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I was certainly prophetic when I surmised that my day job would eat up my MOL hours, let alone writing about it. Outside my one Lorwyn league (with a deck that didn't get playable till week 3, when it got ridiculous), I haven't really played online much. Hence no infinite goings.
Today's article won't be about said infinite goings, instead I want to talk more about the UR Snow list I posted in the last blog, what I've done with it IRL, and why I think it belongs in the standard pantheon. It's hard not to crow about a list you've gone 10-1-2 (two intentional draws) with in constructed tourneys. I should add another friend went 4-1 and his friend went 5-0 with the list when they tried it out.
First, the list:
UR Snow
12 Snow-Covered Island
6 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Scrying Sheets
3 Shivan Reef
4 Incinerate
2 Aeon Chronicler
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Chandra Nalaar
4 Coldsteel Heart
4 Cryptic Command
2 Jace Beleren
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot
4 Skred
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
Sideboard
3 Persuasion
1 Aeon Chronicler
3 Faerie Trickery
4 Flashfreeze
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
3 Pyroclasm
If you saw the last list, or paid any attention, you'll notice a few differences. Trickbind is gone from the board, since D-storm was sort of a flash in the pan in our area, whereas Goblins and Faeries get played. Online, probably switch the two.
Now, the deck looks like an odd collection of 4s and 2s, and, in a way, it is. But as much as I've tried to fiddle with the numbers, I keep coming back to the 4s and 2s. Let's break it down.
4 Skred
The best removal in Standard, bar none. Tarmogoyf? Whatever. Ironfoot? Please. Hellkite? Well, sucks that I took 5, but it ends there. One red, one question asked (how much snow do you have?)
4 Incinerate
Skred Red only touched on the control capabilities of this card. The biggest drawbacks to blue decks is they have problems with small guys that blow through Desert or aren't always creatures (like Treetop Villiage). Not anymore! Planeswalker slip through? Incinerate can often handle it. Oona's Prowler? Gone. Small Goyf? Dead. Often goes to the head for the last few points.
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Cryptic Command
2 Venser Shaper Savant
The best reasons to play Blue right now. These, along with the two red cards above, are non negotiable. As is...
4 Coldsteel Heart
I tried 3, but hitting RR for Chandra and UUU for Cryptic is difficult without them. Plus, turn 3 Venser or turn 4 Teferi/Chronic/Chandra are all gangbusters.
2 Teferi
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Jace Beleren
The iffy spots. They all do so much game one, but Teferi, Sower and Jace, in that order, are almost always the first cards to come out for game two. It's likely these numbers should be different, but I don't want more Sowers (too fragile) more Jaces (too legendary, too fragile, don't impact the board) or more Teferi (too legendary, too UUU). But fewere? I'm loathe to drop any of them to zero, and one is just dumb.
2 Aeon Chronicler
Expensive for a deck with no chargelands and only 28 sources, but i still want to fit in a 3rd somehow, probably from the above list.
2 Chandra
So, so good. Basically, this deck took all the best parts of Snow Red (Sheets, Skred, Chandra) and added blue, because blue rocks. Chandra I could see at 3 at some point, but it would probably be replacing Teferi for cost considerations.
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot
Possibly the best card in the deck, if not the best creature in standard. Eyeblight's ending and Skred kill it...and nothing else. It stops BG kold, minus Goyf. He's the reason this deck works. Never go to 3 here.
Matchups
I'm on the christmas clock, so I'll do this quickly now and elaborate later.
Mannequinn - 90% ish...this is a joke. Their cards don't impact you in any way. Shriekmaw is uselss. Their best chance is a big Profane Command. That's it. Litterally.
SB: -2 Teferi, -2 Sower (The Shriekmaw targets) + 1 Chronic + 3 Tricker (for their Shriekmaws and Commands)
BG - 50% ish...I'm still undecided how close this is, but it's quite draw dependent. Do they have Eyeblight's Ending? Does Skred find a Goyf? I'm seriously contemplating adding Steel Golem to the board as Ironfoot 5-6, because Ironfoot is that key in this match.
