PTQ Chicago - *2nd*

At the Indianapolis PTQ the weekend prior to Chicago I had the misfortune of being paired against David Felske. I say “misfortune” not because Mr. Felske was less than pleasant to play against (quite the contrary actually) but because his sealed pool was extraordinarily strong. I don't just mean “good” or “broken” but insanely powerful and extremely difficult to beat. Double Elvish Magistrate, Imperious Perfect, double Shriekmaw, Changeling Hero, a Primal Command to tutor for those creatures, an Elvish Harbinger to tutor for his Elves…the list of strong plays his deck was able to make went on and on. After a sound thwacking at the hands of that nonsense I had the chance to speak with David who had made an 11 hour trip one-way to make it to the PTQ. He informed me he was from Canada and that his friend, Mark Cavaco had done the driving.

Mark mentioned he had read some of my work previously and we struck up some conversation throughout the day. He informed me he'd be in Chicago the following weekend, and I assured him I'd be there and that I'd keep an eye out for him. Our talks there revealed some fascinating information about the Ford Co. employee from London, Ontario.

It turns out Mark was actually on the third trip in a series of four for the Kuala Lumpur PTQ season. At Canadian Nationals this year he hatched a simple plan: with a contingent of friends he'd hit up PTQs in Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Cleveland in an effort to earn a plane ticket to Malaysia. He even had t-shirts made for the road trip series for himself and his compatriots (“They were supposed to say ‘Team Randomz'” he explained “but the printer put a space, so I guess now we're Team Random Z.”).

How successful had they been so far? Mark explained they had won Detroit at the lead of Dan McDonald, and had put the aforementioned David Felske into the Top 8 in Indianapolis, though his strong sealed deck didn't do him any favors in the draft portion of the event and he was out after the quarters. Also making the occasional trip was Nassim Ketita who saw some success at Grand Prix-Philadelphia a few years ago though neither he nor Mark had earned the chance to play after the swiss rounds so far in the season.

Mark, who's married and has three kids, started playing in 1994 though he didn't get his DCI card until ten years later. He can often be found on Magic Online with his clan “Frat Broke,” a group he uses to prepare for the events he has to cross international boundaries to play. When asked how his family felt about his lengthy travels he pointed out that for the Chicago PTQ he had traded his teammates in to travel with his wife and children and that they were making a Christmas shopping weekend out of it staying in an extravagant hotel on Michigan Avenue and enjoying the sites of one of the United States' largest cities.

Throughout the course of the day it became apparent Mark was the type of guy who simply loves playing Magic. It might be easy to think of oneself as a road warrior when we drive the four hours to get to Chicago (as I had to do) but Mark thought nothing of driving a minimum of eight hours one-way to get to Indianapolis, or to tacking on an extra four hours on the way back to drop his car-mate David off at home. He also made the most of being at the Chicago event staying until the final round of the Top 8 had played out, soaking up as much as he could from the players still competing. At one point he even conceded a match that had gone to turns but was apparent he would probably lose given more time in an effort to helps his opponent pick up some amateur prizes. All around it was a pleasure meeting and talking with Mark and hopefully come the PTQ-Hollywood season we'll see him back in Chicago and Indianapolis. Whatever happens it was refreshing to see someone who enjoys Magic enough to make such an effort to play.

Mark Cavaco, truly a road warrior.


The Pre-Tournament

The plan to get to Chicago was for Blu McFarlane to meet me in Iowa City from Cedar Falls, then for Cheeks and Gabe Stoffa to meet me from Ames after which we'd pile into my Cavalier and drive to Chicago together, staying at a hotel. Unfortunately Blu had some things come up and had to cancel which just left it at three of us going. In that situation it's best to make lemonade, etc. so I gave Peter Martinez a call and he said with only three of us attending we'd be good to stay at his pad. Saving $90 on a hotel and getting to hang with PTM? Sweet.

The trip down was uneventful until we got to Peter's at which point in time we were bombarded with animals. Pete's family are enthusiastic animal supporters and have something like five dogs, each with a unique personality all its own. The one I was most struck with was “Toby”, a pure bred small breed something or other, though small is never a word you would use to describe him. You see, Toby's a bit plump and…well, here:

Toby the dog manages to even put some Magic players to shame...


