This week, I'll be driving up to Seattle for a little vacation. School's out, and before my summer classes begin, I thought I would take a little trip to visit some old friends up in the Pacific Northwest. Some of you may know this, but someday, I plan to live in the Seattle area, after my schooling here is finished. So, both my Magic cards and I are hopefully headed home.

As it turns out, there's a Magic tournament of some repute going on too. Since I'll be in the area, maybe I should play. It seems like a good idea, considering I'll be in town anyway. On the plus side, it's Standard, and I like Standard. So, let's take a look at what's going on this weekend in Seattle, and what I'll be doing while I'm there.

The Main Event

The main plan is to play in the main event until I can't anymore. Hopefully, that's because there are no more rounds left, and I've won. However, being a realist, I realize that my best Magic as played over the winter, and I'm not playing as well now as I was then. But I have selected a deck that I have some familiarity with, and that will hopefully catch me a few breaks.

Cascade Swans Featured by Jeff Phillips on 2009-05-31 (Standard) As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/17543_At_the_Gathering_Homeward_Bound.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Bloodbraid Elf 4 Swans of Bryn Argoll Enchantments 4 Seismic Assault	Instants 1 Ad Nauseam 1 Bituminous Blast Sorceries 4 Deny Reality 2 Primal Command Lands 4 Fire-Lit Thicket 4 Ghitu Encampment 4 Graven Cairns 2 Mutavault 4 Reflecting Pool 3 Spinerock Knoll 2 Sunken Ruins 4 Treetop Village 4 Vivid Crag 1 Vivid Creek 4 Vivid Grove 4 Vivid Marsh	Sideboard: 2 Pithing Needle 3 Fulminator Mage 2 Volcanic Fallout 3 Maelstrom Pulse 2 Rain of Tears 3 Thought Hemorrhage
Download this deck in Apprentice format!		Download this deck in Magic Online Text format!

It's very close to LSV's build, as opposed to the PVDdR /Calafell build. I expect more hate in Seattle, in the form of more Runed Halos and more Pithing Needles. In fact, I'm packing my own Pithing Needles for the mirror, as I have six ways to bounce it, once I'm ready to go off. Thought Hemorrhage is another card that is well positioned against fragile strategies. If you can resolve it against certain archetypes, it is such an amazing blowout.

I've been advocating Swans for a few months now, but certainly not this style. Still, I feel comfortable with it, and I hope it can at least get me to Day 2.

Grinders

And this would be a great boost to help me there. Since I'll be arriving in Seattle on Wednesday, I'll definitely be there on Friday, hitting every Grinder I can in an attempt to get three byes. Hopefully, I can manage to win one of them. For those not familiar with the grinders, they run 32 man Grand Prix Trials continuously from 2pm on Friday until 10pm on Friday. Winner gets three byes, losers get back in line.

At the beginning of the month, I had a constructed rating of 1809, and despite a 3-2-1 Top 8 Grand Prix Trial, and a 4-3 at Regionals, that rating has fallen to 1786, so if I strike out in the grinders, I have a full 9 rounds to got if I want to make Day 2.

One awesome event that some of the locals have drummed up is GP: Moustache. Yes, you read me right, GP: Moustache. Seems they want players to show up with the most outrageous moustaches they can grow. I'm doing my best, but working as a Verizon agent, I've had to keep clean-shaven for the last while. But I have a few days growth right now, and I'm aiming to squeeze a few more days in before Saturday, of course. Here's a link to the site, and their description:

NW players unite! Grand Prix Seattle will go down in the books as GP: Moustache. A large group of us have decided to rally together and sport the not-at-all-creepy moustache! We invite everyone from the Pacific Northwest to join us in this worthy cause.

If you want to arrive with a truly epic moustache and you don't plan on getting any dates in the next 3 months, you may think about starting to grow it out now. Many of us are!

Imagine how awesome it will be to observe a sea of moustaches during day 2 of the GP!

Artists

There are going to be a LOT of artists on hand for this event. Not two, or three, or even four. No, that is not how they do it up in the Pacific Northwest. When they throw a GP, it stays thrown, with SEVEN artists, and the creator of the game, Dr. Richard Garfield Ph.D. to boot.

That's right, seven artists, and I have a stack of cards this big (imagine my hands here) that I am going to try to get signed. I will definitely be purchasing a few pieces of art to hang in my house, even if they are just prints. Here's a list of the artists, and a link to their respective cards.

rk post

Mark Tedin

Pete Venters

Mike Dringenberg

Chuck Lukacs

Franz Vohwinkel

Corey D. Macourek

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited by some of those cards. I’m definitely going to see if I can get my buddy’s backup Timetwister signed.

On top of that, as a fan of the art anyway, I always look forward to a chance to enlarge my collection, and continue to cover the walls of my house in the beautiful artwork of these cards. This time around, I’m going to try to get artwork for Magus of the Moon, Worm Harvest, Tidehollow Sculler, and Jotun Grunt. Wish me luck!

Friends

The whole point of the event, right? Magic is more than just a game, it’s an opportunity for us to get together as friends and competitors and just have fun. At events like these we get great stories and great times. Just flip through any Magic Players’ online Facebook or Myspace albums, and you’ll see pictures of not just Magic, but special events. BDM at a Japanese baseball game, Patrick Chapin at a Patio Party, Gerry Thompson’s Map of the World, coverage staff eating meat off swords, Jack L. Stanton playing Magic in Central Park with oversized cards.

These are the whole reason we go to these events, to see our friends again. I can’t wait to see old friends, and make new ones as well.

Side Events

In the event that you do wash out of the Big Show, there are some fun side events lined up to continue to occupy your time. Here’s a few I’m keeping in mind, just in case.

Legacy Event: There’s a Legacy event that’s supposed to fire Saturday morning, but if less than 25 people show up for it, it will be moved to Sunday. I’m betting that it will be moved, and I have my Legacy Deck all ready to go. Well, mostly I do. I have it narrowed down to about 90 cards, and I just have to figure out the last 15 to cut. I will tell you this: It has Force of Will (Shocker!) and Tarmogoyf (Another Shocker!) and Lorescale Coatl (Kind of a Shocker, actually).

High Def Standard Tournament: Saturday night at 7 is the first tournament I’m keeping an eye on, as it’s a Standard Tournament for an HDTV. Since I’m driving there, I can drive that bad boy home, assuming it’s not too outrageously huge (I could muscle up to about 35 inches, probably. Either way, it’s a good problem to have…) I expect this tournament to have decent turnout, but not spectacular. If you’re hoping to snipe prizes, this isn’t a bad one.

PTQ Austin: Bright and early Sunday morning, there’s a PTQ for all the unfortunate souls not still battling in the Grand Prix. Expect at least 200 in this event, if not far more. If I’m not still slinging cards in the main event, I’ll definitely be trying my luck to see if I can get my hands on a Blue Envelope.

2HG w/ R&D: They don’t have a lot of info on this tournament, but it sounds like a Two-Headed Giant tournament where one of the heads on each team will be a Wizards staffer! Could we see MaRo versus MaGo? Turian versus Wollpert? There are so many cool options, I will definitely want to see what’s going on here. Could we even see R&D playing with M10 cards, much like the Chameleon Colossus preview at Worlds 2007?

Grand Melee: I imagine this is a 64-man tournament, where there are 8 tables of 8, free for all multiplayer, with a final table of the last man standing from each table. Bring your degenerate combo deck and see if you can go infinite. It makes no mention of format or banned list, so I guess we’ll have to learn more on site.

I’m signing off now. I know this is a little short, but I am out of my head with a cold right now, and all of these words are hurting me. I’m off to take a long nap in a dark place.

Until next week, this is Jeff Phillips, reminding you: don’t make the Loser Choice.