I had really been wanting to attend GP: Cleveland since the beginning of the OBC season. In the beginning, I was testing six to ten hours per day online using Apprentice. As things wore on, however, it started to look like I would be unable to attend. Fortunately, I was able to go when my friend, Andrew, said that we could stay at his aunt's place about an hour from Cleveland and that we could ride up with her. So I tried to get back into the swing of things and practice - but the format is so boring that I didn't have as much enthusiasm about it as I could have.

I had been working mostly on U/G threshold builds, not too unlike the one that Rob Dougherty used to Top 8 in Cleveland. Still, I was so convinced that U/G would be most of the field along with monoblack that I really didn't want to play it despite the fact that I thought it was very good. I didn't think I would enjoy setting through mirror match after mirror match. The irony, of course, is that I ended up playing monoblack in the Grand Prix... Which was just as dominant and would in all probability lead to as many mirror matches. And much more boring ones at that.

I liked the mana consistency of monoblack. U/G has occasionally annoyed several people with them not getting the right color mana: I thought that at least if I could avoid match losses to that, I should do so. And monoblack is hardly ever mana short either and I just liked the way that it played out.

I wanted to play U/G/W Confinement and had been winning a lot with it, and I personally enjoyed the deck - but what discouraged me were the sudden emergence of Braids everywhere. I knew that I didn't have a lot of ways of dealing with it, and especially not if it was backed up by Mesmeric Fiends, so I put it aside.

The trip was twelve hours long, and the whole time I was thinking about what I should play. My friend Andrew was thinking of playing U/G Madness, which he had been using a lot. We also went with his aunt, of course, and with her son, David. Andrew's girlfriend, Katherine, went with us too, so we were full right up in the car, with me luckily getting the front.

We left on Thursday morning and were there around 8:30 p.m. We built some more decks and played some more, trying to narrow it down. I decided that I didn't like U/G because it was not quite as consistent and puts you at the mercy of difficult mirror matches and"who draws Wonder first wins" and the fact that whoever played first has a big advantage. I didn't want to play Confinement, because few other good players have done well with it and there was monoblack, Pirates, U/B decks that were gaining in popularity... And they all used Braids.

There weren't many other choices. I thought seriously about playing U/B Braids, but got a lot of annoying draws with the deck and had such strong doubts about it that I just ended up going with monoblack, similar to the version that T8'd in GP: London.

4 Nantuko Shade
4 Diabolic Tutor
4 Tainted Pact
4 Innocent Blood
4 Chainer's Edict
4 Mutilate
3 Faceless Butcher
2 Haunting Echoes
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Grotesque Hybrid
1 Mind Sludge
1 Mirari
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
23 Swamp
3 Cabal Coffers

Sideboard:
2 Cabal Therapy
4 Rancid Earth
3 Braids, Cabal Minion
3 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Slithery Stalker

On Friday, we got to the Trial and registered, with Andrew deciding to play U/G Madness and Katherine playing WW.

1st Round: Josh Taylor, U/G
Things started out a little differently here. A judge came over to deck check us and we sat there waiting for our decks back for quite a while. I knew something had to be wrong but seriously doubted that there was a problem on my part. I was right. A judge came and took my opponent aside. Then another judge came over to talk to me and said that Josh was going to get a game loss: He had the foil logo of his sleeves on the back of the sleeves, and the sleeves were clear - and the judges also found that the lands were noticeably different than the rest of his deck and got him for Marked Cards with Pattern: Non-Intentional. I would rather have played, and felt bad that that had happened to him - but by the same token, I was there to win and that did help out.

Game 2 went according to plan with me getting insane creature kill and wiping the board until I hit once or twice with a huge Shade.

1-0

2nd Round: Mike Patnik, Wake Combo
This guy has already been mentioned on Sideboard for this deck - but at the time I didn't realize how truly competitive the deck could be. I had tried a Wake deck in the beginning, but it always seemed just the slightest bit too slow for U/G and Monoblack, getting fifth0turn kills a lot but often disrupted by Mind Sludge, Rancid Earth or by Circular Logic. This deck was a lot better.

