Getting ready for Portland

I've played a lot of Magic Online last week with Nix Tix and being confined to my apartment thanks to being on-call for work. (I did get paged in the first round of a draft and had to drop it though.) I have tons of replays I can go through and I've already started to note the mistakes I've been making. They range from "ticks", or really dumb mistakes that would make you slap your forehead, like forgetting to fetch or cycle at end step; bonehead mistakes that aren't the same as ticks, per se, but mistakes that just shouldn't happen if you're more aware, like tapping mana incorrectly when you were planning a second play, or walking into a trick you saw, or missing a point of damage, or not seeing a kill on the board; and then there are the high-level planning mistakes that could have altered the game in the long run, like not being aggressive enough in the early game, or playing a less-optimal creature for a particular drop, or playing the wrong removal on a creature.

The point is there are lots of things going wrong. While I cannot pinpoint patterns in them where I could just tell myself to stop doing X and I'll get rid of 90% of my mistakes, I think it's fine to analyze what you could have done differently. Tonight I will probably do a draft, and then go through as many more replays as I can and write down the mistakes and go over them on the trip Friday night to Portland.

I did my first Shards paper draft since Atlanta last night at First Pick at (finally!) managed to 4-0. Since Alara was released I had been running really cold at First Pick. I've done maybe 20 drafts at First Pick and cashed at maybe 4 of these... which, I'm pretty sure, is worse than flipping a coin every match.

Anyway, I drafted a Naya deck that had some pretty good cards like double Wild Nacatl and double Naya Battlmage, but also had some holes, like missing some bears and having to start Incurable Ogre (with nothing for it to activate) and Thorn-Thrash Viashino (without good things to eat).

I've started writing down every card I see again because I was forgetting them on MODO and then not knowing what to sideboard and also walking into them. I've started initialing damage sources on my score pad too, which I started in Atlanta. So WN is damage from Wild Nacatl, VS is Stinger, VD is Viscera Dragger... I also just felt a lot less pressure when I play against the best players. Normally I'm very afraid to make a mistake and I get very nervous, but I don't know if it was just awareness or getting used to playing against good people who are just computer screens to me or just watching better players in Atlanta, but I was way more calm, and I just focused on playing correctly rather than not blowing the game.

It was watching in Atlanta an old friend and former state champion from NC Orrin play that maybe inspired me to be more calm when I play. It was a game in the last rounds of Day 1, and he hardly said a word. I don't think I'm a real talkative player, but if eliminates a chance to get overexcited, why not? Of course, I don't want my plays to be unintentionally ambiguous as far as game state, but it was a little inspiring to see his operations. It's probably an interesting exercise to try to say as little as possible in a match and see if it affects your play and thought process for the better.

But anyway, it certainly felt different tapping the cards than it has all season, but I couldn't be convinced that I was actually outplaying people because so many of my games were blowouts or manascrew wins! I mean, that's the game my deck wanted to play, and I did tick a few times, like forgetting two counters on a Algae Gharial or tapping wrong so I couldn't run out a second guy or even represent a pump, but still... it's hard to objectively say that I went 4-0 and beat good people because I have gotten better. Again, why MODO is such a great tool because you can review the wins and see if you really did play optimally.

Extended and Two-Headed

This past weekend I played in some interesting events. At First Pick Games's First Birthday, we ran a mock Extended tournament for Gurney and Gavin Verhey who are probably in Berlin already for the Pro Tour. I ran this Demigod Stompy deck. Loads of fun seeing people's faces as it went off on Turn 1. Against Affinity I went off on the first turn, but then he goes land, thopter thopter, worker, Frogmite. I still won that game, then lost the next two because this deck scoops to Ethersworn Canonist.

Next round I played against Jon wrotesforbrainburst Loucks playing Krark-Clan Ironworks, went off T3 on the draw after pitching a Demigod and then recurring it, then he tried to Charbelcher one of them to stay alive. Next two I drew a whole bunch of nothing and he went off on schedule.