SB: Still figuring that out...
Dragonstorm - 70% ish...this was higher with Trickbind in the board (read: unlosable), but because of Venser, Teferi, and Cryptic, it's really, really hard for them to win. I've never dropped a game, though I'm sure better players could have changed that.
SB: -4 Ironfoot, -4 Incinerate -2 Sower +1 Teferi, +4 Flashfreeze, +3 Faerie Trickery, +2 Persuasion
Faeries - 65% ish...sometimes they just out-tempo you, but then they're still attacking with 1/1s and 2/1s. Scion is easy to kill, and Pyroclasm after board makes things academic. If you ever land a Chandra, they really can't win. Sowers are actually really good here, especially when stealing Scion of Oona.
SB: -3 Ironfoot, +3 Pyroclasm
Guile/Pickles/anything with Rune Snages - 20% ish...here's where the trade-off is. While it gets difficult for them to keep a win condition on the table, it's even harder for you. Thankfully, these aren't particularly popular decks at the moment.
(As I'm re-visiting this article I just beat a mono-blue deck round one of an 8-man, and then lost to another in the 2nd round)
SB: Still working on that...
I've actually managed to play a few times this week without writing about it. My job keeps me busy enough that I have been able to squeeze in the two hours needed to draft. Over the course of the week, unrecorded, I've purchased Wrath of God to make Cheon's UW pickles list, then re-sold them when I realized the deck was pretty dissapointing. I lost three queues in a row before finally scrapping the deck.
42.75-12 = 30.75
Still, I couldn't get over a lot of the blue cards. I want to play with Visions, Teferis, Chronics, Jace, Cryptic Commands and Vensers. I also kept going back to Scrying Sheets. So, I just kind of randomly threw together a bunch of cards I loved to play with. When it proved to be playable, I tweaked it a bit and came up with this:
UR Snow
4 Incinerate
12 Snow-Covered Island
8 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Aeon Chronicler
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Chandra Nalaar
3 Coldsteel Heart
4 Cryptic Command
2 Jace Beleren
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot
3 Scrying Sheets
4 Skred
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Urza's Factory
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
Sideboard
3 Persuasion
1 Aeon Chronicler
3 Faerie Trickery
4 Flashfreeze
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
3 Trickbind
Two constructed states ago UR Snow was all the rage. Did well for a while, then dropped off the face of the earth when aggro picked up. Now that the RG decks have lost a turn or two, and burn is worse, the meta is ripe for this kind of control, one that can go small or big.
Now, really, there should probably be 4 Shivan Reef in there as well. And the SB should have Molten Disaster, but all of those cost about 5 tickets each online, so they don't quite merit additions just yet.
The best part about the deck is that it has an excellent matchup against aggro without having to dip into life-gain, thanks to all the cheap burn and Chandra, as well as a rediculously one-sided matchup against Mannequin, which can't get through Ironfoot and can't keep relevant threats on the board. Even better, man lands, once a huge problem for UW or Guile, are easily handled by Skred or Incinerate.
Anyway, while doing some laundry, I actually had enough time to take down two drafts and two constructed queues.
Const Que #1
This one financed the rest of the day's festivities.
Round 1 vs. UB Faeries
Faeries is a good matchup here. All of my burn kills all of their dudes, Chandra is a nightmare for them, and their clock is painfully slow. Meanwhile, I outdraw them like nobody's business. That's pretty much how this match went. I won the 1st and 3rd and lost the 2nd because I had mana problems. Timely burn on his Scions the key.
Round 2 vs. Dragonstorm
I hate that this deck is back. It's necessitated the Trickbinds in the sideboard and made the Flashfreezes all-stars. This one, though, was an odd one that ran New Benalia for more Scry action. On the turn when his Bloom comes into play, I CC to counter it and bounce his charge land with 3 counters on it. that's enough to keep him from going off that turn. The next turn I bounce his other charge land with another CC and draw into Venser. I keep him off enough mana to do anything significant, and beat down with Ironfoot. In the second, he can't do much about all my Trickeries, Trickbinds and Flashfreezes, and I win without much difficulty.
