Everyday I'm Shufflin': Pro Tour Philadelphia

Pro Tour Philadelphia

9/2: No shufflin’ today…
I drove down with my parents on Friday, however, by the time we arrived it was already nighttime. We got to the hotel room, I took a shower and got ready for bed, and then discovered that I could access the internet on my dad’s cellphone, which I used to watch the new episode of Vanguard, which put me even more in the mood for the tournament tomorrow. I set my alarm to get me up at seven, so I could leave at seven-thirty and get there by eight. Between the two rooms, there were three beds, so everyone had a bed to themselves (my dad snores loudly, so I was in the room with him). I can usually sleep through snoring, but it annoys me if I’m still awake. Luckily, my bed came with a lot of pillows to throw…

9/3: Believe in My Existence

I got up a little after 7, got dressed and found that my hair was really greasy, either due to the shampoo or a difference in the water, and that I lost my newest comb. The bristles on my dad’s hairbrush are kind of widely spread, so I had to use my mom’s hairbrush. Unfortunately, my hair was still greasy, but now it was neater at least. For those of you who don’t know me, I greatly dislike having greasy hair. This bothered me for the entirety of the day. My parents also had greasy hair, and since that was not a typical thing, I knew I would to be ready to cry by end of the weekend.

The convention center was only a short walk from the Westin (where we were staying), and there was an awesome marketplace across the street from it that my parents wanted to have breakfast at. It was a little before eight, and when it hit eight and the market opened, I decided to go in with them to get food before going to the tournament. The marketplace was kind of like Quincy Market in Boston, only the vendors seemed to be more family run and unique. I got something called a Po’ Boy. I think that’s how you spell it. Anyways, it had ham, egg, and cheese on hard sub-shaped piece of bread. I kept it in its bag and headed across the street to the convention center.

Now then, how do I get in? Where do I go? Ah! Big open room, I can see it from the street. That’s got to be the Pro Tour. I walk in, smiling, looking around at all of my opponents for the day. I was psyched! Look at all of these people here for the magic tournament. I have a tendency to talk to myself or say things out loud to everyone, so I made my usual declaration of how I was going to beat everyone before realizing that no one had any cards on them. I had walked into the ICS: The International Cat Show. Now, I know this may seem a bit hypocritical coming from a Magic player, here for a giant magic tournament, but doesn’t an “International Cat Show” seem a bit weird and nerdy. I mean, there were a ton of people there, who I presume were from around the world considering it was “International”. That seems really weird. Although, I don’t know if I have a right to say that as I was now the weird guy who declared that he was going to beat everyone and “Kattobingu da ze ore!” Yes, I do watch ZeXal and yes, there is a person who uses that phrase in real life (me). This was just the wrong place for it. I left quickly.

After talking to a receptionist in the main building, I ran up to the second floor, took a left, and saw the big sign that said “Welcome to Magic Weekend Philadelphia” or something along those lines with a picture of a few Innistrad cards on it. I walked in and was even more psyched than I was walking into The International Cat Show, which means that I had a lot of psych. I immediately ran over to the Main and registered for the Pro Tour Qualifier. The lady registering people gave me an Ajani Goldmane. Pro Tour Ajani Goldmane! This made me even happier than I already was, as I thought you only got them for entering the Pro Tour itself. Then I walked around and was amazed at the feature match area, the artist booth, the trophy case, the live broadcast room, and pretty much everything. I hadn’t eaten my Po’ Boy yet, so I did that, except I realized it was spicy, so I needed a drink, and I went next door to get an iced mocha. Sadly, I forgot to check the price in my excitement and paid five dollars for it. It was pretty good, though.

PTQ Honolulu: Sealed

After wandering some more, the tournament started. I sat down at the same table as Tristan Gregson, which I’m pretty sure is the guy from Channel Fireball. We open our sealed pools. Nothing good in mine, but I’m just recording for now. They tell us to pass once. Oh my god! Inferno Titan and Jace!!!! “Pass one more time.” DAMN IT ALL!!!!! I ended up building a red/green deck with 3 or 4 Goblin Fireslinger. It wasn’t particularly good, although I don’t think it was bad. To be honest, I don’t remember the games themselves very well, seeing as my excitement caused me to suck. Game one, and I’m against this red haired guy who just sort of annoys me. He’s like a really wimpy jerk. I end up putting up a good fight game one, and screw up due to forgetting that his Archdruid gives his Lanowar +1/+1 and taking an attack. I lose game 2 fairly quickly and I hate the fact that I lost to this guy, although I know that it’s totally my fault due to all of my stupid misplays. I didn’t see this guy’s other games, but from my game, I would assume that he had no chance of winning. Excitement makes things fun, but I really need to stop misplaying. But hey, what’s one match? I’ll just win the rest of them. Kattobingu!

Then I notice a guy across the room (well, the side event part of it anyway). He has bleach blond hair and basically looks like a blond Yusei (although at the time, my first thought was Flock of Seagulls). Huh, interesting. Anyways, I went over to the feature match area where Luis Scott-Vargas was playing against someone, but there was a crowd, so I couldn’t really see. I walked around a little more, and so I walked around some more before round two started. I found myself against an opponent that I actually like this time. He still defeats me fairly easily. I cannot remember his deck sadly, but I do ask him to take a look at mine afterwards. He asks me why I am not maindecking my Vastwood Gorger. I don’t really have a good reason for not doing so, except that it is rather costly (expensive creatures are generally fine in sealed). So not only am I misplaying, but I also built my deck to less than its maximum potential. He is very friendly and helpful, I like this guy.

If I have good enough tie breakers and win all the rest of my games, I may still win. I’m not done yet, kattobingu da ze ore. So I walk over to the feature match table to see who is playing. Yuuya Watanabe versus Jon Finkel. But I walk in right at the end, and see Yuuya 2-0 Finkel. I am shocked. I’d been reading about Yuuya and his Grand Prix success, but to watch him destroy Finkel, Yuuya’s something else! I am now inspired and when the next round comes, I head back ready to win. But where’s my opponent? Am I gonna get a free win? I wait a few minutes, and the judge comes over and says if my opponent doesn’t show up in next couple of minutes, then I win. Anyway, right when I’m about to get the win, a person with a different name than my opponent walks over. Turns out, they got the match slip wrong, and the winner accidentally was dropped. So here was my opponent, and we did have to play. A few misplays later, and I was done. He was a pretty nice guy and I wished him good luck. Then I headed back over towards the feature match area and bumped into the Flock of Seagulls guy. I knew that he was in the PTQ and I asked how he was doing. He replied in a British accent, “3-0, how are you doing?” I grinned, “0-3, you still have a good shot at winning though.” Then we started talked some more about magic and stuff, before he went to meet up with his friends and I walked around for a little while before the next round.

At this point, I had no chance of topping, but I wanted to play anyways, so I went to the table. Most players with my score had already dropped, so I was at one of the last tables. I faced my opponent. I figured I may have a shot against this guy, but as usual, I don’t. I get beaten without too much trouble and then I find out that there is a Grand Prix Trial today. Another guy with a low score challenges me to a practice match, and I succeed in winning one of the games, but losing the other two. This is no good. I turn in a drop slip, and am done with the tournament.

