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Editor: Rebecca Mitchell. Friday 1 August 2003.
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 Sam's 8th Edition Related Weekend Magic Road Trips
Day One: Saturday 26 May The Judging Experience Personal Highlight of the Day: (Remember Homer Simpson's Wisdom to Bart. "When it comes to compliments women are like vicious hungry vultures always wanting more!!") It was a good show as always at my usual venue Wargames Warehouse with a healthy mix of the experienced and new players with a good time being had by all, from what I observed. 5 rounds were viciously duelled with a significant number of players revelling in beating down their opponents with Blinding Angels accelerated by the mana from Birds of Paradise. Some old friends returned to the fold in the form of Hill Giants, Verduran Enchantress and the usual flocks of Aven. As always there was a ready supply of food and beverage for cheaper than Iron Star prices at the venue, which is at the back of the Wargames Warehouse shop and parking is more than ample at the front. Prize support, apart from the booster split, included a DVD set for the winner with t-shirts and promotional cards being drawn at random throughout the day. For more information on upcoming events at Wargames Warehouse contact Stuart Hold at shold@powerup.com.au In the end Tim Butland stole everyone's rating points and the glory of winning the tournament outright, with Ben Paskins coming an impressive second and Seth McIntosh third. The Playing Experience Following the main event the judge hat came off and it was time to do some duelling within the 8th Ed experience myself. I got my packs and what happened was one of the worst things that can happen to a mediocre player such as myself... I opened too much good stuff. What's more, I opened a foil Hammer of Bogardan, so my thought processes during deck construction are similar to the following: I went 2-3 because I have an uncanny knack of always putting too much mana in my decks. My thought process regarding land: So even though I went a disappointing two and three, it was thoroughly enjoyable as always to sit back, eat pizza (as it was dinner-time, and pizza was decided :)) and enjoy a tournament with eight really fun and fabulous people. It was more disappointing when the night was over and it was time to go home. So with these results now committed to history, it was off for some Underworld Dreaming to recover for another 8th Edition Celebration tournament Sunday. This time, I'll be cunningly disguised as a player and cruising on down to God's Country, Gold Coast Queensland, and its resident tournament hub - Arena CCG, where I had never been before. Day 2 - Sunday 27th July Following the champagne fuelled shenanigans of Friday night, Saturday's judging gig and a later tournament, any time before mid day was all too early to be out of the safe confines of my bed. But there was to be more to my Sunday than lazing about the house avoiding washing. It was time to don the sunnies, turn the beach music up and take a mini-road trip down the coast to Cararra Markets, home of Arena CCG. Have you ever felt that sometimes when you go to a Magic tournament you get the feeling that some people are just taking the game far too seriously? Some people, of course, need a certain element of seriousness should they aspire to qualifying for GP's or Nats. Down at Arena however, I found one of the most laid back and funny group of players I have ever had the pleasure of sitting across a table from. If I wasn't close to tears from laughter regarding Flying Carpet jokes I was engaged in interesting discussion with newer players to the game on the 8th edition cards or about the rules. Even though I was a player (and cunningly disguised as such I thought), I was identified as a judge by our TO Deon when I walked in the door. Everyone turned to look at me, like I was walking into a saloon in a Western movie. I smiled nervously and waved, the saloon resumed to its usual hive of activity and everyone seemed keen to strike up a conversation and throw questions at this judge chick. Not only did this allow me to have rules questions thrown at me all day (which was really good) but also it soon became apparent to the players at Arena that I am such a mediocre player. It seemed to endear me to them, and they all took great happiness in kicking my butt at every opportunity, be it in a match in the tournament or a social game. One of the first things a player declared loudly and jokingly to me, was "everyone down here cheats!" (Everybody laughed) and granted, there appeared to be a lot of newer players who wouldn't know that cheating in Magic card tournaments can lead to a DCI probing worse than their last alien abduction. However for the record, I didn't see anyone cheating. What I did see, however, was much more entertaining to watch. What struck me the most about playing there and watching people play at Arena was just how much fun everyone seemed to be having. The tournament room was always full of conversation and lots of laughter over heartily fought duels. Everyone, whether winning or losing, just seemed to be really and fully enjoying the game that they were playing. That above everything else endeared the players there to me because in the end, it's all about having fun, and the good folk down at Arena were pros at it. As far as the matches went, I went 3-2 with a particularly close match against a young fellow, Beau, who made a fast white green deck. I, of course, was playing red green and owe much of my limited success to a rather phat chappy by the name of Primeval Force, and our friend the Craw Wurm. Smaller creatures were fodder indeed for my Fodder Cannon and the phat creatures became scarier with assistance from a Flying Carpet. Mana acceleration was care of Fyndhorn Elder with burn from two Volcanic Hammers, a Lava Axe, Chocks and Guerrilla Tactics. Nemesis for the day was the troublesome Master Healer, and it seemed that everyone but me appeared to have one and got it into play at inopportune moments. Them's the breaks. Prize support was good and included Magic Packs for first and second and the booster supply for the rest of us. The Cararra Markets are bustling on Saturdays and Sundays so if you're thinking of coming down to Arena, be sure to make the trek down early or allow more time to get a decent park. Also bring cash as there are not EFTPOS facilities. For more information on Arena CCG tournaments contact Deon or Shane at arenaccg@bigpond.com. After saying goodbye to my new mates at Arena it was time for the road trip back home. Anyone who knows me knows I am a big fan of the road trip, and generally everything pertaining to travel (except my boss's Canadian slide shows but that is another story). So to feel like I had been travelling on my weekend it was customary to pull into a road house at Staplyton where the toilets are good, the service at the Macca's is substandard, the service at the Haagen Daaz mediocre, and the service at the newsagent is friendly. Please note: the tables were also a good size for card sorting, and playing *jk* All in all I was home and with plenty of time to sort cards and reflect on my weekend of Magic. I'd, played, I'd judged and I had seen eight edition (open prize booster: Mmmmm City of Brass). The new card face is in and arrived with little ceremony after all the hoohah regarding its appearance and effect on the game (Mmm City of Brass). All in all I can't fathom anyone looking at the cards confirming some of the previous grandiose statements of never playing in the game again that were flying about at the time the pictures on the web were released (how way cool is that City of Brass??). The only criticism for mine is that initially and at a glance artifacts do look awfully similar to white cards (who cares? I got a City of Brass *jk*). Remember have fun and Good Luck [ Email the Author | Discuss this Article ]
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