This also marks my 100th post! Yay. And my Acid Golem finally came in today. Double yay!
At first I hesitated if I wanted to go to Brandon's tourney or not, but in the end decided to cuz I should still be OK on my homework that's due today. I also color-coordinated and alphabetized Brandon's list for him because his was originally hand-written and all kinds of unorganized. I grab the print-out, deck, my other stuff, and leave around 4:30 with his tourney usually starting at 5:30.
I get there and like no one is there, so I just bust out my homework to work on. Eventually Brandon gets there so I show him the list I had typed up for him and he tells me that he changed it and it'd go into effect today, I was like alright well I can update what I got and post a link of it on the blog. Unfortunately they can't get a printout of the new list since the printer is broke and the guy that knows how to fix it is out for dinner or something. We wait till like 6:15, it gets printed out, and the tourney gets started at 6:30.
Note: game write-ups will most likely be short since it's Traditional after all lol.
Attendance was 9, almost half of what it was last week.
Round 1 vs Mike H (Watts?)
Game 1 - I win the die roll and my deck goes FTK. He just stares and is visibly upset (lol sorry bro).
Game 2 - He does some tricks to bring out a turn 1 Vanity's Fiend. I'm just like "...huh. I don't think my deck has a way around that." I play a few draw cards, think about the scenario, pass my turn, think about it some more as he plays some cards, and just scoop it up. I got no way to deal with the Fiend.
Game 3 - I draw into what I need to FTK. He Veilers my Shadowpriestess but I just remove it and Cyber Valley to draw 2, bring it back with Dimension Fusion, and continue with the loop.
OXO
Record: 1-0
He goes into the back room and I can hear him complaining about my deck. I go back and agree with him, saying "yea my deck is BS." Don't hate the player, hate the game :) At this point Danny gets there and he looks over the list Brandon made up but doesn't agree with a lot of the stuff that's on/not on there.
I get down-paired since I was the only one that went 2-1.
Round 2 vs Brandon (Disaster Dragon/Dragunity)
Game 1 - I win the die roll but draw into absolute garbage and can't keep the momentum going with my deck. I leave a Cyber Valley on the field and hope I get another turn. He Mind Controls it and goes nutty with big dragons, and OTKs me with REDMD and Trident Dragion or something attacking me twice.
Game 2 - Again I can't FTK but he doesn't OTK me. I draw, nothing helpful, so I have to make a desperate Disc Commander play to draw into something useful, unfortunately I don't so I scoop it up.
XX
Record: 1-1
Losing in the down-pair is pretty much the worst case scenario lol.
Round 3 vs Didn'tCatchYourName (Water?)
Game 1 - I win the die roll and don't have much so I just loop 2 Cyber Valley, a Broww, and Dimension Fusion with a Spell Economics up to stack the Fusion, draw 2, and keep drawing 1 card with each loop iteration to draw into something more useful. I make a crucial misplay in stacking the Fusion, Machine Dup'ing a Cyber Valley to draw faster, and realized I screwed up since I wouldn't have my Dimension Fusion. I try to just dig for it but don't get it, so end my turn with a Dark Voltanis on field. I just hoped that he wouldn't be able to OTK me. All he literally does is set 1 monster, I'm just like sweet and play some more draw cards to draw back into the Dimension Fusion, and correctly loop to finish him off.
Game 2 - He sets a monster and a backrow which ends up being a 7 Tools (absolutely useless since I don't run traps lol). I get the first turn loop off and that's that.
OO
Record: 2-1
At this point they just cut off to top 4 and I don't make it in cuz my down-pair absolutely screwed me. Don't know what everyone played but didn't care too much as I just talked to Danny, did some more homework , and trades.
This kid asks me if I could play him, I'm just like sure, and I FTK each game we play except in the ones where he was like "aw come on, give me just one turn" lol. I oblige, leaving him at like 600 or 800 life, he doesn't do anything to prevent the last bit of damage the next turn lol.
Decklist: 40
Monsters: 12
3 Cyber Valley
3 Broww
2 Darklord Zerato
1 Dark Voltanis
1 DMoC
1 Shadowpriestess of Ohm
1 D-Hero Disc Commander
Spells: 28
3 Upstart Goblin
3 Into the Void
3 Trade-In
3 Hand Destruction
3 Dark World Dealings
3 Machine Duplication
2 Spell Economics
1 Card Destruction
1 Dimension Fusion
1 Graceful Charity
1 Painful Choice
1 Monster Reborn
1 Premature Burial
1 Giant Trunade
1 Allure of Darkness
Brandon has Pot of Greed banned so I couldn't run that, and stuff like Raigeki and Feather Duster as well. I didn't play with a side or extra as I felt that I didn't really need them or know what the hell to have in there anyway. Into the Void is a pretty risky card if you don't got much action in your hand otherwise. I absolutely hate Hand Destruction as well, but I understand its importance since it digs for 2 cards and theoretically you should have plenty of ditch-able candidates. However this isn't always the case; I think I should've played some One Day of Peace, as even though it does give my opponent an extra card, the comfort of knowing you'll at least have an extra turn is pretty good. May have to sacrifice some speed for survivability.
I think Shadowpriestess FTK is the best FTK that Brandon hadn't touched, most likely cuz he didn't know about the deck. I didn't play the deck to piss people off, more like just to blatantly show that he left a viable FTK option open in his list. Since I didn't beat Brandon though, he probably won't hit it, as I don't want him to hit it anyway since I forked out like $70 to build the deck lol. If it became problematic to the point that I won like every tourney, sure, but it's not 100% in its FTK-ability.
This was probably the most "not-fun" fun I've had in quite a while! The deck reminded me of when I made Ian cry at one of the sneak peeks way back in the day when I ran Explosion OTK lol. I'll probably stick with this tourney and have my schedule be Sunday Haven, Tuesday T&M, and probably FNM Haven. This is the best configuration for me in terms of the number of miles I have to drive, I'll probably alternate between FNM and Saturday YGO @ Lightning. I'll probably also forgo FNM again this week as I have a test on Friday coupled with an assignment due on Monday (God I can't wait for this quarter to be over!).
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Into the New Format
I didn't go to the Northtown tourney yesterday since I woke up feeling really sick and groggy. My wife started to get sick the other day and tends to never cover her mouth when she coughs, so naturally it was gonna happen :/ Later in the day I started to feel better so I make the trip to my post office to pick up my third Maxx C that I ordered, as well as all my Traditional stuff for Brandon's tourney. I forgot to order a Painful Choice and a Premature Burial though, ordered them later, but need to see if I can borrow them from someone if I play today. I built up the deck, tried out like 15 hands/playthroughs, and it can FTK fairly consistently. I'd rather play an Exchange of the Spirit deck, but Brandon has that card banned.
I think YCS Germany will be a good indication for how the rest of our format may look like, at least until GAOV comes out. Lots of Dino, and the rest being Inzektors and Wind-Ups. I'm actually really curious to see how our locals shifts, as there were quite a few people playing Tengus and Plants even til the very end. They'll probably switch to Gadgets, GBs, Heroes, or something. The threat of Dark World and Samurai is still something to take into consideration as well. If I ever get Tour Guides before the release of Battle Pack I'll probably switch to Wind-Ups, but I'm enjoying Inzektors at the moment. As more time passes the less inclined I feel to order Guides. I'm looking forward to the Veiler reprint so I can run BLS in my build. I ordered 5 boxes of ORCS SE so if someone wants cheap Veilers and doesn't want to buy the actual SEs, I'm your hookup :)
I've looked at the new-list tourney results over on Shriek, and it's pretty apparent that Card Car D will be the money Secret for GAOV. Rare in Japan, it's a draw card, so Secret over here. Sounds about right. Inzektor Gulf (or Gruf, whatever) is seeing quite a bit of play as a 2-of, even though I'm not sure why.
For reference:
Card Car D
Earth/Machine
Level 2
800/400
Cannot be Special Summoned. During the Main Phase 1 when this card is Normal Summoned: You can Tribute this card; draw 2 cards, and skip to the End Phase. You cannot Special Summon the turn you activated this effect.
Inzektor Gruf
Dark/Insect
Level 2
500/100
Overall I think Rank 3 is better than Rank 5, so not sure why all this manipulation for 2 more levels is being ran. Speaking of Rank 3, still waiting on my freaking mag with Acid Golem in it. I'll probably end up picking up a copy at Walmart or some grocery store or something. I think it's the first magazine promo (as opposed to subscription promo) in a while that's actually playable! (Souza is OK/meh.)
If you may not have known, there's some petition thing going on at Pojo, basically people upset at the ban list and expensive cards and trying to get Konami to change. The whole expensive card/rarity bump thing has been going on since Phantom freakin' Darkness. Obviously it's doing something right for them, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. I remember way back when PTDN came out, and some guy on Pojo was ranting and raving about how the game was going to end and all this crap. Clearly he was wrong. Pretty much the same stories when Duality became a $100+ card, and Tour Guide became $180. I do agree this ban list didn't do anything to help with the latter problems of the previous format, and the top decks weren't hit so ORCS would still be a relevant set. The old-school players and those that have been around for a few years in general know and are used to all this, and there's never been a point to whining and moaning about it simply because Konami doesn't listen. Those that love the game will still play it, and those that are fed up will quit for a period of time but most likely come back into it somewhere along the line. To play Yugioh in the upper-tier level of competitiveness has always been a relatively expensive endeavor, but there are always cheaper and viable options out there if you can persevere. This is the way the game has been for a while, and probably always will be til it runs its course.
I think YCS Germany will be a good indication for how the rest of our format may look like, at least until GAOV comes out. Lots of Dino, and the rest being Inzektors and Wind-Ups. I'm actually really curious to see how our locals shifts, as there were quite a few people playing Tengus and Plants even til the very end. They'll probably switch to Gadgets, GBs, Heroes, or something. The threat of Dark World and Samurai is still something to take into consideration as well. If I ever get Tour Guides before the release of Battle Pack I'll probably switch to Wind-Ups, but I'm enjoying Inzektors at the moment. As more time passes the less inclined I feel to order Guides. I'm looking forward to the Veiler reprint so I can run BLS in my build. I ordered 5 boxes of ORCS SE so if someone wants cheap Veilers and doesn't want to buy the actual SEs, I'm your hookup :)
I've looked at the new-list tourney results over on Shriek, and it's pretty apparent that Card Car D will be the money Secret for GAOV. Rare in Japan, it's a draw card, so Secret over here. Sounds about right. Inzektor Gulf (or Gruf, whatever) is seeing quite a bit of play as a 2-of, even though I'm not sure why.
For reference:
Card Car D
Earth/Machine
Level 2
800/400
Cannot be Special Summoned. During the Main Phase 1 when this card is Normal Summoned: You can Tribute this card; draw 2 cards, and skip to the End Phase. You cannot Special Summon the turn you activated this effect.
