The following is a diary I kept as I prepared for GB Nationals, and this subsequent tournament report. While my result was far from impressive, the preparation shows in some detail just how connected even an average Magic player is these days, and how much reading/discussion it is possible to do if you devote just a little time each day into it. Enjoy!

July 12th - Phil Dickinson sends me a mono-W Eldrazi list on Facebook, and says it is "total gas" for his "grind $300 for Jaces on MODO" plan. He also promises we'll get very drunk together next time he is back in London.

July 15th - I come up with the following list ( http://mtgurl.com/MO3X ) in about 5 minutes, and post to twitter, getting a couple suggestions for changes, people saying it's almost test ready. I like the idea in principle, but fear it may struggle against the raw power of the current top decks. Also some of my card choices (Path over Oust/Condemn, Lotus Cobra over Rampant Growth/Explore are clearly incorrect, as several Twitter friends are quick to point out.

July 18th - I hear from @Daiches2 on Twitter of some interesting Sun Titan lists at his local PTQ in the Netherlands - UWR Superfriends-like, and some Naya/Bant concoctions. Also Fauna Shaman being put to good use in a few decks.

July 19th - James Mills tells me he's heard about a UW Mass Polymorph brew on Demonic Tutor (our local forum here in London), which I mock him about. I see Pat Chapin talking about today's relative lack of deckbuilders on The Magic Show and wonder if I should risk taking a creation of my own to this Saturday's PTQ, or even Nationals. Thing is, why would you go against so much data/knowledge from the "hive mind" when it's such an important tournament? I think about putting Realm Razer into the "wildfire" deck and playing that on Saturday for fun. Realm Razer could also be good in Naya with Fauna Shaman? I think about a Fauna Shaman extended combo-Rock deck with Iona, Body Double, Doran, Reveillark etc in it when i go to lunch, based off Rob Stanjer's Doran list from last year's Nats. I wonder if I should just play Jund/Mythic Conscription at Nats and stop trying to be "different". Or maybe Charlie Grover's Naya/Conscription hybrid a few of us have played recently. Gary Lynch says he wants to play a U/W deck at Nats and I reply saying Gerry T says it's not good right now. I put up a thread asking if people fancy getting some testing down this week/weekend while Hana is back in Scotland. I talk to Tom Reeve a bit on facebook messenger and he shows me a t8 Megrim list from Finnish Nats, and we both laugh about it.

July 20th - Charlie Grover says on DT that Gerry T is wrong about U/W not being viable, and that there is a good Mass Polymorph list - "Nice one Dan". I'm annoyed at constantly being told I'm wrong. I check out the first M11 PTQ decklists and see that something like my "wildfire" idea is viable after all. Also the Fauna Shaman decks look decent, and some have even cut down the Conscription package to just 2 cards as I predicted to Tom Reeve yesterday. I see the new Japanese PTQ lists, which nearly all feature 4x Primeval Titan, and almost cry over the prospect of having to spend £100+ for a playset of the damn things for Nats.

July 21st - I read about the new "TweetMTG" thing WotC are running on July 31-August 1, and ask on DT if anyone wants to give it a spin, no response. I also see that the WotC European mailshot references me and links to my Mananation article on why you should attend Nats - sweet! Email Tom Baker, and it turns out he's unlikely to be around for Nats (sadface), but might leave some of his cards behind while he is in the US. I'm hopeful he'll let me borrow his ANT deck or one of the (proxied) cubes while he's away. Phil Dickinson texts to say he might be able to get Fri night and Sat off to come stay at mine and play, yay! We then have a long text discussion about various janky decks and him asking me to borrow cards, as always. I read various articles at lunch including Mass Polymorph decklists I am still not enamoured by, and Bucher's Geopede jund, which I will consider running on Saturday if I can't borrow cards for other decks. I email Mike Duke to ask if he can lend me either 4 Primeval Titan or 4 Fauna Shaman.

July 22nd - Phil Dickinson asks me if some random guy called Josh Tovell can stay at mine on Friday night before the PTQ - I say yes, providing he buys me a beer and the two of them don't mind getting cuddly on my futon. Read some more articles on Fauna Shaman and Primeval Titan decks. My Shamans are in the post from the US but won't arrive in time for the weekend, and still no word on lends from Mike. Sadface. Hana is back to Scotland for a few days so will have plenty of time for Magic this weekend. Also read AJ Sacher's article about everyone being terrible at Magic - I'm inclined to agree with a lot of what he says about players "asking for fish in a bun rather than learning how to fish", but I still think he words it in the most arrogant way possible, so people are unlikely to listen.

