So, I went to GP Utrecht and did great (Review)
Standard forum
Posted on Aug. 11, 2014, 3:19 p.m. by Putrefy
Hello fellow magic players,
I went to GP Utrecht last weekend and as I wrote in the headline: I did great! I made 33rd out of 1509 players. It was my first GP and I didn't really expect to do well given that I didn't play Standard in a loooooong time (3 months...). However it all worked out really, really well.
What deck did I play: GP Utrecht 11-3-1 MBD. Why? Because it's the best deck in the format. <-- period
I went 11-3-1 and lost against Mono-Boring-Devotion in my 3rd round, against U/W Planar-Control in my 5th round and against Jund-Monster-Walkers in my 12th round. It was really nice going on a 6-match-win-streak. The meta was the way I expected it to be, maybe a little bit more control.
Match 1: G/W Devotion 2-0.
My opponent isn't really good, he makes some stupid mistakes in both games. I take him down 2-0 as in Game 1 I can stall long enough to stabilze with Gary and Demon finishes him off. In Game 2 he miscounts my Rats and throws his 2/2 Experiment One pumped with Selesnya Charm into my 5/5 Rat.
Match 2: Black-Devotion 2-1.
My first mirror. Game 1 my opponent sticks his Underworld Connections and I don't find one, he wins as being expected. Game 2 he makes a huge mistake. He has 2 Nightveil Specter and I have 1 Nightveil Specter he attacks me with both, I block one, he gets an Underworld Connections and casts it. Uses Temple of Deceit , scrys to the top and has the connections open. I attack him in my turn and point to my Nightveil Specter and say "trigger"? He says: "yes... oh no wait I want to use Connections" I call a judge and he rules, that he accepted the trigger and cannot take it back. I get a Gary from top of his library. Game 3 I curve out with: Underworld Connections into Erebos, God of the Dead into Whip of Erebos and he just scoops.
Match 3: Mono Black Devotion 1-2. A mirror again. This time I'm on the backfoot. Game 1 I operate on 2 Underworld Connections and he on 1. I find all the Garys and kill him off quickly. Game 2 he Rats me out and I get a warning for trying to tap an activated Mutavault that was summoning sick for mana (won't ever do that mistake again...). Game 3 I hold a nice hand with Duress and Bile Blight , Duress him and see Rat Rat Muta Muta 3 Swamp. However he topdecks Thoughtseize and takes away my only hope of not dieing to the rats (again).
Match 4: U/W Soldiers 2-0.
It was a brew. He played Preeminent Captain to combo with Lavinia of the Tenth . However I always have the right removal at hand in Game 1 and Rat him out in Game 2. (kept my first Mutavault , Thoughtseize , Pack Rat , no other land 7 of this GP, more to come). I draw Swamp , Mutavault and it was easy sailing from there on.
Match 5: U/W Planar Control 1-2.
It's really funny, I win Game 1 where I shouldn't stand a chance and lose Game 2 and 3. Almost made it to a draw, but he played super quick (played against Lukas Jaklovsky maybe some of you know him). Game 1 I take down his only Supreme Verdict and Rat him out, I also saw a Planar Cleansing in his opening hand so I knew I didn't have to deal with Detention Sphere . He had 4 draws and didn't find the Verdict. Game 2 & 3 went similar. I don't find enough discard, cannot resolve Erebos once and he runs away with chained Revs.
Match 6: G/W Aggro 2-1.
I was still a bit rattled from my loss the round before and when I saw his opening all my hopes and dreams of making day 2 seemed to have shattered (as some of you may know, GPs are played on 2 days. You need to make at least 7-2 to make Day 2). He went Experiment One into Fleecemane Lion into Loxodon Smiter into Advent of the Wurm and I had no 2 mana removal, some Garys and downfalls and just couldn't keep up with his pace. Game 2 he mulled to 5 which was giving my dream some new breath. He kept a clunky 3-land 2-four drop hand and wasn't able to keep up with my Rat (this was the 2nd Mutavault , Thoughtseize , Pack Rat no other land 7 of this GP. Yes, I was so out of my mind that on the brink of defeat, that I kept a hand with one Mutavault against an aggressive deck... Talk about bad keeps...). Game 3 I have all the early removal for his threats and can stick 2 Lifebane Zombies before closing the game out with 2 Gray Merchant of Asphodel .