Inzektor Gruf
Dark/Insect
Level 2
500/100
| Once per turn: You can equip 1 "Inzektor" monster from your hand or Graveyard to this card. While this card is equipped to a monster, increase the equipped monster's Level by 2, and gains ATK and DEF equal to this card's ATK and DEF respectively. You can send this Equip Card to the Graveyard to target 1 monster you control; increase its Level by 1 or 2. |
Overall I think Rank 3 is better than Rank 5, so not sure why all this manipulation for 2 more levels is being ran. Speaking of Rank 3, still waiting on my freaking mag with Acid Golem in it. I'll probably end up picking up a copy at Walmart or some grocery store or something. I think it's the first magazine promo (as opposed to subscription promo) in a while that's actually playable! (Souza is OK/meh.)
If you may not have known, there's some petition thing going on at Pojo, basically people upset at the ban list and expensive cards and trying to get Konami to change. The whole expensive card/rarity bump thing has been going on since Phantom freakin' Darkness. Obviously it's doing something right for them, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. I remember way back when PTDN came out, and some guy on Pojo was ranting and raving about how the game was going to end and all this crap. Clearly he was wrong. Pretty much the same stories when Duality became a $100+ card, and Tour Guide became $180. I do agree this ban list didn't do anything to help with the latter problems of the previous format, and the top decks weren't hit so ORCS would still be a relevant set. The old-school players and those that have been around for a few years in general know and are used to all this, and there's never been a point to whining and moaning about it simply because Konami doesn't listen. Those that love the game will still play it, and those that are fed up will quit for a period of time but most likely come back into it somewhere along the line. To play Yugioh in the upper-tier level of competitiveness has always been a relatively expensive endeavor, but there are always cheaper and viable options out there if you can persevere. This is the way the game has been for a while, and probably always will be til it runs its course.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Locals Report 2-25-2012; Lightning Comics
Warning: long ass post, as a lot of stuff happened today.
So I ended up not playing FNM last night after I had an hour and a half conversation with Danny about team dynamics and stuff that had gone down the previous day (Thursday) while everyone was hanging out in Idaho. I'm not gonna air out our dirty laundry for everyone to read, but some of the things I heard were rather surprising; some great, and some disappointing. Danny asked me to write up a "meeting topics/minutes" thing, so I at least did up a rough draft version of it and let him alter it. I was in a weird juggling situation between playing FNM last night, doing my homework, and whether or not I was actually going to play Yugz today. Adrian and Ryan wanted to go and just take 1 car out, so I agreed to drive their car. I wasn't the most enthused since Lightning is still playing old/current format, but figured what the hell, if I'm gonna be there the whole time I might as well play. I also needed to promote the box tourney that's coming up in like 2 weeks. Here's hoping the wife doesn't get naggy and expect me to be home at her whim.
My wife wakes me up really early to kill this little tiny spider, at first I couldn't even see the damn thing. I'm like "what, that spec on the wall?" We're both afraid of spiders but this thing was seriously as small as the write-end of a pen. She hands me a tissue and I perform a Fatality on it lol.
Afterwards I print out a few more box tourney fliers and also write a "letter to the players" to print on the back of the flier. I feel awkward promoting a tourney held by a different store in a different store, if you know what I mean. I felt that I should help explain the reason for why I'm getting the tourney started in the first place and show people I'm not trying to get them to switch to playing at the Haven. A lot of it is stuff I've already mentioned on the blog, but the letter is as follows:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike
My wife texts me and tells me that she's feeling dizzy at work all of a sudden and is like "you may need to take a taxi to come pick me up." I'm just like hell nah, she was perfectly fine this morning and I wasn't gonna take no damn taxi. I text Danny about this since it was gonna be hard for me if I was supposed to drive Ryan's car over. I'm willing to alter our plan so that I just drive my car, and if she ends up needing to get picked up I'd just leave the tourney, pick her up and take her home, then come back out to get everyone. Turns out they bailed out though cuz it was snowing beyond crazy today. I have to go to an ATM since I owe Danny and Kim money, also to cash a check, so I head out around 11:30. The plan was to meet at Danny's at 12:30 since that's when he got off work. When I get outside to my car, I end up knocking off one of my wipers since I'm trying to scrape the snow off. I've never actually put on a wiper blade before, so I'm standing there in the wind and snow, trying to figure out how the hell to put this back on. At one point I get frustrated, throw it against my front window, and say "fuck all this shit!" I regain my composure, mess around with it some more, and finally figure out how to get the damn thing back on lol.
Driving is beyond terrible, as everyone's a shitty driver in the snow. I can't find the Valley location of my bank (STCU), and basically end up wasting half an hour. I ask Danny if the Walgreens has an ATM, he doesn't respond, so I just go in. Turns out they had one so I was able to withdraw money. I get a text from Danny saying they do have one, right as I get back in the car lol. I stop by the Starbucks next door to get a Java Chip as I'm just really tired and frustrated with everything. I get to Danny's around 12:20, tell him I'd just chill in his parking lot, and he gets there around 12:45. We promptly leave to go pick up Zach. Go get him, and we're off to Lightning.
We get there right around 1:30, and thankfully Larson waited for us before starting the tourney. We all pay and register, I go greet some people, but my #1 priority going into the store was to talk to Larson about the box tourney. I ask him if he had heard about it, and he said no, so I took one of the fliers with the letter on the back of it to show him. He's cool with it all, and other people notice the flier and are like "hey what's that?" I have Larson's blessing to distribute information, so I do so, and it seems like people are pretty interested in it. The rest of the team helps spread the word and I'm pretty much out of fliers.
First round pairings get posted, and attendance is 15.
Round 1 vs Ty (Samurai)
Game 1 - All he really does is summon a Kizan with no Uniteds, Gateways or anything, and runs over my Arma Knight. I'm pretty much able to combo off from there and I control his plays.
Game 2 - Same thing as first game. He can't draw United, Gateway, or Dojo to do a damn thing. Tough beats.
OO
Record: 1-0
I don't remember what I do before now and when round 2 pairings go up, but Larson gets my attention and asks me to come into the back/office room. I pretty much know what's about to go down, but at the same time I just thought maybe Larson had some questions. Turns out my first instinct was right, as the owner/manager is sitting in his chair and gives me the stink eye, holding one of my fliers. Pretty sure someone ratted me out, and pretty sure I know who it was, but I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. I'll always forgive, but I never forget. So the manager chews me out and tells me that I'm promoting another store and a few other things, it was pretty clear that he hadn't read the letter in its entirety as he has to go back to it after I bring up some points from it. I can feel my face be beat red, primarily because the store was hot as hell, but I'm also upset that he's going down this path with me about it when I felt that I was quite clear regarding my intentions via the letter. He tries to intimidate me by ending with "I. AM. PISSED." and I have to admit I was, but at the same time I am more than willing to defend my intentions and stand up for what I'm trying to accomplish. If he kicks me out of the store, then so be it, but there is no ill-will or malice in what I'm trying to do to bring to our area. After he gets done with his initial statement, it was my turn. I don't remember the order of what I said as I'm not a good "on the spot" talker, but here were the major points:
- A regionals is what we've all wanted, but never had, for the past 8 years. If we want to play in one, we gotta drive all the way to the west side. I'm trying to change that.
- I do not represent Gamer's Haven, as I am more than willing to help any other store in the area to set things up. He brings up the point that I'm bringing a flier with their logo on it, yes, but it's beyond just that. It is a means to an end, and quite simply, the Haven is the only place that has the space (or so I thought).
- He brings up the fact that he has the ability to rent out a room or building across the way to hold something like a regionals. That's cool, as I honestly didn't know that. I bring up the fact that they had 55 people at their Magic Sneak and the Yugioh players got kicked out. How was I to think that they'd manage to fit 150+, when this experience tells me otherwise?
- I mention that I promote all the other stores around here on the blog, and state that I get roughly 1000 views a week (depends on how much I post). It's not a whole lot, but it's still a pretty decent amount, realistically.
- I state that the Spokane-based players come out here week after week, driving through a damn blizzard today, and that I was even choosing to come out here today rather than go to the Haven's tourney tomorrow (which I do feel bad about).
- I basically say, "this is about more than just me, more than just the team, more than you, him (Larson), the store. It's about the betterment of Spokane Yugioh because it's honestly going down hill. Our problem is everyone is spread out, and I'm trying to unite everyone for the health of the game."
- I tell him that "I got this event into place in only about a week's worth of work; imagine what I can do in a month. Two months. And I'm willing to work with Lightning, Larson, whoever. I'm a free agent and I'm more than willing to put in the work to help anyone set up anything."
- I bring up the fact that the only reason why I put the box tourney on Sunday is because of respect for Larson and the store. "I could've easily scheduled it for Saturday, but I respect Lightning and you guys too much to do that. All I'm literally asking for is one Sunday afternoon, not for myself, because I'm not getting anything out of this. I just want to help Spokane Yugioh and give back to the community."
- I apologized and admit that I messed up by not coming to him directly, but at this point I can't go back and re-do anything. However I was adamant that I still stand for what I believe in and what I'm trying to do. No one's going to stop me to do my best and deliver, even if it means I'm banned from the store. I'm willing to be a martyr, as long as I can follow through with helping the community.
- Of which, I remind him that me and my team represent half the tournament attendance out there. Without us, they would've had what, 8?
We exchange a few other clarifications and whatnot, but in the end he realized my passion, work ethic, genuineness, and appreciated that. I just should've come to him, and I agree 100%. He shakes my hand as a sign of respect, and I'm grateful that he sees what I'm trying to do and won't hold the game's health back. To be honest I was afraid that he would simply say no to me promoting it; what would be my option then? We need the Idaho players just as much the Spokane ones, as we're all tied into one community.
Larson tells me to not worry about the round, I find my opponent and shuffle up quickly so we can play.
Round 2 vs SorryDunnoYourName (Miracle Heroes)
Game 1 - He goes absolutely nutty with various Miracle Fusion, Parallel World Fusion, Yourmom Fusion, any kind of fusion to continuously bring out Great Tornado and Shining. I try to come back with Inzektor plays but it's just too much for me.
Game 2 - I'm able to play around his Special Summon spams with more removal, Snowman Eater, and timely Warnings. I Giga-Mantis OTK him.
Game 3 - Similar to previous game but I think DAD plays a part too.
XOO
Record: 2-0
Round 3 vs Jeff (Dark World)
Game 1 - I don't get much of a hand and he has Card Destruction. I Maxx C, knowing he's gonna go crazy with Goldd and Sillvas, unfortunately I can't draw into Gorz and I have like a 10-card hand. He OTKs me with Gate-pumped 2 Grapha and a Goldd I believe.
Game 2 - He doesn't draw Card Destruction, so I win. Timely MSTs on his Gates and I get Giga-Mantis OTK (so glad I learned how to actually do this shit! lol).
Game 3 - He's in a losing position and makes an "all-in" gamble by flipping Morphing Jar, hoping to draw into some Goldds and Sillvas to go with his 2 Ceruli. He doesn't draw into anything helpful though and I'm able to take it with 1500 lp remaining.
