WPN Boy: Advanced Plus

A quick entry today - some exciting news to share.

Earlier this week, WotC & WPN announced a new store level for the stores running their events called Advanced Plus. As in the past, there are certain hoops a store needs to jump through in order to make it to this level. Once there, however, the store is eligible for additional goodies, including (but not limited to) additional Buy-a-Box promos, the ability to purchase extra From the Vault products, and the like.

When I looked at the requirements for this level, I thought that maybe (just maybe) the two stores I work with would be able to pull off Advanced Plus if they pooled their resources. Beyond Comics brings in more players to their FNM events generally, so I figured they would be able to hit the Number of Unique Player requirement and the Number of New Players requirement, but they wouldn't get the Minimum Number of Events since they only run their weekly FNMs, 2 Prereleases per set and Game Day. Novel Books, on the other hand, runs weekly FNMs and a weekly Casual Magic, as well as 3 Prereleases per set and Game Days. They would reach the Minimum Number of Events easily, but would have trouble with the player numbers.

And, unfortunately, neither store has ever had an event with 50+ players yet (we just don't have the space - the only event that comes close is Magic Celebration, as that one can be run as a rolling event with players coming and going, but all counting as participating in a single event).

Patrick (owner of Novel Books) thought it would be interesting to see where we stood anyway. Unfortunately this is not something that a store can just look up for themselves (something that I wish the WPN would institute) but you can ask your WPN representative to check for you and let you know. So, that's what he did. And the results took us completely by surprise.

• Number of Processed Events: 144 (Requirement for Advanced Plus: 125)
• Percent of Events Delinquent: 0% (Requirement for Advanced Plus: 0%)
• Biggest Event: 42 (Requirement for Advanced Plus: 50)
• New Players: 49 (Requirement for Advanced Plus: 50)
• Unique Players: 287 (Requirement for Advanced Plus: 250)

That's right - we're almost there already! Since this report was generated we have already had another new member, so that goal has been hit. The only thing we're short on is largest event. We may try to somehow expand out onto the porch of the store some weekend (maybe a huge Conspiracy Draft in June?) to get that one taken care of. So exciting!

WPN Boy: Home Brewin'

To say it's been a while since I added to this series is an understatement. Truth be told I sort of felt like everything I'm doing as a Tournament Organizer has become rather routine. A new month comes, I schedule FNMs and 2nd & 4th Saturday events at Novel Books. Sure, some changes have happened (we now run FNMs at both stores, which allows me to always have a Standard event every week) but for the most part things are routine. What could I possibly write about that would be of interest enough to justify an entire blog entry?

Then this pops up in my Twitter stream:

When the Director of R&D for Magic asks you to write something up, you write something up.

For several years now, the last Standard FNM before a new set comes out has been what I call our "Home Brew" Standard event. This means 4 times a year we encourage people to not bring a net deck, or something that's been winning the latest MTGO events or SCG Opens. Something fresh and new that they built themselves. The description for the event says:

...participants are STRONGLY encouraged to bring decks of their own creation. No netdecking; no copying the "best deck" from last weekend's big event. While we of course cannot REQUIRE you to do this, those who fail to join in the spirit of the event risk taunting, shunning, ill will and cooties.

I feel I should interrupt here to point out that this is not an original idea of my own. Jason Clark (@RealEvilGenius on Twitter) told me that his local gaming store has done this for a while. And, yes, the irony of me adopting via the internet a format that encourages not adopting things from the internet is not at all lost on me. Deal with it.

I strongly feel that this format needs to exist. Way back in the day (I started Magic back when Unlimited Edition was the active Core Set, back in 1994) everyone made their own decks. By the time the tournament reports could come out in Scrye Magazine or the like, weeks had passed, and things had changed. It was simpler time, before MTGO and dozens of MTG content web sites, where the latest deck tech is just a click away.

Something has been lost in all that. The simple joy of finding a wacky combination of cards, or throwing together a deck that just feels right to you for whatever reason. Tournaments (even FNMs) are dominated by Spikes who put together the strongest deck in the current worldwide metagame, and we poor Johnnies and Timmies are either forced to do the same, or see ourselves at the lower tables for the whole evening.

I'm not naive. I know that this is the way things are now, and that there are many people who actually can't build their own decks (that's not a talent they have, or feel they have). Then there are those who are simply not willing to take a chance on an unproven deck. And you know what? They can have the other 48 Standard FMNs I run every year. But for 4 measly FNMs, I want there to be a place where Johnny and Timmy can come out to play. A place where a deck made up from whole cloth can actually have a chance at winning one of the Top 2 FNM promos instead of just hoping for one of the random 2.

Last time around I brought a deck using Master of Waves. At this point mono-Blue Devotion was a thing and one might accuse me of breaking the spirit of the event. Until one looked at my decklist that is. Yep. "Ral Zarek and the Elementals". Elemental tribal, baby. Elemental tribal. The deck ended up only going 2-2 that night, but man I had fun playing it.

