PT Nats 2011 - Report

Friday Night before Nats I couldn't come up with a list, so I went to sleep at 2AM without knowing the full 75.

I knew I wanted my curve to end at Hero of Bladehold, since this was now a Hero of Bladehold deck, hence the Spellskites main deck they protect your Hero from Ring and Dismember and also being good against Splinter-Twin, carrying a Sword, etc. After putting my own ideas with the ones from Marcio, Tiago Fonseca and Goncalo Pinto, and talking to Mauro Peleira on site I settled on this list.

4 Plains

4 Island

4 Celestial Colonnade

4 Seachrome Coast

4 Glacial Fortress

4 Tectonic Edge

2 Inkmoth Nexus

4 Squadron Hawk

4 Blade Splicer

4 Hero of Bladehold

4 Mana Leak

4 Preordain

3 Oblivion Ring

2 Dismember

2 Sword of Feast and Famine

1 Sword of War and Peace

3 Spell Pierce

3 Spellskite

Sideboard

1 Flashfreeze

2 Deprive

2 Gideon Jura

3 Timely Reinforcements

2 Ratchet Bomb

3 Day of Judgment

2 Celestial Purge

If I played this deck the Monday after Nats (3 weeks have passed, so not a good advice) I would cut the Nexus for coloured mana. My list was different from Marcio and Mauro two cards, and from Tiago Fonseca and Goncalo Pinto 4 cards, they had Mirran Crusader.

I posted on Facebook on much I hated the deck I was playing, so many creatures. We just couldn't come up with anything better by the 23rd of July.

Round 1: Video Feature Match vs Rafael Batalha (Caw Blade)

Rafael is a kid I never saw his name or face before, but then again I'm out of the country for 3 years. I asked him if he had been posting good results lately, he said last year had been ok, this year not so much, an ambiguous enough answer depending on one's definition of ok.
I asked the coverage team about why was this match featured, they told me they just wanted to get me on camera. In my mind, I finished their sentence with a "before I drop from the tournament", obv. I felt like Jakub Slemr getting a Round 2 Feature Match at a Grand Prix Prague, with all the respect to Jakub Slemr.

Game one I'm on the play and I have a pretty good draw, Spellskite, Blade Splicer, Hero of Bladehold, play and equip the miser's Sword of War and Peace. I won.

During sideboard one of the spectators, a friend on Facebook who had checked my status the day before, told me: "See the deck is good you're winning". I gave the short and polite answer I could while I was sideboarding, something like "Yeah we'll see" or "the match isn't over haven't won yet" but my feelings about the deck had not changed. Clearly, this was just a prank from destiny trying to get my hopes high, making it feel you could grasp the win, before delivering the final blow with a "Did you really tought you were winning? Clearly not".

Game two I spent the first ten minutes of video shuffling. No, Mr shall remain unnamed judge, that is not a slow play warning or failure to present deck after 3 minutes. I mulliganed to 4, had a playable 4 card hand, but unsurprisingly run out of gas.

Game three I always tought I was going to win, I had everything, being on the play having Squadron Hawk, Spellskite, Sword of War and Peace, Mana Leak, Spell Pierce. I tought I was a little unfortunate on lands. I had 4 on turn 6, and then 3 on turn 7, two of them being Nexus, so I'll probably be cutting them. Tiago Fonseca was watching and said I could've played the Sword of War and Peace that was Spell Pierced earlier, but Rafael had a Divine Offering in his hand all the time. Still it was probably a better play, as it would increase my clock with Hawk.

One interesting thing, the turn where he Tectonic Edge my untapped Blue mana so he could cast his Hero of Bladehold safely, he activated Edge, I binned my Land silently (altough worried because that Tectonic Edge was his land drop for the turn I hadn't seen it before), and he asked me. Did you added mana?

