Magic Monday #10 All good things.

Sitting on 8 consecutive wins before this draft the big 10-0 was in sight. I blew it in spectacular fashion going 0-2 before getting a bye last round. My last round opponent had dropped and he was the poor soul sitting on my left during the draft. I drafted a base red deck as did he except his was devoid themed while I snapped up all the landfall creatures. 
I had blue and green splashes, the blue for a coastal discovery, some clutch of currents and gold cards. The green because I was too stubborn to draft black as I was red black the week before.
One of the things that holds me back when it comes to winning is my desire to fully explore the format. I drafted red black the week before so the deck i wanted to end up in least was red black even though I had won last weeks draft with that combination. I wanted something new, something exciting. I took some black cards that just couldn't be ignored but jumped out of black at the slightest hint of an opportunity. I would have had a pretty sick deck but there is just so much of the format I have not explored yet it feels like a waste.
I have not drafted allies of any combination, I haven't tried GB sacrifice, converge (though that's what I was going for this time) or the BW life gain deck. These are all things on my Magic bucket list that I want to do before the set is no longer drafted. And of the things I have drafted I always felt like I got an undercooked version apart from the red green landfall deck and so want to draft those decks again to get to play them at full strength. 

This is what is fun for me and I am not trying to win the pro tour. I don't think i need to curb that desire to explore a format rather than master it. There is money on the line though so one thing that could help is if Stainless got their act together and came out with the Battle for Zendikar update to Duels of the Planeswalkers. It's a half limited half constructed environment that is a good way to experience all the different archetypes to your hearts content for free.
I never had to draft the black red sacrifice deck because I got to do it on Duels.
When I sat down to play I just went with the cards and I had a much better win rate during Origins than Dragons of Tarkir.

Back to the draft deck itself. It was alright and could do some nice things if the mana worked. Both losses were game 3 affairs and close. In round 2 and already a game up I blew game 2 as I thought Barrage Tyrant could sacrifice itself and it dead set decided the game. I could have cast Tajuru Beastmaster pre combat for the lethal pump but didn't as I thought I already had it with Tyrant's ability.
I let out a barrage of fucks (pun intended) when I realised I had lost and karmic justice made sure I lost game 3 without getting to do much at all. 

I made some trades and I have experienced the 3-0 followed by the 1-2 or 0-3 many times because of my needing to explore "flaw". Didn't stick with me as the day was fun but short as we finished in under 3 hours. I won a months free of MTG Price Pro Trader and did some solid trading towards the RallyFenza deck. Mr Gu went ahead and opened a Scalding Tarn expedition and some new people popped in and there was just a happy vibe around the shop in general despite or maybe because of how cold it was outside.

Pay to Play #5

No incoming funds and a $16 draft is pretty easy maths. Starting to get costly ideas though. I really want to build a cube based on the custom Star Wars set floating around on Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/3ovqwh/star_wars_the_gathering_complete_1st_draft/

While the cards would be free I would need more sleeves. A couple more packs of Dragon Sleeves would take out $32 from the budget.

Then I saw the RallyFenza videos put out by Saffron Olive and have the itch to build another modern deck that I will hardly get to play (http://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/much-abrew-about-nothing-modern-rallyfenza). 

Oh and new Commander product, I do like the look of the Green Black deck and Anya, Merciless Angel makes me think an aggressive commander deck might actually be possible. Maybe. 

These are all dangerous and expensive thoughts that are probably kept more in check with the fact we just bought a new fridge and a computer rather hurting the real budget rather than restrictions on the Magic budget. 

