GP Seattle was a roller coaster of ups and downs resulting in a 5-3 finish in the Standard portion. One win off of making day 2 is a pretty bad beating but getting enough planeswalker points to have 2 byes for the next year is definitely something I am looking forward to. The deck I chose for the Standard event was RG monsters. The reason I chose this deck was more from a comfortability standpoint. About a month prior I won a PPTQ with a similar list. Choosing this deck was probably the biggest mistake I made during the GP planning. Being more of a control player I attempted to play the deck as a control deck which it is not. The right choice of the weekend for me should have been UW Drake Haven/Approach. The RG monsters deck is still a very good deck and the raw power of Rekindling Phoenix and Glorybringer got me a few wins. The best part of the deck is the consistency with the eternalize creatures and explore getting you the extra land drops you need and making your early drops late game must answer threats. It is a type of deck that players can pick up and 4-0 an FNM as piloting it is not the most difficult.
My standard GP was a very short and somewhat boring one if I am being honest. Round one was a bye which if you are looking to go to Grand Prix consistently are the most important thing to have. Having byes prevents playing against a lot of the rogue decks that you did not test for and gives you the best tiebreakers which are very important for a day 2 run. My round 2 opponent was on BG constrictor which can be a difficult matchup post board with them having access to Blossoming Defense and Heroic Intervention. I could not kill the Winding Constrictor and was quickly dispatched starting 1-1. Round 3 was against a brew of B/R control running Claim/Faim and reanimating Glint Sleeve Siphoner and Dusk Legion Zealot. I used my removal to quickly and could not keep up either game. Starting off 1-2 in a GP is a very difficult place to be in mentally having to go 5-0 to make day two but it is possible as seen by fellow Boise player Tim Allen who started the day 1-2 and ended 10-5. Round 4 was an easy one the opponent was playing Champion of Rhonas trying to cheat out Zatalpa. He did not have any early game and it was a quick 2-0. Round 5 was against Sultai Constrictor and the best matchup of the weekend by far. Game 1 was very back and forth until he resolved a Bristling Hydra with 6 energy and followed it up with a Hadana’s Climb swinging for 14 in the air. Game 2 I took over with Glorybringers and he did not have the Contempts to kill them. Game 3 he mulliganed to 5 but managed to keep the game close with Bristling Hydra and friends. Eventually, the mulligan turned out to be his downfall as he could not keep up with the flying threats. At 3-2 I was feeling decent but not super confident I still had 3 rounds to go. Round 6 my opponent showed up late and got a game loss. Starting up a match I was sure I was going to be 4-2. However, I was reminded how good an unkilled Scarab god can be and I was quickly picked apart by UB control.
At this point being out of day two, I was more relaxed and focused towards the last 2 rounds to get the planeswalker points for my byes. The last 2 rounds were very uneventful as neither opponents showed up giving me the wins and a 5-3 finish. Overall the weekend was a good one not making day 2 was a bummer but getting the points for GP Dallas and GP Vegas are huge. One big thing I would change if I could go back to this GP is to test more and really figure out which deck would suit me instead of going with the best deck. The most important things about Grand Prix is the experience of playing at a higher level and having a chance of going to the Pro Tour and really showing your skills as a magic player.
DECK LIST – R/G MONSTERS
CREATURES-
4x Rekindling Phoenix
4x Glorybringer
4x Merfolk Branchwalker
4x Jadelight Ranger
4x Earthshaker Khenra
3x Resilient Khenra
1x Pia Nallar
1x Carnage Tyrant
1x Rhonas
SPELLS-
4x Abrade
3x Struggle/Survive
2x Magma Spray
LANDS-
4x Sheltered Thicket
4x Rootbound Crag
3x Hashep Oasis
8x Mountain
6x Forest
SIDEBOARD-
2x Thrashing Brontadon
2x Deathgorge Scavenger
2x Chandra Torch of Defiance
1x Chandra’s Defeat
1x Blossoming Defense
1x Vance’s Blasting Cannons
1x Naturalize
1x Magma Spray
1x Carnage Tyrant
1x Struggle/Survive
2x Azcotan Archers
