UPDATED! Grand Prix-Oakland Tournament Coverage

Posted by admin

February 15, 2010 | 62 comments

All weekend ChannelFireball.com brought you the sights and sounds of Grand Prix–Oakland. Here are the Interviews and Deck Techs from Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

<---- Download the first ChannelFireball Magazine (pdf, 3.1MB)

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Grand Prix-Oakland Winner, Matthew Nass, about his tournament experience.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Grand Prix-Oakland Runner-Up, Adam Yurchick, about his tournament experience.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Jonathon Loucks about his experience at Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Tomoharu Saitou about his card choices for Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Matt Nass about his card choices for Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Matej Zatlkaj about his card choices for Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Cedric Phillips about his card choices for Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Conley Woods about his top 8 appearance at Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa about the ongoing Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Conley Woods about the ongoing Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Gabe Walls about the ongoing Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Gerry Thompson about the ongoing Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Cedric Phillips about the ongoing Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Luis Scott-Vargas about the ongoing Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Matt Nass about the ongoing Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Riki Hayashi about the ongoing Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Matt Sperling about the ongoing Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Jon Loucks about his card choices for Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Gerry Thompson about his card choices for Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Conley Woods about his card choices for Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Matt Nass about the upcoming Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Gerry Thompson about the upcoming Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa about the upcoming Grand Prix-Oakland.

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Mashi Scanlan talks with Brad Nelson about the upcoming Grand Prix-Oakland.
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Mashi Scanlan talks with Conley Woods about the upcoming Grand Prix-Oakland.
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Mashi Scanlan talks with Merlin Catterall-Davis about the upcoming Grand Prix-Oakland.
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Mashi Scanlan talks with Arthur Halavais about the upcoming Grand Prix-Oakland.
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Mashi Scanlan talks with Luis Scott-Vargas about the upcoming Grand Prix-Oakland.
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Tristan Shaun Gregson sits down with Luis Scott-Vargas and Gerry Thompson in a bonus episode of the “Magic TV” weekly series.
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62 Comments Leave a comment

Brett says: February 12, 2010 @ 12:53 am

Was that….Kim Possible?

Heartybbq says: February 12, 2010 @ 3:02 am

@Brett it was!! Betcha it’s Gerry’s message tone XD

anonjay says: February 12, 2010 @ 4:51 am

Great series. Funny and informative. Hope for more.

Daiches says: February 12, 2010 @ 5:06 am

In the magazine article by Conley, Flickerwisp + Abyssal Persecutor made me LOL. Why kill the Persecutor when you can blink him for a turn?
Also any deck playing Tidehollow Sculler makes me happy. Such a great card!

Joe says: February 12, 2010 @ 5:13 am

For those in Oakland, what is the parking like around the place and would Bart + walking be an option as well?

GyantSpyder says: February 12, 2010 @ 5:22 am

The hat is back!

francisco says: February 12, 2010 @ 6:14 am

is there a possibility to have written version of those interviews?

Alex says: February 12, 2010 @ 7:55 am

@Joe There are some paid parking areas, including at the Marriott itself ($20/day there). Street parking is not going to work — much of the nearby parking is 1 hour maximum.

If you can do BART, the 12th St / City Center stop in Oakland will drop you off just two blocks away from the venue. Keep in mind that the last trains leaving from Oakland will be at just after midnight (which should be fine unless the GP goes horrendously long).

drew says: February 12, 2010 @ 8:20 am

Tristan never seems like he’s having a very good time.

amc says: February 12, 2010 @ 8:54 am

Stupid hat >:(

coldbrand says: February 12, 2010 @ 9:21 am

Use higher resolution images for the portraits in the magazine, it makes you all look awful.

Sean says: February 12, 2010 @ 9:36 am

At work but can’t wait to watch these later, Gerry Thompson is quite funny every time I have seen him

Megan says: February 12, 2010 @ 10:10 am

Loving it so far! Keep up the good work

Hisa says: February 12, 2010 @ 1:56 pm

LOVING the Isle’s jersey.

thefatman says: February 12, 2010 @ 4:59 pm

Why does everyone think Gerry T created this? This deck was at Worlds and went 5-1. Look up Lucas Blohon’s deck on the WOTC page.

Daniel Vinson says: February 12, 2010 @ 5:30 pm

yea, In WWW draft I managed to win at least three or four games on the back of having a ruin ghost and two tideforce elementals. Tapping down two of their guys at attack step then two more to make your alpha strike is near unbeatable. 3-0′d it easy. Even in ZZW, the tideforce will tap down their best blocker every turn and still attack, or tap down a Geopede or fat ally or something to let you win the race. Id say the most underrated card though is wind zendikon, which makes UR or UB aggro a real option, mostly because its nearly impossible to lose on a double wind zendikon opener. Feels like an unblockable goblin guide, it really does. I take it over everything but calcite snapper.

Matt says: February 12, 2010 @ 5:43 pm

I was reading the pdf magazine and noticed that the buy list is pretty unreadable. I don’t know the exact process that goes into publishing something like this. But, you probably want to fix this problem. I really like the idea, though.