At the Home Brew events, I ask folks to submit decklists, especially if they make Top 8. Then I highlight the Top 8 in my weekly event newsletter that goes out the following Monday. This gives people their moments of fame and has the added advantage of making the Top 8 decks, technically, net decks, so they can't be used again. :)

Last time around that looked like this:

Last Friday marked our "Home Brew Standard" FNM for this cycle (the last Standard at Beyond Comics before the new set, Born of the Gods, is released). An amazing 26 players came out, the vast majority of whom seemed to embrace this format, bringing decks of their own devising to enjoy playing for the sake of playing. As is our tradition, I hereby present the Top 8 players (and their decklists if submitted to me) for all to peruse.

1. First Place: Gavin Wu with his Dredge 2.0 deck
2. Second Place: Brett Tunick with his Monster Mash deck
3. Third Place: Philip Candleana with his Bant Tokens deck
4. Fourth Place: Erick Pfleiderer with his Boros Aggro deck
5. Fifth Place: Jon Tsou with his Shambleshark! deck
6. Sixth Place: Ralph Dominguez (who unfortunately did not submit a decklist)
7. Seventh Place: Dalton Wu with his Azorius Maze deck
8. Eighth Place: Matt Yancer with his Mono-Black Humans deck

Yes, you read that right. 26 players. The store can only comfortably hold 30, so we were nearly at capacity. These events are popular. There are so many people out there with deck ideas running around in their minds that they dare not bring to FNM for fear of being crushed beneath the heels of the latest hot decks that the pros are running. And that's a real shame, because it's not the pros at these FNMs. It's regular players and they should, at least a few times a year, be playing their own decks.

Of course this is just my opinion, and your mileage may vary. But the fact that these events bring out the number of players they do tells me that I'm not alone in thinking there's a place for this.

Yes, it is a difficult format to enforce. In fact, it can't be enforced at all, really. I sanction the event as Standard (I have no choice there, really). And there's always the distinct likelihood that someone will show up to the store for the first time, having never heard about Home Brew, and they're slinging a net deck. But the vast majority of the players who attend get into the spirit of the thing, and bring something of their own.

Hopefully this gives other TOs out there something to consider. I'd strongly recommend giving it a try at least once. It takes some advertising, and talking up to encourage people to "play by the rules" as it were, but I believe it is completely worth it.

The Road to WPN (Part 9)

[This is part 9 in a series, and assumes that you've already read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8]

Well, to say my first WPN event was a total disaster would be an overstatement, and rather overly dramatic. But, on the other hand, it sure as heck wasn't what I was expecting....

My family and I had a picnic to attend in the morning/early afternoon of June 18, and would need to head straight from there to Novel Places if we were going to make it when I wanted to. So, I loaded up the car with everything that I wanted to have with me for the event, and it was a lot of stuff:

• 2 5000-count card boxes filled with my "scratch & dent" cards;
• A large handled cardboard box with the printer I would use along with lots of other necessities (WPN promos, table number signs, my Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 promo vouchers to pick up my copies of the special foil Titans, my Square credit card reader, etc);
• Another large handled cardboard box filled with card sleeves of various descriptions: Ultra Pro, KMC, Dragon Shield, as well as bundles of 45 used (or at least opened) sleeves to be sold cheap; also the MBS and NPH Event Decks to sell;
• The 9 boxes of booster packs to be used as the sealed deck pools, prizes, and stock for selling;
• My netbook computer & its accoutrement in carrying case;
• My Thraximundar shirt from @GriffnValentine (I think my wife would have disowned me had I worn it to the picnic)

We arrived at the store around 2:40 or so (registration was to start at 4) and proceeded to take over Patrick's store getting set up. He helped us clear some counter space so I could set up the sleeves, decks, and scratch and dent cards. I set up the printer & netbook, and got myself logged in to his WiFi so I could report the results of the event via WER right there, rather than wait to get home.

We had 4 people preregistered for the event, 1 of whom said he was bringing his roommate as well (at some point during the setup I realized I had missed a call from him on my cell phone - this becomes important later). One of the pre-registrations was someone without a DCI number, which was exciting because we need to get 6 new players signed up with the DCI as part of our moving up to Core Level. I knew also that one of the pre-registered players was bringing his daughter, another DCI newbie. With all of that, and with my older son & I as emergency backups, I figured it was safe to let my brother off the hook, as he had been ill for the previous week and a half at least. I can use him as a DCI newbie at some future event instead :-)

So, somewhere between 3:30 and 4, Craig and his daughter arrived. Our Special Guest Adam Styborski arrived very shortly thereafter, and Patrick started wheeling his merchandise displays out of the center of the store so tables could be set up.At this point we realized that the "8-person" tables Patrick had would really only comfortably handle 6 players (#7 & #8 would be at the ends of the rectangular table, which would not work for dueling). I figured that with those 12, and another 4 at the counter if need be, we should still be covered.

And, then, we waited. I had tried calling back the person whose call I had missed, but only got his voice mail. Come 4:00 he had still not arrived. Come 4:30 he had still not arrived.

And neither had anyone else.

At this point in time my grand total attendance was 3 people.

In order to have a DCI sanctioned, you must have at least 8 players. I could play, my older son could play, and even my younger son who can't quite read yet could play (he would count as another DCI newbie) and we STILL would be short of that 8.

