Magic Weekend over Spring Break

Hello Everyone!

I am finally on spring break, and it's great to be able to relax and know that there's nothing due tomorrow, no classes I have to wake up for, and that I can just sleep a lot (A LOT). I spent my last night at school drafting Gatecrash at the shop in a slightly different position from normal. I had been mentoring two people and preparing them for their first draft. Both are relatively new players with about six months experience a piece.

I feel that learning how to draft is a crucial part of learning how to become a better magic player. When you're drafting you have to consider your deck as a whole and where you expect it to go, even when you're only two or three cards in. Removal is very good, but we want our deck to actually DO something. Having creatures to attack our opponent is good, but we want to have some way to catch up from behind. Balancing big and small creatures and so on are all things that we think about when drafting that can also be translated over to constructed deck building. Making sure we have a good curve, a way to apply pressure, but also how do we deal with our opponent's threats? When you become a better deck builder, knowing how to put the pieces together to make a cohesive deck, you become a better player because you know what every card's role is and how they should work together to lead to a victory.

I don't have the deck in from of me to copy down, but I drafted an insanely aggressive Gruul deck featuring 3 Madcap Skills and 3 Mugging and the deck curved out at 3 (some cards were higher but had bloodrush). I started out 2-0 in cumulatively 20 minutes, so I spent A LOT of time sitting around watching everyone else play. This turned out to be a good thing because it gave me the opportunity to observe the two new players I brought, and occasionally I was able to provide insight into various plays. For example the correct line of play to sequence closing out a game to ensure your opponent doesn't have any tricks, or at least play around the most likely/most number of cards.

Round three wasn't so nice to me though, and I lost to an insanely removal heavy Orzhov deck. I am yet to play a deck besides Boros or Gruul in this format, but Orzhov consistently does well, so I want to see if I can force it next time. The final round I played against one of the two people I had brought to the draft, but in the end I was victorious putting my record to 3-1 and hers to 2-2. My other friend did not fare so well ending the day at 1-3.

Observing the final round made me realize how harshly critical I can be, and made me aware that when teaching I need to be able to maintain a friendly relationship. One of my friends who had been drafting and playing a long time made several mistakes such as not attacking with a 2/2 into the opponent's 1/1 on turns 2 and 3 and I gave him the third degree (later in the game the opponent was at 4 life and the game stalled out for two turns). While he said he wasn't offended, I felt like an asshole. He just won the draft! I should be celebrating and being happy with him, instead I'm pointing out all his errors and saying he should have lost. Regardless, I am very happy for him, and I look forward to next time trying to play him in the finals.

A couple days later, and after sleeping for 20 hours straight, I got back together with the old Legacy group and we played for hours. I was playing Ad Nauseum Tendrils and Zombies against RUG, Zoo, and Doomsday. I haven't gotten to play good legacy in a very long time, and it felt amazing to finally have games with very tough decisions and long, complex games.

Finally on Monday I learned about a new phenomenon at Toys called "Monday Night Magic", a Monday night standard event . Of course, I didn't learn about this until I was at the store 10 minutes before it was scheduled to begin because I was getting back cards I had lent out to a friend for an SCG Legacy event. Having no standard cards, I borrowed Ben Stark's Esper Control deck from the Pro Tour.

Round 1: vs Julian w/ Naya

I have no idea what decks are good or popular in standard, so when I durresed Julian and saw Acidic Slime and Restoration Angel I knew it was going to get ugly, but I didn't know what I was to expect from the rest of the deck. I wound up getting a couple Drownyards blown up, but stole game 1. Game two I had all my white sources blown up quickly and I lost. Game three "went to time" but the judge wasn't looking at the clock and we finished before he noticed the round was 5 minutes over and so we were able to finish before going to turns.

2-1
1-0

Round 2: vs Charlotte w/ Humanator

The day before MNM someone posted this hilarious video on the lgs facebook group. My personal favorite line comes at 2:38 when he says, "You're like Plaxico Burris, you don't understand triggers!" When I was playing against Charlotte, she reanimated an Angel of Glory's Rise with the full combo in the yard, but I hit it with a Dramatic Rescue before the ETB trigger resolved. Apparently she didn't know this was possible and with great joy I called her Plaxico Burris. A couple turns later I lost... justice. Regardless, I was able to win game two thanks to Rest in Peace exiling about twenty-five of her cards including the entire combo twice over. Game three went to turns, and by definition we ended in a draw. However, I was turn #5 and milled her down to 0 cards in library. By definition passing turn there means it's a draw, but I asked for the concession since she would lose if she took her turn and there was nothing she could do. She begrudgingly conceded.

I think that is the honorable thing to do in all events - a draw is practically a loss for both players. If it's impossible to discern a winner, sure a draw is the only way to resolve it, but in that scenario where it's completely clear cut and dry just concede. I have done it in the past as well.

