I'm Adam “yoman5” Hernandez, and I just top 8d GP Milwaukee. I had 0 byes, I got sick in the middle of day 1, and I won 13 of 15 rounds of magic to achieve a dream and qualify for the pro tour. I'm incredibly happy and cannot wait to play with the best of the best in Cleveland, and I even count as one of the best now! I was asked by a bunch of people for a tournament report, so here goes:

The prep:

I have played over 200 matches of GRN standard on MTGO, and documented most of it in a spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19z-V_IVexNZX-oUXcrPlwtjDQXbe8X6RUac3ywzIb6E/edit?usp=drivesdk). This is not to brag, but to include all the experience that went into this weekend. I did not prep in just a day, a week, or even a month. I have played a large amount of this incredible standard and let that inform my deckbuilding and my play. I even streamed a ton of it at www.twitch.tv/yoman5!

For this week leading up to it I ran leagues with monored keld on Monday, had some awesome testing on cockatrice with Basting Rootwalla and aiouh from the GAM Discord (which I cannot recommend enough) hashing out monored and wwr games in depth, and I played some GB leagues on Wednesday and Thursday after realizing that it was probably in a great spot (more on this when I get to deck selection). I also consumed every piece of content I could get my hands on. SCG premium had a ton of good articles this week, Pascal Vieren wrote an amazing article for the UR spells deck he and his brother killed it with at the GP and the PT (https://article.hareruyamtg.com/article/blocking-with-phoenix-the-complete-guide/?lang=en), and several people on Twitter and Reddit had excellent stats analyses from the PT, as well as GAM podcast, Pro Points, and Proven Combatants all putting out awesome podcasts that helped compound my experience with time I didn't have that others were willing to share for free (though I do encourage you all to support them on Patreon if you are able). If you don't have enough time to test (and I know I never feel like I have enough time) the best way to “gain time” is to absorb all of the content available to you where other folk have already put in the work and are sharing it with whoever cares to soak it in. We are at an incredible high point with regards to magic content and if you're hungry for better results you better have an appetite for information.

Deck Selection:

The weekend before the GP I registered a song of freyalise GW tokens deck, convinced it had an edge against WW and was good against GB. I mostly crashed and burned but felt like I had done well in deck selection. After the PT I thought monored might be great vs all the WW and beats up GW tokens too, and protourfreddie won the PTQ with a list that looked like it gained % against GB too. I tested it out Monday and liked the list but realized monored had a terrible time against Jeskai, which I had not thought to be the case until my experiences on Monday. I read a bunch of articles and played on cockatrice to test out WW vs monored and Jeskai in a voice call with lots of rewinds and deep dives on several turn sequences. I ended up thinking that maybe WW is just what I should play for the GP despite having a massive target on it, since the list Mac McVety designed and Andrew Elenbogen won with was quite resilient to most forms of hate.

On Wednesday I tweeted out the following:

Like over the span of 3 days I went from "GW is the level" to "monored is busted" to "nope jeskai matchup sucks back to GB" to "GB isn't actually that great? Maybe a WWr list with a mirror edge but no pridemate nonsense" to "yeah I got nothing"

Then I binged a ton of content, listened to Pro Points, and was able to read the incredible articles by Jadine and Autumn about their PT testing and deck (and if you're playing GB and haven't read them yet you're doing yourself a disservice. Go pay 8$ to go read those two articles alone, then read everything else because you already paid and you want to improve at magic). I built like 3 or 5 GB builds over the next few hours and slimmed down what I wanted to achieve with the archetype and my 75. I didn't like the Matt Nass style builds, as I started to get an idea of where the meta would be, and didn't want to give up that much game against Jeskai and GB for an edge against red and white which I didn't think were bad matchups and didn't believe would be more than 20% of the metagame, and so the doom whisperer stack would be an advantage against only ~3-4 rounds of 15, and with no byes I had to play 15.