We played with the animals, watched “Superbad” and then lost consciousness for 6-8 hours. The following morning we each showered, then left for the site with PTM directions in hand. Unfortunately Cheeks was our navigator. The thing about Cheeks is that he's a solid Magic player, but if you need someone to navigate, scrape ice, open a frozen door, get groceries from the store, in fact do just about anything but play Magic…let's just say he's definitely not your man.

Okay okay, I'm teasing him a bit and between Gabe in the backseat, me in the front seat, and having been to Pastimes' new store we found the place with no trouble.

The Pool

Some people enjoy looking at the sealed pool from a report to analyze and build it. Here you go:
WHITE
1 Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile
1 Cenn's Heir
1 Crib Swap
1 Dawnfluke
1 Goldmeadow Harrier
1 Kithkin Harbinger
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Oaken Brawler
1 Pollen Lullaby
1 Sentry Oak
1 Soaring Hope
1 Surge of Thoughtweft
2 Wellgabber Apothecary
GREEN
1 Battlewand Oak
1 Cloudcrown Oak
1 Elvish Branchbender
2 Elvish Handservant
1 Fistful of Force
1 Gilt-Leaf Seer
1 Jagged-Scar Archers
1 Kithkin Daggerdare
1 Kithkin Mourncaller
1 Lignify
1 Lys Alana Huntmaster
1 Spring Cleaning
1 Woodland Changeling
BLUE
1 Aquitect's Will
1 Benthicore
2 Broken Ambitions
1 Ethereal Whiskergill
1 Glimmerdust Nap
2 Mulldrifter
1 Pestermite
1 Scattering Stroke
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Whirlpool Whelm
1 Zephyr Net
BLACK
1 Boggart Birth Rite
1 Boggart Harbinger
1 Boggart Mob
1 Dreamspoiler Witches
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Footbottom Feast
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Marsh Flitter
1 Mournwhelk
1 Nath's Buffoon
1 Nectar Faerie
1 Nightshade Stinger
1 Peppersmoke
1 Scarred Vinebreeder
1 Weed Strangle
RED
1 Axegrinder Giant
1 Blind-Spot Giant
1 Blades of Velis Vel
1 Caterwauling Boggart
1 Faultgrinder
1 Flamekin Bladewhirl
1 Hurly-Burly
1 Mudbutton Torchrunner
2 Soulbright Flamekin
1 Stinkdrinker Daredevil
1 Thundercloud Shaman
Artifact, Land, and Multi
Artifacts
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Springleaf Drum

Non Basic Lands
1 Vivid Grove

Gold
1 Nath of the Gilt Leaf
1 Wort, Boggart Auntie
1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale



I saw Wort, in my pool for the second time this season, and Boggart Mob and immediately aligned myself with the Goblin tribe. Upon further reflection, however, I realized the only thing to “abuse” with the 3/3 would be Boggart Birth Rite, Mudbutton Torchrunner, and possibly Crib Swap on a splash. That was not very exciting and I was at a loss as to how the pool should actually be built. After a while I realized there were a lot of flyers in the deck (I had been jamming the Mulldrifters into the Goblins pool come hell or high water…) and that playing UB with a tiny touch of green for Nath was well within my reach. Here's the list I registered and played:

1 Vivid Grove
1 Forest
7 Swamp
7 Island

1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Nightshade Stinger
1 Nectar Faerie
1 Pestermite
1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
1 Mournwhelk
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Dreamspoiler Witches
1 Ethereal Whiskergill
1 Marsh Flitter
2 Mulldrifter
1 Nath of the Gilt Leaf
1 Benthicore

2 Broken Ambitions
1 Scattering Stroke
1 Whirlpool Whelm

1 Moonglove Extract

1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Footbottom Feast
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Peppersmoke
1 Weed Strangle

The deck was built on a theme (“creatures that fly”) and that meant playing a few threats that might draw a raised eyebrow. Nightshade Stinger is basically a rehash of Cloud Sprite from Mercadian Masques and in limited the Sprite's nickname was “Lava Axe.” It earned that nickname because players would drop it on turn one and it would attack about five times. Eventually their opponent would have it dead with a removal spell or immobilize it with some form of blocker, but 5 damage is not insignificant. The Nectar Faerie was another also-ran but as Andres Rizner pointed out to me at Pro Tour-Valencia, if you're going to make a mistake, make a mistake! Come up with your plan and Execute on it fully even if it's not, as you find out later, the best plan to Execute on. I wasn't sure whether “flying” was good enough, but I was going to give it my best shot and find out for myself.