I split the finals 30.75 + 9 = 39.75
The Drafts
So I took the winnings and drafted a 4-3-2-2 and pulled into a decent RW Giant deck. I've found myself drafting RW giants more and more, as it's quite powerful, has scores of removal, great high-end creatures and is criminally underdrafted. I won two quick ones against a BGR mishmash thanks largely to Changeling Titan in both games. Then I took the 2nd round with Thundercloud Shaman against a Faerie deck, once tutoring for it with a Harbinger, once raw-dogging it. Each game I mulled to 5 as well, but still won thanks to Big Thunders. Oddly enough, both of my finals matches hinged on Cloudgoat Ranger, who flew over a multitude of GW Kithkin to score 4 packs.
39.75 + 2 = 41.75
I took those winnings and jumped back in a draft...where I lost the first round with an effective UG Elf/Merfolk deck. However, without any card draw, I succumbed to mana flood in games two and three after utterly dominating him in the first. Not much more to say...he openly admitted he was making mistakes left and right, but it never mattered when my land to spell ration was upwards of 8:1
41.75 - 15 = 26.75
Ok, back to the safer confines of constructed
Constructed #2
Round 1 vs. Dragonstorm
He mulled to five and only seriously threatened once. When he tried to hit 7 damage for the Spinerock (by this time I had a full board), I simply CCed the last burn spell and he scooped. Game two was much closer, but once again I kept hinm off Knoll damage with Flashfreeze. When he tried a desperation Hellkite by draining his charge lands and tapping out (I was swinging for lethal with a Chronic and a factory token) I calmly Trickbound the CIP 5 damage and then tapped a single mountain to Skred the 8-mana dragon. He scooped after that.
Round 2 vs. UGwb Blink
Cloudskate is a really slow clock...and it's all he could ever must against me. These games were long, but not really epic. I outdrew him, burned his guys in response to Blink and eventually won with Ironfoot. Both times he kept coming at me with evoked Mournwhelks and attacking Riftwings, but even the combination of those two was too slow. He got me as low as 6, but never really threatened.
I split the finals
26.75 + 9 = 35.75
Alright, it's way late (I'm old now, remember?), so I appologize for the uber-quick game logs. I 4-1ed an FNM with an earlier draft of UR snow (losing only to mana issues) and will bring it to a City Champs event tomorrow. I'll keep you all updated.
If it seems like I've been writing more this week without having an article...well, it's not entirely acurate. Most weeks I've done an article I've tried to bring at least three-ish tournaments. This will be my third GI Blog since I stopped writing.
Mostly, I've had the time. But behind that is the fact that I've tried to get in a few tourneys while going through the trials of moving over state lines, knowing I'll likely be without internet for some period, in addition to moving in and learning a new job. GI may be hibernating for a bit.
However, in the meantime, I managed to jump back into a standard 8-man with snow blink. Tournaments like this one are exactly why constructed is soooo much more profitable (if less fun).
Round 1 vs. UR something
Not really sure how to classify it. It was aggro-ish, but I never saw any Marauders. He had Psionic Blast and Incinerate, but also Sower of Temptation. It was strange. He beat me game one with trips Blast plus a Gargadon. He made a very heads up play when going all in with Gargs by floating mana to make my Rune Snag worthless. However, I took game two with Trips Riftwatchers, which he scooped to. Then I took the third game with third turn Bottle Gnomes (which died to Snow Yeti Man), then Blinked an Evoked Shriekmaw to kill Yeti Man and Magus of the Scroll. I followed that up with Mulldrifter and a key Grim Harvest. I won when I Remove Souled his all-in Gargadon.
And that's how I won the tournament.
Not quite, but sorta.
