Anyone play in SCG Open - Philly?

[Holiday]

If so,
What deck did you play?
How did you do?
What was the field like, from your perspective?
How well was the event run?

I missed out so I'm just curious.

[Parcher]

As to how it was run; there were at least 800 in attendence both days. Concurrently, the Expo held a dog show in the adjoining hall with probably double that amount of people at the high point of both days. The two men's bathrooms available for both events totalled 3 stalls and 2 urinals.

The dogs were not the only ones peeing the floor.

[Arksz]

I played Dark Maverick, qualified for day 2 but couldn't make it back to Philly on Sunday. Mostly just went for fun. I had a great time and the vendors were good.

The field had a ton of combo, ended up playing against a lot of storm which I was prepared for with my hatebears.
The event was run well on SCGs part they are great organizers.
Bathroom situation was a mess but that is more of a venue problem. Predominantly male player base also exasperates the problem.


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[Holiday]

@parcher a dog show and a mtg tournament in the same place? That must have been an interesting mix of people to say the least. Sucks about the bathroom situation. Especially because you probably don't have a ton of time between rounds to explore the area for other facilities.

@Arksz Dark Maverick, forgive my ignorance, is that Maverick with a B splash for DRS and Abrupt Decay? I assume you run Thalia for your combo matchup, do you also run SotL?

[nedleeds]

Not being in downtown Philly near Reading is kind of a buzz kill. Like GP DC always being in a bombed out Sam's Club in Fairfax.

[Arksz]

Yes splash black for abrupt decay and death rite activations. I also run 4 thoughtseize in the board.
I had two spirit of the labs mainboard. They were ok I didn't play much delver/draw them most of the day.


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[Richard Cheese]

I hate a great time

Really hoping this isn't a typo.

[Arksz]

Really hoping this isn't a typo.

Fixed
Damn autocorrect!

[twndomn]

no, I did not go, I am nowhere near PA.

But... SCG did post list up to 120 places, out of 600+ players.
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/deckshow.php?event_ID=20&t[T3]=3&start_date=2015-01-10&end_date=2015-01-10&state=PA&city=Philadelphia&order_1=finish&limit=8&t_num=1&action=Show+Decks

[Holiday]

@twndomn Yep, I saw that, I'm glad they posted so many decklists. I also recognized the names for a few Sourcers which is part of the reason I made this post. I was actually surprised there weren't more than 800 players after how many played in NJ a couple months ago. But as nedleeds stated, it sounds like it wasn't held at an optimal area of Philly.

[barcode]

Not being in downtown Philly near Reading is kind of a buzz kill. Like GP DC always being in a bombed out Sam's Club in Fairfax.

This is why I didn't attend. It wouldn't have been possible to get to the event site from the airport. Getting to actual Philadelphia from the airport is easy.

[Undomian]

Not being in downtown Philly near Reading is kind of a buzz kill. Like GP DC always being in a bombed out Sam's Club in Fairfax.

This location was probably worse than the Dulles "Convention Center." The room the event was in was basically just an old warehouse. There wasn't really any room to move about (maybe they got more people than they expected for this), and the ceiling was leaking on some of the tables.

Sitting down to have water dripping all over my deck was not a pleasant experience.

[nedleeds]

I was 50/50 on going as I could plan a trip to DC and take a quick train to downtown Philly, once I saw it wasnt in Philly I didnt consider it further. I guess the cost savings vs. the in town con center is worth it for SCG. Also for those driving in the hotels in bumfuck are cheaper.

[mishima_kazuya]

Didn't have time to play both days, but i did play the modern IQ on Sunday.
Of course the venue was a downgrade from Center City's Pennsylvania Convention Center. I actually would like to give applause to Starcitygames for trying another venue. It probably saved them money, but I would not like to play another big tournament in that location.
Pros fwiw:
There was a lot of food options down less than 5 minutes from the tournament site. If you didn't have a car or a friend with a car, then you made a play mistake a lot earlier.
Hotels were apparently cheap for a magic tournament since venue was in the middle of suburbia/rural land
Cons:
Not enough bathrooms in the whole building.
It was not in Philadelphia, so I had to drive instead of taking the train

[Richard Cheese]

Not being in downtown Philly near Reading is kind of a buzz kill. Like GP DC always being in a bombed out Sam's Club in Fairfax.

Well at least if the world ends up a barren hellscape a la Mad Max, we can rest easy knowing that Magic tournaments will remain essentially unchanged.

[Zakman86]

I was 50/50 on going as I could plan a trip to DC and take a quick train to downtown Philly, once I saw it wasnt in Philly I didnt consider it further. I guess the cost savings vs. the in town con center is worth it for SCG. Also for those driving in the hotels in bumfuck are cheaper.

According to what I gathered from one of the SCG Employees, it was a 6x difference.

[nedleeds]

It's a me thing, I care more about the food in Reading market and eating out in Philly with friends than Legacy. I think many people want to split a Day's Inn shithole with 5 others and cast perfect Brainstorms all day. Haven't checked the venue for Indy, wonder if it's in town.

Edit: it's in town at the Gencon con center. also Jeff Miracola! good job SCG.

[Zakman86]

You aren't wrong, I just wanted to give that piece of information to you since you mentioned it. :)

[TheAardvark]

It's a me thing, I care more about the food in Reading market and eating out in Philly with friends than Legacy. I think many people want to split a Day's Inn shithole with 5 others and cast perfect Brainstorms all day. Haven't checked the venue for Indy, wonder if it's in town.

Edit: it's in town at the Gencon con center. also Jeff Miracola! good job SCG.

Unless something new is built, their events will always be at the Convention Center downtown. There isn't really anywhere else in/around the city that works.

I kind of miss the RCA Dome, though; watching preseason action from the end zone was pretty nifty.

[btm10]

It's a me thing, I care more about the food in Reading market and eating out in Philly with friends than Legacy. I think many people want to split a Day's Inn shithole with 5 others and cast perfect Brainstorms all day. Haven't checked the venue for Indy, wonder if it's in town.

Shit, it's a shame I can't go to Indy.

But yeah, the location wasn't the best, but I really can't complain because "I had to leave the city proper and drive my car to attend" is the worst excuse ever when it's only a ~25-30 minute drive.

I actually played a pretty diverse set of decks, and the event was (as always) well run. If my round 1 opponent reads this - I thought your CounterTop/ThopterSword/PainterStone Welder Planeswalkers deck was awesome, and had no idea what you were doing either game.