At first I felt my deck wasn't very bomby in that it didn't have rares which do things outside the Arena of being a creature. I understand Nath and Wydwen are both very good creatures, and perhaps bombs to an extent, but creatures are creatures and every sealed pool is prepared to deal with them. True bombs are things like Profane Command and planeswalkers which have a dominating effect on the game and may or may not be prepared for by the opponent. What I came to realize, however, was that Mournwhelk, double Mulldrifter, and Footbottom Feast/Makeshift Mannequin created bomb-like synergy. Being able to outdraw an opponent by a margin of something like 8-to-1 is absolutely insane while a turn four Mournwhelk into turn five Mannequin during an opponent's draw step could yield a handless player.

By the end of deck registration I felt satisfied with my deck but did not feel it was too over powered. It was right on target with where you want to be (fairly, anyway) during a sealed PTQ: the pool wasn't awful, but it wasn't unfairly broken. It was the middle porridge, just right.

Checking Your Pool

Every time you build a sealed deck at the level in which you're required to do deck registration you are given the opportunity to check the pool for any registration errors the person recording the pool might have made. A lot of players check their decklist to make sure everything was recorded correctly from what they're playing but a number of players on the weekend failed to take the extra step and verify the entire pool.

While it's true that doing so can be an annoyingly tedious use of precious deck building time and that most often there will be no penalty for not doing so as the deck registrar probably didn't make a mistake, you should just do it to be safe. The penalty for not catching a mistake should you be deck checked is a game loss, and at this event I was lucky to catch a mistake my pool-registerer, Grand Prix-Champion Mike Krumb no less, had made: Woodland Guidance had been registered over Woodland Changeling, which was actually in the pool. A judge fixed the oversight and I avoided a penalty later in the day when I was deck checked. Unfortunately for my opponent in that round, Misha Gurevich, he did not check his pool and I won the match by overwhelming him in the single game we played.

The Swiss

Speaking of which, let's just get down to things, shall we?

In the first round I squared off against Jeremy Seroogy, a PTQ regular who I've played before. I won the die roll and opted to play because of the aggressive nature of the deck. Jeremy mulliganed to five and wasn't ever really in things. His first creature was a turn threeish Elvish Eulogist and I had Peppersmoke up for it. However I held off on the ‘Smoke hoping to be able to nab a creature that couldn't counter the draw effect (I was attacking with a few flyers including a Faerie). Eventually I opted to run it out anyway, and Jeremy didn't bother to counter the card draw by sacrificing the 1/1 to gain 1 life (Elvish Eulogist guarantees you a single life point when sacrificed because it will see itself in the graveyard and count at least one Elf). The second game I held off on a turn two Nectar Faerie to Broken Ambitions his Imperious Perfect, then stabilized with Mulldrifter recursion and overwhelmed. 1-0

Bob Shaffer was my opponent for round 2 and my flyers managed to outrace his Battlewand Oak in the first game. It didn't hurt I hit an evoked Mournwhelk then ripped the Makeshift Mannequin the following turn to catch him during his draw step. I mulliganed to five in the second game after Bob sideboarded significantly but slowly managed to stabilize until I was ahead on board with just 5 life. A Benthicore got its beat on and eventually Bob was forced to concede with my Mulldrifters making up for my mulligans. 2-0