And that is, indeed, what we did. I signed up myself, older son and younger son, cancelled the sanctioned event and created a new casual event. And the six of us played Scars block sealed.

When I went to print table assignments (just to practice using that aspect of the WER software) I discovered that I had not, in fact, beaten the problem with my netbook-printer connection, and so I was unable to print all evening. Instead, I just had folks sit wherever they liked and handed each player 2 booster packs each of Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged and New Phyrexia.

I ended up with a very nice sealed pool. Moltensteel Dragon alongside Consecrated Sphinx is pretty nasty - and I didn't even include the Molten-Tail Masticore in my deck! We took around 40 minutes building our decks, then I collected money from all parties interested in pizza to be ordered about 20 minutes into Round 1 (Patrick joined in on the pizza, and graciously agreed to order it for us while we were playing).

Since I couldn't print, I just used WER

Round 2 saw me face Adam, Craig faced my younger son, and my older son faced Craig's daughter. This match was much closer for me (and longer) than round 1, and the pizza arrived shortly after we begun. So while my older son rather quickly beat Craig's daughter, and Craig rather quickly beat my younger son (and they could begin enjoying dinner), it took me a lot longer to finally defeat Adam and allow us to get to our now lukewarm dinner. [I should note that I learned a rather valuable lesson about being a bit more sportsmanlike in my match, and owe Adam a public apology for casting Consecrated Sphinx during my second main phase when I already had next turn lethal damage represented in the form of Moltensteel Dragon]

After wolfing down some slices, we got the pairings for Round 3. Adam faced off against Craig's daughter, I was paired against Craig, and my two sons faced each other ("The Brothers War" I immediately dubbed it). The end of the round found myself, Adam, and my younger son victorious, and the event was over.

Final standings: I had 9 match points, Adam had 6, and everyone else had 3. And I'm sure that not a single person out there believes that I didn't somehow rig my own event.

Anyway, for prizes I gave everyone a participatory promo card (the WPN foil Vault Skirge), then Adam as our winner (since I could hardly count myself as that) received a copy of the foil Maul Splicer AND the Archenemy promo Drench the Soil in Their Blood. Everyone else received their choice of one or the other of those promos. I also let everyone pick an additional booster pack from SOM, MBS or NPH as a thank-you for coming and sticking it out through the end.

So, as I say, a bit disappointing in the turn-out department, but I think it was an enjoyable evening, and it still let us check off a few boxes towards moving up to Core Level in the WPN. As a reminder, here are the goals we have to meet within a 12-month time frame:

• Report a minimum of 4 events [If my understanding is correct, this should still count as 1 of our 4]
• Have a minimum of 30 unique people playing in your reported events [We're at 6/30 now]
• Run and report a single event with 12 players or more [Yeah, still need this one]
• Maintain a delinquency rate of less than 20% [As far as I know I got this reported on time, so we're good]
• Introduce 6 new players to WPN events [We're at 2/6 now]

My biggest headache WPN-wise right now is figuring out the netbook-printer problem, and being able to print. If we had actually had a 12+ crowd, announcing pairings at each round would have been a royal pain in the tuchus. I have until July 2 (the first event at Beyond Comics) to try and get this working. I think the problem lies in the fact that the netbook is running Windows 7 Starter, and not the full version of Windows 7. I may have to get the full version installed.

We did learn that we should be able to fit a third table into the space we were using, and therefore be able to seat 18 people in the main section of the store should it some day become necessary. Patrick says he'll pick up another table sometime in the future.

Unfortunately neither Patrick nor I thought to get any photos taken, so we missed an opportunity to get a photo in the Gazette, our local newspaper. It would have been nice to get the publicity.

In other news, I have sent in I believe 3 separate emails with various questions in to Brian, my WPN rep, and have yet to receive an answer. Perhaps he's on vacation? Or maybe I've ticked him off with too many questions? I don't know - but I hope I get some soon. My biggest one involved the casual event. When you "close" a sanctioned event, you are supposed to get a "Submit" button to click in WER to submit the results. No such button seems to appear for a casual event when it gets closed, so I am worried as to whether I have in fact done everything I am supposed to do with getting this event properly recognized. I will be much more upset if it turns out I am wrong and this did NOT count as 1 of our 4 events!

Oh, and on a final note: I still have all 12 of the MBS and NPH Event Decks (3x of each deck), and 2x each unopened booster boxes of SOM, MBS and NPH. If anyone reading this is interested in any of these let me know!

[TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 10] 

Reflections on the SCG DC Open

Today I went to Star City Games' Legacy Open tournament in Washington DC. I felt it would be a mistake to let an event this big so close to where I live pass me by. Other plans prevented me from making the first day of the event (the Standard portion) but I wanted to show up and see what it was all like. I've been watching coverage of the SCG events on scglive for the last several events, but wanted to see one live and in person.

The following are random musings upon the experience for your reading pleasure. In no particular order...

