Get a good night's sleep, yadda yadda breakfast etc.
Richard Feldman
Get at least six hours of sleep before the PTQ.
Kyle Boddy
Get some sleep, eat your vegetables, and wear clean underwear.
Mom
As much as I would like to believe that these statements are true, over and over again they prove to be wrong (except the clean underwear thing). I can honestly say that most of the higher profile events in which I have had success have come under one or more of the following criteria:
1) Little to no sleep
2) Little to no food in past 24 hours
3) Looking for cards right before the tournament
4) Filling out my decklist in line after they announce last call for registration
5) Sleeving my deck as they announce 1st round pairings
6) Being married and having to defend my decision to play cards all day with unattractive gamer-types rather than spend time with my lovely wife
Ordinarily, these criteria are brought on by staying up too late, sleeping too late, being unprepared or apathetic, etc. This time, however, it was a much different reason:
Disneyland.
Let me explain. About two weeks before Regionals I realized that our Southwest Regionals was in Albuquerque, NM this year (it usually rotates between Phoenix and NM). Here's the thing about Magic tournaments in New Mexico: it's a boring seven hour drive from Phoenix; James Davis is a man on a Mission and no longer in NM; and the TO there has some, well, interesting rules about his tournaments. Things such as cursing costing money, people being forced to de-sleeve because there are “white dots” that can be seen on the backs of cards (there's a Red, Blue, Green, and Black one too), disqualification of players off-site after they have stepped outside to cool off because of a judge ruling that cost them a match... the list goes on, much like the beat. I would rather play in a shopping mall, in a freezing cold warehouse, or in a bathroom at Yankee Stadium wearing Red Sox gear than play Magic: The Gathering in New Mexico. I'm sure at some point I will have to play there again if I want to qualify, but I promise you I won't enjoy it.
Anyway...
Regionals were in New Mexico, and when I looked at my calendar I saw it was the day after my middle school band's trip to Disneyland. It is a 24-hour turnaround trip, so we leave Thursday at midnight, stay all day Friday, leave Friday at midnight, and get back Saturday morning. There was no possible way to go on my trip and attend Regionals, so I perished the thought.
About a week before Regionals, it was revealed that there is a new Southwest Regionals, and it was going to take place in Phoenix! I had a chance to play, even though I would definitely be meeting a few of the above criteria. After a great day at Disneyland, in which I may or may not have done the following things...
Rode Space Mountain twice with a ten-minute wait total (w/o FastPass)
Rode Splash Mountain and somehow only got my crotch wet (cold!)
Watched a co-worker eat a 36-inch long tube of sugar in under an hour
Got goosed by Minnie Mouse
... I arrived back to Phoenix at about 7:30am for a 10am Regionals start time; enough time to drive home from school, shower, and get to the site. Since I knew I was going to be tired and not capable of playing decks with Blue mana and decisions, I took a deck with which I was familiar into battle.
The Pithing Needles came out of the deck completely to add more good cards maindeck (full sets of Mortify, Ghost Council, Castigate, and Kami of Ancient Law), and Jitte took their place in the sideboard. Four Shoals was a must, as was the 8.5 Tails, and Condemn got a place in the sideboard as an additional answer to Paladin en-Vec plus Jitte, as well as Legendary Dragons. I expected a lot of different aggro (with three aggro guilds in Dissension), control decks with dragons, and mostly incompetent people playing Heartbeat combo.
The tournament site was in Arizona State University's student center, and there was a huge room for a very small turnout of 75 or so. It was the first time ever I was cold in a Magic tournament in the summer! After my friends and I make our predictions for the Top 8, it is time to battle!
Round 1: Thomas Wooley with Leyline of Singularity Deck
Game 1: I opened with a fairly nice start - turn 1 Isamaru into turn 2 Plagued Rusalka, and after castigating I saw that he was playing cards like counterspells, Boomerang, Seal of Doom, Meloku the Clouded Mirror, and Hunted Horror. I'm used to seeing this deck with Leylines, but the Meloku threw me off. It was not close, as his life total reads 20-18-15-12-7-dead while mine is 20-19.
Sideboarding: I don't remember, something like -2 Promise of Bunrei, +2 Condemn (since all tokens would die to Leyline, and having a fast answer to a 7/7 seemed like a good idea)
Game 2: This was not much of a game; I remember Thomas played a Hunted Horror on turn 4 along with a Boomerang to bounce one of my 3/3 tokens, so I spilled pigs' blood on it at the Prom after it was selected Prom Queen and swung in to reduce him to 12. Next turn he played another Horror and passed, so I played Pope John Pump I and attacked for 12 points of protection from Black goodness.