Mike Wawszczak (Vahv-Shock), a fellow TCGplayer writer, was my round three opponent and I knew we were in for a good match. His sealed pool in Indianapolis was pretty atrocious, but his pool for the Chicago event seemed much better. In the first game he came out of the gates beating me down with a Warren Pilferers and Moonglove Winnower. A Boggart Loggers was added to the mix, then a Cairn Wanderer while I was at 5 life; things didn't look good. Still I had managed to land Sentinels of Glen Elendra and Wydwen amongst other hits. The problem was my random Forest was allowing his Loggers to get in uninhibited. We had a series of plays that featured me inadvertently killing the Loggers before blockers giving his Wanderer forestwalk, but that left me at 1 and I managed to take control from there. He overwhelmed me in the second, then in the final game he mulliganed to five and I landed a turn 5 Nath of the Gilt Leaf. It didn't go well for him after that, though we did have some time to mug for the camera: 3-0



Win or lose there's always time to goof around


Misha Gurevich, a Madison native recognizable for his be-pinned hat with a huge pheasant feather in it, was my round four opponent and as I alluded to early I won on the back of Misha not having checked his deck registration sheet for errors. The person who had filled out the pool made a mistake on a card in Misha's sideboard and when we were deck checked he was awarded a game loss. The actual game we played wasn't very fun as I landed a number of flyers which were able to outrace his meager ground troops as Mulldrifters kept me ahead in the count. 4-0

In the fifth round I played DJ Kastner, whom you might remember from the MSS Championship this past year. DJ had lethal damage in the final game of the quarters of that tournament against his opponent when he was given a game loss for his sleeves, ending his run in the Top 8. I was covering that event and the full story was very complex and resulted in DJ not having intentionally done anything shady but running afoul of a misunderstanding with a judge and facing the strictest penalty imaginable as a result. Still he hasn't let that hamper him and is a solid player for the RIW crew out of Livonia, MI.

He won the roll but opted to let me go first and I quickly assembled a Nath of the Gilt Leaf into Mournwhelk evoke which gave me two extra Elves (Nath triggers whenever an opponent discards, not just from his ability during the upkeep). DJ tried to keep up with a Fallowsage getting in on the back of Steambed Aquitects each turn, but it wasn't enough. He got the second with a strong Merfolk draw anchored by Merrow Rejeerey, then topped off with Cloudgoat Ranger. In the final I put on the pressure with flyers starting with Nectar Faerie, then shored up with Mulldrifter including a second copy that was Makeshift Mannequined back into play after DJ finally gave in and used a removal spell to kill the 2/2. 5-0

In round six I finally ran afoul of playing against one of my carmates as Cheeks and I squared off to see who would get to double-draw into the Top 8 (we hoped). I won the roll and Cheeks mulliganed. I opened on Nightshade Stinger which attacked turn after turn but became alarmed at the number of lands my draw steps kept yielding. Eventually a Mulldrifter joined the fray (yielding two lands), then a Sentinels of Glen Elendra. Cheeks was horrifically mana screwed throughout the game after his mulligan, so despite drawing 13 lands I managed to win on the back of “duh flyers,” with Stinger getting there for 8 points throughout. I boarded in a Glimmerdust Nap for a Broken Ambitions on the draw in the second, but it didn't stop his Vigor when he revealed a Merrow Rejeerey + Shapeshifter to untap the Vigor and attack, incidentally making the Dust Nap enchanting an illegal target and thusly falling off. In the final Cheeks opened on another mulligan while I managed a turn four Ethereal Whiskergill. That combined with a Nightshade Stinger and Dreamshaper Mystic allowed me to beat through his forces with the help of some of my removal. 6-0

Round seven I nabbed an ID with Sean Michael-Ryder.

In round eight I sat down across from Lucas Duchow, a solid Madison player who tests with guys like Mike Hron. I was planning on auto-drawing into the Top 8 but when I met Lucas at the table he said “So are we going to draw, or are you going to try to knock me out of contention?” That thought hadn't even occurred to me, and I was shocked he would even suggest it. Lucas is a talented drafter, the type you don't want in the Top 8, “good competition.” I was in no matter what happened (ranked 2nd or 3rd in the standings) meaning I could take the opportunity to beat him not once but twice: now in the swiss to knock him out and again in the Top 8 if it came to that. With his suggestion the idea definitely crossed my mind, and it was exacerbated when a judge came over to inform me Lucas would start our match with a game loss for some deck registration error, possibly the same thing that had gotten Misha, my opponent from round 4. Was this really happening? Was I supposed to try to knock Lucas out?