XOO
Record: 3-0
Round 4 vs Nate (Inzektor)
The Inzektor mirror is actually quite fun and our games were very back-and-forthy. We talk about how we both make top so it doesn't matter too much, find out there's gonna be a top 8 playoff, confirm with Larson that 1st will play against 8th, so we figure at least the winner between us will have an easier match going into top 8.
Game 1 - Don't remember if it was this game or the next, but he goes turn 1 Centipede with Hornet equipped. I Book it and attack over with Tomato. I think I Fiendish Chain the next Centipede, and I do more Inzektor shenanigans than him.
Game 2 - At the end I make a crucial misplay because I didn't keep track of life correctly. I could've finished it with a Giga-Mantis equip boost, but I left him with 50 lp and he was able to take it.
Game 3 - I think I'm able to get off the Giga-Mantis OTK, now Nate knows why the deck runs Giga-Mantis lol. I honestly didn't know why either till I learned that Dragonfly gets to Special for each equip sent off it.
OXO
Record: 4-0
Top 8 vs Colin (Plants)
I wasn't too excited to play against Plants, as I'm just not interested in anything that has to do with the current format.
Game 1 - I set Reaper, Warning, Dustshoot, and turn 1 Dustshoot him and take away his Trooper (the other monster being Ryko), and everything he has does nothing to stop Inzektor pops. He sets Ryko, Call, and Starlight Road. I Inzektor pop his field, go in with Reaper, he tries to Call the Ryko to avoid the discard, so I Warning. In retrospect, I should've just let him do it and let replay occur to get the eventual discard anyway. Pretty much downhill for him from there and he's visibly not happy about playing against Inzektors. Salty.
Game 2 - He keeps bringing out Stardust, which annoys the hell out of me. I have to make Leviathans to ram into it, really wishing I had Acid Golems. In fact all day I was like "damn I want Acid Golem so bad." Woulda been so helpful. He wins this one due to Plant shenanigans and me having a dead DAD and Giga-Mantis in my hand almost the entire game. This game reminds me how happy I am to see Bulb banned lol.
Game 3 - Thunder King and Snowman Eater put work in, and I'm seriously +5 on him with help from Inzektors. He tries to mount a comeback but I'm too up on advantage.
OXO
Record: 5-0
Top 4 is me (Inzektor), Zach (DW), Link (Janky Dino Rabbit), and Jeff (DW). Link and Jeff are already playing.
Top 4 vs Zach (NDMDW - I think that's what he called it)
Funny story, on the car ride over Zach goes thru Danny's bag and pulls out the Darkworld deck that's built for Danny's wife. No extra deck, no side deck, but he's top 4 lol. Awesome.
Game 1 - I have pretty good control until he Deck Devs me, which absolutely cripples me. I think I have a dead DAD or Giga-Mantis in my hand, nothin I can do. Skill Drain also put in work.
Game 2 - He goes through 2 Gates rather quickly and I end up MST'ing the last one after he activates it. Don't remember the rest, Giga-Mantis combo?
Game 3 - The game state is weird, where he ends has a Trance Archfiend on field with a Torrential set. I don't remember what my field is, but he summons another Trance, Torrentials and ends with 1 in hand. I have the ability to summon Reaper and attack, but I sit there for like 5 minutes, thinking what the hell his in-hand card could be. I figure if it was a Darkworld, he would've just pitched it with Trance to attack over whatever I had on the field. In the end I just summon TKing and poke for like 3 turns as he draws into more Goldds and stuff he can't use. I drop a DAD to finish it off.
XOO
Record: 6-0
Link beats Jeff, so Link and I agree to split because we still had to have our team meeting. Jeff and Zach end up splitting too. I save my $16 credit and Link buys some PHSW packs because apparently the Secret hasn't been pulled yet. He pulls Galaxy Queen and more jank. We all go to a table for our meeting and wait for Zach who's buying sleeves for Donut or something.
The meeting went very well, and we all got to talk about other members of the team, our standpoints and personal motivations, what we do for the team, expectations for each other, and all that kinda stuff. Danny and I agreed that an outline helped a lot so we weren't just making shit up to talk about as we went along. Danny and I make a good pair as he likes to talk but isn't good with the paperwork end of things, while I'm the exact opposite way. However when I do talk, I think I always tend to bring up very valid points which make a hell of a lot of sense. I'm probably too logical for my own good sometimes lol.
All in all it was a good day, even if I had that scuffle with Lightning's owner. Glad he was able to see it from my perspective, and conversely I was able to see it from his.
Decklist: 40
Monsters: 21
10 Bugs
1 DAD
1 Gorz
1 Tomato
1 Arma Knight
1 Sangan
2 Reaper
2 TKing
2 Maxx C
Spells: 12
3 Duality
3 MST
1 Reborn
1 Hole
1 Heavy
1 Book
1 Allure
1 Foolish
Traps: 7
1 Dustshoot
1 Torr
3 Solemn
2 Fiendish
Extra
1 Chimera
2 Zenmaines
2 Leviathan
1 Leviair
1 Gigabrilliant
1 Utopia
1 Utopia Ray
1 Catastor
1 Brio
1 Black Rose
1 Stardust
1 Scrap
Side
2 Cydra
2 Ryko
2 Snowman
2 Crow
1 Mind Control
1 Mirror Force
1 Compulse
2 Bottomless
2 Decree
So I ended up not playing FNM last night after I had an hour and a half conversation with Danny about team dynamics and stuff that had gone down the previous day (Thursday) while everyone was hanging out in Idaho. I'm not gonna air out our dirty laundry for everyone to read, but some of the things I heard were rather surprising; some great, and some disappointing. Danny asked me to write up a "meeting topics/minutes" thing, so I at least did up a rough draft version of it and let him alter it. I was in a weird juggling situation between playing FNM last night, doing my homework, and whether or not I was actually going to play Yugz today. Adrian and Ryan wanted to go and just take 1 car out, so I agreed to drive their car. I wasn't the most enthused since Lightning is still playing old/current format, but figured what the hell, if I'm gonna be there the whole time I might as well play. I also needed to promote the box tourney that's coming up in like 2 weeks. Here's hoping the wife doesn't get naggy and expect me to be home at her whim.
My wife wakes me up really early to kill this little tiny spider, at first I couldn't even see the damn thing. I'm like "what, that spec on the wall?" We're both afraid of spiders but this thing was seriously as small as the write-end of a pen. She hands me a tissue and I perform a Fatality on it lol.
Afterwards I print out a few more box tourney fliers and also write a "letter to the players" to print on the back of the flier. I feel awkward promoting a tourney held by a different store in a different store, if you know what I mean. I felt that I should help explain the reason for why I'm getting the tourney started in the first place and show people I'm not trying to get them to switch to playing at the Haven. A lot of it is stuff I've already mentioned on the blog, but the letter is as follows:
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Dear Players,
I have done a fair amount of planning and coordination with Bob (one of the owners) from Gamer’s Haven for this event. This is my first gift to the YuGiOh community, as we hardly ever have these kinds of “larger-scale” tournaments. I would say the prize support is good, but there is a strong possibility of there being more if a lot more people show up. In Magic, Bob has the tendency to throw a box worth of prize support for every 10 players. He is very fair in his prize support system. However whether he decides to put more in prize support is his call, not mine. He ordered 7 boxes of ORCS SE, so he will have plenty of product!
As exciting as a box tournament may be, my intention and goal does not stop there. My “big picture” goal is to provide our area with a consistent Regionals. We deserve to have Regionals on “this side of the mountains” and shouldn’t have to drive all the way to Seattle or Portland to play in one. The last Seattle regional had about 270 players. I love Lightning Comics and all, but it can’t hold even half that. I don’t know if you have been to the new Gamer’s Haven, but there is 4000 square feet in gaming area. I’d say it’s the first store I’ve seen in the Spokane area that could realistically hold a Regional. We have already spoken with some of the Seattle-based players, and they said they would come out to a Spokane Regional in a heartbeat. By having a Spokane-based Regional, it also provides an opportunity for guys further out in areas like Boise or even Montana to play in one. We have a lot of great players in our area, so I’d say we deserve a Regional. It’s our time to shine.
I know some of you may not be interested in playing in a Regional even if it was next door to your house, but please understand this is something the player-base as a whole has wanted for more than 6 years. Even if you aren’t interested in playing in the box tournament, it would be a great sign of support to simply come and hang out, trade, or whatnot. I’m not trying to “recruit” or get people to switch to playing at Gamer’s Haven or anything like that. I’m simply asking for the support of the community, for one afternoon, to help me eventually give something great to you all (Regionals) and help “Spokane/Idaho YuGiOh” overall. Bob needs to see that there is a decent amount of local support to start the process of doing a Regional. If the local players aren’t interested/supportive, then what reason does he have that outsiders will?
Our judge for the event will be Joe Lancaster from Yakima Washington, who has judged several Regionals in our area over the years and is also judging for the upcoming YCS Long Beach. He has the experience and knowledge to help make this event fair and fun!
Please help spread the word! Getting a Regionals over here depends on it.
Mike
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Hopefully that sounds sincere, as I am genuinely a pretty sincere guy.
Hopefully that sounds sincere, as I am genuinely a pretty sincere guy.
My wife texts me and tells me that she's feeling dizzy at work all of a sudden and is like "you may need to take a taxi to come pick me up." I'm just like hell nah, she was perfectly fine this morning and I wasn't gonna take no damn taxi. I text Danny about this since it was gonna be hard for me if I was supposed to drive Ryan's car over. I'm willing to alter our plan so that I just drive my car, and if she ends up needing to get picked up I'd just leave the tourney, pick her up and take her home, then come back out to get everyone. Turns out they bailed out though cuz it was snowing beyond crazy today. I have to go to an ATM since I owe Danny and Kim money, also to cash a check, so I head out around 11:30. The plan was to meet at Danny's at 12:30 since that's when he got off work. When I get outside to my car, I end up knocking off one of my wipers since I'm trying to scrape the snow off. I've never actually put on a wiper blade before, so I'm standing there in the wind and snow, trying to figure out how the hell to put this back on. At one point I get frustrated, throw it against my front window, and say "fuck all this shit!" I regain my composure, mess around with it some more, and finally figure out how to get the damn thing back on lol.
Driving is beyond terrible, as everyone's a shitty driver in the snow. I can't find the Valley location of my bank (STCU), and basically end up wasting half an hour. I ask Danny if the Walgreens has an ATM, he doesn't respond, so I just go in. Turns out they had one so I was able to withdraw money. I get a text from Danny saying they do have one, right as I get back in the car lol. I stop by the Starbucks next door to get a Java Chip as I'm just really tired and frustrated with everything. I get to Danny's around 12:20, tell him I'd just chill in his parking lot, and he gets there around 12:45. We promptly leave to go pick up Zach. Go get him, and we're off to Lightning.
