MTG Blog! For non magic players, most of the jargon is sectioned off within the individual rounds.
While in Cleveland, Dano and I played more mtg tournaments at the local card store than I have at any other point in my life. We're talking at least one tournament a week here. Granted they weren't anything huge (4 rounds generally) but the players were at a good level of competitiveness. This lead me and Dano to be in prime fighting form for the MTG standard formats de jour and as such we both qualified to go to the TCGPlayer Maxpoint invitational in Indianapolis that year. But the year went on and Dano moved back to Saint Joe. My knowledge of the Standard format grew rusty as I stopped going to tournaments. The Championship happened to fall on a bad weekend and I ended up not going.
Flash forward a year, I was bouncing around the tcgplayer website and saw the Maxpoint championship for this year being advertised and out of curiosity I tweeted at them asking if I could use last years points to qualify this year and to my surprise I could. They would, however, expire next year so it was now or never. This year happened to be in Columbus. Unfortunately Dano couldn't make the trip but luckily Kevin was able to use his points and came in his place.
Kevin drove to Ann Arbor last Friday so we could carpool the rest of the way to Columbus but we made a couple stops around town first. Ate dinner at Red Hawk where Kevin said of the lamb burger "This is the best thing I've ever had on a bun."
Afterwards we made a stop over at The People's Food Co-op in Kerry town where I bought what I swear was my keys to tournament success: a giant bag of granola and a bunch of bananas. I would eat these all throughout the tournament Saturday and Sunday. I may be giving these bananas a lot of credit but I'm going to say without the energy I got throughout the day from them I definitely would have dropped another match.
The drive to Columbus was uneventful and we made it to our Red Roof Inn just before 11pm. I sat on my bed and watched "Limitless" on cable. I got my bed ready by pulling the cigarette burned comforter off and found a stink bug hanging out between the sheets. Kevin checked his bed and found one too. I was fairly grossed out to say the least but I had crawl right back into bed once the fiend was washed down the drain. Playing magic on little sleep is not a recipe for success.
Tournament! [This is where the magic happens, feel free to skim/skip]
Standard Decklist:
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Sideboard
1 Pithing Needle
1 merciless eviction
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This list was recently used by one of the biggest pro magic players to top 8 two big events in a row. I like running blue decks and control is fun so I decided to run with it.
Modern:
SB:
4 Leyline of the void
4 ingot chewer
4 shriekmaw
3 Kitchen FInks
Now THIS is a fun deck. The idea is to fill your graveyard up with creatures by cycling them then cast a cascade spell and cascade into Living End to bring all your guys back into play and kill all their creatures at the same time.
There are 365 players today. I registered my decks and round one of nine began
Round #1 vs w/b/g Junk
My 1st round opponent was a quiet guy with a Goofy hat. When I say Goofy hat I mean it literally had a picture of Goofy on it. He was running a deck that looked like it was prepped for the control match. I saw Thoughtseize, Voice of Resurgence, Blood Baron and other good anti-control cards maindeck. Game 1 I resolved Blood Baron and he could not kill it with his removal suite. Game 2 the reverse happened. Game 3 went to time. I hate starting with a draw, it screw with tiebreakers and in this setting is almost as bad as a loss.
0-0-1
Round #2 vs Mono black
Killed him both rounds with blood barons he couldn't race or deal with. The card is not game over for the mono black player but it's certainly close to it. My maindeck is set up to hate on mono black players with 4 D Sphere maindeck and all 4 Blood Barons in the 75. This becomes a recurring theme for the day
1-0-1
Round #3 vs Mono Blue
Game 1 I got aggroed out with Thassa beating my face. I definitely sided wrong in this match. I didn't realize how aggressive the deck was even after losing to quick beats in the first game and sided out all my best anti-aggro cards. As a result I was taken out pretty quickly.
1-1-1
Now 1-1-1 is not a record worth writing home about. At this point I was feeling about ready to lose another match and call it quits for the day. Kevin at this point was 0-3. That glimmer of hope shone in my mind though, what if I win out? True, if I won the rest of my matches I'd still be guaranteed to make it to day 2. If I lost one I'd be about a 50/50 shot. Winning 6 rounds in a row is a tall order but I can't ignore the thought of what could be. I played on.