Eventually I decided that while the play would make sense from the perspective of keeping a good player out of the Top 8, earning the ire of Lucas and the Madison players who are some of Iowa's staunchest competition on the Midwestern PTQ circuit just wasn't worth it. I might not talk to Mr. Duchow on AIM every day, but he's always been relatively cordial to me and certainly had never done anything to earn getting sandbagged out in the final round so we drew. 6-0-2

The Top 8

The Top 8 was filled with some pretty solid names from the regular crowd of PTQ players in the Midwest. Cheeks and DJ Kastner had gone on from their swiss round losses to me to garner a spot, Vintage player Tommy Kolowith had made the cut, and the two players I had drawn with, Lucas Duchow and Sean Michael-Ryder, had both made it as well. The other two members of the final-elimination rounds I didn't recognize but they had managed to navigate eight rounds of sealed deck to earn their spot, so it seemed reasonable to assume they had some clue as to what was going on (and my apologies to them for not getting their names).

One unfortunate note was carmate Gabe Stoffa's final round. At 5-1-1 he needed a win to make the Top 8. Naturally he was paired down and in a match that led to a long third game went to time. At the end of five turns his opponent was reportedly dead were they to be able to get to turn six and a draw eliminated him from prizes. However he refused to concede the match and Gabe drew a heartbreaker that left him on the sidelines watching the other members of his car draft. Leaving the question of the morality of his opponent's decision for another day, here's a look at the deck I drafted in the Top 8:

Draft Deck

9 Island
8 Forest

1 Amoeboid Changeling
3 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Stonybrook Angler
2 Pestermite
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Inkfathom Divers
1 Guile

1 Battlewand Oak
1 Cloudcrown Oak
2 Changeling Titan

1 Whirlpool Whelm
1 Ponder
1 Faerie Trickery
2 Incremental Growth
1 Epic Proportions
1 Fistful of Force
1 Lignify

Sideboard
1 Protective Bubble
3 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Scattering Stroke

1 Heal the Scars
1 Spring Cleaning
1 Hunt Down

1 Springleaf Drum

1 Vivid Crag

1 Triclopean Sight
1 Soaring Hope
1 Judge of Currents

1 Bog Hoodlums
1 Nightshade Stinger

1 Caterwauling Boggart
1 Ceaseless Searblades
1 Flamekin Harbinger
1 Giant's Ire
1 Hurly-Burly
1 Inner-Flame Acolyte
1 Lash Out

I was seated next to Cheeks in the draft meaning I was passing to him in the first and third packs. We had discussed on the car ride to Chicago how we both loved drafting blue and were willing to force it because of how highly we valued archetypes like Merfolk and Faeries. That meant of the two of us, I would get to force the color while Cheeks had to choose between being behind at least one blue drafter and picking up the scraps, or moving into whatever non-blue goodness I could hook him up with. Cheeks is a smart guy so I presumed he would make that play over forcing the blue in pack two and leaving us with two mediocre decks instead of not fighting and having two solid decks (potentially). All that and it was still based on whether I'd be able to go blue or not.

In my first pack I saw a Streambed Aquitects as the only blue card (barring chaff like Protective Bubble) with an Incremental Growth in the uncommon slot. Aquitects is a fine card but it's not what first picks are made of, and if you wind up getting cut by the person to your right you threw away your first pick in a real bad way. The Growth, aka Pumpkins, is a bit tricky to use fully but is considerably more bomby in application than the Aquitects. It's a card that risks being a wasted first pick if you wind up not playing enough creatures to support it, but it's strictly more powerful than Aquitects so I took it, assuming the 2/3 wouldn't put Matt into blue just yet.