I played Death Cloud next and won two quick ones. I then played Mind's Desire, and played a turn 1 Deus, and still nearly lost when he went off on 1 land (hooray Rite of Flame counting all graveyards!) but couldn't do anything with his Plunges since he was at 2. Game 2 I thought a lot about my first turn on the draw staring down 2 suspended Lotus Blooms. I could either play land and wait until turn 3 to play Deus of Calamity, or do nothing, pitch 1 of 2 Demigods and draw anything but land for my Mox and swing for 10. I did the latter, got lucky (had things go as expected/as they should), and won. Finished 2-2, and Zoo won the 14-man Mock. Extended is really really messed up with Top and Counterbalance missing. I think Top could have stayed around, but judges and players would have to be more vigilant about slow play. The good players aren't getting unintentional draws when they play the Top (I remember watching LSV play a feature match in Philly and I couldn't believe is speed of play!) and at the PTQ level, the Countertop mirror is no different than, say, the Teachings or Wake mirror. And I don't think it was as unfun to play against as Mind's Desire is right now. We'll see what R&D thinks about the format this weekend.

Sunday at Games & Gizmos in Redmond I played Two-Headed Giant Sealed. I wasn't planning on playing at first, but I decided to show up since it was still Magic, and I teamed with a fairly decent regular. We butted heads in deck construction a little, then got blown out in the first round because my deck wasn't cooperating. He said we got mana screwed, but I think we misbuilt it, so we made some changes (for the better), and won the next one, then lost to Zaiem and Loucks (unofficially Team usedtowrotesforbrainburst) who had pretty good decks, then got paired down against the 0-X and won. I was a little frustrated at some of the plays my partner made, like running out Panorama on Turn 1 (I can't think of a reason you would ever want to do that), insisting on keeping a hand of 2 Druids, Panorama, and 4 lands (maybe it's actually not that bad, especially since we were on the draw), and a few other things. I don't know the guy that well, and the other two times I've played the format, I played with someone else I didn't know that well at the time, and a friend who had been out of competitive Magic for a while but wanted to try 2HG. I guess the next time one of these rolls around I will try to find someone I know, like, and I can trust.

Drafting

I went to draft tonight at First Pick. My first pick was a Sanctum Gargoyle over a Naya Charm and a Deft Duelist. I got passed a Deft Duelist (not sure if he's a high pick... I sure do like him and they didn't seem to come around really late), then an Agony Warp, so I was going to bias toward WUB.

The deck I thought ended up okay.... I got greedy again in the beginning of the second pack and picked a Rhox War Monk and Sigil Blessing hoping for a splash, but not doing so in the end... the packs were relatively weak in my opinion, but there were options that I thought I could get later. Guess not, next time I draft I should try sticking to my guns for once no matter what gets passed in the second pack.

Here was my deck:
1 Akrasan Squire
2 Tidehollow Strix
1 Sighted-Caste Sorcerer
1 Deft Duelist
1 Knight of the Skyward Eye
1 Blister Beetle
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Esper Battlemage
1 Kathari Screecher
1 Fatesticher
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Sanctum Gargoyle
1 Skeletal Kathari
1 Corpse Connoisseur
1 Steelclad Serpent
1 Kederekt Leviathan

1 Courier's Capsule
1 Esper Charm
1 Resounding Wave
1 Resounding Silence

1 Bant Panorama
1 Arcane Sanctum
6 Island
4 Plains
4 Swamp
1 Forest

Not making the cut:
Welkin Guide
Windwright Mage
Rhox War Monk
Sigil Blessing
Obelisk of Esper
Angelsong

Won't go into a whole lot of detail about the matches, because I either got blown out, mulliganed a lot, or they got mana screwed. But here are some highlights:

In Round 1 against Charles D. I made a swing with a Sanctum Gargoyle and an Esper Battlemage, knowing he probably has Branching Bolt, so I was going to save the Gargoyle with a bounce spell and get pack Strix... but he plays out a second Branching Bolt in response. Frown town :(

That same match I couldn't deal with a Algae Garial, I thought my only way to deal with it would be my big Upheaval guy or the Fleshbag Marauder. So I started trying to swing with my Deft Duelist... when he turns out to be an excellent way of holding him down. His deck was amazing though and I think he won the draft.

My last round I had only a Deft Duelist out and some pretty crummy cards in hand so I held him back when he had a clear board but a forest and a Naya Panorama. Ambusher's an uncommon, but I could have passed it to him in the draft (he was 2 to my right), and the game is over if he hits the board and sticks. I 2-2 dropped after that.