July 23rd - Coverage from MTG panel at Comic Con confirms new planeswalker and new Elspeth, possibly sunburst/modular, but no word yet on the "factions". Good news though is that Mike comes through on the lends, says I can borrow whatever I like for tomorrow's PTQ. I text Phil and ask what to play, he gives lots of silly suggestions like "Time Sieve" and "Duelling Megrim's" - hopefully he'll be better with the advice later on tonight. At FNM that evening, after an awkward confrontation with Andrew Buchanan re: him losing it at the invitational the weekend before (He got a bit stroppy apparently, I argue you should never "lose your shit" over a game), I draft M11 and go 2-0, 2-0, 2-0 for the first time ever, with the following deck - my first pick was a Mind Control over a Protean Hydra:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

2 Blinding Mage

1 Augury Owl

1 Aether Adept

1 Gargoyle Sentinel

2 Scroll Thief

1 Cloud Elemental

1 Water Servant

2 Assault Griffin

1 Armored Cancrix

1 Harbor Serpent

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

1 Brittle Effigy

1 Diminish

1 Preordain

1 Ice Cage

1 Pacifism

2 Mana Leak

1 Sleep

2 Mind Control

[/Spells]

[Lands]

10 Island

7 Plains

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

Halfway through FNM Phil Dickinson and Josh Tovell turn up, and afterwards we go back to my house. Josh and I build me a new Naya Shaman deck based on the hybrid deck I was playing a while ago (the list of which Charlie Grover gave me), while Phil plays his Mono-W Eldrazi deck on MODO in a 2-man. And subsequently loses to a guy who was playing Archmage Ascencion and Sphinx-bone Wand maindeck, Roll around pointing and laughing at Phil. Discuss Magic/talk crap til about 3am then sleep. At about 5am Josh wakes up Phil by saying "Mana Leak" in his sleep, LMAO again.

July 24th - The three of us get up and get to the London PTQ in plenty of time, there end up being 64/65 players, so 7 rounds swiss then cut. R1 I play against what I assume is a UWG Mass Polymorph deck, as in g1 all I see are some Mana Leaks, Path to Exiless, and a Growth Spasm before I win with Realm Razer, so I board in Cunning Sparkmages for his tokens, but win game 2 with little opposition. R2 I play against mythic, he turn 3's me g1, and g2 I take too long to get red mana for Cunning Sparkmage and he conscriptions me on turn 5 or so. R3 I play against another mythic deck, and take g1 - then lose g2 as he has Qasali Pridemage for my Basilisk Collar, then lose g3 on last of extra turns, as he casts Gideon Jura and +2's him when I was going to Sejiri Steppe one of my Knight of the Reliquarys and attack for lethal next turn - sadly even with 3 KotR cycles between his end of turn and my upkeep, I can't flip my own one-of Gideon to steal the win. R4 I play a WG Eldrazi ramp deck, also featuring Summoning Trap and Avenger of Zendikar - g1 I win with a sick fauna shaman and Vengevines draw with no opposition, then a similar sequence, also with a Sword of Vengeance, allows me to win g2 through an Avenger and about 8 tokens. R5 I play an Esper control deck with Grave Titans and Baneslayers, and manage to win g1 exactly with raging Ravine + Sejiri Steppe on it, despite the Baneslayer he just attacked with and Grave Titan and tokens on the board, but lose the following two games to Baneslayers, and drop. It feels the deck was particularly weak to mythic and big creatures, and at times felt like i didn't have enough red mana available to get sparkmage going quickly. Also maybe 1/2 too many fetches, and a few too many CIPT lands. Not sure whether to consider a 1-of Borderland Ranger or Sylvan Ranger to help some of these mana issues. Following this, I play some casual against Gil's Mono-R while we drink a load of beers, then Dan Gardner (who just lost the final to Adam Barnett) openly refers to me as a "barn" to Charlie Grover and Rob Stanjer as I'm leaving, and this annoys me no end. Fair enough if you don't respect me as a player, I'm bad to average, but at least respect me as a person, especially when I've been friends with these guys for nearly 2 years now!

July 26th - I read Dave Rockstar's response to AJ Sacher's article, and it sums my feelings up quite well - Telling people they are bad and need to improve with little/no advice on how to do so only frustrates them. Pat Chapin's "Sixty" article is a pretty amusing pseudo-response too, and I think I "get it" to a degree - because as I'm looking through these decklists I'm constantly wondering why a certain card is present (it seems bad/not as good as something else), why a certain number of a card, or why a card is NOT in the deck. In the evening, I buy pauper Goblins on MODO for about 13 tix, but don't get a chance to play it yet as I'm still short 4 Mogg Raider, which I can't seem to find anywhere. Maybe after drafting tomorrow.

July 27th - After work I go to TGC for an M11 draft - it's a weird one as it's a pod of 7, some cards I'd consider really decent table or go late (examples: Pyroclasm 9th, Azure Drake 9th, Stormfront Pegasus 6th), and at least one of the players hasn't drafted much at all before - I help him out before the games by making sure he puts enough lands and creatures in his deck (he was at 15 lands, 8 creatures, and many auras, before he asked for my advice). R1 I play against a Ub mill deck, that seemed to not be doing anything at all until I get Traumatized out of nowhere, then double Tome Scoured g1 - however after boarding in a pair of Cancel I take g2 and 3. R2 I lose 2-0 to a mono-W deck featuring some pretty bad cards (Goldenglow Moth, Holy Strength), but also 2 Blinding Mages, and 2 Armored Acension I have very little in the way of answers to. I board in the Cancels after g1, but don't draw amazingly in g2, and I must have made a mistake or two as well along the way, that lost me the extra few turns I needed to stabilise. R3 starts very well, as my opponent, Keith Boulton, buys me a beer. Thanks Keith! However, despite his Conundrum Sphinx with multiple ways to get it back, I beat him 2-0, playing around Mana Leak successfully in g2 to eventually kill him exactly with Inspired Charge when he taps out to Mind Control my Harbor Serpent. Afterwards I have a good chat with Dan Royde about how to test properly, and his predictions for who will do well in this year's Nationals.