Match 7: U/G Devotion 2-1.
I took a deep breath after doding the bullet in the last game. As I see his opening hand of Elvish Mystic , BTE, Sylvan Caryatid , Nissa, Worldwaker , Courser of Kruphix , Forest , Mana Confluence I put him on Jund-Walkers. This false assumption proved to be lethal as I decided to not go all-in-Pack Rat (in fear of Mortars) but instead tried to play the Midrange-Plan. I see the first blue Land on T4, but at that point it was already too late to switch gears. When he draws Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and reveals Genesis Hydra underneath it I had given up already. As it turned out I couldn't keep up with him. In Game 2 I go all in Pack Rat and win as he couldn't find his Hornet Queen fast enough. I win Game 3 by an inch. Basically it all comes down to one crucial turn. I'm tapped out, I have 3 Rats, 1 Mutavault and 4 Swamp and 1 card in hand Sign in Blood . He has an active Nissa, Worldwaker , 1 4/4 Elemental Land, 2 Voyaging Satyr and taps out to play Prime Speaker Zegana . It was very risky from him because if I had one removal spell he was dead on my swing (he was on 13 life). However he didn't want to just chump his whole board away to my Pack Rat s. Well as I said above, I didn't have a removal spell but the top-deck-Gods were with me and I drew the lethal Doom Blade . So I killed his Zegana, attacked with 3 Rats and acitvated Mutavault for 12 dmg. Just to kill him off with Sign in Blood . (In retrospect, activating Mutavault to attack with it, would've killed him aswell but not with that much style ;))
Match 8. U/W Burn 2-1.
I was starting to get nervous. 5-2 only two more wins and I would make Day 2 on my first GP ever. I tried to calm myself down (which wasn't working out that well). When we sit down and he plays Mountain , go. I was thinking to myself: ok, check this one, I'm out. But it all worked out differently. I race him Game 1 with triple Lifebane Zombie and survive on 2 life, as he bricks on his last draw. In game 2 he has the stone-cold nuts and burns me out on Turn 5. In game 3 he makes a crucial mistake against my Nightveil Specter (that dude is a bomb against Chandra's Phoenix ) as he scries to the top to surrender his Magma Jet to my Nightveil Specter . In the end I raced his 2 Chandra's Phoenix with Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Mutavault as we both find only lands on top of our decks. Holy sh*t I'm 6-2.
Match 9: Naya-Combo-Aggro 2-0.
Oh God I was soooooo nervous. Game 1 he is on the play I keep my 3rd Mutavault , Thoughtseize , Pack Rat no other land 7 of this GP. As previously I find the Swamp on my first draw. But before that he opens with Mana Confluence into Soldier of the Pantheon and my heart began to sink. Oh no, not a stupid aggro deck again. As I Thoughtseize him and see: Boros Reckoner and Ghor-Clan Rampager my mood went from bad to worse. If he draws right I'm dead on T4. But it all panned out differently: I take his Ramapger, Bile Blight his Boros Reckoner , go to 6 life before recovering with Gray Merchant of Asphodel (what a nice and not ever stupid Magic card). He floods out and concedes after drawing his 7th land. In game 2 I rat him out. Pack Rat x2, Mutavault x2 Swamp x1, Doom Blade x2 form this into a so called: "snap keep". Long story short, I answer all his early creatures and stabilze the board on 4 Pack Rat (having Selesnya Charm in mind. At that point he has knight, Experiment One with one +1/+1 counter and Soldier of the Pantheon . At that point I'm pretty confident I made Day2 and in the end he trades away his whole board blocking and offers the handshake after revealing to lands from his hand. HOLY CR*P I MADE DAY 2!
