GP Seattle-Tacoma Tournament Report

Death and Taxes

Maindeck
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Flickerwisp
4x Phyrexian Revoker
4x Serra Avenger
4x Mother of Runes
2x Ethersworn Canonist
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x AEther Vial
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Batterskull
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
12x Plains
4x Wasteland
4x Rishadan Port
3x Karakas

Sideboard
1x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Mirran Crusader
2x Rest in Peace
1x Burrenton Forge-Tender
2x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Spirit of the Labyrinth
2x Council's Judgement
1x Containment Priest
2x Leonin Relic-Warder

I pre-apologize how minimal this report is. While I did keep track of all sources of damage, I didn’t write down any opening hands. Lack of proper food and sleep doesn’t help my memory.

M1 – ‘M’ – Shardless BUG
At the beginning of this match, I realized I forgot all my dice at home. I let myself get a little tilted by this.
I won the dice roll, 9 to 7.
G1 - We both kept 7. He swung at me with Death-Rite Shaman three times, while his life total went down in large chunks due to a Serra Avenger equipped with a Sword of Fire and Ice.
G2 – We both kept 7. He beat me to death with a Tarmogoyf while I struggled to find any removal or Rest in Peace.
G3 – We both kept 7. He drained me with DRS and beat with Goyf while removing all my blockers.
Record: 0-1 in matches, 1-2 in games.

M2 – ‘S’ – Thopter/Sword/Shardless/Visions brew
I loved my opponents deck, I had never seen anything like it before.
I won the dice roll, 12 to 4.
G1 – We both kept 7. Never saw a Revoker, he got the combo online and beat me to death with thopters while gaining tons of life.
G2 – We both kept 7. He never hit me, Thalia went the distance. I think I had Rest in Peace or Revoker to shut down his combo.
G3 – We both kept 7. I had active batterskull, he had active combo. We went to time, 46-18 life. He then starts to pressure me to concede to him, asking if I had any outs. Um yeah, I had active Mom, four Revokers and two Rest in Peace in my library. I told him it was a draw, he got very salty. Very unfortunate, as I wanted to see if I could get his 75.
Record: 0-1-1 in matches, 2-3-1 in games

M3 – ‘D’ – Miracles?
D played quickly, which I appreciated greatly.
I won the dice roll, 11 to 7.
G1 – We both mulled to 6. I kept a one-lander with Vial, saw a land for my scry! He scryed to the bottom. I didn’t overextend, slowly beat him down with Revokers, Canonists, and Avengers.
G2 – We both kept 7. I beat him with Thalia while Revoker shut down his Top. He never drew what he needed.
Record: 1-1-1 in matches, 4-3-1 in games

M4 – ‘J’ – Green 12-post
I lost the dice roll, 12 to 7.
G1 – I kept 7, he mulled to 6 and scryed to the bottom. Revokers and Flickerwisp beat down while I drew Wastelands and Ports for days.
G2 – We both kept 7. Wastelands and Ports kept him low on mana. He played a Trinisphere and I just played through it (no vial). Grafdiggers in play. After I won, he showed me a hand full of GSZ + Primeval Titan.
Record: 2-1-1 in matches, 6-3-1 in games

M5 – ‘M’ – Shardless Bug
M was from Australia, came up here to play Legacy. Was really nice, great player.
I won the dice roll.
G1 – I kept 7, he mulled to 6 and scryed to top. He thoughtseized me, but I had active vial and used Ethersworn Canonist to slow him down. Thalia and Canonist went the distance.
G2 – I kept 7, he mulled to 6 and scryted to top. Again he had thoughtseize, but I had the nuts with tons of fliers and Thalia while he coudn’t find threats.
Record: 3-1-1 in matches, 8-3-1 in games

M6 – ‘K’ – Miracles
K was the biggest asshole I’ve ever played against. He was constantly trying to tilt me. I probably should’ve called a Judge due to some shady attempts to rush me through plays.
I won the dice roll, 6 to 5.
G1 – I kept a 7, he mulled to 6 and scryed to the top. While he had Top, I had Revoker, and he struggled to find anything while I got a Batterskull active, equipped it to Serra Avenger, and he scooped. Active Mom was clutch.
G2 – I kept a 7, scryed to the bottom, he went to 5 and kept on top. He swords my first two Serra Avengers, but the third one went the distance. Revoker on Top once again sealed the game.
Record: 4-1-1 in matches, 10-3-1 in games

M7 – ‘S’ – Death and Taxes
S was a great D&T player, I had fun talking sideboarding with him after our games.
I lost the dice roll, 8 to 7.
G1 – He had Vial, I had Mom. We both got Jitte, but I had a lucky Flickerwisp to reset his vial and get my Jitte active first.
G2 – I mulled to 6, scryed to bottom, he kept 7. He again had Vial. My Mom was Plowed. I drew more creatures, was able to use enough removal to keep him from having anything to equip Jitte to, then I got mine active.
Record: 5-1-1 in matches, 12-3-1 in games

M8 – ‘T’ – Jund
By this point, I had eaten very little and was crashing. T was also very tired looking. She played very well, but the Judge call tilted her really hard.
I won the dice roll, 11 to 7.
G1 – We both kept 7. She had Sylvan Library, Goyf, DRS, Grove of the Burnwillows, but couldn’t find a Punishing Fire. I had Thalia and was trying to stabilize. Turn 4, she taps her four lands to play Bloodbraid elf, cascades into Liliana. Goes to pay for it with DRS, I call a judge. During cascades resolution, there is no priority pass, so you can only activate mana abilities to pay for additional costs. So she couldn’t pay for Liliana. The judge double checked, ruled with me, and gave us an extension. However, the next turn I was able to get Batterskull into play and stabilize.
G2 – I kept 7, she mulled to 6 and scryed to the bottom. DRS + Bob beat on me while I struggled to find any threats. She had tons of removal.
G3 – My turn 1 mom wasn’t answered, turn two canonist she attempted to Punishing Fire, which I stopped. I then wasted her grove and she never drew another one. A few misplays and I got there with Avengers.
Record: 6-1-1 in matches, 14-4-1 in games

M9 – ‘A’ – BUG Delver
A was a great player and a very nice guy.
I lost the dice roll, 8 to 4.
G1 – We both kept 7. I had active vial and lots of wastelands, revoker for his DRS. I we ended the game with him only having DRS in play.
G2 – We both kept 7. His early goyf chipped away at me until I got a Mirran Crusader into play, but I couldn’t find removal or revoker for his two DRSs, which ate my life total away.
G3 – We both kept 7. In hindsight, my keep was really loose (only Karakas for white mana with Avenger + Flickerwisp in hand). I never saw a plains for over 14 turns while I drew my other two karakas and three Thalia. He eventually flipped two Delvers that went this distance while my ending hand was full of WW spells.
Record: 6-2-1 in matches, 15-6-1 in games

All in all, I think D&T was a very good choice for the metagame. My sideboard was alright, I never saw TNN so the Council’s Judgments were dead. Leonin Relic-Warder was surprisingly good in the matches I saw him.
This was my first GP and I'm proud of how well I did. Very burned out on Magic now, though.