Articles

I SUCK

Writing this article has helped me to clear my head about a few of the events surrounding the previous weekend. I am not one to normally write articles or tournament reports (in fact I have only ever written one - '99 Nationals). If you gained anything from reading this, or enjoyed it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, please let me know via email - ewest@vtown.com.au If you just want to tell me that I suck, then that is also the place. Anyway, here 'tis...

I suck. I've had the worst weekend of magical cards ever.

It started with Saturday's Extended Constructed GP Sydney Trial. The first thing that sucked about that was the attendance: 13. This is becoming a serious problem with Melbourne magic.

Mark Brown

Mark (our local TO) will be the first to admit that he must shoulder some of the blame for this. Mark has just had too many other things going on in his life, and has not been able to put in the time and effort that we Melbournites have come to take for granted. As a result, advertising for events has been seriously lacking of late. Mark has announced his resignation from the official title of "Victorian TO", and perhaps this is a timely call, both for us as players and for Mark himself. Now don't get me wrong here, I think Mark has actually been the greatest TO we could ever have hoped for in the time he has been there. His knowledge of the rules, coupled with the common sense often not showed by other TOs, is unsurpassed in my opinion.

In January of this year, Mark took it upon himself to organise the "Victorian State Championships" when nowhere else in Australia (to my knowledge) had such an event. He consulted the players in lead up tournaments as to what format(s) the event should contain. What we ended up with was a two day event of Sealed, Type 2 and a final 8 Booster Draft, with a trophy going to the winner (another of Mark's ideas which he organised and paid for on his own), as well as the usual generous stock prizes. This was the single best run, and most fun event I have ever attended (and I've attended a few).

The QUT - Brisbane Online Games Saga

But here is the problem: Mark runs tournaments because he actually enjoys it (!?!?!?!?), and any money made on the side is treated as a bonus. As many Australian readers of this article would be aware, there was recently a changing of the guard in Queensland with regard to who is running the premier events up there. For years the QUT Magic Club, a non-profit organisation that puts any money made back into the players, ran tournaments. A great thing right? What happened was that WotC decided that this was not a great thing at all, and that the person(s) running premier events should not be running it for love, but money. As a result, the rights to premier events were taken away from QUT, and handed to Brisbane Online Games.

Anybody's first impressions of this decision (including my own) would have to be "This Sucks" and "Wizard's can go to hell", but upon further thought I have come to see the somewhat warped wisdom of their ways. If an individual or organisation is running events for money, they have a much larger interest in making each event a success, as well as improving the popularity of the scene as a whole. I happen to know who will be taking over from Mark in May next year, and while he may not have the game mechanic and floor rules knowledge of Mr. Brown, lets just say he has a great love of the Australian Dollar. Mark will continue to judge Melbourne, Australian and international tournaments, but will also be free to play whenever he likes, a new found freedom which I know he will enjoy.

Now where was I? Yes, I suck...

Constructed Magic

Anybody that knows me would be aware that I am not a huge lover of constructed magic. I enjoy block constructed when the environment is undefined, but that's about it. I just feel that there is a lot more skill involved in constructing a sealed deck or drafting, than just picking up the "deck of the day" and hoping that the match-ups are favourable. Therefore, I am one of those people that try to come up with my own deck ideas.

I have had some successes (2000 Nats comes to mind), but more often than not it's a complete failure. Recently though, team-mate John Brugman and myself have made a conscious decision to put a lot more effort into play-testing for the current constructed format. We playtest day-in day-out, decide which deck beats the entire field, both run it (along with handing it to the rest of the team to play), and go 0-3-drop (my fantastic result in the previous GP Trial). Great system eh?

The Slivers

Our playtesting again showed that the best deck was the one that the whole team ran to great lows in the previous Trial. I'm stuffed if I was going to play that again (bad decision?), and so we both agreed we should go with our second best deck, Counter Sliver. Now I'm with a "net-deck", but it's the kind of deck I enjoy. I recently saw it described by Adrian Sullivan in his article on the Masters Series meta-game as "agro-control". That's me. So even though I'm with a net-deck, I feel quite comfortable with the decision.