1) I am a pathetic fanboy. Just being in the same room with such well known MTG personalities was awesome. Famous players, pundits, writers, podcasters...amazing. I saw @AffinityForBlue and @OMGWTFBHJFTW (the two Joes behind the @YoMTGTaps podcast) who were providing the coverage for scglive:
Evan Erwin (@misterorange), the man behind The Magic Show, was in attendance, himself competing in the tournament:And I got to meet John Medina (@mtgmetagame) in person finally, and watch him in action trading (with no less than Adam Styborski, AKA @the_stybs):

And (without photographic evidence to back it up), I also saw the winner of the Standard event, Gerry Thompson (@G3RRYT), another amazing player named Alex Bertoncini, and everyone's favorite MTGMom, Megan (@LifeOnAuto). To see so many people that I've only read tweets from, or seen on screen from tournament coverage, or heard on podcasts...it was just very, very cool.

2) Medina is a pretty cool guy. It was great to talk to him, and he took a second to Tweet after we got done talking: "Just met @TheSundry in person! He's #Legit" So cool. I've gained a few followers today, and I'm sure some (if not all) I have him to thank for.

3) I wish I had known more about the atmosphere of the tournament so that I could have convinced my wife it would have been fine for my 10-year-old son "c-bass" to attend. He would have loved it, and we both would have loved teaming up in the 2-Headed Giant competition in the afternoon. SCG will be holding Open events in Baltimore twice later in the year (in June and again in October), and I may look into attending one of them with c-bass.

4) It was amazing to see so many people in one place to play this game that I (we) love so much. And from what I understand, the attendance yesterday was twice as much - I can't even imagine!

5) Related to the above, my advice for any who may want to attend for the purpose of entering side events: go the second day. I imagine that yesterday was INSANELY hectic with so many people in attendance.

6) I REALLY need to make a more concerted effort to get more playing of this game in. I spend a LOT of time sorting cards, pulling orders, etc - but nowhere near enough time playing. Maybe if it's even just going to Friday Night Magic more often, I need to get more in.

So, in all, although I was only there about an hour and a half, it was definitely worth heading down for.

4-0 at the MBS prerelease (first time in my life!)

Okay, I am just a WEE bit excited today. My older son (hereafter referred to by his nickname C-bass) & I attended the prerelease for the new MTG set, Mirrodin Besieged. And for the first time in my life I went 4-0 at a tournament. Absolutely awesome. What follows is a bit of a tourney report for anyone who may be interested in such things.
Above is a photo of my winnings - 9 Faction packs of Mirrodin Besieged. I was actually given 5 Phyrexian packs & 4 Mirran packs initially, but traded 1-for-1 with someone, because I didn't care that much one way or the other. Below the faction packs are the poison counter tiles that took me to victory (if you'd like to get these yourself, you may find them for sale at Ender's Games here). I should also mention that I sported my Academy West hoodie from @GriffnValentine - info on which is available here.

So, C-bass and I arrived at the tourney site (the Holiday Inn in College Park, MD right next to the Ikea) about 40 minutes before the doors were supposed to open. We got to the main doors to find the owner of the store hosting the event (Dream Wizards in Rockville) unloading her car. Quickly we volunteered to help lug in boxes of product for her along with various members of her staff and Daily MTG writer Adam Styborski (AKA @the_stybs on Twitter). Once that was done, C-bass and I played a couple of friendly games against each other with the decks we had brought, then joined the queue once it was forming to register for the event.

While we waited in line, a group of folks right ahead of us began trading with a group right behind us, so we were privy to the goings on. There was one gentlemen, who I will refer to as the Trade Shark, who obviously studied at the Jonathan Medina School of Trading. Everything was trading for increase in value, he started everything with "what do you value this at..." etc. I've never seen Medina trade in person, but I felt like I got a small glimpse of what it may be like.

For some reason I took an instant and thorough dislike for Trade Shark.

For those not in the know, this prerelease did something never done before. When you register, you picked a faction in the war for Mirrodin - either the defending Mirran group, or the invading Phyrexian group. Your choice would determine which packs you got to open for your sealed pool, and also which foil prerelease promo you received. I let C-bass pick which faction he wanted, and I chose the other, so we'd get both promos.

C-bass chose Mirran, so I was Phyrexian, and off we went with our shiny new cards. After a bit of a wait, we got our packs (each got 3 packs of Scars of Mirrodin, and 3 packs of Mirrodin Besieged specific to our faction). We had 40 minutes to build our decks, and then we awaited pairings for the first round.

Here's the deck I ended up playing for (almost) every game:

• 8x Forest
• 9x Swamp
• Blackcleave Goblin
• Contagious Nym
• Flensermite
• Flesh-Eater Imp
• Phyrexian Crusader
• Scourge Servant
• Blight Mamba
• Blightwidow
• 2x Rot Wolf
• Core Prowler
• 2x Necropede
• 2x Phyrexian Digester
• Plague Myr
• Horrifying Revelation
• Virulent Wound
• Pistus Strike
• 2x Unnatural Predation
• Untamed Might
• Wing Puncture
• Argentum Armor
• Bonehoard
• Grafted Exoskeleton
• Strandwalker
• Strider Harness
  

To our mutual dismay, C-bass and I were paired off against each other for Round 1. For me this was the only non-enjoyable part of the day. I really wish I hadn't had to play against my own son in Round 1, because ONE of us would have our hopes of going 4-0 crushed right off the bat. I know he wouldn't want me to play poorly on purpose just to "let" him win, so I played as I would against anyone. Unfortunately, his deck did not prove a match for the Infecting power I brought, and I went 2-0 in that round.