This is the first list I started from, still building off Christian Hauck's list that I had used to win a PPTQ two weeks before the GP https://pastebin.com/50HjwbfM (lists will be pastebin'd to save space). I had brontodon and reaper and was still trying to hedge for the mirror. After more content and thought I decided to iterate, the next list was the following, having decided I wanted to cut to just 4 dorks: https://pastebin.com/HUdp9wmk. I wanted to play a doom whisperer as a hedge vs red, white, and angels/gw, but I didn't want to give up too much equity against GB mirrors and Jeskai, because additional copies of doom whisperer have to essentially come from Vivien slots or tyrant slots, and I didn't want to give up either, especially Vivien. Vraska 4 was in over Karn as another walker that was still okay against white aggro, monoblue, red aggro. Because our maindeck was so anti aggro, we'd given up a lot of game vs jeksai so spyglass as “duress 5” and a pair of karns for UR/Jeskai/GB help out there. The next iteration cut findbroker for a maindeck Karn and a plaguecrafter replaced the sideboard Karn to help against monoblue, Jeskai, and drakes (especially dive down). This list I ran through a league playing against 5 different archetypes and 5-0d so I was feeling very good about my decks spread and the ability to play into a wide metagame, which I expected the GP to be. I ran it through another league and found I needed more power in mirrors and Jeskai and converted the plaguecrafter into an eldest reborn. On Friday I was second guessing myself a bit and made 1 more last minute list as an “alternate.” It moved wildgrowth walker #4 to the board and played a 24th land, a swamp, as a 16th black source. This was to give the deck more consistency in casting the BB spells, give the deck more keepable hands, and allow the deck to hit its land drops more consistently because you can use every single mana available but missing land drops can be deadly. It also turned vraska, golgari queen back into findbroker, and cut the spyglass since we had more beef again in bigger matchups. I also changed the 4th contempt to a second trophy as a curve consideration that still maintained 5 answers to planeswalkers and gave me another “cast down” vs tocatli honor guard decks. The result is the 75 I played for the GP and I made a sideboard guide for it in the drive up to Milwaukee: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pqICXLxikGsqNhlHwGTb-ytqEEZ8kNwtMW-zCt5KfaM/edit?usp=drivesdk. Do note this is a rough guide and context is everything, I did not board exactly this way for all of these matchups, especially when facing curveballs like Adrian Sullivan's deck. The mirror with doom whisperer is pretty much how I always board that matchup and I have crushed it every time, including 3 times in the swiss.

The event:

I did online deck reg and got ready for day 1. I grabbed a Dunkin Donuts breakfast because the coffee shop I initially scoped out on Google was closed. When I had finished my breakfast and had jotted down my SB guide on paper, I saw that the coffee shop had now opened, just a half hour later than their posted hours. Welp. Arrived at the event and was able to finally pawn off the box of m19 I had been sitting on for a while. Pairings went up and day 1 got underway:

Round 1 vs Jeskai control ☠️🏆🏆

I lost game 1 getting outscaled by teferi and explosion. Game 2 my opponent kept triple legion warboss on the draw, put me to 1, and aired out and got drowned by wildgrowth and Vivien. Game 3 I don't remember much of but I believe it was a llanowar powered start that was able to close the game.

Round 2 vs flame of keld ☠️🏆☠️

This version is not as good a matchup as the frenzy builds. G1 I got double risk factored, g2 I was able to race with the aid of a deathgorge scavenger. Game 3 I drew a lot of lands and died the turn after finally drawing wildgrowth walker. Wasn't excited to have a loss this early but it happens.

I wasn't feeling so hot, had a bit of a headache, and asked for an aspirin from a fellow GAM Discord member, which I promptly puked up. This was right as pairings for the next round had been posted so I asked a judge for an extension to clean myself up a bit. I put in a ton of work and drove like 6 hours to be here at the GP and I was damned if I was going to let that stop me from doing my best.

Round 3 vs Jeskai control 🏆🏆

“I would ask how your day is going but the judge already told me you aren't doing so hot” I'll admit I wasn't talkative at this point and just focused on the match. Opponent showed me detection tower game 1 but they were completely buried, I believe they were on the play and mulliganed so I just had more cards than they could answer. G2 Vivien and findbroker demolished my opponent in quick fashion.

With 27 minutes left in the round and my hotel 10 minutes away on foot, I went back to the room to get changed and rinse and hang up my shirt, brush my teeth, etc. Refilled my water and headed back over to the hall. Game day was still on.

