Sanchez 05 29 2008

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood by Kyle Sanchez

Mountains of clouds surrounded me as I floated above the heavens. The bright morning sun peeked over a distant cumulus, and the back of my retina screamed for the shutter. One nap later, with Connor Oberst soothing me to sleep, and I was officially in California as the wheels screeched on the tarmac. Caalifoooorniaaaa, here we coooooooome! My travel partner for the event was none other than Heroes & Fantasies owner and operator Mike Connelly, who was the sponsor for my entirely foiled copy of Wizards. All three of our carry-on bags were full of card boxes and binders packed tight, which apparently looked like plastic bombs to the security staff, who wasted no time bursting our bags open only to find what they called "Pokemon" cards over their radio. I informed the mis-informed lackey that it was Magic and not Pokemon, a game much more comparable to Chess with a hint of Poker for bluff seasoning. She looked at me with a gawky bottom lip, and I knew my Magic lesson was wasted, but she made up for it when she complemented me on my curls. She assumed a perm, but I assured her I was all natural. Still, I was in no mood for what she was offering, and kept my head up and eyes open for a Californian delight. L.A.X. wasn't nearly as troubling as I assumed, and several potential candidates passed by with eager glances. No moves were made, but if you could be convicted for eye contact I'd be on death row right now. One voluptuous blonde in particular caught my eye. She was standing opposite the giant luggage conveyor, and when the bags started to fall out on my side I caught a sniff of her intoxicating shampoo aroma. I was going to offer to take her bag off the carousel, but when an enormous pink-stitched Louis Vuitton bag came out I opted to avoid a muscle strain and let the broad take care of her own business. Turns out that was only her shoe and make-up bag, and she had some golf clubs and another enormous suitcase to accompany it. It's all good... I jotted down her street address when she was busy with her clubs, and it turns out she lives only a couple of miles away! Our cab driver was rude, insane, and Hindu. He was muttering sentences for our entire drive, but I couldn't understand a word of his whispery voice. The flat rate for going downtown was $42, and when our bill climbed to $55 I knew something was up. The drive there was quite pleasant nonetheless.

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

He took a ton of side roads through gorgeous neighborhoods with pristine landscaping and home-bound housewives riding in Lexuses n' Benz. Besides everyone in LA driving a Lexus or Benz, another unique feature I noticed was the high number of personalized license plates. Because we took a morning flight (those damn time zones), we arrived at the hotel around nine, hoping for an early check-in. Unfortunately, the lady at the reception said there might be a bit of a wait. I leaned over the counter and played with a short strand of chest hair that exposed itself from my Abercrombie button-down before asking: "Is there anything I can do to speed this up?" "No." We were stuck on the sidelines. I tried calling a few that were supposedly there already, but given the early hour I can't blame them for not answering. Mike was still with the receptionist, and apparently while I was making phone calls someone strolled by and checked out. Ding! She gave the maid a priority on room 1207, and I collapsed into the fluffy silk sheets minutes later. A shower, no shave, and I opened the sliding glass door to find myself on one of the best balconies I've ever seen. The breeze was cool, with no humidity, and downtown LA was in perfect view to the right. Large buildings surrounded us, and to the left lay luxurious lofts. And boy, that breeze... it was like nothing I'd ever experienced. The architecture of the hotel actually enhanced the breeze; it was shaped like a crescent moon, and the cool air hit every balcony in the hotel. After taking in the view we noticed the smell of enlightenment was in the air, and peeked over to the balcony next to us to see two homeys from Alaska taking a much needed vacation. From what I heard, they had plans to turn the rap game upside down on the West coast, bringing their Alaskan flavored funk to the front lines. With a promise to hit them up later, we retreated back into our room to take a nap. But no such nap was had... instead, we booked for the food court across the street. I spotted Zac Hill, some Belgians, and Stuart Wright on the way there, and we had fruitful talk on the current state of Standard. Culinary delights from around the world gathered here to form quite the formidable food court. Mike and the Belgians went for pizza, but I had a taste for Panda Express and the cute Latina working the register. She’d noticed the increase in greasy nerdy people that morning, and asked if I was affiliated with them. I replied yes, and not to judge our humble community by her first impressions. I went through the whole Magic explanation again, but she didn't know how to play Chess or Poker, so it was a bit rough. I told her to stop by the site whenever she got off, of when she had a lengthy break. She said she probably wouldn't, and I said I couldn't blame her.