Melbourne GP Sydney Trial No.3 - Extended Constructed

I bring some extra cards for the sideboard, as I want to discuss some possible changes with John before we register our decks. Basically I want to take out the 2 Disenchants, take the Pyroblast count down to 3, and bring in 3 Erase. He tells me to shut-up and I hand in the original decklist. My first Three rounds are against Mono Blue, TS, and Trix (in that order). Now instead of 0-3, I am 3-0, not having lost a game. Magic is good again and I am on top of the world. But, I suck, remember.

Round Four I lose 1-2 to Three Deuce in extra turns. John has already lost to the same deck earlier in the day and tells me he thinks it's a very bad match-up for us. I'm still not convinced. Round Five I am absolutely crushed by TS. I have beaten TS earlier in the day, and have tested against it a little, and I certainly think my kids have the goods to beat it, but nothing went right for me in this match. Oh well, it is of little concern as I check the standings and find that I have qualified for top 8 in 4th place with a 3-2 record. Such are the advantages of the 13-player turnout!

Quarter Finals - Sven Restel with Counter Oath

Not the greatest match up I could have hoped for, and certainly the odds are against me. However, I am relaxed by the fact that my kids are not "auto-lose" to anything, and certainly have some answers, as well as questions of their own.

Game One I get in some early beats, but Oath resolves and thaws out Morphling, and then Crater Hellion. I am a bit suspicious here. Although I have always thought of Sven as "one of the good guys", he was recently suspected of cheating in a PTQ against one of my team-mates. Sven knew whom he would be matched up against in this round and knew what I was playing. If he were going to "pre-sideboard", the Hellion would be the first thing to come in (Hellion is usually a sideboard card, and not base, in Counter Oath). I call a judge and ask the question. Sven appears to be a bit upset about this and questions whether or not I am indeed allowed to ask about his decklist. Mark informs him that as I am asking about already revealed information, and have a genuine concern, that I am indeed allowed to ask. Anyway, it turns out "there is at least one Crater Hellion base deck", so my only chance of winning goes out the door, and I scoop a couple turns later.

Nasty Tactics

Now some of you reading may be thinking "what, he genuinely wanted to win like THAT?" Well, yes. This is a quarter final of a GP Trial, and there are 3 byes at a big money event on the line. Sure, I would rather win by bashing skull with my two-cost kids, but a win is a win is a win as far as I'm concerned. Coupled with the fact that my opponent may have cheated (and I was not there, but I have to believe my team-mate) for a win in a PTQ match a few weeks prior, and no, I would not feel bad at all about it.

This being said, I have to say the entire match was good-natured, and there was no bad blood between us, even after I called a judge about the Hellion. This set me up perfectly for my next nasty trick. Game Two went much the same as Game One, except this time there were no early beats on my behalf. As a result, with time running low, I find myself on 1 life, with no way of stopping the next turns attack. It is my main phase. I look at my hand. I can win this. I tap an Underground Sea and play Demonic Consultation. After careful consideration, Sven lets the spell resolve (the game has been going quite some time, so I am sure he has a hand full of countermagic). Upon resolution of the Consult, I announce I am searching for Black Lotus.

Sven laughs, knowing that I have no hope and have basically conceded the match. I reveal the top 6 cards, low and behold, no Black Lotus there (how lucky). I continue to reveal cards until my entire library is revealed and removed from the game (how unlucky), at which point Sven begins to pack up his cards. Now, can you see what a prick I am? While we were joking about my searching for an illegal card, and generally losing touch with the game at hand (which was basically over), I have tricked Sven into conceding, which would bring us to 1-1 and a third game tiebreaker. However, something comes over me, some sort of moral bullshit, and I kindly inform Sven that I am still on 1 life therefore the game is not over. He puts his cards back and I shake his hand and give him the semi-final berth. "I might be a #!@#, but I'm not a #!@$@ #!@#".

There's Always Tomorrow

So I have gone from 3-0 to 3-3 and walked away with a whopping 4 boosters. I am a bit pissed off about the whole day, but then again this is constructed. What did I expect? I still have tomorrow's tournament to worry about (PTQ LA), which is limited, something I much prefer as stated earlier. I am actually feeling quite good about tomorrow. I consider myself to be the best limited player in Victoria, and am ranked in the top 2 in Australia. I have every intention of winning and going to visit the Queen Mary.

Melbourne PTQ LA No.2

20 people today. Although I am again pissed off with the turnout, I decide that I should look on the bright side, as the numbers mean that I can't possibly miss top 8, and my Rochester drafting skill and experience should guide me to a "sure-thing" first place, a spot on the Pro-Tour and a fat $500 cheque (US dollars that is, which is currently about $4,562,450.00 Australian). I register a very good U/B/R machine that would eventually take Kenny straight to the Top 8.

The deck I am dealt is not so great. It is the problem that can often be experienced with Invasion Sealed, in that I have golden bombs in B/R & U/B, but nothing else to justify me playing those colours. Eventually I settle on a G/W/U deck that I describe as "a good pile of ok cards", that's about all I can say about it really. I am still not too disheartened, as I am sure my play-skill will take me past the early round easy match-ups, enabling me to make top 8 and blitz in the Rochester.

Crushings (I Suck)

Round One I am brought straight back to earth with a thud. I am facing an absolutely broken two-colour B/R deck with every removal card printed in the set (or at least that's how it seems). I am crushed in no uncertain fashion. Round Two I am again crushed. He gets into play more "Master Decoys" than me (how much do they suck?) and his fat slaps me around the ears. Now I am 0-2 and getting slightly annoyed, as well as a bit depressed at the prospect of not winning the tournament I had set myself to dominate.

Still, with 4 rounds to go, and a very small field, three wins and a draw from here should still be enough. I am going to be playing some scrubs now which is auto-win right? Wrong. Round Three I am playing WARREN! He gets more tappers (how much do they suck?) than me Game One. With time running out I play Game Two like a man possessed and win in about five minutes, my first bloody game win. Game Three he gets more tappers (how much do they suck?) than me, and wins in extra-time. I did something during that game that I don't usually do - I let him take back some crucial errors. I suck.

Child-Like Antics

I also did something at the end of the game that I have never done before - I picked up my library and threw it towards a group of nearby players. I can't describe how I was feeling at that point. For some reason I just felt it was the worst defeat I had ever suffered. Not that I made silly mistakes, not that Warren is a bad player (he certainly is not), not that his deck was broken beyond belief (he too was on 0-2 going into this game of course), I just really don't know why, but I felt like shit. I am about to get up and go home when one of the players (thanks Andrew) picks up my cards and gives them back to me. At this point I realise what I have done. I have acted like a child and in doing so have insulted WARREN! (not my intention). Warren if you are reading this then I sincerely apologise for my dickhead-like reaction to the loss. I will also apologise again when I see you next. I suck.

I decide to stay and play out the tournament. So I am all grown-up again right? Wrong. After winning Round Four, I lose in two quick games Round Five to Marcus Hodges. Again no silly mistakes (well maybe I kept a couple of hands I shouldn't have), no bad opponent, no broken deck on the other side of the table (apart from all those tappers - how much do they suck?). My amazingly intelligent answer to losing this match is to throw the cards left in my hand away. This time I remember to apologise to Marcus for my behaviour, and again I apologise publicly here. I immediately reminded myself of an old Death Dealer team-mate who no longer plays the game. He was famous for such antics. I remember how upset and insulted my wife was when, upon losing to her in the final round of a pre-release, he proceeded to rip up his cards proclaiming "That's it, I quit Magic". Round Six I get more tappers (how much do they suck?) than my opponent and crush in two.

Rating Flag Prizes

I scored one booster for my performance in the PTQ way more than I deserved. Andrew MacDonald, who finished 9th (outside the top 8 on percentage), earned himself two boosters. Those lucky enough to finish in places 10th to 13th received half a box each, more than 5th to 8th. WotC had supplied Mark two boxes exclusively to be handed out to players with a limited rating flag of 1700 or below (all except five of us). While I can see the merits of this idea, I definitely think that a bit of common sense needs to be applied when there is such a low player count at the tournament. These players could have received 10 boosters each, leaving an additional 32 boosters to be shared amongst Andrew and the top 8. I believe Mark asked the question before the tournament, but was told "no" by someone within WotC. To make matters worse, the ratings flag data-base supplied to TOs is badly out of date, and a large chuck of players whose sir-name's begin with "C" are missing. Don't be surprised to see some new up and coming scrub named Coltman receiving an incentive to keep trying, in the form of additional boosters, at a tournament near you.