Game 1 was just stupid: He gets a fourth-turn Wake and I Sludge him on my turn. He is able to keep just one card - but one of the cards he discards is Crush of Wurms. On his turn, he draws, casts Time Stretch, then flashes back the Crush and on his last turn he attacks for twenty-one! Argh.

Game 2, I am able to Rancid Earth him three times and also to play a Mesmeric Fiend, seeing two Wakes. I take something else unable to stop the Wakes but I Skeletal Scrying for several cards, twice hoping to get a Braids or Cabal Therapy in time - but I don't. He combos. Ouch.

1-1

3rd Round: Mark U/B Infestation
Anyone that says that Infestation is an autowin vs. Monoblack might want to reconsider: Several times in the weekend, I would see Monoblack beat U/B; the first game is a bit rough, but after sideboarding it gets a lot better. This was the case here.

First game, my Butchers, Edicts, Mutilates, and the like don't exactly help and I get crushed. I resolve a Braids in the second with help from Fiends and whatnot; he is able to kill Braids, several times but I am able to either play another Braids or Tutor for a Braids to replace it every time. I think I played all four Braids against him this game and wrecked him.

Game 3 was much easier because I resolved an early Braids and he couldn't really do anything right off - and when he did kill it, I was able to Tutor for Braids and replay it like the second game. I called a judge over to watch for slow play as a precautionary measure because there were a few turns it seemed like he was taking an awful long time to think about what to sac to Braids with only a swamp and an island in play. I think it was just tough for him; I don't think he was trying to play slow, but I was very serious about this weekend and wanted to take no chances.

2-1

Sidenote: This was one of the funniest stories of the weekend. Behind the guy was standing a girl; I don't know if it was his girlfriend or just a friend but she was pretty good looking. My friends were watching this match at the time and they thought this was pretty funny too. As we were playing our match and I was starting to really wreck him, she started to unbutton her shirt a button at a time - I guess to distract me? She got down to one button... But I still won, so her plan didn't really work. But hey, worth a try, right?

Fourth Round: Monoblack
I lost my notes for this round, so I can't think of the guy's name (Antonio, maybe?) but anyway it went very very badly for me. Game 1 he had the advantage because I didn't have Rancid Earths main deck. He was able to destroy my lands, Sludge me, and all that fun stuff.

Game 2 I kept a hand with two Rancid Earths, Tainted Pact, Chainer's Edict, Innocent Blood, Cabal Coffers and Swamp. I had a pretty good hand with one more Swamp - and with twenty-two more Swamps in the deck and fifty-three more cards, I was feeling pretty good about it but I never drew it until he Rancid Earthed me a couple of times. In retrospect, perhaps I shouldn't have kept that hand. I still think it was iffy.

(It wasn't - he had four Earths, and you had to draw not one, but two more swamps before his third turn to break even - The Ferrett)

2-2

I dropped after that. I knew it would be a late night and we were staying over an hour away so I thought it best that we get back as early as possible. Besides, I didn't have much chance of T8. My friends had already dropped so we all left then spent the time thinking about our little practice session and considering what went wrong. I decided to still play Monoblack, but switch out the Butchers for Rancid Earths because there wasn't as creature heavy a field as expected. During the whole weekend and about fifteen rounds of play, I only played four U/G decks.

The GP itself went even worse.

Andrew decided to switch to the Monoblack deck that I was playing, which I still feel is a strong deck. I had one bye because of my rating (it was in the 1850s, though I shudder to think what it is now) and Andrew had no byes.

Andrew won Round 1, so we both started out 1-0. He had to play the mirror match and he just drew more Rancid Earths than his opponent in the games. The Monoblack mirror is just stupid.