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

We parted ways, never to see each other again... Until, of course, I ran back to her asking for some soy sauce. "How much do you want?" "A lot! I love it salty!" "Erm, okay..." Things got awkward. "I love it salty!" I mean really, what the hell was I thinking? The rest of the weekend was a big blur... ... My opening seven was a monster. Evan kept, and I led off with a turn 1 Forest, Mox Ruby into Sol Ring into Sensei's Divining Top to set up my draws for the rest of the game. All Erwin could muster was a measly Island, which I answered with a turn 2 Genesis to bring the beats. He was visibly frustrated, with no apparent answer to the five-mana 4/4... sweat began to drip down his partially bald dome, and I knew I had him right where I wanted. On my next turn I bashed his face then slammed down Sylvan Library to further advance my selection arsenal. More lands on his side, and I found a Hoofprints of the Stag after paying 8 life to draw an extra two with Library. Which was coincidently when Adrian Sullivan strolled by and gave my deck his seal of approval for his namesake card. Evan still had no answer to my Genesis, but did try to Control Magic my Yosei. I trumped him with a Treachery, and there was little he could do about big beats and card draw. This was my first expedition into the world of The Cube, and I was mildly impressed to say the least. There are a ton of good cards, but given that we didn't draft the entire stack at once it seems a little too luck-based as far as the separation of colors goes. The different archetypes are pretty interesting, which makes me wonder if my initial thoughts about the draft were right. Much like a regular draft, I was picking the most powerful card that gave me options later on. First pick Library, second pick Top, third pick Scroll Rack, Sol Ring, several Moxen. I can't say those picks were wrong, but I wasn't thinking about the picks in relation to what archetype I wanted to draft. It might be a much better strategy to pick an archetype and take whatever is best for it the entire draft, instead of worrying about what your neighbor is passing you (or potential splashes). My deck turned out to be awful. U/G/W Mana Ramp with fatties and card draw, featuring a hideously low amount of removal and a extremely narrow

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

game plan. I had three Moxen and a Sol Ring, and still played sixteen land, which was also probably wrong. I beat the crap out of Evan, but lost my next round due to both mana screw and a superior deck. I like the challenge of a new format, so hopefully I can get some Cube drafts in at Grand Prix: Indianapolis and U.S. Nationals. ... Round 1 – Faeries After accidentally sitting in the wrong seat and causing all kinds of confusion, I eventually ended up sitting across from a friend of Yurchick's playing a stock Faeries list. Game 1 wasn't even close. He suspended Ancestral on turn 1, but when he went for an end-of-turn Cryptic Command bouncing my Calciform Pools, I got to sneak a Teferi into play to keep his Vision removed from the game. He didn't have a Terror and was a bit confused on when he could play spells, and I finished the game many turns later with Teferi still in play. He clearly wasn't an experienced Faerie player, as he admitted to picking up the deck just before the tournament, so I didn't bother sideboarding anything more than an Oona and Body Double in place of an Arbiter and Venser. The Body Double plan is there to fight against Thoughtseize Game 2 was much of the same. He had a Bitterblossom on turn 2, along with a Thoughtseize, but I had him dominated on mana advantage with two Calciform engines steaming. It didn't take long for me to sneak a Teferi into play after he went for an end-of-turn Scion. I took some beats for a turn before dropping Oona in response to a Terror. He didn't have a Sower, and Oona removed half his library before he conceded. 1-0 Round 2 – Merfolk I had the pleasure to play against one of the few female gamers in the room, hailing from France (or Canada) given her dialect and French aura. Game 1 I completely mauled her when she was mana flooded. Teferi into Arcanis into Oona with little disruption on her part, and Venser n' Vendilion traded with her early Merfolk and bought me a bunch of time. One play saw her with two Lord of Atlantis out, and I had a single Island in play. I used Venser to bounce the Island, then blocked the lords with Clique and Venser to kill them both. Game 2 I was massively mana flooded after resolving two Ancestral Vision on turn 5 and 7. I could only manage to draw five spells in twenty cards, being Rune Snag, Venser, Teferi, and the AV's, so I couldn't put up much of a fight opposite the fiendish fish. Despite being simple and seemingly quick games, we were down to fifteen

