Magic is a very sordid game. Where people come and play and often come a little too close. I felt this sting at the previous qualifier. Then I felt it again during school.

A very select group of you will remember an article I wrote a few months ago about the psychology of this game. I mentioned that your personal life will have a profound impact on how you play. This often becomes the deciding factor between the winners and the losers.

This past week, a friend of mine died and Catherine (a girl I'm talking to) decided that I was too nice to date. So what did I do? I decided to go to the qualifier.

I opened up a good deck, and received a better one. What did I do? I really did a bad job building it. I saw a lot of strong black cards, such as Vendetta, Seal of Doom, Maggot Therapy, Despoil, Dark Triumph, Bog Smugglers, Thrashing Wumpus, Undertaker, Fen Stalker, and Cateran Enforcer.

Furthermore, the White looked pretty good, with a small rebel chain and decent creatures. Nightwind Glider is what really drew me to the color, along with the Avenger en-Dal. Oh goodness gracious did I make a mistake in using that as a second color.

Red was even better, with Zerapa Minotaur, Spur Grappler, Blaster Mage, Scoria Cat, Blood Oath, Flaming Sword, Task Mage Assembly, and Downhill Charge.

Unfortunately, I was so depressed about what was going on in my social life, I didn't notice that the B/W/U deck that I built was very sub-optimal, containing very weak creatures and very little removal. The B/R deck I could have built would have been a near T8 at least.

Here's what I built after the tournament, and almost kicked myself for not playing:

Zerapa Minotaur
Spur Grappler
Blaster Mage
Scoria Cat
Cateran Persuader
Cateran Enforcer
Fen Stalker
Undertaker
Thrashing Wumpus
Bog Smugglers
Death Charmer
Rampart Crawler
Henge Guardian
Blood Oath
Flaming Sword
Task Mage Assembly
Dark Triumph
Despoil
Seal of Doom
Vendetta
Maggot Therapy
Belbe's Armor
10x Swamp
7x Mountain
Henge of Ramos

This looks much better than what I actually played, and I got a 2-2 record before dropping from the tournament. This deck looks like it could go an easy 4-2 in the six-round tournament that I played. It would get destroyed by white (if they had Pro-black/Pro-Red creatures), but that was a small price to pay. The synergy that this deck displays is insane. I didn't see it because I was too upset about my personal life.

I gathered myself together and registered for the GP: Dallas Trial.
There, I opened up a good deck, and got it back. Would you like to see it?

Devout Witness
Thermal Glider
Pious Warrior
Mine Bearer
Diving Griffin
Gerrard's Irregulars
Lightning Hounds
Cinder Elemental
Fault Riders
Laccolith Warrior
Vine Trellis
Rackling
Chimeric Idol
Cho-Manno's Blessing
Story Circle
Afterlife
Topple
Parallax Wave
Volcanic Wind
Lunge
Panic Attack
Tiger Claws
Wild Might
9x Plains
7x Mountain
2x Forest

Needless to say, I made the T8 pretty easily. These trials only have 10-20 people in them, so I only had to win one round to really make the T8. The draft table was really good, with Texas Guildmages and State Champions sitting across from each other.

I, on the other hand, have never been in a real life draft, with my only Rochester experience being from online drafts that usually crashed.
In Masques I stole some decent black creatures, along with a few rebels to counteract my opponent who was drafting R/G. A Delraich hit the table and ended up in the hands of Don Paul, who was the only other black mage there and was sitting two seats from me. I then was able to draft a Lawbringer, which is huge against some of the mediocre cards my opponent was drafting, and the Haunted Crossroads that I opened up.

Then I had a brain fart. I opened up a Lin-Sivvi in the Nemesis pack and decided not to take it. Instead, I went mono-black for the rest of the draft. I now regret this decision, as rebel birds were being passed around the table and I could have had an amazing deck. In the end, I had a solid beatdown deck, but not enough creatures with toughness greater than one.

That hurt in the Quarters when my opponent laid down a Flowstone Armor and demolished me with it.

Had I kept with the white, I would have had other really cool cards to battle my opponent with, and might have won the tournament.

Don't pity me; I made a situational decision where my inexperience in drafting could really show. This is my fault and I'm not going to blame anybody for it. The problem is that I was not in the correct state of mind to play in a qualifier. I should have stayed home and saved my fifty dollars to go talk to Catherine.

I'm a good player, but I'm not the pro I pretend to be. On another day, I may be sitting at home right now typing out a long tournament report with an invitation to PT: LA.

I'm not because I'm an idiot. However, this has already been established, so I stand to gain nothing from proving it further. I did manage to have a lot of fun while I was there, which is not uncommon for me in a tournament. It is a rare breed of people that show up to a qualifier to win, then just joke around if they go out of contention for the T8. Why not? It is a game after all.
I'm an easygoing type of guy and I don't mind losing at all. It's just frustrating to look back upon a day and think, "Hey, I had a chance to actually win the entire thing!"

Perhaps I'll go slap Catherine in the face and tell her that I'm not nice anymore, then maybe she'll date me.

Perhaps this was a sign saying that Invasion limited is going to be bad for me and I shouldn't even try for the PT: LA.

Perhaps I'm lying to myself to make myself feel better after such an odd week.

I don't know, and I'm sure you don't care.

However, allow me to show you a few of better quotes from the day:

Me: Excuse me, Judge? Does concession go on the stack?
Judge: No, it does not.
Me: You mean, that if my opponent concedes, I cannot respond with a Fireblast to force him to lose legitimately?
Judge: No.
Me: What if I bribe him to take the Fireblast and not concede?
Judge: Then you will receive a match loss for collusion.
Me: Let me get this straight - I can lose if my opponent concedes?

Me: I'll Vendetta your Trenching Steed.
Opponent: You do know that I can deal eighteen damage like that, don't you?
Me: Yeah, but I'll render you without a permanent on the board.
Opponent: This Ramosian Rally could also deal you the nineteenth point of damage and put you at one.
Me: You never know, I could want you to 'Geddon so I can snuff it out in response.
Guy watching match: If you waste two removal spells on a creature like that, you're going to look bad.
Me: Yeah, but it'll make great writing.

(This was in front of a Judge, the illustrious Skye Thomson, and playing against a Texas Guildmage, Rob Lawing. Little did he know that the Rethink and Island in my hand were the reason I made such a ludicrous play.)

Me: I'm having a lot of fun today.
Friend of Opponent: Obviously, if you're willing to lose nineteen life.
Me: Really. Do you like Snuff Out?

Same play, but mind tricks are cool. I didn't have a Snuff.

Guy at counter: Where is my Topdeck? (referring to the magazine)
Me: Where is MY topdeck? I've gotten lands the past four turns!

Rob Lawing: I'm so pathetic, I lost to a Rethink.

Rob Lawing: What is this? You beat me then you drop.
Judge: How broken; he beats Rob and then drops from the tournament.

Until next time,

Jeff Wrobleski
First Idiot of Magic