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Chris Woltereck: What’s up buddy! You going to ATL?
Cedric Phillips: Of course. Gotta get Q’d for Kyoto. I'm gonna make a run for the train, I think.
Chris Woltereck: Same… we can run together.
Cedric Phillips: Sounds like fun. I am really out of it right now, playing-wise. I am playing pretty freaking bad. Hopefully I can get it together by Atl. Unsure what is wrong with me…
These are the rules:
Rule #1: I don’t care about money. It has ruined so many.
Rule #2: I don’t care about how well I do in college. I am already so good at what I do that I can spend my time in college doing other things.
Rule #3: I don’t ever want to graduate. Life becomes a lot less fun when you are forced to grow up.
Rule #4: I’m terrified to die. It’s the one event I cannot control or predict.
Rule number three is going to broken within a year. I’m not happy about it, but it has to happen. So a lifestyle change had to take place:
Mission: Do as much as possible before December 2009 while still abiding by the rules.
The past six months had been going quite well for me, Magically. I lost in the finals of two PTQs (Berlin and Los Angeles), won the Indiana state championship, won a Legacy tournament for 30 duals at worlds, and won a PTQ for Kyoto. The only flaw in my game was my performances at Grand Prix tournaments. Kansas City, Atlanta, and Los Angeles didn’t really go as planned, but I honestly felt like I was playing the best Magic of my career.
Kyoto was coming up pretty fast, and I really hadn’t thought about the format too much. I was very focused on qualifying for Pro Tour: Honolulu and making sure I had the ins and outs of down. Standard was all about Faeries and Boat Brew anyway. It didn’t look very interesting or fun to playtest, and nothing really beats the feeling of cycling a and getting a reaction from your opponent.
After going 2-2-1 at a PTQ in St. Louis, I was still searching for ways to qualify. I knew I had the right deck, but I just needed to play tighter and faster. There was talk of people attending the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open in Richmond, VA. That sounded interesting, and it gave me a chance to do some standard testing for the Pro Tour. Going to this was a no-brainer. But what deck would I sleeve up to attempt to win the tournament?
Enter my deckbuilding process. It is a thing of horror. Let’s call it “porting,” for a lack of a better term. I am a Magic history buff. I read old articles and look at old Pro Tour history all the time. One morning, I was reading My Fires by Zvi (if you haven’t, you should), and I was thinking of the cards in our format…
? Check
? Check
Awesome three drops? Check
Awesome four drops? Check
The card ? No, but who needs that!
So, I did some nice porting and came up with this awesome maindeck!
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
4
1
7
4
4
4
4
2
Imagine my surprise when I won no games with this pile of garbage…
So it was time to go back to the drawing board. I chatted with many people about deck ideas, but everything lead back to Five-Color Control, Boat Brew, or Fae. I played Five-Color Control online a few times and drew all lands and no spells enough times to not even consider it a real deck. Boat Brew was nice, but I felt like I wasn’t actually doing anything every game that I didn’t draw . I played Fae in Hollywood and vowed never to do that again. So I scoured the internet to see what had been performing well recently. I also searched my own name, because I am the biggest narcissist of all time.
I came across my Kithkin decklist, the deck with which I lost in the PTQ finals. It looked like it was still pretty good, though I was pretty sure was terrible because of the rise in red decks and from Boat Brew. I crunched some numbers and came up with this for the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open:
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
4
4
1
7
4
4
4
4
2
My sideboard was some thrown together garbage. It had and some other horrible cards. I was in such a rush that I forgot to put in the fourth . Awkward…
Surprisingly, I am eliminated by round 4, and DIrve wins the tournament. In other news, the sky is blue and Luis Scott Vargas is good at Magic!
The good thing about the tournament was that I figured out what cards were good/bad:
- was terrible. Making a 3/3 to shut off s is nice and all, but the first time that your fifth land comes into play tapped and you can’t cast your , you will search for the nearest bridge.
- doesn’t do anything. At least from this deck. It is good in Five-Color Control where they need a way to combat and , but from Kithkin it is a waste of a slot. Just attack them instead!
