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
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.
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! ^ ^
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