July 29th - I'm pleasantly surprised by AJ Sacher's article on playing Brainstorm, as it's great content, and isn't insulting to the reader for a change. Reading Cedric Phillips on Turboland has me starting to question Naya Shaman as my deck choice for Nats, as he puts down any other deck choice. I'm thinking it would be a good idea for me to prep myself on 2 or maybe 3 decks for the next couple weeks, then choose a little sooner to the event itself which I feel most comfortable with.

July 30th - I take note of Brad Nelson's advice to grow a badass beard, and note I already have one - it will surely lead to imminent success at Nationals then, eh?! Magic Show is interesting but not of much use to me as it's all about Legacy (nice red deck though w/ Cedric Phillips!) A few other articles today are similarly eternal focussed, but worth reading nonetheless. As always with me approaching a large event, I am growing increasingly uneasy about my current deck choice, Naya, despite the good finishes it has put up recently. I think I should definitely test a UW/UWr deck, Jund, Mythic, and Mono-R ASAP and get a better handle on what I like/feel comfortable playing with. On a more general note, I feel that perhaps this tendency to jump on whatever is the current deck is another danger of not building/testing your own decks properly - without forming your own opinions, you are willing to believe what anyone else has to say, which is constantly shifting, or just in total opposition to one another.

July 31st - I finally get my Pauper Goblins deck on MODO finished thanks to a helpful GoodGamery user directing me to a bot with 4 Mogg Raider in stock, yay! I start off playing nothing but Mono-U, and once when I win the second 2-man I enter, discover that until prizes change to M11, these aren't worth it, as even if you win the bots will only buy your booster for 1.something tix. So while Hana is busy working I play in the Tournament Practise Room for most of the day, against a mixture of competitive decks (Mono-U, Burn, BW Pestilence, vaious U-based control), some less competitive (reanimator, in which I manage to race a t3 Ulamog's Crusher), and some real jank (Naya Beasts, some multi-coloured Trinket Mage deck). Overall I'm wining something like 60-70% of the time, but against some fairly bad decks and opponents, and I still need to work out my exact game and sideboarding plan against the better decks so I can try and win myself some packs when the prizes change to M11

August 2nd - Read about GP Colombus results - again, not terribly useful to my Nationals preparation, but interesting nonetheless. Forgot to mention - GGS live coverage of the event I watched as it was taking place was fantastic, especially with Conley Woods commentary, props to those guys! After work, I go for an M11 draft at TGC. Played 3 games of my Naya Shaman vs Amar Dattani's Mythic before drafting, and yet again it is abysmal, I feel like I have no chance of winning this matchup if Mythic has an average or better hand. Consider whether I should test this out also. Drafting itself, I just pick blue cards again, and end up with a solid but unexciting UB deck featuring Conundrum Sphinx, 3 Azure Drake and other creatures, and Assassinate/Doom Blade/Sign In Blood/Preordain/Diminish/Call To Mind as my non-creature package. Perhaps slightly low on removal, but not the worst. My r1 opponent, as soon as we sit down to play, begins complaining about how terrible his deck is and how there is no way he can win. 3 games later, and after he's handily beaten me with Pacifisms, Serra Angels, and a Mind Control, I'm pretty miffed, as he still claims his deck is really bad. Hana calls saying her friend's bag got stolen while they were out for drinks, and it was a 7-man pod anyways, so I decide to do everyone a favour and drop to go home rather than play on in a bad mood.

August 3rd - I read about the Mono-R v Turboland matchup and begin to wonder more about playing Mono-R - seeing as they were confident it would take multiple life-gain effects for a regular deck to have a chance against Mono-R. Decide I should definitely put this together for Sunday's testing session. Discussions of Wescoe's calling a judge re: "I bet with a friend" are all over Twitter - of course not being there or knowing the players personally, I can't pass any useful judgement. Seems like a raw deal for the guy who got the DQ though... :(

August 4th - Lots about the HoF ballot on Twitter and various blogs. Slightly annoyed by @Starkpo's overuse of totally over-the-top, attention-grabbing headlines, and decide it is the "red top" of the Magic blogosphere. Not anything useful on standard today really.

August 5th - More stirring up of sportsmanship arguments with Craig Wescoe's open letter and Matt Nass' marked cards explanation. I get an invite to The Games Club invitation-only Nationals testing day Jason Howlett is running, which is a ridiculously good offering: free team polo shirt, half-price or less M11 drafts, and a huge set of proxied decks to test with will be there for us to use, plus chance to win a booster box. Exactly the kind of event stores/clubs should be offering to their players to encourage working as a team and supporting one another. Read a great article on TCGPlayer from Steve Sadin on deck choice at lunchtime – I should build my Goblins Legacy deck again!

