Round 2: John Chooses
From the moment pairings were placed, I knew this was going to be a good round. We were looking for our table number (13, as it was for the entire tourney) and we saw our opponent “John Chooses.” Of course, this was muddled by the fact that my name is John and Nick thought it meant that I got to pick the opponent, which seemed shady even by Hobbytown standards. As it turned out, the other team had a John as well (it is the most common name in the world after all) and, apparently, he was indecisive in giving their team a moniker.
All of that silliness aside, the body language and tone of this team helped us all feel much more comfortable and welcome. My opponent was playing a removal heavy Rakdos deck. So removal heavy in fact, that he struggled getting creatures on the board. In both games, he killed everything that moved during the early game and then eventually fell to the continuing onslaught of creatures. A poor land draw in one game also hampered his efforts. Despite not having things go his way, my opponent maintained good spirits and sportsmanship throughout our match. I know the same could be said of BoB! and Nick’s opponents as well, because we were joking with each other and with them throughout the entire match. Without question it was the highlight of the day and it really reminded me of what is right and good about games like Magic. It is a common language and reference for two otherwise disparate individuals. You can commiserate together about the cost of Thragtusk and debate the merits of Stab Wound versus Ultimate Price. As a Magic community (hell, as a society in general), we need to remember that all anyone really wants out of life is to feel like they belong. Our opponents, who were regulars at Friday Night Magic and had attended other events at the store, went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Even as BoB! was trying to attack with summoning sick creatures or cast a Sunspire Griffin with nothing but Forests, his opponent gracefully reminded him of the rules of the game. I’m not knocking competitive Magic, because I think the increased coverage and publicity has been great for the game, but I feel on any level, any stage, anywhere, there is a right way to treat people, and until you get that part figured out, a victory holds little weight or consequence. Unbeknownst to them, we are looking at arranging a Cube draft or Team tourney with “John Chooses” at some point in the future.
Round 3: Team Swing for the Win
At 1-1, we felt that winning the next two rounds could move use into the top four spots. I was facing a Golgari deck that focused on abusing Daggerdrome Imp. He also played Dreg Mangler on turn 3 all three games. The first game was a back and forth battle that came down to me swinging with an Azorious Keyrune and a Vassal Soul against his Trestle Troll, while I defended with a big-bottomed Tower Drake and a Voidwielder. Eventually I got the win, but the game was tedious. Game two I got my ass handed to me by a Kurozda Guildmage and a Ogre Jailbreaker. By the time I found some creatures to block, he just intimidated his way to victory. The third game was my turn to unload on my opponent. I found my Dramatic Rescue, Detention Sphere, and Voidwielder at the right time to ruin his scavenging fun. As I recall, Nick lost a tough match this round (his first loss of the tourney) and all the attention shifted to BoB!’s game. They had each won a single game and the winner of the third game would win the round. His opponent got off to a fast start and has him at 2 life with the following board state, two 4/4 slime tokens, a 3/3 centaur token, and a Drudge Beetle. BoB! had to double chump on the attackers the previous turn before paying the activation for Grove of the Guardian, so he was sitting with a single 8/8 token. His opponent had no cards in hand and BoB! was holding an Eyes in the Skies and a Common Bond. In the earlier games, BoB! had used a Druid’s Deliverance, so his opponent was aware of it as a possibility. In talking to him, I tried to sell that by saying, “just wait until he attacks and then you can cast that” and I pointed to Common Bond. BoB! didn’t really get that I was trying to sell the fake, so he said, “wouldn’t I want to cast this (pointing at the Eyes in the Skies” to which I replied, “yeah, that might be an even better plan.” After all that chatter, his opponent was prepared to declare no attackers at all, but his teammates were chiming in with opinions. They started listing off cards that they expected to see, such as Druid’s Deliverance[card] and [card]Trostani’s Judgment, but never mentioned Eyes in the Skies. In the end, they were pretty sure it was Druid’s Deliverance, but couldn’t agree on the best play. The opponent decided to send three creatures, the two 4/4’s and the 3/3. The thought process was that only two creatures would get killed by the fog and that BoB! would die if he didn’t have a trick. I personally felt swinging with the entire team would have been better, since it beats [card[Eyes in the Skies[/card] and Trostani’s Judgment, while having about the same impact versus Druid’s Deliverance. It is important to note that he was at 23 life or more at that point. Anyway, he swings with three creatures and BoB! populates to block and kill the 4/4 tokens with his 8/8 creatures and to chump the 3/3 with his bird. On his turn, BoB! draws a land and attacks with his two vigilant 8/8’s. His opponent chumps with the beetle and takes 8 damage. The opponent’s turn consists of a draw-go. BoB! draws another land and swings with both of his 8/8’s again, but his opponent reacts with Trostani’s Judgment, killing one of the 8/8 tokens and blocking the other with his newly created centaur token. This was another point where I disagreed with the opponents play, as I would have taken the damage and planned to attack with two 3/3’s the following turn. Instead, he had another draw-go turn. BoB! drew his third land in a row and attacked with the 8/8 token. His opponent cast Druid’s Deliverance and replicated the token again, but not blocking this time. On his opponents untap, I tried to sell a threat, talking about BoB!’s land and the right time to play it. His opponent decided it was now or never and swung with both tokens and won the game. It was an intense match and really highlighted the team spirit of the event. Our opponents in this round were good sports and we talked about strategy on that last game after it was completed. This dropped us to 1-2 and out of the prizes. We considered dropping, but I had already submitted our results sheet, indicating we intended to keep playing.
