Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir: Honolulu, HI

Before writing this article, I went back to read some of my old entries from mid-late 2012 and it's really interesting to see the difference in motivation between then and now. Towards the end of Summer 2012, I really wanted to go to the Pro Tour and was willing to work as hard as it would take. I had heard of a Standard PTQ in Tampa, Fl in August and was trying to get myself prepared for it, but I didn't know anything about the SoM-INN Standard format and couldn't afford to buy copies of Huntmaster of the Fells at the time to build an updated version of Kessig Titans, so I solemnly sat on the sidelines. I researched and saw that the next PTQ season was Sealed Deck. I didn't have to make any huge investments into building a Constructed deck, so I could actually participate. I began to research M13 Limited and made a promise to myself that I would work as hard as it took to qualify for Pro Tour Gatecrash in Montreal, QC. 

After the season ended, I had come short of my goal. I tried to regather my thoughts and reflect on what I could have done better. Whether I wanted to acknowledge it or not, my run had ended.

I was broke after PTQ Gatecrash season those few months since I didn't have a job at the time and was still in the process of putting my life back together. The upcoming PTQ season was Modern Constructed and I remember that I was very far from being able to buy cards to build a deck. After some friends had tried to convince me to 'get into' the format, I reluctantly declined since I knew there was no financial way to keep my competitive train going. After my final exams had ended that semester and my friends were still working on their own exams, I dabbled in some Modern articles and several days later was consumed by the format's depth and the amount of strategies that were viable. The format looked incredibly fun and I wanted to get involved. I told my mom about the format and what I would need to compete in the next PTQ season. Although I knew she didn't understand any of it, she tried to. I told her about the deck that most interested me: Kiki Pod. She asked me: 'what do you need to make the deck?' I told her that I was missing a little more than half of the deck. She asked me how much everything would cost, so I put together a shopping cart online, so she could take a look at it...

Fast-forward 2 years later, I was at home putting cards in my backpack for Grand Prix Orlando. I had spent the past few weeks familiarizing myself with Khans of Tarkir and practicing here and there with some friends who were looking to put up strong performances at the Grand Prix and somewhat help me with my preparation for the Pro Tour coming up the week afterwards. After spending most of my week on school away from Magic, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous for the GP, but I feel like I've made a lot of progress as a player since the PTQ Khans of Tarkir season.

At GP Orlando, our team focused on the use of the KtK refuge land cycle and cast whatever spells our mana could afford. The strategy was slow, but had the highest probability of casting whatever gold cards were available in our sealed pool, since they are arguably the most powerful cards available. The 'gain one life' clause on the refuges would buy time in the early to mid game to setup strictly better cards. We also saw that having the correct colored lands on time was difficult, so we increased our 40 card decks to 18 land to accommodate the change. Personally, I could not figure out whether being on the play or the draw was more correct, so I hoped that my opponent won their die rolls so that I didn't have to make the decision. I didn't really mind being on the play nor the draw in this format.

Ultimately, if my deck had a higher density of morphs, I wanted to be on the play so I could morph them earlier to race and outclass my opponent's morph creatures; however, if my deck had a higher amount of noncreature spells, I wanted to be on the draw so I could react to my opponents' small creatures and win in the late game with higher card quality and quantity.

Because of the 1,000 Planeswalker point boost from winning a Modern PTQ a few weeks earlier, I got boosted to 2 byes for the next year's worth of Grand Prixs, so I got to relax a bit while I watched Evan, Rob, and friends battle out the first couple rounds. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the deck I sleeved up, but I ended up in a 4-Color Temur splashing White for some multi-colored Jeskai cards.

Grand Prix: Orlando, Fl (Khans of Tarkir Sealed - 2014)
R1: Bye
R2: Bye
R3: (2-0) Jeskai Aggro
R4: (1-2) Mardu Aggro (super close match, well played on both sides)
R5: (1-2) Abzan Midrange
R6: (2-0)
R7: (2-1) Temur Midrange
R8: (0-2) Abzan Midrange (turn 3 Anafenza G1 and G2.. GROSS!)
R9: Bye

After sitting for Round 9 and waiting for my mystery opponent, I had a good amount of time to reflect on all my preparation thus far. I don't feel like I got in as many games or read as many articles as I could have, but I had to accept that trying to balance so many things in my life would lead to voluntary and involuntary sacrifices. Although it's disappointing to lose or do poorly in a tournament, I have to learn from them, accept them for what they are, and focus on doing better. Ironically, it took away some of the pressure that had building up in anticipation for the Pro Tour only several days later. I finally felt somewhat relaxed.

I ended my Day 1 at 6-3 with a 46.2% win percentage. It's my best Grand Prix performance next to a 5-4 performance at GP Miami ('13) and a 3-4 record at GP Atlanta ('14), but I was very hopeful to make Day 2 starting with 2 Byes this go around. GP Orlando reinforced that I need more discipline and better preparation before I can consistently make GP Day 2s. Win some and lose some.

My friend, Brandon was fortunate enough to make Day 2 and he ended up building a base G/B deck with a light splash of white for gold cards in his first draft, which he took to a 2-1 record. After looking at his deck, I really liked the approach since it allows you to prioritize lands less and prioritize cards on color more. An aggressive 2-color approach to the format might be able to race decks with greedy mana bases. Interesting.

A few days later, I finished up with my exams and started packing all my cards for the flight to Hawaii. I still hadn't officially chosen a deck to play, but I was beginning to settle on Jeskai Tempo that won the SCG Open in New Jersey, because it was similar to R/W Burn championed by Channel Fireball's Matt Sperling for Pro Tour M15 that I had been piloting for several weeks. In the initial weeks of testing, I also looked at Abzan Midrange and tried to brew some builds around the menace, Siege Rhino.

After testing and reviewing MTGO dailies, my prediction on the Khans Standard metagame initially lead me to a handful of conclusions:

1) The three pillars of the format would be G/x Devotion Decks, Jeskai Tempo, and Abzan Midrange.
2) A Sultai Planeswalker/Control deck could exist off the backbone of Drown in Sorrow.
3) The format was slow.

Since the format was slow, creatures or planeswalkers that could produce a fast clock would be the best place to start. I started looking at Goblin Rabblemaster builds, but the goblin tokens often fell short to Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix-base decks. The quickest clocks available in the midgame were Mantis Rider and Siege Rhino, Honestly, I was torn since both decks fit my playstyle well since Abzan based midrange was very similar to Jund from INN-RtR Standard a few years ago. After an almost 10hr plane ride to Honolulu with Stephen, I finally decided on Jeskai Tempo since we could not figure out the correct numbers for Abzan Midrange and our version of Jeskai Tempo was theoretically favored against G/x devotion and the mirror.