Round 2 vs. GR Snow
At any rate, all he did was play some 0/1 goyfs while a Cloudskate unsuspended. Eventually he was forced to Pyroclasm a Venser, Cloudskate and his own two Goyfs. I bounced and attacked ihs Chandra a few times, and bounced his Stuffy once. When he cast a second Chandra and aimed it at his Stuff, I blinked a Venser and bounced Stuffy. In response, he scooped. For the whole match.
"gg I gotta go."
Sweet.
So I split the finals. Go me.
And that's why standard 8-man queues rock.
I sold the winnings for 13, giving me 19.75 + 13 - 4 = 28.75
Then, since I had the time, for probably the last time...in a long time...I thought I'd play a few times...but only this time...
Anyway, another 8-man.
Round 1 vs BG Rock-ish
No real other way to describe it. He had goyfs and shriekmaw and Thoughtseize and stuff...and Loxodon Warhammer. I couldn't deal with a Warhammered Shreikmaw, so I lost. Actually, I think I missassigned my role and lost because I didn't realize how much I could have out-tempoed him. He crushed me in two straight.
28.75 - 4 = 24.75
Not to go out like a punk, I jump into another 8-man about to fire off.
Round 1 vs. Mono-Red Stuff
No green for this guy. Which means not a chance in heck. He never really came close. Martyrs were worthless game one as I drew all four Mulldrifters, plus two Cloudskates off all those cards. Multiple blinks easily helped me out draw and easily out-damage the mono-red deck (Bill Stark, what hath you wrought?) The second game was mostly me keeping Stuffy and Chandra from ever really being relevant, and just swinging with dudes. His life went from 20-0 in chunks of two, with the final blow delivered by a Riftwatcher.
Round 2 vs Mono Black Rack
After a lengthy break due to server crash, I'm up and playing the first person in a queue ever to recognize my online name. Penultimatedoom deserves mention as a really cool opponent. I figure I mention the jerks, I should mention the nice ones too...even wished me luck with the new job.
Anyway, I make a few mistakes in the first game, but so does he. In the end, I die to some Rack damage and a Korlash in there. Games two and three were mostly the same. He can't deal with my enchantments (Moat and O-Ring) and I peck away at him through the air. Riftwatchers keep my life total sky high (I ended the last game around 39 life) and Grim Harvest makes sure they keep coming back. The Riftwatchers were key in this match, as they kept Hippies at bay (damn dirty hippies! stay off my lawn!), kept my life above Rack-level and swung over for the damage. With Grim Harvest, the vanishing was more of an advantage than a disadvantage.
I split in the finals again. 24.75 - 4 + 13 = 33.75
Thus ends the special "live" blog...which was more of a wait for the server to come up blog.
This'll likely be the last one for a while, as I pack up tomorrow and move to my internet-less apartment on Thursday. Those of you in Iowa, I'll see you at FNM. Those of you elsewhere...
...till then.
Edit: Rather than add a whole 'nother blog, my very, very last standard 8-man before moving went as such (yet another example of why I love 8-mans)
Round 1 vs. Br 10th Ed Starter Deck
Sorta a starter deck. I knew I had it when he dropped swamp turn one followed by Vampire Bats. There were Severed Legions and Sould Feasts and other "stuff." The only red card I saw was a Bloodrock Cyclops. Anyway, I won. I felt bad for the guy...he was 1600, so this was obviously his first foray.
Round 2 vs. Mono Black Aggro
I just never win this match game one. He has 2/2 shadow guys and I have...no way to permanently handle them. He rolled me when Bad Moon hit and I scoope don turn 4. However, as the mono black match goes games 2 and 3, I just won because he can't handle my enchantments. What's more, I LIKE when they play 1 for 1 discard like Thoughtseize. It's one fewer creature, it's an early turn spent not affecting the board, and I have so many answers available to me, that he can't nab them all. I had no problem scooping game one, because games two and three seemed inevitable. There were some issues with Phobian Phantasm...but not "I'm gonna lose" issues...more like "I should deal with that in the next five turns or I may have to really start trying" problems. Anyway, I won 2 and 3.
So I split the finals. 33.75 + 9 = 42.75
P.S. Recall now my last article comment about already being essentially infinite...yup...here's why.