- Ajani Vengeant was overrated. It is a good card, but not as insane as everyone was making it out to be.
- was pretty good. I blew a lot of people out with it because no one played around it and it made my tokens better while also making a lot worse.
- was sick. Everyone forgot the card existed and I mangled a bunch of people with it. I really wanted to play it at the PT.
- was awesome. was a very popular card and I expected a rise in Red decks.
The next day, I lost playing for Top 8 twice with , and my weekend was over. I was a little frustrated with how the weekend ended, but I felt a lot better about my chances at the Pro Tour. I had a deck I was familiar with, but more importantly enjoyed playing.
I got back from Richmond just in time for class, and started looking for cards from my deck. As I sign on to Facebook to kill some time, I get a message from God himself:
Charles Gindy: Hey Ced. I think I want to play Kithkin as well. It seems awesome.
Gindy was at the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open with me, and we hung out for most of the weekend. I had no idea he was interested in playing the deck, but maybe he had an epiphany or something. In any event, we got to chatting about the deck and agreed on pretty much everything we wanted. When we were deciding the final few cards, we hit a crossroads.
Gindy = and
Cedric = and
Before I get judged by all your judging eyes and judging mouths, let me explain my stupidity! I was in favor of because I was scared of the “drawback” on because I didn’t want Boat Brew to be able to accelerate to their s or s. I wanted Thistledown Liege because it was forgotten about, and it is awesome against control decks due to the keyword “flash.”
It turns out that doesn’t have a drawback and was the best card in my deck. Charles Gindy is a genius and I am an idiot. What do you want from me?
So, this is the final decklist that Gindy and I brewed up:
Looks like I was ready to play. I stayed up all night on Monday to screw up my body clock and sleep on my way to San Francisco and Kyoto. 5am rolls around and I am barely hanging on. My friend Ashley picks me up and we head to the airport. I arrive at 6:15am, say my goodbyes, lose track of my wallet for a moment, and go to check in.
“You are too late to check in. Please speak with an agent.”
Really…?
My flight was supposed to leave at 7:05am. I realize that I was a little late and was cutting it close. However, Indianapolis International Airport is pretty small. She told me that she could not check my bag. I could leave the bag and run through security. I call Ashley and tell her that I have to leave my bag and need her to come get it. She complies and as I hang up the phone, the agent tells me that I cannot leave it here. If I do, they have to call the police. I open the bag and show her all my sweet suits and she is not impressed. Apparently one of those suits could explode. Moron front desk agent…
Look, I know I am in the wrong in this situation. I could have gotten to the airport much earlier. I could have been much more responsible about the whole situation. However, I believe that if she really wanted to get my bag onto that plane, she could have. Instead, she stone-faced me and made me pay $150 to change my flight to the next day. Guess what, lil miss front desk agent! I’m still up on the weekend! How does that taste?
Ashley comes and picks me back up, and I head to sleep. There was no chance I was going to class in that state (or any state, for that matter). I wake up in the afternoon and start goldfishing infinite. I smash Faeries over and over again being piloted by my roommate, Zack Wolff, and am feeling great about my deck.
My second attempt at catching my flight goes smoothly, as I arrive at the airport super early. Before getting on my flight to Kyoto, I stop at one of those airport spas to get a massage. I normally don’t stop at them, but I had some time to kill and it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was actually very relaxing, and I recommend it to anyone who was ever on the fence about it.
My flights were uneventful. The food was terrible, which was to be expected (I’ve never seen so many peas in my pasta). What was not expected were the movies on said flights. I don’t know whose job it is to select movies for a twelve-hour flight, but he/she needs to be terminated. Now! I understand that when I flew to Kyoto, it was still Black History Month and all, but no one in their right mind wants to see anything done by Tyler Perry. My friends and I have a running joke of how much we would have to be paid to watch a complete season of Tyler Perry’s aptly named House of Pain without any breaks. My price has at least one comma.