This is the list I sleeved up for the Pro Tour:

Jeskai Tempo - Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir: Honolulu, HI

Creatures (12):
4x Mantis Rider
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Seeker of the Way

Spells (24):
4x Lightning Strike
4x Magma Jet
4x Jeskai Charm
4x Stoke the Flames
2x Dig Through Time
2x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2x Chandra, Pyromaster
2x Banishing Light

Lands (24):
4x Temple of Epiphany
4x Temple of Triumph
3x Battlefield Forge
3x Shivan Reef
1x Mystic Monastery
2x Flooded Strand
3x Mountain
2x Island
2x Plains

Sideboard (15):
3x Disdainful Stroke
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Magma Spray
1x Keranos, God of Storms
1x Stormbreath Dragon
1x Mindswipe
1x Gods Willing
1x Deflecting Palm
2x Harness by Force
1x Negate
1x Erase



Our maindeck was very similar to the Kevin Jones's list from the SCG Open in New Jersey, but we added a 4th copy of Seeker of the Way and two copies of Chandra, Pyromaster mainboard. We overhauled the sideboard and used Deflecting Palm tech by Jadine Komplarens as a way to punish large creatures in the midrange matchup. We brought in Stormbreath Dragon for the mirror that could only be answered by Stoke the Flames. Disdainful Stroke and Harness by Force were nods at any Green-based midrange strategy and the singleton Mindswipe was a shot in the dark in case there was a Sultai or Mardu Planeswalker-based control deck. that we had not found in testing.

On Day 1, I was super nervous. The tournament hall was incredibly lavish with a giant feature match stage and an unlimited buffet of food for all PT competitors. The atmosphere was very quiet and once pairings were posted, the room fell dead silent. While awaiting the first draft, I sat wondering if I'll remember to reveal all my Morphs or if I'll be in a feature match. Some thoughts of whether I could play with the best of the best crossed through my mind. I had never drafted at Professional REL before; would I be able to draft within the time limit? Once the Head Judge asked us to verify the number of cards in our first pack, I put those worries behind me; Draft 1 began.

Draft 1:

Pack 1, Pick 1: The pack was relatively weak with a few morph creatures, a poor rare and not much going on. I ended up taking Feat of Resistance because it was the most powerful card and has good synergy with the Abzan Outlast mechanic. It's also a cheap trick and White is a safe color to start with.

Pack 1, Pick 2: Had some decent black cards, a missing rare and a Frontier Bivouac. I think the Tri-lands are very good and I'm not unhappy to pick them up early. There was no polarizing White signal in this pack and felt the Tri-land would leave me with the most flexibility

Pack 1, Pick 3: Another weak pack, but I saw a Tuskguard Captain, which is a card I really like and has good synergy with the Feat of Resistance and playable with the Frontier Bivouac I just took.

Pack 1, Pick 4+: Saw some great Blue cards and a couple lands. Picked up a Pick 7 Polluted Delta because of greed and speculated on finding a delve card, which a Pick 8 Treasure Cruise helped out with that.

Pack 2, Pick 1+: Bountiful amount of Blue cards; early Master the Way and late Mystic of the Hidden Way.

Pack 3, Pick 1+: Rattleclaw Mystic. Jeez! Followed by early Master the Way, Mystic of the Hidden Way, and Incremental Growth. I started to prioritize some filler 2 drops because of the Incremental Growth and picked up a late Jeskai Elder and a filler Wetland Sambar later in the pack. Also picked up a Bliding Spray for the sideboard.

Overall, I really liked the deck. It had some great Blue cards and some green cards that I could use to tempo out my opponents. I was excited to get this one started.

In Round 1, I got a little land flooded and my opponent was land light and took a few turns before laying down his Savage Knuckleblade. The next turn, I cleverly played my Clever Impersonator and gave my own newly minted Savage Knuckleblade Haste and attacked and stole the game a few turns later. My opponent showed me an Awaken the Bear in G1, so I brought in Blinding Spray. In G2, I had a Whirlwind Adept and used my Awaken the Bear on it in combat to prompt my opponent's copy that I suspected he had been holding and then cast Blinding Spray to neutralize his creature and crash in for the win on the following turn.

In Round 8, I was 4-3 and incredibly happy because I was locked in for Day 2 at my first Pro Tour; I could not wipe the smile off my face. After hearing the announcement for the beginning of Round 8, I went over to the pairings list and Stephen was already there. 'Good luck. You're playing against Reid Duke.' Holy.. I sat down across from him and he was incredibly polite. We played our match and I made some pretty costly misplays to lose the match. Afterwards, I asked him how his friends were doing and curiously if my now 4-4 record was considered a 'good'. He smirked a little and turned away and said 'I can't really say, but it took me 7 Pro Tours before I made my first Day 2; you should be proud.' Those words still resonate with me today and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to hear those words of encouragement from Reid.

After Day 1, we rushed back to the hotel and I slept as much as I could. The memory of all my matches was still resonating quite loudly (in addition to Stephen pointing out all my misplays), but I was so tired I knocked out quickly after. My Day 2 overall was much sloppier than the first day because I was hit with fatigue from the 12hrs of Magic the day before.

Draft 2:

Pack 1, Pick 1: Zurgo Helmsmasher and other cards. There was a Mardu Hordechief in the pack that I was unsure if it was a better pick. I had not drafted the Mardu archetype enough to know and decided that building around the Zurgo might yield higher results.

Pack 1, Pick 2+: I picked up some Red removal spells, Ponyback Brigade, and Mardu Hordechief, but no fixing, which led me to believe there was someone else in the archetype nearby. 

Pack 2, Pick 1+: Picked up 3 fixing lands including a Nomad Outpost and a Bloodstained Mire, followed by more white removal spells. After reviewing Packs 1 and 2, I realized I was creature light. 

Pack 3, Pick 1: Opened up a High Sentinels of Arashin, which is one of the best rares in the set, but doesn't have great synergy with the deck I was building. A nice gift, but not exactly what I was looking for. 

Pack 3, Pick 2+: Picked up 8 more creatures, but didn't find any Wind-Scarred Crags that I really wanted. 

I don't remember Day 2 well, but I was unhappy with this draft deck. I kept my fingers crossed for a 2-1 finish with this one. After some tough Standard rounds, here's the summary of my PT stats.

Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir: Honolulu, HI (Draft/Standard - 2014)
Day 1:
Draft:
R1: (2-0) 4-Color Midrange
R2: (2-1) Jeskai Aggro (extremely well played match)
R3: (0-2) Jeskai Aggro (against Toni Portolan, really friendly guy)

Constructed:
R4: (1-2) Abzan Midrange (super close match)
R5: (2-0) Jeskai Tempo
R6: (0-2) R/W Heroic (holy Monastery Swiftspear)
R7: (2-1) Jeskai Tempo
R8: (0-2) G/B Devotion (against Reid Duke!)

Day 2:
Draft:
R9: (0-2) Abzan Midrange (Same opponent from R1, Day 1. What are the odds?)
R10: (2-0) U/G Midrange
R11: (0-2) U/R Aggro

Constructed:
R12: (0-2) Abzan Midrange
R13: (1-2) U/B Control
R14: (2-1) Jeskai Combo (opponent top deck'd Treasure Cruise in G3 and drew 3 lands SUPER close)
R15: (2-1) G/B Devotion
R16: (0-2) Temur Monsters (misplay in G2)

I went 7-9 with a 42.1% win percentage and finished in 176th place of 358 players.

After R16, I was incredibly exhausted. My mental and physical state had been challenged like never before, but I had an amazing time doing it. After missing Top 25 by a VERY large amount on Day 2, we went back to the venue on Day 3 and did some Chaos drafting with Platinum level pros and I even defeated Jeremy Dezani with my silly B/R Goblin deck I built after a first pick Wort, Boggart Auntie.

After all is said and done, I think we chose the right Standard deck for the tournament, but we didn't have the right list and the Sideboard needed a lot of work. I would have tailored our Sideboard to fight off Abzan Midrange because it was the only deck I lost to consistently and I overestimated the amount of Green-based devotion decks I'd be playing against. I would have considered playing Abzan Midrange more and tried to find the right decklist for it before the tournament if there was more time. All in all, I really enjoyed the experience and I got to play against GP winners, other PTQ winners, and a myriad of pros spanning the past decade of Magic's past. I really hope that I can have the opportunity to play on the PT again.

Going back in time two years ago, when I didn't think I would be able to compete in the PTQ Modern season, my mother, without hesitation looked at the shopping cart of trading cards that she knew nothing about and bought them all. She bought the entirety of my Kiki Pod deck I used to compete with during PTQ Dragon's Maze's Modern Season. She allowed me to continue working towards my dream. I'm not sure if you will ever read this, but I want to thank you for everything you've done and being so supportive in all the endeavors I strive towards. I love you, mom and I dedicate the run to my next Pro Tour, whenever, if ever that may be, to you.

As this year comes to an end, I realize that I've accomplished so many incredible things outside of Magic, started to travel the world and experienced some pretty amazing and some difficult situations. I think this year was one of the most unbelievable and impacting years in my life. Back in 2012, I made a promise to myself to strive to be a better person and although I'm far from perfect, I actually feel that I'm moving closer towards that goal. Ironically, back in July I wrote an article saying how I was going to take a long break from Magic and that didn't work out as well as planned, but I'm happy it didn't. For now, I plan on attending some Grand Prixs throughout this winter and summer and hope to obtain some Pro Points to close in on Silver in the Pro Players Club for 2015-2016. I think the chances of getting that far are very low, but I'd like to give it a shot so the future me can't say I didn't try..

'Never underestimate the impact that a simple act of kindness can have.'

Until next time, Casual Net.

Now some photos!

Waikiki on the island of O'ahu, HI

Feature Match area for PT Khans of Tarkir

PT Khans of Tarkir Champion Trophy

Tournament Hall Schedule

Who's that kid?

Our walk to the venue on the Waikiki Canal

First Round of Standard (Round 4 of Day 1)

Swag from the PT

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-David J.

General Musing: Nostalgic Journey into Nyx Top 8

*taps mic* Is this thing still on? Goodness, it's been a while. Between school work, vacations, moving out, and general writer's block, it seems like I've neglected my duties of singing praises for my favorite cards in the best format in Magic.* Well fret not, bold Commanders, for today we look back 8 months and reflect on the most striking cards from Journey into Nyx.

*local opinions may vary

8. Font of *

The Font cycle is pretty sweet in general. They represent fairly iconic effects for each color, only in the form of enchantments, true to the style of Theros block. All of the Fonts have a CMC of 1 or 2, making them prime targets for Sun Titan to recur. Auramancer and Odunos River Trawler also help you reuse these effects and they fit well into Enchantress decks with cards like Argothian Enchantress and Eidolon of Blossoms. Font of Return (usually) provides the most raw card advantage of the bunch and isn't exactly the same as its inspiration, so it'll be the poster-child. It also happens to create loops with most of the aformentioned spells, so that's pretty solid.

7. Banishing Light

Oblivion Ring is a pretty strong effect. Sometimes, you need a permanent gone now and you want a cheap way to do it. Banishing Light is the spiritual successor to O-Ring and lets us play two of this effect in our Commander deck and heaven knows I likes me some redundancy. Remember, though, the effect has been reworded to eliminate the "trigger on the stack" shenanigans and also cannot target your own permanents. More recently, this allows us to permanently exile creatures with Containment Priest, which is worth noting.

6. Daring Thief

Most cards that exchange control are one-shot effects (Switcheroo) or give the ability to your opponent (Phyrexian Infiltrator). Daring Thief allows you to have your opponent's permanent and keep your effect, too. Ral Zarek and Icy Manipulator make it easy to tap Daring Thief if combat gets hairy, and Tumble Magnet can even donate itself to opponents once it runs out of counters. Finally, Mycosynth Lattice and Enchanted Evening make this ability absolutely crazy, allowing you to switch control of any two permaments. Shoutouts to Freed from the Real for letting you trigger the ability multiple times per turn!

5. Twinflame

Sometimes one Craterhoof Behemoth trigger isn't quite enough. Other times, you just want more Hellriders. Twinflame is essentially the red Cloudshift, except it's slower and more explosive. It can double your alpha strike damage out of nowhere with the Strive mehanic and becomes absurd when combined with "enters the battlefield" or "when [creature] attacks" abilities (I'm looking at you, Inferno Titan). I even came up with a weird infinite combo with Priest of Urabrask, Anarchist, and Mana Echoes, but that seemed tough to pull off. Dualcaster Mage does the combo better anyway; just target any creature with Twinflame, flash in Dualcaster, copy the Twinflame targeting Dualcaster, rinse and repeat.