This question is him just making sure and having the game state as clear as possible (tough if I had added, I would have to announce it someway) What I think is, had I added a Blue mana, it would be very disrespectful of me towards my opponent, to judge him as somone who would on an empty board from his side except lands, to forget to announce his attack step and play his Hero into my Blue mana. Of course that now without Mana Burn it is technically correct to do it, but come on give some respect to your oponents.

0 - 1

Round 2: vs Black Red Vampires

Game 1 I just remember him running out of gas and me on the late game activating Nexus, equipping both Swords on it attacking, untapping and doing some other stuff, I won by poison.

Game two, I made my worst mistake of the tournament. I have Hero of Bladehold which is very huge clock. He has one 2/2 creature, but I'm only at 6. He holds one card. I draw Timely Reinforcements. If I go back to 12, I feel pretty safe and I can end the game prob the next turn with Hero. So what do I do? I swing with hero, hitting him for 7. Then after combat, whooaa.... yup... Go. And I had to hope he didn't topdeck anything to finish me me. How embarassing. Should've lost this game just because of that.

1 - 1

Round 3: vs Valakut

I don't remember this round, I won 2-1 but I don't remember if I won the first or the second. I do remember his list had Summoning Trap, and that I tilted a bit on game three because I almost got colour screwed in Game 3 by drawing two Nexus. However the feeling of getting the 2-1 in Standard with so little faith in the deck was amazing and made me think I could actually pull out something this Nats.

2 - 1

Lunch break, something like 45 mins, with nowhere nearby to eat but we were lucky to ask some persons on the street and find a Cuban Grill Restaurant just a few blocks away where we asked for a turbo service. The funniest thing happened, and probably just a bunch of people who know Frederico Bastos well will understand why is so funny, but I have to write it just for a select few who will understand.

Me: (while looking at the menu) Judging by the pics, I don't think there's anything here you will eat.

Fred Bastos: I don't see how hard can it be to find something I like at a Cuban Grill Restaurant.

Me: Trust me, skip all the pictures and go straight to the last page to the hand written stuff.

Fred Bastos (after not taking my advice and wasting 5 mins looking at the menu): You know me too well...

For you to understand you would have to know Frederico Bastos well, and when I say well I mean at least having went to a Pizzaria with him, and had looked at the Cuban Grill menu. I think only a couple of persons qualify for that, but for those this was one of the highlights of the weekend.

I was in a really high mood, thanks to a delicious (altough in a hurry, and delicious at least for me, others might have different opinions) meal, and because of my 2-1 score with a deck I had no confidence in. I knew I had to make a move in the draft portion, but I was ready for that.

My pod it's all 2-1 players, I recognize Helder Coelho and Daniel Teixeira. Daniel Teixeira is from Porto but I played him twice in my last 4 tournaments, a PTQ and Nats both last year. His play seemed solid and with a reason, and the advanced stages of the tournaments when we played indicated he posted reasonable finishes in both. Helder Coelho was in all our practice drafts, I mean he is the one good friends with the owner of the place. He quitted Magic like 8 years ago but decide to give Magic another go. Despite that, I believe Helder to be Top 5 in an all-time list of best Portuguese players, ahead of names like my good friends Paulo Carvalho (and his 2 PT Top 8) and Rui Mariani. Point is, there are few names I'd rather face in Portugal instead of Helder, despite his long absence. (Hey I also quitted 3 years ago)

And check my blog next week where I'll reveal who I believe are the Top 10 Portuguese Magic players of all time.

I don't remember what I first picked, probably a Red removal spell, followed it with Merfolk Looter and Phantasmal Image, then it became obvious that Green was open and Blue was not (unsurprisingly) so not happy with it, I made the switch, and was rewarded with the best deck I drafted in M12 at that point.