It couldn’t get much worse than that, right? How does The Secret Life of Bees sound? I know what you’re thinking. “Ced, that movie could be interesting. Beekeepers have it tough. Without them, there would be no delicious honey” Well, loyal reader, that’s exactly what I was thinking until I woke up and saw the glutinous mass that is Queen Latifah consoling Dakota Fanning. What was the name of this movie again? The Secret Life of Bees? WHO ON EARTH NAMED THIS MOVIE!?
Lastly, there was The Longshots. Here is what Wikipedia said:
”The Longshots is a 2008 biopic family comedy-drama film sports movie based on the real life events of Jasmine Plummer, the first female to participate in the Pop Warner football tournament.”
Great…
I feel that if my job was to entertain people with movies for a very long flight, I would select movies that simply cannot miss. The Dark Knight comes to mind. How about Iron Man? How about anything not involving Tyler Perry or Queen Latifah, or anything involving Samuel L. Jackson. Is this job really that difficult? I actually wanted to blow my brains out once my iPod died.
Once I landed, I figured out who the gamers were and tried to find the event site. Apparently, we had to take a train into Kyoto and then find some other means of transportation after that. Daniel MacRae, god bless his soul, was the only person smart enough to bring a map and not walk into the whole situation blind. He led most of the pack and we followed like zombies, but we eventually got there.
The funny thing about flying to a tournament out of the country is that your goal upon landing at the airport is to get to the tournament site. Once you do that, everything is perfectly fine. It’s like a maze until that point, but once I found the Pulses Plaza, everything worked itself out.
I ended up staying with Josh Ravitz, Ben Lundquist, Gerard Fabiano, and Gindy/Gadiel. Our room was ridiculously small and we had to get a little creative, but it ended up being cheap so it all worked out. I played a few games with Ben and decided to call it a night.
I woke up Friday morning at 5am to Gindy sitting up at the very moment I did. Neither of us could sleep, so we went downstairs to the lobby and ran some chats. Brandon Scheel was also having the same problem, so we burned some time by playing some games. And by playing games, I mean Scheel crushed us with Esperlark over and over again until it was time to go shower and head to the event site.
The player meeting was completed, and it was time to begin my sixth pro tour!
Round 1 versus Kopec, Mateusz [POL]
I sit down and start shuffling my deck, and my opponent is nowhere to be found. A round 1 bye at the Pro Tour would be pretty comical, but alas it was not to be. Or was it? Mateusz came scurrying over with his deck unsleeved and asking a judge for numerous lands. What the hell? I was pretty confused about the whole situation, and asked for a time extension. It’s round 1 of the Pro Tour. Clean yourself up, Kopec.
Anyway, he played a turn 1 followed by a , and I pump the fist mentally. Boat Brew is a bye round for my deck, and I crush him pretty easily.
1-0
Round 2 versus Ortolani, Francesco [ITA]
Francesco played a turn 1 and I was a little concerned. However, I knew how to play the Five-Color Control matchup well enough and managed to navigate my way around his mass removal and finished him off with a .
Game 2 he casts Volcanic Fallout twice, once, and for five. I end the game at 33 life and was never in danger of losing. These planeswalker cards sure are good! So is and .
2-0
Round 3 versus Lundquist, Benjamin [USA]
Ben is in my room and I knew he was playing Fae. I get a good start with turn 1 , turn 2 . Ben Thoughtseized my and I naturally draw one the next turn and skull him for six. He s my , but I have Path to Exile and we are heading to game 2.
I don’t know if Ben had in his sideboard, because he said he thought about cutting it. Either way, it isn’t too hard to play around and I wasn’t going to let myself get smoked by it. Game 2, Lenny B mulliganed to six, I played a bunch of creatures and Ben made multiple mistakes by not playing a land on turn 2, 3, 4, or 5.
3-0
Round 4 versus Emami, Kevan [USA]
Kevan was playing Boat Brew. Neither of our games were too close because that deck doesn’t actually do anything. It looks like they are casting spells, but they are actually just doing nothing the whole game. Game 2, I draw a bunch of s, Cloudgoat Rangers, and Elspeths. I don’t know if I can express how much of a bye this matchup is.