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

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minutes in the round when game 3 started. I got my AV on again, and used Remove Soul and Rune Snag to stifle her curve. I continued to make land drops and wasted as few resources as possible to maintain her underwater army. I got a Teferi down when I was on four or five, which stopped all of her attacks in fear of some Flash creature. This is the point in the game where she made several errors. She landed a Reejerey, which I expected was going to start clearing a way to deal lethal, but instead she used it to untap her lands or didn't use it at all. This messed me up a bit. I was expecting an attack and had Arbiter ready to blow her out... should I run it out there anyway? I'm in no rush, the game is in my hands, and this deck is never more than three attack steps away from killing someone, so I wasn't really worried about time. Those fifteen minutes flew by, and when I asked the judge how much time is left he only gave me a "not much." (This really pissed me off, in hindsight. It's their job to tell me how much time is left in the round, and every time they give those smug remarks it makes me want to turn those stripes red.) She attacked with some dudes, and I dropped Arbiter to bring me back up to twenty and did some blocking on her Stonybrook Banneret and Merrow Reejerey. Creatures died, she passed the turn, and some spectators began to whisper. I quickly noticed what the error was, and called a judge. He was talking with the spectators at the far end of the table and took awhile to get to me. I told him that I illegally blocked her Banneret and he went through all the mandatory judge ruling guff about “how much time has passed,” etc. Meanwhile, time is called while he’s at our table, and turns are called during my upkeep. She was at twenty, so I had three attack steps to finish the game. I was a bit upset that he didn't give us a couple of extra minutes, but when I asked him for extra time he said we didn't deserve it since time was called while he was at our table. Whatever that meant. I was still confident in winning. I attacked her for eight with Teferi and Arbiter, and shipped the turn. I only had eight mana so I couldn't do Aethermage into Oona, and she bounced Arbiter back to my hand with Cryptic Command. I was stuck. I'd only have one attack with Oona and two attacks with Teferi for 11 damage. If I played Arbiter I’d reset her life, which wouldn't really get me anywhere. I still Wizardcycled for Oona, which was a mistake in hindsight. I should have gone for Clique to give myself a long shot at topdecking the Oona. There was nothing I could do, and I drew the round a mere one attack phase short of winning. Looking back, I played slower than I normally do, and I can only blame the virtual loss on myself. You can't be chucking away the early ones when you have ten rounds to play with no Top 8. But at least it would set me up for an early exit to indulge in some drafts. Meh. 1-0-1 ... "I just feel that you disrespect the game by playing inebriated" - Steve Sadin