Round 2: Brad WW/U
Game 1: he plays creature, creature, Sacrament, Battle Screech; I Mutilate, he builds up again; I play Grotesque Hybrid. The next turn I am going to lose, but I discard to Hybrid to get Threshold, then I cast Rancid Earth doubled with Mirari, which would do the final two points of damage - but he has an Envelop and I lose. Resolving that second Rancid Earth would have been key.

Game 2: Went much the same way, he played lots of creatures and drew three Envelops! I lost.

1-1

Round 3: U/B Infestation
Again, I can't remember the guy's name but I do remember the deck that he was playing and how our match went.

Game 1 was a repeat of the night before when I played this matchup: I drew too much creature removal Game 1. So I lost.

Game 2 is where things reached a new level of frustration for me: I had all kinds of cards against him for Game 2, and I drew copious quantities of them. I Cabal Therapied him, I Mesmeric Fiended, I got Mirari into play, drew tons of cards, resolved Braids; it went like a dream. But then I did something that would irritate me the rest of the day - and still sort of irritates me to think about, actually.

At the end of his turn, I was at seventeen life. I tapped a Coffers and produced enough mana to Scrying for nine and double it. I cast the Scrying, then I said,"I'll double it with Mirari" - then I immediately said,"No, the life loss is part of the resolution, not the cost isn't it? Hmm, I guess I won't double it."

My opponent said that I had already declared that I was doing it. I felt that I was still deciding - and, of course, a judge was called. Based on both of our sides, he found in my opponent's favor. So I Scryinged myself to death when it was a game I was firmly in control of.

I just got up and walked away without a word. I was pissed. I would have done the same thing in his place, and this was a highly competitive tournament, after all... But how could I have been so stupid?

Also, I felt that at that time I hadn't firmly decided what I was doing and was still thinking about it. I definitely can see how a judge would see differently, though.

Being as angry as I was, all I could think about was quitting Magic. I dropped from the tournament with a 1-2 record and my"win" had been a measly bye. I have been thinking of quitting off and on because of various reasons, but have always decided against it because I like the game so much and can't picture quitting it like I did a while ago. The reasons have been everything from lack of time to interfering with other things in my life to needing money or just general frustration or boredom. All and all though, I do want to remain in the game and improve my game, if I do ever quit, it will almost certainly be because monetary needs demand it.

I told Andrew that I had promised I would quit Magic if I did poorly at the Grand Prix because I could just not afford to play, taking the trips and whatnot anymore. I had hoped that winning some money would allow me to continue playing but I just couldn't do it anymore. I have about five to six grand worth of cards, and it's sometimes hard when you are really hurting for money not to consider that quick boost you could get from selling them. I was sick and I was tired and I was broke. Time to quit.

By nightfall, of course, I was singing a different tune. I had calmed down a lot and realized that I did have other options of improving my money problems right now and I had no desire to quit and give up.

When I walked away from the table, I had left two deck boxes of trade rares on the table because I was so angry that I thought I had grabbed them already. I grew more frustrated when I thought I lost them - but it turns out that a nice player nearby turned them in to the judges! What a decent thing to do, considering it would have been so easy to just keep the box. I can say with a certainty that if I had not gotten those rares back, it would have been the straw that broke the camel's back; I would have definitely quit Magic. I would have come in the next day with all my cards and sold them and probably regretted it later just because I was angry for one day. So a big thanks goes out to the person who turned in those cards; you saved me from quitting Magic entirely.

My spirits were improved greatly by the end of the day, and I realized that I had been very unsportsmanlike. I did not strictly feel that my opponent deserved to win, but nor did I feel that he had done anything to earn my disapproval. The next day at the PTQ, I saw him and apologized and shook his hand explaining that emotions were running hot and I needed to cool off but I don't blame him for what happened. It still was my own stupidity. Hopefully, nothing quite that bad will happen again - but if it does, I will learn from it and take it all in stride.

Andrew went 3-3 in the GP, by the way. Anyways, on to the PTQ.

