After luck-sacking the November 2022 Atlanta Regional Championship, a feat documented somewhere in the ramblings below, I was back on the Pro Tour. The shine of this being its glorious return after COVID and all that MPL nonsense was not lost on me.
Unlike my 1st in-person Pro Tour, this go-round I had extensive experience with my constructed deck, Pioneer Mono-Black. Over three months of practice I put in 500 matches (mostly MTGO). I developed an extensive sideboard guide paired with just as extensive matchup notes, prompting one of my Pro Tour opponents to interrogate my use of the two-page manifesto in between games. After a judge check, legality was confirmed. Having the same Day 1 Pioneer record as the eventual Pro Tour champion, Reid Duke, cemented my confidence that I’d performed at my constructed ceiling for this Pro Tour. This was as good as it will ever get for me.
On the flip side, unlike my first Pro Tour, I had drastically less time to practice Limited and only managed 12 Magic Online and 3 in-person drafts. That said, I did feel my knowledge of the format, notably my regurgitation of 17lands data and my biases (such as viewing Hexgold Slash as the best common), was good enough heading into the most important draft of my life.
Day 1 Draft
My Pack1/Pick1 of the Phyrexia: All Will Be One bomb-heavy format revealed, quite sadly, no Eternal Wanderer. I took Urabrask’s Forge, the rare and best card in the pack. A pick 2 Infectious Bite set me along the path of my favorite archetype, Gruul. I even got a late Contagious Vorrac and Cinderslash Reveler. Pack 1 was looking pretty dece.
Sadly, problems ensued. I licked my lips opening pack 2, ready for a clean shot at a Hexgold Slash, then settled for Black Sun’s Twilight out of a horrific red/green selection (certainly no Slashes). I would end the draft seeing zero, not even one I had to pass for something better, Hexgold Slashes. Inconceivable as I was in what I thought to be the correct colors.
Here are the draft colors for players on my side of the table:
| Passing Left Pack 1 ← | |||
| ← Black-White | ← Red-Green (Me) | ← Black-Green | ← Red-White |
As indicated above, I was the only red drafter among the people to my right and left. Before the PT, I wanted to be in Naya colors and not share one color with the people around me. Success. I was in the deepest color, red, and only being cut from it two seats away.
And yet, this is where I ended up:
Some very poor cards among the 1-3 drops. The only big decision I faced my entire draft was an early pack 3 pick where I selected Armored Scrapgorger. I forget what else as in the pack, but the slew of good 1-3 drops I had hoped to pan out in my later packs never appeared.
I ended up sideboarding into a Black splash for Black Sun’s Twilight, coincidentally the only game I won.
The Jim Davis Thing
Jim Davis and I sat across from each other while deckbuilding. He made a video of his deck here:
The difference between a pro like him and me? He went 2-1 with a horrible deck. I went 0-3. People might be talking about Reid Duke winning the tournament, but the real story for me is Jim’s feat going 2-1 in this draft. That’s a considerable accomplishment, an amazing story that no one seems to be talking about. Although, to be fair, Jim did manage to pick up one Hexgold Slash.
My Draft Games
Round 1 my opponent, on Green Black, did this to me, and this is not revisionist memory:
Game 1 (I’m on the play). Turn 3 he plays Glissa. Turn 4 he plays Archfiend of Dross. Turn 5 he somehow has 4 black mana and casts Phyrexian Obliterator. Again, to be very clear, this is not revisionist. This is exactly what happened, turn by turn. I wrote it all down on my notepad to ensure I wasn’t losing my mind.
Game 2 (I’m on the play). He mulls to 6. Turn 3 Glissa again. Turn 4 no Archfiend! Turn 5 he plays Obliterator again. Turn 6 I sigh. He’s at 10 life. I have 10 power. I pray I draw Hazardous Blast for the win. I don’t. I pass. Turn 6 he casts Ruthless Predation, targeting his Obliterator and my Furnace Strider. I sacrifice 4 permanents. Turn 7 I rip the Hazardous Blast, one turn too late, because I no longer have 10 power or 4 lands to cast the spell due to the demolition last turn. GG.
Round 2 vs. a mediocre Black-White midrange deck. I squeak out game 2 by Black Sunning his Mondrak (his only bomb). On the draw game 3, I make a questionable keep and am run over by Mondrak and friends. GG.
Round 3 I’m flabbergasted to greet Yuuki Ichikawa in the 0-2 bracket. Like my prior opponents, he also produces a bomb, Elesh Norn. His 4x Planar Disruption and Rebel Salvo (I didn’t see one Slash!) are enough for me to question, once again, how on earth he’s 0-2. GG.
And that’s how you 0-3 a Pro Tour draft, if you’re me. I hold myself accountable for the poor keep Round 2. Round 1 and 3 and I can’t conceive any path to victory with my mediocre deck. I’m sure I could have drafted better, and yet nothing stands out to me as a clear mistake.
Pioneer Constructed Play
Round 4 begins against Gregor Kowalski. I know who he is. Seeing him in the 0-3 bracket with me extinguishes any and all shame I have of my winless record. I’m playing against a legit champ. Gregor is playing Reid Duke’s Izzet Creativity deck, which is a fine matchup for Mono-Black. Game 2 I get super lucky as he’s stuck with his Xenagos in hand. I steal a quick 2-0 and my first win of the Pro Tour!
Round 5 I lose to someone playing Grixis Midrange, a deck I had barely, if ever, played beforehand. After a quick game 1, game 2 I’m looking at my Invoke Despair into his two open mana. I know he has two Disdainful Stroke (it was open decklists) and say as much. I determine I can’t win without going for the Invoke. Well, he does, in fact, have one of his two Strokes in hand. GG.
Round 6 brings a routine win vs. Rakdos Midrange, the “best deck” of the format and one that heavily favors Mono-Black. I had hoped to play Rakdos all day and welcome it here.
Round 7 brings Mono-White and second guessing myself for not saving a Murderous Rider for a possible Adeline, which he draws, as I lose game 1. After a quick game 2, it’s on to a long, tense game 3. A patient player, my opponent outlasts my removal and plays around Extinction Event to lock it up. With my fifth loss, I am dead, but having so few Pro Tour matches under my belt, I play out my last round.
Round 8 brings with it my best matchup, Selesnya Angels. I spend most of the match craning my head around the room, my eyes reflecting the glimmer of the colorful mana symbol display on the main stage, the shine of greatness the Pro Tour brings. I inhale the vibe, savor the incredible feeling I’d been carrying around the past few months knowing I was qualified for the Pro Tour. I acknowledge I’ll soon be grieving the daily absence of the spring in my step I’d carried the past few months anticipating this very moment.
The match is overly too quickly. I draw well and my opponent draws poorly: an utter bloodbath in my favor. The easiest Pro Tour match of my life and against the deck which I’d beaten in my Atlanta win-and-in to get here in the first place. Full circle. Good bye, Pro Tour. I hope to be back someday.
Takeaways
I feel no shame in my 0-3 draft. I was the only player among my opponents who had no Mythic Rare bombs. I had thought a bomb-heavy format would favor someone like me, who might get lucky and have a fighting chance vs. the pros. Alas, not so.
Going 3-2 in Pioneer against the best in the world left me feeling great about my hard work getting here.
But wait, there’s more.
Sunday Morning 2nd Chance PTQ
On Sunday, all the Pro Tour competitors who didn’t qualify for the next PT were offered a free PTQ for four spots.
The aura of the PT returned as I re-entered the ballroom for a 106-person stacked PTQ.
How did I know it was stacked? First, every opponent was a Pro Tour veteran. Second, round 1 I was paired against Hall of Famer Shuhei Nakamura. It felt surreal feeling the breath of LSV and other notables watching me play Magic. Game 1, after a long back and forth (he was on Azorius Control), I somehow put myself in a position to lose if he has a counterspell, but thankfully he doesn’t and my Fatal Push resolves on his manland for the win. Game 3 he mulls to 5 and I pull ahead in a matchup that heavily favors Mono-Black. To his credit, LSV demolished me on MTGO with the deck leading up to the PT and I learned some good lessons from that practice. I think better of thanking LSV as he looks on.
Round 2 I beat a guy who ends up in the final 4. I’m his only loss. He’s on Enigmatic Fires, basically a 50/50 matchup for me that comes down to Invoke Despair. I find enough of them to earn quick 2-0, a nice reprieve from my last round marathon versus Shuhei.
Round 3 I play Rakdos Midrange, only this time I don’t draw well, not at all, and he has incessant gas to run me over. A rare drubbing vs. one of my best matchups.
Round 4 I recognize my opponent as winning a big tournament in China leading up to this PT. He’s on Mono Green, a matchup about 60/40 in his favor. Thankfully, I catch some breaks and I get past a tough matchup.
Round 5 I have another must win, but I’m facing my worst matchup, Rakdos Sacrifice. After one of the longest and most judge call heavy matches of my life (mostly on account of him missing many triggers which I at times scribble dutifully onto my notepad anyway), I dig for ways to kill him in extra turns while he’s at 10 life. I don’t get there as we draw game 2 and he takes down the match for a game 1 win. I’m dead.
But I decide to play Round 6 since the pairings go up immediately after my last match. I don’t remember much about this one. Mono Green again. I get run over one game, I run him over the next. Then Game 3 ends with him getting too far ahead.
The hall is virtually cleared out. The Pro Tour Top 8 is taking place on the main stage, but no spectators are allowed inside the ballroom, giving the place an empty, eerie feel. Most PTQers, like me, have dropped from the event, so there’s a particular solemnness on our side of the room.
I inhale the Pro Tour vibe, which now seems almost church-like, what with all the quiet and seriousness. I pray one day to return in all the glory and privilege I experienced this weekend.