4-0
That was much easier than I thought it was going to be. I was very confident in my deck, but I lost one game, and the rest of my games were not close at any point. Now it was time to draft!
I had gotten in some practice drafts at the StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open with the notorious Zach Efland and other Floridians. Say what you will about Mr. Efland, the man knows how to evaluate cards and he loves to battle. He may overwhelm you with his personality, but I am glad that I did several drafts over that weekend with him and his crew. He answered my questions about borderline cards and solidified my opinions on others. If you are looking for a team draft in Chicago this weekend, he will be there looking for opponents. I still hate Floridians though.
My draft was covered on the Pro Tour coverage. I think I drafted well, and I was excited when it was all said and done. I felt like my deck was a 2-1 deck and on the cusp of a 3-0 deck with tight play.
Round 5 versus Wimmer, Peter [AUT]
I table shuffle Peter’s deck and it is 41 cards. I ask him if he is playing 41 and he replies “Always 41. 61 in Constructed too!” Game 1, Peter cast targeting my .
5-0
Round 6 versus Fujimoto, Taichi [JPN]
Taichi was playing a pretty good Bant deck. Game 1, he played a turn 2 Sigil Paladin that I had an ready for but chose not to use it, since I could curve out and play Soul’s Fire and on turn 6. This plan ended up working out okay since I stabilized at three life. A few more turns took place, and I got him to make some bad blocks so that he had to rip on his last turn (how, I have no idea!) He peeled and finished me off. Good beats.
Game 2 was more of the same. We both did a lot of back and forth racing. The game came down to a poor judgment call on my part. Taichi had out a Wakeskimmer Aven and a , one card in hand (safe bet it was a land) and was at eight life. I had out a , had a in hand and was at six life. I drew and passed the turn. My plan was to have him attack with the to knock me down to three life. Hopefully he draws a ground pounder and I can his and then surprise him with the flying . My mistake was trying to use the as a surprise jump effect instead of just playing it and passing. If I do that, he can no longer attack in fear of a large coming to the skies to haumph one of his flyers. On his turn, he attacked with and peeled to kill me. I feel like I threw that game away and should have won it.
5-1
Round 7 versus Kishimoto, Yuuichi [JPN]
Yuuichi’s deck was a pretty stinky four color offering. I win a really long game 1 where he plays on turn 5 devouring a random creature. I never give up hope and eventually it and attack according to not lose to his eight tokens and . At the end of the game he has six cards in hand, and had Red, Green, and White mana, so I was a little confused.
Game 2, he played an island on turn one. Oh I get it now! + . That is a nice combo deck. Anyway, on turn 5 I attack my into his and he blocks. I don’t have the trick so I cast and pass the turn. He plays a and sends in with the Waveskimmer Aven. On the very next turn, I send in with and , and he blocks my . I immediately put it in the graveyard, frustrated with myself. My attack was terrible. I threw away the best creature on my board and I lost the game around eight turns later. Guess what is good in the long game? Mayael the Anima. Especially when your deck has in it.
Game 3, I mana flooded and deserved to lose.
5-2
I am sufficiently on tilt at this point. Losing that game really made me upset because I should have been 6-1 and in good shape for Day 2. 5-2 is fine, but I do not like making mistakes when there is so much on the line. I go eat at an awesome Korean BBQ with some gamers and head back to the site to do a team draft against Floridians. My team gets absolutely smashed.
I wake up Saturday morning to Gerard pokering on Gadiel’s laptop. Apparently, Gerard, Gindy, Ravitz, and I are all in the same draft pod. Lundquist and I proclaim that whoever 3-0’s that draft pod would make Top 8. I secretly remind myself that I have never 3-0’d a draft pod in any relevant tournament, and that now would be as good a time as any.
My draft, once again, was covered. I was really happy with this deck going into pack 3. And then a nice dose of reality hit after opening the . I didn’t know Gerard was in Esper right next to me and I got nothing of consequence in pack 3. However, my deck still turned out okay, and I decided a 2-1 was the goal.