We’re in
Let’s face it, I am not a great player. Which is why I love the team format. Usually when I play I’m stone silent and thoroughly intimidated because I make so many embarrassing play errors. JMatz isn’t kidding when he says I forget about summoning sickness, or tapping creatures when they attack, etc. And in my first round that held true for part of it. When we went up against Team “Pro-Tour du Jour” my opponent was so insulting that I wasn’t having any fun.
…then a switch flipped in my brain. “Wait a minute, how is this any different from playing Draft Beer? Why am I letting this total ASSHAT walk all over me?”
So I started being myself. In other words I didn’t stop talking for the rest of the tournament, and a lot of it was trash-talk. Not even against my opponent, but against myself and my teammates. And man it was awesome. I was playing like shit, and my opponent was getting frustrated not at my play but by what I was saying. My favorite line of the whole day was when I went on a three minute rant about how STUPID keyrunes are, and then when my opponent killed me with one two rounds later I shouted, “I take it all back, keyrunes are the best cards in the format!”
It was all gravy from there. Another high point was when I won the second game of the match and stuck out my hand to shake his and said good games, dude. He got so pissed! I mean, what, all I did was imply that I wasn’t paying attention and just assumed that I won the entire match. He trounced me game three, but I was beyond caring at that point. I was having too much fun!
Having my friends by my side and having them actually able to help me play during the match made me enjoy the game again.
When we went up against “John Chooses” I don’t think any of us on either team were taking the event too seriously. At one point my opponent asked me if I had any swamps in my hand and I said “go fish.” They were the most laid back of the teams, except for us maybe, and I actually felt bad for beating them. These are the types of players I wouldn’t mind losing too because I know they’d be cool about it. I can’t really remember any of the cards played in those first two rounds. As far as I’m concerned they aren’t even what’s important when talking about an inaugural team event.
My third round was a mirror match, and I was outclassed. Yes, he had much better G/W than I did, including that damn enchantment which lets him populate every upkeep. (which by the by, he never got to use since I held back my single enchantment killer every round.) But add on to that that he was just a much better player, and well there you go. Oh, I also got mana-screwed or flooded in every game that match, just sayin’. I still managed to win game 2 and damn near beat him game 3. But I would never have been able to get that close without the advice of JMatz, and of course my constant stream of bullshit chatter and joke-cracking that helps keep me relaxed.
Now, while it was clear that this 3rd group felt we were far inferior players (and they’d be right) they were pretty polite about the whole thing and were actually glad we were there. I can see why, there’s nothing I want more than for team magic to be a regular thing here in Lincoln.
You told me to go fish and then you still wouldn’t let me fish around in my deck to find a swamp…. How rude
I think this showed a lot of growth for BoB!. Usually it isn’t “Go Fish” but “Go F Yourself,” so he showed impressive restraint. That being said, you should have just searched for the Swamp and said it was a trigger from casting Grim Roustabout. He wouldn’t take the time to read and see if you were telling the truth.
I was the removal-heavy Rakdos player Round 2. We had a total blast playing against you guys, and this is what Magic should be like. People having fun. The tournament organizer says they’re going to try some sort of team event again using Gatecrash cards.
We would really enjoy playing with you guys some time. Let us know and we’ll make it work. We have one more friend you guys didn’t meet. He might drool on your cards but he is harmless. He is our Bob, as he often sings poorly at opponents to distract them.
Whoah, hullo there! Hope you all had a happy holidays. I am the eponymous John from round 2. When we registered we had no idea we needed a team name and my teammate Katie threw me under the bus with “I don’t know, John chooses!” Joel the storekeeper of course went with the silly route after that.
All in all I would say we had a good time with the teams we did play against. I can’t remember each round so well anymore (all 4 of them!) but I don’t think we played against any especially scummy or dirtbaggy teams. I even won my two games in the final round against a team whose third person decided not to show (clearly after hearing how well I’d been doing that tournament..)
You guys were definitely the highlight though =] Thanks for keeping things lighthearted and fun, we genuinely had an awesome time playing and losing horrendously to you three. I’m not sure we would have stayed for the whole tournament had we not had such a fun time with your team.
I played against Nick in that round and basically just Arrested big scary monstesr and tapped stuff in a strategic fashion.. my goal was ultimately to allow him to build up a bigger army before finally connecting with a swing. I’d say all in all it went as intended though he allowed himself to get mana flooded a little too much.
Sorry you had a crappy round 1. I don’t actively play at Htown so I’m not sure who you ended up against but I hope to avoid them in any future events =T We are for sure interested in playing with you all again some time though! We just started exploring how the whole MTGO thing works and will probably (definitely) need pointers.
I’ve been thinking about changing my legal name to BYE, so my opponents will misunderstand and fail to report.