2-1
2-0

Round 3: vs Matt w/ Naya Humans

Matt was the gent who lent me the deck for the night, and he jokingly explained the major reason he didn't want to play Esper was because he didn't feel like going to time every round. We didn't go to time as I lost 0-2 in less than 15 minutes, dying to a flurry of burn (Searing Spear, 2x Boros Charm) to end the streak.

0-2
2-1

Round 4: vs Jon w/ Bant Ramp

Game 1 I completely threw away because I was so tired from hours of intense play I forgot I had a Devour Flesh in my hand when being attacked by his sole Restoration Angel with Kessig Wolf Run to end the game. Game two he said he completely punted as well, but I was able to grind him down to nothing. Game three once again went to turns, but this time I was able to kill him on his turn 5. My turn 4 I cast Psychic Spiral with 18 cards in my yard and 12 cards in his deck.

2-1
3-1

I wound up finishing second place, and Matt finished in first. I shipped him $5 that I won as a thank you tip for lending me the deck. I feel this is something people don't do enough, and they take people lending cards for granted. Regardless, I had an amazing weekend and a great start to spring break!

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Drafting Rares for Fun and Profit

Hello Everyone!

I have not been able to play nearly as much magic as I would have liked this semester. I haven't been able to write as much for this reason, and when I do, it's about MTG politics as opposed to discussing the actual cards. There isn't much for playing on the floor since everyone is so busy in work, so my only outlet is really just FNM drafts at the local shop. This week I was finally able to get myself out to Larry's for some Gatecrash action! However.... they were out of Gatecrash, so we drafted Return to Ravnica instead!

I brought along a friend who had never drafted before to observe my drafting and playing so that next week she would be more comfortable doing so on her own. Here's the deck she watched me assemble:

Deathrite Shaman
Gatecreeper Vine
Azorious Arrester
Sewer Shambler
Axebane Guardian
Loxodon Smiter
2x Selesnya Sentry
Stonefare Crocodile
Korozda Moniter
Sluiceway Spider
Towering Indrik
Corpsejack Menace
Rubbleback Rhino
Zanikev Locust
Necropolis Regent

Swift Justice
Ethereal Armor
Common Bond
Avenging Arrow
Chorus of Might
Trostani's Judgement
Slime Molding

Rogue's Passage
Grove of the Guardian
Temple Guardian
Selesnya Guildgate
Overgrown Tomb
Golgari Guildgate
4x Plains
4x Forest
3x Swamp

This was a pool draft, so you keep what you open, and then at the end there are scalding prizes. So let me draw your attention to this: 7 Rares! (Deathrite Shaman, Loxodon Smiter, Corpsjack Menace, Necropolis Regent, Grove of the Guardian, Temple Guardian, Overgrown Tomb). So I had already won the draft before round one even started!

I put myself in a very interesting position for that draft. I was trying to explain my picks to my friend behind me without giving up any information to the other drafters at the table. So I would constantly gesture to cards and say "I like this" and "I don't like this" but I found it difficult to explain why. Sometimes it was "I really want this, but this is slightly better" and "I'm glad we didn't pick this because it tabled" but besides that I found it really hard to make it a teachable moment for her.

This trickiness continued into the games themselves as I usually block out the entire world when I play. Usually I am completely unaware of my surroundings as I funny invest myself in the game at hand. This didn't do well for teaching. I tried doing things like holding my hand open more so she could view my hand, and I was glad when she would tell me how her line of thinking was the exact same a mine, but regardless I did my best.

I wound up 4-0ing the draft (we had 2 pools of 8 that became a 16-man swiss FNM, which I didn't agree with) dropping only one game in round one. I felt that my deck didn't have any sort of synergy - the most "combo" thing I pulled off was casting Common Bond with a Corpsejack Menace in play - and I didn't adhere to any guild mechanics all too closely. In a way I think this is a great generic deck because it really is just a pile of good cards. When you have enough good cards together, things go over much better for you!

For winning, I won a Gameday Champion playmat for Gatecrash, the full art Firemane Avenger, and 8 packs of RTR. To say the least, I netted A LOT. For the low low cost of $10 and 4 hours of my afternoon I received:

$40 in rares, including 2 shocks and a Deathrite
8 packs of Return to Ravnica (8 * $3 = $24)
Full art foil Firemane Avenger (Ebay: ~$15)
Gameday Champion Playmat (Ebay: ~$50)

Net: +119

Wow! I shocked even myself when I came out with that number! Disregarding any financial implications, I had a ton of fun finally getting back to drafting and hanging out with friends, while making new ones. I look forward to my next draft, when my friend will also take her turn in the hot seat.

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack