Alright, so an update about the Mordheim stuff. I won the first Battlelands league by a landslide. I've already registered for the second and I'm playing Beastmen this time around. I'm looking forward to getting started. I should have my core built and painted by the end of the week if all goes well.
Next up is Magic. I've started playing again. This Saturday, the 10th, I played in the Star City Games Open in Indianapolis. I started off bad. I had been in a hurry to get to the event and I was still filling my deck list out during the player's meeting. They announced at the player's meeting that this was the biggest SCGOpen to date, at 775 registered players. There were to be eleven rounds of swiss before cutting to top 8. So, let me give you the over view, then I'll touch on a few highlights.
I lost my first round. I then went on to beat the kid I was playing round two and went on to win round three as well. Round four I was really stupid (I'll touch on this more in the highlights) and ended up losing. I lost round five and round six. It was a kick in the pants and I was really shaken out of my focus. I went and sat down over by myself and ate some jerky and granola and just tried to clear my head. After refocusing and getting the bad start out of my way, I went on to win out the rest of the day.
Here are some of the highlights of my day. I screwed up in the hurry to write my list out and missed my Hallowed Fountains, leaving my deck at 56 cards on the paper. I got pulled aside and told about this during round two. So I got a game loss. The good news is I went ahead and beat the kid two-nothing after that for the round win. No sweat, still feeling alright and at least I was even again.
I went into round four with a 2-1 record and was feeling pretty good. I'd been able to recover from my early mistakes and was feeling strong going into the round. When I read my pairing, I found I was against a man named Kyle Zimmerman. The name seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it. I made the worst play I've made in the last couple of years of competitive play in game one, and it probably cost me the next two rounds because I'd lost my focus. I flashed a Snapcaster in early on to block a big nasty and to flash back the Tragic Slip in my yard back to finish it off. Solid plan, solid play. However, I messed up and flashed him in, then played the Tragic right away and ended up two-for-noning myself. That rattled me hard. I was so shaken up that I missed that I was set to win the game later and ended up giving it away. After getting trounced in game two, Kyle was nice enough to compliment my deck and pointed out the mistakes I made in game one. Apparently the rest of my play was solid. We talked a bit about his list, since I complimented his use of Thatcher's Revolt in a Naya Humans (blitz) deck and he told me what it was really in there for and how it worked. He was a pretty cool guy, really. (Wait for the big reveal at the end of the post...)
So I went into round five feeling like I'd been kicked in the gut and couldn't really focus very well. I lost pretty quick to an UWR Aggro (as I've started calling it "Murica") in a close game two race. It was over fast enough that I had about fourty-five minutes or more left between rounds, so I took the time to get a snack, a drink, and refocus myself. I went into round six feeling a little better, but still lost.
I still want to talk about my round six match. I was playing with Mathew, a cool gentleman from Mt. Vernon Illinois. He was piloting Murica! as well, and I ended up losing on game three. But we were talking and he was telling me about his friend's shop that just opened down in Mt. Vernon. I would like to encourage those of you (though I doubt I have any readers down there) that are in that area to stop by Asgard Keep and buy some cards, play some games, and get to know the locals. There's a rant to follow on that mater at the end of the post as well.
So, here we go after six rounds, I was getting my rump kicked around and I was feeling kinda crappy, but after loosing round six, I was feeling a bit better. Even though I had lost, round six was relaxed, calm, and easy to enjoy. I sat down for round seven with a very careless attitude and I ended up winning. And then I won round eight... And nine, and before I knew it I was back even at four and four. Then I was on a roll. I did something that none of the other guys thought was possible and a few of the other guys had dropped over because they had hit the dreaded x-three mark. I won out the rest of my day and finished very strong in the standings, though I was still a match win away from winning any prize money. That's happened twice now.
So what else should be discussed after such a long and drawn out event? Well, how about a deck break down of what I saw in the metagame? I played against "Murica!" three times, Esper midranged once, Bant Flash twice, Bant wolf run once, and an interesting Bant Mutants once. I played against Naya Blitz (humans) twice. My Esper Token build was strong against most of the field. I lost to Naya in close races that it felt like I just couldn't win, and I lost to Murica! twice for the same reason. The games I won against them, I won because I stuck an early Doomed Traveler. That card is a very strong bit of defense against early aggression. I also found that Blind Obedience stuck early enough is good not just because it slows down their haste creatures but because the lifegain from extort is completely relevant.
So, now for the closing comments. Remember the Kyle guy from round four? Yeah, as it turns out, after a brief but fruitful Google search, I found that he was winning and top 8ing a bunch of Qualifiers and SCG Opens last year with Delver. So the single worst play I've made in years, I made against a pro who will forever remember me (if at all) as "that guy who screwed up his Snapcaster play and then gave away the game." Awesome.
I'd also like to congratulate two of the players from my local group on their top 64 finishes. Hayden Treadway and Cody Albaugh both made the money this round, as did one of the gentlemen from Legends that I play with on occasion, and a buddy from Full Moon Games, Gareth. I'm proud that the local area is producing some high quality players and that I've been a part of such a fun group.
Secondly, the bit about local game stores. Over the last year or so, I've become a very outspoken promoter of local game stores everywhere. Not the big ones that are chains and have huge player bases that are in major cities and are running very little risk of closing day to day. Those will survive. The ones that need our support are the little ones. The ones that have only been opened a year or so, or even less. Despite how you may feel about waiting, or about mail ordering stuff, you should go to these stores and buy gaming things. Spend money at them, don't just hang out (though you should do that as well). If you don't, they go away. Then, there's no where to go play. No place that'll host leagues or tournaments. And no place where you can go hang out and be yourself with your fellow nerds and gamers. So next time you're looking at SCG, or GamesWorkshop, or any other online avenue to buy your gaming materials, go to a the local store and get them there when you can.
I'm signing off on this one now. May you always find the answers,
SD13
No comments:
Post a Comment