Grand Prix Trial: Generic

I am pretty bummed out at this point. I came here with the goal to win, and I went 0-4. It was all my fault as well, I misplayed so much it wasn’t even funny. I still misplay too much, and I can’t seem to stop. Regardless, I’m here to play magic and get better, so I might as well sign up for another tournament. I had planned to do well and not have time for today’s Grand Prix Trial, but since I suck so much, I guess I have time. Magic is the reason I’m here and even if I just keep losing, I’m going to play as much as I can this weekend. I’m exhausted at this point and am not really looking forward to getting creamed any more. I know M12, I’ve been playing it all summer, so why the hell do I suck so much. Whatever, freaking out about it isn’t going to help me.

I run into Nitin’s little brother, who I saw at the SCG Open, and ask if Nitin is here. He is, so I say hi and ask if he’s planning on entering the Grand Prix Trial. He is not. I am now hungry and there is time before the Grand Prix Trial so I go across the street to the marketplace. I’ve never felt so depressed over a tournament. It’s not like I actually expected to win, but still, 0-4 sucks. It wasn’t even like I got unlucky or anything. This sucks. Crap, my bag of cards from the day is beginning to rip. I go to a vendor serving Chinese food, order a house fried rice and ask for a spare bag. He gives me one, and I put my other bag in it. I head back over and eat my fried rice. I wander around the convention center some, still feeling bad. Seems that my positive attitude has completely disappeared and I enjoy the silence of a large empty room, I find right outside of the ballrooms. I climb the staircase leading up to the ballrooms and just stand for a while overlooking the giant room I’m in.

It’s nearly time for the tournament, so I head over just in time. The format is sealed again. I open my packs, and get a Jace and an Inferno Titan! Too bad I’ll have to pass them...AGAIN!!! The actual pool I end up with is weird and I’m sure I’m going to go white as I have Angelic Destiny, Archon of Justice, and some other good cards. The only problem is that I’m not sure on my other color. I have some good red cards to fill in the extra spaces and I also have green. In the end I go with green, as it had spiders, Hunter’s Insight, and other cards that will overall make my deck more consistent, as opposed to the goblins and couple of decent creatures red offered. Hunter’s Insight has become one of my favorite M12 cards, as it can give lead to great card advantage, which is even better when combo’d with titanic growth. My deck is complete, and it is time for the first round. I built the deck that I believed was the best I could make with my pool, and headed off for the first game.

I was not emotional during my games. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t smile or anything, I just wasn’t particularly excited, like I was before, and I forgot about my previous state of depression. I played my games to the best of my ability at the time. My first opponent was playing a red/white deck if I remember correctly. I pull out my deck and we begin the first game. He plays out some of his creatures before I can get any out, but while my creatures are slower, they are stronger and able to slow down his attacks, and I eventually manage to finish him off. The second game is a bit more difficult, he starts out with his fast creatures, but this time my creatures all have really high costs, and I feel that I may be at a disadvantage before I can even draw one. Luckily, I draw Timely Reinforcements, which saves the day, giving me three tokens and a whopping six life, which more than makes up for the damage I took from his attacks earlier. He is able to deal some damage to me, but when I use angelic destiny on a token, he doesn’t really have anything to stop it, and then I start getting more creatures, which stop him from attacking, while I can finish him off with my angel. This works, and I take game one.

That went well, and I think that’s the first time I didn’t misplay. I wasn’t excited going in, and I wasn’t coming out. Usually my misplays are because I just get into the flow of the game as opposed to really thinking about the game. Being tired and unhappy allowed me to actually think things through, and I do not believe that I misplayed even once in this tournament. I’ve noticed this pattern before as well. I do better when I’m tired, and do really stupid things when I’m not. I need to get into the habit of not misplaying even when I’m excited, although that may be my hardest task. My next opponent was a guy who I later learned was from Japan and traveled here for the Pro Tour. I didn’t know this at the time, and I’m glad I didn’t, as I could just view him as my opponent. He was using a deck that was mainly black (I don’t remember for sure, but I believe the second color was green). Game 1 is close, with his bats flying at me and dealing me damage before I can play spider and Griffin Sentinel. Like in my last match, I am able to slowly stop his attacking force, and eventually finish him off. Primarily black? I side in Celestial Purge, of course, and get it quickly. The second game is going similar, except I am holding Celestial Purge unsure of when to use it. Since I want to wait for something big, I hold it and fight normally. Then when he pays the six that he needs to get out Sorin Markov, I am glad I hung on to Celestial Purge. I take out Sorin and finish him off soon after. There is something extremely satisfying about Celestial Purging a Planeswalker, and about winning. I am happier, but even more tired than before.

I walk around some, and then it is time for round three. My opponent is using blue and another color. He manages to gain more creatures than me and I’m unable to block his fliers (blue/white, maybe), winning him game one. Game two, I’m able to hit him faster with my creatures and gain the victory with some help from Pacifism. On to game three. I have like four lands, a couple other cards, and a Pentavus. Excellent, if I should be able to hold in there long enough to finally play Pentavus, which should give me the win. Turn 3: Jace. Mill you for ten. Mill you for ten. Mill you for ten. I’m done. I did not expect that at all, but I guess a loss was bound to happen. At this moment, I want to get some kind of snack, so I head over to a convenience store called Wawa. It has an instant frappe machine. WHAT!?!? I get a chocolate flavored block of ice in a cup from the freezer underneath, take the lid off, insert it into the machine, wait a few minutes, and I have a frappe. It was like $2.30, so not bad. It tasted pretty good, too. I tell myself if I make top four, then I will get another one.

Round four: I’m up against someone who kind of annoys me. He is running white and a color I unfortunately cannot remember, although I believe it was black. I win one game, he wins one game, and we’re on to the last game. I can’t remember much from this match other than this final scenario (which I still can’t remember perfectly). He has two archon of Justice and a couple other creatures. I have an amount that is almost the same, plus three soldier tokens from timely reinforcements. I also have an Archon of Justice of my own out, and I cast overrun. He blocks, and goes down to two, exiling two of my creatures, while I can get rid of one. The rest trade and am left with my soldiers and he has a griffin sentinel. He draws and says go. He has a lot of mana open, and decent amount of cards in his hand. I attack and know that I will win if he can’t do anything. He can’t and I win. I was very surprised by this, considering his hand, and also that I wasn’t drawing anything but lands and could only fight with my tokens. Two Archon of Justice… Unfortunately, this guy is one of those obnoxious guys who can’t stand to lose and starts complaining when they lose. I tell him it happens and that in all fairness I got my other wins 2-0 and he did give me a run for my money (or in this case byes), which was true. He was a good player in all fairness, I just tend to be annoyed by people like that. I go tell Andy (the guy with the Flock of Seagulls hair...oddly, I’m listening to I Ran as I writing this) as he and his friends have pretty much finished up at tournaments for the day. I talk to them for a while and find out that all but one of them travelled here from England and had invites to the Pro Tour. I was in awe as that was like my dream. Well one of them.

Competing on the Pro Tour is one of the first steps of my goal which is to be the best magic player ever and getting in the Hall of Fame and become more of a Magic god than Finkel. You’re probably thinking I’m crazy, and I may be, but I tend to believe in a saying that goes “if you shoot for the sun, even if you miss, you’ll wind up among the stars.” It’s something like that anyways. If the Pro Tour was my end result, then I suppose I could feel like I’m a lot closer to completing my goal (since it’s a lot smaller). Anyways, the best thing I can do for now is to get to the Pro Tour or win a Grand Prix, which I will get three byes for by winning today. Anyways, the point is that I have high goals and that I fully intend to reach them or at least become a star. I believe I will write out a list of my planned steps later.