Matches 1-0, Games 2-0
Round 2: Jonathan Krutel with R/B/W Aggro
Game 1: I opened with a Rusalka to answer a Frenzied Goblin, and Jonathan played turn 2 Hide / Seek to remove a Ghost Council of Orzhova, going to 23. After another attack from the goblin and Rusalka, Jon cast Hide / Seek again, removing another Ghost Council to move to 26 life. My opponent played Lyzolda, the Blood Witch, but I had double Rusalka at that point so we basically wiped each other's board clean. At this point I masterfully drew one of my two remaining Ghost Councils, and Jon had no answer for it besides to chump it a few times. He did, however, Hide / Seek me a third time, gaining three life from Nantuko Husk (I'm not sure why either... I had another Ghost Council in the deck).
Sideboarding: -4 Dark Confidant, -4 Castigate, +4 Shining Shoal, +3 Umezawa's Jitte, +1 Orzhov Pontiff
This is my usual sideboard plan for decks with Red creatures and burn. Bob can be too painful, and Castigate doesn't matter so the superior cards come in.
Game 2: Jonathan started with another Frenzied Goblin, and I started with Isamaru. The legendary hound got his freak on until his untimely death, and I played the Pope Benedict Nausea I on a clear board to try and keep some sort of pressure. A couple of turns later, my opponent taps out to play a second goblin and Lyzolda, leaving him with three creatures and me with my Pontiff plus a Promise of Bunrei. One Nantuko Husk later his side of the board was clean, and the match was pretty much academic since Jonathan never drew another creature.
Matches 2-0, Games 4-0
Round 3: Melvin Huddleston with B/W Control
I got paired down with a 1-0-1, and I liked to think I knew what that meant. I had seen a lot of control deck mirrors going into extra turns, so I made myself feel smart by guessing correctly that I would be playing a control deck. No, I'm not sure why I told you that either.
Game 1: Melvin opened with Plains, Genju of the Fields. That did not seem too bad for my deck, since I have 8 maindeck answers to enchantments, but I did not want it getting out of hand with the life gain. Melvin had complete control of this game from the beginning; all of my creatures died fairly quickly while his life total kept climbing. I am finally able to remove his Genju with a doomed Kami of Ancient Law, so I stabilized at about 13 life. The next turn Melvin played an Orzhova, Church of Deals and was making me go to church main phase each turn, eating at my life total. I finally drew another threat: a beefy Ghost Council of Orzhova. This, of course, prompted my opponent to draw and play Kokusho, the Evening Star. How unfair! What was even more unfair was the fact that he had a Miren, the Moaning Well in play, so I only had two draws to try and deal with big Kooks. My first draw was a Promise of Bunrei - not exactly what I was looking for, but it could help later on if I can get back in the game. I took a dragon to the face and moved to eight life, and really needed some help if I wanted to win this game. I did not want to lose this game to this individual... you know why?
-Quick Aside-
I consider myself to be a pretty nice guy, even when I am playing collectible card games. However, I really don't like losing games of Magic at larger events (Okay, any event) to people who do things they should not be doing. There is an arrogant part of me that just despises losing to people who make basic timing flaws in their game. Those of you who are competitive players, don't you smile on the inside when people go Mountain, Shock you first turn? Legacy burn decks notwithstanding, you know this is the right play less than 1% of the time. Every time my opponent activated his Church of Deals in his main phase, it made that arrogant, competitive part of me smile... until I realized I was going to lose this game very lopsidedly to Main Phase Church Man unless I got lucky. My inner *sshole was getting very annoyed, but I have learned not to let that part of me take over my psyche and tilt me. I just had to play a smart, tight game and see if I could get myself out of it. If I won, great, and if I lost I knew I could get the next two games. If there is one thing I have learned in Magic in the past year or so, it's that sometimes you just lose no matter how well you play or how many mistakes your opponent makes. You just can't let it bother you, no matter how much your inner *sshole wants to strangle your opponent and scream "do that at the end of my turn, you hee-haw!" or, "Stop Shocking me on Turn 1, retard!" or even, "For the love of God, pull your pants up!"
