After a disappointing Day One, I thought I could have better luck in the smaller PTQ. The started with me thinking I'm late only to find out that I have an hour, so I go back and chow down on some breakfast. Signed up for the PTQ and waited for them to start by testing some decks for States.

I found that the MBC mirror is a pain to play, because for a long time nothing happens and all you do is gain life back with your Corrupts that you lost from theirs. Soon it was time to register decks; all the while, the annoying repetition of hearing the judge say,"Next, next, next... Take the last card" in the Rochester Drafts of the Grand Prix Day 2 competitors. It soon became white noise, and we were looking over our decks and the guy next to me sounded like he was in pain when he was registering. He had opened Visara, Rorix, and two Sparksmiths, and enough backup that he said,"No question; play Black/Red and you'll top 8." I saw that it hurt having to give away a deck like that.

My deck was also pretty strong - something I wouldn't mind playing. Another hour later, we were seated and we opened our decks. I got good cards in every color, even blue. I got Mistform Skyreaver but no backup, so I tossed it back in the box. Red had amazing removal with three Pinpoint Avalanches, Shock, Erratic Explosion, and Slice and Dice. Black gave me Silent Specter, Cabal Archon, and tons of clerics and zombies. Green had Centaur Glade, Elvish Riders and some neat tricks. While white came through with Mobilization, Aurification, Crowd Favorites, Clerics, and Soldiers. What did I play?

A mistake, that's what I played. Do not go tribal unless it is one of the strong ones like Beast or Goblins with Sparksmith. Here's the decklist:

9x Swamp
4x Plains
5x Mountain
1x Secluded Steppe
3x Pinpoint Avalanche
1x Slice and Dice
1x Shock
1x Erratic Explosion
1x Festering Goblin
1x Wretched Anurid (I'm liking this card less and less)
1x Shepherd of Rot
1x Headhunter
1x Walking Desecration
1x Cabal Archon
1x Soulless One
1x Fallen Cleric
1x Profane Prayers
1x Misery Charm
1x Foothill Guide
2x Battlefield Medic
1x Daru Healer
1x Daunting Defender

Round 1- Robert Martineanu (What really hurts is that he's playing my deck)
He mulligans the first game. I get Silent Specter down and it is Pacified. I drop creature so does he, but his are bigger. A final Misery Charm finished me after I gain control of the game.

Second game sees my Wretched Anurid cause me more damage to me than he does; it's Pacified and I get nothing but land.

Matches 0-1 Games 0-2

After the first round with about half an hour left, I find a friend I made there to see how he did. He also lost the first round. I asked him what I did wrong; he looked at my cards and asked me why I played black when the real quality was in White and Red. I avoided those colors, because red was small goblins - though it did have Skirk Commando. I created a sideboard that I would switch in for all my black cards and Swamps. It was a given that would lose game one and hope to win games two and three with the better deck. Here the game two and three deck.

9x Mountain
7x Plains
1x Secluded Steppe
1x "Foothill Guide
2x Battlefield Medic
1x Pearlspear Courier
1x Daru Healer
1x Gustcloak Skirmisher
1x Dive Bomber
1x Daunting Defender
1x Crowd Favorites
1x Mobilization
1x Harsh Mercy
1x Aurification
1x Birchlore Rangers
1x Spitting Gourna (These last two are for extra morph creatures)
1x Skirk Prospector
1x Goblin Taskmaster
1x Nosy Goblin
1x Skirk Commando
1x Embermage Goblin
3x Pinpoint Avalanche
1x Slice and Dice
1x Shock
1x Erratic Explosion
1x Fever Charm

Round 2- Suzy A. Life
The first round I was waiting around for her to show up - and she got a game loss for it, so Game one was really game two. I dropped a medic and a morph; she dropped Medic and a Doomed Necromancer. I got in once with Fallen Cleric, and she continued to make short work of me with he fliers and Cabal Archon's ability.

Game two - or three, I guess - I got in a little trouble. She asked what I was doing when I exchanged so many cards. I told her, seeing nothing wrong with it. She called a judge and I learned this is not Constructed, where you can get advice on what to sideboard between matches. So the judge went to the head judge and we waited for fifteen minutes for him to get back.

Ed Fear came by, and talked to my opponent and was amazed that it was illegal, so it's not just me. He came back and asked when I got the help, and I told him it was between matches. He then said that okay, just don't do it again. If I had gotten the advice during deck building or the game, then it would be a problem. Now on to the actual game with a fifteen minute extension.

I got Skirk Commando and she was stuck on two lands for two turns, giving me time to play Embermage Goblin. She dropped Festering Goblin and plenty of ground creatures. I got Crowd Favorites and kept her only two fliers tapped for the rest of the game while my Dive Bomber kept attacking. Time was called for everyone else then for us. I had three turns to win with her at eight life and Cabal Archon on the table. On turn 2, she tapped her two black mana for a Severed Legion. I tapped her fliers, attacked, and used Fever Charm to end the game. She did this, because she had Feeding Frenzy and wanted to kill the Bomber, but didn't see the Charm coming.

Matches 1-1 Games 2-3

Round 3- Nathan L. Fisher
Turn two Sparksmith ruled the day, so my black weenies were no match to his Glory Seeker when they couldn't stay on the board.

Game two, he Lay Wasted my only mountain - and with a bunch of red cards there was no much I could do. I see my next mountain about ten turns later.

Matches 1-2 Games 2-5

Round 4- Douglas R. Conway
Game one actually sees some success from my poorly-made deck. Wretched Anurid, Walking Desecration and Fallen Cleric plus a morphed Specter are tough to beat when all he has is a Wirewood Savage. The game ends pretty quickly.

I side in the better deck and proceed to drop two consecutive medics and Shock his morph creature. Nosy Goblin comes down followed, by an Aurification after he plays a Quicksilver Dragon. He then plays Tusker and I fall to his better creatures.

The third game I play Nosy Goblin, Shock his Sparksmith, and playa game Mobilization. He gets a Taskmaster with Lavamancer's Skill on it, but it can't keep up with my three tokens a turn. He can't attack, cause I'll just chump block. The tokens come over a few times and Fever Charm finishes the game.

Matches 2-2 Games 4-6

Round 5- Michael J. Ricciardi
He had a worse day than I did: Apparently, he had two game losses the previous matches - one for coming late and the other for putting down the wrong card as a morph, costing him the match. Now he gets another one for forgetting to de-sideboard. He got his sideboard card in his opening hand.

He calls a judge and we move on to game two. I play a morph and that's it. He plays three and demorphs one into the Quicksilver Dragon. That's game.

Next game has me drop Medic, then Courier, then Dive Bomber, then Aurification. He plays a medic of his own and takes the four-damage beatings as he Profane Prayers my Medic and plays two morphs with an untapped Island. I hit for four with another Medic and some morphs later. He takes it and falls to nine. On his turn, he Pacifies my bird and drops Nantuko Husk - and some other zombies, including the Gravespawn Sovereign. He demorphs the Dragon and hits me for five, sacs the dragon, and brings it back during my turn to get around becoming a wall each turn. I die very quickly.

Matches 2-3 Games 5-8

I decide to drop because 5-3 won't get me any prizes as 6-2 might have. Also, I have to go home - it is a long drive and traffic is terrible. So I got there in an hour and a half, and the next day I get home in just under three hours.

Well, I learned some important things for my next sealed deck tournaments: Blue sucks no matter what, don't ever count white out, and black isn't any good unless you have beef and more than one card of it. 2-2 drop, 1-2-1 drop, and 2-3 drop, Not bad for my first Grand Prix, though it could have been better.

Eric Swain
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