There are so many things I want to say about the Pro Tour that I don’t even know where to begin. Everything about the event was better than I expected. I detest traveling, but I don’t think I would miss a Pro Tour, no matter where in the world it is, after experiencing this one.

The Atmosphere
The Pro Tour is the promised land for all Magic players. Imagine a Grand Prix, except instead of 2000 players it is 400, and instead of a bunch of unknown players, there are famous Magic personalities everywhere you look. It can be overwhelming when you can’t see anywhere without seeing somebody you recognize. This is where you have the opportunity to truly appreciate just how important being at the Pro Tour is. I hope this doesn’t come off as elitist, but until you play in a Pro Tour, I don’t think it is possible to truly understand what the tournament means to you. To me it means the world.

Goryo’s Vengeance – Robert Stan

[deck]
[Lands]
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Faithless Looting
4 Goryo’s Vengeance
4 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
4 Through the Breach
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Griselbrand
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
2 Spellskite
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Terminate
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

You can read all about my deck selection here.

Goals for the Tournament

1. Make Day 2. No matter what else happened in the tournament my primary goal was to qualify for the second day. Not only for the prestige of saying I made Day 2 of my first Pro Tour, but because I had nothing else to do. Sitting in a hotel room all day being depressed about missing Day 2 is not how I wanted my first Pro Tour experience to go.
2. Don’t make play mistakes. Nothing is worse in Magic than throwing a game away because of a mistake, except for maybe doing that at the biggest tournament of your life. I wanted my losses to be out of my control, and for me to be able to walk away from the tournament feeling proud of my play decisions.
3. Have my Modern deck work. Having only tested on Magic Online, there was truly no way to know how well my deck would do against a field of Pro Tour competitors. Not to mention, I had essentially brewed this decklist all by myself. I was desperately hoping that my Modern Pro Tour experience wouldn’t be cut short by my deck imploding, thus making me look like a fool.
4. Qualify for the next Pro Tour. Cashing the tournament didn’t matter to me at all. Sure, the money would have been great, but the most important thing to me was keeping the Pro Tour chain going. It just so happens that chaining Pro Tours is profitable. This meant getting 11 match wins.

Day 1 – The Dream

Draft 1 – I drafted an above average Blue/Black control deck. Highlights of the draft included, getting passed a [card]Guardian of Tazeem[/card] in pack 3, and basically having my colours remain open the whole draft.

Round 1 – I was immediately met by, what I think was a bad match up for my deck, a Red/Black aggressive devoid deck. Fortunately for me, my opponent was mana screwed in game 1, and color screwed in game 3, so I managed to walk away with a first round victory. 1-0

Round 2 (King of the Hill Feature Match) – I don’t know if I managed to actually get any camera time, but in round 2 I was paired against Darwin Kastle in the feature match area. Unfortunately, it was my turn to face the color and mana screw in back to back games. I was quickly dispatched by his Red/White aggro deck. Despite losing in a miserable way, I left the match with a smile on my face. Not only did I play against a hall of famer, but I got to be in the feature match area at a Pro Tour. Not many people can say that. 1-1

Round 3 – This time I was paired against a Green/White deck. I don’t think my opponent had enough powerful cards, and I just took over both games. Despite flooding out in game 1, I managed to win off the raw power of [card]Roiling Waters[/card] and [card]Guardian of Tazeem[/card]. In Game 2 I had the interesting decision of how I should sequence my removal. I think I took the correct line, but we talked about it after the game, and perhaps I was greedy. The opponent had [card]Spawnbinder Mage[/card] plus [card]Tajuru Warcaller[/card], both were causing me problems. I had a [card]Tar Snare[/card] plus [card]Grasp of Darkness[/card]. My opponent had 2 [card]Forest[/card]s untapped and 3 cards in hand. I decided to lead with Grasp on the [card]Spawnbinder Mage[/card]. The opponent cast [card]Vines of the Recluse[/card] on it, and in response I Tar Snared the Warcaller. This play would have lost me the game if the opponent had a second trick, and been game-winning if they had no tricks. Their 1 trick was enough to keep the game going a few more turns, but I ultimately sealed the deal. 2-1

Round 4 – This is where the Modern portion began. Game 1 I went, over a series of quick turns, [card]Thoughtseize[/card] into Jace, loot + cheat in [card]Griselbrand[/card], followed up by Emrakul, easily racing my Infect opponent. Game 2 I killed their creatures, baited a [card]Spell Pierce[/card], and slammed a turn 4 Emrakul into their face. A good start to Modern. 3-1

