My first GP ever was Kansas City in 2003. It had 500 players. I went 6-2, and missed day two at 66th place. This weekend, we had 348 in Oklahoma City, with far fewer 3-bye players. The weather wasn't even bad!
I played "updated" RB Sacrifice seen here:
— ChannelFireball (@ChannelFireball) December 15, 2019
Mask was still incredible for me. I think Rankle is unplayable after having played the tournament. I also don't think Claim is good enough vs the whole field to warrant 4x in the main deck. The list I wish I played:
4 Cauldron Familiar
4 Gutterbones
4 Priest of Forgotten Gods
4 Midnight Reaper
4 Mayhem Devil
3 Dreadhorde Butcher
2 cavalier of night
1 Mask of Immolation
4 Angrath's Rampage
2 Claim the Firstborn
4 Witch's Oven
4 Fabled Passage
4 Blood Crypt
3 Castle Locthwain
7 Swamp
6 Mountain
Sideboard
2 Theater of Horrors
4 Noxious Grasp
4 Duress
1 Dreadhorde Butcher
2 Murderous Rider
1 Cavalier of Night
1 Drill Bit
I went 11-2-2 (2 byes) in the Swiss before losing in the top 8 to Jeskai Fires. My two losses in the swiss were to Mono Black Aggro and RB Knights. I got lucky in a lot of spots, which I know by now is what you need to top 8 a big tournament like this. I probably played mostly okay. I know I threw away a game against the RB Knights and make a few poor choices in some other games that didn't end up costing me.
I'm pretty happy to catch up with Will Lowry on GP Top 8s. I'm also happy to win some money and keep playing big events. Now its time to prepare for GP Austin in January.
Props:
Woodrow for riding with me and keeping me company on the drive
Bing for arranging the AirBNB
Chris for being Team Dad / Coach / Lucky Charm / sharing his burger
Mangione for playing mostly the same deck as myself
My sister for letting me stay at her house on Thursday Night
My wife for watching the dog while I'm away and making lots of cookies
Eddie for making top 8 and finally qualifying for PT
Will and Collin for helping come up with sideboard plans
Slops:
328 person GPs
My deck for not being good enough to win
Chris and Berni for not ordering the coconut cream pie
The judges that let an already qualified person play a PTQ
Condolences:
Berni for losing in the top 8 of all the PTQs
Collin for not making the final four of the PC
Tad for losing in the finals of the PTQ back in November just to see me top 8 this event