Round 4 vs Grixis stuff 🏆☠️🏆

G1 just contempted 2 Nicol Bolas pitching extra lands and buried my opponent. G2 I mulliganed and was thought erasured. My opponent played 2 treasure maps and eventually buried me and finished me with a banefire. Game 3 my opponent kept a slightly too slow hand and I crushed them with a wildgrowth into jadelight start.  

My carmate gave me a Vernors, I ate half a sandwich, and was feeling much healthier, and being x-1 I was ready to keep crushing it out until someone stopped me.

Round 5 vs heroic reinforcements white 🏆🏆

Game 1 I managed my life total super well, going to 1 3 separate times, and rallying back with wildgrowth, tyrant, and findbroker bringing back tyrant after it finally forced a large trade. G2 I had a double llanowar powered finality sweeping up an adanto vanguard into history into marshal start sacrificing my valiant elves and landing a doom whisperer the next turn.

I eat the rest of my sandwich and my cookie and catch up with some fellow competitors. When I ask Andrew Elenbogen if he's still on white aggro he replies “I absolutely shouldn't be, but I am.”

Round 6 vs GB with doom whisperer 🏆☠️🏆

Played against fellow spikes discord member and leader of a giant Midwest FB group Robert Taylor. Another case of mulligan on the play vs player with an extra card. I get there as he runs out of gas. Game 2 I kept elf, forest, and multiple explore creatures. I stumble on lands and never quite get off the back foot. Game 3 I have elves and power out an early doom whisperer into a tyrant and he is unable to come back.

1 more win to lock day 2, 2 more for glory and a shot at the PT. I'm feeling healthy and super happy with my play. I'm playing tight, mulliganing when I should, and my deck choice and tuning has been paying off wonderfully so far.

Round 7 vs UR spells 🏆🏆

This match was actually terrifying. Goblin electromancer into pirates pillage into niv mizzet. If they hadn't stumbled on land and had to chart instead of pillage turn 3 I don't think I would have been able to answer niv mizzet before they untapped. Thankfully I was able to contempt the niv and set up a 2 turn lethal from a wildgrowth start. Game 2 they missed land 4 for 1 turn and were still able to star of extinction me ahead of time. I had gathered resources by then though and hadn't played into the star too heavily since they had pillaged the turn before. Duress and a redeploying of pressure sealed the deal.

Day 2 locked! One more! Happy that I'd locked up day 2 I let off a bit of steam, read some of my book, and chat with folks before the last round.

Round 8 vs GB with doom whisperer 🏆🏆

Opponent kept a couple of loose hands but certainly could have been paid off big if they drew lands on time. I was able to set up the merciless no out lines and secure myself an x-1 start to day 2.

Feeling good about the day we go out to eat at the smokehouse across the street and chat magic before heading back to the hotel for an early nights sleep. I wake up a few times but overall got ~9 hours of sleep and the timezone change didn't get me too messed up.

I grab breakfast inside the hotel this time, and spy a chorizo burrito. I want it but I have a legitimate shot at the pro tour and don't want to put myself in food coma mode or worse after how day 1 started and settle instead for a veggie omelette and orange juice. We weren't leaving til Monday so I could always just get the burrito the next day and food coma in the car.

Round 9 vs mono blue 🏆🏆

My opponent was almost running late and apparently had to basically jump out of a moving car at 8:55 to sprint up into the hall in time. I get very lucky and see wildgrowth in both games and obsession in neither. I mess up some jadelight triggers and call a judge on myself when my opponent catches it (a turn had passed). I am able to appeal with the head judge for a deviation and get the counters removed from my jadelight. Ultimately didn't matter in the game but I wanted to make sure I was playing the game as it should have been and earned my wins with competitive integrity.

First mistake of the weekend, but at least it was mechanical and not a strategic mistake. First of the weekend? Bullshit you say? No I'm serious. I'm pretty confident that I made no play mistakes on Saturday. I was very confident in my play and analyzed every match after it happened. I did a very good job of setting up no outers and playing to the entire game not just this turn. This did not hold all the way through day 2 but day 1 was I think some of the best magic I've ever played.