Anyways, on to round 5. I’m feeling better about all of my losses earlier, but I’m still tired and will not let my guard. I up against a girl named Elizabeth from New York, who I 2-0. As I get more tired, I remember less about what I’m doing. I’ve got a very good memory of everything outside of the game, but when it comes to the games themselves, I am remembering less and less. She did put up a pretty good fight, but in the end wasn’t able to overcome Pentavus, which isn’t too surprising. She had a lot of creature, but I had enough mana to block the ones my other creatures couldn’t. She didn’t have flying creatures, so when she didn’t attack. This is also the first time that I made a misplay this tournament. I forgot that tokens had summoning sickness and called the tokens out during my turn, which in the end didn’t change anything, but still. I remembered this. I won game two as well, although I didn’t need to play Pentavus, and kept it in my hand. We talked for a few minutes after and wished each other good luck. She was a good sport and a good player: a nice change of pace from my previous opponent.

I go talk to Andy and his friends, who were named Mark and Matt (if I remember correctly). There was also a girl in their group that I talked to, but she had left a little sooner and I asked their names at the end, so I don’t know hers. I’m pretty sure Matt was the one who had topped multiple PTQs but had not yet made the Pro Tour (of course, that is still really good compared to me right now). I went back for the sixth round and the rest of the tournament sort of became a blur. Matt told me that if I won the rest of my games, I would still have a shot at the top four, so I continued playing. Even if I lost, I still got like 9 packs. I don’t remember anything from the game except that I 2-0’d him and told him that he’s guaranteed packs. He was a nice guy from what I can remember.

After this, I talked to Andy and his friends for a little more, they wish me luck and then they leave. I feel kinda lonely without them but continue on to the last game. I can’t remember details on the last game either, although I recall having a lot of trouble and I had a hard time understanding him and thinking that he might be from Japan, which was further backed up by his name being Kazuo. In the end, that didn’t really matter, since we understood each other’s plays fairly well after a while. There was a little trouble communicating during game one, but by game two we had gotten used to it and adjusted. He was playing green/black if I remember correctly. It was like 10:30 or so at night, and I’d been there since 8 in the morning. This was probably the most intense game I have ever played, so it’s a shame I can’t remember anything. I know that feeling you get from a really tough game. I remember having a super escalated version of that. At the same, when you have this sort of feeling, the flavor and specifics of the cards almost seem to fade from memory and instead the feeling is just one player versus another. I felt a similar feeling the game before this as well, although this was much stronger. I hate and love this feeling, and I can’t really explain it, although I’m sure many know what I’m talking about. I ended up winning 2-0, barely winning each game.

My dad took a couple of pictures, when he came to pick me up, since it was late and there was supposedly a lot of crime in Philadelphia. Since I have them, I might as well post them. This is me versus Kazuo. There aren't many people left at this point, since they closed everything else and this tournament was the last thing happening on Saturday.

and

I waited around and found that I had gotten third place. Since the top four all got a box and three byes, I had accomplished one of my goals for the weekend. I was exhausted and very happy at the same time. I also found out later that the reason that I had trouble communicating with my last opponent was because he had come here from Japan since he had an invite to the Pro Tour. I did searches on the rest of my opponents and found that was also true for my second opponent. Wow. I didn’t know this at the time, so I didn’t think much of it, got my box. Got my promised instant frappe from Wawa’s (although I got cookies n’ cream this time), called Ben to tell him of my victory, and got ready for another day of Magic: The Gathering.

9/4: And the winner is!?!

The final day of the Pro Tour, unfortunately, I don’t really have any goals for the day. I figure I might as well enter the 3,000 dollar draft challenge. I get up a little around 7:30 and get ready as quickly as possible. My hair is even greasier despite the fact that I washed it last night. I head down to the convention center and get in line to sign up for the draft. I sign up and get Ajani number three. I still have an hour so my dad (who walked down with me) and I go to Chinatown and I get a curry bun and another instant frappe on the way there. I love curry buns.

$3,000 dollar draft challenge

The tournament starts and our seating order has been posted. I’m watching the names scroll down the screen and I realize something. This is what many of the big name players chose to do if they didn’t make day three, meaning I was in a tournament with players like Luis Scott Vargas and Paolo Vitor Damo da Rosa, meaning that, if I do well, I may be able to play against one of them and see what playing against a champion is like. I take my seat and packs are passed out soon after. I start drafting and realize that, without thinking, I have ended up with blue/white. Dammit, I’m supposed to think about these things first. It’s funny how often I end up blue/white because I’m used to it. On the plus side, I’m used to it, but on the down side, I don’t really have any particularly good blue/white cards.

First round, I’m up against a French player named Cedric, except I mishear him and call him something different that isn’t even close to a name. I can’t remember his deck colors, except that he had fliers (either black or white). There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary that happened, basically, he played his creatures and I played my control cards, except that in the end, his creatures outnumbered my control cards, and he had fliers, so I couldn’t block. I got destroyed. I really need to think what colors will do best for drafting and stop hoping I get good blue/white. Drafting is still a skill I don’t have, and at the time, I don’t know about draft signals or anything except that I like blue, especially when it goes with white. In fairness, at the time, I do know I’m missing something big.

My second opponent is Pedro Quintero who seems to be infamous for being a magic thief. Apparently, he is a pretty good player, however is well known for topping a TCG Player tournament. I had gotten one of my cards signed by an artist there and told this to my opponent. I brought it up because I was carrying around a signed Grand Abolisher, and I figured that it was only fair to tell my opponents that it was not a part of my deck or sideboard. I did, however, get a card signed that was part of my deck, and said informed him that the signed card in my deck is something I got. He asked which card the guy drew, and I told him trollhide. He smiled, “nice to know you’re going green.” He plays a plains and so do I. Then turn two, I play an island, and get out my signed Benalish Veteran turn three. He is playing red/white, and his red cards outpower all of mine. I’m not getting much control this game and I lose. The next one basically goes the same way. In fairness, despite what I found out about him he did seem like a pretty nice guy and was a pretty good player. Also, it had just been one incident, where he was supposedly bringing what he thought was his friends deck, and returned it when he found out it wasn’t. I don’t know the truth of what happened. Back to the tournament though, I’ve learned a valuable lesson, that I already knew, but needed to actually start applying to my tournaments. When drafting, don’t choose your colors beforehand. Thinking back, at the beginning, I took cards because they were blue, over cards that focusing around would have been a lot better.

It was now time for the third round, and I got a bye, so I headed across the street to the marketplace so I could get a dessert that I saw yesterday. It was like éclair filling, except without the éclair, and looked delicious. Unfortunately, the booth was gone today, so I walked around, before heading back for the fourth round. I started the fourth round, and ended up against a player who didn’t seem to have anything interesting about them. This guy was playing red and a color I cannot remember, and seemed to have less creatures, so my control was able to work better against him. He was still able to outnumber me game one, except I was a little bit closer. I won game two, as he had started getting dead draws, and game three was really close. It was basically a back and forth match with each of us slowly hitting each other and him playing creatures, while I rendered them usely. Unfortunatley,by the time he played his bomb, I was out of counters. I didn’t have anything to If I could stop his Flameblast Dragon, even for a turn, I would be able to win on the next turn. Oh well, thanks to its ability, it was game over for me. I can remember that game sort of, but the rest were pretty much just me getting destroyed thanks to my stupid drafting and misplays. Since it was two draft sessions, and I didn’t have a chance of topping at this point, I decided to drop and get my three packs (they told anyone who was only sticking in it for the extra cards that they would still be given three packs if they dropped). So I lost again, but in all fairness, I still didn’t know about draft signals, and I was still kind of a newbie. “You’re gonna lose a lot before you start winning.” Huh, despite yesterday’s success, I guess I still have a long ways to go.