4. Hydra Broodmaster

Not only is a 6-mana 7/7 pretty efficient, but Hydra Broodmaster is a veritable army-in-a-can. Even without copious amounts of mana, playing this at 6 mana and using the ability at 7 mana gives you three 3/3 hydras and a 10/10 Broodmaster. But we're playing green here; big mana is literally our business. We have access to cards like Mana Reflection, Doubling Season, Gaea's Cradle, and Garruk Wildspeaker. A combination of Omnath, Locus of Mana and Seedborne Muse will also create an ungodly number of colossal tokens in a multi-player game.

3. Agent of Erebos

Tormod's Crypt effects are very useful, and putting them on creatures makes them even more powerful. Agent of Erebos is very reminiscent of Angel of Finality, (which made her top 8 list), but the Zombie subtype in tandem with Unholy Grotto or Lord of the Undead give this creature a lot of staying power. The Constellation mechanic, however, makes this card insane. Passively getting a graveyard nuke every time we resolve an enchantment can put a big hurt on a lot of decks. Reusable enchantments like Rancor or Cage of Hands allow you to repeat the effect several times during a game and Flash enchantments like Dictate of Erebos or the ability of Pharika, God of Afflictions give you the chance to respond to opposing reanimation spells at instant speed. Shoutouts to Ghitu Firebreathing for having both of these characteristics!

2. Athreos, God of Passage

One of the three Gods that cost 3-mana, Athreos starts affecting the battlefield fast and hard. Creatures with sacrifice costs put your opponent in the catch-22 of having to choose between a Lightning Bolt to the face or returning your creature. 3 life may not seem like much compared to your 40 starting life, but you can just choose a player who doesn't care about the effect. Creature-less decks won't mind returning your Fleshbag Marauder of False Prophet and if someone is going crazy with artifacts and enchantments, other players will likely give you back your Qasali Pridemage. More like God of Politics, amiright?! Kaalia of the Vast makes good use of this God-chantment by putting a lot of damage pressure on the opponent, then doing so one more time when each creature dies.

1. Kruphix, God of Horizons

The Gods of Theros represent an important change in the Commander metagame. Wrath effects and spot removal make generals like Rafiq of the Many or Krekno, Mob Boss easy to disrupt and thus keep under control. Then there are creatures like Tajic, Blade of the Legion or Lazav, Dimir Mastermind who are immune to some effects, but still die to others. Not only are the Gods of Theros indestructible, but they are also creatures only some of the time, which makes them difficult to remove. Sure, you can Return to Dust these commanders, but then the player recasts their commander and you no longer have your Return to Dust. The dual nature of these Legendary Creatures makes them highly attractive candidates for the coveted Command Zone position.
I picked Kruphix, God of Horizons for the top spot because among all of the gods, he is in very potent colors and his abilities get out of hand very quickly. Seedborn Muse and Prophet of Kruphix (who knew!) give Kruphix's controller access to copious amounts of mana and prudent deck-builders will add Winding Canyons and Alchemist's Refuge to their land-base to make sure that mana stays in the pool. Then they use Spell Burst to counter everything until one big Genesis Wave or Blue Sun's Zenith wins or otherwise takes over the game.

Honorable Mentions:

Eidolon of Blossoms - Another Argothian Enchantress effect, only this one is on ETB, rather than cast. Unique in that it draws a card for itself, unlike the other cards with similar effects.

Dictate of Kruphix - Awesome in Nekusar decks, hilarious in decks playing Notion Thief. Three mana feels like a lot, but Flash makes this super cool.

That concludes the long overdue look at Journey into Nyx. Hopefully I'll have the chance to finish the rest of these in the coming weeks but for now, I have a paper to write. Good luck on the battlefield, fellow Commanders!

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-Javier Remy

PTQ Khans of Tarkir: Lucky #75

'Just play well..'

A phrase that kept resonating in my head every time I sat down for a game of Magic. Many disappointing finishes over the past year later, I started to look for some guidance; any guidance.

In my last article, I talked about taking a break from Magic to focus on the cornucopia of commitments I have. I suppose growing up and taking on the responsibilities of an 'adult' started to catch up with me and I began to feel that the Pro Tour wasn't a real possibility for me anymore. How could I compete with players who consistently spent hours and days on end playing Magic?

With PTQ Khans of Tarikir season almost over, I knew I only had a few tournaments left over the summer before I returned back to being a student again. The 2nd to last PTQ was in Mississauga, ON when I visited some family in Toronto. After exploring the city for a few days, I played in a Modern FNM in towards Spadina in downtown Toronto and decided to test the waters and pilot my newly built Junk Midrange deck. I ended up going 3-1 losing to Melira Pod in R1 pretty handily. Across the basement tabletops, I saw a sea of Melira Pod, R/G Tron, and Affinity players. It wasn't much data, but it was all I had to go off of. I decided that I was proficient enough with Kiki Pod to beat those decks in the next day's PTQ if that's what the region mainly consisted of and hope to dodge the Blue decks (Scapeshift, Splinter Twin, and U/W/R Control) as much as I could. It wasn't a completely outlandish bet considering Blue decks have been losing popularity due to the increase in G/B/x decks from GP Boston-Worcester. I thought my read on the meta seemed sound..

In PTQ Toronto, I ended the day with a very mauling 4-4 record and lost to said popular Junk Midrange and Blue decks galore.

R1: (1-2) Scapeshift - daggers :(
R2: (0-2) Junk Midrange
R3: (2-0) R/B/W Midrange
R4: (2-1) U/R Twin - opponent punted G3
R5: (0-2) Junk Midrange
R6: (2-1) Tarmotwin
R7: (1-2) Blue Moon - very well played match; Vedalken Shackles is very hard to beat
R8: (2-0) Junk Midrange - opponent punted on Slaughter Pact. Oops.

I really dislike the matchup for Kiki Pod against Scapeshift and it was really disheartening to play against it R1, since I felt the Scapeshift was poorly positioned against the rest of the metagame. After R8, I was checking my deck and noticed that it only contained 74 cards. I layed out the entire deck and realized I was missing a Noble Hierarch. I looked for the card on the floor and asked a few opponents that I played throughout the day if they had seen it, but to no avail. I'm not entirely sure when the card went missing, but I was upset that the card was lost on top of putting up poor results. And the vendor food was expensive; the worst of days.

Returning home, I watched Pro Tour M15 looking for some inspiration. Core Set M15 was the main focus in the beginning of the tournament and it was really fun to watch and see the depth of the format. In a way, it rekindled my love of Limited. Over the next few weeks, I put away my Modern research and did some drafts at FNM with Evan and honestly; they were a ton of fun. It dawned on me that my reservations against tournament Magic were simply that I stopped enjoying it. Since a lot of my friends stopped playing in PTQs or GPTs over the past year, I didn't have the same motivation I did before. I had fun drafting and spending time with friends... simple as that. So before my last Modern PTQ of PTQ Khans of Tarkir for what would be an indefinite amount of time, I spent my Friday night drafting with my friend instead.

