Last Friday, me and the boys headed down to Grand Prix Oklahoma City. I’m going to keep the text here to a minimum, in the interest of presenting a somewhat-different photo essay of my trip and my opponents. On Friday, we played a couple drafts, wherein I went 0-1 and 1-1, respectively, with UB control and RB aggro, facing the following three gentlemen:

Then on Saturday, the big day, after a lovely breakfast at Flint, a (really nice) hotel restaurant near the Cox Convention Center, I sat down alongside fellow Hipster Brendan McNamara for my two-bye Sleep-In Special build time (at 12:30pm), and assembled this beast:

UBr Ashiok/Cerberus control

And a beast it was. I’ll refrain from including my other colors (white, green, and red) in the aforementioned decklist, as I’m fairly certain that white and green were weak, and the blue/red build—despite having Underworld Cerberus and Magma Jet—just didn’t have the power level I wanted.

The big decision was whether or not to try and raw-dog splash (as it were) Underworld Cerberus, and how many (and which) of my many five-drops to play. As for my numerous fives, I opted for a one-of-each strategy, playing one Prescient Chimera, one Sealock Monster, a Gray Merchant of Asphodel—and the Underworld Cerberus. Despite having no fixing, I felt that running 18 lands (including three Mountains) would be justified for such a powerful card. And throughout most of the day I didn’t have a problem with my mana—except in a later round, when I opted to board into Magma Jet and a fourth Mountain, and suffered for that land. (More in that in a minute.) For now, on to the games.

23/17 is a Hipsters of the Coast column focused on Limited play—primarily draft and sealed, but also cubing, 2HG, and anything else we can come up with. The name refers to the “Golden Ratio” of a Limited deck: 23 spells and 17 lands. Follow Hunter at @hrslaton.