Ol' Number 7

Sunday morning of the RPTQ, I went to breakfast with Berni, Friedman, Tobey, Dustin, and Canales at Norma's Cafe. The menu had four numbered items. #1 and #2 traditional breakfast plates, #3 was the chicken fried steak and eggs breakfast, and Ol' Number 7 was quite the mixture of foods in a giant bowl. It was never explained why there were not any numbers 4-6.

I've played in six PTs in my career. PT Philadelphia 2011, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored, Gatecrash, Born of the Gods and Journey into Nyx. Two of those (AVR and BNG) were in Spain. The upcoming PT Rivals of Ixalan is in Spain.

When I went to register for the RPTQ, the store was charging $20. This is not great, but really nothing to be done about it now. The complaints won't matter. After tax (?!?) the total was $21.65. I reached in my pocket and had exactly 65 cents in change to go with the Jackson and Washington in my wallet.

When I mulligan to five game three against Robots, I was mainly looking for lands. Both the seven-card and six-card hands contained only one land. The five-card hand was two Fetchland, Birds, Plains, Fracturing Gust. Top card was Ghost Quarter; I left on top. His draw was slow, no turn one creature. I play Birds after fetching Temple Garden. His turn two play was just Vault Skirge. My turn I draw another Ghost Quarter. I play a second fetch and pass. He attacks and plays Etched Champion. I fetch another Temple Garden EOT and play Ghost Quarter after drawing another land. He plays Blood Moon on his turn. Shit, why didn't I fetch a basic? This would be so much easier. Well I guess I have to GQ myself here for a Forest. He attacks me again. I play GQ on my turn, still one turn off from Gust. His turn he plays Ravager and two other artifacts. He attacks, but doesn't have enough to kill me just yet. With no cards in hand, he passes. I survived long enough and through my own misplay to cast Gust. Still at 7 life, it wasn't a guarantee, but I felt like things were looking up. I felt like I could make it all the way to the top 4.

RPTQ Prep Blog Part 4

I locked into GW Coco probably earlier than I thought. It was more than a pet deck at this point given how much I was winning with it. Adding Grasping Dunes really gave it another dimension to the existing myriad of plays. This deck has options, so many options.

The last decisions were sideboard decisions. I knew I wanted at least two Eidolon for the recent rise of Storm. I also thought Ghostly Prison would be good against the new Humans deck, considering how great it always is vs Merfolk and the similarities those two decks share. Prison also has application vs Dredge and Robots as well as rogue decks like Bushwhacker Zoo, etc. To make room for them, the Reclamation Sages ended up getting cut. While they are certainly good choices, I thought they weren't high enough impact for a sideboard slot and were merely just Nice To Have. It did leave me a bit weaker to Blood Moon, Spreading Seas, and Grafdigger's Cage, but every other card was better in those matchups. Dodging or ignoring Cage would be the plan, and Dramoka's Command would help beat pesky enchantments.

RPTQ Report

Round 1 - Goblins.
Game one he starts with Mountain Aether Vial. It took me a few seconds to even recognize that as Goblins. I played Voice into Knight into Knight, GQ myself twice in the turns to get big Knights and to fix my mana. Voice traded for a Goblin Guide, but Legion Loyalist meant the token wouldn't get to block. I attacked with it after playing the second Knight, then my opponent EOT Vial in Rabblemaster, untap play Goblin Guide number three and Goblin Bushwhacker. He attacked with two Guides, three tokens, a Loyalist, Bushwhacker, and Rabblemaster. I was forced to double block the Rabblemaster to make any kind of progress and not just die on the spot. I ended up taking one more than I should have as we both counted the token from Rabble as getting the bonus from Bushwhacker. I untapped and played Scavenging Ooze and was able to live the next turn at exactly 1 life. A third Knight helped kill him when he missed on his next draw step. Game two was never very close, he was stuck on one land so I held Path until I absolutely had to cast it, but by then I had a board of giants vs his board of weenies.
1-0

Round 2 - Robots
Game one very close, but 5 manlands and 2 Overseers proved too much for my GQ to handle and I couldn't attack on the ground. Game two he has RIP, but I have Stony Silence and Ghostly Prison. He can only attack for two a turn but I'm in danger of getting Whipflared with 2/2 Knights. I search up Township to get my guys big enough, then draw Dromoka's Command to kill RIP and eventually loop Grasping Dunes. Game three described earlier.
2-0

Round 3 - Dredge
Game one I'm fairly dead, but he forgets his Bloodghast triggers one turn and I draw my Scavenging Ooze to eat them. The game goes on at least six more very complicated turns. I manage to eat all his Conflagrates when he dredges into them also hitting Narcomoeba. I don't have enough of an army to block profitably every turn, and eventually he swarms me and kills me with top deck Bloodghast when I was trying to kill him by attacking with Scooze and Voice token. Game two I have turn 3 Ghostly Prison, he dredges all his Abrupt Decays, and I start attacking his mana. He has to Conflagrate to kill Excavator to stay in the game. I can't attack because his wall of Stinkweeds in the way until I manage to find another Excavator and loop Dunes to clear the way. I attack for lethal on turn 2 of extra turns while I'm at 50+ life.
2-0-1

Round 4 - GW Company Value
A mirror match (mostly). Game one we both have very good draws, but I have Grasping Dunes to break up his Scooze and Excavator. Eventually he is out of lands. Game two I have turn three Linvala, so my Knight and Scooze operate uninhibited by his.
3-0-1

Round 5 - GW Company Value
Would never have guess I'd play the mirror twice, but here we are. Thankfully I have more experience in mirror than opponents, and Grasping Dunes is amazing. Game two he has turn three Sigarda on the play, but I easily counterract with Linvala and multiple Coursers plus Azusa to never be threated too badly by the angel. Eventually I get Dunes online again and the 6 life I'm gaining from Coursers each turn means he can't hurt me with just the Sigarda and I kill him with giant Knights.
4-0-1

Round 6 - Valakut Breach
We ID. I'll probably be 8th seed.

By standings, the decks were: Abzan Midrange, Elves, Weird Abzan Company, Jeskai, Breach Titan, Lantern, Robots, GW Company Value

So of all the decks in the top 8, I get to play the one I have the best matchup against.

Top 8 - Abzan Midrange
He plays first, takes my Company with Brutality, and I draw a bunch of lands and die to Lingering Souls. Game two is similar, but I topdeck another Company to get back in and kill him. Game three goes longer, but I generate too much value and somehow strand a Liliana in his hand that he never has a good chance to cast. Eventually his only out is to topdeck Damnation, but he doesn't. I did manage to get a warning for fetching Horizon Canopy with Windswept Heath when I planned on going for it with Knight immediately after.

I win, I'm back on PT, and I'm going to Spain again, for Ol' Number 7.

Props:
Todd Stevens for making the deck
Whoever I stole Grasping Dunes tech from
Shane for finally Qing for PT
Will for helping me out with everything all the time

Slops:
Berni drawing 4 Through the Breach
Stores charging for RPTQs
Capitalism