After draft that night, I put together my Kiki Pod sideboard to prepare for the PTQ the next day. Collectively, our team found that mono Red/Red-Deck-Wins variants would probably be the most represented deck that day, so I wanted to make sure I was prepared. I took out some cards out of my Junk Midrange Sideboard and added them to the Kiki Pod Sideboard along with Burrenton Forge-Tender. I had a few dollars of store credit with Cool Stuff Games and I really dislike having incomplete decks, so I browsed their list of foil rares that were under 5 dollars to fill in the missing slots in Junk Midrange. After going through several pages of results, I stumbled upon this small trinket:

I had seen the card played in a few lists while perusing the internet, but no one really championed the card and the general consensus was that the lifegain aspect of Nylea's weapon was too slow for the RDW matchup. I figured the +1/+1 counter mode could be good in the mirror against opposing Lingering Souls tokens and the Tarmogoyf mirrors and the tuck cards from yard into library 'could' matter against Blue decks or decks bringing in Keranos, God of Storms. Worst case scenario, I figured I wasn't playing the deck anyways, so it didn't matter; what is one card in 75?

When I woke up Saturday morning, I felt kind of sick, so I took some Tylenol, coffee and a hardy breakfast before driving Rob and Evan to Tampa. For some reason, I felt like playing Junk Midrange that day. I remembered Toronto and I really didn't want to lose to any Blue decks, regardless if Junk had glaring weaknesses against Melira Pod and Affinity. I knew that I was going to have a good time with my teammates regardless and figured I'd play something new.

Earlier in the season, I watched the GP Boston-Worcester coverage and used Robin Dolar, Pierre Dagen, and Timothee Simonot's Junk lists as the inspiration. I spent some time playing with it at local Modern FNMs, Florida States, and random games on the side. I felt like I had an ok handle on the deck, but I didn't feel like it did anything remotely powerful, so I kept it on the sidelines for most of the season. Once we arrived at the venue, I met up with almost the entire team. It was actually quite phenomenal considering most of us haven't been in the same place at once in almost a year. I mentally prepared for the tournament and to play as well as I could.

Junk Midrange - PTQ Khans of Tarkir: Tampa, Fl

Creatures (11):
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Dark Confidant
3x Scavenging Ooze

Spells (24):
4x Thoughtseize
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Liliana of the Veil
1x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Lingering Souls
4x Abrupt Decay
2x Dismember
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Putrefy
1x Slaughter Pact

Lands (25):
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
3x Tectonic Edge
3x Treetop Village
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Godless Shrine
1x Temple Garden
2x Twilight Mire
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Stirring Wildwood
2x Swamp
1x Forest

Sideboard (15):
2x Stony Silence
3x Fulminator Mage
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Darkblast
1x Bow of Nylea
2x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Choke
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Creeping Corrosion

The Affinity matchup is very difficult, so I increased to the 2nd copy of Creeping Corrosion. The Engineered Explosives, Darkblast, 2nd copy of Grafdigger's Cage and Choke were late additions. Did I mention that I hate losing to Modern Blue decks?

The 2nd Grafdigger's Cage was a nod at Melira Pod being very difficult to attrition out since their creatures are extremely resilient to removal and Birthing Pod is probably the single most powerful card in the format next to Cryptic Command and Thoughtseize. The rest of the board is pretty self-explanatory.

In Round 1, I sat next to Jae and faced down an opponent wielding Red and White mana with no intentions of playing an interactive game. With Browbeat and Thunderous Wrath, there wasn't much I could do other than die in Game 1. In Game 2, Nylea's weapon appeared just in time to take me out of Lava Axe range and brought me to a double digit life total within 3 turns that he could not stop. In G3, the sheer size and endurance of Scavenging Ooze brought the game to a halt and allowed me to barely stabilize against the onslaught of fire.

In Round 2, my opponent mulliganed to 5 and I ripped my oponent's defenseless hand apart with Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek leaving his Kiki Pod deck with a stranded Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker that would break no mirrors in this game. In G2, I made a very costly misplay and played the wrong land that allowed my opponent to come back and combo kill me with a barrage of Deceiver Exarch tokens. In G3, I took a mulligan to 4 and was promptly defeated by my opponent having sheer card advantage. It was extremely ironic that I faced Kiki Pod in R2.. and then lose to it. 'This is how my tournament begins,' I thought.

In Round 8, I found myself at 6-1 in 6th Seed facing down Stephen Mann with Angel Pod featuring Archangel of Thune and Spike Feeder combo with a myriad of one-of value creatures as its win conditions. I heard through the grapevine that his deck featured 4x Kitchen Finks and 4x Voice of Resurgence, which is... designed to win all of the midrange mirrors since his creatures are extremely resilient to all of my removal spells and trade favorably in combat. I figured at this point that I had reached at least Top 16 with a loss and X-2 record, so I was pretty proud of myself for that since even Top 16s in PTQs had been hard to reach for me over the past year. Against all the odds, I went into this match not thinking I had a chance.

In G1, my 7 card hand was absolutely perfect and my opponent took a mulligan to 5. After a Thoughtseize seeing he was flooded with lands, I cast an early Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze to apply enough pressure and eat his Kitchen Finks and Orzhov Pontiff in response to their 'dies' triggers that we quickly moved to Game 2. In G2, again, my 7 card hand was a piece of artwork. I laid down another early Tarmogoyf and used removal spells alongside my Grafdigger's Cage and Dark Confidant to replenish gas and prevent his Kitchen Finks from entering the battlefield once more. In several swift attacks, I moved to 7-1, first seed going into the Top 8.