We get there right around 1:30, and thankfully Larson waited for us before starting the tourney. We all pay and register, I go greet some people, but my #1 priority going into the store was to talk to Larson about the box tourney. I ask him if he had heard about it, and he said no, so I took one of the fliers with the letter on the back of it to show him. He's cool with it all, and other people notice the flier and are like "hey what's that?" I have Larson's blessing to distribute information, so I do so, and it seems like people are pretty interested in it. The rest of the team helps spread the word and I'm pretty much out of fliers.
First round pairings get posted, and attendance is 15.
Round 1 vs Ty (Samurai)
Game 1 - All he really does is summon a Kizan with no Uniteds, Gateways or anything, and runs over my Arma Knight. I'm pretty much able to combo off from there and I control his plays.
Game 2 - Same thing as first game. He can't draw United, Gateway, or Dojo to do a damn thing. Tough beats.
OO
Record: 1-0
I don't remember what I do before now and when round 2 pairings go up, but Larson gets my attention and asks me to come into the back/office room. I pretty much know what's about to go down, but at the same time I just thought maybe Larson had some questions. Turns out my first instinct was right, as the owner/manager is sitting in his chair and gives me the stink eye, holding one of my fliers. Pretty sure someone ratted me out, and pretty sure I know who it was, but I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. I'll always forgive, but I never forget. So the manager chews me out and tells me that I'm promoting another store and a few other things, it was pretty clear that he hadn't read the letter in its entirety as he has to go back to it after I bring up some points from it. I can feel my face be beat red, primarily because the store was hot as hell, but I'm also upset that he's going down this path with me about it when I felt that I was quite clear regarding my intentions via the letter. He tries to intimidate me by ending with "I. AM. PISSED." and I have to admit I was, but at the same time I am more than willing to defend my intentions and stand up for what I'm trying to accomplish. If he kicks me out of the store, then so be it, but there is no ill-will or malice in what I'm trying to do to bring to our area. After he gets done with his initial statement, it was my turn. I don't remember the order of what I said as I'm not a good "on the spot" talker, but here were the major points:
- A regionals is what we've all wanted, but never had, for the past 8 years. If we want to play in one, we gotta drive all the way to the west side. I'm trying to change that.
- I do not represent Gamer's Haven, as I am more than willing to help any other store in the area to set things up. He brings up the point that I'm bringing a flier with their logo on it, yes, but it's beyond just that. It is a means to an end, and quite simply, the Haven is the only place that has the space (or so I thought).
- He brings up the fact that he has the ability to rent out a room or building across the way to hold something like a regionals. That's cool, as I honestly didn't know that. I bring up the fact that they had 55 people at their Magic Sneak and the Yugioh players got kicked out. How was I to think that they'd manage to fit 150+, when this experience tells me otherwise?
- I mention that I promote all the other stores around here on the blog, and state that I get roughly 1000 views a week (depends on how much I post). It's not a whole lot, but it's still a pretty decent amount, realistically.
- I state that the Spokane-based players come out here week after week, driving through a damn blizzard today, and that I was even choosing to come out here today rather than go to the Haven's tourney tomorrow (which I do feel bad about).
- I basically say, "this is about more than just me, more than just the team, more than you, him (Larson), the store. It's about the betterment of Spokane Yugioh because it's honestly going down hill. Our problem is everyone is spread out, and I'm trying to unite everyone for the health of the game."
- I tell him that "I got this event into place in only about a week's worth of work; imagine what I can do in a month. Two months. And I'm willing to work with Lightning, Larson, whoever. I'm a free agent and I'm more than willing to put in the work to help anyone set up anything."
- I bring up the fact that the only reason why I put the box tourney on Sunday is because of respect for Larson and the store. "I could've easily scheduled it for Saturday, but I respect Lightning and you guys too much to do that. All I'm literally asking for is one Sunday afternoon, not for myself, because I'm not getting anything out of this. I just want to help Spokane Yugioh and give back to the community."
- I apologized and admit that I messed up by not coming to him directly, but at this point I can't go back and re-do anything. However I was adamant that I still stand for what I believe in and what I'm trying to do. No one's going to stop me to do my best and deliver, even if it means I'm banned from the store. I'm willing to be a martyr, as long as I can follow through with helping the community.
- Of which, I remind him that me and my team represent half the tournament attendance out there. Without us, they would've had what, 8?
We exchange a few other clarifications and whatnot, but in the end he realized my passion, work ethic, genuineness, and appreciated that. I just should've come to him, and I agree 100%. He shakes my hand as a sign of respect, and I'm grateful that he sees what I'm trying to do and won't hold the game's health back. To be honest I was afraid that he would simply say no to me promoting it; what would be my option then? We need the Idaho players just as much the Spokane ones, as we're all tied into one community.
Larson tells me to not worry about the round, I find my opponent and shuffle up quickly so we can play.
Round 2 vs SorryDunnoYourName (Miracle Heroes)
Game 1 - He goes absolutely nutty with various Miracle Fusion, Parallel World Fusion, Yourmom Fusion, any kind of fusion to continuously bring out Great Tornado and Shining. I try to come back with Inzektor plays but it's just too much for me.
Game 2 - I'm able to play around his Special Summon spams with more removal, Snowman Eater, and timely Warnings. I Giga-Mantis OTK him.
Game 3 - Similar to previous game but I think DAD plays a part too.
XOO
Record: 2-0
Round 3 vs Jeff (Dark World)
Game 1 - I don't get much of a hand and he has Card Destruction. I Maxx C, knowing he's gonna go crazy with Goldd and Sillvas, unfortunately I can't draw into Gorz and I have like a 10-card hand. He OTKs me with Gate-pumped 2 Grapha and a Goldd I believe.
Game 2 - He doesn't draw Card Destruction, so I win. Timely MSTs on his Gates and I get Giga-Mantis OTK (so glad I learned how to actually do this shit! lol).
Game 3 - He's in a losing position and makes an "all-in" gamble by flipping Morphing Jar, hoping to draw into some Goldds and Sillvas to go with his 2 Ceruli. He doesn't draw into anything helpful though and I'm able to take it with 1500 lp remaining.
XOO
Record: 3-0
Round 4 vs Nate (Inzektor)
The Inzektor mirror is actually quite fun and our games were very back-and-forthy. We talk about how we both make top so it doesn't matter too much, find out there's gonna be a top 8 playoff, confirm with Larson that 1st will play against 8th, so we figure at least the winner between us will have an easier match going into top 8.
Game 1 - Don't remember if it was this game or the next, but he goes turn 1 Centipede with Hornet equipped. I Book it and attack over with Tomato. I think I Fiendish Chain the next Centipede, and I do more Inzektor shenanigans than him.
Game 2 - At the end I make a crucial misplay because I didn't keep track of life correctly. I could've finished it with a Giga-Mantis equip boost, but I left him with 50 lp and he was able to take it.
Game 3 - I think I'm able to get off the Giga-Mantis OTK, now Nate knows why the deck runs Giga-Mantis lol. I honestly didn't know why either till I learned that Dragonfly gets to Special for each equip sent off it.
OXO
Record: 4-0
Top 8 vs Colin (Plants)
I wasn't too excited to play against Plants, as I'm just not interested in anything that has to do with the current format.
Game 1 - I set Reaper, Warning, Dustshoot, and turn 1 Dustshoot him and take away his Trooper (the other monster being Ryko), and everything he has does nothing to stop Inzektor pops. He sets Ryko, Call, and Starlight Road. I Inzektor pop his field, go in with Reaper, he tries to Call the Ryko to avoid the discard, so I Warning. In retrospect, I should've just let him do it and let replay occur to get the eventual discard anyway. Pretty much downhill for him from there and he's visibly not happy about playing against Inzektors. Salty.
Game 2 - He keeps bringing out Stardust, which annoys the hell out of me. I have to make Leviathans to ram into it, really wishing I had Acid Golems. In fact all day I was like "damn I want Acid Golem so bad." Woulda been so helpful. He wins this one due to Plant shenanigans and me having a dead DAD and Giga-Mantis in my hand almost the entire game. This game reminds me how happy I am to see Bulb banned lol.
Game 3 - Thunder King and Snowman Eater put work in, and I'm seriously +5 on him with help from Inzektors. He tries to mount a comeback but I'm too up on advantage.
OXO
Record: 5-0
Top 4 is me (Inzektor), Zach (DW), Link (Janky Dino Rabbit), and Jeff (DW). Link and Jeff are already playing.
Top 4 vs Zach (NDMDW - I think that's what he called it)
Funny story, on the car ride over Zach goes thru Danny's bag and pulls out the Darkworld deck that's built for Danny's wife. No extra deck, no side deck, but he's top 4 lol. Awesome.
Game 1 - I have pretty good control until he Deck Devs me, which absolutely cripples me. I think I have a dead DAD or Giga-Mantis in my hand, nothin I can do. Skill Drain also put in work.
Game 2 - He goes through 2 Gates rather quickly and I end up MST'ing the last one after he activates it. Don't remember the rest, Giga-Mantis combo?
Game 3 - The game state is weird, where he ends has a Trance Archfiend on field with a Torrential set. I don't remember what my field is, but he summons another Trance, Torrentials and ends with 1 in hand. I have the ability to summon Reaper and attack, but I sit there for like 5 minutes, thinking what the hell his in-hand card could be. I figure if it was a Darkworld, he would've just pitched it with Trance to attack over whatever I had on the field. In the end I just summon TKing and poke for like 3 turns as he draws into more Goldds and stuff he can't use. I drop a DAD to finish it off.
XOO
Record: 6-0
Link beats Jeff, so Link and I agree to split because we still had to have our team meeting. Jeff and Zach end up splitting too. I save my $16 credit and Link buys some PHSW packs because apparently the Secret hasn't been pulled yet. He pulls Galaxy Queen and more jank. We all go to a table for our meeting and wait for Zach who's buying sleeves for Donut or something.
The meeting went very well, and we all got to talk about other members of the team, our standpoints and personal motivations, what we do for the team, expectations for each other, and all that kinda stuff. Danny and I agreed that an outline helped a lot so we weren't just making shit up to talk about as we went along. Danny and I make a good pair as he likes to talk but isn't good with the paperwork end of things, while I'm the exact opposite way. However when I do talk, I think I always tend to bring up very valid points which make a hell of a lot of sense. I'm probably too logical for my own good sometimes lol.
All in all it was a good day, even if I had that scuffle with Lightning's owner. Glad he was able to see it from my perspective, and conversely I was able to see it from his.