Day 2: Getting some sleep was rough. I was so full of joy and fear at the same time that I slept like 3 hours max.
Match 10: Mono-U-Devotion 2-1.
For me personally this was my best match of this GP. He starts slowly into Game 1 and I begin to race him with Lifebane Zombie . After bringing him to 2 life comes his crucial turn. My board: Desecration Demon at 2 counters, Lifebane Zombie , Nightveil Specter (untapped), 5 Swamp , 1 Mutavault . Cards in hand: Swamp , Devour Flesh . His board: 2 Cloudfin Raptor at 2/3, 1 Judge's Familiar , Thassa, God of the Sea and 1 Frostburn Weird , 6 Island , 1 Mutavault . I'm on 12 life. He begins his turn by Cyclonic Rifting my Nightveil Specter . Proceeds to make Thassa, God of the Sea unblockable and attacks with Mutavault , Thassa, God of the Sea , Frostburn Weird (1 pump), 2 Cloudfin Raptor and Judge's Familiar . It's exactly 14 dmg, so even if I block either Mutavault or Frostburn Weird with my Mutavault I'm dead. However I have this cute little Devour Flesh left, that was sitting there since the beginning. And so I sacrificed my own Demon to go up to 20 life and killed him on the backswing with my Lifebane Zombie . My opponent explained he was putting me on Gray Merchant of Asphodel and that's the reason he didn't Rift on my turn because he would've been dead to that guy either way.
Game 2 he get's off to a quick start and I cannot find a 3rd land in time. By the time I find it he has already too much pressure and I die.
Game 3 I rat him out. I keep Mutavault x2, Pack Rat x2 and 1Swamp with some removal spells. He is off to a slow start, 2 Cloudfin Raptor into 2 Judge's Familiar . I miss my 4th land-drop and was almost going to make more Rats but then I realized something about his board: 2 Familiar, 2 Raptor, 1 Mutavault , 2 Island , 2 cards in hand. I had just drawn a Duress and was thinking: With what additional card would he keep such a mess? It could be only one card, right? But I couldn't make a Rat on that turn, if I used Duress . It was either, 2 Nightveil Specter or Master of Waves + land, which wouldn't have been enough because of my removal or Bident of Thassa + land, which would've destroyed me as he would've drawn 4 cards after his next attack. And so I didn't make a Rat but casted Duress and he indeed had Island , Bident of Thassa . (I've never felt more "pro-ish" in my entire Magic-career, than in this exact moment, not going for the Rat but instead going the Duress ). Long story short, he drew 2 more lands I made some more Rats and he was dead.
8-2, felt pretty good after this match. He was a nice guy and we had some nice talks after the match.
Match 11: Mono-Black-Devotion 2-0.
I played against an "MTG Madness" guy with his own zipper (you know these, with their last name written on their arm?). He really had a bad attitude so to speak, but yet again I was top-decking like a young magic God...
Game 1 I race him with Mutavault and Lifebane Zombie , wait... whaaaat? Yes. Lifebane Zombie against Mono-Black-Devotion. He was kinda mad after the game because he drew like 3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel and 3 times I Hero's Downfall ed it in response to the trigger.