I honestly could not believe it. It took almost 2 years, but I finally achieved another PTQ Top 8. I was super excited and felt so accomplished. A lot of people congratulated me and I was on cloud 9; it was an absolutely amazing feeling. Our team has a history (or curse) of not making it past the Quarter Finals in Top 8s of large tournaments, so I intended to change that. I kept my focus, drank a ton of water, and moved into the first match of Top 8

Quarter Finals; American Delver

As first seed in the Top 8, I had the option to be on the play the entire way through, which adds more value to having Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek in my opening hand. I sat across an opponent who bested me before in Florida States earlier in the season, so we both knew which decks we were on. I remembered that his deck was very fast and he played no spells over 3 mana, so being able to play around his removal and kill his Geist of Saint Trafts before they became a problem was crucial. My opening hand in G1 was:

Marsh Flats, Treetop Village, Temple Garden, 2x Liliana of the Veil, Scavenging Ooze, and Dark Confidant. I looked over this hand for a good amount of time. Although it has most of the lands it needs to cast spells, it lacks interruption with my opponent outside Liliana of the Veil that we cannot reliably cast and Scavenging Ooze that can only begin to interact with my opponent on his Turn 3. I knew this hand was too slow and I probably would not be able to beat a quick Delver of Secrets draw, so I chose on the side of discipline and I took a mulligan to 6 cards. The new 6 had two lands, Tarmogoyf, Thoughtseize, and 2 other cards that were not relevant. My opponent took a mulligan to 5 and I was able to run him out of cards and threats quickly.

In G2, my opening hand was even more interesting. It contained 2x Scavenging Ooze, 1x Abrupt Decay, 3x lands, and 1x Fulminator Mage (I think?). This hand was very interesting since it had the removal spell we want for his turn 2 or 3 threat but lacks a direct answer to Geist of Saint Traft. I would also have to throw Scavenging Ooze into my opponent's hand of unknown cards. Scavenging Ooze has a lot of value in the matchup, so I'm hard-pressed to throw them to Lightning Bolts of Path to Exiles early. I chose to mulligan to 6 and I feel that this was the most controversial decision the entire tournament. In hindsight, I would make the same decision, but I definitely am not convinced it is absolute correct decision. My 6 fresh cards had hand disruption and Liliana of the Veil with lands to support it, so I kept. After some battling over Geist of Saint Traft and Delver of Secrets, I snuck in a Choke through his countermagic that shut off 2 of my opponent's 3 lands. After not having enough resources to fight back, my opponent offered the concession.

Curse BROKEN!!

Semi Finals: Red-Deck-Wins

This would probably be the most important match of the tournament. In G1, my hand was very slow with a singleton Scavenging Ooze, Liliana of the Veil, and Garruk Wildspeaker. I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to win this match outside of not taking damage off my lands and playing threats that killed my opponent quickly, so I kept the hand. After some swings back and forth, Liliana of the Veil ripped her hand apart and I landed a Garruk Wildspeaker to start making Beast tokens. After throwing a barrage of burn spells at me, she finally took my life total to 3, while she stared down 12 power worth of creatures on my board. With no cards in hand, she looked to the top of her deck only to see another copy of Molten Rain, which would take me only to 1 life, so she scooped up and we went to G2. In G2, she cast an early pair of Goblin Guides and 2 Molten Rains and I died before I cast any relevant spells.

In G3, I kept my hand of double Tarmogoyf, lands, and spells. My opponent took a mulligan to 6. Then 5. With visible frustration, she took a mulligan to 4 and reluctantly kept. With no lands in hand, she faced down a pair of 3/4 Lhurgoyfs, so she scooped up her cards and wished me good luck in the finals.

Finals: U/R Twin

Before the match began, I asked my opponent if he intended to actually go to the Pro Tour; he said he wanted to. I asked if he wanted to spit money; he said he did not want to. Well, we had nothing more to discuss.

In G1, I kept a hand of 7 cards with Inquisition of Kozilek while my opponent took a mulligan to 5. After casting Inquisition, I saw my opponent's hand of: 2x Snapcaster Mage, 2x Sulfur Falls, and 1x Twisted Image. Immediately, I knew that my opponent was on dedicated U/R Twin and that I was extremely favored to win the match. Trying to keep my cool and play as calmly as possible, I beat him down with Dark Confidant and Green beaters, we moved to G2.

I don't remember G2 very well because it was honestly a whirlwind of emotion, but I took the game away off the back of Abrupt Decay killing his creatures and using Tectonic Edge to keep him off 5 mana for Batterskull or Keranos, God of Storms. I finally saw the tournament's conclusion.

R1: (2-1) Boros Burn
R2: (1-2) 4C-Kiki Pod
R3: (2-0) Mono Red
R4: (2-1) RUG Tarmotwin
R5: (2-0) Junk Midrange
R6: (2-0) Mono-U Tempo
R7: (2-0) Red-Deck-Wins (with B/W splash)
R8: (2-0) Thune Pod
QF: (2-0) U/W/R Delver
SF: (2-1) Mono Red
Finals: (2-0) U/R Twin

My final record was 10-1 with a 80.8% win percentage. In so many words, the feeling was awesome. After 2 years and 18 PTQs across 5 seasons, I finally won one. Winning obviously felt great, but having the team behind me and supporting me was probably the best feeling. So winning a PTQ... does that make me good now? I honestly don't think so. I got very lucky and my opponents in some of the relevant rounds in Top 8 took several mulligans. I feel like I played well, but I attribute most of the success in this tournament to luck. I played against Red-Deck-Wins 4 times during the tournament and saw Bow of Nylea in 3 of those matches to close them out and I drew the cards I needed to win some difficult board states and rarely ever felt like I couldn't win any particular game (other than G2 in Semi Finals). Personally, this win makes me want to play better and continue to grow as a player. I also feel that I need to use this Pro Tour invite well and don't let it go to waste. There's a lot of pressure, but I don't want to be a 'one-hit-wonder' and I want to prove to my team and myself that I deserve this invite.

PTQ Khans of Tarkir: Tampa, Fl (1st Place)

Not that this validates my win at all, but three weeks later I finished in 3rd with a 6-2-1 record and 61.9% win percentage at PTQ Fate Reforged in Hollywood, Fl for M15 Sealed. The format was tricky to learn, but I felt like I played well and my deck had a lot of sweet commons and uncommons and my Top 8 draft deck had a P1P2 Genesis Hydra. It was pretty exciting to get so close to another Pro Tour invite. 

PTQ Fate Reforged: Hollywood, Fl (3rd Place)

In a little less than a week, I will be flying out to Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir in Honolulu, HI. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go to the Pro Tour again whether by skill or personal availability, but I'm extremely honored to be able to go and I will do my best to play well and have a great time while I'm there.

Maybe that one in 75 made all the difference..

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-David J.

PTQ Khans of Tarkir: Rise, Grind, Repeat

Between late 2012 and early 2013, our team went through a PTQ tear. Personally, I accumulated 3 Top 16s and 1 Top 8 among strong Top 32 records of X-2 in larger events. However, this past year was one of the most difficult for me as I would attend PTQs and consistently display weak performances. Writing about these weak records is difficult because it forces me to face the reality that I didn't prepare well or made mistakes during a tournament. Balancing work, school, and the PTQ grind was also difficult, so each event had the 'I didn't have time to prepare' excuse attached to it. I feel if you want something badly enough, there's a way to work towards that achievement.