I love people who can't take losing. Love it. I mean, I'm really not that good. Those of you who have talked to me online or know me in person know my rating hovers around mediocre.
So when someone with a higher rating berates me after losing, I go along with it. Never, however, have I had someone stalk me after a 4-3-2-2...
8:40 ghpar4: u just drew well
8:40 ghpar4: gw is terrible arhitect
8:40 Jack10473: seems i did fine
8:41 ghpar4: u justr drew insane
8:41 ghpar4: thats why your 1700
8:41 ghpar4: and am 1800
8:41 Jack10473: lol
8:41 Jack10473: sure man
8:41 Jack10473: a higher rating doesn't give you an auto win
8:42 ghpar4: yeah
8:42 ghpar4: lucks involved
8:43 Jack10473: my deck was better, get over it
8:43 Jack10473: my draws were insane because my deck was insane
8:44 ghpar4: meh
8:44 Jack10473: maybe you're a better player, maybe not
8:44 ghpar4: this your first win ever
8:44 Jack10473: doesn't really matter
8:44 Jack10473: lol
8:44 Jack10473: yeah
8:44 Jack10473: first ever
8:44 ghpar4: like who cares
8:44 Jack10473: yay me
8:44 ghpar4: u got me
8:44 Jack10473: you're the one who started talking about it
8:44 ghpar4: u will beat me 20percent of the time
8:44 Jack10473: go tell your mom, i'm sure she cares
8:45 ghpar4: its not a big deal
8:45 ghpar4: every dog has his day
8:45 ghpar4: thats all am saying
8:45 ghpar4: u had yours
8:46 Jack10473: but why say it at all?
8:46 Jack10473: is it because no one loves you?
8:46 Jack10473: i love you
8:46 Jack10473: we should be friends
8:46 ghpar4: u have unresolvd issues
8:46 Jack10473: says the guy who felt so strongly about a game in a 4-3-2-2 that he
had to keep talking about it
8:47 ghpar4: lol
8:47 ghpar4: just said congrats
8:47 ghpar4: seems your very proud to win
8:47 ghpar4: maybe best win ever
8:47 Jack10473: yeah...that's why i messaged you after the game was over
8:47 Jack10473: oh
8:47 Jack10473: wait
8:47 Jack10473: that was you
8:48 ghpar4: u cant get enough can u
8:48 ghpar4: well gl in lige
8:48 ghpar4: life
8:48 ghpar4: l8r
8:48 Jack10473: good luck in grammar
8:48 ghpar4: man u people make me sick
8:48 ghpar4: n personality
8:48 ghpar4: thats u
8:48 Jack10473: you got me
8:48 ghpar4: so many on modo
8:48 ghpar4: n personality
8:49 Jack10473: cause i'm the one who started talking smack
8:49 Jack10473: you're just giving me fuel, guy
8:49 ghpar4: u cant even trash talk
8:49 ghpar4: u got nothing
8:49 ghpar4: am not loved
8:49 Jack10473: i won
8:49 ghpar4: wow
8:49 ghpar4 is currently drafting and cannot reply to chats.
Did I egg him on? Absolutely. The whole time he was talking, all I could think about was getting it posted on here. I plan on exposing each and every person who feels the need to talk about a game in this way. It's fine if you feel you were beat by luck/shuffler/misclick...but, really...do you think you'll find sympathy with your opponent? What exactly are you trying to accomplish?
It started in the first game of the finals when he told me I drew insane...and then did so again in the second game.
The thing is, my deck was insane. I was Gw, an archetype I normally hate, but that's because I don't like Kithkin. The only Kithkin I had in my deck came out of a Cloudgoat Ranger. Basically, I got the nuts Elves plus Crib Swap, Ranger, Neck Snap, O-Ring and Purity. Seems good enough for white, right?