1 Shock

1 Incinerate

2 Chandra's Outrage

2 Bloodthirst Ogre

1 Goblin Piker

1 Bonebraeak Giant

2 Arachnus Web

1 Trollhide

2 Rhyno 4G 4/4 Trample

1 Overrun

1 Garruk's Companion

1 Titanic Growth

2 Sacred Wolf

1 Primordial Hydra

2 Jade Mage

2 Elvish Archdruid

I also had a perfect Sideboard

1 Naturalize

2 Plummet

2 Vastwood Gorger, the 5/6 for 5G against other Green decks

1 Goblin Arsonist if I needed an early blocker

Sorry the cards are in Portuguese so some cards might have incorrect names.

I mentally fist pumped when the draft was over and tought to myself, I'm not gonna have a better chance at 3-0 this weekend than now.

Round 4: Daniel Teixeira with BW fliers

Game 1 I mulliganed a hand of 5 lands, Bonebreak Giant and either Trollhide or Titanic Growth. Kept the next one, 4 lands, the same giant and Arachnus Web. He had a super fast start, I think he killed me before I played the Giant even tough I played Arachnus Web on some guy.

Game 2 I won just by putting some pressure, early guys, removal.

Game 3 I had another decent start, but his turn 4 Solemn Simulacrum threatened to be a 3 for 1, and turn 5 Siege Mastodon disencouraged me from attacking. Overall I felt I drew really poorly this round, a fact later confirmed by Daniel after watching my deck.

2 - 2

Clearly not going according the plan.

Round 5: vs White / Green

Historically, RG has troubles against GW in draft. GW has the same size monsters but the white ones have evasion and are cheaper. Red removal is too small for the bigger monsters, and there usually aren't creatures with repeatable activated abilities that have to be killed, so not having removal is less of a drawback for GW.

Game one I lost to Serra Angel enchanted with Trollhide, Divine Favour and Lifelink. How do I beat that, not even drawing my whole deck.

I won the other two, one of them I was on the offensive the whole time, and had Red removal or Pump all the time, so every turn he played a guy, and every turn I kept swinging. But one of the games I won was very close, I tought I was going to lose, but topdecked Incinerate to kill his creature enchanted with Trollhide. Thank god it's Incinerate and not Lightning Bolt.

3 - 2 (but it was so close to being a 2-3)

Round 6: Black/Red

I won the first, Jade Mage survived enough turns to have an impact.

I lost the second to Sorin Markov.

Game three I'm on the offensive, on his turn 6, he didn't have a sixth land, so I managed to kill him before Sorin Markov. How lucky.

4 - 2

I tought this draft had a shot at 3-0 but after playing with it I felt much closer to a 0-3 as I could have easily lost all other matches than 3-0. After the draft I grabbed Helder and we played some games with our drafts and I won.

Second Draft

Highlights of my Draft Pod at 4-2 were Luis Sousa, who I also consider to be in the Top 10 of Portugal all time, Sergio Preto, Limited expert when Andre Coimbra was on the train and could pick any player with at least 1 pro point on the season to team with he choose Sergio Preto. Sergio has 6-0 the draft portion of PT Nats several times, has played in a bunch of PT's and made some Limited GP's Top 32. Pedro Cavaleiro another strong player who has made the National Team before and has Pro Tour experience, he was on Zvi, Steve Sadin and other New Yorkers playtest group for Worlds 2008. There were a couple more familiar faces, opposition wasn't easy.

This is the famous draft I talked about on my Facebook multiple status, the worst deck I ever drafted, not only in M12, but in my whole life. I never played with so many garbage cards and despite the low power level and fillers, the deck as absolutely ZERO synergy. It has the spells of a control deck, and the creatures of an aggro one. After the draft my feeling was the exact opposite of the end of the first draft, Nats was over.

Also after the draft the coverage team informed me that during the draft there was a reporter behind me who covered my draft. First, I must say I feel very flattered that me being 4-2 was still chosen to be the draft covered out of 120 players. Second feeling was "doh" I drafted the worst deck ever and it's now tracked down.

