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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Friday, March 21, 2014

Modern Musings: Grand Prix Richmond 2014

Hello CasualNet! As many of you know, GP Richmond went down earlier this month as the largest (not close) constructed Magic tournament in history. The format was Modern and players from all over showed up with their decks to test their mettle against a vast field of competitors. An avid fan of the Modern format and competition, I decided to take a car of friends up the east coast to join the pilgrimage of Planeswalkers. The journey from my hometown of Orlando took about twelve hours (pit stops and meals included) and yes, it rained the entire way up. We had maybe 30 minutes of respite from rain at the beginning of the trip, but my windshield wipers were on for most of the trip. Regardless, the trip was smooth enough and my crew made the journey enjoyable (yes, Gilbert Gottfried reading 50 Shades of Grey IS as ridiculous as it sounds). We arrived Thursday night, giving us a whole day to rest and familiarize ourselves with the area and venue, which is a practice I recommend and hope to continue in the future. Come Saturday morning, it was go time.


Due to the noticeable uprising in UWx-based strategies from last year and the unbanning of Wild Nacatl, I felt like Infect might not be the best choice to take to Richmond. Both decks pack a ton of maindeck removal and keeping my 1/1 men alive long enough to sicken my opponents was not going to be an easy task for 10+ rounds. For that reason (and because I was quite curious about trying the strategy) I decided to take Primeval Scapeshift to the GP. Maindeck Anger of the Gods and Lightning Bolt allows me to sweep away any errant 3/3s and opposing Mana Leaks lose power when I have eight or so lands, including a Cavern of Souls. Choosing Primeval Titan/Prismatic Omen over Cryptic Command/Peer Through Depths came from my desire to have multiple win conditions, giving me extra game against Blood Moons and Slaughter Games. The rest of the deck is fairly standard, but here's the list I took in case you were curious.

Creatures (8)
4x Primeval Titan
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder

Spells (26)
3x Anger of the Gods
3x Farseek
4x Izzet Charm
2x Lightning Bolt
3x Prismatic Omen
3x Remand
4x Scapeshift
4x Search for Tomorrow

Lands (26)
1x Breeding Pool
1x Cavern of Souls
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
4x Stomping Grounds
3x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2x Forest
1x Island
6x Mountain

Sideboard (15)
1x Bonfire of the Damned
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Combust
3x Counterflux
3x Nature's Claim
2x Obstinate Baloth
2x Sowing Salt
2x Spellskite

Due to the sheer volume of participants at the GP, Star City Games had to move some of the players to a different ballroom, but I was lucky enough to remain in the main hall. After the player meeting (where I opened a Twitter account with the express purpose of checking pairings), it was off to round one. Here we go.

Round one was against a pleasant fellow named Lance Cooper playing Jund Lands. Game one was rather non-interactive, with him casting only a few spells while I ramped; a resolved Primeval Titan sealed that game. Game two he had to mulligan to four, so it unfortunately wasn't much of a game. (1-0)

Round two was against UR Storm piloted by Tyler Sangston. Game one we took turns setting up; I amassed a bulk of lands while he added counters to Pyromancer Ascension. He got me down to 6 life on turn four, but I had Scapeshift and Prismatic Omen when I untapped to win the game. Game two he overwhelmed me with two Pyromancer Ascensions and Lightning Bolts rather quickly. Game three I drew a Counterflux and a Nature's Claim to keep him off Grapeshot and Pyromancer Ascension respectively, and eventually resolved a pair of Primeval Titans to deal lethal damage via angry lands and giants. (2-0)

Round three I played Michael Rahn piloting America Twin. Game one I countered his first Splinter Twin and killed the associated Deceiver Exarch, but could not fight the second round of the combo (where he showed me a THIRD combo in hand). Game two I played an early Spellskite that fell to his second Path to Exile after I countered the first. I tried to combo at eight lands with Remand and Izzet Charm back-up, assuming his four open mana couldn't get past two counterspells. I tapped my excess lands to float mana after the land exchange and went for Scapeshift. This was the game-losing mistake, as he countered with Swan Song—which could get past both counterspells—and I was tapped out and unable to react to his Splinter Twin making a thousand 1/4 pokers. I should have realized that I didn't need the mana if the spell resolved (as he'd be dead) and I would have time to tap the mana if he attempted to counterspell; a disappointing loss to my own misplay. (2-1)