The second pick featured a Changeling Titan, which I happily took, then the third pick revealed a Pestermite and a Peppersmoke. I wasn't certain what the people before me had taken from that pack but the ‘Mite and ‘Smoke revealed Faeries was potentially open. Did I really want to go down that path and risk abandoning my first two (solid) picks? Ugh, I just wasn't sure. The draw in which the 2/1 hits on my opponent's turn three upkeep was so tantalizing, however, that I couldn't help myself and added it to my pile. When a second one came pick four I started forming a plan: for this Top 8 I was going to draft a UG Tempo deck abusing Pumpkins with a horde of flyers and shoring up my ground force with Treefolk like Battlewand and Cloudcrown Oak and filling in removal gaps with bounce, Moonglove Extract, and possibly stuff on the splash.

Ultimately the deck turned out according to plan. I was given many many gifts including a middle-of-the-pack Guile, a third pack open of Epic Proportions, and second copies of both Pumpkins and Changeling Titan. The area I was lacking in was actual removal, though Whirlpool Whelm and Lignify helped in that department, and the ground troops. I had been given the opportunity to take Battlewand Oaks three times but had only been able to draft one the third time, needing to take flyers over the first two. I was hoping they would table, but the drafters at this Top 8 had gotten the memo and respected how good the 1/3 was. None of them came back.

I had gone into the draft with a plan (force blue) but had left only semi-accomplishing that plan. I had never drafted the “archetype” I was playing in the context of the Lorwyn Block but, following Andres' words, I had developed a plan and executed and if I was wrong I was going to be wrong as hard as I could and simply hope for the best. My biggest concern at the end of the draft was a deck with lots of spot removal, something like BR Goblins. Tarfires, Lash Outs, Eyeblight's Endings, and Nameless Inversions played more than once in a match would be a nightmare, particularly if they had a means of nullifying my 7/7s.

Quarterfinals: Tommy Kolowith

I won the roll against Tommy but had to mulligan. I kept a hand with a few Spellstutter Sprites and a Changeling Titan. I knew I would need to rip a few lands in order to win, but it was difficult to justify a mulligan to five with a reasonable hand as was. The first Spellstutter hopped into play at the end of his second turn not to counter anything but to get its beat on. On my turn five, after ripping back-to-back lands, I dropped Changeling Titan against a tapped out opponent. That left me with 7/7 and an Epic Proportions in my hand, but no other real action. I was going to untap and attack, then +5/+5 my 7/7 and make it trample, but if Tommy had an answer for that I was in big trouble.

While formulating my plan Tommy had played out two Kithkin Mourncallers which had gone to work on my life total. Because he was packing double copies, blocking them would be a tenuous position to be in as killing either would net him not one but two new cards. Fortunately my 7/7 scared him from attacking and he sat back, adding Lys Alana Huntmaster to his board. On my turn I was free to attack with Titan having six mana up for my Epic aura. Tommy checked his life total (17), then opted to not block and simply took the damage. The enchantment dropped him to 5 and put him in a real tight spot.

On his turn he bashed me to 14, then played Weed Strangle on my 12/12. *Gulp* Losing the clash was going to mean game over as my only action was another Spellstutter Sprite in my hand and the one which would return to play from being championed. I slowly turned over the top card of my library to reveal…Island.

My heart sank. I looked up to Tommy, who reached to reveal the top card on his library. He slowly turned the corner up to reveal…SWAMP! Ya-hoo! Still in it!

My Spellstutter hopped back into play and attacked Tommy to 4, then the second hit play at the end of his following turn and a Fistful of Force sent us to the second game with me up one.

After the match Gabe Stoffa, who had been watching everyone play to scout for Cheeks and I, revealed Tommy had been a Forest off from Cloudthresher the entire game; had he hit the land or not whiffed on the Weed Strangle clash I certainly would have lost.

Tommy started on the play for the second but didn't have a play until a turn three Huntmaster thanks to a Leaf Gilder. I had opened on Amoeboid Changeling and we had begun cluttering the board with small creatures, Tommy with a Skeletal Changeling that begat an Elf token then a Kithkin Mourncaller, and me with Cloudcrown Oak and Battlewand Oak. Neither of us was able to profitably attack and then Tommy revealed his trump: the Cloudthresher I hadn't seen in game one.