August 6th – Man these Wescoe form comments were just awkward. Can't believe I wasted my time reading 9 pages of that... Nothing much to read on Standard today, though I'm looking forward to reading the upcoming Naya video deck tech on 60cards.com as promised on Twitter. After work I go to FNM - did a few good trades (getting a Yawgmoth's Will, some FNM Foils, and a Foil Japanese Stonehewer Giant for upcoming Sygg Voltron EDH), and played 4 preboard games with Naya against low-tier decks (1 RG Summoning Trap Eldrazi, 3 Megrims) and win them all - not valid testing though probably. In the draft I yet again just pick blue, white, and black cards after a tasty p1p1 Air Servant (over Foil Mitotic Slime, not close I think) and go 2-1 with the following deck, my one loss being to Wei, a very good limited player who will shortly be competing in Chinese Nats:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

1 War Priest of Thune

2 Augury Owl

3 Blinding Mage

1 Wild Griffin

2 Gravedigger

2 Cloud Crusader

1 Serra Angel

1 Air Servant

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

1 Preordain

2 Diminish

1 Ice Cage

1 Cancel

1 Assassinate

1 Crystal Ball

1 Foresee

2 Inspired Charge

[/Spells]

[Lands]

8 Plains

7 Island

1 Terramorphic Expanse

2 Swamp

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

August 7th - Change my Naya Shaman deck to Brad Nelson's latest configuration, with a random sideboard of things to try out. Also build a new EDH deck, a Sygg, River Guide Voltron strategy, and a post-M11 Mono-R deck to test. Go to TGC, hoping to test standard lots, but very few people there have a deck on them. I end up playing a couple games of EDH (the deck needs a LOT of work still) and a few games with the Mono-R deck, which I win almost all of.

August 8th - Go to the Pendrell's Oak pub by Holborn tube station at noon for an afternoon of testing with Gary, James, Amar, Louis, Gil, Paul Y, Martin. I start playing the Mono-R deck and don't bother switching to Naya Shaman as the results seem so good. I go about 17-5 in game 1's versus a selection of the field (notable decks not played against (Jund, UW, Turboland), then 4-4 against a pretty hateful post-SB Naya deck with Obstinate Baloths, Wall of Omens, etc - including a few wins through double Baloth or similar.Mono-R seems like a legit option, with pretty decent g1's against the field - plus I expect people to either sideboard not enough cards, or for their post-sb decks to not be hateful enough, and still give me 50/50 games. I decide to play Mono-R, and order the only cards I am missing, 4 Kargan Dragonlord, off ebay.

August 9th - Discuss deck choice a bit with Alex Tennant via email, he says a friend of his is playing Mono-R too, and gives much the same analysis of that idea as I had. He's playing Fauna Bant though, with Frost Titans in the sb. See a spicy-looking GWRu Fauna Shaman deck featuring Renegade Doppleganger and Hell's Thunder (!) that top 8'd New Zealand Nats on GoodGamery - might put together for a spin, but feel I should stick to my choice and be confident in it - even if Mono-R is not "the best deck" come August 20th, all the experience I gain with it from now will be greatly useful. Also find out we are having a "player party" the night before day 1 of Nats, with free karaoke and bowling, plus we'll get into the bowling alley free every night of Nats! Another fantastic offer from Jason for sure, but one that could harm our chances in the main event I fear! Tom Reeve and Seeker on GoodGamery chat tell me about their Megrim deck, which Tom is probably going to play at Nats, but asks me to keep quiet about.

August 10th - Peter Dun is back from China, so I send him a Facebook message asking for his opinion on Mono-R. I also compile a spreadsheet with the numbers from all the recent (post M11) winning Mono-R decks from various PTQs/nationals, which gives me an idea of what the "base build" should be, and what sideboard cards to consider.

August 11th - Peter gets back to me on Facebook, and his analysis is mixed - "the deck is clearly good enough, but people can beat you if they choose to, and being mono-coloured gives you relatively few sideboard options". He suggests I have a look at Charlie Grover's Boros deck, which I already have the list for. Read a load of articles on standard, and barring a couple of scenarios highlighted by Gerry T, no mentions of Mono-R whatsoever, and none of the suggested lists feature Leyline of Sanctity (my biggest problem, I think), and most have 3-5 life gain spells between main and SB, and some Path to Exiles at the most. Which means they will draw 1/2 a game, which doesn't seem like enough to beat me. The deck is certainly well under the radar at present...

August 12th - Get a message from Josh Tovell saying he thinks UW Titan will be played a lot, and that the OJ's/Gardner group are likely to be playing Turboland. Need to test these matchups thoroughly then, but on the face of it Turboland should be okay, and if UW isn't playing Baneslayer, that can only be a good thing, right? Players of that calibre could probably beat me with 40 lands and some life-gain spells, so I guess it doesn't matter greatly anyway. He thinks Pyromancer's Ascension or Time Sieve are the decks to play in this case - I'm only 4 Time Warps and 4 Ascension's away from having that deck, so guess I could consider it if I wanted to play combo (i.e. was anticipating a control-heavy meta, and didn't think Mono-R was good enough). I ask him what he thinks of my current deck choice - he says it seems well positioned, but he always feels dirty playing it, to make sure I have a good SB plan vs. UW, combo match-ups are 50/50. "Red deck has positive match-ups across the board so I agree it's a solid choice". Someone better than me saying my deck choice is reasonable makes me happy. I then find a tournament report from the admittedly low-attendance Romanian Nationals on MTGSalvation which has a pretty comprehensive UW sideboard plan I might like to consider some of - 4 Combust, 3 Manabarbs, 3 Brittle Effigy, 4 Kargan Dragonlord (he was running Ember Haulers main?!). At lunch I read the articles: Craig Wescoe's UW seems like something I wouldn't want to play against, but no mentions of Mono-R anywhere. The soothing voice of LSV tells me about M11 draft as I eat my sandwiches. Max McCall's article on Mental Magic is awesome - makes me think I should make a video of Rob Stanjer playing and comboing out sometime (at Nats maybe?), I think people would enjoy watching that.

