GP Liverpool: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

‘Do ya feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?’ … not really.

Last weekend saw a trifecta of GPs: Hong Kong, taken down by Sato Rei; Phoenix, where Sean Miller took the trophy; and Liverpool, in which Marc Purvis ran the tables and garnered the gold. I was at Liverpool, and enjoyed a great weekend filled with adventure, friendship, and progressively worse topdecks!

Day 1 – The Good

After arrival on site, I did my usual first-things-first of GPs – beg Troll Trader to buy my jank, and exchange them for shiny playables. After they indulged me to the tune of a playset of new checklands, they provided me with my new team shirts. A new logo, a better fit, and even a giant Dragon! Disclaimer: said Dragon was on a flag, and not bringing the Glory.

I set off to another vendor to grab my remaining wants, set down my shirts, finished my transaction and grabbed my tees- um, where did they go? Yup, that’s right. Within about five minutes of gaining my exciting new swag, some light-fingered pilferer had robbed me. Good start.

With the resolve of a champion and a hand-me-down shirt promised by Sam Rolph, I waved off my woes, and set to the arduous task of testing my terrible Standard Sultai midrange deck against Esper Tokens. After two hours, only five pre-board games and having lost a solid chunk of my will to live, I wisely decided to abandon Standard and fire up a draft in last minute preparation for the main event. Joined by fellow degenerate Ben Jones, it was time to set down my childish things (in favour of other childish things).

The draft was fairly straight-forward, and pretty much summed up by my seventh pick. I had a mish-mash of playables across several colours, and hadn’t yet chosen a direction. I pick up eight cards, and see only three real playables: Queen’s Commission, solid if I wound up BW; Call to the Feast, Queen’s Commission on steroids; and Deathless Ancient, the Air Elemental that keeps on giving. Signal received – Vamps it is.

My deck was the nut. Aside from my 23rd card being unexciting in a Legion’s Judgment, I had it all. Legion’s Landing, Double Anointed Deacon, double Call to the Feast, double Paladin of the Bloodstained, double Adanto’s Vanguard, another four Vampire two drops, removal, the works. Better start.

I paired against RB Pirates, and lost the roll. My opponent starts off with a Wanted Scoundrels on two. I look at the Legion’s Judgment in my hand. This was going to be a good draft. Fast forward to round two and I pair off against my partner in crime, little Benny J. We both decide we’re thirsty and consequently split games flooding, then wind up in a game three summed up by the following two cards.

His Vampiric Sculptor did a good job of trying to race, but unfortunately the butter to Sculptor’s margarine proved the tastier dish, and many lifelinking tokens got the job done. Onto the finals, and Estonian National Champion, Karl Sarap.

Our match was decidedly less interesting than mine and Ben’s. Karl had brought a pretty strong build of Merfolk to the table, but the fishmen were no match for the black and white minstrels commanded by yours truly. Trophy get.

After a quick catch-up with the TT guys and acquisition of Sam’s shirt, it was time for the usual post-day one pizza and bed. GP Liverpool, you’re mine.

Day 2 – The Bad

GP Liverpool was not mine.

My pool was pretty interesting – I could have seen an argument for all five colours, with playables split pretty evenly – but decided to focus on the Grixis shard. Blue and Red had my most powerful cards, but UR looked at the concept of mana curve, rolled it up in a carpet, and swiftly threw it off a bridge.

After sitting comatose with my cards in front of me for about ten minutes, I decided on RB main with UB ready to board. RB had a great curve, decent card quality, and a Monstrosaur.

UB, on the other hand, had fliers, a couple of solid rares – Daring Saboteur and Dreamcaller Siren, this means you – topped off by a River’s Rebuke. The plan was simple; I’d curve out in game one, and then board into the Blue deck if it looked like my opponent had a better top end than me and/or was green. I proceeded to pair five Green decks in a row and immediately regretted my decision.

To set things off and after my bye, I took an immediate crushing to a medium Naya deck, featuring the biggest punt I’d seen all day; thankfully, on the other side of the table!

Opp: Attack with 4/2 Adanto Vanguard.

Me: (racing) Flash in Bloodcrazed Knight as a 1/1. Blocks? Block the Vanguard.