That merited some eye bugging but I managed to find Guile and Changeling Titan and the Guile put him in a bad spot. I had plenty of chump blockers for his creatures at a healthy 11 life but he was hard pressed to all in my 6/6. When he played a Leaf Gilder, I used the opportunity to counter a free spell with a Spellstutter Sprite, already holding a Faerie in play thanks to the changeling on my Titan.

The Spellstutter created some confusion however, as Tommy initially reached for a die to make a 1/1 Elf from the Huntmaster, then stopped. He had to verify I had the amount of Faeries I claimed I did, before recognizing the Changeling Titan, and then the judge stopped both of us. He pointed at my Guile which had a required action I had failed to take: removing from the game any spell I countered. We backed up, I removed the 2/1 Gilder, then opted to use my may effect in order to play it immediately. All of the confusion led Tommy to forget to net a free Elf and so I added an extra chump blocker to my board while Tommy simply got blanked. A Lignify ensured his Cloudthresher wasn't going to be killing my Guile anytime soon, and a second attack after wiping out a field of chump blockers left me the victor.



Tommy Kolowith from the finals


Semifinals: DJ Kastner

I lost the die roll, but for some reason DJ opted to have me play first. I was more than fine with that; the more tempo the better. I opened on dubs Stonybrook Angler while DJ simply had Deeptread Merrow. On his third turn he attacked activating the islandwalk, opening the chance for me to get in with both Stonybrooks. I did exactly that and DJ blew me out with a Triclopean Sight. The Sight is a mediocre trick which does the job in a pinch, something DJ confessed after the match, but it's also a trick that starts to become more valuable as a limited season progresses and players begin to take it for granted. In any case it cost me a Stonybrook Angler.

With four mana up I ran a Sentinels of Glen Elendra into play during DJ's next combat step which began beating down. It was joined by a few other flyers, but DJ wasn't taking any prisoners adding additional Merfolk to the table including a Merrow Rejeerey. Lorwyn limited is an odd duck in that no matter how bad your blue deck seems to be, if you're paired against another blue deck you've got a chance; half of your creatures will be unblockable! That was bad news for me as DJ's blue deck was obviously good while I wasn't so sure about the power level of my own. In any case he began working on crazy shenanigans with his Rejeerey though I was bent on attacking nullifying its effect to some extent.

I managed to resolve a Pumpkins giving my Sentinels +3/+3, my Angler +2/+2, and one of his creatures +1/+1 with no legal targets of my own. The Sentinel bashed him to 10, and he went into the tank to think his course of action through carefully the following turn. Ultimately he decided to attack with most of his creatures, though I tapped his Avian Changeling before he could attack. After combat he added a Changeling Hero to the board which left him tapped out and with no flyers. After verifying that to be true with DJ, I revealed the final card in my hand: Epic Proportions. DJ surveyed the board, then somewhat exasperatedly scooped it up.

The second game started with a long pause from DJ, who was clearly considering whether he wanted me on the play or draw. After much consideration he opted to put me on the play again, then took a mulligan. I definitely wanted to be on the play but after a mulligan, DJ was definitely going to benefit from the extra card he was going to draw.

DJ was first on the board with a Kithkin Greatheart, but I was first to attack when my end-of-turn Spellstutter Sprite cracked for one on my turn. He followed up with Avian Changeling, bashing for 3 with his enhanced Greatheart and leaving me on the defensive. I Whirlpool Whelmed the Avian Changeling at the end of his turn whiffing on the clash, untapped and bashed for one. During DJ's upkeep I had a Pestermite for his sole Plains, looking to keep him from replaying the Avian Changeling. He managed to make it anyway and attacked with the Greatheart to put me at 15. On my turn I had Pumpkins to make my Pestermite a 4/3, my Spellstutter a 4/4, and his Greatheart a 4/3. He was forced to consider whether or not he should block with his Changeling when I attacked, but with 6 points of power on the board opted to race instead. I dropped him to 10 and passed.