SideDraft

After going to Chinatown once more and finding out that the bakery was all out of curry buns, I went to Wawa’s and got a frozen cappuccino. The main event seemed to be nearing its end, and they had a much bigger coverage team. I wanted to keep playing myself, so I headed over to the main event stage and signed up for a sidedraft. I still went blue, despite what I kept telling myself, although in all fairness, I did get a Frost Titan this time. Then a Garruk’s horde and 2 Sphinx of Uthuun. Bombs are good, but not when your deck is full of them. Green is already high cost, with cards like Giant Spider and Greater Basilisk and Overrun, but I wasn’t really thinking about anything other than all of the strong cards I had. This was a stupid way to think, as I got 2-0’d by my first opponent, who I believe was playing red. Regardless, it took so long to play anything, that I was nearly dead before I could get anything big, and at that point, it was too late. A deck with too many bombs, is not a good deck, it needs a good balance.

SideDraft 2

I entered another side draft, and, this time, I didn’t get any bombs, except maybe for Skinshifter. Skinshifter is a very good card, and it greatly helped me. My deck was green/white, this time with white for control, and basic green cards like spiders, basilisks, and a Hunter’s Insight and a Jade Mage. I also got a Solemn. The deck was very consistent, and I won my first game by hitting him with Skinshifter: rhino mode and then slowly expanding my army to kill him. I had two Gideon’s Lawkeepers, so any chance he had was pretty much shut down once I had them both out. He hadn’t played for a while, and I took both games fairly easily, and in pretty much the same way. Both games, he ended up against the lawkeepers and the Skinshifter, and he didn’t really have anything to fight with. I believe he was playing white, but I forget his other color. Game two, I was up against another guy named Nick, with a black deck (I believe red was the second color). He put up a fairly good fight, and it was a close match. I’m pretty sure, he got a win, but I won the match thanks to celestial purge and the fact that most of my cards could stop his attacks, while eventually going in for the win with (I’m pretty sure) Overrun. I ended up against a guy named Niko, with a blue white deck, in the finals, and got 2-0’d since I didn’t get the lawkeepers, and he basically destroyed me, as I couldn’t get out enough creatures to hold him off with his fliers and Sun Titan. I got six packs still, so all was good, and I didn’t do too badly. The Pro Tour had also just ended, and there was a lot of cheering. Splinter Twin won against Counter Cat in the finals, and I got a bbq pork bun from Chinatown and another frappe, and headed back to the hotel room. After that last draft, I had five Pro Tour Ajanis. Two full days of playing Magic equals a great weekend. Surprisingly, on my walk back, I was already looking forward to the discount draft at the Relentless Dragon tomorrow and finally having clean hair. Kattobingu da ze ore! ^ ^

Everyday I'm Shufflin': From start to Pro Tour (part 1)

Since I will be doing my senior project on Magic, I figure that I should start reporting. Luckily, I have my status updates on facebook and memory to refer to.

7/22:FNM

Our summer started in July with an M12 draft that I went to with Ben and Joe. I was running a black/green deck with no real win condition. I hadn't really thought about bombs or really anything considering it was the first tournament, and had no idea what was in the set, so I went with cards that seemed useful and came to be green/black. I had a doom blade or two, and an Onyx mage, and overall, the deck wasn't horrible, it just didn't really have a consistent win condition. So, the tournament started, and I was up against a deck, which's only color that I remember was red, although I think it was red, white, and blue. The match didn't go horrible, but it ended up with him actually playing scrambleverse, which left me defenseless and caused me to lose. The second match, I was up against a deck, which primarily was based on blue, and I lost due to it's constant card advantage and fliers. At this point, I was 0-2, and was very disappointed, and was was even more doubtful when I found that I was paired up. My oppenent was not very happy about being paired down, and played a deck that was primarily white, and used Griffin Sentinel. Surprisingly, I managed to win the first game, by making use of Onyx Mage, causing my opponent to get even more annoyed. Unfortunately, I ended up losing the second game, due to not being able to block his fliers. So it all came down to the third game, which was a very close game. We were both hitting each other, slowly, and it was a back and forth battle, with him hitting me with his Griffin Sentinels. In the end, I won, although my life was very low. To be honest, though, this guy's frustration made it clear to me that I would win this match, since he couldn't play right. In the end, had he played his cards differently, I would have almost definitely lost.

7/25: Discount Draft

After this tournament, I read up on a bunch of general drafting strategies, as well as the card ratings on Channel Fireball, and tried another draft. This one went much better, and is the one I talked about previously. I drafted a white/blue with Frost Titan and Gideon and a ton of draw power. I won the first match, against a Red deck that couldn't handle facing Gideon, Frost Titan, and Serra Angel, and 2-0'd him. Next I faced one of the coolest people I had ever met, and his name was Dylan (the person I just beat was his dad). Ben and I had been talking to him, and when I showed him my Frost Titan, he pulled out his Inferno Titan. From there we knew we had to face each other, and we did in the next round. I knew he had Inferno Titan, and decided stupidly to mana leak his demonic tutors, when I obviously should have waited for the titan itself. Anyways, I had nothing to counter the titan and lost round one. Round two, I let him get the titan, celestial purged or mana leaked it, and played my titan, resulting in my win. Now it was round three. Once again, he played his Titan only for it to get Celestial Purged (or maybe it was mana leak), but this time, he was able to counter my titan, since he was red, black, and blue. While both our Titans were gone, I still had Gideon, which I was able to resolve and ended up winning thanks to it. Round three, I faced a green/white deck, run by a guy who was trying to keep his rating up to secure his three byes at Grand Prix Pittsburgh. I won game one just barely, thanks to Gideon, although game two I was defeated along with Gideon. It all came down to game three again, but I wasn't getting my bombs, and as the game drew on, I found myself getting cornered. The only way for me to win was to draw Frost Titan. I had my draw and my two looters. I drew, not it. Merfolk looter, number one. Not there. If I used my other looter and didn't get it, then I wouldn't be able to block his attacks and would lose the game. Luckily, it was Frost Titan and I was able to stop his attacks and win the game. We reported this as 1-2 for me, so that he could keep his points (this was with the ELO system).