I decided to play a deck that actually does something. I wanted to be attacking early and attacking often, so I built a U/W Punisher deck. Andrew ended up sticking with Monoblack but he really was considering changing decks. He went through about three ideas that night and was going to play U/B Upheaval/Infestation, but I said I thought he should stick with Monoblack. It turns out that was probably the right choice.

Unfortunately, I had to play way too many Upheaval decks - three of them, actually - and my deck was very poor against them. An initial walkthrough showed that most of the field was U/G and Monoblack.

1st Round: Jason Terry, Monoblack
This is the same guy that Andrew played the day before in the mirror match. He was sticking with the same deck for the PTQ. He was a very nice opponent and was cool to play against. Unfortunately for him, he suffered through pretty much what I had to endure when I played Monoblack the day before and matched up against U/W Punisher. I would play some creatures and Envelop the Mutilate. Games 1 and 2 went much the same - although in Game 1, he stood a good chance for a little while and finally failed to draw removal for my 7/7 Suntail Hawk (with two thresholded Sacraments) 1-0

2nd Round: U/B Infestation
Looking at my notes, it is very hard to tell which game I won here, 1 or 2 but at any rate, we were unable to finish and it ended up as a draw. I don't remember much more than that. I do know that Andrew played this guy later on and wrecked him 2-0 and the guy was very pissed. 1-0-1

3rd Round: Chad , /B Infestation
Does it end? No, it does not. This deck sported Mutilates and I didn't even inflict a point of damage either game. Game 1, he drew an insane amount of Standstills, and game 2 He diverted a Deep Analysis and did other annoying stuff that just destroyed me completely. His deck was much more anti-creature than some U/B builds.

1-1-1

4th Round: Jake, U/G
The funny thing about this match is that if you looked at my life totals at the end of the match, you would think that I lost both games - but in actuality, I won.

Game 1 I took lots of early beats before stabilizing with Glory in the yard and fended off an army until I was able to fly over for lethal damage in one attack. (I had made an obscene army of birds the turn before).

Game 2 went a lot longer and he was close to beating me. I was at three and he was at eleven; towards the end, I had Glory in the yard and enough creatures to block all of his and even to kill his Mongrel, so it is unknown whether he would have ever been able to break through - but time was called anyway and he could not kill me, so I won 1-0!

2-1-1

5th Round: Danny Mandel, U/B Infestation
The torture still continues, doesn't it? This was only made worse by the fact that this guy was a pro player that really knew what he was doing.

Game 1 was so close: I got him down to two and could have done one more damage to him that game... But because of Upheaval ZI, I was unable to deal that last point.

Game 2, I got him down to about ten but he killed me with card draw plus Infestation. I was stuck on about three lands that game and had a ton of 2cc spells; a crucial turn screwed me when I tried to flashback Deep Analysis, but he cast Cunning Wish for Divert and used it on himself. My attacks were just not fast enough without land 4, and that turn really slowed me down.

So I lost 0-2, but Danny seemed cool and talked to me for a bit about different Magic related things, complimented my play but said I was probably playing the wrong deck for this metagame (a fact I was very aware of by then, unfortunately!) He also talked to me about some of the things he does to practice and so forth. All and all, you don't see a lot of pros talking to amateurs about how to improve their game and so forth. Rob Dougherty came over and talked a little bit about his deck, too. It left me with a very good overall impression of Your Move Games play skill and sportsmanship.

2-2-1

I didn't drop; I wanted to play out the day.

6th Round: Larry, U/G
This guy was pretty nice but I don't think there was a point that he stopped talking. Overall, it made the game at least seem to take longer. I talk a lot, but he commented about everything. Definitely not a bad guy, though.

I won Game 1 due to his being mana screwed and having to mulligan to five. Game 2, he had a much faster and better hand and just barely killed me the turn before I'd get to overrun him.

Game 3 went to time again! Argh; aren't I playing a fast deck?