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

... Dr. Hoops (Herberholz) was on fire, and we had no answer for his impressive post maneuvers. PTR just wouldn't stop feeding the ball to him, which eventually forced me to hang out in the paint to force the double on D. We were down 12-6 and needed some quick offense if we were going to beat the all-star team of PTR, Mitchell Tamblyn, and Herbeezy. Despite being outmatched in the paint, our three-point specialist Patrick Sullivan was ready to step up and start knocking them down. PTR was doing a sick job of boxing me out in the paint; given his short bulky build, he could always get lower than me and was clearly stronger. He inbounded it to me at the top of the key. I dribbled around and found my other teammate (Daniel?) in the paint. He put some moves on Tamblyn before kicking it out to PSully for a Deus of Calamity. 8-12 Next possession. Sully was in the corner waiting for Daniel to set a screen. He came around it, but Tamblyn was still on top of him. As he dribbled to the top of the key, I jolted to the corner and knocked down a wide open baseline shot. I hadn't played basketball in over two years prior to this outing, and wasn't making nearly the amount of shots I used to in my varsity days. It got pretty embarrassing, missing as many threes as I did. I used to be a pure shooter, and made twenty-nine threes in a row once while playing pickup games with Antonio Daniels. It got to the point where PTR kept leaving me open and I still couldn't step up to knock em' down. I'm also seriously out of shape, and was heavily winded after each game. 9-12 On the next play we goofed around in the paint for awhile, but Daniel got his own rebound before kicking it out to Sully for a contested deuce. 11-12 All of a sudden we were back in the game, and the veteran team was left scratching their heads. I got another wide open shot, which barely touched the front of the rim and fell into Dr. Hoops lap. A quick pass out to Tamblyn saw him drive into the lane for an easy layup. 11-13 They went to Hoops again in the paint, and while Daniel guarded Hoops from the baseline I covered the help in the middle. Herberholz spun in and I was there to contest his shot, which clanged off the back. Tamblyn slashed in for the rebound, but air balled the put back where Hoops got the rebound. We were getting killed on the boards, so when Hoops missed his last shot I crashed and kicked it out to an open Sullivan. He dribbled around the three-point line before clearing a screen I set for him, which gave him a short open baseline shot.

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

12-13 Sullivan went to Daniel in the post, but Herberholz's defense shut him down and PTR boxed me out for the rebound. My jeans were starting to chaff at this point, and the soles of my dress shoes were being torn up, causing clumps which caused bitter blisters. Chapin told me everyone was going to play in jeans, so I didn't bother to recruit some easily recruitable bball shorts and shoes. He was wearing sweat pants after all... at least until he ripped them off in dramatic fashion prior to the five-on-five game which kicked off our basketball evening. By the time our twenty minute walk to the historic Rancho Park was over, the other twelve in the group were fully ready to play. I was the odd man out, and my red inner thighs and the unsightly white bubbles on the soles of my feet would show I’d paid the price. PTR kicked it out to Tamblyn on the side, who caught the ball before clearing the three-point line from my point of view, and attacked the rim for an easy lay-up. 12-14 They went in to Dr. Hoops again, who aired a ball off the backboard. I quick rebound and outlet to Sully at the top of the key, and the game was tied! 14-14 We focused our offense through Sully again, but Tamblyn's defense picked up. I got another wide open shot from the corner, mainly because PTR refused to guard me, which painfully clanged off the back of the rim. Hoops got the board and kicked out to Tamblyn, who shot up a contested deuce with Sully in his face. 14-16 Game over. Meh. ... To my right: Gadiel, Espo, Goodman, and some dude I don't know. To my left: Some other dude I don't know. And for whatever reason, Espo owed him some scrilla, which he didn't hesitate to remind Espo every five minutes. It got to the point that I wanted to pay Espo's debt just to get the kid to shut up. Benihana was the venue, and a beautiful pair sat directly across the table from me. No doubt some porno starlet out on a date with a dashingly attractive GQ model. The perfect Hollywood couple. I understand everything is more expensive in Hollywood, but really, fifty bucks for some Chinese-looking dude to come and cook our food in front of us totally isn't worth it. The food wasn't even that good, and by the time he was done cooking everything some parts of the meal were cold. If you eat as you go