7/29: FNM

Draft number 3, I went on my own, and ended up with a similar deck to last time, except less than four mana leaks, and my only bomb was Sphinx of Uthuun. First round, I faced the shop keepers mono green deck, and almost lost both times (one, I got down to my last card), but I was able to 2-0 him. Sadly he dropped after this to go back and run the shop, which threw off my tiebreakers, hurting me later. I beat my second opponent as well, although I cannot remember who they were or what they used, sadly. I'm hoping once my DCI numbers are combined, I'll be able to look up my opponents, but for now, I cannot. Anyways, I go up against my last opponent, who is also blue/white, except he is using red as well. I take game one without to much trouble, thanks to my looter and Sphinx of Uthuun. Game two, however, I find up myself against a Goblin Fireslinger. Oh well, luckily, I had the perfect solution. I Pacifism-ed it (In all fairness, though I was mistaking it for arsonist). To make matters worse, I could have used Ice Cage instead. I slowly took damage, and found myself unable to win. On to game3. Game3 is going fairly well for me, I'd say the board is about even. We play for awhile, and then he pulls out Jace. I try to counter it, but he just Mana Leaks my Negate, and I end up losing the top ten cards of my deck. It goes into turns, and all that seems left in my deck is mana. My only chance is that the last card will be able to stop at least one of his attacks, so I use looter to draw it. It is not, so I use my second looter to finish me off. I get fourth out of the eight man pod, due to the shopkeep dropping, and my other win not being to impressive. On a side note, I don't feel that going 2-1 is bad at all, in fact, I was rather pleased with myself (except that I didn't get a mythic).

8/1: Discount Draft

My next attempt was with Ben, Austin, and Joe, where I once again went blue/white, but this time with a splash of Red (shock and fireball). I don't remember my first opponent, but I remember that I beat him. Then I faced Aaron, who I thought was the guy I beat first tournament, but from checking the reports, the names seem to be different. Anyway, my horrible misplaying caused me to lose. I had Gideon again, and he had an assassin. I stupidly turned my Gideon into a creature and attacked with it and the obvious happened. It was a close game up until then. Anyways, I lost the next round as well, and found myself against a player who I would find myself against on other occasions as well, who was named Brian. He was playing red/green and had a Garruk. Luckily, I never had to face it, and won the first one. Unfortunately, his swarm of creatures made games two and three one sided, causing me to lose and miss out on any chance of a Mythic.

8/5: FNM

This time, I attempted Red/Blue. I remember facing some sort of a black deck, and being able to fight. I lost one to a deck that I believe was blue/red, and lost because he killed my looter and still had his. In the end, I went 1-2, winning my second game against one of the employees, who entered as a sixth person. She got manascrewed and I 2-0’d her. The deck wasn't horrible, it just wasn't particularly strong and wasn't consistent. It was mostly red, and had a lot of Goblins and a Goblin Chieftain as well as an Adaptive Automation. Additionally, I can't seem to find any record of this tournament using Planeswalker Points, so I can't really use anything to jog my memory. Maybe it was all just a dream.

8/8: Discount Draft

I then went red/green, and ended up facing Brian again. He was using a white/red deck, and I ended up winning the first game, and barely losing the second and third games. I had a few webs and giant spiders to slow him down as well as plummet and other useful creatures. Unfortunately, the last game came down to top decking, since we were at a full stalemate, and I unfortunately kept getting lands, and he got another creature, which was enough to finish me. Next round, I faced his brother Nathan, and lost the first round against a deck that I can't remember. He got a bad hand, and I overwhelmed him second round, but round three I ended up losing as well. Finally, I played the other guy who had lost both of our matches to decide who the ultimate loser was. He was also in green/red, and had the rampant growths that I wanted, and the other thing I found out was that he ran no fliers, and he was bragging about that, since he didn't have to have to worry about plummet or my spiders. Turns out that wasn't entirely true, as he learned as soon as he saw my Arachnis Spinner. It got down to round three, with me winning round one with my spinner and losing round two due to a goblin grenade, but I was able to once again stall him with my spiders in round three, so that I was able to stop him from attacking as well as get enough creatures to overwhelm him.

8/12: FNM

After that, I went back to white/blue, since I was kind of afraid of trying more aggro, since I wasn't as used to playing it. My deck was a decent control deck, although it didn't really have any bombs. I won my first round against a black/red deck, and then faced a guy named Alex who showed me the power of a card I had never really thought about before. He 2-0'd me thanks to his Lurking Crocodiles. I had one Lawkeeper and never stood a chance. Then I played a person who I consider to be the best there (I still haven't been able to beat him), who was using red black and utterly destroyed me.

8/15: Discount Draft

This time, I tried a new color combination that I have had a lot of luck with lately. Green/blue. How original, it includes blue. To be honest, it was mostly blue, but I decided on green when I pulled Primeval Titan in my last pack. First off, I faced Aaron again, and this time I had Primeval Titan in my hand. Unfortunately, he was able to nearly kill me before I had a chance to get it out, and he 2-0'd me. My next round, I was up against the guy who beat me in draft number three. I don't remember too much about the game, except that I was able to get out Primetime in our final round, while we both had a lot of creatures. I won that match. Now, on to the final match. I called out for my opponent, who quickly identified himself, but said he had to go, and gave me his cards for the backdraft. "You can just say you won 2-0." I did.

8/16: Sealed

I had been at Pandemonium on Tuesdays for an improv class, and had never been able to participate in the sealed tournament that happened on Tuesdays. When my class switched to Wednesdays, I decided to enter the tournament, since I was trying to prepare for the sealed tournaments at PT Philadelphia. So I went, and was 15 minutes late, because I thought it was at 7, when it was at 6:30 (I thought I would be early). So I half the time to open my packs and build my deck. I ended up with a combination I had never really thought about before: black and white. The deck did fairly well, I lost my first game against a deck that was primarily white and had a lot of fliers. Even with Pentavus and Bloodlord of Vaasgoth, I still lost. My second round, I found myself up against an opponent that I can't really remember, and I ended up winning. Third round, I was up against an opponent who was late, and arrived with the food he had gotten while I was waiting. He was playing a deck that was green/white, and I got defeated by his overrun. Now it was time for the final round, in which I faced another deck that I couldn't really remember. The guy was pretty cool, but against my swarm of creatures, he was defeated without too much trouble. Shortly into the game, they said they were closing the register and that anyone that wanted to buy something had to do so now. Since my opponent didn't mind, I ran upstairs, leaving my deck and bought something. We continued playing, and I clearly had the upperhand. Then I played duskhunter bat and put on the bat shaped sunglasses I just bought. The guy surrendered.

Quote of the day: "I always wondered what kind of weirdo would actually buy those..." - My opponent

8/19: FNM

The night before SCG Open Boston. I figured the side events would be a good place to test my progress. Since I had only been playing against the players at The Relentless Dragon, I didn’t really know how good other players would be, and the side events would have people from all over the area. So, basically, it was my last practice before the test. Actually, it was more like a mini-quiz, since my test would be at Pro Tour Philadelphia. Anyways, time to do my best. I went with my typical blue/white control deck, and luckily had Uthuun Sphinx again. I also used Crown of Empires and Druidic Satchel, as well as a Mind Control for full awesomeness. First round, I found myself up against a mill deck. This time, I had to be on the offensive, I won the first game, as he didn’t have enough life to use both mesmerists and block all of my attacks, although I only had a few cards left in my deck at the end. In the second game, he didn’t get the mill cards he needed, and I ended up winning 2-0. Unfortunately I found myself up against John (that guy from earlier who I still haven’t been able to beat). The thing is, I was paired down, meaning he lost his first match. What did I do to deserve this? Not only does that suck for tiebreakers, but it also guarantees my defeat. This lead to two long matches where I was taking one or two damage every turn, and then losing. Luckily, he won his last match, but it was against my first opponent. I won my third game as well, although I can’t remember too much about my last match, except that I won and felt satisfied being 2-1 again. White-blue control for the win

8/20: SCG Open

Side Draft

I was now at the SCG Open, and decided to test my skills with a draft. I went green/white splashing blue. My first opponent was using a deck that I cannot remember the colors of. Anyway, it was basically a beatdown deck. He took the first game easily by overwhelming me with creatures, although I was able to stall his creatures and take the next two games by using pacifisms and troll hides. I then found myself up against another aggro deck, but this time it was black/red. While I’d try to control his creatures, I’d quickly find myself out numbered anyway, and got 2-0’d.