August 13th - I listen to the 60cards/ManaDeprived podcast (including my Twitter homie @JayBoosh), which is pretty funny, and again no mentions of Mono-R. Rapahel Levy's article on drafting UB in M11 confirms something I've thought for a while now - you always want a Harbor Serpent in your blue decks, the guy is awesome. I've said to others I think I'll try and force blue if possible in the Nats drafts, and the more I read about the format from pros, the more reasonable this plan seems. I'm also beginning to think that black may be a better pair than white for it, although having played a couple of UW decks splashing black, with enough scry cards I see this being a very legitimate option also. This week's Magic Show featured a clip of the Nassif/Chapin Dragonstorm match, which I remember watching live online shortly after I started playing, and really got me hooked on the game, bit of a sentimental moment for you there. Not sure I like his Mass Polymorph deck though, not the kinda thing I'd play. Chapin's article mentions he likes a 1 of Sylvan Ranger in Naya as a way to tutor for land on turn 3 - suck it, Daniel Royde, who said this was "too cute" an idea! :P Rest of today's articles seem mainly to be about Pyromancer's Ascension, Naya, and UW as ever. Wonder if I should try Manic vandal against decks with equipment/Howling Mines/etc - too niche? Or splashing a little black for kill spells and Thought Hemmorhage out of the board against combo and decks playing BSA/etc?

August 14th - I go to TGC for an 11 person Game Day, at which I come 5th, going 2-2. Wins against UG Turboland and Mono-G, losses to BW Allies (fortunately this isn't a real deck likely to be played at Nats, because it creamed me with Duress effects and lifegain and went on to win the event, ‘grats Kieran!), and W control. After the main event I watched a few people draft - Jason Savage won with a good UR deck, beat Thomas' UG deck in the finals. You definitely want to be in blue if at all possible, it seems. I also then tested the UW control matchup with my Mono-R,trying several sideboard options. It wasn't pretty. I went 7-11 overall (5-5 pre-board, 2-6 post-board). The problem, as it turned out, was running out of cards - UW would one-for-one me early on, then I'd be topdecking and have no chance while they were stabilising. Then it was just academic for them to find a BSA/Sun Titan/Colonnade/Elspeth to beat me with. So, the real enemies are counterspells, Celestial Purge, Path to Exile, and Condemn. How to beat these, or at least get a 50/50 post-board game? The hunt continues...

August 15th - I go to TGC again for testing day, and get a load more games in with Mono-R, trying various different janky sideboard plans against UW, including bringing in a ton more guys (good if they have Leyline of Sanctity I guess) such as Goblin Ruinblaster and Plated Geopede - it doesn't really work. Still want to try out Obsidian Fireheart and Lodestone Golem I have seen in a couple lists, as well as the white splash for Oblivion Ring and/or War Priest of Thune. And maybe some stupid things such as Eye of Ugin + Kozileks (you can thank Phil Dickinson for that one). Good news though is that I go a 2-1 average against Pyromancer's Ascension in that set of games, and beat Jund 5-2 before Ray Wat finally gives up testing that matchup for the day. Then do a £6 timed draft, re-drafting the rares in lieu of prizes. For the first time in this format I don't feel very happy about my picks until halfway through pack 2, but it comes together in the end, and I have a solid GB deck splashing white for 2 Pacifism's and some sideboard cards. Sadly I then go 1-2, and feel silly for not playing blue, of course! End up with a Day of Judgement for my trade folder and some other junk though. Also have a brief chat with Quentin Martin about the Mono-R mirror, and he agrees you should definitely draw, as it is "an all-out attrition war" more than anything else.

August 16th - Carry on asking around for UW sideboard ideas, and Gary (who also will play Mono-R, borrowed from Gil) says he might give up on it entirely, and just shore up his other matchups. Will have to see what does well in the LCQs, but this could be an option if people think Pyromancer's Ascension will be preying on all the UW and thus the deck will be underplayed. Still might be okay anyways, as I don't think any single archetype will comprise more than 10-15% of the field, and a lot of British players seem to love the creature decks anyway. As long as I don't get paired against it more than once I could still do good, right? Won't make that call til after some final testing tomorrow and Thursday anyway.

August 17th - Read the articles during lunch after a tasty burrito. AJ Sacher actually was pretty decent this week, with some funny stories in which he didn't sound like a total dick, though not sure slagging off his employer by posting his uncensored article in the comments was a smart move. Patrick Sullivan's Mono-R report from GP Columbus, though irrelevant and out of date now, is hilarious. After work I nip in for a few games at TGC, no one to test the UW matchup and try more sideboard ideas with, so I just play a few games against Keith Boulton's Boros deck (a good idea now it won Chinese Nats) after buying him back the beer I owed, and go 2-2. Also run into Tom "Brown Tom" Brown, who is going to start playing again from Scars of Mirrodin after a hiatus of a year or so, and I haven't seen him in ages. Woo!