I'm still holding onto that Steam Vents expedition though and the only real plan I have at the moment is to draft again next Sunday 

The current position is +$58.7

Monday Magic #9

After a 4-0 at Game Day the Sunday prior I sat down to the left of Mr Salty as always (DCI reporter bug for sure) hoping to extend that run. Pick one pack one I took a Barrage Tyrant over a foil full art Mountain which is apparently a huge mistake if you care about value at all. Those mountains are worth a pack and a half and that Barrage Tyrant was only a 40% chance to make my deck. It did end up making it as I drafted a Red Black deck when I had a Blue Black drafter on my right who hate drafted a Rolling Thunder and a Red Blue drafter to my left.
I don't and never will understand hate drafting a card you are 0% to play with such a high pick. That strategy is not completely frowned on by pro's though and I remember one guest on Limited Resources being in favour of hate drafting.
It would have been my second Rolling Thunder though, which is a little ridiculous. This is the first time I really got to see the power of that card as previously I had always needed to use it to kill one big scary threat. This time I got to wipe a few boards and it felt glorious. Despite being in red black I didn't feel super aggressive as I lacked in creatures to the extent I played Dutiful Return because I was going to need my best ones to do some real work. I had doubles of Complete Disregard and Touch of the Void to back them up.
Some games I curved out, others I just killed everything and then stuck a guy. After losing game 1 to a really cool Bant eldrazi deck that is easily the most intriguing I have seen in the format, I didn't drop another game. I crushed the finals and we had time to play another 2 games for fun which I also won and my opponent playing a nice red white allies deck called for mercy. My deck was certainly good against aggro but I feel a little lucky to have got the points against mid range. That extended my win streak to 7 and I randomly chose 1 English Pack and 2 Korean packs for my prize. Beejay asked me why I didn't just choose all Korean packs and I responded with "I wanted to see who loved me more". That seems utterly ridiculous now but that's the magic of painkillers kids. It turns out English loves me more, which makes sense since I teach English for a living.
Who the fuck cares what was in the Korean packs because that English pack had a Steam Vents in it.

I felt like I owned this city. Winning the draft and a Steam Vents is pretty high on the list of my best Magic days in Korea. The draft is pretty relaxed, but everyone is a decent player. Certainly know easy 3 pointers. Some of the game day matches got pretty intense but $100 - $120 bill in a pack is pretty sweet.
Thinking back to Australia there were PTQ top 8's (which always ended pretty sad) and Nationals qualifications etc which while not as monetarily rewarding were very satisfying and gave a real sense of accomplishment.
Good day.

I didn't have to play against Mr Salty but got to watch him a lot as all 3 of his matches were the last to finish and either went or brushed the time limit. Each round he would only be on game 1 or just starting game 2 while the rest of us had finished. He has a strange mix of playing slow but then playing very fast when something actually happens. It's infuriating and frustrating even as a spectator. He even complained about his round 3 opponent playing slowly! To be fair his opponent was slow but definitely not the culprit, it was ponder vs ponder.
I think all players don't realise how slow they are playing, when you are in the moment you feel like a lot is happening because you have a lot to think about but that's the challenge. You got to keep moving. The biggest problem Mr Salty has is he should be thinking about what he is going to do during his turn while the opponent is going through their process. It seemed every turn he would draw his card and look like he has never seen his hand before. He had a Mist Intruder and seemed to think about whether he should attack with it every single turn.
My slow play rant out of the system he was definitely less salty than normal. In fact he lost game 3 of round 3 to a big Rolling Thunder and held it together where others would not have. I guess just like me he is up and down mood wise and has his moments either way.
Hope for us both.

Back to that Bant eldrazi deck, blue green X has been called the converge deck but maybe it's also the colour combination that actually lets you cast eldrazi and be competitive. The black green eldrazi deck hasn't seemed to really work out but 3/4 Tajuru Stalwarts, Stonehaven Medics and Courrier Griffins clogging up the board and Lifespring Druids working their magic were a nice combo. I thought I was in game one until Breaker of Armies followed by Jace's Insight blew me away.

Pay to Play #4
$2.5 a day isn't a very catchy name, now that I am an expedition pulling millionaire I think I can aim for $2 a day. I have an extensive collection of cards and accessories so me playing on $2 a day is very different than someone new to the game. To play for free would involve either not drafting or going much deeper into speculation. Deeper than I want to considering there are limited cash outs here in Korea. No local buy list or TCG player. Puca Trade has been fantastic but that is digital bit coin style profits that you can't pay a tournament entry fee with.

