dousers, which I had been missing, a Streambed Aquitects, and a Forced Fruition. Here's the list:

8 Island
6 Plains
1 Windbrisk Heights
1 Mountain
1 Vivid Crag

1 Moonglove Extract
1 Brion Stoutarm

1 Inkfathom Divers
1 Fathom Trawl
2 Silvergill Douser
1 Wings of Velis Vel
1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Forced Fruition
1 Whirpool Whelm
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Streambed Aquitects

2 Neck Snap
3 Judge of Currents
1 Harpoon Sniper
2 Avian Changeling
1 Crib Swap
1 Goldmeadow Harrier

I was very excited with my draft. For the first time ever this block I was sitting with 30 playables trying to make cuts for my deck. Should I splash Lash Out and Tarfire? I had thought to myself. Instead I opted to stick with just Brion, and was fairly confident in that splash.

The final card that I agonized over was the Forced Fruition. I've seen that enchantment in action and have actually been on the wrong side of it from time to time. Still, I was concerned that it could potentially Backfire if I wasn't careful. Eventually the conclusion I came to was that without Drowner or School I was lacking a “broken” Merfolk means of winning the game which meant needing to get there on the ground. That's not a very hopeful situation in which to be as the fish-folk are pretty weak themselves unless an opponent is playing Islands. Enter Forced Fruition. One thing the Merfolk are good at is muddling up the combat phase and creating situations in which opponents simply cannot attack favorably. From there you start to make a comeback with massive amounts of Judge life and eventually deck them with Drowner. I didn't have Drowner, so Fruition took its place under the assumption that once I had mucked up the board good and plenty, Fruition could come down and KO my opponent short Austere Command or Wispmare (and even then I did have a Faerie Trickery to have a shot at ending those shenanigans). Is that the right play? I'm not positive but my line of reasoning seems…well, reasonable, so again I'll leave it to the forums to offer up otherwise.

Quarters: David Saylor

When we sat down to draft I asked the judge whether we would be paired randomly within our pod or whether we would be paired in the traditional cross-table fashion. He said we were randomly seated but that we would play across the table so I knew immediately I was in for a rough patch in the quarterfinals: David Saylor was seated kitty-corner from me.

Players outside the Midwest may know nothing of Mr. Saylor but the gentleman (*cough*) is shadier than a grove of palm trees at an Oasis. His DCI rap sheet could stretch across a table and his reputation normally precedes him at most Magic events in the local area. Sitting down to play our match he knew that I knew this, and I knew we were going to butt heads throughout our games. I had already requested a table judge be present but things started up even before the judge could arrive, as soon as I sat down at the table.

“Is the number even or odd?” Saylor asked, holding up a Lorwyn token card. David was trying to determine who would play first using a method popular on the money draft circuit: guessing whether a card number is even or odd. Guess right and you choose, guess wrong and the opponent does. There are a number of cheats you can run there that are pretty simple, but the most basic is to simply take a card with an odd set number (the tokens are numbered up to 11) and an even card number (say the Merfolk token which is card number 4). When you ask your opponent “Is the number even or odd?” they might very well be under the impression you're implying “Is the set number even or odd?” but you've explicitly done no such thing. Instead they answer either even or odd and you inform them the answer was the other number type. If they guessed even and disagree, you claim you were referring to the set number, not the individual card number. From Saylor's perspective I'm sure it's a risk-free cheat in that you can't get “caught” because you haven't done anything “wrong” and players are unlikely to notice the shenanigans. Furthermore without allowing the events to reach their naturally shady outcome, we can't even prove David was intending to run that gambit.

Either way I obviously was having none of it, and the posturing for who would control the flow of the game had already begun. I told him we'd roll a die, of which I had numerous, and he quickly responded with “I don't want to roll dice.” That's a surprising turnaround considering at Nationals this year he ran a basic die cheat in which he rolls a die, then has his opponent roll and instead of waiting for the die to fall and checking the roll he quickly scoops the die up and claims it's a number suspiciously less than his own roll. I know one player ensnared in such a tactic but the reality is this: no player should ever touch a die until it has stopped rolling and both players agree on what number it landed on.

Suffice to say a judge was forced to flip a coin for us and Saylor managed to win (though I refused to allow anyone to call the coin in the air, instead simply declaring if it landed heads I'd win and if it didn't Saylor would). We went through the process of shuffling and offering up fake pleasantries while staring each other down much like Dave Price and Mike Long from many years ago.

The games, however, were uninspiring. David's deck appeared to be a pretty run-of-the-mill Faerie deck meaning islandwalk was a relevant path of victory for me and in the first he opened on four lands then drew only land for the rest of the game. In the second things were a bit more fair but I stabilized with Judges, played around Sentinels of Glen Elendra, and resolved Fathom Trawl. That's all she wrote at that point.

It's always a good feeling to beat a player like David Saylor, but there are plenty of competitors who like him or enjoy hanging out/trading with him. There's only so much you can do and I'm sure David is relatively cordial with most people (I mean, who expects the nice guy to be sticking it in your backside?). Still, Richard Nixon had friends too…



Playing David Saylor, pictured on the left. Far left is table judge Peter Martinez.