Game 2 he let's me begin again. Which I don't really understand. I mean ok, fine. You're up one card. But you're the 2nd to Thoughtseize , the 2nd to play a Pack Rat and the 2nd to stick Underworld Connections . And that's exactly what happened. I keep a 4-lander with Bile Blight and Sign in Blood , which he takes away with Thoughtseize . My first draw: Underworld Connections - nice! After I stick it on turn 3 he let's out a disapproving grunt and mumbles "unbelieveable" (a word I was about to hear a million times in the upcoming minutes...). He sticks his aswell but he starts missing his 4th land drop for 2 whole turns, whereas I make every land drop like a machine and stick threat after threat. After he duresses my whole hand: 2 Hero's Downfall he sticks a Desecration Demon however: I draw Hero's Downfall and kill off his Demon right away. At that point he lives up to his teams' name: MTG Madness. Because he was like mad mad. I think he was close to insulting me but all I understood was: lucky, unbelieveable, insane etc. I kill him two turns later after he couldn't find a Bile Blight in time to handle my top-decked Pack Rat , which again was accompanied by "unbelieveable" mumbling. In the end he wasn't giving any credit to may playing ability and said I only won because of luck. I said to him I was sorry but that's magic. At that point he was really mad and almost screaming at me, that I wasn't sorry, I was happy and I shouldn't lie. However I know the feeling he had and so I was truley sorry. Well I filled out my result slip and after witnessing that he wrote 1 win on his side I was so free to remind him, that I had just beaten his sorry ass 2-0 (it does make a difference in your opponent score). After that I wasn't giving a f*ck and walked away satsfied.
Match 12: Jund-Monster-Walkers 0-2
Being 9-2 a thought creeped into my head: I was able to make Top8, what the f*ck was happening. Top8 on my first GP? Never ever. Yep, it didn't get as crazy. Game 1 I flood out and cannot find a single kill-spell to handle his Polukranos, World Eater .
Game 2 he isn't playing Monsters anymore (or at least it felt like it). I TS him on turn 1 and he has the sickest possible 7: Elvish Mystic , red shock-land, Shock-Land, ScOoze, Golgari Charm , Domri Rade , Xenagos, The Reveler . I was already scooping in my head and took the Xenagos. He plays the Domri on turn 2 and misses. Which made me happy, but shouldn't have done so. He didn't play T3 Ooze, but instead Courser of Kruphix and so I got to snack his Scavenging Ooze with my Lifebane Zombie to see his hand again: Golgari Charm , Dreadbore , Chandra, Pyromaster , Xenagos, The Reveler ... whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! How am I suppose to ever beat that hand? Turns out I wasn't. He curves out with Xenagos into Chandra into Vraska and I scoop as I'm stuck with 2 Doom Blade and 1 Devour Flesh .
Well I already knew my matchup against jund-walkers was bad. But I didn't expect it to be that bad...
Match 13: Naya Hexproof 2-1.
The mainboard Devour Flesh and Lifebane Zombie proved to be crucial in Game 1. He is on the play and opens with Bassara Tower Archer on Turn 2. My open 7 is: 2 Lifebane Zombie , 1 Devour Flesh , 3 lands, Gray Merchant of Asphodel . I kill devour his archer after he enchants it with Madcap Skills , T3 I take his 2nd Archer with Lifebane Zombie after seeing his hand of Witchstalker 3 enchantments and no 3rd land. He bricks again and I can take away his Stalker with my 2nd Zombie and proceed to kill him in 3 quick turns.
Game 2 he brought in the Aegis of the Gods , luckily I kept in my Hero's Downfall in fear of Ajani, Caller of the Pride . My opening 7 is the dream: 2 Devour Flesh , 2 Swamp , 2 Lifebane Zombie , 1 Hero's Downfall . He play the aegis on T2, however I don't find a 3rd land until I die and so he kills me with Aegis and Witchstalker.
Game 3 he plays it super-safe. Too safe. I open up with Duress and take way his Banishing Light , his hand was: Fiendlslayer Paladin, Ethereal Armor , Unflinching Courage and 3 lands besides the B-Light. I'm confident as I have my usual 2 Lifebane Zombie s in hand. He finds a Gladecover Scout on his 2nd draw and plays it, but only equips the Ethereal Armor . After taking away his Paladin with my Zombie I see his hand: Unflinching Courage , Selesnya Charm , land, land. He didn't want to equip the Courage unless he had mana open to flash in the token or draw a 2nd threat. Luckily for me he doesn't until I have 2 Lifebane Zombies and 1 Nightveil Specter online. He then plays a 2nd Gladecover Scout attacks me for 5 lifelink and goes back up to 16. However I swing for 8 and drop a Gary for 9 to end the game on the spot. Afterwards I revealed that I didn't have a single removal and that he would've easily won if he goes all in on the Scout. I think he made the right play given that he didn't know my hand. But in the end it was the wrong play because I didn't have nothing.
