Gatecrashing in Brooklyn

I am a morning person to a fault. Waking up after 8am is considered "sleeping in" for this guy. The 9am prerelease doesn't scare me; if anything, I have an edge over those who are used to waking up...somewhat later. Today was no different. I set my alarm for 7am and woke up with twenty minutes to spare. After a quick breakfast at one of the local diners and acquiring a cup of coffee, it was off the the Twenty Sided Store.

Well, not exactly. First I had to brush the snow off my car. After regretting my decision to not take out my real gloves, my finger tips thawed out on the twenty minute drive. While I love living in Brooklyn, needing the G train to get around the weekend can be a real pain. I arrive a full thirty minutes before the event starts, which means I get to stand out front and play greeter to the other people stuck in the cold. Friends trickle in and chats begin. We're all excited and not at all upset to be standing in sub-freezing temperatures. 

The doors open 15 minutes before the event and we rush in, grabbing out boxes and seats. I went Simic this time, because it is, after all,  my second favorite color combination.

After what seems like forever, we get to open our packs. After oohing and aahing over what I opened, this is the build I settled on (with a little nudging from friends):

8 Forest

7 Island

1 Mountain

1 Simic Guildgate

1 Cloudfin Raptor

2 Frilled Oculus

1 Simic Fluxmage

2 Adaptive Snapjaw

1 Crocanura

1 Crowned Ceratok

2 Ivy Lane Denizen

1 Rust Scarab

1 Scab-Clan Charger

1 Slaughterhorn

1 Elusive Krasis

1 Fathom Mage

1 Shamble Shark

1 Rubblebelt Raiders

1 Aetherize

1 Totally Lost

1 Domri Rade

1 Pit Fight

1 Simic Charm

1 Prophetic Prism

I was very pleased with my deck, and look forward to the battles.

Round 1 I am up against Ted, also with Simic. Game one he never gets off the ground and I crush him pretty easily. Game two I stall and he is able to draw into his red splash with Gruull Ragebeast and his own Domri Rade. Game three he mulligans twice and I am able to win in short order.

Round 2 I am paired with Matt, who is wielding Orzhov (splashing red). Game one I am unable to draw a third land until late in the game and I can't come back once I do. In the second I draw Domri and steamroll him. In game three I have an army out alongside my Planeswalker and he casts Merciless Eviction, leaving me with Domri, who eventually draws me into more gas.

I face a store regular and strong player, Jason, in round three. Jason is on Gruul and gets me in a close game one. He attacks with three creatures and I respond with Aetherize. He sets up the next turn with a Cinder Elemental, so if he rips a land he can kill me, which is exactly what he does. Game two is much closer. He gets a very good aggressive start and attempts to Bloodrush his Skarrg Goliath on to his Rubblehulk after I block it with my 7/3 Adaptive Snapjaw. Thankfully, I have the Pit Fight, and he can't recover.

Between games two and three, Jason remarks how I tricked him. I don't quite understand, and he starts saying how I was able to trick him because English is not his first language. He then gives us all the line of the tournament:

"I have hexproof from English."

Nothing could ever top that. Game three I get a strong curve draw and crush Jason.

In the fourth round I'm paired against Niv (how apt), but he's hungry, so we split. While he waits for friends to come pick him up for lunch, we play for fun. His Orzhov splash red deck crushes me quickly, and I am glad I took the draw.

I make some trades, collect the commons I need for my cube, and pick up my prize packs. Twenty Sided Store continues to put on quality events, in one of the best environments possible. Luis and Lauren have a great store, and if you are ever in Brooklyn, stop by. I promise, we're friendly.

And I am so looking forward to drafting the hell out of this set.