While my collection value got a bump from that expedition I didn't pick up any cash so my $2.5 a day just covered the $16 draft entry fee. The current position is +$60.7

Magic Monday #8

After a week away I was allowed to play both Saturday and Sunday this week. This coincided with Game Day which wasn't a fluke on my part.
Game Day is the only time of the year playing standard makes sense to me, a crippled old washed up grinder. There is much higher EV than normal, the schedule is set far in advance, it is at my local shop and it's in the middle of the day so it's easy to get public transport. I drive a lot during the week and don't enjoy it. My drive to and from work has a nice view but on a road where it's easy to do 80 on there are lots of speed humps scattered throughout.

I actually had two decks built enough that I could get away with only having to ask for a few cards from friends. The first was Jeskai mill and I had been practising with that deck in Grixis form for a few weeks. The change to Jeskai was done the night before, so naturally I crushed the tournament. Oh no, sorry, now I remember, I went 1-3 but had a lot of fun. My opponents seemed to really enjoy the Tutelage triggers as it definitely appeals to their love of gambling. I think they see it as milling 4 cards is the base and if it's only two cards they won but if it's six cards they lost horribly. They still enjoy the losing horribly part, just as long as someone is watching. 
After four rounds though I was kind of over new standard, I played against a million Hangerback Walkers and if they didn't have Dromoka's Command and Den Protector they had Felidar Cub and Ojutai's Command. After missing draft last week I was starting to get the twitch, I wanted to bust some packs and sweat on some picks. I got tot he store at 1:00 but with everyone preparing for another game day there was no draft. That's two weekends in a row without drafting, I'm going to have to look into some lesser drug like morphine or heroin to help get me through this stretch. if I miss another week maybe something worse like Magic Online.

For Sunday Game Day I suited up my other deck. Flip flopping on decks isn't usually a winning strategy but it worked this time. I played Atarka Red and beat the mirror twice and two other decks that played a lot of colourful lands that I had no idea what was coming next. The combinations of battle lands, fetch lands and four colour decks had me trying to play around every sweeper I could think of and studying their lands for what they could NOT do rather that what they could. 
I  managed to go 4-0 which in Korea is enough to win Game Day as they are only interested in playing the swiss portion. I think the elimination rounds are where it get's fun but they just seem to get in the way of a good time for the Korean's. Five minutes after the prizes were allocated they were carving up a box playing the value game (the player who opens the least valuable card pays for everyone's packs) and making some real noise. I have to admit it did look more fun that everyone having to watch four guys playing in near silence and shuffling a lot.

Despite winning I only used about four of my fifteen sideboard cards because I quickly realised during round one I was probably doing more harm than good with every sideboard decision. I am much butter but still don't have the sequencing down pat for my own deck but at least learnt to respect Temur battle Rage by the time it mattered. In pre tournament testing and the first two rounds I was firing it off way to quickly, I now realise it's criminal not to use it in conjunction with a pump spell. I also learnt that instant speed one mana +5+5 (Become Immense) is incredibly fun to cast but totally unfair to be on the receiving end of. I love that card.
So I was a long way from mastering my own deck but was getting in the groove enough to pick up on other peoples mistakes. That's something to take home, along with my Drana playmat.