Semifinals: Brandon Scheel

It feels like I always lose to Brandon Scheel. That might be fair considering it's a. almost always true and b. Brandon is very good at playing Magic cards. Kansas City was the weekend in which I felt I could Snap the curse at major events. My deck was very good, the best in the archetype I had drafted so far this season. I was playing relatively tightly and felt good about my game, and I had even managed to win the die roll.

Naturally I mulliganed to 5 in the first game. Furthermore Brandon revealed himself to be the player a few seats down from me who had gone into Merfolk and he had gotten Drowner of Secrets, an absolute insane bomb in the mirror. Because of that pesky 1/3 I sideboarded in additional removal in the form of Lash Out and Tarfire to keep the thing contained, boarding out Neck Snaps and Forced Fruition. I also boarded Deeptread Merrow so I could potentially islandwalk my way to the finals, as well as two additional Mountains.



Brandon Scheel squares off against me in the semifinals.


Game 2 quickly went my way when Scheel whiffed on his fourth land drop, I hit the Mountain I needed to turn 4 my Brion Stoutarm (after being too aggressive with my Tideshaper Mystic and Scheel correctly recognizing its importance as a color fixer post-board, trading a Judge of Currents for it in combat), and then had a removal spell for each effort Scheel made after that. His Moonglove Extract wasn't going to get there on its own against my 4/4 Brion so it was key that I was able to remove the chump blockers to prevent a double team.



Focusing on breaking the Scheel curse.


Game 3 was the heartbreaker. We went back and forth early on and I managed to resolve a Fathom Trawl for some saucy action, including Lash Out and Tarfire. When I ripped the source of red the following turn Scheel appeared to visibly deflate a tiny bit. I was in control of the red zone with more creatures, multiple Judges, and a Douser, so I started setting up attacks to sneak damage through. A Tarfire to nail a Balloonist traded for Surge of Thoughtweft instead, and the following turn when I used Lash Out on the 2/2 Scheel responded with Pestermite to tap it so he could Wellgabber Apothecary it for the save. That meant I needed to Crip Swap the Gabber in response, and all of a sudden I was ahead on the board but out of removal should he hit a Drowner of Secrets.

The turns dragged on. I gained a considerable amount of life with my Judges, eventually ending the game at well over 170 and removing that particular path of victory from consideration. Scheel blanked on his Drowner for turn after turn until I finally managed to hit a Harpoon Sniper to go with my double Silvergill Dousers, then Brion Stoutarm. I still wasn't getting damage through because of the number of creatures Scheel had on his half of the board, but I felt I was in a position wherein I needed to be aggressive and potentially trade for as many of Brandon's threats as possible. By killing most of his Merfolk I would weaken his Drowner of Secrets, possibly providing myself the time to race.

Brion bashed and after some calculations Scheel blocked with every single creature he had. I used Harpoon Sniper to nail a Veteran of the Depths, then Brion got Silvergill Adept, Pestermite, Judge of Currents, and a Shapeshifter token from my Crib Swap on his Gabber. That opened the avenue for Inkfathom Divers and Avian Changeling to slowly start getting damage through, and they did exactly that.

Unfortunately Scheel managed to finally rip Drowner and start milling. With only one Merfolk, however, my clock was faster. Inevitably he managed to rip Harpoon Sniper, stifling my attacks, then an additional Merfolk and at just 4 life with me at well over 170 Brandon Scheel milled the final card from my library.

Truly a heartbreaker.

Scheel revealed after the match that he had two Drowners, so not drawing one until halfway through his deck was a lucky break for me really, even though I couldn't capitalize. Though I had drafted a very solid deck and played relatively well, even against Brandon, Scheel still happened to have the Merfolk deck that was better for the mirror. In retrospect I think it was wrong for me to sideboard out my Forced Fruition. I think I should have left the card in as my deck was more controlling than his and made it a point to reserve every single piece of removal for Drowner as setting up a long game in which I could answer each of his Drowners with Faerie Trickery and/or removal before winning via Forced Fruition (on an even board Brandon would have to do something to get ahead) or an islandwalker seems far more favorable than trying to race. When you're gaining 6-10 life each turn because of the amount of Merfolk you have tapping and the sick number of Judges you can safely keep in play against Wrathless UW, it's highly unlikely your opponent is going to beat you down.

Still, Scheel's a friend and close testing partner and as much as I wanted to win, I was happy he was able to take the slot in the finals. He's the rare breed of player who usually leads by example, is universally respected within his own community as well as on the Pro Tour, and is one big finish away from finally pushing through into the big time (after a narrow-miss for Top 4 in Charleston).

Up Next

This weekend it's PTQ-Chicago, provided the weather holds. If you're going to be in attendance at the event, say hi! and I'll see the rest of you back here tomorrow for a special two-fer set of articles this week.

-Bill Stark
Assistant editor, TCGplayer.com