Korean World Magic Cup Qualifiers 2014

Fresh from watching most of the M15 Pro Tour coverage thanks to a bout of insomnia the fire is re-stoked.

M15 is a good set and thanks to getting Cone of Flame and then Hoarding Dragon pick one pack one in the last two drafts I have a few wins under the belt and am starting to get ideas above my station.

A new set and the Pro Tour coverage coincided with Hearthstone having a buggy expansion launch which wouldn't grant me access to the new cards but I had to play against them on the ladder. That was just a rub in. 


The details for the World Magic Qualifiers have been released  with the first tournament set for August 17th. The format will be standard and you need to have picked up 200 Planeswalker points in the previous Magic Year (~July 2013 to June 2014). Despite not playing in any big tournaments or doing particularly well I finished with 232 points just from playing a little less than once a week. There will be a beautiful Saint of Geist Traft foil given to each participant.

That pretty foil isn't enough for me to justify travelling to the event though because I have little prospect of doing well. W35,000 won to play constructed feels very steep and the prize structure is usually top heavy. Only serious competitive players can justify that.
I do feel guilty calling distance a problem when all 3 of the qualifiers are in Seoul and the rest of the country is ignored.

Instead of playing at the WMCQ I have set my sights a little lower and will be playing in the upcoming game day in order to get the full art Reclamation Sage promo for my EDH deck. Having only played Standard once this year it probably won't be pretty.

I wish I had more news but I haven't learnt of nay new Magic shops opening in Korea. 

Korean World Magic Qualifiers

#1 

Sunday August 17, 2014 9:00 a.m.

Seodaemun-gu Office Auditorium (5th floor) 
Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 168-6 Yeonhui
Standard
₩ 35,000

#2 
Sunday August 31, 2014 9:00 a.m.
Boramae venues Youth Center  
Seoul Dongjak Shindaebang 2 East 395
Standard
₩ 35,000

#3 
Sunday September 14, 2014 9:00 a.m.
SETEC (Seoul Trade Exhibition Center)
Gangnam-gu, Seoul 514
Standard
₩ 35,000


YOU MUST PRE REGISTER IF YOU WANT TO PLAY. 
There is no on site registration.

One final Conspiracy

Dalmuti's in Suwon will be hosting their last conspiracy draft for some time this Sunday.
The week after that M15 season kicks off with the full spoiler due today.

I have been having a hoot playing conspiracy as there is a lot going on and many different strategies and combos you can try and put together. Feels like you can really go deep when compared to Theros block.

It's not for everyone though because it's multiplayer and more social. If that's not your bag you are not going to enjoy it. If playing magic while drinking beer is your idea of a good time then don't miss it.


I haven't been playing Hearthstone as much recently. I am waiting for the expansion to hit because after hitting the 12 win mark in Arena there doesn't feel like there is much more to accomplish as a FTP (free to play) player right now. Constructed is not bad but I don't have the time or the passion to grind to be ranked Legend.
I still think it's a fantastic game though.

A Magic players guide to Hearthstone Part 1 (E - explicit language)

I held of on trying Hearthstone for a long time.
I don't have an Ipad and don't use my PC for gaming. Hearthstone is now the only game I have installed on it. I previously had Magic Online installed on it but it was hardly used and is now gone.
The other problem was that that there was a problem with my authenticator and it was out of sync so I had to jump through some major hoops to log into Battlenet.

It was worth it.
My first reaction, was to turn the sound way down. My second was "Wizards are lazy as fuck".
Magic Online has been around for 10 or so years and is a piece of shit program wise.  It does feature Magic the Gathering though and you can draft, which is still my favourite thing to do in gaming.

Hearthstones version of draft is a weird hybrid draft sealed thing. It's designed to give you that rush of choosing cards but without the need for 7 people.
It works pretty well but it's doesn't replicate match the fun I get from Magic drafting.
A Magic draft pulls from a bigger pool of cards and there are a lot more possibilities in addition to the social aspect.
Hearthstone like Magic Online can't really replicate that social aspect but you get a mini draft rush that feels pretty similar to what I get when making a pick in Magic. It's not as exciting but it's still good and it is A LOT cheaper and more convenient.
One costs me W18,000 plus travel time and the other is FREE.
I have solved this problem by playing both games. I still love drafting Magic in person and will continue to so, but I don't think I will ever ever EVER re-install Magic Online.

There is one more aspect about a Magic draft that adds a lot of excitement. You get to keep the cards.
In Hearthsone you only keep your prizes so opening a super duper legendary in arena is nowhere near the excitement of  pulling a $20 Planeswalker.

That said I am not exactly using any of my Magic cards post draft except for in some EDH decks. I don't have the time or drive to invest in standard and modern tournaments seem so far away that I'm thinking of cashing out on my modern collection.

