MTG Reporter - Grand Prix Indianapolis, 82nd Place [Edward Eng]

A few weeks ago I felt like I was gonna run it back to back. I missed winning a PPTQ by two matches. My deck felt great and I felt I just needed to make a few adjustments to the sideboard before Grand Prix Indianapolis.

I was really pumped for the GP since I was meeting up with a bunch of my old friends from back in the day. I got in to Indy late Friday morning and my homeboys, Jason Bencik and James 'Jimbo' O'Brien, picked me up. We dropped off our stuff at the hotel and headed for lunch at The Ram. We had a great lunch and chatted about careers and life. And then I remembered why Magic is such an awesome game. Life bonds through card bonds.

We bumped into the owner of Pastimes, Alan Hochman, on our way to the venue hall. We chatted for a bit about opening up game stores and whatnot. And Alan said attendance was a bit low probably owing to Halloween, the RPTQ (grats to Adam Jansen for Q'ing), and maybe SCG Dallas. For reference, the GP ended up at 1,087 people. Not too bad after all.

We did some testing as we waited for the rest of our group to arrive. Once they got in, we headed out to Weber Grill for some meats. Man, that was a lotta food. We tested some more then got everything ready for battle of day one.

Steven Deng and I were the only two people from our group to have byes (2 each), so we jammed some games to get our brains in gear while we waited. Round three rolled around pretty quickly and it was time to JAM!

This is what I rocked.

Standard
Abzan Aggro - Edward Eng

This is how my day one matches went.

R1: Bye [1-0]
R2: Bye [2-0]
R3: W 2-0 vs. Esper Control [3-0]
R4: W 2-0 vs. 5C Bring to Light Control [4-0]
R5: W 2-0 vs. Dark Jeskai Dragons [5-0]
R6: W 2-1 vs. Bant Megamorph [6-0]
R7: L 0-2 vs. Esper Tokens [6-1]
R8: W 2-0 vs. Bant Tokens [7-1]
R9: L 1-2 vs. Esper Tokens [7-2]

We headed over to grab some more MEATS! at Harry & Izzy's. Stuffed, we talked about some sideboarding then hit the sack.

Day two! Game time! Hoof!

This is how day two went.

R10: L 1-2 vs. 5C Bring to Light [7-3]
R11: L 0-2 vs. Dark Jeskai [7-4]
R12: W 2-1 vs. 4C Rally [8-4]
R13: W 2-1 vs. GW Megamorph [9-4]
R14: L 1-2 vs. Abzan Aggro [9-5]
R15: W 2-1 vs. Esper Tokens [10-5]

I ended up 82nd with no cash and 1 Pro Point. Not what I was striving for. GGs. That's three GPs in a row now that I've missed the cash by one match. I need to step it up. But man, hanging with the guys made this GP awesome as hell. And our boy, Daniel 'Dan the Man' Chan, top 4ed the GP! Bonkers! Congrats to him on Q'ing!

I can't wait to hang with everyone again. Looks like they might make the trip down to H-town from Chi-town in February. Booyah! It's the Midwest Connect. I'm looking forward to doing better at GP Houston 2016. Hope to see many of you there. Hit me up before and during the event.

Cliff Notes

1. Heir of the Wilds is still very important for the deck's curve and applying pressure.
2. 2 Shambling Vents and 2 Caves of Koilos still seems like the correct numbers.
3. If you want to play this deck, make sure you goldfish it a lot. Knowing what lands to fetch for is very important.
4. Be aggressive with casting Den Protector on turns 2-5, depending on what deck you're playing against.
5. Trust the deck. There are 26 lands in it for a reason.
6. Don't dilute the deck by oversideboarding.
7. Get out there and play some Magic. Enjoy the game.
8. Build great memories with your friends through Magic.

Peace, love, and have fun…
Eddie

Edward Eng

Galactic Treasures