August 18th - Starkington Post reports on Twitter that AJ Sacher has been fired by SCG. LMAO. Get another Facebook message from Josh Tovell, discussing sideboard possibilities - Runeflare Trap is a bit too narrow he says, plus he has some sage advice on staying with the same deck - "I think you should stick to playing Red deck, audibling is the nut low". Meanwhile, of course Gary lynch is asking for cards for another deck, one he hasn't tested at all (GW Eldrazi ramp/Trap) on Demonic Tutor - "As I have done hardly any testing and have found I can't draft I may as well play something fun". Can't argue with his reasoning I guess, but given his experience with Jund over the past few months, I think he's a fool for not playing a freshly-tuned build of that. Do a super quick analysis of my very-likely inaccurate predicted meta and win percentages for Mono-R (after reading an article by Sam Black on doing this), and end up with 55% wins, which agrees roughly with my 58.6% based on my total 34-24 record in testing thus far. A very slight favourite against the field will do me fine. Email my list to @JayBoosh asking for sideboard ideas, and he suggests a black splash for Blightning against control/combo and Suffer the Past against Ascension. Not sure I like this though as it still means you're dead to Leyline of Sanctity...

August 19th - I get up about the same time as I normally would for work, and get the same bus as my girlfriend Hana, getting off just outside the very familiar Royal National Hotel, my new home for the following 4 daytimes! Inside, I spend the first hour or so catching up with people I've not seen in a while, including players from my former clubs of Oxford and Milton Keynes, and friends I regularly bump into at PTQs and big pre-releases. As the day goes on, I ask many of them what they think will be played, whether Mono-R is a decent choice or not, and get some very positive responses. Alex Tennant and Matt Light tell me it's pretty well positioned, particularly considering the top tables at the constructed LCQ are full of Jund, and the average British player's huge love of mid-range creature decks (such as Jund and Naya). Chris Bateman has a Pyromancer's Ascension list proxied up he's probably going to play, but is thinking of audibling to Mono-R, and Russ Davies tells me he's still considering it, but the list he tested had more creatures that stay in play, with Plated Geopede, Ember Hauler, and "the full four-boat" of Kargan Dargonlords. No one is saying anything about UW, and there's also a bit of buzz for the two UR combo decks, plus the entire Leeds crew is apparently playing Open the Vaults combo. As such I decide Reflection Traps and Manic Vandals will be played in my sideboard when I finalise it that evening. (Note: Manic Vandal is also fantastic in the mirror, according to me and Russ Davies' hypothesizing - providing a threat while killing their Dragon's Claw seems important)

On a whim, I buy the gaudiest sleeves I can buy (hot pink with metallic rose detailing), and after dinner I sleeve up and write on a deck-reg sheet the following:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

4 Goblin Guide

4 Hellspark Elemental

3 Kargan Dragonlord

4 Ball Lightning

4 Hell's Thunder

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Burst Lightning

4 Earthquake

4 Searing Blaze

2 Staggershock

[/Spells]

[Lands]

3 Arid Mesa

3 Scalding Tarn

4 Smoldering Spires

4 Teetering Peaks

10 Mountain

[/Lands]

[Sideboard]

3 Dragon's Claw

2 Manic Vandal

2 Ricochet Trap

2 Manabarbs

2 Flame Slash

2 Mark of Mutiny

2 Combust

[/Sideboard]

[/cardlist]

August 20th - I get up with Hana as usual, and we catch the bus together, her kissing me goodbye and wishing me "good luck and have fun!" before I get out at the venue. I'd already shown my ID and registered the night before, so just had to wait a short while until the player meeting was called at 9.30. When it was, as usual i'm seated with all the other "B's", so I banter away with Chris Bateman and Adam Barnett for a few minutes, as we look through our goody bag of free treats – containing a Mirrodin deckbox and sleeves (which I quickly errata with a Sharpie, adding a "Scars of"), score pad for life totals, and some pieces of paper detailing the weekend's events and telling us we should come to "Party in Amsterdam" – I'm already booked to go! Pairings are put up, and I nervously head to sit down for my first constructed game of the day...

Round 1 – Eduardo Sajglik (Jund):

Eduardo is a very decent (read: much better than myself) player I've duelled with several times before (with a win 2 years ago in a PTQ at Gravesend, then a draw the following year at a Nats Qualifier in Gravesend), though until I read his top-8 feature match coverage, I wasn't aware he'd previously finished so highly at Canadian Nats. I fear the worst (UW control), as it seems the sort of thing he'd play, and begin to shuffle my deck.

"You'll want to change those sleeves after this round," is Eduardo's opening gambit after we greet each other – from my experience he likes to play mind games a bit, but I'm confident my sleeves are acceptable for tournament play, and win the die roll. We both mulligan, and my first play is a Hellspark Elemental on turn 2, after Eduardo reveals his deck choice with a Savage Lands. A few turns later I take game 1, but make a minor misplay in Earthquaking for 1 instead of 2 on my penultimate turn, which i'm called out on, and feel pretty awkward and stupid for a second before shaking it off. I sideboard in 2 Flame Slash and a Mark of Mutiny for 3 Kargan Dragonlord, with I anticipate will be too slow for this matchup.