-End Aside-
So I untapped, drew my card, attacked for 4... to which my opponent responded by Churching me for one, so his life total would only drop to 20. As it turned out, he no longer had enough mana to activate his Miren! This allowed me to cast the Mortify I drew (how lucky!) and only have my opponent gain 5 life instead of 10. I was still in trouble, as my life total was at a precarious 2. Melvin played a land on his turn, Churched me to one life, and passed. My draw was...a creature! I attacked for 4 more, and in my second main phase sacrificed said creature to gain a precious one life and four 1/1 beaters who can feed Ghost Council. The rest of the game played out as follows: land, Church you, go; attack for 8, sac a guy second main phase; land, Church you, go; attack for 7, sac a guy second main phase; land, Church you, go; attack for 6, sac a guy, GG.
See? Just keep playing and give yourself every chance to win.
Sideboarding: -4 Plagued Rusalka, -3 Orzhov Pontiff, +3 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, +2 Mindslicer, +2 Condemn
Melvin had lots of White targeted removal, so the 8.5 Tails got in there as well as the anti-control Mindslicer. The Condemns seemed like a good idea versus legendary dragons and Debtor's Knell (which I never saw, but assumed he had).
Game 2: On turn 3 I got Hide / Seeked for one of my Ghost Councils. On turn 6 my Isamaru died to targeted removal. On turn 8 I hadta go to Church. That's about all my opponent did all game.
Matches 3-0, Games 6-0
Round 4: James Stone with B/W/G Control
I got paired down again, this time with a 2-0-1. Before the match, my opponent was talking to his friend seated at the next table and getting the scouting report on my deck. He was happy to learn I was playing B/W, because his deck supposedly smashes it, or something. I knew he was playing a B/W control deck of some sort, having seen him and heard him earlier state how he wants to play B/W all day.
Game 1: I opened with turn 2 Isamaru (frown) and played a turn 3 Castigate, and decided to take a Loxodon Hierarch out of his hand to keep the pressure on. He also had a Kokusho in hand, and I had a feeling I could get him to tap out to play it so I could Mortify it. Sure enough, two turns later he taps out the next turn to play big Kooks (he had some signets) and it gets too humiliated to stay in play at the end of turn. My opponent managed a Faith's Fetters and a Wrath of God, but that is all his deck offered him, while mine served up Ghost Council, Promise of Bunrei, and Nantuko Husk.
Sideboarding: -4 Plagued Rusalka, -2 Orzhov Pontiff, +3 8.5 Tails, +2 Mindslicer, +1 Condemn
Why did I keep a Pontiff in this time? I thought I saw a Supply / Demand while he was shuffling, and I decided I wanted to have a Big Turn card still in the deck. I'm sure it was terrible, but when you have no sleep and “It's a Small World” on the brain, sometimes thinking is harder than normal.
Game 2: I kept what looked to be an acceptable hand: three land, Castigate, Promise, Husk, Kami of Ancient Law. As it turned out, I drew a lot of land and died to a Kokusho in four swings. My opponent gained twelve life and ended the game at a healthy sixteen.
Game 3: This game was as lopsided as game 2, but in the opposite direction. My opponent was stuck on three land for a long time, with two Wrath of God in hand, and when he drew land number four it was not the second White source. He did, however, play three Crime/Punishments, two of which killed multiple creatures (even a Punishment for zero killing my four Promise tokens!). Ghost Council eventually hit, and took it home before my opponent could do anything about it.
Matches 4-0, Games 8-1
Round 5: Edward Mcgee with R/G Gruul
Game 1: Edward mulliganed to five on the draw, while lamenting the amount of mulligans he had already taken that day. On my second turn I Castigated him and saw Scab-Clan Mauler, Moldervine Cloak, and two lands (he played land, Seal of Fire turn 1). I really wanted to take the Cloak, but Cloak sucks when you have nothing to enchant! I took the Mauler, and Edward never drew another creature before I killed him.
Sideboarding: -4 Castigate, -4 Dark Confidant, +4 Shining Shoal, +3 Umezawa's Jitte, +1 Orzhov Pontiff.
The usual Red deck sideboard plan!
Game 2: Edward mulliganed to five again, but this time had a much more gaseous start with turn 1 Stomping Grounds into Kird Ape, turn 2 3/3 Mauler, turn 3 3/3 Mauler, turn 4 Burning-Tree Shaman, turn 5 burn something, etc. I pretty much got crushed, having gotten stuck on both two and three land for two turns, unable to play the cards I needed to have a chance versus that R/G draw.