Decklist: 40
Monsters: 21
10 Bugs
1 DAD
1 Gorz
1 Tomato
1 Arma Knight
1 Sangan
2 Reaper
2 TKing
2 Maxx C
Spells: 12
3 Duality
3 MST
1 Reborn
1 Hole
1 Heavy
1 Book
1 Allure
1 Foolish
Traps: 7
1 Dustshoot
1 Torr
3 Solemn
2 Fiendish
Extra
1 Chimera
2 Zenmaines
2 Leviathan
1 Leviair
1 Gigabrilliant
1 Utopia
1 Utopia Ray
1 Catastor
1 Brio
1 Black Rose
1 Stardust
1 Scrap
Side
2 Cydra
2 Ryko
2 Snowman
2 Crow
1 Mind Control
1 Mirror Force
1 Compulse
2 Bottomless
2 Decree
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Prepping for FNM #1 + Magic Reflections, and the Importance of Goals
Well I think I'm finally content with my Magic maindeck, at least it's something I can play in a tournament with. I think my build should be running a few copies of Liliana of the Veil, but I'm not gonna drop $20 each on a card that saw 0 play in the top 8 decks at the latest Pro Tour. I'm pretty much pot-committed to this deck at the moment though until I can pick up Snapcasters and switch over to Finkel.dek. Same colors, which is nice, just don't feel like dropping another $80-100. I'll see how the FNM goes before buying any more cards. I'm also not sure which store I'll be playing at, either T&M or Gamer's Haven. Probably T&M to score some free pizza, and I think there are more scrubby puppies there.
I've always thought it was kinda strange in regards to my willingness of spending money (or not) on Magic singles vs Yugioh. What I mean is, for the longest time, Yugioh singles have been expensive, as we all know. Magic singles however have always been cheap, at least in respect to Yugioh (and we're only talking Standard here). When I was playing heavily, the most expensive cards were lands which at the time ranged anywhere from $15-20 (Ravnica shock-lands). This is why it's weird to me when I come across an instance of buying a $15+ Magic card that isn't a land, but I have no problem with dropping $50+ on a single Yugioh card. It's like "$130 on a Tour Guide? Sure, I'll take 3! $20 on a Snapcaster? Nah too expensive for me." On the outside it doesn't look like it makes sense right? lol. At the same time, there is always the lingering and inevitable set rotation, which always makes me hesitant in buying Magic cards at all. Even now, just getting back into it, I think about set rotation and which cards I need to get rid of and when to do it. However, as we all know Yugioh has its own set of built-in fears via reprints, the ban list, and meta shifts in general. Yugioh basically has a form of set rotation as well, whether we realize it or not. I'll talk more on that in a later post.
So this will mark the 3rd "actual" time for me coming back into Magic. My previous run was down in Texas where I ran Black-Red Vampires for a short stint (like a month). I wasn't going to drop big bucks on running blue (ie Jace) so I felt that Vampires was a decent budget-y option, even though I knew it was kinda janky on the competitive scale of things. I did OK with it, making top a couple times at the Den. I decided to drop Magic though because it was hard for me to explain to the wife why I was out so late on Fridays; their tourneys always started so freaking late and wouldn't get done til like midnight. Yea, it's Friday Night Magic, but it don't need to go all the way to the next day lol.
My initial expectations for my performance are rather low, simply to give me something to strive for again. During my first big run (leading up to winning regs), I set very small goals for myself. At the time, Magic's point system worked like this: everyone starts out at a base 1600 rating, then for every match they won they could gain up to 8 points, and conversely lose that many points. How many points you earned/lost were based on what your opponent's rating was. This is why players with really high ratings basically never played in FNMs, because a win resulted in like 0 (yes, 0) or 1 point, while a loss could take away 6-8. For reference, ~2000 was considered pro status. At first I didn't care or honestly know about rating, until my old Magic friends Brian, Danny (not team O), and Adam showed me. I think they were all in the 1650's or so, so my first goal was to simply have the highest rating among my friends. My rating dipped up and down a lot as I was learning the game, figuring out my playstyle, finding what colors and decks I liked and didn't like, but eventually I got the hang of things. I set my next goal to simply be at 1700 points in Constructed.
When Kamigawa block came around my friend Randy decided to pick up Magic as well, and I'd say at this time was when I was making bigger strides in achieving my goals. I think I was about tied with my friends, with all of us around the 1700-1725 mark. Some couldn't get over the 1730 "hump" because they'd like do good at one tourney and poorly the next. It's like getting a strike in bowling, then guttering the next two shots. We were ahead of a lot of the local people but not close to the better players like Butters, Jeff Elvigan, and Sung. More time passed, and I started playing Black-Green on a weekly basis. Turn 2 Hypnotic Specter (basically a Spirit Reaper w/ flying) was my "early win condition", with late game Kokushos and Kodama of the North Trees finishing it off later. As time went on Randy's favorite deck was Greater Good control and he was starting to catch up with the rest of us in rating, as that deck was pretty damn good. I had a period of time where I won like a month's worth of FNMs in some month which helped a lot in my rating. Eventually this helped me get to the first page of the Spokane listing of the top players (I think there were like 20 or 25 players per page) and I was catching up to the better players. I never thought I'd make it to the coveted "first page", but by making incremented and realistic small goals for myself, I could achieve them with just a bit of work. Had I just said "oh I want to make first page" at the very beginning, well that's a daunting task and I probably would've given up somewhere along the line. Once making it on the first page, my next goal was to be higher than my friend Sung, who got most of his points by top 4'ing States/Champs in 2004. I think he was ranked 4th or 5th, somewhere around there.
After Time Spiral block came in and Kamigawa rotated out, I picked up a deck that Frank Karsten (now in the Hall of Fame) wrote an article about, Red-White-Blue mid-range control. This was the eventual deck, that I called "Superman", that I went undefeated with at regionals, 2-0'ing each opponent except the last round of swiss. Leading up to regionals, I ran this deck for about 2-3 months and did extremely well on the FNM scene. I probably got 1st in about 80% of the tourneys, and getting 2nd or 3rd in the rest. I think my rating was 1850 or so at this point and was rated 3rd for all Spokane players and I finally surpassed Sung. At this point, the only thing I could hope to achieve was to be ranked 1st in Spokane, but I was behind by a good 80-90 points to (I think) Dan Hansen, who's a big-name player in the northwest. Being rated this high, it was also very hard to accrue points at FNMs. Some nights I could go X-1 and only gain like 1 point since that loss would take so many.
Regionals, being a 32K event (so instead of 8 points like in FNMs, you could gain/lose a max of 32 points), was going to be the deal-maker or breaker for me in terms of points. We (Randy, BK, and I) drove to Portland, slept in my car in the parking lot of the event, and got like a whole 3 hours of sleep. I envisioned myself losing a lot of points, but I was gonna do the best I could with a few Monster energy drinks to help me. I won't delve into my regional matches, as I really don't remember them anymore, but winning regionals put me at about a 1960 Constructed rating, and I finally was ranked 1st in Spokane, and 4th in the entire state.
After this, I basically achieved everything I had ever wanted in Magic. I had no aspirations of trying to play in the pro circuit or anything like that, and I didn't even go to Nationals (they didn't actually mail me my invite anyway). Honestly I went above and beyond my wildest expectations, so I pretty much quit the game. My points were so high that I was in that "gain 0 or 1 point" state so it wasn't worth it to play in FNMs. I know rating isn't really something to be so worried about, but for some reason my friends and I all obsessed over it lol. I guess since we were all competitive in nature, we wanted to compare ourselves to see who was the best. Ravnica and Time Spiral were also going to rotate out, basically killing off my entire deck. I competed in another regional in Seattle in a completely different block (Lorwyn) but didn't do so hot early on, dropped, was completely done with the game, and full-time Yugz once again.
So for my first FNM back, my goal is simply to break even in terms of my win/loss ratio. If there are 4 rounds, I'd be satisfied with a 2-2 record, even if it means losing the first two and winning the last. If I can finish above 50%, well that's great. My residual skills should be good enough to at least get me this, but then again I have no idea what the playerbase is like. If it's a lot of kids with unsleeved decks I should do fine. If it's all Pro Tour top 8 netdecks ran by people who know what they're doing, probably not so much. Either way I'm excited to play in FNMs again, and with them getting rid of the old rating systems, I don't even need to think about it lol. Hell I have to sign up for a new #/card anyway since I don't have my old one anymore.
To relate this back to Yugioh, I want to stress to all the "not-as-skilled" players why it's important to set small realistic goals for yourself to help you improve. A lot of players around here don't play Advanced because of how good a lot of players are, especially Team O. [If this is not the case, then why are y'all not playing in Advanced tourneys, but are in Brandon's?] Set a small goal for yourself, like say, "OK my goal for now is to beat 1 Team O member." "My goal is to just make top 8 in the tournament." As you get better and achieve these goals, go for more and try to win the whole thing, taking out all of us in the process. Another important factor in this is to playtest with people that are better than you. I'd get my ass stomped in Magic week in and week out against the better players at FNMs, but this was a lot more helpful in making me a better player than just playing against people on my same level. Sure you can improve by doing this, but not as fast as playing someone that's much better than you.
I know it may seem difficult because you may not have the money to play "the best deck", or even want to spend the money if you had it, but my "Superman" deck wasn't considered the best or most expensive deck when I played it at the regional either. In fact Butters told me I should run the best deck, Dragonstorm, cuz I was gonna get blown up otherwise. I thought about it, but I had virtually no experience with that deck, and I was so comfortable with my deck after playing it and winning with it for months. I 2-0'd three Dragonstorms that day and the 2-1 was to a Dragonstorm. Play something that you're comfortable with, know its capabilities, side-decking strategy(!!), buy the good stuff that you can afford, playtest a bunch against relevant decks and good players. That's about all you can do.
I've always thought it was kinda strange in regards to my willingness of spending money (or not) on Magic singles vs Yugioh. What I mean is, for the longest time, Yugioh singles have been expensive, as we all know. Magic singles however have always been cheap, at least in respect to Yugioh (and we're only talking Standard here). When I was playing heavily, the most expensive cards were lands which at the time ranged anywhere from $15-20 (Ravnica shock-lands). This is why it's weird to me when I come across an instance of buying a $15+ Magic card that isn't a land, but I have no problem with dropping $50+ on a single Yugioh card. It's like "$130 on a Tour Guide? Sure, I'll take 3! $20 on a Snapcaster? Nah too expensive for me." On the outside it doesn't look like it makes sense right? lol. At the same time, there is always the lingering and inevitable set rotation, which always makes me hesitant in buying Magic cards at all. Even now, just getting back into it, I think about set rotation and which cards I need to get rid of and when to do it. However, as we all know Yugioh has its own set of built-in fears via reprints, the ban list, and meta shifts in general. Yugioh basically has a form of set rotation as well, whether we realize it or not. I'll talk more on that in a later post.
So this will mark the 3rd "actual" time for me coming back into Magic. My previous run was down in Texas where I ran Black-Red Vampires for a short stint (like a month). I wasn't going to drop big bucks on running blue (ie Jace) so I felt that Vampires was a decent budget-y option, even though I knew it was kinda janky on the competitive scale of things. I did OK with it, making top a couple times at the Den. I decided to drop Magic though because it was hard for me to explain to the wife why I was out so late on Fridays; their tourneys always started so freaking late and wouldn't get done til like midnight. Yea, it's Friday Night Magic, but it don't need to go all the way to the next day lol.