Holos says: February 12, 2010 @ 5:50 pm

Honestly though, Gerrys beanie looks like he’s wearing a condom on his head. Either pull it down and back or flip it up like a sailor…something.

Style advice through a message board=sad, sorry

Alex says: February 12, 2010 @ 7:06 pm

@Matt — I’ve seen our print version; it’s much clearer than the PDF (i.e. CFB needs to make a new PDF).

xsv1nrg2 says: February 12, 2010 @ 7:44 pm

Calsite Snapper is Defiantly the best common in the set,u just beat the control match-up if they dont get theres,,im speaking of T2 btw

Jeremy Fuentes says: February 12, 2010 @ 8:27 pm

Just got back from the site.. Gotta say Bart is definitely a convenient option. Unless you’re driving up w people and splitting parking, the $8 round trip from Fremont to Oakland is a great value. It drops you off literally less than a block away from the site (you have to walk through the convention center/ marriot for another half, but still). I would highly recommend it considering how much I’ve been hearing people have been paying for parking.

Saw Luis and Mashi filming a video before I left.. Hopefully that goes up tonight? Keep posted!

Also, if you haven’t already checked out my article a few spaces down, the buying going on today was pretty great. Lots of dealers w lots of cash, matching eBay in many cases. If you don’t go to play, go and sell some crap and hang out, it’ll be worth the trip, I promise. Hope to see you there tomorrow!

Gabriel says: February 12, 2010 @ 11:37 pm

I love the magasine is amazing. I love the articles in it and the card prices is some ting tha we really needed

THANK YOU FOR DOING SOME THING THIS GOOD!!!!

nick says: February 12, 2010 @ 11:37 pm

A magazine is a great idea. If it was printed on paper and had more strategy articles it would be GREAT!!!!!!

amc says: February 13, 2010 @ 1:35 am

I’d subscribe to CF newsletter. We could get decoder rings and badges!

Mike B says: February 13, 2010 @ 2:03 am

Really liked the magazine! Reminds me of the old Sideboard Magazine that Wizards put out.. The buy list prices were pretty poor resolution and kinda felt like filler.

The marketer in me has to say it.. you should make people opt in to joining your email list when they download the magazine. Then you can send autoresponders about sales, new products, etc. and automatically email people on the list future issues of the magazine. Also some links to your site within the magazine would help boost traffic/sales.

Possum says: February 13, 2010 @ 2:40 am

Where’s the coverage? grand prix was yesterday. Coverage? where’s the coverage? i can’t find the coverage anywhere? coverage? I know you’re out there coverage. Come out come out wherever you are?

gdfgfdg says: February 13, 2010 @ 6:18 am

Just want to add that I think the magazine is a sweet idea. It would be nice to render it in higher quality though. Dunno if you guys used any publishing software but Adobe has some very useful (though expensive) software for this sort of thing.

wheel of armageddon says: February 13, 2010 @ 8:27 am

Damn you, Gregson! Where is your Flames jersey?

Bulldog says: February 13, 2010 @ 9:23 am

Good luck LSV!

rob says: February 13, 2010 @ 10:25 am

yeah that magazine was fun, I’d love to see more

I’ve always thought about subscribing to magic mags. I think there’s one called Scry or something but I never really have got around to it, and I doubt it would feature the same level of players that a Channel Fireball mag would!

andrew says: February 13, 2010 @ 2:19 pm

heh. tristan has the sickest jersey collection i’ve ever seen. the guy must own one for every team.

R3dox says: February 13, 2010 @ 2:42 pm

Yeah, vapor snaring a guy and landfalling the steppe to give pro:blue to the guy and bashing them is ze pwn… (Someone has to take the bait!)

Lunor says: February 13, 2010 @ 3:45 pm

@andrew: I have it on good authority he blows all his Magic TV millions on new jerseys to stay, as he calls it, ‘hip’.

Anyway I like the interviews. But it’s time to get some coverage going!

Shooter says: February 13, 2010 @ 4:32 pm

Mashi Scanlan talks with Paolo Vitor Dama Da Rosa

No1 gets his name right ;(

expon says: February 13, 2010 @ 4:42 pm

Please cut the awful videos and return to writing. Thanks. And start posting deck lists.

Trackback MTGBattlefield says: February 13, 2010 @ 8:00 pm

Grand PrixÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oakland Tournament Coverage…

Your story has been summoned to the battlefield – Trackback from MTGBattlefield…

jmk says: February 13, 2010 @ 9:13 pm

this guy mashi is good with this interviews

Mathew says: February 13, 2010 @ 10:06 pm

Grats on making day two! David + LSV! + Gerry T

Good Luck on Day 2

Really want to see one of you make the top 8, or maybe all of you!

MB says: February 13, 2010 @ 10:06 pm

Such a shame Ness and Brozek was paired in round 9.
Would have loved to see Brozek crush another DDT deck ^^

Also shows the unfairnes of the bye system.
Brozek with 0 byes lost and from being 8-0 (one of six players) HeÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â´s now 18th with 13 other 8-1 players ahead of him.