Round #4 vs Esper Control
My first mirror match of the day. A control mirror match is one of the most skill testing games of MTG you can have. The secret is to focus on making land drops and preventing them from letting key spells resolve. In this standard, those spells are Sphinx's Revelation, Jace and most importantly Aetherling. Once Aetherling hits the board it's impossible to get rid of if you play carefully. Game 1 I have decent keep against most decks but awful against control with only two lands. I stumble and lose game 1. Game 2 and 3 though I do all that good stuff above and pull the match out.
2-1-1
Round #5 vs Esper Control
Another mirror match. The two games we play go much like the last two of the previous round and aetherling kills him game 1 and 2. Afterwards he shows me his sideboard tech of Psychic Spiral. Now this was a good trick when Snapcaster Mage was a thing but these days it seems super conditional and ace just mills it away most of the time anyways. Seems iffy at best to me but I can't say I've tested it (or anything for that matter…)
3-1-1
Just like that the standard rounds for the day are over and we move on to modern. My record had improved but I'm still teetering on the edge. Kevin has gone 0-5 which requires a astonishing amount of bad luck to happen. He acknowledges his deck was a bit of an untested mess.
Round #6 vs Living End
Another another mirror match! The Living End mirror match is probably one of the most awkward games you can play. It's a delicate balance of who has more guys in the graveyard and who's going to cast living end first. Land destruction also rules supreme here since often the players fall onto the backup plan of cast 6 mana 4/5s. Game one he has a huge advantage on creatures in the yard to the point where I stop cycling guys and just start casting them. He living ends on his turn to bring his guys back and kill off mine but I respond with a living end of my end to reverse all that and kill him on the backswing. Game 2 I start with leyline of the void out, he starts with 2. I go on an all out land destruction plan while he casts Beast Within on my leyline. He cycles some more guys and casts living end. Meanwhile I put out another leyline and living end myself, exiling all his guys. Now I've sandbagged guys since the start of the same so I start casting last pick draft commons and take a commanding board presence to win the match
4-1-1
Round #7 vs Burn
My opponent has had a similar record to me all day and has thus sat nearby throughout the tournament. He is dressed like Goku for no discernible reason and seems to shout a lot. As I talked to him while shuffling his deck he stares blankly at me. When I give it back he asks me to shuffle it again and look more away from it… whatever. Game 1 he plays some burn spells, enough to bring me to six.
"Cast rift bolt, kill you?"
"uhhhh, that puts me to 6"
"I've got you at 3. You should be dead."
"JUDGE!"
I proceed to count up all the damage three times for him over the course of the game.
"Well I wouldn't have written it down if I didn't have a reason for it"
Well apparently he did and the judge sides with me. He then topdecks a burn spell and kills me, exciting. Game 2 I execute my usual game plan and he can't deal with it. Game 3 I keep a hand with decent cyclers and a pair of Kitchen Finks. He plays Grafdiggers Cage which he seems to have mulled to. Hilariously the card doesn't stop Living End at all. The creatures enter the battlefield from exile, not from the graveyard. After clogging the ground with finks and letting them die (cage does stop them from persisting) I cascade to living end and he reads it in about 3 times.
5-1-1
Round #8 vs Merfolk
This was probably my most fun match of the day. I was playing an OSU student was a good player and a good guy to talk to. A quick story he told
"I was outside smoking and some girls walked in and out and asked me what was happening in there. I said it was a card game called Magic the gathering. The said 'Oh… is it only for guys?'"
Me and Kevin busted up at that.
Game 1 I lose to tempo. Too many lords too fast
Game 2 I Ingot Chewer his vial and he never quite recovers
Game 3 We're down to the wire. I've got a lot of guys out but he's got blockers and potentially lethal with Iords and islandwalk. Tidebinder mage is locking down a guy and killing it is my path to victory. Luckily I have Shriekmaw. My opponent is a very gracious loser and while definitely looked a little flabbergasted at Shriekmaw agrees that we played 3 very good games.
6-1-1
Round #9 vs Merfolk
At this point if I win I'm a lock for day two and prizes. As I mentioned before a loss gives me a 50/50 shot. I'm out tempted game 1 and he takes it. Game 2 I get the punt of the day. He has one guy left out and if he doesn't block I can Violent Outburst to get in surprise lethal damage. He doesn't block and I go to tap my mana and slam my card… My only red source has spreading seas attached to it. I have some outs but I don't hit them, he takes the match.