For round 2, I decided to try a blue-black build instead, mainly because I REALLY wanted to use the Consecrated Sphinx that I got in one of my packs. Game 1 of Round 2 was a DISASTER as a result, and I quickly swapped out the blue cards for the Green again for game 2. I then went on to win the next two games. Now I'm 2-0 for the tourney. This opponent was also Phyrexian-aligned, BTW.

Round 3 my opponent was Trade Shark. He plays VERY fast, throwing down cards, tapping, attacking, whooosh. As an opponent I find that VERY annoying. It felt like he was pressuring me to play faster, so since I had already taken a dislike to him I deliberately slowed my play, taking my time and making sure I made the right decision. I think this annoyed him, and that made me happy. He won game 1 (with Glissa, the Traitor and several other REALLY good cards which made me wonder if he was playing strictly by the rules and not including the cards that he had, moments before, been bragging about trading for) and I thought it was over for sure. But game 2 went my way, I managed to kill everything he brought out, and his double Mortarpod on one Creature did NOT allow him to ping for two as he had hoped (or hoped I could be talked into). And game 3 was won by a lovely combo of sacrificing Blight Mamba and Core Prowler to the Flesh-Eater Imp, then cast Unnatural Predation on it to get 5 poison in the air for the last 5 counters. Boo-ya! The only thing that could make going 4-0 feel better was taking down this guy in the process.

The final opponent, one of the other three with a 3-0 record, was Mirran aligned. He handily won the first game in the air although I had him at 9 poison counters (I thought I had him in my last turn, but a well-played Master's Call gave him two unexpected Myr blockers, and prevented that last poison counter from being dealt). I didn't see any of my anti-Flying stuff in that game, and he just soared over my defenses with no problem. Game 2 and 3, however, went much more my way (he had mana problems game 2, never seeing a Mountain, except for the one I made him mill with Horrifying Revelation). Game 3 was more of a nail-biter (especially since whoever won it went 4-0), but I eked it out. I can say that the Phyrexian Crusader, with his First Strike, Infect, and Protection from Red & White were crucial in this match-up. He could only block with his artifact creatures, and Peace Strider is not as useful when his 3/3 body gets 2 First-Strike -1/-1 counters on it before he gets to deal damage. Nice 1/1 Peace Strider, dude.

C-bass, meanwhile, lost Round 2 and decided to completely change decks for Round 3. While this new deck performed better, he still lost Round 3, and decided to drop out at that point. He went over to play @the_stybs (who was gunslinging for the event) and got a nice Purifying Fire Jones Soda for his efforts. Adam reports that he [C-bass] "tore me apart." That made C-bass feel a little better.

So, all in all, a very enjoyable day. C-bass was (understandably) disappointed, but it was not a total disaster. I think he may go back to the Open Dueling type of event next go-round (he's not so confident in his deck-building skills yet to try Sealed again) but, maybe some day.

Thoroughly spanked

That's how I would describe me after my latest Friday Night Magic (FNM) experience.

Last night I went to Dream Wizards for their weekly FNM tournament. This week's style was "booster draft", which was a style I wanted to see in action. I paid my $14 + tax entry fee and signed in, then awaited instructions.

There were 16 of us signed up this time (as opposed to 30+ at the sealed deck FNM I attended last month), and we were split up into 2 "pods" of 8 people. The 8 in each pod were arranged around two tables set up lengthwise against each other to form a square table space, with 2 people per side. The judge asked if anyone was there for their first draft experience.

I raised my hand.

I was the only one who did.

Of course.

So, the judge quickly ran through the idea for me. We would each be given 3 booster packs of Magic cards. 2 from the latest large set (Shards of Alara) and 1 from the most recent set (Conflux) [side note: presumably before Conflux was released this would have been 3 decks of Shards, and after the last set of the block, Alara Reborn, is released, it would be one of each]. Upon being told, we would each open up one pack of Shards, toss the basic land and insert card into the center of the table (they not being "draftable") and then look at the remaining 14 cards to decide which one card from that pack we would want to "draft" for ourselves, with the eye towards building a 40-card minimum deck to compete with later. Then the remaining 13 cards would be passed to the person on our left, and we would therefore receive 13 cards from the person on our right. This process continues, with one card being drafted from each set passed to us, until all 14 cards from each pack had been "drafted". Then we would open the second Shards booster, and repeat, only passing to the right instead. Finally the Conflux booster gets opened, and passed to the left again.

I wish I could tell you what I drafted each round, or what logic there was to my picks. The truth is there was not much logical thought involved. I picked cards that I could easily see how to play, without much thought on how they would play together. I focused on Red and Black, with a smattering of Blue. I got stuck with a couple of Green and White cards at the ends of packs, when there wasn't much to choose from. I quickly decided that I had no clue what the best method for drafting was, and that I was probably not going to do all that well. Still, I hoped it wouldn't be a disaster.

Basic Lands were made available to round out our decks, but I had brought my own. So, I picked the 32 cards I thought best, added 18 basic lands, and had a 50-card deck ready to go. The exact contents of the deck I'll post at the end like last time.