In round three my opponent made a mistake where he thought his creature would survive rather than trade with my own. He had a pump spell so wanted a take back but I had to be that bad cop. I won the next turn so it wouldn't have mattered but I knew he was feeling awful and I promised him a pack. The worth of one loose pack is pretty negligible really and more often than not contains rubbish. So fuck it, it's a small community and I don't have the killer instinct any more, though I am not soft enough to allow take backs. Then when I arrive over for the top 4 the store manager was in the process of dividing the split. The playmat is worth some amount of packs but they had trouble deciding. The first offer was 9 - 9 - 9 - playmat +1. No one wanted the playmat at that stage, I wasn't even there when that offer was on the table and by the time I had arrived it was 8 - 8 - 8 - playmat + 4 which was at the point I thought everyone would want the playmat. Two of the players still just wanted the boosters so they were set but another player wanted the playmat. The manager was about to give it to him without hearing from me even though I was the only undefeated player. I piped up that I wanted the playmat and an awkward stand off ensued. I suggested a dice roll which the other guy didn't like (mustn't be Korean) and the fact he wanted it means it was probably his first playmat which makes me feel a little guilty but I had beaten him in the swiss. Or perhaps he just likes value because 4 packs plus a playmat seems a lot better than 8 packs to me. I offered 9 - 3 and the playmat between us and after confirming that's what I said, he was ok with that and wanted the packs. I then handed out one of my packs to my round 3 opponent and felt like father Christmas giving out packs left and right. When you go 4-0 you generally feel pretty good so a couple of boosters to make let everyone else feel better about the day is a small price to pay. 
Thankfully none of them opened expeditions or I might have a totally different view on altruism. A previous incident where I was in the pity prize pack roll off and my roll fell on the floor and I just let the other guy have it cost me a Nissa. I don't feel so great about that one but it was a cool story and my rolls will never ever fall off the table again.

I now have four playmats which makes me kind of regret buying one. I say kind of because it is the Eturtle Witness mat from Star City Games which is still my favourite mat. My friend Beejay who leant me some key cards to make playing the deck possible won on Saturday so it was cool when we were taking the subway home Sunday night as back to back champions. It's a far cry from the pro tour but being an MTG Dad isn't easy so you got to enjoy these moments. We both had work to look forward to the next day.
It shouldn't but a good result at Magic gives me a lift going into the start of the week which is way more important to my self being than it should. I had been under a cloud for a while after just missing out on a job in the video game industry which seemed an opportunity I probably won't see again. I enjoy teaching, it's a good job but in my current situation it's hard to be passionate about it. I work a lot of classes straight in a bunch of different classrooms so it wasn't the luxury set up I had last year where the material was 90% my own, in my own classroom with lots of time to craft it. Getting a large mouse pad and $16 worth of cards shouldn't make up for losing out on a sweet job, and it doesn't but it got me out of a funk and turned me in the right direction mentally. Beejay's trying to convince me to get into the grind again and play some PPTQ's but agghh, fuck that travel is tiring and takes up a lot of family time. I also think as good as going 4-0 was, a 2hr standing room only trip back from Seoul after scrubbing out would be the pits.

I might be up for the Suwon PPTQ's though although it sounds like the shop might be gone in December :(

Pay to Play#3
A pretty good week as I only spent $10 all week after doing a trade which involved me getting enough cash to cover my Sunday entry fee. I'm in the black to the tune of $60 right now. In my prize packs was a Foil Korean Cinder Glade which looks pretty and might even pay for a draft in the future.

Magic Monday #7

I will no longer bother with the explicit language warning on this site. All bets are off from now, especially as I have finally gotten around to watching The Wire (still holds up).

Last weekend I missed the Sealed PPTQ that took place in Suwon on the Saturday but made it for the Sunday draft. The PPTQ was the first one in Suwon so it was pretty unexpected. The W30,000 would put me way over my Magic playing budget but also I hate going in to just make up the numbers. There is a lot going in on this set and I haven't been excited about it enough to learn what they all do. For Khans block I got super pumped and 2 weeks in I was confident enough to do a draft in Korean..
Nowadays with no electronic devices allowed it means I can't look at the spoiler on my phone. I have to both learn a little bit more Korean to at least be comfortable on all the keywords and be passionate about the set.
It sounds like they consider the PPTQ a success and they will continue. The only thing up in the air is the format, sealed and I'm in but if it's standard I can't really compete.

I am preparing for game day though but I feel my hearts not really in it this time. A little bit like I am going through the motions because I haven't bothered trying to trade with anyone and if not for BJ insisting on getting the Radiant Flames I need then I probably would have skipped it and given up on standard for good.