Holos says: February 13, 2010 @ 10:33 pm

I know Gerry never saw that beanie comment but the dude doesn’t look bad without the hat. I know its a trademark for him but its definetly a good call to lose it when you’re out somewhere or at the very least filming a vid.

GyantSpyder says: February 14, 2010 @ 2:20 am

I like the interviews, and it’s good to see Mashi back, but I think you need to do something to bring these on-site interviews to the next level (so to speak). This is sort of the same interview expectation set up by the mothership and the Magic Show – and not that they do a bad job or anything; they don’t — but it doesn’t quite feel optimal, like a real pro integration of video into what they’re doing. And this makes sense, because the mothership is also running the event, and Evan Erwin is a small operation going for his one-man show vibe.

You guys seem to be going for higher production values all around, and you give the impression of having more resources, capabilities, and support. If you can, another way to show this off is to figure out a way to do interviews at tournaments that are either more professional-looking or more exciting.

Not a complaint; this is totally constructive criticism – it’s a place where I think a little improvement would go a long way.

MH says: February 14, 2010 @ 4:01 am

There should be dates on every video, it’s kinda annoying to guess when whichever video was posted.

CZ says: February 14, 2010 @ 4:26 am

Hi there, just FYI Petr Brozek had 3 byes, he’s no slouch. And the coverage team should get him for a decktech.

Matthew says: February 14, 2010 @ 9:45 am

expon was a little harsh, but I basically agree. I don’t want to watch videos, I want written coverage of what’s going on,even if it’s just decklists. Video coverage of tournaments is basically useless to me.

H says: February 14, 2010 @ 10:07 am

Just because people are complaining about the videos, I have to do the opposite. Love watching the video coverage. An idea tho on the deck techs, some basic information on the decks would be nice. How they work and what they are designed to do etc. I always watch the video coverage from the pro tours more from the gps is great news for me.

ted says: February 14, 2010 @ 10:25 am

is wafo-tapa playing teachings?

Eddie says: February 14, 2010 @ 12:00 pm

Love the videos, good luck and keep up the good work!

MB says: February 14, 2010 @ 12:11 pm

Wafo is playing Teachings.

Daniel says: February 14, 2010 @ 8:06 pm

Well it looks like Team Channel-Fireball is winning this one either way!

Julian Ortiz says: February 14, 2010 @ 11:38 pm

Channel Fireball is setting the standard for what ALL magic websites should be like. You guys are the best

Lpettro says: February 15, 2010 @ 8:53 pm

I will watch every video. Keep em coming.

Excalabur says: February 15, 2010 @ 10:34 pm

Good job on the coverage, guys. Especially impressed with the Saitou deck tech/interview: you’re not going to see that very many places.

Gatsu says: February 16, 2010 @ 5:28 am

A
M
A
Z
I
N
G
!
!

This site rocks!!!!!!!
This coverage and its videos is as good as PT’s ones!!!!

I’m stunned!!!

if you’ll do a premier section i’ll subscribe for sure!!!

Doobs says: February 16, 2010 @ 7:49 am

2/3 writers in the top 8, including the winner? Plus you got PV this weekend?

Still don’t have the pure volume of material that another site has, but pound for pound you definitely can roll with them.

Shooter says: February 16, 2010 @ 7:51 am

saito + pv + lsv in the same site is scary

tarmogoyf says: February 16, 2010 @ 10:22 am

so is Saito going to write for channel fireball regularly?

that’s awesome!

dis says: February 16, 2010 @ 3:20 pm

big props to mashi! mashi did an outstanding job throughout the whole coverage and it was great to have you back. you also clearly stole the show from the other guy (who is cool too, btw). hope to see more of you in the future!

also, i’m sure many people still wonder what happened to you and why you quit magic show w/o notice, so please let us know!

Trackback MTGBattlefield says: February 16, 2010 @ 9:25 pm

UPDATED! Grand PrixÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oakland Tournament Coverage…

Your story has been summoned to the battlefield – Trackback from MTGBattlefield…

adamt says: February 17, 2010 @ 5:24 am

if you are going to do a video decktech… PLEASE post a decklist with the video.

trying to figure out what cards are in a list when you are whipping across the cards is dizzying.

ok, thkz

cgr says: February 17, 2010 @ 12:21 pm

I’m a huge fan of the Channel Fireball team. I think the videos complement the articles nicely, and I think it’s great that you support your team members (the congrats to Matt Nash in the last video was really awesome). I’m hoping I’ll get to see a few Channel Fireball members at the next Seattle PTQ.

admin says: February 18, 2010 @ 1:38 am

The decklists for the Deck Tech videos are listed in the decklists section of the site. Sorry for the confusion.

http://strategy.channelfireball.com/category/deck-lists/

Spike says: February 20, 2010 @ 12:02 pm

The videos are good, but for the love of God: learn to use the microphone properly… Most of the time I’ve heard a crystal clear voice of Mashi and some faint mumblings from his interlocutors (because the mic was pointed at the wrong person or wasn’t pointed close enough).