Round 8 versus Bushard, Ryan [USA]
Ryan beat me in the Top 8 of the PTQ that he won for this tournament, so revenge was on my mind. Game 1 was kind of back and forth, but I was never on even keel because I missed land number four for a while. I was getting back into the game when I got slaughtered by a Quasali Ambusher. wrapped it up
Game 2, I drew a bunch of flyers, and Ryan threw away his on a bad block where he thought it was active, but he just played it that turn.
Game 3, he missed his third land drop for a while and I gave the beatdowns with two s.
6-2
Round 9 versus Gindy, Charles [USA]
Everything was said in the feature match. This was, without a doubt, the best match I played of the tournament. It sucked it had to be against my partner in crime, but sometimes that’s how the cards fall.
7-2
Round 10 versus Morita, Masahiko [JPN]
Game 1, Masahiko mulliganed to four on the play. My hand was , , two Executioner’s Capsule, , and two other spells. I knew he was playing Naya, so if I drew any land the game was over. I drew an on turn 2 and the game was locked up.
Game 2, I drew extremely well, and killed most of his creatures and resolved a . I was never close to losing this game unless I made a terrible mistake which, thankfully, I didn’t.
8-2
Going 3-0 in that pod felt amazing. I had a pretty good deck, drew extremely well, and played really tight when I had to. I really wanted to get back to the Constructed portion of the tournament with a chance to Top 8, since I felt that our deck was insane. Turned out I was right:
Round 11 versus Yasooka, Shouta [JPN]
Game 1, we go to a pretty long game. He has maindeck s, which screw up combat a bunch for me and my gets Broken Ambitioned, but I hang tough. Ajani Vengeant starts messing with his lands, and starts dealing him some damage. I finally him to three life and kill my own Ajani Vengeant. I have another in my hand, but I don’t want to run it into so I cast other spells instead. He starts to take over the game, but I can tell he hasn’t found the counterspell that he is looking for. I decide to lead with a Cloudgoat Ranger and it gets Broken Ambitioned. Next turn, I make my move and cast Ajani Vengeant. He activates Mutavault and s it, looking for a . No dice.
Game 2, Shouta plays a turn 2 and never plays another land. The little guys in addition to Glorious Anthem clean it up.
9-2
As an aside, part of the reason that I love playing this deck is that it punishes every deck for missing a single land drop in the early game. If you miss your third land drop, it’s all over folks. Now back to your regularly scheduled mising.
Round 12 versus Lynn, Nicholas [USA]
I could really go into details here, but at the end of the day Nick was playing Boat Brew. Everything he did was irrelevant, and everything I did he really could not handle as well as he liked. Let’s save each other some time here.
10-2
Round 13 versus Robinson, Brian [USA]
Game 1, I keep a one-lander with two s, , , Knight of Meadowgrain, and a Cloudgoat Ranger. I didn’t know what I was up against, but if I drew a land, I knew I would be good to go. Turn 1 he played a turn 1 , and I got very very scared. I forgot that a Doran deck even existed in the format.
Game 1 was long. Very long. I had the board clogged up and he never drew anything of consequence. I finally drew out of the mana screw and the Cloudgoat Rangers came crashing down. It took a while, and I got a little fortunate, but I got that one.
Game 2, I died in approximately five seconds. Turn 2 . Turn 3 and . It was embarrassing.
Game 3, I was able to give the beatdown fast enough to finish him off. He drew a bunch of pain lands and s that he couldn’t have come into play untapped. I barely got there, but I did.
11-2
Round 14 versus Orsini Jones, Matteo [ENG]
Intentional draw!
11-2-1
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee did it!
I was ecstatic! I couldn’t even comprehend what was happening to me. I received congratulations from anyone and everyone who could find me. It was probably the most surreal moment of my life. I got to fill out a Top 8 bio, get my picture taken, and just take it all in. It felt so good to finally have a finish worth something. I went back to the Korean BBQ and bought dinner for those who came with, and then got down to testing the quarterfinal matchup.