I did fairly well at last Sundays draft, it was a 10 man draft and I lost the finals in heartbreakingly close circumstances in game 3. That's exactly what you want in a match of Magic, everything on the line, it was close with both players drawing enough spells and lands to play the game. My finals opponent hit me for 12 which left me at 2 life and facing lethal next turn. I could do 14 to him which would have left him at 2. I would have been able to wipe his board if my Serpentine Strike didn't get ingested as a result of his big attack. That was that, he won the draft and opened a Gideon.
I can't complain though, during the draft I took a couple of lands to have the draft pay for itself in theory, though likely they will sit in my binder until they are only worth a couple of dollars and then get thrown in a box to never see the light of day.

Pay to Play #2
Sunday was a good day budget wise, I sold the last of my Puca points (8,000) for W60,000 to put my Magic budget back in the black. As of today it sits at +34.7 and next weekend I am of camping so it will be over 60 before I next play. Game day will skim a little bit of but those points in the bank should hopefully keep me in the black all the way to the Pre Release of the next set.

The big question I have to ask myself at this juncture is what is my next move with Puca Trade. I don't have any points coming to me in the mail. I know I will eventually want them but I just don't feel the yearning for any singles right now. The older stuff I had on my want list was taking for ages to come but if I want to finish my cube want list from Origins or Battle for Zendikar Puca is the best way to do it. I need to play some Eye of the Tiger or whatever young people listen to these days and get my ass to the post office!

Magic Monday #6

As I got a little bit personal and to the point in the last post about Mr Salty I have contemplated the name change. I don't think I was out of line objecting to his behaviour but doing so in writing rather than face to face doesn't sit right with me. On the other hand I am a selfish person and the putting it out in writing is quite therapeutic for me. It avoids me exploding and saving it up because I feel like It has been said even though he more than likely didn't read it.

On last Sunday in the ultimate of ironies I took a first pick Ulamog and he drafted a very disciplined Black White life gain deck. Then we were paired first round and I lost game one. While his deck had a lot of synergy it was a very very slow kill so I brought in Ulamog and wrecked him with it game two. The opposite of nearly every match we have ever played.
In game 3 my deck actually worked as I managed to exile some stuff to process and beat down quite quickly. I heard rumblings about that Ulamog for the rest of the day.

Back on topic, The Angry Hermit with it's list of Magic Shops and how to find them is supposed to be a community resource. Me complaining about other players or embarking on voyages of self discovery and giving out bad pick orders is not helpful for the community.

So I will split my writing with this site "The Late Picks" (trademark pending) being for everything and the Angry Hermit whose name is already out there sticking to just the positive stuff and shitting out rainbows.

I enjoyed the new format even though I didn't do that well. The deck just didn't quite come together and the Mist Stalker plan wasn't a good one. It was great to see an old face return to the scene after walking across Korea and travelling throughout South East Asia. I didn't think I would ever see him again but luckily/unluckily his wife got home sick and their plan for eternal travel and living by the beach got nixed and he is back in Seoul. 

Magic Monday #5 (Explicit Warning)

Despite having the flu, 2 hours sleep the night before and feeling the effects of coming down from one brand of painkillers and starting on another I made it to my stores pre release.

Even though I felt like shit I still preferred the new/old/traditional dose of no seeded packs. I built a black/red deck I am hesitant to call aggro as it had an 8 drop in it. The corner stones were 3 Nettle Drones a 3/1 for 3 that can ping your opponent and untaps when you play a colourless spell. In a couple of games my opponents had mana problems and I started hitting them quite hard but most games were really me grinding them down and winning through having superior removal. In one game I played all 3 Nettle Drones which represented a lot of damage, sadly though one was promptly killed.
My semi comatose state managed 3-1 and getting away with swearing at an opponent. One of the regulars had been getting progressively more salty at missing out on the expensive FNM promo's and the losing streak that comes with that. If I think back he always was a bit of a grump when things weren't going his way but that was forgotten during the back end of Khans through to the middle of Dragon's of Tarkir because he did quite well.
He had become unpleasant to play with as soon as he was losing but not over the line and I had not gotten involved previously. Another player had brought it up it but we were on our way to eat and the conversation never really progressed