Round 5 – On the other hand, sometimes Infect just does whatever it wants to do. Game 1 I was killed on turn 2 with [card]Mutagenic Growth[/card] saving my opponent’s [card]Glistener Elf[/card] from my turn 2 [card]Izzet Charm[/card]. In game 2 I lost on turn 3 after 2 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]s. These games weren’t even close to being close. 3-2

Round 6 – Somehow I wasn’t the only person to come up with and bring this deck to the Pro Tour. In game 1 I used [card]Izzet Charm[/card] to counter their [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card], and quickly untapped to cast my own. I brought in Leylines because I thought for sure my opponent was on the [card]Nourishing Shoal[/card] deck, since all I saw was [card]Griselbrand[/card]. In game 2 we traded [card]Griselbrand[/card] hits, but since I got mine in first I got to untap and win with Emrakul, while my opponent was tapped out with 7 cards in hand. 4-2

Round 7 – Game 1; my opponent did Jund things while I failed to draw what I needed and I lost around turn 10. In game 2 I landed a [card]Griselbrand[/card] and the 7 cards were enough to get me a win. Game 3 was just a turn 4 Emrakul and that was that. 5-2

Round 8 – This was another interesting matchup, as I was battling against a [card]Footsteps of the Goryo[/card] deck. For the record I think this deck is not only a bad version of my deck, but just straight up bad. However, my opponent was 5-2, same as me, and they had their deck totally pimped out with all foils and signed cards, so who am I to judge. Game 1 I had turn 3 Emrakul+Lightning Bolt for lethal, and game 2 I brought back [card]Griselbrand[/card]s on back to back turns. My opponent was never close to doing anything meaningful. 6-2

Day 1 Summary
I ended the day with a respectable 6-2 record. Not only was I qualified for day 2, but I was actually in the top 50! I don’t think I made any major play mistakes, and I was more than half way to my goal of 11 match wins. I couldn’t have asked for a better day 1 for my first Pro Tour, especially given how early my first loss was. I was on track for the greatest tournament performance of my life, and I couldn’t stop smiling once I got back to the hotel. I was ready to prove myself on Day 2.

Day 2

Draft 1 – I swear I don’t force it, but I ended up in Blue/Black again. This time my deck was quite a bit worse than the previous day’s version, but I’m pretty sure that it was still one of the best decks at the table. I think we just opened miserably. Speaking of opening miserably, in pack 2 I took an [card]Oblivion Strike[/card] over a Kozilek. It was the correct pick by miles, but that didn’t stop me from feeling bad passing it. It didn’t table.

Round 9 – I had the pleasure of being paired against Michael Majors. He was playing a Blue/White deck that seemed like a worse version of my deck. Game 1 I mulled to 6 on the play, and was taken out by fliers backed by 2 [card]Isolation Zone[/card]s. In game 2 I think we both drew averagely. I won with my superior large things. Game 3 saw me stuck on 3 [card]Island[/card]s for 8 turns, so that kind of stung, considering they were in my opening 7. I had a hand full of 4-drops and cheap black cards that all could have stabilized the board for me. Oh well, it was bound to happen right? 6-3

Round 10 – Back to back pros. I was paired against Marco Cammilluzzi. Sadly, this time I had even more mana issues than in round 9. I drew nothing but lands in game 1 and got mana screwed in game 2. Interestingly enough, I got hit by a 2 for 1 from [card]Flaying Tendrils[/card] in game 1, but in game 2 he appeared to be playing an aggressive deck with many things that died to it. Still, who am I to question the captain of the World Magic Cup 2015 winning team? 6-4

Round 11 – No more pros, I was back to playing regular players like me, so it must have been easy right? Wrong, we’re all Pro Tour competitors, we’ve all been practicing. My opponent had a solid Red/Green Landfall deck with many tricks. I can see how they were in the same bracket as me, since their deck seemed weak to removal, and tricks, as they heavily relied on tricks of their own. However, I stumbled on spells in game 1 and lands in game 2. Maybe my deck wasn’t as mediocre as I thought it was. 6-5