6-2-1
Now I'm nervous and annoyed I made what could be a very costly mistake. I wait patiently for end of day 1 standings. Up they go and I look hastily for my name. Top 64 makes it. I don't see me. I"m not even on this list. Oh wait there I am… #58 Bam! Day 2
Kevin and I grab Crapplebees for dinner and discuss some matches. He's been at beer o'clock for a while after dropping and meeting up with a friend of ours earlier. Again I'd like to thank Bananas and Granola for all their hard work but it's time for some microwaved boneless chicken wings. Fall asleep early after catching some Boxing and Men in Black 2 on TV.
Day 2
Round #10 vs B/G
We're back to standard and I'm playing some rude guy. I ask to cut his deck and says I did already and vaguely insults my awareness. I have definitely not cut his deck and stare him down till he hands it over. I beat well enough. He complains about top decks afterwards, the usual.
7-2-1
Round #11 vs Esper control
This guy says definitely less than 10 words to me that weren't related to the match at hand. I don't really have any notes on this one. Just Aetherling beats from both of us to finish games. He gets one game, I get two.
8-2-1
Round #12 vs Splintertwin Tempo
And we're back to modern. This was a match I don't feel bad about losing. There was no point during it when I actually stood I chance of winning. His deck ran a ton of counterspells main and even more postboard. Add in delver + bolt + snapcaster for pressure and that's not really a match-up living end could beat, at least in this particular match.
8-3-1
Round #13 vs Affinity
This is the round I am most annoyed at myself for. He wins game 1, I win game 2 with sideboarded Ingot Chewers. Game 3 goes to time and I'm going to get two turns to attack. Luckily on his turn I've cast living end to wrath his board and am bringing back 6 guys including (Chewer) to finish him off. I responded to a arcbound ravager so that he wouldn't be able to sac all his guys in response to the living end and while I'm picking all my guys from the yard I say "Ravager will resolve" …and just like that I've missed my ETB triggers. Chewer would have killed Vault skirge, but instead he sacs his entire board with ravager and loads he lifelinker up with +1/+1 counters. He literally could not win the game but he will survive through the end of the five turns. Draw
8-3-2
This one stung the most. The win was there and I let it go due to a quick slip of the tongue. But I said it and there's no going back. Magic is a careful game at a high level, language is specific and a wrong word can cost you a match.
Round #14 vs Affinity
I get a game loss round for drawing extra cards since I regular cycle twisted abomination when it actually has swampcycling. I still manage to take the match after my opponent counters demonic dread instead of Living End.
9-3-2
AFTERMATH
Top 64 wins $200 and Top 32 gets $350. I'm a good deal off from anything higher than that but once again I'm about 50/50 to make top 32. Standings go up… #34 shit. Drawing Round 13 match made the difference.
So now I've covered the cost of the trip and made a little extra on top. It feels damn good to make Day 2 of an event and win actual money (I had to fill out a W2, weird.) All of that seems even better when I think about the fact that it was an invitational and I didn't play a bad player either day. I would be lying if I didn't say I have a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I don't get super competitive about most things but magic is a notable exception. In casual magic I like to have fun, in tournaments I want to win. I've thought a bunch about where magic fits into my life, how seriously do I really take this card game? In my head I had a feeling had I walked away from this tournament X-3 drop I might not have returned to anything larger than a local tournament. If I can't win at a higher level then should I be bothering with big tournaments? Would I even have fun at them if I can't compete? These tournaments are large time and money sinks and if I can't hold my own then there's not really a point to attending.
But here I am at a 365 person invitational tournament. These may not necessarily be players that can sling cardboard at a national level but to say probably most of the best in the midwest doesn't seem like an exaggeration. I'm playing toe-to-toe with these players and not only that but I'm beating most of them. Now I had some luck go my way, but I also had some go against me and I played good tight magic over both days.
So back to the sour taste. Placing high is great but it's not winning. Of my three losses and two draws, had I played right I probably would have won two of those games and at least given myself a fighting chance in another one. Once we do that we're talking at least top 16 with nothing to regret playwise. I made 3 mistakes that cost me matches. As a human, over the course of 14 hours it's understandable that I make 3 mistakes but as a competitor I need to take these mistakes to heart. I need to learn from them to do better at the next level. I will keep doing large tournaments for the fun of competition and continue to improve my play.
I've long though of myself as casual/competitive player. Casual with friends and Competitive at any kind of event. I've thought about dropping the competitive part of that many times but this weekend has cemented it back in there. It's great when all the players have a good time and casual games are perfect for that. Somedays, though, all I want is to beat other people at a card game.