In Round 1 I faced off against someone I recognized from my first FNM (one of only two I can say that about). She had also been one of the "final 6" in Round 3. Unlike me, she won her last Round that night, and was one of the three top winners. This made me nervous to face up against her this time. She had been sitting to my right during the drafting. It turns out she had drafted an "Esper" deck, focusing on White/Blue/Black with a great deal of Artifact Creatures. She had cards that worked very well together, allowing her to regenerate her Creatures, gain life when she summoned an Artifact (or worse, take life from me while gaining life herself).

1. in Game 1, while I did some damage to her, I never got her life total below the starting 20 life. She, on the other hand, drop my life steadily, 20 to 18 to 16 to 15 to 13 to 10 to 9 to DEAD.
   
2. In game 2, I struggled mightily, held on for a MUCH longer time and finally defeated her. It wasn't easy, but I had the advantage of a Shore Snapper which I could give Islandwalk, and therefore it was unblockable since she had Islands in play. I whittled away at her life total, often only 2 points at a time, until she was finally defeated. Towards the end of this game the judge announced only 5 minutes left in Round 1.
   
3. My opponent asked if I wanted to try a third game, since we had so little time left. Foolishly I agreed. We had a speed match, and while I manage to get her down to only 10 life, mine dropped 20 to 18 to 16 to 14 to 12 to 10 to 8 to 3 to DEAD. If I hadn't agreed on the third game, I believe we would have had a "draw", and each gotten 1 point towards the nightly total. Instead, she got 3 points for a win, and I got 0.

In Round 2 I faced off against the gentleman who had sat to my left during the drafting process. This was the fastest Round of the evening, and was extremely pathetic. Although he has lost his Round 1 (which was how we ended up against each other - we each had 0 points entering Round 2), he thoroughly trashed me (I'd say "ripped me a new one" is an appropriate expression in this case).

1. Game 1: I never got in a point of damage against him. Meanwhile my life total: 20 to 19 to 14 to 6 to VERY DEAD.
2. Game 2: I actually got a few licks in this time (I had had mana problems in Game 1), and got him down to 11. Meanwhile, I was 20 to 18 to 16 to 14 to 12 to 5 to DEAD.
3. There was no need for Game 3 - the Rounds are best 2/3.

So I sit for a LONG time waiting for Round 2 to end, as mine went so quickly. I don't really know anyone at these affairs, and I'm not the greatest person in social situations (at least the initial getting to know someone part) so I sat alone, eavesdropping on conversations, toyed with my deck a little (you can modify your deck between Games & Rounds) and waited for everyone else to finish. Finally the Round 3 opponents are posted. Only two people in the tournament have 0 points at this time, me and my opponent for Round 3...

In Round 3 I think my deck and I gave the best showing of the evening.

1. Game 1: this one was pathetic. I had massive mana problems, and should have mulliganed at the beginning to draw a new hand. I only got 3 damage in against him, while my life went 20 to 18 to 16 to 12 to 6 to 4 to DEAD.
2. Game 2: big turn-around. He only got in 3 damage on me, while I picked him apart, finally hitting him at the end when he had 6 life left with a two-punch Blightning (for 3 points) followed by an attack of a Skeletal Kathari, which he couldn't block as it has Flying for 3 more points.
3. Game 3 was a close match, but I got a slow start, which allowed him to pick at me initially. One more round and I would have had him (I had gotten Elder Mastery on my Undead Leotau so it was 6/7 and I could give it +1/-1 for R, but I only had four R available, so I could only hit him for 10, dropping him from 14 to 4), so while he was left with 4 life, I went 20 to 18 to 16 to 14 to 9 to 2 to DEAD.

So, I was the only person in the tournament to finish with 0 points. Really very sad. I held out a slim hope that I might win a random booster pack or special FNM foil. But, no, not even that. (My last opponent, however, did win one of the random foils - congrats to him). So, all in all, a pretty pathetic performance.

In case you would like to reconstruct my deck to see for yourself how truly sad it was, here's what was in it as of the final Round:

• Island x5
• Swamp x6
• Mountain x7
• Grixis Panorama x2
• Obelisk of Grixis
• Scepter of Fugue
• Inkwell Leviathan
• Banewasp Affliction
• Dregscape Zombie
• Grixis Battlemage
• Pestilent Kathari x2
  
• Resounding Scream
• Shore Snapper x2
• Skeletal Kathari x3
  
• Undead Leotau
• Canyon Minotaur x2
• Dark Temper
• Dragon Fodder x2
• Fiery Fall
• Incurable Ogre
• Scourge Devil
• Skeletonize (Foil)
• Viashino Skeleton (Foil)
• Volcanic Submersion
• Blightning
• Grixis Charm
• Elder Mastery
• Goblin Deathraiders

If it's Store Updates you're looking for, consider following me on Twitter. The 5 latest "tweets" are available over to the right on the Blog, but for the full story you should be following me. I'm less likely to post long Store Updates on the Blog from now on.

Friday Night Magic and me (warning - a long one this time!)

A day earlier than promised...