I think that my mind and heart weren't really involved in the past PTQ seasons of Theros block because I wasn't committed to the format. During PTQ Theros season, I first played Junk Reanimator at PTQ Theros in Maitland and although I enjoyed the deck, the mirror match was incredibly difficult and I wasn't disciplined enough to be able to win those matches. I believe I finished that PTQ with a 4-3 record before dropping. Afterwards, I switched to Jund with its array of mythic rares including Huntmaster of the Fells and Liliana of the Veil and I really enjoyed the deck and feel like I worked hard to pilot it well. I played at FNM, Gamedays, and other smaller events consistently until I felt competent with the lines of play and the deck's mulligans. I finally went to GP Miami last year and felt great about the deck I was playing. Unfortunately, my plays were sloppy and I walked away at 5-4 missing Day 2 by a wide margin. I had an amazing time but I still felt like Standard was evading me. In the final event of PTQ Theros in Tampa, I started the tournament 0-2 and felt pretty miserable but continued to play anyways. Ironically, I went on a 7-round win streak and ended the tournament at 7-2 in 20th place. In no way was it impressive, but I felt like I had overcame a lot of obstacles I've had with Standard and felt great about finally placing well in a Standard event.

The next seasons would also prove to be incredibly challenging for me. The pressures of school and work made it difficult to focus any time on preparation. Consequentially, the quality of my work in a lot of areas of my life suffered. During PTQ Born of the Gods, I went 4-3 and 4-3-1 in Hollywood and Maitland with M14 and Theros Sealed respectively. Considering Sealed was arguably my best format, these finishes were really disappointing. I decided to take a break from the grind during PTQ Journey into Nyx and focused on judging. I also know that Standard is my weakest format because I don't have the time to keep up with minute changes in the metagame every week and the extremely large amount of data and updates that come out of MTGO and the wide variety of large-scale Standard tournaments across the world.

After several months of not competing, I focused on school and working on projects at the University including running Medlife and going to Peru for medical brigades. I also became certified for a CNA license and found a part time job for Home Health Aide as well as research for the UCF Medical Anthropology Dept. I'm pretty excited about all of these new endeavors, but they are definitely very time consuming. During all of this, I did a lot of thinking about Magic and tried to figure out what did I really want to get out of this game. I finally realized that going to the Pro Tour wasn't a 'real' goal for me anymore. I don't have the time I did during PTQ Gatecrash and Dragon's Maze to commit to practice and research; I wanted to play and simply have a good time. I focused on EDH again and played a lot of casual magic for the past couple months, which was very relaxing. A few months ago, after I returned from Peru and had a list of goals ready to implement both in my academic life and increasing the amount of local volunteering I was committing myself to. I also made a pact with myself to travel more and try new things. I ended up coming back to Magic and attending Grand Prix Atlanta.

I had almost no knowledge of Theros Block Sealed and did my best to learn as much as I could. I picked up a rental car and made the 7hr or so trip. I thought Atlanta was a much more beautiful city than advertised and I had a great time. I saw many out-of-country pros that stuck around after Pro Tour Journey into Nyx in Atlanta the week before. I even ran into a ton of friends from all around Florida and even Dave from CCG.

I did end off with a 3-4 record before dropping, but I wasn't at all disappointed. I feel like I could have built a better deck with my given pool, but I gave credit to having gained more experience for the following week's PTQ M15 in Maitland. I even opened a foil Athreos, God of Passage, so it was difficult to complain... ;P

I even spent some quality time with Magic artists RK Post and Steve Argyle!

After returning from Atlanta, I felt like I had seen and researched a ton of information on Theros Block Sealed and felt that I could take down Maitland if I kept focus. I did a few drafts and watched a ton of coverage from both Pro Tour and GP Atlanta and did my best to craft the best deck I could in Maitland. I ended off building this sweet R/U/G deck with two on-color Scry lands and Xenagos, the Reveler, but my mighty Planeswalker and I could not make it to victory and ended the day at 4-4. We grabbed our customary team dinner afterwards and honestly, everything felt good. After many disappointing finishes over the past year, I came to enjoy being around teammates and simply enjoying their company; in both success and defeat.

Artwork Courtesy of Jason Chan

PTQ M15 in Maitland would finally end the season and begin the most anticipated PTQ season.. Modern Season. A year ago, I would have been overjoyed to continue playing Modern, but this time I didn't have the same zeal that I did before. I suppose I seemed uninterested in going because of the time commitment and at times, stress.

A few weeks ago, Stephen made a post about travelling out to Tuscaloosa Alabama and Greenville, South Carolina for a pair of PTQs that were back to back. This venture caught my eye since I had never been to Alabama and playing in Modern PTQs wouldn't be too costly since I already had Kiki Pod that had been collecting dust for the past several seasons other than a few GPT and local Modern tournament Top 8s here and there. Whether Kiki Pod was still good or not, I wasn't sure because I haven't really dissected the Modern format in a long time, but I had enough experience under my belt to be proficient enough with the deck regardless. To top it all off, Stephen was even on Kiki Pod too; Team Kiki-Jiki assemble!

On Friday, I got off work around 8 and we had a small dinner with Javier and Nick before setting off on our 8hr or so journey. After leaving around 10pm or so and driving through some extremely questionable state roads, we arrived in Tuscaloosa around 6:30am and took a quick nap in the car while we waited for the venue to open up. We talked in the car about our deck for nearly 4 hours going through the 75 over and over and comparing playtesting notes. Honestly, we disagreed on many, many points, but Stephen was very adamant about playing lists that were as close to the same 75 as possible for data collection. For several hours, we debated, argued, and disagreed, but we finally had a list we were both content on playing. Once we arrived, we scouted the venue and it looked extremely small with an enormous line waiting outside. To our dismay, the venue was extremely packed with 119 players crammed into a very small playing area. Ugh..

After the Player Meeting, I sat across my R1 opponent and exchanged friendly pleasantries. As he was shuffling, he flashed one of his cards on accident. Conveniently, that card being... Glimpse the Unthinkable... Well then.