1 Changeling Titan
1 Dauntless Dourbark
2 Elvish Branchbender
1 Immaculate Magistrate
2 Jagged-Scar Archers
1 Kithkin Mourncaller
2 Leaf Gilder
2 Lys Alana Huntmaster
1 Nath's Elite
1 Woodland Changeling
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Purity
1 Fertile Ground
1 Fistful of Force
1 Gilt-Leaf Ambush
1 Lace with Moonglove
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Crib Swap
1 Neck Snap
10 Forest
7 Plains
SB...who cares? I never used it.
Nutty good, right? No shaft at all, a few bombs, tons of synergy. I couldn't help but draw insanely. By the way, he made the first insane comment shortly after he cast Austere Command.
Anyway, it's tough to talk about the rounds because they've disabled replays, but here's what I recall.
Round one vs. RW kithkin
He made some dudes, I made some Huntmasters. He wasn't very good, as I had 12 elves in play at one point and he used Moonglove Extract on a 1/1 rather than a Branchbender, who then sent a very angry Forest across the way. In the second game, I read his Neck Snap and championed Cloudgoat Ranger rather than swing with it. When he Snapped the Titan, Ranger came in again and brought friends.
Round two vs. BR Giants
His deck was pretty slow, but packed a punch. Unfortunately for him, mine packed a punch and was fast. A Chandra almost turned things around for him, but eventually Purity ruled the sky. The second game was very close and very interesting. I championed out Titan on turn 4 and basically kept swinging with him. My opponent was trying to kill me via Fodder Launch but just never quite got there. He flashed Lilliana at the end as well, but the Titan was already crashing for the win by then. I should mention he was very cool about getting bashed, and complimented the deck on how insane it was.
Round 3 vs. ghpar4 and his Merfolks
Honesly, I barely recall the match. I had upwards of 9 or so elves ont he table when he Austere Commanded, and, since I kinda expected it, I had Cloudgoat in reserve. In the second, I got Kithkin Mourncaller going, and he ate some of my suicidal tokens, drawing me into Purity, and, eventually, the game. That's when the ranting started...
As for the infinite goings, I was at 18.75, this goes +1, (packs are worth about 3 apiece now is all), so it's only 19.75. Haven't had a chance to do any standard lately, but I'll get back to it soon. I think.
Till then.
Well, now that I've got my computer back, I might as well draft, amirite?
That's right, that's what counts as an intro when I'm blogging instead of writing an article. It's the small perks.
So I first-pick Sower of Temptation and then don't see much after that. But I do grab some Fertile Grounds and try out the 5-color UGxxx deck. I splash black for some reanimation, white for Oblivion Ring and...no red. I have Scion of Oona and Faerie Harbinger to go with the Sower. It's not bad, but not great. I figured I'd lose to any competent player.
Round 1 vs. BR Goblins
Another "man your deck is awful" player. Love beating these guys. I won the first game because he misplayed, plain and simple. Naturally, he felt the need to berate me for topdecking.
Here's the situation. Now, in all fairness, I did topdeck. I pulled Sower, then Scion, then Footbottom Feast when I needed each of them. But here was the misplay. From clashes and Pilferers, I know he's got Final Revel and Bogart Mob in his hand. He has a 1/1 goblin and the 3/3 Pilferers. I Sower some guy on my turn and pass. He thinks on his turn, then passes. I don't know what his 3rd card is. I untap, draw Scion and pass. On his turn, he goes to Lash Out my Sower, and I respond with Scion. He should have played Revel (I had several x/2s in play). Instead he doesn't have enough mana. I draw Feast, play it to get back Mournwhelk and wipe his hand and win the game.
He takes game two and I win a close game three thanks to life gain from that Giant that makes Kithkin and sacs them for life. He responds with the following gem.
12:56 JBologna: wow
12:57 JBologna: pile
12:57 JBologna has conceded from the game.
Loser says what?
Anyway, on to round two.
Round two (see) vs. UW Merfolk
He got up to 41 using two Dousers and a Judge. Sower took Judge, Fallowsage gave me a personal Howling Mine, and both of us made about 80 mistakes. Still, by outdrawing him by 8 cards, I actually was in position to win when he just stopped playing. I didn't really understand. His explanation?