Opp: Slash of Talons the Knight!

Me:

So, yeah. Managed to lose that one. Hem.

The next four rounds weren’t particularly noteworthy. I played some tight magic, drew well, boarded into UB in all but one game, and watched some opponents’ brick. The turn I do remember pretty clearly, however, came in round six.

It’s game two, and my opponent is on UW fliers. They showed me a Wind Strider in the first game, and have now passed with five open mana. The board is reasonably cluttered on the ground, and I have a Skymarch Bloodletter suited up with a Pirate’s Cutlass taking chunks out of their face in the air. My opponent is at six life.

I had seen no bounce spells out of my opponent in either game, and all the removal I had seen was sorcery speed. I take a pause to think about this, then tapped four lands.

Me: Mark of the Vampire, target Bloodletter.

Opp: … resolves.

Me: Send.

Opp: Flash in Wind Strider…

I swear to you, I could taste his pain. At 5-1, I was feeling pretty good, felt I was pretty on it, and ready to run it back another three times.  Then the screws came loose, the wheels came off, and I spent three rounds careening into a ditch.

Highlights of those rounds? Round seven opponent discarded a Skulduggery to my Deadeye Tormentor while he had a full grip, and I had a Daring Saboteur in play with mana spare to activate it. The Saboteur went on to slap my opponent for about fourteen damage while setting up a small landscaping business as it filtered Islands and Swamps into my local graveyard. I lost that one too. Getting awkward.

Round eight opponent told me their deck was awful, and they could not construct anything playable. They then showed me basic lands of four different colours and curved Wanted Scoundrels – Skymarch Bloodletter – Dreamcaller Siren – Charging Monstrosaur. I was just shy of throwing my hands up in the air and giving her my wallet, the games were that one-sided.

Now 5-3, I was out of contention for the top eight, but could still make a solid run in day two with a win. Pumped and ready for blood, I check the pairings for my last battle of the day. It was my friend and teammate, Francisco ‘Patxi’ Sanchez. Damn.

After splitting wins with Sure Strikes (we both apparently had great aim), in game three, I smokescreen board again, but decide to stay in UB. His deck was RG base, featuring a couple of fatties in both the Red and Green Avatars. After doing everything in my power to avoid trading creatures, I land a River’s Rebuke with four creatures in play and bounce around fifteen mana worth of cards on his board. Unfortunately, one of those cards was Verdant Suns’ Avatar. Another was a flipped Maze of Ith. I hit him for around thirty-five damage that game, and the game ended with Patxi at twenty life. He went on to 6-0 day 2, and make $1k cash.

As far as I’m concerned, he now owes me a favour.

Day 3 – The Ugly

After umming and ahhing about playing RDW in Standard to claim back a small amount of pride in terms of tickets, I decided to suck it up and try my cheeky Sultai brew. While every GP side I’d played before had a disproportionately high amount of Blue Control and off-beat Combo, maybe this one would be all aggro and midrange. My girl Vraska has my back, right?

R1 Esper Control 2-1

R2 UB Control 0-2

R3 Esper Gift 1-1-1

R4 Temur Energy 1-2

Not so much.

The deck was enjoyable, certainly, but after that event it was pretty clear – if you’re going to play Rogue Refiner, you really should be pairing it with it’s best buds Longtusk Cub and Bristling Hydra. Lesson learned.

So, after three days, a number of crushing defeats and way more ribbing than I consider gentlemanly from my cohorts, that was another GP in the books. I’m already fired up for London and the Rivals of Ixalan, where I plan to boldly make the step into day two, trip, and find myself losing a side event.

Summary

After my last article on Welsh Nationals, I was refocused. I had the taste for blood once again. While my results may not speak for themselves at this GP, it turns out my confidence and skill were right where I’d left them, and I’m proud of my performance. I’ve clearly learned so much in the last year, and I’m ready to smash my head against the wall of success once more next January.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this piece from the unwitting comic relief of Team Troll Trader, and if you take anything away from this article, let it be this: you and your ability are not your results. Sure, results go a long way to proving yourself, but recognising each and every time you identify a winning line, make a great attack or masterfully read your opponent’s plays speaks louder than does any trophy.

As always, thanks for reading, and good luck.

By Dylan Summers
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