Game 2, I keep: Mountain, 2 Goblin Guide, 2 Hellspark Elemental, Searing Blaze, Hell's Thunder – figuring with any land in the next 3 draws i'll be more than fine. Sadly I don't see one in the 6 or 7 draws I get before Eduardo kills me, while he gets all but 1 land from the Guides, but I still manage to get him down to 12 in the process. He comments that my hand was not unacceptable to keep, and interestingly, that he'd be more likely to keep it on the play than the draw, as 2 Goblin Guides are more likely to "get there" on the play.

Game 3 I keep 7 on the play while Eduardo goes down to 5, and we both get a fair amount of damage in, while he Blightnings me twice. Eventually, I tap out to play some haste creature and attack him down to 2, with 2 burn spells in hand. Eduardo rips a thgird blightning to take away my win next turn, attacks me down to 4 leaving adequate creatures on defence, and I fail to top-deck a burn spell or Hell's Thunder to finish him off. A little unlucky, as this matchup is definitely favourable for me, but as we agree afterwards, it's not as unwinnable for the Jund player as many people consider. We wish each other good luck, and I move on with hopes of getting back in the swing of things in round 2...

Round 2 – Matt Light (RG Valakut Titan):

"Are you playing red?" asks James Allingham at the pairings board.

"Yea."

"Aww, Matt's gonna hate you..."

Matt is another very decent player I know well, and on the back of a top 32 Legacy GP finish and winning 2 PTQs this year, is emerging onto the Pro scene. We chat animatedly, having lost our first round nerves, and now being at the much less serious 0-1 tables. Chris Bateman who is sitting next to us joins in the banter frequently as well. Matt wins the die roll and leads with an Evolving Wilds, so is almost certainly playing the Primeval Titan ramp deck. After my Goblin Guide reveals a Terramorphic Expanse and he cracks the Wilds for a Forest, it's pretty clear. I take him down to 6 while he ramps his mana, and then plays an Inferno Titan that is forced to trade with a Ball Lightning. With me now out of cards the Primeval Titan he plays on the following turn is surely safe, and he kills me from 16 with Valakuts the next turn while sitting at 4 life. "I made out like an absolute bandit that game," Matt tells James Allingham who has now come over to watch, "one with a cape and Zorro mustache and everything!" I board in 2 Flame Slash, 2 Manabarbs, 2 Mark of Mutiny, for 2 Kargan Dragonlord (which I later realise is incorrect), and I believe 2 Earthquake and 2 Searing Blaze (he doesn't play many non-titan guys, just Bloodbraid Elf and presumably sideboard Obstinate Baloths)

Game 2 I stay on 20 life throughout, as he takes Hellspark Elemental, Ball Lightning, Hellspark Elemental unearthed and Teetering Peaks'd, then is thoroughly abused with a Mark of Mutiny on his Primeval Titan.

Game 3 I realise (and Matt comments) that an early Kargan Dragonlord is huge in this matchup as he only has Lightning Bolts and Valakut triggers with which to kill it (thus my sideboarding was incorrect), but fortunately I've drawn the 1 remaining in my deck, which I play (quite unsure of myself) over a second Hellspark Elemental on turn 3, and level up once. After a turn or two it's then a 4/4 and takes Matt down to 8. He passes his turn with a 2 Valakut, 5 Mountains, and an Evolving Wilds plus a Forest or two in play, and says something about having not enough Mountains. Then as I untap asks, "How much to make it an 8/8?", pointing at my Dragonlord. I see straight through this bluff, as it'll obviously be killed by fetching up a Mountain with the Evolving Wilds if I do sink all my mana into it. I attack without levelling, having unearthed a Hellspark Elemental or something, and the Dragonlord dies to 2 Valakut triggers as expected, plus the other creature is bolted. Matt then chains an Obstinate Baloth into a Primeval Titan to kill me, as I draw nothing. "I didn't deserve that," Matt laughs, and I join him before we wish each other good luck in the following rounds.

Round 3 – Chris Bateman (UR Runeflare Trap)

"Aww man, I didn't want to have to play you now!"

I agree with Chris is we reluctantly shuffle up to play against each other. Again, he's a better player than I, who I see regularly at British events, and is consistently top 8ing the PTQs on our little Isle, and won an extended one earlier this year with Scapeshift. More importantly though, he's fun to hang out with! We both know what the other is playing, so I'm quick to ship back 3 lands and 4 3-mana spells for something a bit faster, while Chris keeps. I get him down to 8 and take a few burn spells to the face in the process, but am tapped out when he chains Time Warps while filling my hand up with Temple Bell. Then I take 11 going to 2, having only had one instant to play, Burst Lightning (taking him to 6) when he Traps me at the end of my draw step, and has a bolt to finish the job. I sideboard in 2 Manic Vandal and 2 Ricochet Trap for I think 3 Kargan Dragonlord (again, very slow here) and a Ball Lightning.

Game 2 is all me, as I Goblin Guide, then Hellspark Elemental, then a couple other things to take Chris to 3 before an attack for 10 he takes all of.

Game 3, Chris buys himself what feels like infinite time in the early game, playing multiple Unsummon, Into the Roil, and even copying them with Twincast, before killing me from 17. Sadly I never drew my Manic Vandals, which would have been pretty spicy in this game, but Chris had in fact sideboarded his Time Warps out against me, knowing I'd bring in the Reflection Traps. Cunning! He also asks me if I've played the matchup before, wondering why I didn't burn down my hand with Earthquakes for 0 (something I never considered), and asking if I boarded in my copies of Dragon's Claw – "If you both have Dragon's Claw, it comes down to decking. Although in testing I did manage to once cast all 4 copies of Runeflare Trap and 2 Twincast to kill someone from 77 a couple turns before I decked myself." Clearly knowing this matchup better than myself, and having built his sideboard well (having plenty more Unsummon effects available), I can't say he didn't deserve to take this one from me, though it isn't his easiest matchup.