THG Sealed

For this, I paired up with someone from the booster draft who sat across from me during the booster draft named Nitin. We didn’t get any mythics, and the only valuable card we got was a Grim Lavamancer, but we still had decent stuff to use. To balance things, I used a black/blue control deck and Nitin used a red/green aggro deck (although it did have webs and spiders). Our first match was going pretty well. They had a Griffin Sentinel and a red creature that had been bloodthirsted. Bloodthirsty Ogre, maybe? Anyways, it was a 5/5. We were slowly taking damage, but felt that we would be able to turn it around. That is, until they played Sorin. Then we lost. Nitin had a Volcanic Dragon, but unfortunately, he didn’t get a second red mana until it was too late. Round 2, we did better. They had a decent number of creatures and so did we. I had a distress, and one opponent had 1 card left and a lot of mana, and the other had 3 mana and 7 cards. I chose the 1 card, and saved us from next turn’s Inferno Titan. Nitin webbed their creatures, and we won. Third round started off similar to the other two, until they pulled out a Gideon. We couldn’t really do anything and lost.

Side Draft

I went blue/white as usual (although more control and fliers this time, without any bombs), and felt my deck was pretty good. I went up against a guy playing a green (I forget what other color he used) deck and we had a stalemate for a while until he got out enough tokens with his Jade Mage. He also had Overrun, and, while I could survive the attack, I didn’t have anything to fight back with. The second game went similar to this, and I found myself out of another draft and done for the day.

8/21: SCG Open

After I got off of work, I headed immediately back to the SCG Open. I somehow got into a conversation, and talked to one of the 3d card artists (I think, he was at that table…) and Anders, the winner of the Standard Open, for a while about the meta and other stuff. I was told that I would lose a lot before I would start winning.

Side Draft

This draft went pretty bad for me. I couldn’t decide on my colors, so I had a very mixed pool. In the end, I ended up with a while/blue deck with a Serra Angel and I believe a Pentavus for bombs. He was playing a mill deck and kept calling my creatures clowns. He and the guy next to him (who was his friend, I guess) reminded me greatly of the guys from Car Talk, and really seemed like they were a comedy duo. I was entertained by this, and hung around a while after I lost. Control decks don’t seem to be very good against mill decks, especially since he also had some stall and control cards. Basically, I couldn’t hit him, and he just kept milling me. It made it even harder when he milled my bombs second game, and there was nothing I could draw or do in order to win.

Side Draft

Guess what colors. Yup, white/blue. I had 4 or so negates (although I didn’t use them all), other control cards, some fliers, and a Sun Titan and a Sphinx of Uthuun. This deck was going to be great. Or so I thought. I got a bye first round, because my opponent had to leave, and lost fairly easily to my second opponent. I could never get the mana to get my bombs out, and his creatures would overwhelm me. Negate didn’t help much either. I can’t remember what colors he played, I want to say black/green, or black/red, though. Regardless, without my bombs his creatures were stronger than mine, and since I didn’t have enough control cards to stop them, I lost. Can I please start winning soon? I’ve lost a lot already. Weekend over… >_<

8/22: Discount Draft?

Austin, Ben, and Joe came over beforehand. Austin came first, and we played for a while. Then Ben came over and we played Yugioh for a while (my Naturias are hurting with the new Banlist, although it could be a lot worse >_<), and then Joe came over just before we left. Ben didn’t want to draft, so he went home and Austin, Joe, and I went to Gamestop to return the Tag Force game I got that didn’t work. We called to try and reserve a spot, and it turned out they had run out of product, so we couldn’t draft. We went anyway, and Joe got a Gold Series 4. Since we didn’t know what to do, we decided to go to Target and walk around. Austin got a deck from New Phyrexia and Game of Thrones. Then we went over to Coldstone Creamery, and got frappes. Joe and I got Creme de Menthe, and Austin got “Oh Fudge”. Then we went home and I beat them in a 2v1 with Joe’s Grand Architect deck against, Austin’s new deck and a deck Joe made from cards from my M12 drafts. I was about to lose, but had a chance to draw a card, and drew Mind Slaver. I was trying to figure out the best way to ruin their plan when Joe pointed out that I could just use Austin’s dragon’s life paying ability to take them down to two. For some reason, I hadn’t noticed this. I did that, tapped all of their mana, attacked with all of their creatures (I had Platinum angel), and won. In fairness though, Joe’s deck was way better than either of the ones they were using. Then Austin and Joe went home. Fun day ^ ^

8/23: Sealed

My second tournament at Pandemonium made me realize that I needed to read cards and so did other people. I made a green/blue deck, which was a combination that worked very well for me. It basically ran under the same concept as my first blue/white deck, and I used blue’s draw power to help have the lands I needed when I needed them, and I could use the looters to increase my chances of having a useful card when I needed it. I also was splashing red for a fireball, and used manalith and rampant growth to increase my chances of getting that red mana when I needed it.

My first opponent seemed to be in his 30’s, and was running a red/black deck. Anyways, I won the first game with my Djinn of Wishes and other creatures, and he won the second game by attacking me with a Tormented Soul and enchanting it to increase its power. Then he shocked me, and I lost. Round three was a very close game, and involved a lot of stupidity on both parts. First off, I evidently didn’t know how fireball worked, and thought it was X for the damage it dealt, and 1 to deal that same X to an additional target, I didn’t realize that X was divided evenly among targets. So he read the card and said, “oh, so you’re dealing 1 to this, 1 to this, and 3 to this?” Or something like that, I can’t remember the exact numbers. Seeing that this would accomplish the same thing as I had planned to, I said sure. My next mistake was that when I played Garruk’s Horde, I’d play the flipped over card without paying its cost. In all fairness, my opponent did take a minute to read the card, but apparently neither of us noticed where it said “you must still pay the cost”. Then he played Grave Titan, and I was barely able to outnumber him and seize the game, although I don’t believe that I should have.

I got manascrewed against my second opponent and lost the match within ten minutes. Since we had a lot of time, we just continued playing and I think I won one out of five. This was probably the most helpful set of games I have played though, since every time I’d play a card wrong, he’d explain to me how it worked. Djinn of Wishes can only play a card when you can legally play it. That makes sense. Fireball is divided evenly. That’s why it’s not unfair. Garruk’s Horde still makes you pay the cost. Ok, well that’s not as good as I thought it was. Anyways, I lost my second match and learned that it always pays off to read cards.