Round 10 vs heroic reinforcements white 🏆☠️🏆

Here I make my first play mistake of the weekend. Game 1 goes super long and I grind it out making sure to never leave myself dead to a topdeck reinforcements. Game 2 I play a forest on turn 2 instead of shocking myself for tomb. I absolutely needed to tomb there because I would need to shock turn 2 anyway if I drew a swamp turn 3 in order to contempt t3. I couldn't contempt turn 3 and end up behind and dead. I note it, shake it off, and get ready for game 3. Game 3 I correctly identify that I can play the aggro role and set up a sequence where I “chump” block adanto vanguard, cast down it in response to the first activation, and then slam a doom whisperer with my opponent at 4 life.

Finally made a mistake but I can't let that get to me. I'm still x-1 and super live for top 8. I feel great. Next round let's go.

Round 11 vs GW tokens aggro 🏆☠️☠️

I don't remember game 1 but game 2 I kept triple swamp demise doom whisperer. It's sketchy but can reward me, but right before I can demise chapter 2 of history and the double adanto vanguard start loxodon arrives and blows me out. I kill both vanguards but they baffling end the elf I play to chump and 14 me with chapter 3. I should have sideboarded differently aftering seeing adanto vanguard but didn't and got punished in game 3. Hand was okay but I just couldn't keep up with a double adanto start without all my wildgrowth walkers in the deck.

Feeling bad about having mis-assessed my opponents deck when I felt I had a really good and wide grasp of what was in the format and the metagame, but did not adjust for new information from game 2. My opponent was less in on tokens and a bit more aggressive, and so I needed bigger bodies to compete, not just board wipes and duress. Still not dead though, so I must continue. The dream is still achievable, and so I strive.

Round 12 vs GB with doom whisperer 🏆🏆

Seeing a trend? Game 1 I mulliganed but on the draw i was able to contempt their Vivien, untap, and land my own. Their tyrant couldn't break through the stream of bodies and my opponent conceded. Game 2 was a lot of jockeying for board but I landed a doom whisperer at 42 life with findbroker in hand. My opponent looked stressed when I decided I didn't need to draw eldest reborn and put it in the graveyard. Yeah I won.

10-2! I'm doing it! Almost there 3 rounds to go. The next round takes a while to start and I get a bit antsy, but nothing I can do to speed it up. Head immediately to my table to play more magic as soon as pairings go up.

R13 vs Jeskai control 🏆☠️🏆

Another opponent with maindeck tower. Game 1 wasn't memorable, but game 2 I duressed and did it wrong. I took Nova instead of Star to keep them from being able to wipe and hold up countermagic, but they were able to patiently wait and then star me plus disdainful stroke for my follow up Vivien. I should have just taken star and forced them to answer Karn or fall over. I don't let it get to me, and I play game 3 mercilessly. They keep triple tap land and this time I duress the right card to make sure they couldn't ever come back from my wildgrowth start.

Another mistake, but I caught it and learned and made the right choice the next game. 11-2. We're getting there. The dream is in sight. I had frankly given up on achieving my long term goal from like February of “PT by the end of the year” and was just kind if in “wow I'm doing really well, wouldn't it be cool if I top 8d?” But didn't really put any pressure on myself and was just feeling confident in my ability and my deck selection. I brought a 75 with a plan and an expected meta and I got what I wanted from the metagame and my plan was crushing it. Detection tower doesn't stop findbroker. Llanowar elves is absurd. Karn is phyrexian arena with bonus modes. I can do this.

Round 14 vs UR spells 🏆☠️🏆

I'm up against Jack Kiefer and I mulligan. It looks rough and I know he's on izzet but I have to keep my hand on 6 because it functions. I get an incredible stream of draws that allows me to land Vivien and have contempt and I get there. Game 2 I made a slight misstep but I was just super behind with conjecture in play and double electromancer. He casts entrancing melody on doom whisperer and I activate one too many times, but I would not have been able to survive the third conjecture tick regardless. Game 3 I'm in the driver's seat. He appears to be stuck a bit on resources after I contempt electromancer immediately before he untaps. Vivien keeps going for a while, I contempt a ral, and I make a lot of land drops. He eventually stars me, I hold cast down for like 4 turns as he remains at 2 to make sure I get to end step cast down on the Phoenix he brings back. I win.