His roomate's friend had come into the room. She was female. Thus, he had to close MOL.
Yup. He had to close it because a girl was in the room.
Anyway, thanks to a Fist of Force and about 80 creatures on the table, I was actually going to kill him, so I didn't feel so bad when he scooped in game two with under five minutes left.
Round 3 vs. Faeries
I got rolled.
20.75 - 2 tickets = 18,75 but plus one Sower of Temptation.
It'll do.
Once I get my deck re-built, I'll be back at some sporadic standard.
Till then.
As my time out east winds down, I find myself excited to return to the store I consider my home away from home in Iowa City. If there's one thing I've learned while out here, it's that I didn't know just how good I had it, with two top-notch stores within 30 minutes of where I lived. The stores in question, Critical Hit Games in Coralville (same thing as Iowa City, basically) and Battlezone Games in Hiawatha (same thing as Cedar Rapids, basically) are, quite simply, incredible places to play. Critical Hit and Battlezone both have plenty of gaming space, and regularly attract FNM crowds of 25-35. Every week. Not only that, but the owners/operators/managers are very hands on and always willing...make that excited...to sit down and play a game with you. One of the last things I did before leaving Iowa was learn to play this game about High School cliques that was a blast. Not only did Crit Hit's owner sit down and teach us to play simply because we asked, but he sold me the open demo game at a discount because I wasn't going to be in town for the games actual release. Even more important is that the community surrounding those stores is beyond welcoming. The players, the owners, and everything about the stores are top notch. They don't even smell (the store, I mean...)! I thought that was the norm. I had been to other stores in Minnesota that were equally as spacious (or more so) and equally as clean and welcoming. True I had been to my fair share of dumps, but I wasn't prepared for how difficult it was to find a good store in other areas. I won't name any names, but I've come across some dumps out in the DC metro area. Part of the problem is that there are so few gaming stores in the first place. During my last two DC stints (I'm an intern machine!), Wizards still had their own store open at the Pentagon City Mall, right off the metro. It was pretty perfect and always had a good crowd for local tournaments. Since they left, that void has only been marginally filled. There are very few stores within metro/driving distance, and those that are don't compare with what I had in Iowa. Don't get me wrong, the east coast is home to some of the premier gaming stores in the country. Star City is in Virginia (albeit not FNM close to the DC area) and Dreamwizards is in Maryland, about a 20 walk from a metro stop. Great places to play, all, but also ponderously far from DC proper. And though I may be wrong about this, I believe the district itself actually has no gaming stores to speak of at all (wouldn't be surprised). So as my time winds down out here and I look forward to playing again with all the Iowans and at two of the best gaming stores you'll ever find. So basically, this is my oh-so-emo love song to the gaming stores that make a community. -Blake P.S. If you're ever in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area, stop by Critical Hit or Battlezone Games no matter what game you play. Tell them I sent you (I always wanted to say that).
Going Blogging Goes Casual From time to time, when a topic fits outside the realm of Going Inifinite, I'll take the time out from my "busy" work day (and I use that term loosely on some days) to cover things that pop up here and there. Today I have to rant and rave a little bit about the casual rooms on Magic Online. It'll be a controlled rant, however, with, really, very little raving. Serious tournament players have this stigma about them. That they're anti-social, belligerent, jerky, homicidal maniacs who blow their stack when they lose a game to someone of lesser skill.
I myself have witnessed this on numerous occasions, the most entertaining being an instance where a player in the final round of a tournament literally threw his (constructed...so not cheap) deck against a wall and then demanded his money back. All because he lost to a player who was, shall we say, not very good, but, um, overly enthusiastic about winning. Both players proved themselves to be little more than immature brats pretending to be sociable creatures. Most have learned to accept this sort of behavior, not as acceptable per se, but as expected out of a group of hyper-competitive people. When the juices are flowing, emotions are going to rise. It's still worthy of admonishment, but somewhat understandable at least.