DJ went into the tank again on his turn, carefully considering the best way to eek out an edge in the life race. He decided to attack with both of his creatures putting me to 9, then played his Changeling Hero yet again, removing the Greatheart from play. Tapped out with no flyers to block and his Changeling Hero threatening to take over the game, I quickly verified that DJ had no options for things to do on my turn. When he revealed he was tapped out I showed him the final card in my hand: Fistful of Force. Combined with the 8 power of creatures on my board it was just enough to garner the win. 8-0-2

“Well, at least that's a more reasonable trick to lose to this time…” –DJ Kastner.



Gracious in defeat


Finals: Matt “Cheeks” Hansen

For the second time on the day Cheeks and I squared off to face one another. Because my match against DJ Kastner had ended relatively quickly I had had the chance to watch Matt play against Lucas Duchow in the semifinals. Both were with Goblins, exactly the deck I didn't want to face. On paper Lucas' deck was “better” in that he had Wort and Cheeks was pretty down on his build. In the actual matchup against me, however, Matt's deck was far better than Lucas' as he had much more spot removal than the Madisonian, who was rocking Consuming Bonfires for the role of taking out creatures.

I lost the roll and kept a hand that seemed good but was a risk: 2 Islands, 2 Pestermite, 2 Spellstutter Sprite, 1 Battlewand Oak. I was on the draw and effectively at six cards in hand until I hit the Forest for my Battlewand. However, any third land on time would allow me to potentially blow Matt out with the Pestermites and the second Spellstutter could possibly connect to counter something relevant. What actually happened was that I didn't draw the third land until I was at about 8 life and extremely far behind on the board facing down Caterwauling Boggart, an Adder-Staff Boggart enhanced, a Marsh Flitter with Goblin tokens…it just wasn't meant to be.

(Full disclosure: at one point in the game I had 2 Spellstutter Sprites and a Stonybrook Angler on the board. Matt attacked with his Caterwauling Boggart and enhanced Adder-Staff and I was faced with the possibility of triple blocking his Caterwaul to protect from a possible removal spell in his hand. I decided to be greedy figuring if I was going to get back ahead in the game I'd need to take some risks and blocked with just the Spellstutter Sprites; Matt had the Tarfire and I was even further behind than I had been. Discussing the play after the match it was apparent I simply made the wrong blocks almost for certain. The triple block was the right play.)

I was on the play for the second game and felt my hand was good enough to lead with: 2 Forest, 2 Island, Changeling Titan, Amoeboid Changeling, Fistful of Force. I needed a single land to make my 5-drop, but was probably going to want a few more creatures to make sure I had enough threats to champion. Cheeks opened on a Fire Belly Changeling into Marsh Flitter while my draw steps yielded…land. My Amoeboid Changeling was looking pretty depressing compared to the rest of the board and a Moonglove Extract was preventing me from playing the Titan. Eventually we got into a position wherein I was able to use my Fists to save the Changeling from Extract (clashing a land to the bottom), then play my 7/7 (after drawing another land), but Cheeks was way ahead on the board. A Cloudcrown Oak momentarily gave me some reprieve but naturally Eyeblight's Ending was sitting in Matt's hand and virtually assured my demise. We played on but it was a moot point and Matt took the slot down despite my efforts. 8-1-2



Foiled by yet another fellow Iowan...


The Aftermath

It's frustrating to lose when you've come so close, even when it's to one of the guys you work with, but the blow is softened a bit knowing Matt is headed to Malaysia. Gabe, Cheeks, and I headed back to Peter's to avoid driving home in the blizzard raging outside and stopped to pick up some groceries on the way there. The trip took about an hour instead of the 35 minutes it took us to get to the site in the morning, but pizza and Milk Duds made for a hearty meal that almost took my mind off the results of the finals.
      

A study in opposites.


The next morning we rose early for the 4 hour trip back to Iowa City, covering the what-ifs from throughout the event, politics, and the usual talking points on any good Magic trip. I'm happy for friends Matt Hansen and Brandon Scheel to have secured spots for themselves in Malaysia, but I definitely wanted the ticket and will be looking to get back in the saddle in Minneapolis after I return from Worlds. Minnesota is a tough place to play cards, particularly limited, so it will be a challenge at best to try to finish at one more PTQ.



Gabe Stoffa, Cheeks, Peter Martinez (L-R)

-Bill Stark
Assistant editor, TCGplayer.com