Father's Day Weekend Magic at WMG

Friday was a bit dicey as I had some house issues that kept me up until 5 AM on Saturday. Then the boys got up at 8 AM and we were off to the races.

I was quickly running out of time to get ready. I picked up Mono White Kithkin for the WMG Free Tournament. Seemed like the easiest to put together and the easiest to pilot. The first three rounds I won mainly due to my opponents.

Round 2 Cody lost to getting stuck on 2 land.

Rounds 1 and 3 my opponents each laid turn 2 Pro-White Goblin. Once he ran into my only way to deal with it in the deck (Mutavault) the rest of the times they died to Volcanic Fallout. I almost verbally thanked my opponents each time.

Round 4, Caskey asks if I want to draw. We are at table 2 and so I ask table 3 what their records are. Both answer 2-1 so I say sure and recommend to table 1 that they do the same.

Round 5 goes as planned, and I go chat with Josh to talk to him about whether I will drop before or after the Top 8 cut. I see the standings and EJ is in 9th and I would have been paired with Caskey. I drop before the cut to let EJ in. If I had been going to be paired against Adam or if 9th had been someone I didn't like, I would have stayed in for the cut to get some packs and then dropped.

Then I get to go home and hang out with my boys.

Sunday brings around draft time and it turns out that the option gone for is a Ravnica Draft. It had been so long since my last Rav Draft, I didn't know or remember half the cards. I first picked Fetters and went B/r/w, opting for the enchantment plan with some tricks. I got Fetters, Seal of Fire, Hypervolt Grasp and Ocular Halo. I passed an early Simic Guildmage, but I got another a bit later, got the 2/1 flier you sac if you don't bounce an enchantment, a bunch more fliers and some burn.

On a side note, someone brought subject of milling in this format. I proceeded to open Tunnel Vision in the first pack and almost drafted it to be funny. Ray passes me Junktroller for a possible second pick and I bust out laughing. I want to try and live the dream from back then(got it to work twice or so way back when), but I eventually give it up. Turns out to be a good move since JR picked the TV 2 seats down.

Round 1 Jason with R/G beats.

Game 1

My tapper and fetters tricks hold him back while my fliers do the work. He burns my smaller fliers out of the sky with a Ulasht, leaving me with a 3/3 flier, a tapper and a Steamcore Wizard. He then evens the score to 5 a piece while I draw land for 5 turns(plus a drowned Rusalka draw). With only 4 lands left in the deck, I need something to help since he will probably come over for the win next turn. I peel Peel from Reality, and think about all the wrong plays for a while. I feel dumb for a little bit, then finish him off.

Game 2

He enchants my Guildmage with a Riot Spikes for Irony I guess, or to keep me from attacking into his 1/1 regenerater. He taps out though and I wreck his board with Pyromatics, and use his enchantment to get in for a couple of extra 2's before he can finally get rid of it. My fliers do their job again backed up by the Fetters.

Round 2 Steve

Game 1

Steve and I both can't find a Plains for the entirety of the game. Surveilling Sprite and a Steamcore Wizard strapped up with a Grasp do most of the work. He gets a 3/3 that threatens to race me so I drop the Ocular Halo onto the Steamcore and try to dig a bit further for a plains to be able to cast a majority of my hand but end up running into my Snapping Drake in time to make him scoop it up.

Game 2

We go back and forth a bit before he has Thundersong Trumpeter and Blind Hunter with which he is able to Convoke out a Conclave Equenaut. At the end of turn I Pyromatics the 2/1 and 2/2 and he haunts the Equenaut. I follow up on my turn with Peel from Reality for my Steamcore and his 3/3 to counter the Haunt and hoping that he might not draw the land to replay it. He draws the land but I drop Minister of Impediments to take care of his 3/3 flier. He sees his only chance to use it, so Shadow Lances his 3/3 and gets in for 7 with the pumps and drops me to 5.

I keep the 3/3 tapped for a bit while my team whittles him down to 11. Steve uses Ogre Savant to bounce my tapper and make him inactive for a turn. I Steamcore the Ogre but leave 2 fliers back just in case. Turns out I was right to do so as he goes all in with Hunted Dragon. I chump both creatures to stay alive and I figure that I have the win if he doesn't have a wrath or enough burn to finish me. I get in for 6 with the Knights from the Dragon, then use an Ogre Savant of my own to bounce his Equenaut so that I only have to tap the Dragon. Equenaut comes back down, but he concedes as I go to attack.


At this point I go up to the front and report my win, when I look out the window. I think to myself, "Holy !@#$, someone is stealing my car!!" before it occurs to me that I didn't drive the Van. Turns out that the only way that Jenn could get Ian to calm down for his haircut was to tell him that they would bring Daddy some candy. Hey, whatever works I say. I chat with her and eat some candy with the boys for a bit before I take them out to the car so they can head home.

Josh wins his match and is the only other undefeated. I proffer the draw so that we can both win on the Father's Day Draft. He sees how appropriate this is, so we both sign a Merfolk Looter to go on the wall and call it a day.

I go back to the house for some Chinese Food and Donkey Kong Jenga(my present from the boys).

5 - 0 - 3 for the weekend.

I didn't even lose a game.

All in all, an excellent weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped to make it so.

As Always,
DHT