Getting Dream Crushed at SCGIQ *5-2 9th place*

Hello everyone!

Within 25 minutes of me, there are 2 stores that are always jockeying for players by offering better and better tournaments, prizes, and events to try and 1-up the other. Naturally this is fantastic for the players as we can always pick the better of the two options, or go to both when their special events happen two different days. 3 weeks ago, Toys held the first ever 1K in the North Shore, so naturally Harrison's responded with their own 1K just a few weeks later. I was not able to play in the Toys 1K, I got there during the 3rd round for trading, but I was able to play in the Harrison's 1K yesterday. As it turns out, they worked with Star City Games to make their event an Invitational Qualifier, so whoever won would be able to go to SCG's mini-Pro Tour. The top 8 was also going to get invited to a larger event later on in the year, and only the top 8 was going to receive any prize. So I knew going in it was top 8 or bust. I believe there were about 68 players in attendance. Here is the deck I ran for the event:

BRains
4x Gravecrawler
4x Diregraf Ghoul
2x Fume Spitter
2x Porcelain Legionnaire
2x Highborn Ghoul
3x Cemetery Reaper
4x Geralf's Messenger
2x Phyrexian Obliterator
2x Falkenrath Aristocrat

2x Tragic Slip
2x Geth's Verdict
3x Go for the Throat
2x Mortarpod
2x Incinerate
2x Brimstone Volley

4x Blackcleave Cliffs
4x Dragonskull Summit
14x Swamp

Sideboard:
2x Hex Parasite
2x Phyrexian Metamorph
3x Manic Vandel
2x Skinrender
2x Black Sun's Zenith
3x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Red Sun's Zenith

I thought of the deck name while I was writing the list for the event. It's so perfect! Simple, elegant, and a little bit of pun! I was actually excitedly telling almost everyone about that stroke of genius for about 5 minutes after I finished writing up my list. One thing I noticed about my list as I wrote it was how there seemed to be a lot of 2-ofs. After looking at the list again though, you will notice how in the creatures I have 2 Fume Spitters as 1 drops #9-10 in addition to their utility of being removal. Their are 4 2-drops split 2 and 2, and the same thing applies for the 4-drops. In terms of the removal, having a variety is very important. As the saying goes, "There is no such thing as a wrong threat, only wrong answers" so having a variety makes it more likely to be able to answer the spread of threats an opponent can present to us.

Round 1: Mono-white
I am notorious for telling myself how bad my opponent is before I even know anything about them, and that was the case here too. It didn't help that I crushed him game 1 while I just had all the answers and he was never really in it. However, Mirran Crusader + Elite Inquisitor + Angelic Destiny did a lot of work against me and I quickly lost 1-2. As it turned out, my opponent wasn't some chump but in fact won all day and entered the top 8 as the #1 seed!

0-1

Round 2-4: UW Delver
I started to get a pretty bad headache that stayed with me through round 4 when I managed to get out for a food break. I honestly don't remember much about these matches except that I won the first 2 and lost the 3rd time. My spirits were definitely lifted, although playing against Delver every round is pretty freaken annoying!

2-2

Round 5: RUG Delver

I was on the play and started with Swamp, Gravecrawler, but I was met with Mental Misstep, which was very confusing for me. "Man.... Another Delver deck?" I thought to myself as he led off with Island, Delver. I wasn't too worried though as I typically fare well against the deck, and I played a second Gravecrawler turn 2, but was hit with another Mental Misstep. I guess I shouldn't care since I can just recast them, but seriously, who plays Mental Misstep? I was eventually able to stick a Cemetery Reaper and regrow my Gravecrawlers, but he had an Arc Trail to hit the reset button once again. Inevitably I lost. This was incredibly important for me to win as X-2 has a chance of top 8 whereas X-3 has no hope. I was able to pull out both of the sideboarded games, though just narrowly!

3-2

At this point the standings went up and I was in 19th place. Probably not possible to top 8, but hey it didn't matter, I just wanted to play magic! As it turns out, all of the other top toys players were also 3-2, which was strange as I felt good for being at their level, but bad because they weren't running too hot either...

Round 6: Mirror Match

FINALLY! Not a Delver deck! I handily beat him 2-0 with almost no resistence. After the match we were talking and we exchanged decklists and I really didn't like his version. His list was more similar to the GerryT list except with basically no 2 drops, only 2 Highborn Ghoul, and 3! Mortarpod. Mortarpod is cool and all, but it's pretty terrible in multiples. Also, he was playing Surgical Extractions instead of Nihil Spellbombs which just feels wrong to me because you can draw a card vs negligible thinning. (There was one play that was funny when he very clearly had a Surgical Extraction in hand based on how he played and acted while I had 2 Gravecrawler in the yard. He opted to not cast it until after I cast another zombie. My topdeck: Gravecrawler, so I got to cast it before he surgicaled and he lost a ton of value).

4-2

I moved up to 14th place after this round. Probably can't make it, but let's try anyways!

Round 7: UB Control

It was very nice to not play against Delver for the last 2 rounds after 4 rounds of the Wild BlueCatl. UB Control is fairly easy for this deck as my threats are so resiliant and I am chock full of removal so his fatties never have a board impact. The games played out exactly as you would expect with my playing resiliant threats like Gravecrawler, Geralf's Messenger, and Cemetery Reaper, and he died despite his best efforts. It was the first match all day where I got to use the Hex Parasites, and when I unsideboarded face-up some of his friends saw it and were thoroughly confused. I felt like a prophet as I explained to them the dynamics of the planeswalker slayer when someone said, "Fume Spitter can rebuy an undyed Gerald's Messenger though" Yes, and so can Parasite!

5-2

Word was going around through the Toys players that I was in 9th place, so if any sort of fluke happened, I could get a shoe-in. Ironically at the same time word of a potential disqualification was going around. Apparently one match was trying to be decided by rolling dice. I slowly worked my way over there to eavesdrop on the judge talking to the players nonchalantly, but was saddened when I heard "Ok, so you guys aren't going to get disqualified but...." and I knew I couldn't luck-sack in. So I was solidly in my position of first loser finishing at 9th place.

Overall, I really liked the deck, and I wouldn't change a single card! The trading was fantastic too! Among other various goodies, I picked this beautiful piece of art up:

So yeah, it was an awesome day!

That's all I have time for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack