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Interesting Melbourne Tips (2): One of the 3 things I love most about Melbourne is the city's vibrant nightlife. Unlike Sydney where most nighttime activities are restricted on George street (due to parking limitations and dodgy public transports), the entertainment in Melbourne is scattered throughout the whole city, which is made easier with their trams. In Melbourne, there are always restaurants in abundance, shops that never seem to close and even romantic horse carriage rides around the city for men who need a sure way to score.

To compete for the pride of their city, the champion title and $10,000 (US) worth of prize money, 185 people showed up on the Grand Prix Saturday with players from all over Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Since the GP was a limited format, a lot about making day 2 depended on the quality of cards you received. No matter how good you are at the game, you will often find it difficult to win with cards that are inferior in quality due to your lack of answers against game winning cards (also known as bombs). Therefore, even though I was armed with 2 byes, I was still unsure of my chances before I received the cards to build my deck with.

When I received my cards, my emotions were a mixture of joy and frustration for although I did get some pretty decent cards like Silent Specter the quality was evenly spread in each color, making it difficult for me to decide what to play. The art of creating a good sealed deck is a tricky thing at best and from the card pool I had, making the perfect deck out of it was like trying to do a puzzle with my eyes blindfolded.

From the way I see it, there were two ways to build my deck. I could either go with the solid and aggressive build as B/R, splash white or the sly and under handed build with blue instead of red. After much deliberation, I chose to play B/U/W because I had 2 Improvised Armor that I believed would really shine with the extra evasion creatures. I also had a Cabal Archon with my Black and with 2 Imagecrafter, the deck would be absolutely insane if I can get the combo off. It was a gamble that if I win, I can destroy most decks with little resistance.

With a record of 4-1 after my first 5 matches and only needing a 5-2 record to make day 2, the gambit seemed to have paid off. I don't know if any of you have heard it before, but there is a proverb that said something about counting your chickens before the eggs hatch. Well, that proved true for me on that day as I was defeated 2 rounds in a row after the 5th round, making me 1 win short of making day 2.

My typical response/s for such occasions include:

a) Better opponents had out played me and I had made many mistakes during deck construction so there really isn't anyone to blame but myself.

b) Eh, you can't win all the time.

c) At least I had fun/met interesting people/did my best (actually I hear this more than I say it, since I think it is lame)

d) Why the f*ck did I fly all the way to Melbourne to lose?

Why did fate deal me such a cruel hand by giving my opponents superior cards? How come some people with crappier cards and less talent made second day while I didn't? Pity me everyone, lavish me excuses and understanding so I don't have to face the terrible truth that I suck!

Ahem.

Since I'm in the public at the moment, I think I'll go with a gracious answer a.

There were two main reasons why I have lost so many games even when my overall card quality is above average. Firstly, my deck was too inconsistent and usually has nothing to cast until 3rd turn or later and by then, the tempo is lost. I often found myself facing an arsenal of creatures with my lone pathetic whatever on the board that my opponent can easily remove and beat me with their army of dorks. Secondly, once I am in a very disadvantaged position where resistance seemed futile (and there were no shortage of such situations on the day), I began to get angry and start to play very poorly, which made victory a whole lot easier for my opponents.

There were a couple of games that I believe I could have came back but I was too busy screaming "s**t!" in my head to figure out how. Both of these errors had their genesis during deck construction because being as proud and arrogant as I am, I had never bothered to consult another player if they could find a better build for the deck during the play testing stage. At the end of the day, I did end up asking some players if they could find a better build. Nick Wong, the Singapore power house Magic player and a couple of other players convinced me that Red is actually the better build than Blue due to the extra removal and fast creatures.

If I had bothered to ask at the beginning of the day, I might had been able to side in the better versions at game 2 and 3 of every match and spare myself some savage beatings.

Though I am willing to admit defeat on that day, it was still a bitter pill to swallow. In order to sooth the pain of regrets, I tagged along with Kim Brebach, Egidio de Gios, David Cornford, Dan and Matt Turner to dinner at "The Hide Out" in Fitzroy, which appeared to be a pretty trendy place for young people. Being a trendy young person myself, I thought I would enjoy the atmosphere there even though the food was kind of average.

I was wrong.

(Whining)

One of the many flaws of "The Hide Out" was no air conditioning and having to squeeze into a seat between David and Egidio (cracking gay jokes will be most juvenile at the moment) as the sheer warmth of male body heat made it difficult for me to work up an appetite. In addition, I must confess that I was not too thrilled by the service either. I can't locate the exact moment where I had decided the service was crap, but I think it was somewhere around the bug in the water, the waitress's constant use of profanities while conversing with customers and David's repeated request for salsa. In fact, since David had to wait so long for his salsa, the place ended up cooking him a whole new meal because his original one got cold (those poms sure bellyache a lot. I'd hate to see them at a pub after a cricket match against Australia). Having worked in the food services industry myself, I wouldn't have been too surprised if all the staff in that restaurant had spat in David's food. Here is your damn salsa, mwahahaha!

Despite the average food and bad service, The Hide Out did have one redeeming feature in the form of this really amazing alcoholic milkshake, which tasted so heavenly; it was like having orgasms on your tongue. If you ever happen to drop by The Hide Out, ignore the food and just order the damn shake.

(/whining)

Having suffered tremendous disappointments on the day so far, we had decided that it was time to drown ourselves in alcohol at Bar Open in Brunswick street. The place seemed kind of nice, pretty cool music and the booze was only around $6 each. We talked some, drank some and blah blah blah. Whatever with doing a big W using my fingers (if you don't know how, watch Clueless), this is enough of Saturday that I don't really want to remember.

More on Sunday later, since it was definitely more fun.

Regards

Minga

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