Monday, July 28, 2014

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):

Sideboard (15):
2x Negate

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. 


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-David J.
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