I have had a pretty busy time these last couple of weeks. First Nationals, then GP: Pittsburgh, and finally the Pro Tour in Philadelphia. I’m currently in the hall at the Pro Tour after they have announced the Top 8, but I’ll be writing about that in subsequent articles. This week, I want to report about my GP experience. My only previous showing at a Standard GP was at GP Barcelona and . . . um . . . I didn’t do so well (0–4–drop). Actually, the whole weekend was a disaster, Magic-wise; I couldn’t even get through the first round of a side-event draft.

As you can imagine, I therefore entered this GP with some trepidation, although I was feeling optimistic from my success at Nationals with my deck and also because I had two byes from my new rating—which was a novel and enjoyable experience. I made two small changes to the deck from last week. I added a Stingerfling Spider to the board to bring in against Consecrated Sphinx and Kargan Dragonlord, removing the fourth Splinter Twin. In the main deck, I took Kazuul out for Urabrask, the Hidden. There was nothing wrong with Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, but also nothing great, and another hasty guy with some utility in the 5-drop slot seemed good. I toyed with putting the Spider in the main instead, but it didn’t seem good in other matchups.

On to the main event. As I said, I had two byes, so I got to relax after the player meeting. Amusingly, PV came by to say hello and ask if I had any Gideon’s Lawkeepers on me. I had to confess I did not. I then watched him and LSV walking up and down rows of people asking for it. Apparently none of the traders had any either! I managed to find an opportunity to ask Luis later what it was for. They had a spare slot in the board and had decided to chuck it in for the mirror; he told me it had been awesome all day. It was soon Round 3, and I was ready to game.

Round 3 – John Kubilis, Splinter Twin

I had not previously played this matchup, and to be honest, it seemed kinda bad for me. Game 1, I didn’t achieve much in terms of a board state, and he ended up with a massive Shrine of Piercing Vision to find his missing piece and comboed me out. Game 2, I had the nut draw of turn-one Birds of Paradise, turn-two Deceiver Exarch in his upkeep to tap his land, turn-three Splinter Twin. He took it very well and joked that he could finally board against me as he hadn’t known what I was up to in Game 1. Game 3, he had two massive Shrines again, and I just couldn’t get enough momentum before I was again subjected to Deceiver Exarch beatdown. This was one of those occasions where I actually didn’t mind losing because my opponent was such a nice guy, so I wished him luck in the rest.

2–1.

Round 4 – Allen Dustin, Valakut

It actually took me a while to work out what my opponent was playing, because before turn one, he revealed a Chancellor of the Tangle. I lost to Urabrask/Chancellor of the Tangle beatdown, though he was kind enough to show me an unnecessary Primeval Titan and some Valakuts before I died, so I knew how to board. Game 2, I got a really early Acidic Slime to slow him down and then Podded it into a Frost Titan, which closed out the game very rapidly. Game 3 went similarly except Vengevine helped as well and I got Inferno Titan instead to help finish him off.

3–1.

Round 5 – John Ugalde, Splinter Twin

Another Twin deck was not what I wanted to see, as I was fairly certain after Round 3 that this was not a strong matchup for me. Luckily, Game 1, I got some good value out of a Vengevine, and he rapidly died to that and an Obstinate Baloth. Game 2, I was slaughtered by a quick combo. Game 3, I can’t honestly remember what happened, but looking at the life totals, he died very rapidly to some good aggression. I think this matchup depends a lot on whether the opponent finds an early Shrine so it can build up a lot of counters.

4–1.

Round 6 – Richard Nguyen, Valakut

This round went much worse than Round 4. I drew more lands than I strictly needed, he was running a more creature-heavy build of the deck, and I just couldn’t deal with the stream of 6-drops. The only interesting occurrence in this match for me was when my opponent played three lands in one turn with only one Oracle of Mul Daya in play. It took a surprisingly long time to get that sorted. In the end, I had to break down the turns for the judge and point out I was on the play and hadn’t missed a land-drop, and therefore it was turn four, not turn five, so he couldn’t be on eight lands. It was all sorted out in the end, though it didn’t really matter for the outcome of the match. The judge came and thanked me later for helping to sort it out, which was nice. No one ever really talks about the judges, but they do an excellent job and are all super-friendly people. Thanks, judges, keep it up!

4–2.

Round 7 – Tam Tran, R/G (Kibler Style)

I was in the sudden-death slot, which is not where I had wanted to be in Round 7, but I was not out yet. Game 1, I actually thought this was the mirror and he hadn’t hit a -producing land. A turn-three Goblin Ruinblaster slowed me down, but just when I looked to be dead, I topped Inferno Titan and slammed it to take out his board and win. Game 2 was more in his favor, and a turn-one Skinshifter finally allowed me to work out what I was playing against, although that was small consolation. Tuktuk the Explorer looked like a good blocker until he untapped and played Hero of Oxid Ridge. With no Inferno Titan to save the day, I was rapidly shuffling up for Game 3. Game 3, I got a turn-two Cunning Sparkmage, who took down his Birds of Paradise, and that was basically game.

5–2.

Round 8 – Nicholas Reynolds, Goblins

My opponent did not have a super-quick draw Game 1, and my naturally drawn Spellskite, Obstinate Baloth, and Inferno Titan were pretty good game. Game 2, he had a slow hand with no 1-drop and only two creatures (Goblin Wardriver and Goblin Chieftain). I got to play three Obstinate Baloths and a Wurmcoil Engine, and that amount of life-gain is enough to make any Red Deck player sad.

6–2.

Round 9 – Marshall Reaves, RDW

This was the final round of Day 1, and the winner made Day 2. I was really hoping to finally find a Caw-Blade matchup. Unfortunately, my boyfriend had played my opponent earlier in the day and told me it was RDW (again), so despite Caw-Blade decks either side of me, I had to face my worst matchup. Sadly, these games weren’t really close, and there is not much to report other than red, fiery death.

6–3.

The deck can beat RDW, but it is definitely one of the least-favored matchups and has to have specific draws to work. The opponent also needs to not draw Stormblood Berserkers early, because that card is a beating. So I didn’t make Day 2. I am somewhat disappointed to have lost in two bubbles, first Nationals and then the GP. All my recent work to improve my Constructed seems to have worked, though, so I’m happy with that. In other news, my nice opponent from Round 3 beat PV in Round 9 to make Day 2, so at least he used my defeat well.

Things to take away from the weekend:

• I clearly repel the most popular deck in the meta, so I should use that to my advantage. (Seriously, lots of people I talked to were shocked I hadn’t played against it, and many Caw-Blade players reported playing the mirror multiple times.)
• I need to stop losing in the bubble. It really sucks.
• Byes at GPs are awesome, and I should attempt to get three for subsequent events. You just feel like you have a much better chance to make Day 2.
• R/U/G Pod with Twin is a fine deck in the current meta, though it will rotate soon, which will make me sad. It’s an interesting deck to play, as you have to work out how to make the random one-ofs you have drawn work in the particular matchup before you Pod them into something more relevant, so it is a fun test of your skills.

I had a great time in Pittsburgh. The people were all super-friendly, both at the GP and in the city itself. Next week, I will be reporting on what happened at the Pro Tour. (Spoiler: I didn’t win.)