Booster 1 Picks 1-14

Day of Judgment

Incinerate

Stormfront Pegasus

Consume Spirit

Consume Spirit

Rusted Sentinel

Stave off

Auramancer

Brink of Disaster

Zombie Goliath

Act of Treason

Griffin Sentinel

Zombie Infestation

Flight

Booster 2 Picks 1-14
Stormfront Pegasus

Mind Rot

Serra Angel

Duskhunter Bat

Elite Vanguard

Warpath Ghoul

Bloodseeker

Combust

Disstress

Dragonskull Summit

SmallpoxLure

Wurm’s Tooth

Negate

Booster 3 Picks 1-14

Assault Griffin

Stormfront Pegasus

Sorin’s Thirst

Crown of Empires

Mighty Leap

Consume Spirit

Lurking Crocodile

Smallpox

Mind Unbound

Plummet

Hideous Visage

Gladecover Scout

Negate

Rampant Growth

Greater Basilisk

The player to my right first picked Fireball and shipped me Incinerate. I never saw another Red card for the rest of the draft, but didn't try to force it. Third pick I had to choose between Stormfront Pegasus or Giant Spider. Should have taken the Spider. Later in the draft it was clear that Green was open again (it always is) and I would probably ended up with an average Green/Black deck, normal guys, light on removal, not necessarly synergetic but at least not so disfunctional. I also think my seat wasn't good, a couple of seats away from me the packs opened were the ones Bad for Sealed, a couple of good cards and then 10 mediocre cards, since I never saw anything good after the third pick in every booster.

1 Sorin’s Thirst

3 Consume Spirit

2 Smallpox

1 Crown of Empires

1 Mind Rot

1 Day of Judgment

1 Disstress

1 Zombie Goliath

1 Elite Vanguard

1 Duskhunter Bat

1 Blood Seeker

1 Warpath Goul

1 Griffin Sentinel

1 Rusted Sentinel

1 Serra Angel

11 Swamp

7 Plains

Playing with this deck was an interesting challenge, because it forces you to play Limited like you would play Constructed. If you just cast what you have when you have the mana, for sure you're not gonna win, every game you need to visualize how you're gonna win.

For example.
- Always choose to draw.

- Don't try to go aggro despite your creatures might indicate so. Most of them are there to trade in combat or bail out stuff.

- Distress, before you play Serra Angel is one of your best chances to win.

Round 7: vs UW fliers

He plays some guys, I'm lacking the second plains to play Day of Judgement, and even before I drew it, I just realize he his holding a Cancel. The way he thinks and pauses, counts and taps it's mana, it's written all over the place. Anyway, I draw the second Plains, and I need to play Day of Judgement or I will die, I didn't had anything good enough to bail out the Cancel before. And who knows, maybe he's just bluffing it, since he didn't bother to counter any of my horrible cards so far, or who knows, maybe my reading skills are getting worse. Still I tapped 4 and played it saying, I know you have a Cancel.

That wasn't me whinning and going, of course they always have it. That was me, knowing for several turns he had it.

Game two I'm on the draw, played Smallpox getting his first guy, but it didn't slowed him down enough, actually I believed the land sacrifice from Smallpox hurted me more than him.

4 - 3

End of Day 1, but not of this Report.

So I'm feeling pretty dejected. I have given away all the losses I could afford and would have to 5-0 the second day. With the first two rounds being with this deck. I like to be optimistic, so what did that meant?

First, we went for Dinner, always a nice plan. Second, Luis Sousa had dropped from the event, so I had a 33% shot of having a Bye. Third, after the bye, I would play against someone, choose to draw first and mana screw him with Smallpox. Then I would needed to 3-0 with Caw Blade. And now, after playing with this draft, I felt Caw Blade was the best deck ever, and I couldn't wait to play with it again, so always optimistic! Even if I lost a round before 11am, I could still drop and play the PTQ.