Round 4 – Nathaniel James (GWB Junk)

I've not seen or played against Nathaniel before, and with us both at 0-3, I can't help but feel the slightest bit confident about my chances in this matchup. This being said, I'm already a bit on tilt, but decided to play the last remaining standard round "just in case", as Chris advised me X-3 can still get in. I've had miracle runs in the past, so why not start another one now, eh?

Goblin Guide on the play after a Mulligan gets in some early beats, revealing 2 Lotus Cobra and then a plains. Nathaniel waits a turn to play Cobra into Cobra, and I'm sure I have him with a blowout Earthquake for one to kill them both, followed up by a second Guide and an attack down to 9. He makes an Elspeth to generate blockers, and I get him down to 2 with a Hell's Thunder in hand. He then plays Baneslayer Angel and in combination with unearthing spent creatures, I have 2 turns to find a burn spell, so of course I draw 2 Mountains. Now is definitely the right time to go on tilt, I don't remember what I sideboarded, but it was almost certainly 2 Mark of Mutiny and 2 Combust in for 3 Kargan Dragonlord and something else.

On the play with 6 cards to Nathaniel's 5, I take him down to 8 before he plays a Kor Firewalker, which I believe I can win through if he doesn't land a Baneslayer. He doesn't, but does have an Elspeth, which sends the Firewalker into the air to kill me over several turns as I draw pretty much the only things in my library which won't win me the game. Then, despite being very annoyed and upset with my 0-4 result, politely thanked him for the games, and ticked the drop box, before finding a friend to whinge to and console me.

Was I disappointed in my performance in this tournament? Yes, very.

Do I feel like I deserved to do better? Certainly.

So what can we learn from this?

Conclusion:

Having played 70 or so games with the deck in testing, and found its only weak matchup to be UW control, I was confident in my choice of deck, and thought I knew how things would play out in the major matchups. Moreover, considering the British love of mid-range creature decks, Mono-Red seemed relatively well positioned for this tournament, something several good players relayed to me in the days immediately before. Add to this a sideboard of cards I thought were pretty effective against everything but UW, and my recent success (vs. the field's inexperience) in M11 draft, I was confident of improving upon my 77^th place finish last year, when I played perhaps the worst deck for the meta (Kithkin), and had done much less testing.

But, then I lost to 2 of my best matchups, one that is 50/50 or so, then a deck I hadn't considered at all, and didn't even get to the draft stage. So where did it all go wrong?

Luck: I'm not willing to say it was all bad luck and there was nothing I could have done at all, as that gives me no hope to improve in future. However, the deck just didn't give me the draws it had done in testing, and on a few occasions I failed to draw a game-winning card having had several opportunities to do so. This may be in part due to...

Sleeves: Bear with me on this one, I know it may seem stupid at first, but... The sleeves I chose to play with were a brand I'd never used before, and were particularly uncomfortable to shuffle with, which perhaps led me to shuffle less than really necessary. Moreover, in my sweaty, nervous hands cards often stuck together a little, which also did not help. Plus, having something as basic and simple as this not feel right could certainly have a negative effect – consider driving an unfamiliar car vs. your daily driver. I should have used the matte-front ones I know and love.

Testing: While I had done a fair amount of testing and reading, it was clear in some cases my opponents had done more/better prep. Consider round 3, Chris knew what I would board in and changed his deck to thwart this, and knew far more detail on the long game in this matchup than I had ever considered. Or the importance of Kargan Dragonlord against the ramp decks. I also hadn't played more than 10 or so games vs. Jund, and had assumed the few difficult games I had encountered were very much the minority, and the majority would be simple goldfishes. Despite agreeing with Eduardo the matchup was far from unwinnable for the Jund player, I had not listened to what I knew and tested it more thoroughly accordingly!

Mulliganing: While I maintain my 1-land keep vs. Eduardo was correct despite it backfiring horribly, I'm willing to be convinced I should have mulliganed there. Furthermore, I kept a few average hands at 6/7 cards when I could have looked for something more profitable in fewer cards. Perhaps I was put off this by not wanting to shuffle even more with those sleeves.

Sideboard: I made at least one obvious sideboarding error, and my board could have included more cards against high-risk threats such as Baneslayer Angel, which can lose me the game on their own. Perhaps more Combust, or some copies of Brittle Effigy should have been present?

Deck choice: Again, I stick to my guns here and say Mono-R wasn't a bad choice, but it wasn't the obvious best choice, and I did get some advice that I think I may take more seriously in future. I sadly don't remember who said each of these things, so if it was you, speak up! 1 – "You're a better player than you give yourself credit for. You can play a deck that works harder for its wins and do fine, rather than play something that either wins or loses easily." 2 – "Man, it would really suck to top 8 then not get to go to Worlds because you played a matchup you had no hope in hell of winning."

But, I can't beat myself up about this forever. There's always next time, right...?