Hi, this is my first article on StarCityGames.com, and there's always that weird transitional period, you know, like when you first move into your dorm and aren't quite sure if your new roommate is lying to you, or if everyone up north really does sleep naked with both eyes open. So if you notice any grammatical or syntax errors, or overtly racist remarks please try and forgive me, you dirty, dirty immigrant.
First a quick catch-up for those of you who haven't followed my every move (if you exist). My name is Gary Talim, and I've been playing for about seven years now, but only started PTQ-ing about two years ago. About three months after starting the PTQ circuit, I won a qualifier for Nice, where I proceeded to Top 8. Since then, I've won two more PTQ's and had about a half dozen money finishes at random GP's and PT's including a Grand Prix top 8 (GP: Singapore *frown*). But in the past year, my focus has shifted from Magic to college, poker, and my blossoming career in professional body-building, and I went from playing about twenty to thirty hours a week to only playing when I'm at tournies.
Which brings us to today. And by today, I mean last week, because last week was when I played in GP: Columbus. I wasn't too keen on flying across the county for a sealed deck tourney, but seeing as how I had a free frequent flyer flight and a free place to stay at Alex Borteh's farm, I decided to run it. I'd tell you about all the pre-tourney shenanigans, but since you couldn't care less, I'll skip straight to the main course.
I'll just briefly skim over Day 1. In short, my deck was an awful, three-color monstrosity with the best cards being literally two Grimclaw Bats, which, of course excel in three-color decks. I didn't even have any Darksteel Ingots, which is quickly becoming my favorite card in the format. More on Ingots later. I seriously considered dropping before I had to play any rounds, but I knew I wouldn't respect myself in the morning if I did (not that that's stopped me from doing anything in the past). Somehow I managed to scrounge together the six wins and a draw necessary to make Day 2, despite four of my opponents starting out with a Skullclamp on turn 1 and a Myr on turn 2. Nothing that interesting happened during my matches, though I did witness Gerard Fabiano Mindslaver his opponent, then Pulse of the Forge himself and try to get it back by arguing that his opponent had more life than his opponent. He almost had the judge convinced, too. I also met someone named Mr. Potato Head.
All my roommates, Ben Rubin, Matt Linde (who managed to go 9-0 despite peeing his pants), and Brock Parker made day 2, with the exception of Peter Szigeti, who was so sick from some bad Pixie Stix that he dropped before playing any rounds, and Alex himself, who chose to skip the hometown GP, so nothing very interesting went on that night, except for the beer, drugs, pizzas, strippers, old-school throwdowns, car chases, and monkey knife-fights. Ha ha, just kidding. I'm Atkins-ing, I can't have pizza.
I woke up the next morning excited about drafting, before I remembered that I was in 84th place (because of the massive size, this GP cut to the top 128) and would somehow need to win seven out of my six matches to Top 8. But I was up to the task, oh yes I was boys.
I sat down at my draft pod and recognized only two faces, Antonio De Rosa and Ken Krouner. I drafted a deck that I titled,"Two Ingots Short of Perfection," because it was a sick little Black/Green/Red number with very powerful spells including Promise of Power, Barter in Blood, Terror, Uktabi, and a variety of Green fatties, but sadly lacking any Myr, Talismans, or Ingots. I planned on getting some Ingy Wingys in Darksteel, (like I always do), but they never came. Honestly, if you cast a Dingot on turn 3, I can't image any series of events that would lead to you losing. Well... I dunno, maybe they could have a Shivan or something. Still, I knew as long as my opponent didn't have a super fast draw, I'd do fine. To support my high cost spells, I ran eighteen land and Journey of Discovery, a very underrated card, which was especially helpful since I splashed an Electrostatic Bolt and Barbed Lightning.
Round 10: Antonio de Rosa:
Antonio also had a Green/Black deck, which surprised me because he passed a Barter in Blood and I thought I was cutting off Green. Still I wasn't shedding any tears over him taking the Green picks out of Darksteel, since they don't actually exist, and Black is so deep that even Antonio's sloppy seconds were great. His deck wasn't too hot but he's always a formidable opponent.
He won Game 1 when I kept a five-lander on the draw and drew four more in a row. He knew I had the Barter, so he was holding back, but once it was like turn 6 and I still hadn't used it, he just let loose and dropped all his guys and killed me. Game 2 I, Journey'd with Kicker on turn 6 and Promised with Kicker on turn 7, and that's lights out for Antonio. Game 3 my worst fears come true, as Hitler's exhumed brain is surgically implanted into a titanium robotic skeleton and a terrible age of titanium neo-Nazi robots descends over Western civilization, and also because Antonio gets a super quick draw and kills me before I can cast anything of value.
So now I'm a sickly 6-3-1, but my deck is too good and my balls are too big for me to drop.