So, last Friday (Jan 16 for those keeping score) my wife made sure to be home on time from work so that I could make it to Dream Wizards in Rockville by 6:30 for the beginning of my very first tournament. So, off I went, armed with pen, score pad (that I had obtained as part of someones collection - "Lot 42", I believe), life counter, small glass beads for counters and several Shards of Alara token Creature cards that I believe may come in useful.

SIDE NOTE: I decided I could "pimp" Dream Wizards even though we are (strictly speaking) competitors because they don't do a whole lot of selling online, and that's all I do - so most reading this are unlikely to go to them instead of me. And, also, they seem like very nice folk.

Anyway, I arrived about 5 minutes early and after a little confusion over where to go finally found out I needed to register at the register (cash, that is). So, I signed up, got my DCI card filled out, and paid my $21.20 (it's $20 + 6% MD sales tax). Then I proceeded to the back 40% or so of the store which is dedicated to playing tables.

The geek factor was pretty high. Being a geek myself, I can say this. Lots of long hair, unwashed bodies, pale skin, and (to put it kindly) nonathletic physiques. But, really, this is to be expected - many stereotypes exist for a reason. And, being bald, I'm probably just jealous of the long hair.

Anyway, many people there knew each other (or so it seemed). There was showing off of Magic collections, trading of Magic cards, and playing of Magic games all going on. At about 6:45 or so the 2 judges (one "in training" and running parts of the tourney for the first time) really started getting the ball rolling. The participants were shown to a select set of tables and given our "product" - one unopened Tournament Deck and 2 unopened Booster Packs of Shards of Alara (the latest expansion). We tore open our packs and took a look at what we had available to arm ourselves with for the coming battles.

In a deck you get three rares. In a booster you get 2. So, total, I had five rares to work with. Two were copies of the same card, Hell's Thunder:

Not a bad card to have in a deck, because it's quick (it has Haste so it can attack the turn it's summoned) and it has Flying - a very useful ability. At 4/4, it's fairly powerful. And, while it is sacrificed at end of turn, it also has Unearth, so you can pull it back from your graveyard for a second attack before it leaves the game. And having two in your deck means that you can, potentially, get four 4-point sneak attacks in against your opponent.

Rare #3 was Sigil of Distinction, a sneaky card that gives a nice +X/+X bonus to the Creature it Equips, and I planned to use it on the Hell's Thunder if I got a chance.

Rare #4 was Vicious Shadows, a nasty card that deals damage to your opponent whenever a Creature goes to the graveyard. Like, say, when your Hell's Thunder is sacrificed at end of turn.

Rare #5 was Invincible Hymn, a card that can potentially boost your life total if you play it early enough in the game. But as this was a sealed-deck tournament, with a minimum deck size of 40 cards, this card didn't have as much potential as it could have.

So, 3/5 of my Rares were Red cards, making me lean towards a chiefly Red deck. Also, I had more Red cards in the Uncommons & Commons than any other color, so that clinched it. I considered playing the Shard called "Jund", centered on Red, with Black and Green assisting. While I had a fair amount of Black cards, I had very little Green from Jund (I had a fair number from other shards that would have required White, and I didn't have enough White to justify that). So, instead, I decided to go "Grixis", the shard centered on Black with Blue and Red assisting. And since I had more Blue and Black than Green and White, it all made sense.

I pulled out all my Red, Black and Blue that didn't depend on White or Green (some Blue Creatures have abilities that require White mana, for example), I found I had ~34 cards. I decided to drop one, and add 17 basic Lands, for a total of 50 cards, with ~1/3 being basic land mana. I also had some non-basic Lands and artifacts that could produce mana, so I wasn't too worried about getting the dreaded "mana screw".

For the folks who REALLY want to know, here's deck configuration I entered into Round 1 with:

• Mountain x6
• Island x6
• Swamp x5
• Arcane Sanctum
• Crumbling Necropolis
• Grixis Panorama
• Exuberant Firestoker
• Goblin Mountaineer
• Hell's Thunder x2
• Hissing Iguanar
• Jund Battlemage
• Lightning Talons
• Magma Spray
• Ridge Rannet
• Soul's Fire x2
• Vicious Shadows
• Vithian Stinger
• Blister Beetle
• Deathgreeter
• Dreg Reaver x2
• Cathartic Adept
• Jhessian Lookout
• Kathari Screecher
• Tortoise Formation
• Vectis Silencers
• Agony Warp x2
• Blightning
• Fire-Field Ogre x2
• Kederekt Creeper
• Obelisk of Grixis
• Sigil of Distinction

I was pleased with some of the possible combinations in this deck. I REALLY hoped that I would get a chance to bring in a Hell's Thunder, equip it with Sigil of Distinction to boost it up, then cast Soul's Fire on it after attacking with it. Thus doing 2x its pumped-up power in damage to my opponent in a single turn. If the Sigial had 6 counters on it, that's 20 damage, and bye-bye opponent!

A nice gentleman who was sitting next to me during deck building asked if I wanted to play a practice game before the rounds started (we were both done before time was called) so we started off. I relearned some stuff (and learned new other stuff) just in that practice, so I'm grateful to him for suggesting it.

