Hi everyone. I’ve been back from GP LA 2016 for a day or so, and am almost fully recovered from my trip. Here’s the recap! Ok, first of all, my decklist (See below). I was on Naya Burn. I’ve done some decent testing with various friends against many different lists. My mainboard was really conventional, pretty normal. It was my SB I was a bit sketch on, but I felt like it covered a wide variety of decks.
Naya Burn 4 Goblin Guide 1 Grim Lavamanacer 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Wild Nacatl 4 Eidolon of Great Revels
4 Lava Spike 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Atarka Command 4 Boros Charm 3 Searing Blaze 4 Rift Bolt
1 Arid Mesa 4 Bloodstained Mire 2 Copperline Gorge 2 Mountain 3 Sacred Foundry 2 Scalding Tarn 2 Stomping Ground 4 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 2 Path to Exile 1 Ancient Grudge 1 Deflecting Palm 3 Destructive Revelry 2 Kor Firewalker 1 Lightning Helix 2 Skullcrack 1 Stony Silence
I wanted to be prepared for Affinity mostly, and Tron. Didn’t play against either all day. Either way, here we go!
Round 1: Ad Nauseum (2-0) Firstly, I’ve never even played this matchup. I only even know the deck exists because I follow modern somewhat closely. I’ve seen lists in passing, occasionally someone plays against it on a stream. Game 1, I get him low, he sticks Phyrexian Unlife, and tries to go off. He goes to negative 90 or something. I have an Eidolon of Great Revel in play, which has been dealing infect damage now. He has 9 poison counters and tries to cast his Lightning Storm, dies to Eidolon trigger. Game 2, I got a fast hand and he floundered with draw spells.
Round 2: Blue Moon (2-0) Game 1 I see him flip a Blood Moon from my Goblin Guide trigger, though he never lands it. Game 1 went pretty quick, he never really had a foothold. I’m pretty sure Game 2 he boards Blood Moon out, and I saw an Anger of the Gods. I stick Atarka Command to boost my board out of Anger of the Gods range, and we wrap the match up rather quickly.
Round 3: Grixis Zombies (2-0) This matchup was fun, but unfortunately one sided. My opponent was on a brew, and it was great seeing his brew play out. He played zombies like Gravecrawler, Diregraf Ghoul, Relentless Dead, and Fleshbag Marauder. A lot of potential, backed by the good grixis spells. But his mana base caused a lot of damage, backed by my Eidolon and aggressive burn spells. Game 2 he landed double Dragon’s Claw, but was stuck on 2 lands, and my creatures just overran him.
Round 4: Abzan Spike Feeder/Archangel Combo (2-1) I later found out this opponent was pretty local to my hometown, which was a surprise! The deck felt like a brew, but was really tight and well constructed. Game 1 I bolted his Birds of Paradise, and games 2 and 3, I landed a Searing Blaze on his Birds every time. It sent him off a curve often enough, and with his mana base falling off curve too, I ended up narrowly winning this match.
Round 5: Mono Red Burn (1-2) What a tough game! This made my head spin. My shocks and his maindeck burn backed by a playset of Molten Rain whittled down my lands and life in Game 1. Game 2 I was on the play and narrowly won while at 1 life. Game 3, I started to flounder on spells, and couldn’t close the game out. My opponent pointed out that at least game 1, chances are Naya burn always loses to Mono Red burn. I’m inclined to agree. I’m also really bummed I never once saw my Kor Firewalkers...
Round 6: Black/Red Burn (1-2) My opponent this round was great to talk with. Her and her husband both play, and they’re both very worldly. I honestly didn’t expect to play against this particular version of the deck. She wins game 1, I win game 2. Game 3, I try to race, I get her life total low, and have her on a 1 turn clock. Her hand felt a little slow, and mine was pretty agreesive. She topdecks a bump in the night and we shake hands.
Round 7: Black/White Hate-drazi (1-2) Admittedly I didn’t test against this deck. I knew it existed, I just heard it wasn’t doing too well, so I didn’t put much stock in playing vs it. I took Game 1 pretty easily, thanks to his painful mana base. Game 2 I made a play mistake that probably mattered. He lands a Tidehollow Sculler, and I bolt it in response. The way the stack resolves, he basically gets to exile a card in hand forever. Looking back on my notes, I realize he ended the game at 2 life, and the card he exiled was a Boros Charm. Game 3, he lands a couple of Kitchen Finks and I didn’t draw too well.
Round 8: Black/White Hate-drazi (1-2) This is the second time I’m playing against the same decklist in a row. I felt somewhat prepared, as I knew what to expect. At this point I’m really starting to feel the day. The lack of food and water, the spinning of being surrounded by 2500 people, the lights and sounds. It affects your mind, after 10 or so hours. This was the match I made a terrible play mistake. Game 1 he goes first, he plays land and pass. I get Copperline Gorge and casts Wild Nacatl, which is a 1/1. His turn he taps out for Leonin Arbiter. My hand has some Fetchlands, Swiftspear, and Bolt. The line of play is clear. Bolt his guy, crack a fetch, play swiftspear, and swing. For whatever reason, I lost that line of play, and wanted to maximize my damage output. I tap my only real land for Swiftspear, to ensure I got the Prowess trigger from Bolt. I even go so far as to enter combat, and attack with my 1/1 Nacatl and Swiftspear. My opponent snap blocks Nacatl. And this is the point I realized that I fucked up. My fetch does nothing. I have no mana. Nacatl will inevitably die. My head hangs low, I pass. Opponent plays and cracks Ghost Quarter on my only land and I scoop. I end up winning Game 2, my deck runs exactly like I wrote it up. Game 3, he lands back to back Thought-Knot Seer, squeezes my hand, and he wins the game, life total almost untouched.
Round 9: Red/Blue Control/Tempo (2-1) This match was mostly for fun, as I knew I was out of contention for day 2. My opponent’s list was odd, but obviously tuned. Game 1 I took without much effort. Game 2 I see Anger of the Gods and even further, I see Goblin Dark-Dweller. This game was close, but he got Bolt/Snap/Bolt and got there. Game 3 was much like Game 1, where I hit Eidolon early, he took a ton of hits due to draw spells, and when he finally landed a Goblin Dark-Dweller, I double-Searing Blazed it for the win.
In the end I ended the day at 5-4. One win away from Day 2. That aside I had an absolute blast. Met a ton of pro’s, got some signatures from pro’s and artists alike. Met great people, and had so much fun. This time I felt better prepared than anytime before, but next time I feel I’ll be more prepared still. Until next time, audios folks!