Third game, I faced a kid named Jamie who I had been playing with before the tournament. I borrowed a deck from his friend (who had lost two and couldn’t get a prize), and ended up winning a three person game with them. It was rather fun. Anyways, I didn’t make any more stupid mistakes, since I had learned from my second opponent, and this went fairly well. If I remember correctly, he was using black red. His speed was able to wipe me out without too much trouble the first game, and he was able to use burn spells to take care of the creatures I played. I thought it was over, but I managed to hang in there and survived long enough that my big creatures gave me a big enough advantage that I was able to take game two. His deck wasn’t so fast that I lost immediately, it was just faster than my green deck. Game three, he was slow in getting a creature out, and I was able to take control of the board, using Aether Adepts to force him to replay his creatures, while I finish him off with my attacks.

Time for the last game! The final match to decide if I get the 8 dollars store credit that is the most I can hope for. The time is now to face my final opponent. I go to the pairings list. It’s a kid who appears to be 10 or 12. In all fairness, this kid beat Jamie, as well, and seemed to know what he was doing. He was playing white/red, with a Furyborn Hellkite. I knew I had to beat him before he pulled it off. I did. First game, he didn’t have enough mana to play the creatures he had, and basically just attacked him until he lost. Second game, he draws the same hand he kept the first game and mulligans. He gets out creatures fairly soon this time, but I’m able to get in some damage from attacks, since I have more creatures, and fireball him for game. He doesn’t really like this, and I feel kinda bad. That’s why I don’t like playing kids. Losing would be embarrassing, but winning sucks, too. Oh well, 3-1 is better than the 2-2 I got last time.

8/26: FNM

As usual, I went to Friday Night Magic on Friday (of course), and Joe came too. We got there and hung out a while before the draft started. I went blue/green again. I got another Primeval Titan, and wasn’t about to let it go to waste, as well as Jade Mage. With blue’s support this deck was pretty awesome. It was mostly focused around green creatures and blue draw power, like the deck from Tuesday, but I had an awesome bomb this time. I had a good feeling. I played against my first opponent. He was using a white/red deck, and was able to slowly kill me, game one, with his red bloodthirst creatures, and his white fliers. Game two was sort of one sided, with him having to mulligan pretty low and didn’t really have a chance to come back. In game three, I was able to make use of giant spiders, to hold off his fliers, and took the game with my strong green creatures, so that we were both fighting, and his fliers weren’t going to kill me on their own. Through combat, I was able to take down a few of his creatures, leaving me with enough of an advantage to deal the final blow. I drew Primeval Titan on my last turn, but I figured it would be good to save for later, so I finished him without playing it.

Round 2, I faced the guy who beat Joe. I’m pretty sure he was using a white/red deck, like my last opponent, and our two games went very similar to each other. He’d play a flier, and I’d play a spider, we’d both play our creatures with no one swinging at each other. Additionally, he had enchantments that could stop my creatures from attacking, which further stall me. Eventually, I would get out Jade Mage, which would slowly give me an advantage. Both games were really close, although Jade Mage and one or two attacks each turn would lead to my ultimate victory. Thank god for the spiders, though. If I hadn’t drawn them, I would very likely have lost to his fliers, which would have been able to kill me very quickly if I couldn’t stop them. Toward the end of the last game, I drew Primeval Titan, and once again had to decide whether to play it or not. If I played it, it would pretty much guarantee my win, but it would reveal my bomb. I had the advantage as well, and with Jade Mage, I would probably win in a few turns. I bet on keeping it secret, and finished him a few turns later. A good choice.

Now it was time for the final round. I forgot to mention that this was a ten man pod, meaning that there will be three people with 2-0. Oh well, I’ll just make sure to win my match. I find myself up against one of the hardest games I have ever played. It’s not that he’s the best player out there, but he’s better than me overall, but I can still put up a fight. It just requires me to really be on my game, and not get cocky or silly like I usually do. I’m up against a guy named Peter, who I have there before, but haven’t played. This was the most difficult of the three games, for sure. He was playing green as well, and I forget what other color he was using. Anyways, first game I took control of one of his spiders using mind control, but then he turned it around by playing his Arachnus Spinner. I realized that I had made the wrong move. I should save Mind Control. This first match was a long drawn out battle, where he slowly got hits on me, and I ended up losing. On to round two. Luckily, he only had one web, but still, I shouldn’t waste Mind Control. Game two was similar. We were both playing out creatures and being unable to attack. I slowly got a stronger attacking force, and was able to slowly deal damage to him. Then I drew Primeval Titan, and while it took a little more to win, Primeval Titan gave me the power to hit him for more every turn so I could narrow down the chances of him drawing something to turn the tides with. On top of that, it narrowed down the lands in my deck, increasing my chances of drawing something good. That was game for him, as he couldn’t survive my attacks. We started the third game a couple minutes before time was called. He played Arachnus Spinner, I Mind Controlled. He used Acidic Slime to get it back. I had a Jade Mage out, and neither of us could even get close to winning. It was a draw. The third 2-0 was pretty happy about that. Luckily, I got second, since I had better tiebreakers and got to keep Primeval Titan this time.

8/29: Discount Draft

My last tournament before the Pro Tour. This was my last chance to prepare. Here goes, my ultimate combination, BLUE/WHITE CONTROL! Just, I didn’t have any bombs. I go up against my first opponent who is playing a black/white deck mainly focused on white creatures and black spells to kill creatures. During game one, he was able to take me down to 8 quickly, because I didn’t have enough creatures to stop his attacks. At this point, I played timely reinforcements, gaining life and creatures. I used my tokens to block and kill one of his creatures, and started taking back control of the game with lawkeepers and other tapping and attack preventing cards, until my forces outnumbered his enough to finish him off. Game two went similar to this, except that I was able to take control quicker because he used Deathmark to kill my Lawkeeper and I Redirected it at his Griffin Sentinel, which got rid of Griffin Rider’s power, putting me in a much better position. Soon after that, I won, and he started complaining that Redirect sucked and that no one should use it, and that he only lost because he wasn’t prepared for that, although that excuse could be used to explain any loss, and isn’t really much of an excuse.

For my second opponent, I found myself up against Brian again. He’s already beaten me once, now it’s time to even the score. He is playing white/black as well, but he is definitely more of a threat. Game one, he got out creatures faster than me and my control strategy doesn’t work when I’m constantly taking damage. Game two, I am able to get my cards out faster, and have something to stop most of his creatures, until my forces outnumber his to the point where I can win. I win. Game three, was rather disappointing. He gets totally manascrewed, while I just attack him. Revenge! Although, much less epic than I had hoped for.

It’s now the final round and I find myself up against a guy named Chase (when I first heard them call his name, I thought it was Jace XD) Anyways, we start the first game. He’s got a blue/green deck with a bunch of fliers. We start out by playing creatures, and I get a few cards to tap his creatures as well. I also get an Aether adept, and slowly deal damage with my creatures while keeping his tapped and off the board. In the end, he’s almost able to beat my strategy by having too many creatures for me to get past, but he doesn’t quite have enough, and I win. The second time, his strategy works. It starts the same, and then he gets Jade Mage. While I’m tapping his big creatures, it doesn’t matter, because he can just keep making saprolings. He wins without much trouble. Game three: now I’m scared. I barely have any counters in my deck, and the only one I draw is Cancel, which means that if he gets out a Jade Mage turn two, I’m practically screwed. He does, which leaves me with one chance: draw my Ice Cage. I can’t remember if I play it and he kills it, or I just don’t draw it, but either way I’m losing. When I think he has no creatures left to block with, and I can get a hit with my Azure Mage, he just blocks with a saproling. I completely forgot about those. How!?! And so I lose. Oh well, 2-1 is not bad. Now then, it’s almost time for the Pro Tour. I hope that I have improved enough to take on my toughest challenge thus far. Kattobingu da ze ore!

