Well, if you know what Raw Deal is, you know who I am, and that I tend to go off every once in a while. I guess I'm just in relapse because my favorite game has died, but where else will someone listen to me? maybe here...
My name is Mike Bauman..... Actually my name is Mike 'VenoM'
Bauman, but I'll get to that. I work in a store in Rochester, NY called Millennium Games and Hobbies (or just millennium). For about 4 years Millennium was one of the premiere hotbeds for the WWF/E Raw Deal CCG. we consistently placed multiple players in the final rounds of major tournaments across the US and Canada. This culminated in myself winning the largest Raw Deal tournament ever recorded (190 players)....
One year later, Raw Deal ceased to exist. Its creator had decided that the entire game needed an overhaul, and when 'Revolution' came out, everyone abandoned the game.
So now, here I am, trying out something I would consider 'NEW'... Magic. I haven't played The Gathering since I was just a young boy, and someone convinced me that Leviathan was the best creature ever because it was a 10/10. I traded him some odd lands that I didn't use and couldn't understand why he wanted lands, since you could get regular ones in the starter decks. Suffice it to say mine were not 'Regular' lands and I proceded to trade 4 dual lands for a Leviathan.....
I am not a good magic player. I want to emphasize this because I think that Magic is a very skill based game, despite what many people say. I was playing sorceries on my opponent's turn until Odyssey and still didn't understand the stack until Ravnica. I still would not call myself a good player, but I'm working on it.
So this year I made one of my goals to start playing Magic competitively. My main goal was to either win a Grand Prix or Pro Tour Qualifier, or get a money finish at a GP or PT.
My friends, however told me I should attempt to die instead, it would be much less painful. I heard horror stories about Cheating, Scumbaggery, Annoying players, Bad Judges, and General Pissyness. The fact that the owner of Millennium is one Edward G Fear, aka The guy whose face is the Djinn on the Judgement Wishes because he was caught drawing cards from his sideboard sitting in his lap at a PT, did not help to ease my ways. Regardless, I began playtesting for Grand Prix Philly. I was weary of even attempting to drive 6 hours for a Magic event. I was used to big Raw Deal events so it was not the scale of the tourney but rather I was used to Raw Deal being a meeting of Comraderie. Even when you lost at Raw Deal players would shake hands, discuss their mistakes in the game, offer advice, and make general banter. It was the best part of the game, making a new friend each round, asking how they were doing in between rounds. All I could imagine for Magic was a cold hearted killer sitting across the table from me. silently pondering over his sideboard as he plotted my demise. If I could picture a sniveling dog in 1900's racing gear going 'Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee' then he would be right under the table.
Boy, was I wrong!
I want to thank everyone at Philly that I played against.
- Jesse, playing Merfolk, who completely trounced me in game 2 when he activated Double Mutavault with a Reejerey on board
- Robert, who found his Atog unable to attack for 6 turns because he just couldn't fit over the bridge
- Nathan, who got a laugh out of the 2/4 ornithopter that Burn just CAN'T KILL!!!
- Eric, the man with the worst Sphere of Law in exsistence (Not so good when his only white source is the Shockland he just drew at 2 life)
- Donald, who got to read Sulfuric Vortex with two Baloths on board looking for the win
- Julien from Florida who was stuck being 'The guy who wore the same shirt as the fatter guy' all weekend (Julien bought the shirt first)
- Eric Williams, the RIT college guy from our local tournaments that I eliminated (sorry bout that)
- Shawn, hopefully I didn't hurt your rating too bad
- and Nicholas, the man with the 'Stronghold Sideboard Tech (Pyrostatic pillar?) that made me wish I had finished my math classes in College.
Thanks guys. I have a new found respect for the game, and I want to keep playing. it doesn't hurt that I was one point of damage from making day 2 of my frist GP, but if any of the people had been jerks like they were supposed to I wouldn't want to play.
VenoM
Tags: Magic The Gathering Raw Deal
Related to:
Magic: the Gathering