Maybe my deck was underwhelming, maybe I really was just getting mana screwed, because I mulliganed a lot. (I don't know how many times that freaking Forest was in my opening grip.) Not sure... I could have stood to play better in the first round, but the fourth round I mulliganed both games and were absolute blow outs. Le sigh... I'll debate my card selection later today.

Draft all day, or a Draft disaster

Yesterday, after dropping off my Washington voter registration form in the mail (which I am told is useless because Washington is always overwhelmingly Democrat, regardless of who I vote for), I went to First Pick for their release event, which was 8-man drafts all day and a Sealed event.

I jumped into a draft and can't get away from GWU again. Round 1 I play Jesse. Game 1 is a blowout. Game 2 is close but with a Tar Fiend that wipes my hand (but me topdecking Excommunicate), and almost stabilizing but getting wrecked by Violent Ultimatum, I lose.

Game 3 I get a really fast start but I tap out with 3 guys on the board on my turn 4 to fetch a land and he Jund Charms my board. I didn't see Jund Charm Games 1 or 2 (and I saw a LOT of cards in those games), so I don't think it was unreasonable for me not to play around it. I lose. I don't think I made any mistakes that stick out in my mind.

Then I jump into a Sealed Deck that wasn't running the Shard restriction. Round 1 I play Joey and every game is a blow out and I win in 3. Round 2 I play BJ, Joey's father. Game 1 is close but he makes some mistakes and I win. Game 2 I don't remember much but I mulligan to 6 and he gets there. Game 3 was a blowout. The third and final round wasn't exciting, and I won.

I jump in another draft and draft WUB with 3 Sanctum Gargoyles, a Tower Gargoyle, and a couple of Etherium Sculptors. Round 1 I play against a weaker opponent and roll. Round 2 I play Jason and he blows me out with his bombs Prince of Thralls and Vein Drinker. His deck was just way too powerful and my deck too "fair" it seems.

I jump in one last draft and draft WUB again. I play Zaiem, one of a few people I kinda sorda knew when I arrived in Seattle, and while he hasn't played a lot of paper because he works in BFE (Tacoma), he's been very welcoming. Round 1 is very tight. I draw Agony Warp and make an attack planning to 2-for-1 toward the end game, but he has his own Agony Warp and 2-for-1's me instead. He said he didn't think that my attack and plan with Agony Warp was a mistake. Round 2 I blow him out, and Round 3 was another tight game, and toward the end game I have a Sanctum Gargoyle and he has a 1/1 3G Shroud guy that gets bigger when things hit the bin. He plays the 2B 3/1 Innocent Blood guy (which is amazing), and with 4 mana up, I Call to Heel my guy, but don't even consider agony Warping his 3/1 so that he has to sac his Shroud guy! That's just me not looking over all the cards in my hand and looking for all possible plays, similar to the Mercy Killing play I miss when a weaker player pumped to kill a fatty. I have no other way of dealing with that guy other than blocking, and he ends up going all the way.

Apart from learning how to draft this format, I need to get way more creative with my plays and find the amazing plays that steal wins against equal or better opponents. Beating the players I expect to beat will get me to .500 at a PTQ. I think I just need to play a lot more with the cards. Ugh, what a frustrating day.

I'm writing this on the way to Redmond for their release event. I initially was going to skip it since they were going to have the deck building restrictions, but I just need to play more... plus I want a little redemption by playing a weaker field. Need a little bit of confidence right now.

Two drafts

Wednesday I decided I was going to go straight from work to go draft at First Pick. I opened the Blue/Black Liege and picked it, then was passed the Red/Black Liege, which I took over the Blue/Black 3/2 flier for 3. I don't remember a lot of details from this draft since it was two days ago now, but I was definitely trying to take the most solid card in the deck, but ended up with a Blowfly Infestation, a couple Scars and some guys, so I tried committing myself to black. In the third pack I picked a couple of Hatchlings high over 2 and 3 drops and ended up with a very 4-drop heavy deck that I didn't like putting together, but had to go with.