12-2! My friends and I all frantically do math. I consult Elenbogen who discusses with Ari Lax. I can't draw. I have to play. If I win I'm in 100%. This is it. This is the closest I've ever been to the PT. I want it so bad.

Round 15 vs Jeskai control 🏆☠️🏆

Feature match! I got the time walk in round 15 (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/337546771?t=07h30m18s)

Game 1 I curve out and he has no answer to 2 large creatures. Game 2 is a lot closer and tighter. The turn everyone is asking about I attack face in order to land tyrant and force him to low outs. The way he played game 1 and early in game 2 tells me he doesn't have settle and won't even bluff it (later I found out he does play one). This mean it either has to be double clarion (I was less expecting expansion since i saw revitalize plus crackling drake *and* seal away) or cleansing nova. If he had double clarion he would likely have swept up the elf and ranger. I cannot actually kill ral with an attack, so I cannot reduce the number of looks he has. Star kills ral anyway, and I just grabbed findbroker so if I put him to 7 and they star, he can't counter findbroker, and I get tyrant back and then he needs the out again. He was able to get there but I stand by my play. Game 3 I curve out and he stumbles and I QUALIFY FOR THE PRO TOUR!!

I'm ecstatic. The last GP of the year that I can attend. There are no more MTGO PTQs until next year. The last chance possible and I fucking did it. My phone is exploding as everyone sends me congrats from the discords. I get hugs from friends at the event. I refill my water bottle. I cry. I'm so happy. And I still get to play top 8.

Quarterfinal vs Adrian Sullivan on Jeskai Niv Mizzet

I get his decklist. I stare and absorb. 4 niv mizzet, 2 engima drake, dive down, treasure map instead of Azor's gateway. Only 3 Clarion 1 settle main. I can do this. Game 1 comes down to 1 turn where i think I made a mistake. Adrian was at 4. He has tapped out for Niv Mizzet. I have find in hand and a 6th land. I have elves, brontodon, and chupacabra in play. I attack with all and find back elf from yard and brontodon (he blocked brontodon). He untaps and is able to chain opt with removal to stop me from attacking for the last point of damage. I think I was supposed to attack with elf and chupacabra and keep brontodon back. He can't block chupacabra and if he blocks llanowar I can finality onto brontodon and he basically cannot answer since even another niv is on chump block duty, since I know with seal away in the board the only way in his 60 to kill the brontodon is settle. If he doesn't block I find back brontodon 2 from yard and the same elf I did with the line I took. I win that game. Mistake aside i crush game 2 off a llanowar start. Game 3 I keep double llanowar, jadelight, lands on the draw. I can turn 2 a jadelight and dig far for action. Unfortunately he spell swindles the Karn I find and I draw 4 lands in a row allowing him to play a niv mizzet. My luck couldn't keep up all day, and I certainly didn't help it by not winning game 1 so I would have a loss to give. I do think my matchup vs his 75 is favorable but I played game 1 wrong and the cookie crumbled poorly in game 3.

Ending notes:

I'm super happy with my run. I top 8d a GP on 0 byes to an incredible finish, I got to see a bunch of awesome folks and The King and I was a delicious celebration dinner. I even had Monday off for a leisurely trip back. My twitter has exploded with support and congrats, and the discords have been overflowing with support and congrats as well. Everyone is telling me not to be nervous for the PT but I've never been nervous. I'm excited. Every time pros talk about playing the pro tour it sounds like incredible fun, paying magic at the highest level against the best of the best, and I'm now among those best. I can't wait. Shout-out to Gerry Thompson and Bryan Gottlieb, your podcast and your discord have been incredible assets for my improvement. Shout-out to the /r/spikes discord community and the GAM discord community, you guys give me a bunch of support and encouragement in every event I play. Shout-out to the local Michigan magic scene, y'all are great and I wouldn't get this good without the level of competition you all provide. My car was great, my deck was great, my play was great, my run was great, and my weekend was great. I hope to kill it for the pro tour and maybe even hop into the pro players club! See me at the pro tour, I'll end this long report here.

-yoman5