My initial expectations for my performance are rather low, simply to give me something to strive for again. During my first big run (leading up to winning regs), I set very small goals for myself. At the time, Magic's point system worked like this: everyone starts out at a base 1600 rating, then for every match they won they could gain up to 8 points, and conversely lose that many points. How many points you earned/lost were based on what your opponent's rating was. This is why players with really high ratings basically never played in FNMs, because a win resulted in like 0 (yes, 0) or 1 point, while a loss could take away 6-8. For reference, ~2000 was considered pro status. At first I didn't care or honestly know about rating, until my old Magic friends Brian, Danny (not team O), and Adam showed me. I think they were all in the 1650's or so, so my first goal was to simply have the highest rating among my friends. My rating dipped up and down a lot as I was learning the game, figuring out my playstyle, finding what colors and decks I liked and didn't like, but eventually I got the hang of things. I set my next goal to simply be at 1700 points in Constructed.
When Kamigawa block came around my friend Randy decided to pick up Magic as well, and I'd say at this time was when I was making bigger strides in achieving my goals. I think I was about tied with my friends, with all of us around the 1700-1725 mark. Some couldn't get over the 1730 "hump" because they'd like do good at one tourney and poorly the next. It's like getting a strike in bowling, then guttering the next two shots. We were ahead of a lot of the local people but not close to the better players like Butters, Jeff Elvigan, and Sung. More time passed, and I started playing Black-Green on a weekly basis. Turn 2 Hypnotic Specter (basically a Spirit Reaper w/ flying) was my "early win condition", with late game Kokushos and Kodama of the North Trees finishing it off later. As time went on Randy's favorite deck was Greater Good control and he was starting to catch up with the rest of us in rating, as that deck was pretty damn good. I had a period of time where I won like a month's worth of FNMs in some month which helped a lot in my rating. Eventually this helped me get to the first page of the Spokane listing of the top players (I think there were like 20 or 25 players per page) and I was catching up to the better players. I never thought I'd make it to the coveted "first page", but by making incremented and realistic small goals for myself, I could achieve them with just a bit of work. Had I just said "oh I want to make first page" at the very beginning, well that's a daunting task and I probably would've given up somewhere along the line. Once making it on the first page, my next goal was to be higher than my friend Sung, who got most of his points by top 4'ing States/Champs in 2004. I think he was ranked 4th or 5th, somewhere around there.
After Time Spiral block came in and Kamigawa rotated out, I picked up a deck that Frank Karsten (now in the Hall of Fame) wrote an article about, Red-White-Blue mid-range control. This was the eventual deck, that I called "Superman", that I went undefeated with at regionals, 2-0'ing each opponent except the last round of swiss. Leading up to regionals, I ran this deck for about 2-3 months and did extremely well on the FNM scene. I probably got 1st in about 80% of the tourneys, and getting 2nd or 3rd in the rest. I think my rating was 1850 or so at this point and was rated 3rd for all Spokane players and I finally surpassed Sung. At this point, the only thing I could hope to achieve was to be ranked 1st in Spokane, but I was behind by a good 80-90 points to (I think) Dan Hansen, who's a big-name player in the northwest. Being rated this high, it was also very hard to accrue points at FNMs. Some nights I could go X-1 and only gain like 1 point since that loss would take so many.
Regionals, being a 32K event (so instead of 8 points like in FNMs, you could gain/lose a max of 32 points), was going to be the deal-maker or breaker for me in terms of points. We (Randy, BK, and I) drove to Portland, slept in my car in the parking lot of the event, and got like a whole 3 hours of sleep. I envisioned myself losing a lot of points, but I was gonna do the best I could with a few Monster energy drinks to help me. I won't delve into my regional matches, as I really don't remember them anymore, but winning regionals put me at about a 1960 Constructed rating, and I finally was ranked 1st in Spokane, and 4th in the entire state.
After this, I basically achieved everything I had ever wanted in Magic. I had no aspirations of trying to play in the pro circuit or anything like that, and I didn't even go to Nationals (they didn't actually mail me my invite anyway). Honestly I went above and beyond my wildest expectations, so I pretty much quit the game. My points were so high that I was in that "gain 0 or 1 point" state so it wasn't worth it to play in FNMs. I know rating isn't really something to be so worried about, but for some reason my friends and I all obsessed over it lol. I guess since we were all competitive in nature, we wanted to compare ourselves to see who was the best. Ravnica and Time Spiral were also going to rotate out, basically killing off my entire deck. I competed in another regional in Seattle in a completely different block (Lorwyn) but didn't do so hot early on, dropped, was completely done with the game, and full-time Yugz once again.
So for my first FNM back, my goal is simply to break even in terms of my win/loss ratio. If there are 4 rounds, I'd be satisfied with a 2-2 record, even if it means losing the first two and winning the last. If I can finish above 50%, well that's great. My residual skills should be good enough to at least get me this, but then again I have no idea what the playerbase is like. If it's a lot of kids with unsleeved decks I should do fine. If it's all Pro Tour top 8 netdecks ran by people who know what they're doing, probably not so much. Either way I'm excited to play in FNMs again, and with them getting rid of the old rating systems, I don't even need to think about it lol. Hell I have to sign up for a new #/card anyway since I don't have my old one anymore.
To relate this back to Yugioh, I want to stress to all the "not-as-skilled" players why it's important to set small realistic goals for yourself to help you improve. A lot of players around here don't play Advanced because of how good a lot of players are, especially Team O. [If this is not the case, then why are y'all not playing in Advanced tourneys, but are in Brandon's?] Set a small goal for yourself, like say, "OK my goal for now is to beat 1 Team O member." "My goal is to just make top 8 in the tournament." As you get better and achieve these goals, go for more and try to win the whole thing, taking out all of us in the process. Another important factor in this is to playtest with people that are better than you. I'd get my ass stomped in Magic week in and week out against the better players at FNMs, but this was a lot more helpful in making me a better player than just playing against people on my same level. Sure you can improve by doing this, but not as fast as playing someone that's much better than you.
I know it may seem difficult because you may not have the money to play "the best deck", or even want to spend the money if you had it, but my "Superman" deck wasn't considered the best or most expensive deck when I played it at the regional either. In fact Butters told me I should run the best deck, Dragonstorm, cuz I was gonna get blown up otherwise. I thought about it, but I had virtually no experience with that deck, and I was so comfortable with my deck after playing it and winning with it for months. I 2-0'd three Dragonstorms that day and the 2-1 was to a Dragonstorm. Play something that you're comfortable with, know its capabilities, side-decking strategy(!!), buy the good stuff that you can afford, playtest a bunch against relevant decks and good players. That's about all you can do.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Traditional?! + Upcoming Format
Yesterday I went to go hang out at T&M's with Danny, I was hoping Shiggs would be there since I wanted to play him at Magic but he never showed. I guess he's going to let Danny hold on to his deck so that we can play since I think Danny wants to get into it too. Brandon looks through my binder and pulls out a bunch of stuff that he wants, primarily for his "Mayhem" format. I guess he's going to keep Trish at 1 and Tengu at 3 but keep Bulb and Spore banned. I don't see much of anything I want from him, so we decide that he'll start a tab with me and pay me over time. I'm pretty patient when it comes to payments. Danny and I also work out a partial trade for the 2 Rescue Rabbits he wants from me. I've had a case of the hiccups for literally the past 3 and a half hours at this point so I decide to get something to drink from the store. Didn't help any but they finally went away later that evening. We grab our stuff and move to one of the back rooms, which we have dubbed to be "The O Lounge" lol, it's kinda awesome really. Brandon grabs his duffel bag full of binders and everything else and goes back with us. Danny and I playtest a little, his DW vs my (still) proxied Inzektors. Skill Drain is a bitch and I think it can make quite an impact on the coming format.
Trevor and Corey come a little later and Danny goes out in the middle of our game to trade with some random I think. I go out and ask about Trevor judging the box tournament since he has experience from hosting/judging for Northtown's. We bring him to the O Lounge and talk with him, unfortunately we come to the general consensus that realistically no one from any particular team can judge the event due to a potential conflict of interest. If he judged and someone felt that they got a bad ruling, they could potentially be like "oh you're just trying to help your team" and it goes the same way if I judged it or anyone from Team O did. Danny is working on bringing this guy from Yakima, Joe Lancaster, to judge it for us; apparently he judges a lot of the big events around here and is also going to judge at YCS Long Beach. He should be perfect! lol.
Anyways there is actually a pretty good turnout for Brandon's tourney, at 16 people. It's crazy to think he gets as many people for his "pseudo-Traditional" format as the other tourneys do for Advanced. Since he doesn't have his list online anywhere, I actually went in to T&M one day and sat there for about 10 minutes writing down his entire list. Basically it's not as "nilly willy" as regular Traditional, but isn't as restrictive as Advanced. The majority of the players there are those that don't quite measure up in the skill department, at least enough that is necessary to do well in the Advanced tourneys around here. I don't think these people actually "play Traditional" though, they just run their Advanced deck but include some of the broke cards that have been banned or limited forever. I don't know much about Traditional but I'm sure that ain't the way to do it lol. I actually did a little research into what's considered good in that format, and I found a deck I liked so I ordered the stuff for it from Troll. Oh, what have I gotten myself into, lol.
As for the coming format, it's basically this format minus Plants and Agents. Locally, I imagine it to be the assortment of random stuff that we've always had. I'm pretty sure the more competitive players will be playing the big 3 of Wind-Up, Dino Rabbit, and Inzektor. I imagine Inzektor to be the most popular option simply because it doesn't necessarily run Tour Guide by default. Once the SE hits, there'll be more Hornets in the market and will thus be cheaper, causing more players to play it. I also think any deck that can run 3 Skill Drain in the main will be a good option as well. Whether that be in some new altered form of TG, Dark World, or something else, who knows. A lot of people online are dismissing the E-Tele engine as making an impact, which is what I was slightly afraid of when I first saw the list and saw people hyping it up. Maxx C is a card after all, which is primarily why stuff like Instant Fusion wasn't ran. Maxx C is still a very scarce card in my area though, and with its increased price, it's not gonna become any more available. Tele engine may be good in my area, but probably not if everyone had 3 Maxx C. God, that's gonna be the perfect card for them to put in Gold Series, right? Basically they've made the game to the point where it's a mandatory 3-of, expensive on the secondary market, announce it as one of the first reveals causing everyone and their mother to pre-order boxes of it, and then short-print it? Profits!! I'm selling mine around June or so just because it's pretty much guaranteed that something like that's gonna happen. Since they've used up the Tour Guide and Fiendish Chain options for Battle Pack, they're gonna need something really good to help Gold Series. Or they'll just make it shitty like they did with Gold 4 and just make really good tins again.
Trevor and Corey come a little later and Danny goes out in the middle of our game to trade with some random I think. I go out and ask about Trevor judging the box tournament since he has experience from hosting/judging for Northtown's. We bring him to the O Lounge and talk with him, unfortunately we come to the general consensus that realistically no one from any particular team can judge the event due to a potential conflict of interest. If he judged and someone felt that they got a bad ruling, they could potentially be like "oh you're just trying to help your team" and it goes the same way if I judged it or anyone from Team O did. Danny is working on bringing this guy from Yakima, Joe Lancaster, to judge it for us; apparently he judges a lot of the big events around here and is also going to judge at YCS Long Beach. He should be perfect! lol.