However, I've found this odd reversal of sorts in the online casual room, a sort of set of ground rules for casual players that I casually stumbled upon while killing time playing, well, casually. I've grown tired of "testing" different "variations" of TSB decks in the tournament practice room, and my internet connection (which is "borrowed") while at home is too iffy to risk playing in queues. As such, I decided to kill time playing in the casual room with a deck that was, in every sense of the word, casual. Here's what it looks like...it's actually a blast to play, but nowhere near actually competitive, despite winning maybe 70-80 percent of the time in the casual room.
7-Card Stud 3 Aeon Chroniclers 4 Coiling Oracle 4 Carven Caryatid 3 Stampeding Wildebeest 4 Thieving Magpie 3 Vesuvan Shapeshifter 4 Search for Tomorrows 4 Repeal 2 Tidings 4 Incinerate 1 Blaze 4 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Mountain 10 Forest 9 Island Basically, the idea is that just about everything cantrips in some way or somehow packs your hand. You win by swining with big Chronics or Wildebeest...or, alternatively Blaze. An old iteration had things like Walk the Aeons and Gaea's Blessing so that, if you drew your whole deck (which happens) you could go infinite (see what I did there?). Only 6 rares (3 Chronic, 3 Shifter), no counters, no LD, little removal, no duals. The very definition of a fun, casual deck. I let people play their game and I play mine, and somehow I still managed to rankle some people because of my rating, as if there's some rule that says you can't play casually if your rating isn't sub-1600. Take the instance that spawned this blog. I was playing the above deck as "Standard" (obviously) and was paired against HeWhoShallRemainNameless (not really his name). With him on the play I suspended a turn 1 Search and did nothing until turn 3, when I played a Thieving Magpie. My opponent suspended turn 2 and 3 Riftwing Cloudskates, but started missing land drops, stuck on two islands. The turn after I played Magpie, he drew for the turn, commented on getting land screwed and asked to adjourn the game, despite the Cloudskates likely giving him ample time to catch back up. Here's where I must have stepped on some rule I wasn't aware of. When the little window popped up and said "Do you want to adjourn this game and resume later," or whatever it says, I clicked no. I didn't want to resume the game later. I wanted to play now or move on to another game. My opponent then conceded and left the game while my slow computer struggled to catch up, apparently unable to handle more than one command at a time. All that's fine and dandy. But then I get the following message (with the grammar issues that gave away my opponent as a likely 15-year-old removed): "nice rating and way to be a jerk with the gg and all that" My only plausible response was a very confused "Huh?" Naturally, instead of the message being sent, I get the red-line of auto response doom "Your message was not sent because the user is ignoring you." Huh? Apparently, I was supposed to say "GG" after our non-game that wasn't good in any sense of the word, for either player. And, apparently my rating (his was sub-1600 for both limited and constructed) made me, at least in part, a target. Or maybe it was because I refused to adjourn a meaningless game, causing him to blemish his non-record with a concession. I'm really not sure. And this sort of thing happens all the time. Even moments before I received my message of red-line doom, another player in the casual room was equally bemused "Why do people spam you and then block you?" he wondered, "I don't get it." I don't either. I get that there are certain protocols in the casual room that don't hold in tournament queues. I get that you're not supposed to play fancy decks, I get that money is looked down upon, I get that certain strategies (counterspells, land destruction, discard, etc) are looked down upon. The casual room is to Magic Online what socialism is to economic systems...everyone should be equal and the rich don't belong. But since when did casual players become jerks about being nice? And how can you seek out an alternative area that supports a certain type of play, but look down on the like-minded simply because they happen to have had tournament success? I get that you don't want some constructed master bringing his BU Teferi control deck to bash your 8-card combo, but why attack those who bring their 8-card combo just because they won with Teferi elsewhere? In the end, the sad part is that this entire piece isn't anything new. It's just a variation of the old "why are people jerks on the internet" adage. The unfortunate truth is that, casual or competitive, whether playing online or just talking on a message board, some people are always going to be jerks when sitting in front of a keyboard. It's just a little discerning when that sort of attitude comes from the "fun" crowd. -Blake
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