Round 11: Ken Krouner:
Can't say I was surprised to see KK down here in the slums. I say this with no malice, but just because we both readily admit that we're stains. In fact, we both had very similar Pro Tour"careers" (mise at one PT, mise at one GP, die), and while we know better, we both keep showing up to these things like a couple of battered wives, because deep down, we love the abuse. Ken's deck was actually insane, a very fast Mono-Black Affinity deck with multiple Disciples and multiple Froggymites. I swear, the guy had Frogs coming out of his ears. We split the first two, as I managed to steal one game with Barter in Blood, and he got a terrible draw in Game three, leading to a win for the big man - Karl! I mean me.
Well that's two matches in a row against good opponents that ended with one person drawing terribly in the last game and losing the match. It's times like these that I realize that, realistically, Magic just isn't a very good tournament game. Of course, this is coming from a guy that recently fell off the train and fell hard (I chipped a tooth), so that may just be the bitterness talking, you jerk.
7-3-1, with 4 rounds to go?
Round 12:
I played a friendly lady named Beth this round. Her deck wasn't too great, including the vanilla Aquamoeba. She almost won game 3 by casting Savage Beating with entwine with a Tooth of Chiss-Goria out, but I managed to kill a guy in response and won the next turn.
8-3-1
My second draft also went well. I started out with an always-potent Betrayal of Flesh, which I took over a Spikeshot Gobbo, then second picked a Skeletal Shard. Some people don't like the ole Shardy too much, but I think it's insane, especially when you get it early and with all the new Transformers in the third pack. I rounded out pack one with some Green creatures and Black removal, you know, that old song and dance. I wasn't happy with my second pack, or as unhappy as one can be when opening an Oblivion Stone. No, there's nothing wrong with the Stone, I took it happily, but I had to pass two great Black uncommons in Betrayal of Flesh and Skeletal Shard, which could easily cause not one, but two people to my immediate right to dip into Black, which would reduce my pick quality in Darksteel significantly. I felt better when I got a second pick Icy Manipulator though. After that, I didn't get anything too great out of the pack other than an Altar of Shadows sixth! Yeah, yeah, I know... fourteen mana to kill a creature, too slow and vulnerable, blah, blah, I'll take an Abyss targeting you anyway, thanks b. Darksteel was nothing special, Chittering Rats here, an Echoing Decay there, build for ten minutes and you got a deck.
Once again I had a deck with a lot of high-end bombs, but no acceleration. Another thing about Ingots: they never table. Don't fall into the trap I did and take something else, hoping that innocuous little Ingy will make its way back; don't kid yourself, it won't. Ingots: take them early, take them often. Draft 'em, play 'em, love 'em. Darksteel Ingot: A true American hero. So, um, I was disappointed with my lack of acceleration, but in retrospect, it seems kinda cool, more manly in a way, kinda like walking to the Dairy Queen instead of taking the bus.
Round 13 Someone:
Someone played some cards, which in interacting with the cards I played, lead to me winning in either two or three games. I really don't remember anything about this match, sorry. You're probably not missing much, though. I mean, how exciting could it really have been? He was probably just manascrewed or something. I hate Magic.
9-3-1
Round 14: Jamie Parke
I recognized the name as an old school pro, so I decided that I better play with both eyes open, just to be safe. He had a sleek W/U/b deck, full of cheap fliers, Equipment, Blinding Beams, and the Betrayal I opened in pack 2. Game 1 was an extremely tight race, which ended with him topdecking a Specter's Shroud to let his Cub fly over my blocker for the last four points of damage, the turn before I woulda killed him. Game 2 I got a great mixture of removal and fatties and made short work of him. Game 3 was one of the closer games I've played recently. I killed most of his early plays before playing an Icy and an Altar, but couldn't kill him because he kept Arresting my guys. Eventually, between a Betrayal of Flesh and just casting a bunch of guys in one turn, he started to mount an offense, but I had plenty of removal in my hand and ended up winning, with my Myr Retriever doing something like fifteen damage.
10-3-1
Round 15: Who Knows
This was it. This match was for all the marbles, all the tea in China, all the cheese in Wisconsin, all the hoagies in Brock Parker's lunch box, all the.... okay it was for $250. But still, having $250 is better than not having $250, so I wanted to win. My opponent had a fast White/Red deck with two Blinding Beams and two Raise the Alarm, which was very bad news for my two 3/1 pro Artifact guys. That guy, by the way, despite getting no love from most drafters, is actually quite the little beater. Game 1 I mulliganed twice on the play, but still won when he stalled on two land. I hate Magic. Game 2 I drew Oblivion Stone for the first time all day, and, well, it did what it was supposed to do, and I won.
11-3-1
So I ended the day 5-1 and ended up 19th. Wizards needs to alter the structure of these giant GP's somehow, because something about not being able to Top 8 with a 6-0 record on Day 2 is wrong. That's right, to use the all-too-trendy poker lingo, I was drawing dead on the flop. They could probably just add an extra round, though the thought of a sixteen-round GP is nauseating. In fact, I developed a whooping cough during round 14, which evolved into a Bolivian flu during round 15, and, were I forced to play another round, very well could have developed into a full-blown case of genital rickets.
...Weeeeeeeeeeelllll, now that I've reached"genital rickets," I think this report has pretty much peaked, so I'll get going for now. I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading.
Bye,
Gary Talim
gmtalim@ucdavis.edu
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