I supposed this was karma getting back at me for forcing Javier to play Esper Mill at some point during this Modern season, so it was due justice. The matchup is very poor for me because key pieces to the combo are milled out and my opponent is able to capitalize on my weak mana base of fetch lands through Archive Trap and use Crypt Incursion to make the midrange plan near impossible for me to complete. I thought to myself: 'well, I guess this is how a PTQ in Alabama would start.' Here's the tourney breakdown:

R1: Esper Mill (0-2)
R2: U/W Suppression Field (2-0)
R3: U/R Twin (2-0)
R4: R/G Tron (2-1)
R5: Grixis Cruel Control (1-2)

After R5, I looked over and saw Stephen out from Top 8 contention looking as if he were going to pass out right there at the table. Normally I would have kept playing to kill the next two rounds, but I felt it would be better to cut our losses here, find a hotel to rest, eat some food and be prepared for Greenville the next day.

Post-PTQ dread. And of course we would be denied entrance into the Crimson Tide Stadium...

We ate like zombies at a local Crackle Barrel where women with beautiful southern accents were bountiful and we K.O.ed at a nearby hotel for a few hours. Then we hit the road once more..

In the car, I got a play by play of every single one of the Stephen's matches; whether I wanted it or not. =P We discussed some cards that were good and others that were bad. We decided to remove the one-of Izzet Staticaster from the main and replace it with a Wall of Omens to compliment the 4x Restoration Angel package. Finally, we decided on the following list:

4Color Kiki Pod - PTQ Greenville

Creatures (30):

4x Birds of Paradise

3x Noble Hierarch

2x Wall of Roots

1x Wall of Omens

1x Spellskite

1x Scavenging Ooze

1x Qasali Pridemage

1x Phantasmal Image

2x Voice of Resurgence

2x Kitchen Finks

1x Deceiver Exarch

1x Eternal Witness

4x Restoration Angel

1x Murderous Redcap

1x Glen Elendra Archmage

1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence

1x Zealous Conscripts

2x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Spells (7):

4x Birthing Pod

3x Chord of Calling

Lands (23):
4x Grove of the Burnwillows
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Arid Mesa
1x Stomping Ground
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Breeding Pool
1x Steam Vents
1x Temple Garden
1x Fire-Lit Thicket
2x Gavony Township
2x Forest
1x Plains

Sideboard (15):

3x Path to Exile

2x Combust

2x Negate

1x Avalanche Riders

1x Aven Mindcensor

1x Thrun, the Last Troll

1x Eidolon of Rhetoric

1x Thragtusk

1x Ancient Grudge

1x Kataki, War's Wage

1x Fiery Justice

After a lot of headache and discussion, I was very pleased with the following list. I felt that Phantasmal Image opens the line for early combo kills with Birthing Pod and gains small value as a Voice of Resurgence or our new addition of Wall of Omens. We were ready.

If you were curious how Kiki Pod works, check out the PTQ Dragon's Maze: Hollywood, Fl article I wrote in early 2013 that does a good summary of how the deck works with more links going to earlier decks when I was just exploring the Modern format.

We arrived early in a very modest motel galley with room to accommodate roughly 150 players. I checked with venue after venue for a foil Steam Vents from Guildpact to no avail. Woe is I once more. After almost reaching capacity, we were set for 8 rounds.

R1: Mono-Green Devotion (2-0)
R2: U/G/R Tarmotwin (2-0)
R3: Ad Naseum (0-2) - misplay in G2 :(
R4: U/W Tron (2-0)
R5: Jund (2-1) - close match vs. very friendly opponent
R6: American Flash (0-2) #thestruggle
R7: Mono-U Tron (2-1) - Mindslavered G1... DAGGERS
R8: Red Deck Wins (2-1)

I ended this PTQ with a 6-2 record in 13th Place with a 63.2% win percentage. I can't say I was super enthralled by the result, but it had been my first Top 16 at a PTQ in almost a year, so I was pleased. I hope that it somehow gives me motivation to play better and achieve better results this upcoming season. Afterwards, Stephen and I went downtown in Greenville to check out the scenery and more importantly, find FOOD!

Greenville, SC was absolutely gorgeous.

After watching the remnants of the World Cup match of U.S. vs. Portugal, we headed for the long drive to Orlando. Oddly enough, I had a string of Microbiology things to do once we got back, but it was worth it imo. 

A couple weeks later, we had PTQ Maitland, playing a slightly modified list of Kiki Pod and I went 5-2-1 at 27th Place of 218 players. 

R1: Mono-U Tron (1-1-1) - R1 draw.. too strong. 

R2: Jund (2-0)

R3: American Flash (2-1) - against Nestico!

R4: Naya Zoo (2-0)

R5: Scapeshift (0-2) - against rival opponent from last Modern season.. #rough

R6: American Scepter (2-0)

R7: U/R Twin (1-2) - against Nick Orta, well played! 

R8: Melira Pod (2-0)

I was really disappointed with this one. I feel like I could have won R1 if my opponent played quicker or we had more time. And my R7 was a heart breaker, since it knocked me out of T8 contention. Fortunately, Corey Paul (CCG regular?) made Top 8, so I was happy for him. 

These past couple of weeks, I took a small break so I could focus on exams and finals this summer, but once I'm finished this week, I'll be going hardcore over the next 3 weeks playing in:

TCGPlayer Modern States in Tampa

SCG Modern IQ in Tampa

PTQ Toronto

A pair of GPTs in Toronto

WMCQ in Toronto (potentially?)

PTQ West Nyack in New York (potentially?)

and finally PTQ Tampa hosted by Armada Games

I'm really excited to be on the grind for Magic for this season and hopefully I can put up strong finishes if I stay focused and play well. Furthermore, I built a pair of new Modern decks that I'll talk about in another article if I have time. 

Unfortunately, this part of the article is the most difficult. After this season, I will be taking a year break from competitive Magic. I'll still be around to play Commander and play in the local PTQ here and there, but I will be largely absent from Magic and the community as a whole. I'm going to take time to focus on my last year at UCF and the community projects I plan to work on in Central Florida to promote MEDLIFE and world health. My recent absence from Casual Net Gaming has been a way for me to acclimate and transition into this change. I'm really fortunate to have made so many friends while playing over the past 7 years and the friends I will continue to make. I'm humbled both by Florida's Judge program, my employment at Campus Cards and Games, and my work with Casual Net Gaming for over 3 years. This blog and all of its articles have changed my life in such a significant way and I'll always be grateful that I have this record to look back one day and to see how much I've changed (hopefully for the better). I've always wanted these articles to be somewhat of an inspiration to those players who were just at the cusp of 'I think I can play in tournaments' and I hope that it does give them that push to give it a try. Everyone is capable of so much; it's simply a mindset that can have such a significant impact on the way we live our lives. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported me all these years. I honestly, could not and would not have accomplished all this without you. 

Check out the Casual Net Gaming Archive and Like us on Facebook!

-David J.