That was awesome :D

I think that was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I went into Pandemonium (a local game store) yesterday, where the manager was calling the cops to report that they had accidentally bought stolen property. Anyways, some guys had broken into a store in Danvers and stole some old Mox cards etc, and sold them to Pandemonium. Anyways, the policeman came quickly and started doing a police report and gathering all of the details, including getting the files from the store's surveillance camera, basically insuring that the criminals would be found. The policeman then said that he would have to hold on to the cards, and asked if he could borrow a few sleeves to keep them safe. After the manager gave him the cards, the policeman looked at them for a few seconds and then said, "I used to play a ton during this set!" Then the policeman starting going on about his awesome deck back in the day, and how he used to destroy with fireball, resulting in a police report strangely becoming a conversation about Magic: the Gathering. That made my day. ^ ^

The Bio of a Nick

My name is Nick (who would have guessed!?!) and I am kind of bored right now. I just got back from a trip to Philadelphia yesterday, and slept in, accidentally missing school today (which was fine because I was (and am) sick, anyways). Hopefully I will not be sick tomorrow. Anyways, today was rather boring, and so I decided that I would start a blog to track my progress. At what exactly? Magic: the Gathering, of course. Overall, I would say it's the greatest TCG, and many would agree with me.

Anyways, I finally got my license and a job and decided to play more Magic, which I originally avoided for the most part due to my limited money and the fact that sets rotate out. While I didn't like the thought of my cards being worthless two years down the road (although I realize that isn't entirely accurate), Magic was everything I wanted in a game: fun to play, lots of players, something to strive for, and high stakes tournaments. I now had the money to spend, and a means of getting there, so I decided that I would start playing more and get better, to the point where I can compete in the Pro Tour, and hopefully win. If all goes well, then you should be hearing about it from this blog.

Anyways, while I've never tried to get competitive, I have been playing Magic on and off for a while. I was very young when I got my first deck. My grandparents got it for me when I was 6 or 7, and it was the Slither deck (http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/productarticle.aspx?x=mtg_tcg_prophecy_themedeck#deck2). I played with it a little, and then lost interest. Years later, when I was in sixth grade, my parents got me a deck for my birthday, since they thought I needed to outgrow Yugioh. So, I got the 8th edition starter set and my dad got a Mirrodin deck that was called Little Bashers (I think). Sadly, I didn't really have any friends that played, so I lost interest. I didn't pick up my cards again for a year, but when I got into 7th grade, I switched schools, and found more people who played Magic. This was around the time of Ravnica, and I grew very fond of the Izzet guild, particularly Niv-Mizzet. Unfortunately, this quickly crumbled since the Magic Choice Block (a block where magic players met and played) stopped happening, and when someone who was quitting Yugioh offered me a bunch of rare cards for my mostly common magic cards, I happily accepted.

Then in 9th grade, my friend got me 2 white magic decks for my birthday, one of which was from Tenth Edition and had Chao Mano, and the other one was based around knights with Flanking. This was around Lorwyn time, and I quickly discovered Merfolk, which I ended up trading my white cards for (I still have most of them and am debating on making a legacy deck once I'm prepared to buy Aether Vials and Force of Wills). Of course, my Merfolk deck sucked as I thought they were supposed to be based on milling the opponent. At the time I didn't realize they were supposed to attack. Soon after that, I entered my first Magic tournament. Me and my bro went to the Shadowmoor prerelease, where I got all of the dark Merfolk, and where we got destroyed in a two-headed giant sealed. From then on, I played on and off, although I didn't really go to any more tournaments, and rarely got new cards. The next tournaments I went to were the Scars of Mirrodin prerelease and the release event, where I went 1-2 and 2-1-1. I drafted at my friends house some as well, and finally decided to make a Tempered Steel deck, which was pretty awesome. Soon after that, M12 came out and a week or so after that, I started going to more tournaments.

Most of the tournaments I entered were drafts, and I started off, trying to draft a green-black deck. It didn't work very well, as it had no bomb or really any way to win for that matter, and I went 1-2 (got paired up and won my last round thanks to that black mage that gives things death touch). I didn't really like that score, so I started browsing the internet learning more about M12 and looking at articles from Channel Fireball and Star City Games. I still was uncomfortable, so I decided to go with what I knew how to play. I easily made up for my loss with the next draft however, when I got passed a frost titan, after deciding to go blue, needless to say, this turned out very well, since I had 3 merfolk looter and 4 mana leak. Luck was cerainly on my side as I got the color I was most used to. Pulling a Gideon in the second pack made me decide to go blue-white. In my first match I faced a guy who traveled about an hour with his son (I think they were taking a short vacation), and faced a red deck that had Chandra the Fire-Brand. Needless to say, when faced with both Gideon and Frost Titan (as well as Serra Angel) he didn't really stand a chance. In the second match, I ended up facing Inferno Titan, because I stupidly mana leaked two demonic tutors (hey, I was and still am kind of a noob), and didn't have a counter when he actually played the big card. So he beat me with Inferno Titan. Game 2, he didn't get Inferno Titan, and I played and beat him with Frost Titan, and game 3, we both killed each others titans, but I played Gideon and won.

The last match I had was against someone who was supposedly pretty good. He came there clearly expecting to win, and had a rather high rating he needed to hold on to in order to get 3 byes at Grand Prix Pittsburgh. This scared me, because I was not particularly good. Game one, I managed to barely slip by with Gideon, although I was destroyed in Game Two along with Gideon. Game3, I was cornered. He had enough creatures to attack me with to finish me, and I had no chance of winning if I didn't draw Frost Titan right then and there. Unfortunately for him, I did, although since he was a good sport we reported it as his win so he could keep his byes. I still got the first pick in the back draft though, and chose Chandra.

I continued going every monday and I friday, determined to get better. I had mixed results, ranging from second to last to second place at my local game store, and getting completely destroyed in the side events at SCG Boston. But I didn't plan to give up. I was and still am determined to get better. I've been told multiple times now that I'm going to lose a lot before I start winning, although I still dislike losing so much. I had a goal out of this, however. When I started these drafts, I did so with the intention of winning either a GPT or a PTQ at Pro Tour Philadelphia.

School started last week, with me looking forward to Philadelphia all week. Finally the end of the week came and I went to Philadelphia, ready for the PTQ...where I went 0-4 because of misplays, which tends to happen when I'm excited and dropped to enter the Grand Prix. Somehow I managed to play perfectly (which never happens), I didn't regret any moves, and actually didn't get particularly excited either. I ended up going 6-1 with a Green-White deck, and won three byes at a Grand Prix of my own. I loved the progression of the summer, since it had started with me beating a Green-White deck and a guy who was preparing for a Grand Prix with three byes in his possession, and ended with me getting third in a Grand Prix trial with Green-White and getting my own three byes.

Of course, that's not the end of my Magic career. The three byes pretty much force me to enter a Grand Prix in 2012, and with States and the PTQ season coming soon, there's so much I want to achieve. I'm also rather liking the new Planeswalker Points system. Right now, I am a level 18 Adept, continuing my journey to become an Archmage.