On the other hand I am really enjoying playing constructed in Hearthstone (usually to complete the daily quests and earn more gold for arena runs). It feels like that time when I started playing Magic and everyone made their own decks. In the lower ranks I was playing and winning with level one Heroes (so weaker than a starter deck) and just having a good time unlocking cards.
Obviously the better ranks are more like standard with fewer viable deck choices and more expensive decks.

Most beginner guides suggest staying out of arena (sealed/draft) and ranked play until you have played against the A.I a bunch of times and got your heroes up to level 10 but if you have competitive Magic experience you can make the jump A LOT earlier.  I still haven't got round to unlocking all the free cards and am rank 17 in constructed while averaging about 60% in Arena.

So that is the end of part 1 which is basically my first impression of Hearthstone 1 week in. 

Journey into ...

Where is this blog going?

I have a lot of Magic related things I would like to write about with ideas for 20 plus posts. Unfortunately I am working 10 - 12 hour days  and have a young family that requires a lot of attention.
Also ... Hearthstone, I love that game.

I think the most important part of this blog I helping people find the closest Magic store to them and how they can connect with other players in Korea.

When I first wanted to play Magic in Korea the Wizards store finder was hopeless and I had no idea there was a facebok page (there may not have actually been one at that time). I think it's a lot easier now to find a place or people to play with.

Hopefully I can contribute a little more and give back to the game that has given me so much when my work life balance improves.

In the meantime I will probably just write about Hearthstone. Did I mention I love that game?

The challenge

Last Sunday I took the Chromanticore challenge. I feel it’s something people should try at least once and with 3 average picks before it a 4th pick Chromanticore was slammed down. At least one of each basic land was going to be in my final list.

It didn’t just stop with Chromanticore though, in total I drafted 8 rares with 6 of them making the cut. In a vacuum Spear of Heliod and Silent Sentinel were the most powerful rares I drafted; obviously those were the two I did not play. The combined value of those 8 rares was probably about $7.

My deck featured Chromanticore and Plea for Guidance (serving as Chromanticore number two). Perplexing Chimera for both it’s ability to protect Chromanitcore and create ridiculous rules interactions.

A Scourge of Skola Vale came late which to me signalled that green was open and that people just were not in a reading mood that day since they had already passed on the walls of text that are Chromanticore and Perplexing Chimera. With Chromanticore in my pile I wanted to be base green and with a decent early defence. Scourge of Skola Vale ticked both those boxes.

While I then tried to collect as many mana fixers and early blockers as possible the story would be a little lame if the trolling finished there.

In the Theros packs I added Akroan Horse and Colossus of Akros for an Akroanian theme. They were both artifacts and defensive. The horse could bog up the ground and in a deck built to go late the Colossus could serve as ridiculous finisher number 2. I had a couple of Pharika’s Menders in the deck to serve as insurance in case my Satyr Wayfinders binned all my win conditions.

So the deck had a plan but without the two Nessian Asps I managed to get my hands on there would have been significant holes. I am comfortable with a deck that trades in the early game and then slams a Nessian Asp on the table. Adding Chromanticore to that plan was just gravy.

I won 5 games and only lost 2 finishing second with Chromanticore being bestowed quite a lot.

Clearly a work of a special type of genius, the same type of genius that went home forgetting to ask for his prize packs.

Places to play - Papa Board

PAPA Board is located in Changwon in the South of South Korea.
It looks like they take the cafe side of the board game cafe part very seriously and it seems a nice place to play.
As you can see they have a LOT of plastic hammers and are clearly worth a visit if you are in the area.

I have never been there though and can't offer much advice on how to even find the place. According to their directions they are very close to the South East corner big intersection/rotary in the middle of this map. 
If you are near Changwon I would seek out t a little more information before trying to find this place. Hopefully they show up on Wizards store locator soon. 

Finance - What makes a mistake worth money?

Some recent machinations behind the scenes in Korean Magic have shaken things up a bit.

For the first time since I have lived here stores seem allowed to price individually rather than sticking with a fixed price. There is now some decent discounting going on and the price of drafting has actually dropped.
I cant ever recall a regular price decrease in the cost of playing Magic previously.

That said compared to America it is still expensive but that is the case for most consumer products. Seriously Americans pay much less (like half in some cases) for Lego than Europeans and Lego is a European product!

So with my regular drafts going from 18,000 원 to 16,000 원 make no mistake about it, I am feeling pretty content.

Talking of mistakes (fantastic segue) there is no Ashiok like blunder on this crop of Korean cards. Brimaz has some funny wording that is vague about the number of tokens you get but I don't think it is the type of error to get people excited about. The Ashiok blunder was clear and obvious and involved the numbers printed on the card. This Brimaz mistake is more subtle and only accessible to Korean speakers. I don't think this mistake will add anything to the value of Brimaz. That said he will still be an expensive foil because it is a great card and a legend.


As a rule I would say any mistake or difference between versions that can't be explained just by pointing at it is not going to be a factor in value.
The Ashiok mistake was cool and created a visible difference between versions. If you need a linguist to explain why your version of the card is different than Joe's version the purpose of pimping has been defeated.