Anyways there is actually a pretty good turnout for Brandon's tourney, at 16 people. It's crazy to think he gets as many people for his "pseudo-Traditional" format as the other tourneys do for Advanced. Since he doesn't have his list online anywhere, I actually went in to T&M one day and sat there for about 10 minutes writing down his entire list. Basically it's not as "nilly willy" as regular Traditional, but isn't as restrictive as Advanced. The majority of the players there are those that don't quite measure up in the skill department, at least enough that is necessary to do well in the Advanced tourneys around here. I don't think these people actually "play Traditional" though, they just run their Advanced deck but include some of the broke cards that have been banned or limited forever. I don't know much about Traditional but I'm sure that ain't the way to do it lol. I actually did a little research into what's considered good in that format, and I found a deck I liked so I ordered the stuff for it from Troll. Oh, what have I gotten myself into, lol.
As for the coming format, it's basically this format minus Plants and Agents. Locally, I imagine it to be the assortment of random stuff that we've always had. I'm pretty sure the more competitive players will be playing the big 3 of Wind-Up, Dino Rabbit, and Inzektor. I imagine Inzektor to be the most popular option simply because it doesn't necessarily run Tour Guide by default. Once the SE hits, there'll be more Hornets in the market and will thus be cheaper, causing more players to play it. I also think any deck that can run 3 Skill Drain in the main will be a good option as well. Whether that be in some new altered form of TG, Dark World, or something else, who knows. A lot of people online are dismissing the E-Tele engine as making an impact, which is what I was slightly afraid of when I first saw the list and saw people hyping it up. Maxx C is a card after all, which is primarily why stuff like Instant Fusion wasn't ran. Maxx C is still a very scarce card in my area though, and with its increased price, it's not gonna become any more available. Tele engine may be good in my area, but probably not if everyone had 3 Maxx C. God, that's gonna be the perfect card for them to put in Gold Series, right? Basically they've made the game to the point where it's a mandatory 3-of, expensive on the secondary market, announce it as one of the first reveals causing everyone and their mother to pre-order boxes of it, and then short-print it? Profits!! I'm selling mine around June or so just because it's pretty much guaranteed that something like that's gonna happen. Since they've used up the Tour Guide and Fiendish Chain options for Battle Pack, they're gonna need something really good to help Gold Series. Or they'll just make it shitty like they did with Gold 4 and just make really good tins again.
Monday, February 20, 2012
And We're On!
Well I finally got a chance to catch up with Bob at Gamer's Haven today, and he said everything looks good for the box tournament. I'm really expecting every competitive player in the area who's not obligated by work or some other obligation to show up - not simply for the box tournament itself, nor even as a sign of respect towards me or anything like that, but for the "big picture" goal of finally having a regionals here. I was thinking about it, and a regionals is something we've all wanted to have here for like the past 6 years, but it's never happened for multiple different reasons.
Realistically, Spokane is a much more centrally-located place, even though it may not have the sheer population as compared to Seattle or Portland. Think about the players further out in Idaho and even Montana that could realistically make the drive to Spokane, but can't go further out all the way to the west side. We've already got players in Seattle that said they would be willing to come out here for our regional, whenever we get one. And why wouldn't they, when it simply means another opportunity at an invite? We have a lot of great players in our area, but not everyone can make the trip out to Seattle and Portland and thus they never get the chance to prove themselves on that "higher level". By having a regional here, I'm trying to provide that opportunity for them. This is why it's crucial that at least the locals show up to this box tournament, even if they don't want to play or can't stay long. Come for trades, buys, sells, chill, whatever, but the bottom line is support.
I'm just gonna put this out there and say this (and not directed at anyone in particular) - if I hear/find out that particular people don't come simply because of laziness or lack of overall effort, there's no way in hell I'm going to "hook you up" by buying cards for you online, selling cards for you, or just favors in general. It may sound kinda harsh, but if you can't even come out to help the betterment of Spokane-area Yugioh, I'm not interested in helping you in whatever it may be.
To those that happen to run other tourneys in the area: I'm not trying to "take away" your players. The Haven might be interested, as a business, of course; but I'm not the Haven. I'm simply asking for one weekend day where I can get 100% support from Spokane-area Yugioh to help us get a reg. That's not to say that I wouldn't recommend playing at the Haven though - Bob tends to throw a box worth of prize support for every 10 additional people that show up, at least that's what he's been doing for Magic. You ain't gonna get that at any other local in the entire area. I know I for one am tired of grueling it out for 4+ hours for 3 or 4 packs worth of store credit. I know there are a lot of TO's that would like to have a regional on our side but their stores can't hold the potential amount of players, so at the very least, please don't restrict me from promoting this internally. I know people have their "loyalty" to their store and whatnot, and I get that, but for this, please pick the selfless path of the "greater good". A regionals isn't gonna happen the very next day or anything, but all this will do is help "plant the seeds" of having one in the foreseeable future.
Anyways, here is the official poster/flier for the event. These will start to be distributed to players among the locals. If turnout is good I'd imagine that the prize pool would be increased, but this isn't my call.
Realistically, Spokane is a much more centrally-located place, even though it may not have the sheer population as compared to Seattle or Portland. Think about the players further out in Idaho and even Montana that could realistically make the drive to Spokane, but can't go further out all the way to the west side. We've already got players in Seattle that said they would be willing to come out here for our regional, whenever we get one. And why wouldn't they, when it simply means another opportunity at an invite? We have a lot of great players in our area, but not everyone can make the trip out to Seattle and Portland and thus they never get the chance to prove themselves on that "higher level". By having a regional here, I'm trying to provide that opportunity for them. This is why it's crucial that at least the locals show up to this box tournament, even if they don't want to play or can't stay long. Come for trades, buys, sells, chill, whatever, but the bottom line is support.
I'm just gonna put this out there and say this (and not directed at anyone in particular) - if I hear/find out that particular people don't come simply because of laziness or lack of overall effort, there's no way in hell I'm going to "hook you up" by buying cards for you online, selling cards for you, or just favors in general. It may sound kinda harsh, but if you can't even come out to help the betterment of Spokane-area Yugioh, I'm not interested in helping you in whatever it may be.
To those that happen to run other tourneys in the area: I'm not trying to "take away" your players. The Haven might be interested, as a business, of course; but I'm not the Haven. I'm simply asking for one weekend day where I can get 100% support from Spokane-area Yugioh to help us get a reg. That's not to say that I wouldn't recommend playing at the Haven though - Bob tends to throw a box worth of prize support for every 10 additional people that show up, at least that's what he's been doing for Magic. You ain't gonna get that at any other local in the entire area. I know I for one am tired of grueling it out for 4+ hours for 3 or 4 packs worth of store credit. I know there are a lot of TO's that would like to have a regional on our side but their stores can't hold the potential amount of players, so at the very least, please don't restrict me from promoting this internally. I know people have their "loyalty" to their store and whatnot, and I get that, but for this, please pick the selfless path of the "greater good". A regionals isn't gonna happen the very next day or anything, but all this will do is help "plant the seeds" of having one in the foreseeable future.
Anyways, here is the official poster/flier for the event. These will start to be distributed to players among the locals. If turnout is good I'd imagine that the prize pool would be increased, but this isn't my call.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Saturday Locals Recap 2-18-2012
For not actually playing in a tourney, I had a lot of fun today. Basically Danny and my plan for the day was to simply drive to the various locals and try to plus off the ban list as much as we could. Zach had wanted to play in an actual tourney but it simply wasn't going to work out today since I had to drive all the way to the northside to pick up cards I ordered for Ryan and meet him at downtown Uncle's by 1. So I get delayed due to having to drop off keys for my wife (Ace hardware messed up the copies I had made) and I get to Danny's around 11:15. He's organizing cards and we talk about the ban list a little, the potentials of 2 E-Tele in the format, and how Konami has clearly used the ban list for marketing this time around. We also kill time as Zach gets ready to be picked up. I think we leave around 11:30, get Zach, then drive to the post office. I grab some packages from my PO box and we go to Jack in the Box to pick up some brunch.
We get to Uncle's right at 1 and the parking situation is ridiculous but we finally find a place to park. I don't have any change on me and Danny had like a quarter so the plan was to go in, exchange a dollar for some change and feed the meter. Ryan meets us outside, we go in and I give Ryan the Laggia and Dolkka. I completely forget about the meter thing until Danny reminds me, he has a little more change and then Ryan gives me 50 cents and this random kid gives me like 20 cents, lol awesome. I don't make much effort to do trades and I want to eat my food, and Shiggs remembered to bring his Magic uncommons and I pick out a few things I wanted and I end up trading a Gold Sarc for them.
As I'm sitting there beside Danny, he looks at "Blood Mefist guy"'s binder and notice he has 3 Maxx C chilling in his binder. [I call him Blood Mefist guy because I don't remember his name and he ordered a Blood Mefist for $500 just for the hell of it.] At first he values them at $60 each, I whisper to Danny that it's a good deal and I'd do it if I had the money, but Danny is able to get him to sell all 3 for $150 since he's a "family man" lol. Danny only had like $130 on him so I lend him $20 to help seal the deal. Awesome plusses in that one since I really feel it'll be at minimum a $90 card by the time next format gets going. After like 10 minutes or so it kinda dies down and I get antsy to leave because I really feel like I'm "on the short bus" with the people all around me if you know what I mean lol. I'm also almost out of parking meter time so we gotta go. Zach's finishing up some purchase or something so I tell them I'll wait in the car. The person parked behind me is literally like 3 inches behind me and the person right in front of me is very close too. I'm like well how the hell am I gonna get out. I notice the people behind me are in their car so I have Danny and Zach ask them if they could reverse a little. Turns out they're pretty much stuck as well due to the people behind them, so Danny goes to them, gets them to reverse, person behind me to reverse, so I have enough space to get out. I hate when that shit happens.
Our next stop was Gamer's Haven since Bob needed to talk to me about something. Guess he's not an e-mail guy lol. They've been incredibly busy though since their opening, I drove by one night to go to Subway and they were jam-packed with people. I'm hoping they don't get burnt out with just the 2 of them working there! I can tell the gaming community really wants to keep this place around for a long time so they are in there buying product, playing games, and whatnot. We get there and Bob is out to lunch with his family, so we chill for a little bit since he's supposed to be back any minute, use the bathroom, look at Magic singles, but we couldn't afford the time to wait there any longer so we decide to make our final stop to Lightning.
