I'm a Seattle native, and when I heard that there was going to be a GP here in a few weeks, I decided I was going. And to top it off, it was limited, so I wouldn't even need to do any testing! (*) I arraigned a ride with some fellow Microsofties, and set out for my first serious Magic tournament in years....
(*) Note to self: Not remotely true.
We left crazily early in the morning, and got to the site with plenty of time to spare. The deck registration was just like I've remembered, with people talking about how good their pools were, or various other irrelevant things and likely misregistering their decks in the process.
The pool I opened was terrible, I remember it having Seance (a unplayable), and a few other non-playable rares, no good removal, etc. I hoped it would end up somewhere else. I misregistered one white Niblis as the other white Niblis, so I called a judge on myself, and things proceeded as normal. The organizer had us swap across, and my across-mate noticed no errors in my registration, nor did I notice any in his. This deck was similarly removal-light, and not very exciting, so I was hoping for another pass. The guy next to me that was talking the most had three, count them, three, errors in deck registration. I'm really not a fan of this not leading to some sort of warning, if you don't catch yourself, otherwise why care?
We did our final pass, and I got my pool. I took a few precious minutes to verify things were correctly registered and started to build the pool. I'll provide it here in case you guys want the experience I had. I can tell you that this was probably the fastest 25 minutes in recent memory for me.
White:
Bar the Door
Curse of Exhaustion
Feeling of Dread
Fiend Hunter
Gavony Ironwright
Intangible Virtue
Lingering Souls
Loyal Cathar
Niblis of the Mist
Midnight Guard
Sanctuary Cat
Selfless Cathar
Silverclaw Griffin
Skillful Lunge
Smite the Monstrous
Thraben Doomsayer
Thraben Sentry
Village Bell-Ringer
Blue:
Armored Skaab
Claustrophobia
Fortress Crab
Headless Skaab
Invisible Stalker
Mystic Retrieval
Saving Grasp
Sensory Deprivation
Shriekgeist
Snapcaster Mage
Spectral Flight
Stitcher's Apprentice
Stormbound Geist
Black:
Black Cat
Bloodgift Demon
Brain Weevil
Bitterheart Witch *2
Bump in the night
Chosen of Markov
Corpse Lunge
Curse of Misfortunes
Curse of Thirst
Falkenrath Torturer
Gruesome Discovery
Ravenous Demon
Reap the Seagraf *2
Spiteful Shadows *2
Tragic Slip
Vengeful Vampire
Victim of night
Walking Corpse
Red:
Blood Fued
Erdwal Ripper
Falkenrath Marauders
Feral Ridgewolf
Flayer of the Hatebound
Hanwier Watchkeep
Heckling Fiends
Into the Maw of Hell
Night Revelers
Skirsdag Cultist
Talons of Falkenrath
Torch Fiend
Green:
Caravan Vigil
Crushing Vines
Dawntreader Elk
Hammlet Captain
Festerhide Boar
Hollohenge Beast
Kindercatch
Ranger's Guile
Travel Preparations
Ulvenwald Bear
Ulvenwald Mystics
Village Survivors
Artifact:
Blazing Torch
Executioners Hood
Ghoulcaller's Bell
Sharpened Pitchfork
Traveler's Amulet
Land:
Evolving Wilds
=======================================
When I first saw this pool, I was quite enamored with a certain color. And no, It wasn't White or Black, to my great dismay sitting at my computer today. I saw the Blood Feud, and the Snapcaster Mage, and my mind started turning...
You see, the problem with this pool is not that it is bad, far, far from it. It is that so many of the colors are good!
Green, which is very likely the worst color, has a couple bears, a good 4-drop, and Travel Prep, which is a good start to a deck.
Blue has flashback on the Reap the Seagrafs (I didn't like them all that much at the time, so much worse than Moan of the Unhallowed in so many ways), and Snapcaster Mage is powerful in the abstract (but probably not that good in this pool, where everything has flashback, or costs 6+ in the instant or sorcery camp, and virtually everything is double-colored.
But Red, Red is where I was really led astray. Blood Feud had me drooling, and the Marauders, Into the Maw of Hell, Hanwyr Watchkeep, AND Flayer of the Hatebound are all pretty excellent cards. I mean c'mon, that's 5 uncommon or rare cards that can easily carry your deck to victory, but many of these are double-red, and many of them are very expensive. Heck, I even have a cultist, that's 7 very solid cards in Red.
Black has two Demons, and a few good removal spells.
White has Fiend Hunter (which I have an irrational dislike of), Local Cathar, Thraben Doomsayer, and perhaps the best card in the format: Lingering Souls. (Along with a plethora of small creatures)
I registered a Black splashing Red splashing Blue monstrosity out of the gates, and I quickly learned that what I wanted to see with this was a 5 land hand, with all three of my colors. None of this is all that splashable, and though I do have some fixing (Amulet + Wilds), I was quickly trounced in several of my game one's.
After losing my first match 0-2 to two power evasive guys for 2 and 3 mana, compared to my grey ogre tokens, I knew I needed a better plan. I audibled into Esper for the rest of the day games two and three, unable to get away from the Snapcaster and Reap flashback.
I really feel like this deck had everything necessary to get me to day two. I just needed to pick the right colors, and I'm still not sure which of White, Black, and Red (or even Blue) that I should have played. I just know I got out-carded by token strategies, and out-rushed by aggressive decks, to a dismal 2-3 finish. (Beating one fellow who had been out of the game for years round two, and another who perhaps played less optimally round four)
What would you have done with this pool? It has quite a few rare/uncommon slots taken up by a "curse package" (without death's hold), but it also has in the neighborhood of 17 highly playable rares and uncommons, out of 24 total slots there. (give or take a few flip cards)
Double Black:
Victim of Night
Bloodgift Demon
Ravenous Demon
Vengeful Vampire
Double Red:
Falkenrath Marauders
Into the Maw
Blood Fued
Skirsdag High Prist
Double White:
Loyal Cathar
Thraben Doomsayer
Fiend Hunter
Silverclaw Griffin
(Double Blue: Claustrophobia, Stormbound Giest)
I see 7 Red cards I actively want to play. 9 Black cards. 9 or so white cards (though clearly less exciting on average than the others).
I certainly needed more time with this, because I still don't know what I should have done =(
Help!
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