On Sunday he was upset at having mana problems even while sweeping my board leaving me with no non land permanents. I went to read the card that just swept my board and he got snappy with me that my creatures are dead. That's when I told him to "Calm the fuck down". I just wanted to read the card and he continued to protest but much less aggressively "don't you trust me" and "you have this card in your deck too". I didn't have the card in hand though so it's not like I was allowed to start rifling through my library. It was round one of my first and only pre release, being able to know what is going on is a core part of the game. If I'm not allowed to even look at my opponents cards something is seriously wrong.
And no, I don't exactly trust the guy who killed me by activating Rogues Passage on Gaea's Revenge without even apologising afterwards. I don't think this player is a cheat but he is highly strung and only has one year's experience of competitive Magic with no higher level event experience.
His excuse for his behavior is that no one likes having mana problems and it's really frustrating. Yes, but it happens to all of us and he is the only one that is ruining other peoples fun. I won the deciding game against my round 4 opponent while he sat with 5 plains on board and a hand full of red creatures. Apart from the "I had all these" at the death blow you wouldn't have known.
When I apologised for his bad luck he replied with the Korean equivalent of "shit happens".

I think the new format with colourless bombs that don't punish rare drafting and the viability of the slower mid range to control decks he prefers will  probably suit Mr Salty and his results should improve. If not then a line has been drawn in regards to my tolerance with his behavior. To his credit he seemed to improve from then on and I think Dan stepping in to back me up was a big factor.
I still consider Mr Salt a friend, because one negative is about 50 less negative personality traits than I possess. 

Magic Monday #4 (Warning:Explicit Language)

Pre release is upon us and it seems a lot of people are down on this set. It looks fine to me but once they announced enemy fetchlands were not going to be reprinted my anticipation levels hit zero. Since then the spoiling of new cards can't possibly reduce my excitement for the pre release and it has slowly ticked up.
The limited environment seems hard to gauge as there is so much (perhaps too much) going on and coupled with the death of seeded packs it feels like the mystery is back. Stepping into the great unknown is what used to make pre releases stand out as a special tournament. While the first time you play with cards is great fun, with seeded packs it means there is not a huge difference between your first sealed deck and your last one in a format. You know more about the cards and should hopefully be better at building a deck but that is cancelled out by your packs not being as stacked.

I understand and struggle to disagree with the argument that seeded packs make it easier for new players and pre release is supposed to be about them. There is zero reason to deny the former but the later? Pre releases are probably the best tournaments for new people but there aren't many alternatives and I can't think of any tournaments that are designed just with new players in mind. Pre releases have won the tag as best introductory tournament by default.
I think it's easily the enfranchised players who get the most excited about pre releases. We are the ones checking the spoilers' every day, put the release date in our calendar and debate cards weeks before you can play them. We certainly aren't going to "maybe" go to the pre release depending on the weather.
A strong reason the pre releases are so new player friendly is the enfranchised players are so excited it becomes contagious. We are bursting to talk about it and I knew many people who practically drag friends or partners along in order to get more of those new cards we can't acquire anywhere else yet. We can't wait that 5 or 6 days until release :)

Things like 2 headed giant are good tournaments for new players and they also hopefully make up for the lack of seeded packs if one of the heads is more experienced. So while I hope that new players can still enjoy the event I am glad us oldies and enfranchised players have got something back.

The expeditions have been received a lot better than I thought they would. My initial reaction was "fuck that", I am not opening or ever owning one even though full art lands are the sweetest things since Korean Garlic Bread*. I never opened a planeswalker during the entire run of Magic Origins and have to go all the way back to Innistrad before remembering anything like a decent ratio of playable to bulk from packs I opened.
I didn't understand people who planned to buy more sealed product than they normally did. Even MTG Finance people I respect like Chaz V were talking about buying a case just to try and crack an expedition whereas he normally forgoes buying sealed product. Madness!

To me, huge variance is a turn off because I feel like I am unlucky. It seems I am in the minority amongst Magic players. Even I do enjoy gambling and one thing I have observed amongst the Korean player population is a good percentage of them are massive gamblers. Far more loose packs get opened than can be justified in order to play the "value game". The "value game" is where 2+ (usually 3 or 4) people open packs at the same time and whoever opens the pack with the lowest value pays for both of the packs. It's hash but pretty exciting.

