Hey guys! I hope you missed me on my week off; I was in Hawaii last week battling at Pro Tour Kaladesh. While I didn’t get the results I wanted, it was a great experience and will definitely help shape my view of Magic going forward. I don’t think there is enough appreciation for the sacrifices that are made by the veterans and the greats of the game.

My Pro Tour Story

My preparation really started with trying to find a bunch of like-minded people to test with. Unfortunately, many of my friends that had qualified were already on a team or in another part of the state. Most of my testing was by myself. Making decklists and trying to build around certain cards, I spend probably 3-4 hours a day trying to figure out what I wanted to play at the Pro Tour. I came to an early version of the now very well known W/R Vehicles deck. It was great against people that were trying to play the same type of Magic they played before Kaladesh. I had some Cryptolith Rite decks (which got better with the removal of Dromoka's Command) and some Aetherworks Marvel decks. After Chris VanMeter won the SCG Open in Indianapolis I was pretty sure I couldn’t play Vehicles. Bringing a known deck to the Pro Tour and not having the best version of that deck is a great recipe for losing. Without a team of players to test with for a week, I couldn’t count on finding the best version of any deck. I just needed a good version of a deck.

Thursday I went to the tournament hall and registered for the largest Pro Tour in the history of the Pro Tour. That was actually good for me. The talent is a little more diluted when the percentage of players with a pro status is lower. I also decided what deck to play. I was on the fence but I had done the most testing with Aetherworks Marvel. There is no doubt that it is powerful and very proactive. It’s unlikely that anyone was going to overpower it and I was feeling a little lucky. A few minor adjustments and then I send this list to the website necessary to register your deck. The weight of the past few weeks coming off my shoulders was almost greater than the feeling of being in Hawaii for the first time.

Temur Aetherworks ? Kaladesh Standard| Jim Casale, Pro Tour Kaladesh

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Aether Theorist
• 4 Emrakul, the Promised End
• 4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

• Spells (28)
• 4 Kozilek's Return
• 4 Attune with Aether
• 4 Cathartic Reunion
• 4 Aetherworks Marvel
• 4 Glassblower's Puzzleknot
• 4 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot
• 4 Vessel of Nascency

• Lands (22)
• 1 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 6 Forest
• 2 Game Trail
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Botanical Sanctum
• 4 Spirebluff Canal

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Fevered Visions
• 4 Galvanic Bombardment
• 2 Negate
• 1 Dispel
• 2 Appetite for the Unnatural
• 2 Ishkanah, Grafwidow

Buy This Deck

Day 1

Every Pro Tour starts with a draft. I was a bit too nervous to take a picture of my first draft pod’s slip but I will say the only person I knew by name was Jon Stern. It was a reasonable pod, not a pod of death. The draft started horrendously. I know the rare in a pack is not necessarily the best or the most powerful card in the pack but I had done a lot of testing with Kaladesh Limited. I played so many sealed deck and draft tournaments and the recurring theme was opening Authority of the Consuls in the first pack. As I thumbed through the pack, I saw my rare was Authority of the Consuls and my heart sank. I didn’t call “one time dealer” before opening it but it was still a disheartening way to start my tournament. I don’t remember much else about this draft except that my deck was a mess and my second pack also had an Authority of the Consuls. I drafted a pretty bad U/W deck and got to play against 3 opponents whom all drafted a Key to the City. I came out of the draft 1-2. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

My first round of constructed ended like this:

5 Eldrazi titans later, it appeared some people were not prepared to play the game I was playing this weekend. I was optimistic that maybe I could make up for my poor draft with a good constructed performance. I won round 5 against Pro Tour Hall of Famer, Kai Budde, and then proceeded to drop the next two matches. I don’t want to say I was particularly unlucky but I wasn’t feeling good. At the Pro Tour, you need to have a 4-4 record to play on the next day. My 8th round opponent was a gentleman from Italy. It was also his first Pro Tour and he was equally looking forward to his 4th win to play the next day. I won a quick game after he cast no spells that really mattered. The second game he played a quick Chandra, Flamecaller while I tried to find a Marvel and died to a combination of Torrential Gearhulk and 3/1 elementals. Unlike all of you at home, I wasn’t watching the Pro Tour and didn’t know the prevalence of this Gearhulk. I may have played a little differently had I known people were playing it this weekend but I didn’t really have time to think about that. Game 3 I was on the play and had the best chance to close out the game. I was able to gain 5 energy by 2 turn and on my third turn cast Cathartic Reunion discarding 2 lands, leaving me with 2 cards in hand. It was a pretty juicy target for a counter spell that I hoped he had. He thought for a while and then cast Negate. Would you have taken the 3 for one? My last two cards were Aether Hub and Aetherworks Marvel. I resolved the Marvel the following turn and put an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger into play. Two turns later, I was on my way to playing the next day.

Day 2

Remember how I said my first pod felt pretty fair?

The Draft Master from last year, the world champion and the runner up, no big deal, right? Well this draft went as good as one could have expected. I drafted probably the best deck I have ever drafted in Kaladesh and played it to another unspectacular 1-2. Hao-Shan Huang (whom I found out later is a gold level pro from Asia) and Brian Braun-Duin (whom I have played in the last two tournaments we both played in) gave me to more ticks against and I was against the wall again. My only regret from the draft was not taking the foil stamped Dynavolt Tower. I passed it to Brian who later flashed it to me. I guess I still have a good story.

Every match win means so much at the pro tour that after each loss I sank a little deeper in my seat. With 33 match points (basically 11-5) you get an invite to the next Pro Tour. At my current record of 5-6, I was already out of contention for that. With 27 or more match points (9 wins) you get additional pro points past the 3 you get for playing at the Pro Tour. With Silver Pro status being upgraded to 20 points this year, it’s even harder to qualify via Pro Points but at least I was playing for something.

Round 12 I won quickly 2-0 against frequent Eh Team guest, Doug Potter. Two turn four Ulamogs showcased the explosiveness and power of the deck. Round 13 I won against Bant midrange because their cards just don’t matchup well against Eldrazi Titans. I also do not believe he was playing any Spell Quellers. Round 14 I won against G/B Delirium rather convincingly and I was optimistic I could get some extra Pro Points and feel better about my performance. Round 15 I played against Pat Cox playing the Pantheon’s version of Marvel. It was my first mirror match of the weekend and their sideboard was much better than mine for the mirror. We played a close 3 game match but his additional counter spells and card drawing put another tick against me. At 8-7 I still had the chance to go better than 50/50 and feel accomplished. After a rather uneventful 3 games against Invitational Winner, Liam Lonergan, I was at the most mediocre 8-8. Not enough wins to get any additional prizes but too many wins that I didn’t get an extra day to sight see in Hawaii.

Moving Forward

Magic has been one of the biggest parts of my life since I moved to Florida 5 years ago. It has taken a lot of my time and money but also brought me some of my best friends here. I’m fiercely competitive and always strive to be the best. Nothing feels worse for me than 2nd place. At this juncture, however, I think it is best for me to take a step back from the game. I’ve reached the point where I need to put in more effort and more time into the game than I’m willing to do. My Magic / life balance was called into question during my preparation for the Pro Tour and I think after my finish I can safely say I need to put in more work to do any better. If you’ve seen recent articles by Gerry Thompson and an unnamed Pro about the “grind” that Magic is. This past week proved to me how much it can really be. I contemplated trying to go to Grand Prix Providence but between the $475 plane ticket and the realization that I would likely walk into work on Monday as a zombie helped me avoid the decision. I’m not depressed or sad about my performance, but I think it’s important for everyone to realize all of the goals in their life may not line up and some of them are worth more than others.

My goal was to play on the Pro Tour and I did. I don’t regret a single second of it and I am so grateful to have the opportunity but I think now is the time to focus on other important things in my life. Staying the course and trying to qualify for more of them will just frustrate me and cause me to neglect other goals more than I already have. Make sure the next time you read an article by a player or see them at a tournament to thank them for their hard work and dedication. They’re a person too, not a walking sideboard guide.