Round four was Gerald Freas on Patrick Dickman's recently popular Tarmo-Twin. Game one, again, I was able to stop the first but not the second Deceiver Exarch + Splinter Twin (resilient little 1/4 jerks). Game two looked better, as I ramped up to six mana rather quickly, even if a Deceiver Exarch at upkeep tapped one of my lands (an Anger of the Gods + Lightning Bolt would handle him #feelbad2for1s). When my opponent repeated the same play at six lands, I foolishly let it resolve, tapping my second blue source and keeping me off Counterflux mana. I paid dearly for this mistake as he suited up his Exarch with a Splinter Twin and made short work of my folly. I don't know what I was trying to fake here, he knew I had Counterflux from an earlier Gitaxian Probe; stupid mistake. (2-2)

Two losses to blatant misplays left me pretty severely on the tilt. Not to say I would have won game three, but I should not have lost on those turns. I took a moment to roll my eyes and remind myself that I can do better if I just slow down and play carefully. This helped somewhat and I began round 5.

Round five was against a cheery Kiki-Pod player named Carey Vaughn. Thanks to David, I'm super familiar with how this deck plays and know how to keep the deck behind. In game one, a timely Anger of the Gods kept him from comboing the following turn, giving me time to cast Primeval Titan. Although he matche
d me with a Phantasmal Image for Titan, my following Prismatic Omen made sure his creatures and life total were not long for this world. Game two his Avalanche Rider kept me off key lands and Glen Elendra Archmage protected him from field-wipes as he chained a Birthing Pod into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker that feverishly made an army of Zealous Conscripts. Game three had an Anger of the Gods and Bonfire of the Damned retard his board state while a Prismatic Omen sped up my plan. Soon I had access to free, uncounterable Lightning Bolts via Valakut and fetch lands; feels good, man. This was enough to clinch the match. (3-2)

Round six was a little surreal. The round started and I had no opponent, so I called for a judge like a good little boy and was instructed to call back after 10 minutes or when my opponent showed up. Eight minutes into time it looked like I was about to get lunch, but my opponent sat down just in time. He smiled at me and said "I know I'm late, but let's get this started." We started the match with him at a loss and it was easy to see he... wasn't totally in it. Regardless, we played a very light-hearted match where I kept a terribly situational hand, but he had very little action other than Spell Snaring my Prismatic Omen, Izzet Charm, and Sakura-Tribe Elder (really, STEve?!). After several turns of "draw, go," I eventually developed a critical mass of lands and cast Scapeshift for the win. Not the hardest-fought victory, but it was relieving to see someone who was really just in it for the lulz. He laughed as he left saying he was gonna play Living End next round and hope he doesn't get deck-checked. What a silly dude. (4-2)

Round seven I faced Big Zoo by Larry Suriel. Game one he did well playing around my Anger of the Gods and had Path to Exile for my defensive Primeval Titan, and eventually overwhelmed me with Loxodon Smiter, a 4/4 Knight of the Reliquary, and a 3/4 Tarmogoyf. Game two played out similarly, with Anger of the Gods only sweeping away half of his threats while the rest lived to die another day. Obstinate Baloth bought me a turn, but I could not get to eight lands fast enough to combo him to death with Scapeshift. This loss put me at 4-3, out of contention for day 2.

My last two rounds didn't even show up, so I snagged some free Planeswalker Points for being patient. My official final record was 6-3, but it was more of a 4-3. Not enough to make day 2, but that made Sunday much more stress-free. Brandon and Chris J. had day 2 records, so we still had to get up early, but me and Chris H. spent the day making trades, checking out vendors, and splitting the world's most pathetic Born of the Gods win-a-box (the best card in our half was a Temple of Enlightenment; wat).

Sunday's Haul!
Overall I don't regret going to the event or choosing Scapeshift as my deck, even if I didn't do as well as I had hoped. I regret some of my plays but, hey, live and learn. Richmond was a blast and I recommend traveling to anyone looking for something new from their Magic experience. Traveling for events lets you meet all sorts of cool people and gives you an excuse to get out of town and see the world. Shout outs to Chris Hogg, Chris Janus, and Brandon Kohrs for taking the trip with me and being a great travel crew (sorry my phone directions took us to a military base, but we lived, so it's ok). Thanks for reading and I hope this article has you consider exploring outside of your LGS. Until next time, CNG!

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-Javier Remy
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