The matchup felt really good for me in testing. I felt that if he didn’t draw a turn 1 mana producer, he had no shot at keeping up. was a huge problem for me, while Path to Exile was a huge problem for him. I felt I had better questions (a fast start, a big Figure of Destiny, Cloudgoat Ranger, Spectral Procession, activating ) and the best answer to his questions (Path to Exile) to consider the matchup in my favor.
However…
Round 15 versus Robinson, Brian [USA]
Things didn’t play out that way.
11-3-1
I think that Dave Guskin did a great job of covering what happened in the match. Game 1 I feel like I had a poor assessment of the game after replaying it in my head. I thought I was losing to his big creatures plus , when in reality I was losing to his s plus . I drew all four Ajani Vengeants against Brian, and while they aren’t great against his deck, if I would have Lightning Helixed his Noble Hierarchs instead of playing the way I did, my trading with his creatures would have been so much easier.
In the end, I think game 1 was the worst game I played of the tournament because I assessed it so poorly. I picked a bad time to play a bad game, but such is life. We were both going to lose to LSV anyway. Who are we kidding!?
Everyone has asked me why I was dressed up in a suit all weekend. The reasons are two-fold. First, at Pro Tour: Berlin, everyone suited up. I lost in the finals of a PTQ for that tournament and felt pretty left out. I like wearing suits, especially when everyone else is wearing one, so I felt like I missed out on a nice opportunity.
Second, I am a hospitality and tourism management major. I have suits that sit in my closet year round except for career fairs that I go to. I spend almost $1,000 a year on two suits, two slacks, a belt, ties, button-ups, and dress shoes, and I use them twice a year. When I was packing for my trip, my metallic pink tie and black pinstripe suit were staring me in the face. I decided “why not,” and threw them in the suitcase. I would only wear them in the Pro Tour. If I was out after day one, it was back to jeans and basketball jerseys!
So, that was my Pro Tour: Kyoto. I missed my flight. I didn’t test all that much. I won a lot of die rolls. I didn’t mulligan much. targeted my . And I cried on Sunday morning in my hotel room when I woke up at 6:30am. Yes. I cried.
This Top 8 means more to me than anyone reading this tournament report will ever know. I have met everyone I know through Magic: the Gathering. From my actual best friend in Ohio, Joe Gagliardi, to my best Magic friend in Missouri, Gerry Thompson. From off-the-wall characters like Gabe Walls and Mark Herberholz, to down-to-earth people like Charles Gindy and Josh Wlyduka. To have all of those people, however many there were, cheering me on from home, wanting me to win just as much as I wanted to, constantly clicking refresh to see if I took another match down, destroying my facebook wall, and high-fiving me after every victory as I inched closer to the Top 8, I cannot thank you enough. There is no feeling in the world like the one I have experience for the past few days, and it is all thanks to you. It is very humbling to believe that you cared that much about how well I did at the tournament.
This Top 8 isn’t just for me. It is for all of us. It is for the player who is afraid to take the big leap and see just how far they can go. Go for it. Don’t be afraid to fail. You only live life once. Don’t ever leave yourself wondering “What if?”
This Top 8 is for the player whose parents don’t really believe in what they are doing. Whose parents wonder why you waste every weekend driving numerous hours just to come home empty-handed tournament after tournament when you could be doing more productive things with your time. Trust me, I have been there. Mine see why now.
This Top 8 is for my eleven best friends in Ohio. You each know who you are, and this would have never been possible without any of you guys. You guys took me in when I was some punk kid who got 20th at Grand Prix: Cleveland and shaped me into the player that I am now. I am forever in your debt for that.
This game has taken me through its ringer. I’ve been banned three days before a Pro Tour. I have been disqualified during the Top 8 of a PTQ. I have lost in the finals of three PTQs. I have been screwed out of the Top 8 of U.S. Nationals. But, it all doesn’t seem to really matter anymore. Because I finally achieved the one thing I have always wanted to in playing this game: Top 8 at a Pro Tour.
My ride is just starting. When will you decide to let yours begin? Chris Woltereck, I’m talking to you.
Cedric Phillips
caphilli@purdue.edu
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