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

you'll run out of rice too fast, which is a serious problem since you can't just refill whenever you want. The Oriental chef was a bit too flashy for my taste. He wasted ample cooking time doing stupid things like tossing cucumbers into his hat and spinning his spatulas. I was starving, and it took nearly thirty minutes before he had a shrimp for me. I seriously don't see what the attraction is with places like Benihana. The food is only par with the stuff you can cook for yourself from the grocery store... the service and venue really doesn't constitute a $50 price tag for an average meal with overpriced drinks. ... GFabs and I spread Wizards out on my chilly balcony floor. Downtown LA was the glittering backdrop on the right with the spooky dark hills of Beverly featuring giant ghost houses on the left. I grabbed a blanket as we discussed potential cuts and additions for Gerard to play in the morning. Pact of Negation just didn't do it for him, which also led to the cutting of Tolaria West for more Islands to battle the popular Magus of the Moon. Another Tabby? Wrath maindeck? Oona? What about Austere Command? None of those questions was answered as Gerard and I sat back to enjoy the delightful view. I went over the matchups and the goals when facing Faeries, Reveillark, Elves, Doran, and those obnoxious Red decks. All favorable matchups, except that unsightly Red deck, which really wasn't that bad considering we have Dragon's Claw post board to buy more time to get Arbiter on line. He eventually settled for something like this:

Wizards Suggested by Kyle Sanchez on 2008-06-01 as a potential deck for Standard As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/15948.html Print this deck!

Maindeck: Creatures 1 Arbiter Of Knollridge 1 Magus Of The Tabernacle 3 Vedalken Aethermage Instants

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Sideboard: Sorceries 4 Ancestral Vision 2 Wrath Of God Tribal Instants 1 Sage's Dousing Basic Lands 11 Island Lands 4 Adarkar Wastes 4 Calciform Pools

4 Dragon's Claw 1 Body Double 2 Magus Of The Tabernacle 3 Plumeveil 2 Disenchant 1 Oona, Queen Of The Fae 2 Wrath Of God Stats: Average mana: 1.73 Average creature mana cost: 4.06

5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

4 Cryptic Command 2 Remove Soul 4 Rune Snag Legendary Creatures 1 Arcanis The Omnipotent 1 Oona, Queen Of The Fae 3 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir 3 Vendilion Clique 3 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Desert 4 Mystic Gate

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

Average creature power: 2.62 Average creature toughness: 2.93 Deck Composition: Basic Lands: 18.33% Creatures: 8.33% Instants: 16.67% Lands: 26.67% Legendary Creatures: 18.33% Sorceries: 10.00% Tribal Instants: 1.67%

Download this Download this deck Download this deck in in deck in Magic Workstation Magic Online Text Apprentice format! format! format!

His tournament didn't go so well, but he did acknowledge Wizards as being his favorite deck in the format. His final record was 4-4, with three of the losses being mistakes on his part. His first loss of the tournament was to a prepared Adam Yurchick, who "masterfully" sideboard out all his Chameleon Colossi to avoid a blowout from Vedalken Aethermage... the same Chameleon Colossi that he used to Pro Black past a horde of Oona tokens for the win in game 1. Gerard's mistake was using Aethermage to tutor for Oona, rather than Arcanis to draw six additional cards along with an expensive chump blocker than won't die. His biggest problem was not being familiar enough with the deck and how slow paced it can be at times, but once he got the hang of what was supposed to happen, he realized how strong the deck really is. ...