When I woke up the next day, I tried my best to not think about the deck, and keep praying to get the Bye. But instead I would be playing my friend Pedro Cavaleiro who was feeding me during the draft.

Round 8: Pedro Cavaleiro with B/R aggro

I won 2-1 (!!!) I don't remember the games, they were all very long and grinded out, and also very exciting for both of us and our audience. I think our decks interacted nicely and even tough I won I wouldn't be slightly upset had I lost given the way the games happened. There was however a stain on it.

Game 3, three turns before ending.

I attack with Stormfront Pegasus to put him at 6. Play the Serra Angel I drew.

He plays Goblin Arsonist, gives him Haste with Crimson Mage and attacks. I look at the board, tought about it for a while, meh, I'll block, what's the worst it could happen? Pedro's jaw dropped. The audience erupted! Whoa Tiago fell for it. "What" I asked to myself? Pedro continues playng. Goblin dies, 1 damage to Stormfront Pegasus. Oh, right! That was it.

Every once in a while you see bad plays like this happen, and you wonder what was that guy thinking, so I'll tell you what was I. I didn't saw Stormfront Pegasus in play, because it was tapped and slightly aside. He had a bunch of untapped creatures. a Tapped Goblin attacking me on the center of the table, and I had a bunch of untapped creatures. Had I realized the Pegasus was in play, I wouldn't block, just like that.

Next turn I attack with Serra Angel to put him at 2. He drews and extends the hand. I apologized to Pedro for my mistake, he didn't deserve to lose like that.

5 - 3

Round 9: vs BW

Game one he mulliganed to 5 on the play, I played Smallpox, but since I couldn't kill him, he recovered and killed me with some guys.

This opponent had been awarded the Bye last round and he watched my match against Pedro Cavaleiro. He knows exactly how unorthodox my draft his and what are my ways of gaining advantage and winning. I sided out one Plains and Day of Judgement, as I couldn't believe there was a situation where this card could be good given the circumstances. I added an extra Swamp for value on the triple Consume Spirit and some other filler.

Just like with Pedro Cavaleiro, all the games were so long, since my deck has very few winning conditions. I just remember the end of game three, I'm dead on his next attack, my turn I attack for two with Stormfront Pegasus, and then played Consume Spirit for exactly lethal maybe 7.

The following conversation happened:

Him: Did you drew it?

Me: No, I had it.

Him: Isn't it your third copy? (checks my graveyard)

Me: Yes.

Him: I tought you had 2 only, so I felt safe. Well lucky you, GGs!

For the record, I think that this round opponent played perfectly every turn, every decision he had to make. But remember, he watched my match with Pedro Cavaleiro, so he had close to full information, my deck really benefits from the surprise element, but anyway congratulations to my opponent who made a really good interpretation of the information he acquired and played accordingly.

6 - 3

After this match I was finally free of this deck. I took out the Constructed deck box and hugged my sweet sweet beloved Caw Blade. I never tought six rounds of Draft could change so much my opinion of my Constructed deck. I was ready for the final 3-0, after 2-1 every part of the tournament so far.

Round 10: Dinis Maia with GW Good Stuff

Dinis is also a former National Champion, him in 2001 me in 2003, but I know him from more than 10 years. When we were kids we played a Team Limited PTQ together, but then we started playing at different stores with different people and we gradually lost contact. We also grew up, got jobs and changed priorities, so we only see each other maybe once a year. But I think we have a mutual great deal of respect for each other not only as Magic players, but more importantly as two persons, and I enjoy his presence in Magic tournaments and playing with him.

Game 1 he started with Birds into Birthing Pod. I don't know exactly what he's playing, but this looks very very bad for me. He got one activation, where he sac his Birds for Nest Invader. I had an Oblivion Ring next turn, and I can safely guess his deck has Acidic Slime, so I have to hope he doesn't draw it. He followed with Lorwyn Garruk, but from here I can somehow control the damages, and his GW deck ran out of gas quicker than me.