10-3 money was on the line!
Match 14: G/W Aggro 2-1.
Yet again I have to face down that stupid deck (apologies to anyone playing it). Game 1 I win by an inch. I go to 1 life 3 times and he bricks every turn trying to find the Selesnya Charm or Ajani, Caller of the Pride . I go Gray Merchant of Asphodel into Gary, into Gary into kill him. Game 2 he has the absolute nut-draw and kills me on Turn 5. Game 3 I have my nut-draw on the play: Mutavault x2, Pack Rat x2, Thoughtseize , Swamp x2. Long story short, Pack Rat escalates and he has no way of dealing with it.
11-3 I'm in the money for sure and if my next opponent draws I'm Top64 guaranteed.
Match 15: Jund Walkers ID.
We decide to ID and grab some food. In the end I make 33rd but I wouldn't have beaten him anyways so it' ok that I missed Top32 by 1 place.
All in all I'm super happy with my performance and didn't expect to do so good at my first GP. I think it's a good example to show everyone that anybody can do well at Magic if he or she invests enough time. I hope you enjoyed the read, I will answer any questions :)
(P.S. In case you wonder: I got 300$, 336 PWP and 1 Pro-Point).
Regards
julianjmoss says... #3
Congratulations! It sucks that one guy had a bad attitude but oh well.
August 11, 2014 3:31 p.m.
Good job man. That was a good performance, don't let June walkers get ya down, it's super tough to beat, had my problems against it lately as well
August 11, 2014 3:54 p.m.
Did you also do quite well in a modern tournament? You must be a very good player. Congrats
August 11, 2014 4:09 p.m.
I think my results prove that I'm not all that wrong :)
Let me explain my reasoning behind the different takes. I mean you really don't assume that I've not tested before, right?
So I expected a lot of B/W Midrange, G/W aggro, U/W Control and Mono Black aswell. Specter is really good in the Mirror, semi good against U/W and B/W, bad against G/W. Lifebane is really good against B/W and G/W, semi good against U/W and really bad in the mirror. So much for the 3/2 Split. I don't feel like cutting a creature, only 1 time I didn't find my removal in time.
I understand the discussion about Ultimate Price but I dislike that you cannot kill Nightveil Specter or Jace, Architect of Thought with it, and since I expected a lot of Black Devotion and U/W I wanted the costier upgrade to hit anything I wanted.
Playing 2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is not wrong. What's the benefit of having 2 Urborg? I get to cast Nightveil Specter more frequently on Turn 3 even with 2 Mutavault - and that's insane. What's the downside of having 2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth : if you ever see 2 you cannot cast the second one and have to discard it to make a Rat (which you would do with a Swamp aswell). I don't want to sound cocky, but really... Don't just parrot what you see/hear from the Pros, but scrutinize their motivation behind their decisions. Then look at my list and scrutinize mine. Or at least if you call something "definitely wrong" write down why.
Playing or not playing temples was a last minute decision. We arrived at friday but couldn't play any trials because we were too late and they were all going on already. But I went around and saw tons of g/w aggro. If you ever want the Pack Rat -plan to work against G/W aggro you want: T1 Thoughtseize into T2 Mutavault , Pack Rat . I dislike how hands with Temple, Mutavault, Rat, Thoughtseize work out in the end, because you are basically 1 turn behind all the time. I didn't miss the scry so much. But everytime I kept the "1 Mutavault , TS, Rat no other land 7" I was happy not playing temples, because drawing a temple right there would be really bad.