Round 1 I played against Martin who won Seattle Regionals this past summer and did pretty well at Nationals, and who I remember from last summer being one of the best players in the area. He also plays insanely fast, and the previous week I heard him get pretty upset with someone who was going into the tank for a while. With my place being on the slow side, I felt pressured as I was shuffling up. Game 1 he stumbles on land and I attempt to put the pressure on, but I make some bad decisions trying to be timely with his decisions and I know he's thinking way ahead of me, and he ends up coming back. Game 2 I don't really remember but I think it was a blowout. I put myself out of that game before I even played a land. I know that he plays fast, but I have to play at my pace. I've never gotten a slow play warning, so my pace must be acceptable at least to a judge. I already talked about how I'd like to play faster so that I don't draw unnecessarily, but I can't push it or try to keep up with someone's pace.

Round 2 I play against Eli, another solid player. Game 1 was actually pretty close. I made an attack toward the end of the game when he had a big guy, a Safehold Duo, and a Green mana up. I knew to play around Barkshell Blessing, but totally didn't fully consider how the best way for him to play it would be and end up losing two of my dudes and he loses none when he plays it out. Game 2 I'm under pressure early, get my two Lieges out, but can't draw more gas (not that my deck had much of it), and still lose. Out of the money.

I decide to play Round 3, but don't draw gas. My Scars are very underwhelming when my guys aren't even that good. 0-3 drop. I can chalk this one up to bad deck/bad color, but it wasn't like I was playing optimally either.

Friday I head out again, and there's only 14-15 people playing, presumably because everyone's ready for the new set to come out so they don't want to draft an irrelevant format. I draft a Red deck splashing White for Mercy Killing, Barkshell Blessing, and 3 Ballyknock Cohorts, 2 of which came about 5-7th pick in the second pack. I opened a Ballyknock Trapper and took I think an Outrage Shaman over it, then it came back and I took a Mimic over it because I wanted to be heavy Red to support my two Tattermunge Duos and Cinder Pyromancer, but I wasn't that heavy at 4 anyway, and I even cut a Mimic from my deck. My deck was still pretty solid with a good curve with lots of 3 drops and ways to win the close ones with Cinder Pyromancer/Flame Jab and Unwilling Recruit.

Round 1 I play against someone I played in the draft Extravaganza who I didn't think was that good. Game 1 I can't deal with an enchanted Slippery Boggle and lose. Games 2 and 3 my deck works pretty darn well and I don't think I ever thought I was going to lose either of those games.

Round 2 I played a WR deck, where at one point he had Prison Termed my guy and with a Finks and a Loyal Griffin beating me down from the air, with me with a few dorks. I ran out Unwilling Recruit on his Finks and even though he remove a guy the score goes from 13-19 in his favor to 13-8 in my favor. He sits back and after letting 3 go through, I run out Cinder Pyromancer and win out with Flame Jab. Game 2 is more of a blowout.

Round 3 I played a Black deck against someone who I think is pretty solid. Game 1 he draws 2 land, and Game 2 I curve out and he can't keep up. He tried to Fate Transfer from his Grief Tyrant to my Hatchet Bully, but I Mercy Killed for 3 tokens, then after running out a Green guy, attacked with 5 guys leaving back a Green guy and a White guy and he blocks with all he can leaving 2 1/1's, and I Barkshell Blessing with Conspire the two unblocked guys to deal the last 6. Blowout, yeah...

Round 4 I play against a regular. I blow him out Game 1 on his two lands, and I get blown out Game 2 after a mulligan to 5. Game 3 I mulligan again, but off of my six make my 1, 2, 3, and 4 drops. He plays out a Trapper which I dispatch with a Power of Fire on a Pili-Pala which I knew was going to get Cultbrand Cinder'd, but had to deal with. He runs out another Trapper, but I draw Flame Jab with the lands I smartly held in my hand and deal with it. I get him to 1 and just need to draw land and I get there. In that game I make the only real misplay that sticks out in my mind; I draw Flame Jab and have a Tattermunge Duo, a 4/4, and another guy and he has a couple dudes and the Tattermunge. I say Declare Attacks and he taps the 4/4, and then I realize I should have killed the Trapper right away, so that when he taps my 4/4, I still have a 4/5 to attack with which he will probably have to chump or gang block.