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

You could tell by the look in his eyes that he thought he had it. I discussed the play with Pat Sullivan, who agreed Osyp was going for the Profane Command route, but what he failed to notice was that his two Chameleon Colossi in play stood no chance of becoming feared by Ruud's Elf army. Osyp used Primal Command to seek out a Shriekmaw while gaining seven life, which was wrong given that Ruud had missed a land drop already and had just made a Treetop Village. The seven life is almost irrelevant compared to Ruud's tempo loss of losing a draw and a third mana for another turn. Shriekmaw took out an Imperious Perfect, but his Profane Command would still be many points short of lethal on the next turn. He was also missing a second Black, source but drew it on his next draw and flashed the Profane Command to Ruud, looking for a concession. Ruud shrugged. Osyp scratched. Ruud laughed. Osyp tapped out and went for it, before realizing the flaws in his plan. He thought intently for the next five minutes on just how to get around Ruud's Elf army, but could come to no conclusion other than a Shriekmaw attack before passing the turn. He had Ruud at fourteen and, with Tarmogoyf and Shriekmaw as the only attackers, he was two attack phases away from winning with Profane Command. Unfortunately for Osyp, Ruud had an Elvish Champion ready to Forestwalk for about thirty damage on his next turn. ... GerryT had Coldsnap packs at $3 a set, so we got a solid eight in the queue and had a draft of formats past. 4 Martyr of Ashes 1 Lightning Serpent 1 Karplusan Wolverine 1 Goblin Rimerunner 1 Phyrexian Ironfoot 1 Zombie Musher 1 Gristle Grinner 1 Thermopod 1 Deepfire Elemental 2 Surging Flame 2 Skred 3 Icefall 3 Grim Harvest 1 Tresserhorn Sinks

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

2 Snow-covered Mountain 1 Snow-covered Forest 1 Snow-covered Swamp 5 Swamp 8 Mountain Sideboard 1 Fury of the Horde 1 Chill to the Bone I really wanted to include Fury of the Horde in my deck, but I didn't want cut the little Wolverine, and Lightning Serpent is much more reliable than the combo route through Fury. The goal is to sacrifice Martyr with Gristle Grinner in play for four damage, killing everything making his grin wider than that of a kid with a mouth full of candy corn. Then you use the alternate cost on Fury with the excess Red spells in hand to get in there twice with the giant Grinner. This was one of my favorite decks to draft a couple of years ago when the format was relevant, and this might be one of the most powerful versions of it I've ever had. Icefall is such a beating against the Green decks, and everyone at the table forgot how good Grim Harvest is, meaning I obtained them relatively late each time. Gerry was sitting next to me so we pretty much rigged the entire draft. He shipped me Martyrs and I shipped him five Aurochs Herd and a dozen Sound the Call. He also got to pick up on the Black removal that I had no interest in, like Chill to the Bone and Deathmark, so our relationship worked out nicely as we basically built decks for each other. There weren't any pride bucks on the line, so we were just playing for the mountain of bad cards that inhabit Coldsnap. The flagship of the bunch was a crisp foil Rune Snag, so it was time to pick up my game or go home. My first round I battled against some Midwest player who everyone was making fun of. I thought it was Reuben Bresler, but Gerry assured me that Reuben's head wasn't nearly as mammoth. He was playing the White Weenie deck at the table, and had little to no chance against my endless stream of Martyrs. He tricked me once with a Swift Maneuver, but it didn't really matter since his lands were falling rapidly and his creatures couldn't stay on the board for more than a turn to get some damage through. Game 2 was much of the same, except I actually got to attack with a 13/13 Gristle Grinner. My round 2 opponent was going to be the winner of the Brandon Scheel Owen Turtenwald match. Brandon was playing the typical GR deck that is a virtual bye for my deck, while Owen was playing the troublesome Air Force One deck with multiple Krovikan Mist and other assorted White and Blue fliers. Clearly I was rooting for Scheel, but Turtenwald crushed him in three. This match wasn't even close. I tried to focus my attack through Icefall to shut down his late game, but he kept drawing lands and unanswerable

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

threats. My Martyrs were all but useless here, and I didn't draw nearly enough Skred or Surging Flame to seal the deal. I was Turtenwalded in two quick ones. Meh. ... If you remember my Nationals report from last year, there was a very special Pokemon that made an unexpected appearance in the hotel room in which I was staying. Snorlax made the journey to PT: Hollywood, and was inches away from a bet in which he would sport a skin-tight speedo while playing in his PTQ. The pot was up to around $200, but somebody played a Poke Flute and he fell asleep before the bet was taken. ... For my first and last team draft of the weekend, I sat alongside the esteemed Patrick Chapin and Evan Erwin. A StarCityGames.com connection like no other. Our opponents? P-T-R What y'all really want. DRAFT or DIE! Tim Aten and Tamblyn were also on the opposite squad, putting us slightly behind in the popular vote. Despite having an excellent River Kelpie deck, featuring tons of card draw, Incremental Blight, good removal, and several Persist dudes with Ghastlord of Fugue and Glen Elendra Liege, I managed an 0-2. Erwin also failed to win a match, and PTR scooped his cards up once he was aware of the 5-0 skunk against Chapin. Apparently we die. And Erwin, who was on Tim's right, shipped Aten a Twightlight Shepherd for a freaking Farhaven Elf. Aten's deck was quite the mastepiece, featuring multiple copies of Armored Ascension along with several other busty White cards. A Magical show indeed. Meh. ... Round 3 – RG I don't remember this one all that well, but I remember my opponent being particularly irritated when I drew two AV, three Rune Snag, and three Cryptic Command in twenty cards in game 1. He became even more irritated when I did the same thing in game 2.

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Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

2-0-1 Round 4 - UBG Mannequin His deck was filled with all kinds of clunky expensive spells, so my cheap counters could gain massive tempo advantage against him. I pretty much countered everything he played before dropping a Teferi and Arcanis to virtually lock him out of game 1. The important part of this matchup is not letting Mulldrifter (or a Mannequin targeting Mulldrifter) resolve. Once they get a little momentum it can be extremely difficult to stop them. He acknowledged what a bad matchup it was for him while sideboarding, while I brought in just a third Wrath of God for Tabby. Game 2 I faced several mulligans and drew little disruption, which gave him time to drown me in Mulldrifter card advantage. He also showed me he was playing Thoughtseize, so when sideboarding for the third game I took out a Wrath and a Venser for an Oona and Body Double. Game 3 was really frustrating. I drew all the countermagic I could hope to draw, but didn't have any gas to go with it. I didn't draw an Aethermage, Teferi, Oona, or Arcanis the entire game, which left me with an awkward-looking control deck with few win conditions. Arbiter bought me a little time, but once he maneuvered around my counters he started resolving spells and I was quickly overrun. 2-1-1. Drop. Meh. ... Things I Learned in Hollywood Hron is a first pick on any dance floor that you draft him. Zack Hall's red hair bounces nicely off yellow cut-off shirts... shirts that remarkably look like they’re from Levy's wardrobe. Mindstab wasn't explored for the Faerie mirror nearly enough. Adam Yurchick and I have the exact same birthday on my fake ID. The grass is always greener on the other balcony. Chapin's head fakes are the sickest in the Magical kingdom. Randy is lookin' slim n' sexy. Tall Oots is more skilled than Big Oots. My mat autograph is piss poor (it’s in your best interest not to ask for one if you like your mat... I think I'm actually just gonna draw stick figures from

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM

Down And Dirty - Adventures in Blurrywood, by Kyle Sanchez at S...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=15948

now on). Sadin hops on an emotional roller coaster every time he plays in a PT. People will wait outside of the restroom for me to ask for deck advice (creeeepy). The grass is much more comfortable to walk on than the sidewalk. Zac Hill can chatter like none other. Evan Erwin is the nicest person in Magic, and coincidentally one of the poorest team drafters. The man just doesn't have it in him to hate. Guccamole Waffle-Taco is currently the best Magician in the world. ... We might die from medication, but we sure killed all the pain, And what was normal in the evening, by the morning seems insane. Sanchez ... Top 5 Picks 1) Lua - Bright Eyes 2) Computer Show - Adam Green 3) The Perfect Beat - Talib Kweli 4) C.R.E.A.M. - Wu-Tang Clan 5) Wonderwall - Brad Mehldau

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5/28/2008 11:31 PM