Two weeks ago I went to my first paper tournament in a long time. I missed all my friends. My wife knew this and planned a nice weekend getaway for the two of us, allowing me to see some familiar faces. My heart wasn't in trying to qualify, and I didn't know if I'd play any Magic.
My priorities have shifted dramatically as I've gotten older. It was pleasant seeing some old faces, but the fire to compete wasn’t there. Recently, my engagement with Magic has been strictly about fun and content, and honestly, at this point, I prefer it that way. I’ve gotten back into streaming, I’m still writing, and I still love this game very much.
I once made sacrifices to be at every tournament, play in every major event, and always be prepared as much as I could muster. These sacrifices are no longer feasible and don’t feel enticing. Maybe it’s the current system, the shift in the design philosophy, just getting older, or likely all these options. However, I did meet some people who watched the stream and followed my content for years.
A friend of mine, a recognized figure in Magic whose name I’ll omit, once told me, “You know, I just don’t care about winning as much anymore. I feel much more comfortable being a coach and ushering in the next generation.” It sounded insane to me at the time, but I get it now.
I played a single LCQ over the weekend. I chose to play Sealed rather than Pioneer, as I knew the format way better. I felt like a sardine crammed into a small space building a deck, stumbling around to get my tokens out of my deck box, and trying to keep the game stats clear in a format with lots of permanents and various counters on those permanents. I didn't know when my round was going to be up since there was no round timer for side events, pairings went up at random, and you had to circle your area or constantly refresh your phone. While the games themselves were fun and I’m glad I played the one event I did, all of the other stuff felt a bit disorganized and cumbersome.
The Sealed LCQs were four rounds. My pool wasn’t great, but it was capable of winning. I had the best rare in the format, Valgavoth’s Onslaught, some removal, and other solid rares, though my filler was kind of bad.
In round three, I played a long, grindy game one and two. Unaware of a round timer and having received no indication when the round ended, I managed to pull out a win with a single card left in my deck in game two after losing a close game in a top-deck war game one. We asked the judge about the remaining time and length of the extension we could receive. He said the round was a solid five minutes over the round timer, and we were going to play game three in sudden death. Sudden death means you win the match if you're the first to deal damage or gain life. Being on the draw, this is obviously a massive disadvantage, but it didn’t bother me much. In fact, I enjoyed the mental exercise of how to build my deck for that on the fly.
I managed to put six one-mana spells in my deck consisting of three one-mana 1/1s, a bounce spell, a pair of Unable to Scream, and 20 basic lands. My first two hands weren’t good enough and consisted of only one mana color. When I went to five, I decided to keep a hand with a two-mana 1/1 unblockable, Silent Hallcreeper, another three- or four-mana spell, and lands. I figured since I was on the draw that it was better to try and peel something with the 1/1 in hand than go to four and hope for the best. Mulling to four was probably correct, but shuffle fatigue got me, and I just hoped I’d get lucky.
My opponent predictably played a two-mana creature, which I matched with my 1/1 unblockable that I could use to block. He followed it with an aura to give it +2+2 and trample on turn three and, for lack of a better term, sent me home. I didn’t feel like starting from scratch, building another deck, and hoping to battle more. It was already four or five o’clock, and my wife was waiting to eat dinner.
I spent the rest of the trip seeing friends and hoping someone busted out early so we could go do something. Instead, all my friends did pretty well, which is great, so my wife and I went to DC for some sightseeing.
The trip was still fun. I did all the non-Magic stuff I love, but I don’t think I’ll do something similar again. Does that mean I’ll never go to a Magic event again? Of course not. I’ll go when my heart is in it, but I learned that I can’t half-ass events—it feels silly to me. I’ll either invest myself or not. If I plan to go, I’ll play the event's format and try-hard it a bit. While shuffling cards and seeing people was fun, I'd have more fun waiting around and spectating at home. I’ve enjoyed playing Magic from the comfort of my own place where the battlefield resolves itself, the table space is infinite, and there’s always another event to immediately jump into with no wait times.
My eye, for now, will be firmly on Limited. I qualified for the Arena Championship Qualifier (ACQ) via Limited ranking on ladder, most of which was on stream, and we have the Arena Open this weekend (as of writing).
I’ll be working live on stream and will write my final thoughts on the format before the Championship, as I will likely focus on Sealed next week and more on Booster draft this week. Arena Open's day one focuses on the Sealed format, and I see it as something I can brute force my way through which will give me some practice for the ACQ. The draft is where the value is for the Open, so I’d like to be ready for this weekend.
After that, Standard has just rotated, and I’m eager to look around, see if it’s fun, and maybe dip my toes into that format. I’m eyeing potentially playing the first “GP” in Atlanta to start off next year and would like to be fully committed and knowledgeable if I go. For now, I will continue to focus on my content and what’s right in front of me. Stay tuned.
Comments