So how much do I Suck?

So in the tournament I was going to win, beyond all doubt, I have posted a 2-4 record. On top of that I am going to lose about 80 limited rating points. This will cost me byes in the Asian Limited Grand Prixs I intend to play in next year, unless I can recoup them in time (which takes a lot longer than it takes to lose them). I have also taken a 3-0 record to 3-3 in the proceeding day's GP Trial. I have kept one-land hands, tried to mise instead of consulting and let opponents take back crucial mistakes. I have wrongly accused a player of cheating, considered using a nasty unsporting trick to win a game, thrown my cards in anger (twice) and been generally rude to my opponents. I so suck!

At this point I am very depressed about the whole thing. I join the usual IRC chat rooms that night and change my nick from "Bomber" to "BombShit", a nick that I keep for about 2 days afterwards. So where did it all go wrong? With such a large number of negatives, can I pinpoint one defining moment of the weekend, and better still; can I draw a positive? On both counts, I think yes.

Consult or Die

Round Four, Game One of the Grand Prix Trial. I look at my opening hand and see one land (Undiscovered Paradise), Demonic Consultation, some utility and some kids. As I am drawing first, and no spell in my deck costs more than 2 mana, I decide to keep the hand (big mistake!). "That's ok" I think, "I will mise for sure", and anyway I have consult so I am not in too much trouble.

I am a great believer in the power of positive thinking in this game. Ever had those days when you just knew that you would get mana-screwed, mana-glutted, or just all round have shit draw phases, and that's exactly what happened all day? I haven't. Not until now that is. You see I always try to think positively. When I am losing I convince myself I am going to win, and soon enough I will have convinced my opponent also. I need land? No problems, I'll draw it. This was one such occasion.

I draw, no land, play Undiscovered, go. 3D Rancors his Mogg, attacks, plays another Mogg, go. Now I have a dilemma - I can consult for a land, meaning my Undiscovered will return to my hand and I will still have only one land next turn, or I can just top-deck like the magical god that I am, and proceed to cast my kids. I choose the latter as I am in my positive frame of mind, and it doesn't pay off.

During my main phase I have the dilemma again. This time there should be no question of my consulting for a land, as it will guarantee me two land on my next turn, but for some reason, I say "go". I suck. 3D Rancors the other Mogg, and attacks for 6 (bringing me to 11). I consult in my next main phase, but by this time the game is pretty much over. There were also other options for me here. I could have Forced one Rancor (my only other Blue card was a single Crystaline), and could have cast Swords in response to the other Rancor (but didn't want to tap my Undiscovered). This may have given me the time I needed. I so suck.

Bad Attitude

So I lost my first game of the tournament. Now what I would normally do here is tell myself to learn from my stupid errors, and that my bad luck was just a passing phase that would improve immediately. I did neither of these things. I became negative about my draw phases, got angry with myself, my opponents, and my cards, and convinced myself in the process that I could not win. Coincidence that I would not win a match for the rest of the day? I think not. I would carry this attitude with me for the rest of the weekend, and although I tried to shrug it for the PTQ, coming up against the (eventual winners) broken deck in Round One reinforced my negativity. I convinced myself I was going to lose, and in doing so convinced my opponents also. I'd keep a hand full of Forests and White spells, and tell myself that that is all I would draw for the game. Needless to say, I drew more Forests and more White spells. I suck.

Good Attitude

So an attitude readjustment is what's in order here if I am to get back to where I was. That weekend from hell is gone, and things will only get better from here. If you face me at the next tournament, I will beat you. Let me make this clear - you don't stand a chance. When I look to be mana-screwed, I will be drawing land. When I look to be mana-glutted, I will be casting Dragons. When you make a mistake (oh and you'll make them, don't think you wont make them), there is no way you are taking it back. Don't be too worried about it, for this will only allow me to crush you quicker, reducing the agony. You suck.

Justin West
ewest@vtown.com.au
"Bomber" on IRC