On the ride over, Danny calls Epler and asks him if he's at the tourney and he says yes. They talk a little and then Danny asks him if he had my sunglasses since Zach had left the ones I lent him for regionals in his car. For some reason they were at Danny's so I got them when I went there at first. Danny was like "Mike's a really good guy but you really don't want to upset him. I've never told anyone this, but he hit me one time because I upset him but I never told anyone because he's such a good guy." We're all busting up laughing as Danny continues the story and apparently Epler's all freaked out lol.
So we get to Lightning and I walk in with the sunglasses on my head and I spill the beans that I had them the whole time. I go over to Kim and chat a little, we play a few games with my proxied Inzektors vs his proxied Sams and I think I win them all. Zach somehow picks up an Ulti E-Tele from the store's display of singles for like $3.99 I was like wow, awesome pick-up. Surprised that Big Mike had let that one slip. I might've done one trade or so, but wasn't too motivated as I really don't have much in trades anymore.
This random kid sees that I have a page of Magic cards in my binder (1 page worth on the last page) and asks me if I'm playing in the Magic tourney tonight, I'm just like no I didn't come out here for Magic. I tell him that I'm just starting Magic back up again and he all talks to me as if I had never played it in my life. I ask him if he had a deck and he's like yea so I ask him if he wanted to play. I figured this would at least give me some much needed practice as it'd be the first game in like a year and a half. I needed 9 basic land to finish my deck so I grab some that were lying around randomly on the table. The kid switches out his black/red deck to red/green and asks me if I could help him unsleeve. I'm just like lol alright? First time I've been asked that by someone I had never met before. After he spends an eternity to figure out his mana base and sleeve up we get started.
He "lets me" decide if I want to go first, so I take the liberty of doing so lol. Basically the games went exactly how I figured they'd go, he'd aggro out and get me down to like 12 life or so until I wiped his board and stabilized with Batterskull and/or Sun Titan. After I beat him game 1 he's like "OK we need to do 2 out of 3 cuz I drew a bad hand." Sure why not lol. Pretty much the same thing happens in game 2 as game 1. He wants to play a third game, which I agree to since it's giving me pretty decent practice with the deck. I think by this point he's realized that I'm not some random scrub lol. Well maybe I am at the moment but just not as scrubby as him, haha. We both draw crappy so we agree to a friendly mulligan. I think he takes me down to 8 this game before I stabilize, gain like 20 life from a Batterskull'd Sun Titan attacking twice, and he scoops as he's down to topdecking mode. Sometime in between our game Kim comes up to me and is like "oh you're gonna play Magic?" I explain to him that the turnout for almost every tourney for Magic is ridiculous, to the point where the prize for 1st is like always a whole box, and T&M's gives out free pizza and drinks every FNM. Nothin' like that in Yugz at the moment. Get a measly 3 or 4 packs worth for winning a Yugz tourney :/ That's just too good of an opportunity to plus, and get free food on top of it? Too good. Even though I beat this kid, the deck felt very clunky and I probably wouldn't have stabilized quick enough against a faster aggro deck. I dunno, I think I need to play a few more matches to see if the main is how I want it. Theoretically I'll stick with this Flare deck until I pick up the cards to play Wolf-Run Ramp or Finkel.dek. Sun Titan is a very underwhelming card in my opinion, at least with the build I'm running.
Anyways I pack up and watch Donut and Colin in their semi-final game since we all want to go to Top of China together. Donut pushes Colin's poop in game 3 and Tyler and Donut split for top 2. We leave real quick and do our usual Top of China shenanigans. Of course we get the guy who I can never understand wtf he's trying to say. At the end of our meal I ask him if he knew who Steve Schroash was and he just mumbles something I can't understand at all lol. We pay and say our goodbyes, drop Zach and Danny off , and that's a wrap.
I can't really speak for myself on this since I didn't bother too much trading/buying/selling today, but I know for Danny that he plus'd a lot more just going to the different locals and trading. Why bother being stuck at one place and playing for $10-15 in credit, when you can travel and make more off trade/buy/sell? We won't do this like every weekend as it's quite a bit of gas and downtown Uncle's really isn't worth going to, but maybe on like Sneak peek days and whatnot, who knows. I think everyone was aware of the ban list even though some people were still skeptical. Wow, lol, if you don't think it's real can you buy my Trish that I pulled the other night from the Duality tins I picked up?
Oh yea, Donut is back on the team for like the 3rd time now lol. Welcome back buddy, please just stay on this time around!
We get to Uncle's right at 1 and the parking situation is ridiculous but we finally find a place to park. I don't have any change on me and Danny had like a quarter so the plan was to go in, exchange a dollar for some change and feed the meter. Ryan meets us outside, we go in and I give Ryan the Laggia and Dolkka. I completely forget about the meter thing until Danny reminds me, he has a little more change and then Ryan gives me 50 cents and this random kid gives me like 20 cents, lol awesome. I don't make much effort to do trades and I want to eat my food, and Shiggs remembered to bring his Magic uncommons and I pick out a few things I wanted and I end up trading a Gold Sarc for them.
As I'm sitting there beside Danny, he looks at "Blood Mefist guy"'s binder and notice he has 3 Maxx C chilling in his binder. [I call him Blood Mefist guy because I don't remember his name and he ordered a Blood Mefist for $500 just for the hell of it.] At first he values them at $60 each, I whisper to Danny that it's a good deal and I'd do it if I had the money, but Danny is able to get him to sell all 3 for $150 since he's a "family man" lol. Danny only had like $130 on him so I lend him $20 to help seal the deal. Awesome plusses in that one since I really feel it'll be at minimum a $90 card by the time next format gets going. After like 10 minutes or so it kinda dies down and I get antsy to leave because I really feel like I'm "on the short bus" with the people all around me if you know what I mean lol. I'm also almost out of parking meter time so we gotta go. Zach's finishing up some purchase or something so I tell them I'll wait in the car. The person parked behind me is literally like 3 inches behind me and the person right in front of me is very close too. I'm like well how the hell am I gonna get out. I notice the people behind me are in their car so I have Danny and Zach ask them if they could reverse a little. Turns out they're pretty much stuck as well due to the people behind them, so Danny goes to them, gets them to reverse, person behind me to reverse, so I have enough space to get out. I hate when that shit happens.
Our next stop was Gamer's Haven since Bob needed to talk to me about something. Guess he's not an e-mail guy lol. They've been incredibly busy though since their opening, I drove by one night to go to Subway and they were jam-packed with people. I'm hoping they don't get burnt out with just the 2 of them working there! I can tell the gaming community really wants to keep this place around for a long time so they are in there buying product, playing games, and whatnot. We get there and Bob is out to lunch with his family, so we chill for a little bit since he's supposed to be back any minute, use the bathroom, look at Magic singles, but we couldn't afford the time to wait there any longer so we decide to make our final stop to Lightning.
On the ride over, Danny calls Epler and asks him if he's at the tourney and he says yes. They talk a little and then Danny asks him if he had my sunglasses since Zach had left the ones I lent him for regionals in his car. For some reason they were at Danny's so I got them when I went there at first. Danny was like "Mike's a really good guy but you really don't want to upset him. I've never told anyone this, but he hit me one time because I upset him but I never told anyone because he's such a good guy." We're all busting up laughing as Danny continues the story and apparently Epler's all freaked out lol.
So we get to Lightning and I walk in with the sunglasses on my head and I spill the beans that I had them the whole time. I go over to Kim and chat a little, we play a few games with my proxied Inzektors vs his proxied Sams and I think I win them all. Zach somehow picks up an Ulti E-Tele from the store's display of singles for like $3.99 I was like wow, awesome pick-up. Surprised that Big Mike had let that one slip. I might've done one trade or so, but wasn't too motivated as I really don't have much in trades anymore.
This random kid sees that I have a page of Magic cards in my binder (1 page worth on the last page) and asks me if I'm playing in the Magic tourney tonight, I'm just like no I didn't come out here for Magic. I tell him that I'm just starting Magic back up again and he all talks to me as if I had never played it in my life. I ask him if he had a deck and he's like yea so I ask him if he wanted to play. I figured this would at least give me some much needed practice as it'd be the first game in like a year and a half. I needed 9 basic land to finish my deck so I grab some that were lying around randomly on the table. The kid switches out his black/red deck to red/green and asks me if I could help him unsleeve. I'm just like lol alright? First time I've been asked that by someone I had never met before. After he spends an eternity to figure out his mana base and sleeve up we get started.
He "lets me" decide if I want to go first, so I take the liberty of doing so lol. Basically the games went exactly how I figured they'd go, he'd aggro out and get me down to like 12 life or so until I wiped his board and stabilized with Batterskull and/or Sun Titan. After I beat him game 1 he's like "OK we need to do 2 out of 3 cuz I drew a bad hand." Sure why not lol. Pretty much the same thing happens in game 2 as game 1. He wants to play a third game, which I agree to since it's giving me pretty decent practice with the deck. I think by this point he's realized that I'm not some random scrub lol. Well maybe I am at the moment but just not as scrubby as him, haha. We both draw crappy so we agree to a friendly mulligan. I think he takes me down to 8 this game before I stabilize, gain like 20 life from a Batterskull'd Sun Titan attacking twice, and he scoops as he's down to topdecking mode. Sometime in between our game Kim comes up to me and is like "oh you're gonna play Magic?" I explain to him that the turnout for almost every tourney for Magic is ridiculous, to the point where the prize for 1st is like always a whole box, and T&M's gives out free pizza and drinks every FNM. Nothin' like that in Yugz at the moment. Get a measly 3 or 4 packs worth for winning a Yugz tourney :/ That's just too good of an opportunity to plus, and get free food on top of it? Too good. Even though I beat this kid, the deck felt very clunky and I probably wouldn't have stabilized quick enough against a faster aggro deck. I dunno, I think I need to play a few more matches to see if the main is how I want it. Theoretically I'll stick with this Flare deck until I pick up the cards to play Wolf-Run Ramp or Finkel.dek. Sun Titan is a very underwhelming card in my opinion, at least with the build I'm running.
Anyways I pack up and watch Donut and Colin in their semi-final game since we all want to go to Top of China together. Donut pushes Colin's poop in game 3 and Tyler and Donut split for top 2. We leave real quick and do our usual Top of China shenanigans. Of course we get the guy who I can never understand wtf he's trying to say. At the end of our meal I ask him if he knew who Steve Schroash was and he just mumbles something I can't understand at all lol. We pay and say our goodbyes, drop Zach and Danny off , and that's a wrap.
I can't really speak for myself on this since I didn't bother too much trading/buying/selling today, but I know for Danny that he plus'd a lot more just going to the different locals and trading. Why bother being stuck at one place and playing for $10-15 in credit, when you can travel and make more off trade/buy/sell? We won't do this like every weekend as it's quite a bit of gas and downtown Uncle's really isn't worth going to, but maybe on like Sneak peek days and whatnot, who knows. I think everyone was aware of the ban list even though some people were still skeptical. Wow, lol, if you don't think it's real can you buy my Trish that I pulled the other night from the Duality tins I picked up?
Oh yea, Donut is back on the team for like the 3rd time now lol. Welcome back buddy, please just stay on this time around!
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