Round 12 – Back to Modern, and battling against pros. I sat across from Martin Dang. He was playing Suicide Zoo. Game 1 had an interesting situation in which we both had to top deck certain cards. Given my luck on that day, I’m surprised I was able to stay in it as long as I did, but he eventually got the win. Game 2 he killed me on turn 3, through my [card]Thoughtseize[/card] taking his only creature on turn 1, and blocking with [card]Griselbrand[/card] on turn 3. Turns out [card]Become Immense[/card] plus [card]Temur Battle Rage[/card] plus [card]Monastery Swiftspear[/card] is just as good in Modern as it is in Standard. 6-6

Round 13 – Lucky number 13. I’m paired against a player I don’t recognize who is playing Green/White [card]Collected Company[/card]. Easiest matchup of my life, until I have to face down the second [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] in game 1. I found myself with my back against the wall. Fortunately, in game 2 I did my thing and in game 3 my opponent mulligans, then floods out. Maybe somebody else was having a bad day. 7-6

Round 14 – This is the round that the deck just gave up on me. My opponent was playing Abzan [card]Chord of Calling[/card] with the [card]Spike Feeder[/card] plus [card]Archangel of Thune[/card] infinite combo. My deck has trouble against [card]Lingering Souls[/card], unless I can get out of the gate quickly. That didn’t happen, as both games my opponent was able to put out enough blockers to stop me from doing things, and in game 2 I didn’t even draw my combo. This is the first time I missed the [card]Nourishing Shoal[/card] combo all tournament. 7-7

Round 15 – My notes for this matchup were simple: Emrakul gets affinity. Sorry Ricky. 8-7

Round 16 – I start Modern with Infect, so of course my last match of the tournament is Infect. In game 1 I get raced out of the game. Game 2, I put my opponent to 1 with an Emrakul hit, [card]Serum Visions[/card] a [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] on top of my library, then proceed to [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] a creature rather than their face. It was a long day. Fortunately, I had a flipped Jace so I just recast the [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] next turn when I realized my mistake. Boy was that sad. During game 3 I turn 1 [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] their [card]Glistener Elf[/card], turn 2 [card]Thoughtseize[/card] a pump spell, and die on their turn 3 to a buffed up Noble Heirarch. Sometimes Infect counts to 20. 8-8

Day 2 Summary

Variance is a harsh mistress, and when you are on her bad side you will know. Not only that, but 3/4 of my goals were broken on Day 2. Still, my mistake didn’t cost me the game, my deck worked overall, it just got beaten by some good draws, and getting 11 wins was a long shot anyways. Somehow these justifications kept me happy, and that, coupled with my amazing Day 1 performance, and a feature match, left me satisfied with this Pro Tour result.

Day 3 – Bonus Round
I may not have qualified for the Pro Tour day 3, but I still had work to do on the third day. I was qualified for the Magic Online tournament since I qualified for the Pro Tour via Magic Online. It was 4 rounds of Modern using the same decklists that we brought to the Pro Tour. In round 1 I beat Affinity in 3 games, with my 1 loss being when my opponent mulliganed to 5. In round 2 my opponent mulliganed a lot, and I crushed the Eldrazi menace at half power. Round 3 saw me facing Michael Jacob, piloting Eldrazi again. This time there were no excessive mulligans to be had. I lost in 3 close games. I accidentally blew up my own flipped [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] with an [card]Engineered Explosives[/card] on 0 to hit his Chalice on 2 in game 3. It isn’t clear if I would have won the game, had I used my Jace first, but it was certainly a blunder. I split the last round with my opponent so we could go play 2-Headed Giant sealed together.

2-Headed Giant?

For the 20th anniversary of the Pro Tour, they decided to start hosting side events that were free to enter, and awarded sweet booster pack prizes. We got a free cupcake. It was sweet. Literally. As for the event itself, we built a Red/Green aggro deck, and a Blue/Black control deck from our Sealed pool. I swear I don’t force it, but you know what I played. We played a few rounds, got some packs, and had some laughs.

Day 3 Wrap Up
Day 3 was not only fun, but profitable. I hope Wizards continues to have side events on the slower days so people in the area have even more reason to show up to the Pro Tour. Not only is the atmosphere worth it, but you can get free booster packs, so why not go?

Pro Tour Conclusion
If you love Magic, then your dream is already to go to the Pro Tour. If it isn’t, it should be. The Pro Tour is magical Christmas land where all your dreams come true, except when you get mana screwed or flooded a bunch. I think I would even brave the 1 day plus flight to Australia if I qualify for a Pro Tour there. That is how much I loved the experience. Go play in your PPTQs, qualify for your RPTQs, and get yourself a golden ticket to the next Pro Tour.