I don't know what you mean by not playing against many curveballs, but I think g/w aggro, naya aggro, Mono-Blue-Devotion and naya hexproof are all decks that curve out really well.
thank you :)
August 11, 2014 4:24 p.m.
@ mpeach1
thank you. Yeah well I don't hate playing against Jund it's just almost unbeatable for mono black.
Actually I am more of a modern player. As I wrote in the first lines I didn't really play Standard in like 3 months and only tested 1 week before the GP.
I went 5-3 on my last Modern PTQ, trying to Top8 and win the next one on the upcoming weekend :)
August 11, 2014 4:32 p.m.
this was super insightful to what being at GP is like, love all the details! +1!
August 11, 2014 4:48 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #11
Like a boss. Nice job staying locked in after a couple early losses then putting the nerves on ice to make the cut.
I too hope to make day 2 of my first GP.
August 11, 2014 5:03 p.m.
Dalektable says... #12
Really nice performance. The only GP coming anywhere near me is a Khans of Tarkir sealed team, and I play constructed. So thats unfortunate.
August 11, 2014 5:52 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #13
@Putrefy I'm not calling you an idiot. I understand that thought went into your decisions, I'm just commenting on the different decisions you made and giving my opinions. By the way, I'll note that playing a deck where 48-52 of the maindeck is locked in proves something, but you can still be wrong about the other ten cards. I don't mean to put down your great achievement in any way.
I think Ultimate Price really shines against red and blue, and actually does some good work against GW aggro (it's a removal spell against aggro, after all). As you were not expecting those decks very much, your decision seems pretty fair. I was just surprised because a lot of decks are mono-colored and my understanding of changes in Standard is fairly weak.
In my experience, and I may only be saying this because I've drawn too many double Pendelhaven s in my life, I would never play two Urborgs. I can definitely see the advantages when you are playing a mono-colored deck and have to cast Nightveil Specter . I may just be playing too much Modern, where two Urborgs in your Rock deck is almost suicide.
I understand the reasoning behind no Temples. However, I do think they provide value against the control and midrange decks you were expecting, so I personally would try to fit one or two.
Curveballs are out-of-the-ordinary occurrences, though from the way you worded it I'm not completely sure whether or not you are trolling me.
August 11, 2014 7:42 p.m.
I don't think Ultimate Price is good against Blue. What creatures can you actually kill with it? Tidebinder Mage , Cloudfin Raptor , Master of Waves . So the only relevant creature you can kill is the Master. Other relevant creatures like Frostburn Weird or Nightveil Specter can't be killed by it. So the only matchup where it really shines is Red. But against red I side in my Doom Blade and Pharika's Cure anyways, so there is absolutely no need for Ultimate Price right now.
Yeah, because Modern Rock is so much like Mono Black Devotion... (if you remember: I play Tec-Edge-Rock in Modern, and I would never ever play two Urborg in there...).
I misunderstood the meaning of the word curveball then. I'm not a native english-speaker. Apologies.
August 12, 2014 11:20 a.m.
Congrats on your record! Its super awesome to know we have a TappedOuter that just owned everyone at his first grand prix! Congrats!
GlistenerAgent says... #2
Seeing this makes me want to find a GP to go to soon, they sound like a helluva lot of fun.
Looking at the matchups, you didn't play against too many curveballs, so MBD was a pretty good choice. I didn't check out the Top 8, but mono blue won the tournament and I've seen that matchup go MBD's way a lot post board.
No Ultimate Price seem wrong to me. Four Hero's Downfall could go to three, and you can afford to cut a creature. I think that in MBD you want either Specter or LIfebane, but not both in the main, but I could be wrong. Two Urborgs is definitely wrong. Have you thought about off color scrys just for the value they add, or do you dislike the ETB tapped?
August 11, 2014 3:28 p.m.