Game 3: This time it was I who mulliganed to five on the play, while Edward kept all seven (how lucky!) My opening hand was about all I could have asked for out of five cards: Isamaru, Rusalka, Mortify, two lands. Edward opened with a nice draw of Kird Ape into 3/3 Mauler, but his draw slowed down significantly after that. The other thing going against my opponent at this point was that my good friend and good man Owen Davis supplied me with a song he described as "It's not Eye of the Tiger, but it's close"... here's a hint: I left my friends behind 'cause they couldn't dance. Owen is so sweet at distractions to relax the mind at Magic tournaments (last time it was Mario Kart DS). Thanks to visions of dancing midgets in my head, I was able to stabilize with both of our boards empty of creatures at eight life, with a Jitte on the table stockpiling two counters. Edward drew and played a Pithing Needle, so I went up to twelve life and immediately started drawing beaters. Ghost Council, Nantuko Husk, Kami of Ancient Law... they all came out to play, and about all Edward could do was chump the 4/4 a bunch until his life was no longer greater than zero.
Matches 5-0, Games 10-2
It looks like I am in! After the round I take a tour to see how other friends are doing, and I see what was some of the best beats I have seen in a while...
Good friend and Master of Superheroes/Villains Adam Prosak was playing the UR control deck I helped build for him, versus a gentleman I knew was playing Enduring Ideal/Dovescape.dec. I watched about twenty turns of land-go, with both players discarding cards they don't need/can't afford to cast (Adam discarded two Tidings on back-to-back turns to keep his counterspell mana up). Adam eventually played a Keiga, The Tide Star and it got in there a couple of times before it was hit with a Faith's Fetters, taking his opponent to twelve. Adam's opponent recast a Dovescape from his hand that had drained his countermagic the turn before (it was back in his hand via Remand), and Adam used his last counterspell on it. What did his opponent do? Cast Enduring Ideal, obv. After a very brief trip to the tank after reading Dovescape again, Adam responded by Boomeranging the Fetters on his dragon and let the Ideal resolve, netting a Dovescape. At the end of the turn, Adam then cast Repeal for 6 on the Dovescape, and removed a two-mana spell to Disrupting Shoal his own Repeal. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Disrupting Shoal says counter the spell if it has a Converted Mana Cost equal to X. Four 1/1s for the Shoal, seven more for the Repeal and one Porn Star equals sixteen damage on the swing back!
Funny thing was, the vicious beatings were not over yet... in the next game I might have seen the following cards cast in response to an early Enduring Ideal on consecutive turns: Shadow of Doubt, Hinder, Remand, Hinder, Remand, Remand, Disrupting Shoal (the hard way), and Shadow of Doubt. Seems okay, right?
Round 6: Keith Ostash with Boros
I considered playing because I wanted the plaque, but it really was not worth somehow losing my final two matches once I am already in with a draw.
Matches 5-0-1, Games 10-2
After Round 6 both Owen and Adam were 4-2 but, since there were so few people, it was very likely that a 5-2 would squeeze into the Top 8. If I could help them get in by playing next round, I would.
Round 7: Michael Conway with Ghost Dad w/Riot Spikes
Mike implored me to draw with him, but I was unsure as I wanted to help my friends get into the Top 8. As it turned out, Mike had the best tiebreaks among the people in his point group, and had also been one of Owen's opponents, so a loss here would actually hurt Owen's tiebreakers. I know it is a lot of maneuvering, but I want to do what is best for the people I know and love... I'm selfish like that. Mike is a good guy too, though, so drawing with him was less painful than this. He also happens to be the spitting image of one Craig Jones (Who? Craig Jooones). At least he wasn't playing Lightning Helix.
Matches 5-0-2, Games 10-2
Adam and Owen both lost in the last round, knocking them out of contention for Hotlanta. Owen did, however, Stifle the come into play trigger of Exalted Angel… erm… Voidslime a Ghost Council from coming back into play in his last round three times. The Giver of Extra Turns, Danny Lamparder, still managed to win the match while trying to give Hand of Cruelty protection from White with 8.5 Tails' ability. What a master. The Top 8, near as I can remember it, was as follows:
Boros (Keith, Round 6)
Owl w/ Walking Archive
Husk (me)
Ghost Dad w/ Riot Spikes (Mike, Round 7)
Husk
Heartbeat
Firemane Control
R/G Beats (Edward, Round 5)
Heartbeat it is! I did not have Pithing Needles in the deck, like Osyp's team PTQ version, because I honestly didn't expect to see many people playing Heartbeat who knew how to play the deck well. After talking to my teammates I discovered that my opponent was very new to the Heartbeat deck, and that maximum pressure in order to limit his window to go off (and do it properly with only 5-6 lands) was the best bet. We formulated the best sideboarding strategy based on that information, and it was time to see who is right, and who is dead.