2-2-2

7th Round: Terry, U/B Braids
Game 1 was very close. He had done a lot to me early on, but I had come back and was going to win on the next turn. I was at one life and he was at sixteen, but I had just Battle Screeched with Thresholded Sacrament and I had a couple other creatures. I was one short from killing him that turn, so I couldn't afford to attack because he could kill me with his creatures on the board - so I just brought him to sixteen and planned to do all the rest on the next turn.

Unfortunately, he played some random useless card, got to threshold, and cast Rancid Earth, dealing one to me! Ouch.

Games 2 and 3 were also very close, but my notes are very lacking on that match. I did manage to win the last game with him a turn from beating me.

3-2-2

8th Round: Markus, U/G
Game 1 was very close but I managed to swarm over for the remaining few points. I think he was screwed early on with mana problems.

Game 2 I was wrecking him, but he managed to Reclaim my Glory and started getting Roar tokens into play. I was able to hold off for a while, hoping to draw Glory because I could kill him in one turn of unblocked, but my creatures were dying and his were living; bad combination.

Game 3, I did not hurt him quite as much and he was able to just barely beat me. It left me feeling like,"Boy, I really sucked this weekend"

3-3-2

My friend Andrew came in 9th and was pretty annoyed though he did win a box of cards. His final record was 5-0-3. I tried to tell him that that was pretty good for an almost two-hundred-person PTQ and that actually he was undefeated. The GPT was about 150 people and the GP itself was 600+.

My decklist for that tournament so you know what NOT to play is this:

4 Quiet Speculation
4 Battle Screech
4 Beloved Chaplain
4 Divine Sacrament
4 Tireless Tribe
3 Patrol Hound
3 Glory
3 Suntail Hawk
3 Spurnmage Advocate
2 Deep Analysis
2 Envelop
1 Prismatic Strands
4 Skycloud Expanse
12 Plains
7 Islands

Sideboard:
2 Frantic Purification
4 Circular Logic
2 Envelop
3 Prismatic Strands
2 Deep Analysis
2 Vengeful Dreams

All in all, I did pretty badly. It looks like I must put in a lot more effort than I have thus far if I want to stay in the game and reach a level where I can really compete.

I agree with Brian Kibler's article a week or two ago on Sideboard where he said that first he had to admit that he wasn't as good as he thought he was. Definitely going to an event like that is a very humbling experience. Here in Vermont, I have been rated #1 in Constructed and Limited, though it's been fluctuating a lot more now. I usually do really well at events in our state and usually when I practice with friends or help them build decks, they do pretty well, too. Andrew has improved a lot and he says it's from playing with me mostly. He has improved faster than anyone I've seen so far... But a tournament like a Grand Prix teaches that everyone has a lot of room for improvement.

When you go out of state and get trounced, you wonder, how is it that I can do so well in my state but get destroyed at a big event? For a while, I've felt that I'm as good as some of the people on the PT and that I have just as good a chance as anyone at some big event like that. Now I see that I have a lot of room to improve and that I have a longer ways to go than I thought. In the end, it comes down to playing other good players. Andrew has improved a lot playing me - so how do I improve? The answer is that I must redouble my efforts and travel to PTQs; something I have not done very often. If I am going to get better, I have to play against better people in a more competitive tournament.

My best performance to date is 36th at GP: Montreal - not exactly spectacular, but it does give me some hope. And by no means am I saying that people in Vermont aren't good players, but there are few that take it as seriously as I do. This was my fourth Grand Prix. Others were: GP Denver, GP Montreal, and GP New Jersey. I've only played in about five PTQs ever (one of which I won) So what does that mean? It's like I've thought for a while and Danny Mandel recommended: It's time to be making those trips to Boston and PTQing hard. Only by practicing often and playing hard against better players will a person improve.

Next time you're getting trounced by someone, take the time to examine what it is that they've done differently and why they're beating you. Don't be so quick to blame luck. Accept that you are not as good as you thought you were and then find your problems and fix them.

Quitting is not an option.

See you in Philly,
Don Morway