Game 2 is all about one play. Nothing else mattered really. On his turn 3 he has 4 mana and goes into the tank. I have only one land untapped. I'm sure he's debating which card to play, Lorwyn Garruk or Bladehold Hero, do I have the Spell Pierce or the Dismember. He tought about it for a really long time, but I never interrupted as it's a pretty tough choice. I don't even remember which one he played, and I don't even remember which one of Spell Pierce / Dismember I was holding. I just knew I was hoping all the time, play the wrong one, play the wrong one. When he did, and I tapped one mana to answer it, just like that the game was over.

7 - 3

3 - 0 for the day, it's happening, two more to go.

Pairings for Round 11 go up and it's me against Marcio. We shrug and sit down at our table. But there was an idiot who started shouting: "New pairings are coming, New pairings are coming, Frederico Bastos is not listed on the pairings". Me and Marcio instantly got up, hi5'd each other and yelled: YAUUUUSSSSS!

Upon checking that the idiot was Frederico Costa we just sat down again embarassed everyone looking and started shuffling.

Round 11: Video Feature Match vs Marcio Carvalho with Mirror Blade

Upon the announcement of this Feature Match, the crowd reaction described the magnitude and context match. Elimination Match, Son Goku vs Vegeta one would be out of Top 8 for sure.

However this was not as epic as it could have been, as the rivals, altough with similar potentials were currently at unbalanced states of power. Think of it as a Goku vs Vegeta match, but a black hair Son Goku unable to change into super warrior state, against a blonde hair Vegeta.

Game 1 Marcio was on the play and had turn 2 Hawk, while I had it a couple turns later, so he was on the offensive, and the Nexus was slightly disrupting my plays. I managed to solve the Hawks with Hawks of my own, the momentum changed back and forth, but eventually he won landing a threat that sticked. I lost the game with several counters on my hand, which I couldn't properly use because of my mana.

In Marcio's words: "Punished! Playing with Inkmoth Nexus, you have to be punished." (Punished is Marcio's currently pet expression, you will likely year it hundreds of time if you spend a day with him)

Game two I have the cards to be on the offensive, I went all in played the cards and Tectonic Edge, Marcio's Edge instead of Colonnade really trying to go all-in with Sword draw, ensuring Nexus could carry a sword if needed, but he had all the answers.

I tried to discuss the games a little, but despite winning Marcio was not on the mood, so I'm not really sure how different things could have been, other possible plays. I have zero experience playing these UW Blade decks, so it seems fairly natural that I lost both mirrors, tough in round 1 I was very close of mising a win, while against Marcio I always felt he had it under control.

7 - 4

Out of Top 8 contention and the PTQ had already started, how unfortunate. However Top 12 is 2 Pro Points and Top 16 is one Pro Point. I figure I should just play the final round and see what happens, since it's basically free pro points. My decision of not dropping received many dejective and I believe irrational comments along the lines of.

"You are pathetic, playing for Pro Points. You had a mediocre performance at Nats, don't humiliate yourself more playing for Pro Points, just drop and save some pride, that is, if you still have some left."

I really don't understand! Really.

I made the trip to Nats. I put a deck together after some playtest. I spent two days here. No shame in not dropping and playing the last round. It's just one more match. And to those who say that Pro Points are worth nothing, and in fact they might end up being irrelevant, the true fact is it costs me nothing to play one more match. It's not that I have to do another card ride to another tournament site. It's not that I have something better to do if I drop. I can't go home as I have to wait for the others, I can't go for an early dinner as well, and there just isn't any reason to drop like wanting to watch a Football match or something. If I dropped, what I would do was to watch others play Magic.

So either you are ultra cool because you drop and show that you don't care about Magic at all and you proceed to go railbird the matches of people playing for Top 8 or the PTQ.

Or you could play one more match, that should take half hour of your life, see what happens and then go bird matches or try to get a draft going.