Top 8: John Lind with Heartbeat of Spring combo
Game 1: I won the die roll and came out strong; turn 1 Isamaru, turn 2 Dark Confidant, turn 3 Dark Confidant, turn 4 Castigate, (seeing double Heartbeat of Spring, Early Harvest, and Drift of Phantasms... I took a Heartbeat since I also played a Kami of Ancient Law), t5 Pope John Pump II for the win. John only played a Kodama's Reach on turn 3 and a Sakura-Tribe Elder the turn before he died. I also ended this game at eight life, having revealed three Ghost Councils off Bob (the turn after I had both Bobs in play, I did the minus-eight life trick by revealing two!)
Sideboarding: -4 Ghost Council of Orzhova, -2 Plagued Rusalka, -2 Orzhov Pontiff, +3 8.5 Tails, +2 Mindslicer, +3 Umezawa's Jitte
John was playing the 2/5 Carven Retard in his sideboard, so Plagued Rusalka became very unimpressive. Ghost Council is very slow, but 8.5 Tails can get through walls, as well as possibly save someone from a Savage Twister (he had a total of three, after boarding), and Mindslicer is just GG. To be honest, I'm not sure about the specific numbers of Rusalkas and Pontiffs I removed, but I do know I kept at least one Pontiff in (for an alpha strike).
Game 2: Once again I opened with an Isamaru on turn 1 (I'm so lucky!), but this time John had a turn 2 Elder to save himself a couple of points. I added Bob to the army and passed it back. On John's turn, he announced and played Heartbeat of Spring! He looked at it in confusion, visibly upset, played his 4th land (an Island) and passed the turn. Thinking there was no way I could lose this game, I gladly took my turn. I played my third land, attacked for four, played Nantuko Husk followed by Kami of Ancient Law, sacrificed the Kami to kill the Heartbeat and passed it back.
Only later was it pointed out to me how badly I had played that turn. By not playing the Kami first, I would have lost the game if my opponent had Remand plus gas. Luckily for me, he didn't.
My opponent then got another reach around by Kodama himself, and passed it back with six lands in play. I attacked for another six, bringing him down to ten, Castigated something important out of his hand (I can't remember what), and passed it back. He played a land and transmuted Drift of Phantasms for... another Drift of Phantasms?!? I'm pretty sure he wanted a 2/5 wall here, but he mistakenly tapped too much green mana and only had one available after the transmute. Deflated, he played his 0/5 Wall and passed it back. On my turn I played a Promise of Bunrei pre-combat (maybe he won't block Husk!) and attacked for a total of four (he blocked the Husk *snapped fingers on the inside*). I ended my turn feeling very good about my board position, as he has to combo off here because Savage Twister wasn't an out (I had Pontiff in the grip). After diddling with his cards a little (he may have had a Sensei's Diving Top in play), he ended his turn without really doing anything. At the end of his turn I made some tokens, played Pope John Pump III, and won myself an invitation to U.S. Nationals!
I think John experienced a combination of being far too nervous playing for something important and playing a deck he only built the day before. Unfortunately, his house of cards came crashing down at the wrong time.
Ghost Husk was definitely the right deck to play, since it has game against all of the other decks and has ways to punish bad decks and bad draws. It was also the first time I showed up to Regionals playing a deck I had played beforehand, so I'm sure that helped too. There is something also to be said about being tired enough that you can concentrate only on Magic, and therefore are not distracted by other things such as people, places, and objects.
I believe it was Vs. System luminary Michael Jacob that made a comment that he doesn't eat on tournament days because he wants to stay hungry for victory. Well, here's another one for you:
I don't sleep before a tournament because I'm tired of losing.
Odds & Ends
Keith won the plaque by virtue of having the best tiebreaks and his Top 8 opponent conceding to him since he wasn't going to go to Nationals. Another missed opportunity to bring home a Magic-related trophy and see if my wife will let me keep it in plain view! I'm still waiting for that chance... my 2HG team - '2HG Unit' - finished 2nd at 2HG Champs so I couldn't even get a hat! That's 4th, 2nd, and 2nd now in three of my last four Champs events.
Those of you who may have missed it last time, here is the real link to The Donkey Sanctuary... helping donkeys everywhere live a better life. Help those in your local gaming stores!
Is anyone reading this from or near Omaha, Nebraska? I have a friend who is looking at a job out there, and he wants to know what the gaming scene is like.
Thanks for reading!
Anthony Avitollo
anthonizzle42 at hotmail dot com
antknee42 just about everywhere
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