This swathe of negative feelings towards the new set is probably just a correction from unjustified and illogical hype based on the expeditions. It seems a lot of people are still high on the expeditions though but are just taking their wrath out on the rest of the set.
Even if it is less powerful than normal we are losing 4 sets from standard so there are lots of opportunities for BFZ cards to find a home in standard. The headline cards Ob Nixilis, Gideon, Greenwardern, Drana and Ulamog all look the goods to me. Wizards could have thrown Standard a bone and seeded some allies in Magic Origins. Just enough for a tier 2 deck would have generated a lot more hype about each ally reveal. Instead we got most commentators saying "wait and see" and quickly moving on.

If standard really is less powerful it will give my Sphinx's Tutelage/Ulamog reanimator brew/pile a chance to shine at game day**. The first Star City event post release day, the Indianapolis Open is going to be fascinating.

* Involves sugar for those lucky enough to only have eaten regular garlic bread.

** A man can dream, and by the way can anyone lend me some Ulamogs'?

Magic Monday #3

This week rather than draft Magic Origins we had a chaos draft. This was put together at great expense and over a long period of time by Frank Silva with help from Andrew Carle. The draft was free and we only paid for prizes and the store donated an FNM serum Visions for the winner as well.

Opening a pack of Time Spiral first pack gave me a massive nostalgia rush. Time Spiral is my favourite set and I have very fond memories of it. My pack one pick one was between Errant Ephemeron or Greater Gargadon. I was sitting with Dan on my right who has quite aggro leanings when the format is crazy like this so I used that as the tiebreaker to go blue. That really paid off as he did indeed go red as did the player to his right. Blue, Green and Black were open and I went with Blue Green. I would have jumped all over black if I saw any removal first pack but it seemed lacking for the entire draft.
That Ephermeron was pretty much my only turn two play but the deck could still punish slow starts and had ridiculous late game. I had never seen rush of knowledge before in my life, had to read it a couple of times before putting it in my pile. Both times I drew it I cast it to draw seven cards. I also got to do my favourite thing in the world, Spellburst with buyback to win games two and three of my first match.
While there were plenty of sets I had never seen before thanks to Frank going really deep on what packs he included I think I probably had an advantage on most of the draft. It felt great to win the draft, get some packs, have fun and claim a Serum Visions promo for my collection.

Some real world troubles had me feeling sorry for myself and another player has to give up their beloved pet. Franks hard work at putting this together made for a great distraction for both of us. I don't think I showed my appreciation enough.

Magic Monday #2

It was another week of a disappointing 1-2 finish. I drafted a solid Blue Red deck but didn't get any finishers and flooded out a lot. I am pretty comfortable with how i drafted and I was in the right seat for my colours but there were an unusual amount of blue drafters and red is always very popular of late.

I enjoyed the games and received a promo and came second in the roll for the pity pack provided by the store. When rolling my dice fell on the floor so I just let the other guy have the booster. He opened a Nissa of course and my barren streak continues.
I finally opened a Planeswalker from Origins but it was on Duels of the Planeswalkers rather than in real life. It's Jace so that is still pretty cool and it came in the same pack as a Sphinx's Tutelage just to wet the appetite for new deck shenanigans.
I have dumped Elves for now as it just wasn't getting me any higher than rank 25. My new thopter deck has got me up and slightly over rank 30 all the while being a lot of fun.

I really don't see myself getting out of my drafting slump for a couple of weeks. I'm operating on very little sleep each day which hopefully a scheduled change in medication late this month will remedy. Until then I feel like I'm just surviving rather than really living.
This Sunday there will be a chaos draft featuring some really tasty packs, Champions of Kamigawa, Stronghold, Chronicles, Modern Masters etc. In my current state I can't even gather enthusiasm and anticipation for that.

There are new enemy man lands coming in the new set which are cool and would be great additions to my cube if only I already owned the friendly ones. Sigh.