I clearly took the option who made me look pathetic, I guess I don't have any self esteem left in me.

Round 12: vs Valakut

I didn't recognize my opponent, and I had no idea what he was playing. Happens all the time in Portugal, after Round 1 everyone knows what I'm playing, and here I am in the final round of Nats completely clueless. I asked one of my friends who played him earlier, and I was told he was playing Caw Blade. "Caw Blade with main deck Wrath of God be careful"

I kept a hand good for the mirror, he led with Valakut, I looked at my hand, and mentally scooped game one there. I had absolutely no chance, my hand was auto mulligan vs Valakut. The draws didn't help, I decided to play a while longer to have his Oracle of Mull Daya reveal me some contents of his deck since I couldn't rely on people.

I guess the person who provided me with the information wanted to "punish" me for being pathetic and not dropping.

My opponent played 9 mana Titan, attacked me once. I didn't played a single card in this game. but I got to see Wurmcoil Engine and Summoning Trap for my efforts.

I won the next two games, don't really remember how, except for one. He has 11 mana and three cards. I have a creature in play, and 5 lands, holding Mana Leak, Spell Pierce, Sword of Feast and Famine plus more stuff.

He taps 6 for Primeval Titan, 5 mana open. I Mana Leak it, he pays, 2 mana open. On my turn I draw the sixth land, comes into play untapped. Played Sword, equip it on my guy, attack, he plays Nature's Claim one mana open and I Spell Pierce it, discarding his last card. The Primeval Titan will not kill me next turn, and either the game state or the contents of my hand will solve it or make it irrelevant, so he has one window to draw something. He didn't, so I was lucky here, but I was also lucky when I burned my Mana Leak just in case he had a Nature's Claim and I drew my sixth untapped land.

8 - 4 (4x 2-1 a nice definition of mediocre tournament)

Standings after Swiss

As someone would say it: "You got punished for being pathetic and not dropping". Looking at the Standings also made me realize had I won against Marcio it would probably me finishing 9th. It is a bit sad that the only person in the room who kind of cared for Pro Points, as in having in the Pro Points a reason for not dropping, would be the one who missed them on breakers.

Another thing is, the five players who played our list, me, Marcio, Goncalo Pinto, Tiago Fonseca and Mauro Peleira did pretty well. 3 in the Top 8, one 9th on breakers, and me being the black sheep on 17th. However none of us was particularly happy with this version of Caw Blade with lots of guys, and now 3 weeks later the version with guys seems to have been dismissed. It was a valid choice at the time, I just don't like having so many creatures.

After Nats me and Helder wanted to team draft, we got ourselves a third and went looking for opponents, which is kind oif hard, since the average Portuguese player doesn't like to draft and even less to team draft. Mario Azevedo, the captain of the Magic in Braga accepted the challenge probably to kill some time as they were waiting for a guy playing in the PTQ to go back to Braga. They were 4, so it was me Helder Coelho, Narciso Ferreira and Pedro Reis.

I drafted an unspectacular R/G Bloodthirst deck, for some reason Green is always open. Got lucky and won against two much better decks, got unlucky and lost to their worst deck. Going into round 4, score is 8-6 for us with two matches left, mine being one of them. I'm against their avarege deck too, a UW deck. He has something like a Trained Warhorse who is shutting me down, so I have to overextend. He plays Wrath of God.

I didn't knew about it, shrugged, but randomly asked, did any of you 3 knew about Wog? They had all saw it, so yay, go team go. I peeled Jade Mage right after the Wrath which was my best draw, and eventually won. The lack of team spirit was compensanted with a complimentary high 5 after my win.

And that was the end of my competitive Magic for know. There were 8 amazing playtesting days, and 2 amazing competitive Magic days. I would like to thank everyone who surrounded me those days, everyone I played against or chatted with at Nats. I might be back in 6 months or a year again, and it's all because of you, the Portuguese Magic community.