In Round 1 I faced off against someone who hadn't played for quite some time (although not as long as me!). He came with a friend that he had, judging by their discussions, only just recently taught the game (or refreshed his memory). Said friend drew an Ajani Vengeant, one of the most popular cards in the Set - a Mythic Rare Planeswalker - then asked "what's a Planeswalker?" Oh, boy.

Anyway, my opponent and I had a die roll, which he won. He chose to play first (the first player to have a turn does not draw a card that turn, so a decision is made as to who will "play first" and who will "draw first"). He was not happy with his initial hand, and declared a "mulligan", allowing him to shuffle his deck and draw 1 less card than he had to start. Again not happy, he mulliganed. And again. Finally, with only four cards in his hand, he decided to play with what he had. He couldn't really recover from this set-back, and I was able to win - although the game did take a while. Somehow the second game went MUCH faster, as he had really bad luck with his draws, and I won that one in short order. At this point he thought we were playing best 2-of-3, and I thought we played three games, so we decided to go ahead and play a third. I won this one as well, and he took the report slip up to the judges. Whereupon it was brought back to us for correction, as my opponent had been correct and we were only supposed to play best 2-of-3. Whoops!

Round two: I noticed that I was now pitted up against another player who had 3 points (you get 3 points for a win). He was a friendly and cheerful sort (he actually reminded me quite a bit of my friend Alan - the gent who sold me "Lot 4" oh so long ago). He was also a fan of the mulligan, and started all three of our games at a deficit. I won the first game, and barely lost the second. I should have won, as I had a Fire-Field Ogre in my graveyard that had Unearth, and I forgot about it and didn't bring it into play when I could have (and should have) which would have allowed me to bash him for his last remaining 6 life (I had the Sigil in play and could have Equipped the Ogre with it). I think I was still in awe of his extremely well-played prior turn, where he zapped the two weenie 1/1 Creatures I had in play, then cast a Fleshbag Marauder that forced me to sacrifice my Ogre - which is how the Ogre got into the graveyard in the first place. The third game, however, I was able to pull out a win on, so 6 points total, and off to Round 3...

At the beginning of Round 1 there were ~33 people competing. By the beginning of Round 3 there were 22 left (you have the option to drop out, of course, which I guess if you lost two rounds in a row you may want to do). 6 of us had 6 points - and we were paired off against each other at tables 1-3. My opponent I had noticed earlier - he has a spectacular British accent. He is also, I believe, one of (if not THE) best player at the event. Not so lucky for me. He beat me soundly in two games (although, to be fair to myself, I had LOUSY luck in my draws). I had him initially in game 1, but after a shaky start he stepped up and finished me off.

I had thought that there was to be a Round 4, but at this point the tournament was called and the prizes announced. The top three people (9 points each) each got one of the fancy Foil FNM prize cards and several booster packs of Shards of Alara. Those of us in the next tier (6 point, I guess) got a single booster pack each. One random person (not me) was drawn to receive the fourth FNM foil.

So, all in all, I think it went far better than it had any right to go, given how long I've been "out of the game" as it were. Handling & selling these cards just isn't the same thing as playing the game. I had a blast though, and I'm looking forward to going back. I need to experience a "booster draft" tournament, which I think the run on FNM the first Friday of the month. Also, at the end of January is the big Pre-Release party for Conflux, which I would like to go to. There they have booster draft tournaments with packs from the new set the week before it's released, and participants get the cool foil Pre-Release card for the set.

Another bold new direction...

Or, perhaps, a foolish one?

The local comic shop where I get my weekly "fix" (come on - you already know I read comics or you haven't been paying attention!) also sells Magic: the Gathering booster packs. [Most comic stores have to also sell gaming and various sci-fi & fantasy stuff to stay afloat.] Free Plug for the gang: Beyond Comics in Gaithersburg!

I was approached by the owner, who knows I run my Magic store, to see if I would be interested in running a series of Magic tournaments at the shop. I'd be allowed to sell my singles there (but not my boosters - wouldn't want to compete with the host, now, would I?) and it would help the store by bringing in a regular clientele (theoretically, anyway).

So, I will soon be embarking on a fact-finding mission to attend a tournament at a gaming store that's a few towns south of here. They run regular Friday Night Magic tournaments, as well as more major pro-tour qualifier tourneys and even host Magic pre-release parties. I'd like to attend a FNM shindig, and also attend their Conflux pre-release party at the end of the month (Conflux is the next set to be released, to come out the first week in February - the pre-release events are the last week in January).

I've never been to any kind of official Magic event before, despite being in the business of selling cards, packs, etc for years now. Since I don't play too often any more, I've been a little nervous. But if I'm going to be running one of these things, I think I ought to see how they run at a place that's been doing it (and doing it well from what I understand) for a while now. I'm not sure yet if they are deserving of a Free Plug so I will refrain for now (especially if I find out they deal in Magic singles also - I can't advertise my competition!!!).

I will, of course, report back once more is known....

Okay - one other note. Is anyone else saying to themselves "WTH?!?! Not only is this the fourth post in one month, but it's the second in one DAY?!?!" Yeah, I know, I'm freaking myself out too......I guess I just am THAT excited about all this stuff!