Other than that mistake, I was pretty happy with my play. Even though I wasn't playing against the best players that frequent the store, I'm glad I got there with a deck that was pretty good but didn't have bombs that just win the game, and I didn't punt any games.

This draft I wrote down every card that was played against me, which I think really helped my focus. I made sure to do it during my opponent's turn while he was untapping or drawing or something to not take up too much time, and it kept my mind from wandering off of the game. I totally plan on doing it during the prerelease tomorrow, not that the competition will be really great, but it's a habit I would like to develop because I think it helps me.

The past couple days I've been really looking over the commons of the set, mostly for draft and what archetypes show up. I don't know if I would draft two main colors and dip into the other two neighboring colors, or one main color and play cards from the two neighboring colors and focus on the guild. Regardless, this weekend is all Sealed Deck play, so I just have to focus on the best cards in the 75 that I open, but it did give me a look into how the format will play out. I think the commons are pretty typical, but you'll still want to get out to 7 and 8 mana to play your bombs. Tomorrow morning I'll look over the commons for tricks I need to watch out for, and then we'll see how it goes.

"He's really good" part 1

Somehow within a weekend in the area, I've garnered a reputation for being "really good". While the reason for this blog is me not being very good at Magic, anyone who thought this could have easily changed their mind by the end of this past weekend.

Friday night I drafted at First Pick. I drafted an aggressive Green deck splashing white for a couple pieces of removal. My first three opponents weren't very strong, then I lost in round 4 to one of the best limited players in the area and won round 5 against another good player. I felt I played pretty well the entire night, and I got my money back in credit, so I felt pretty good.

Saturday was the fifth Draft Extravaganza organized by Eric Reasoner and L3 judge Tony Mayer. Around 56 players showed up to draft 3 different formats and then a draft format of their choosing based on placement (among the choices were Tempest block, Urza block, Invasion, Odyssey, Mirrodin, and Ravnica). The first draft was Invasion-Ravnica hybrid, so each seat alternated between having Invasion-Guildpact-Apocalypse and Ravnica-Planeshift-Dissension. I wasn't familiar with Invasion block cards, so I just tried to pick the best card for the first pack and hope my neighbors set me up. My deck was green-black-red and had Rofellnos, the guy that makes 2/2 Saprolings for kicker, and the guy from Ravnica that makes Forests into 4/4's, and not very much removal with only Consume Strength and Thunderscape Battlemage. I went 0-2-1 in this format, not getting very good draws round 1 and not playing well, punting the end of round 2 by swinging with a guy and forgetting that he could use his two mana up to make two more Goblin Trenches guys and get me on the crack back, and drawing round 3 because I couldn't deal with the equipment that gives untapped/tapped creatures bonuses (read: couldn't draw my Battlemage). I was so upset at my record that I threw my deck into the trash.

Next was triple Champions of Kamigawa, which I don't think I ever went better than 1-2 at my local store with for that entire year. My deck was pretty terrible with only 13 guys with a pretty poor curve, some random white arcane spells so I could max out Glacial Ray, and a Devouring Greed and Rage. The first round I lose to Desperate Ritual.dec where he busts out the Red Myojin like turn 4, then in the third game I stabilize the board at 9, and have the game next turn because he's drawing nothing but land, and he goes Lava Spike splicing Ritual and Glacial Ray, Ritual splicing Glacial Ray, Glacial Ray. The second match I keep hating my deck, getting stuck with Blessed Brath and Ethereal Haze in my hand with no Plains and keep trying to stick a Frostwielder and stuff. I'm at like 2 and stick Kami of Fire's Roar. I drew a Plains, and with my white Spells and Soulless Revival I manage to wipe his board with the Kami and come all the way back. Game 2 I'm able to blow him out with a Hideous Laughter that leaves him with nothing and me with a 3/3 and a 2/3. 1-1 in my least favorite format.

Finally was Onslaught-Lorwyn hybrid, which alternated between Onslaught-Lorwyn-Scourge and Lorwyn-Legions-Morningtide. There were only four common tribes among the two blocks (Elves, Goblins, Soldiers, and Wizards), it's easy to see that if you were Elves or Goblins at your pod you would do pretty darn well. Luck would have it, I was in Elves and drafted an absolutely unreal deck. I 3-0'd to finish at 4-3-1, above .500 for the day.

More later.