Yes, I was a participant in a gaming event wearing this. Talk about overdressed for the room... |
Well... today went a LOT differently than I originally planned for this week. A few of the Gophers have been making noises about going up to a Magic: the Gathering (Standard) Tournament that was happening in Schaumburg today for about a month now. I've been hearing about it, and for the entire time, I've wished them luck and hoped that they did well.
Last night at FNM, I actually got to play. As usual, I sucked it up, but I had some fun, as it's nice to get out and play games with our customers instead of just being "the (well-dressed) guy behind the counter". One comment led to another and I wondered about going to the tournament today. I thought about it, and my beautiful wife offered to watch the store for me today so I could. Then the problem came up... ...I didn't have a standard legal deck that didn't suck it up highly.
Enter HighSign and Skribl (my son) into this equation. Before I knew it, HighSign had found a deck list compatible with my play style (VERY aggro) that wouldn't be too difficult to track down cards for. Next thing I know, Skribl is out with his trade binder trading cards heavily with some of the other customers. A few other of the Gophers loaned me cards to finish out the deck (Thanks Rygar, TallMark, and Brah). As we were putting things together, another of our semi-regulars walks in, inquires as to what we are doing, and then says he has a variant of the deck we're trying to put together out in his car. He gets it and lets me take it for a test drive (i.e., a couple of games). Thanks, ZG!
So we get the cards together... I make a minor tweak to the deck itself, and completely replaced the schizophrenic sideboard that the deck came with. We finished the deck at 2AM. I was on the road to Schaumburg by 8:30AM with a deck I had never really played before, and as a below average MtG player. In fact, out of the four of us that went, I would EASILY consider myself the biggest piece of chump-bait as a player.
Amazingly, I took third out of twenty, and brought home half a box of Mirrodin Besieged packs for my efforts. Breyfunk took 7th, Grumpy took 13th, and HighSign got 16th out of 20. Between the four of us, we came out with one pack shy of a box of boosters, plus a few promotional foils.
I was nervous while playing, even when I was doing well, and tried desperately to calm myself down. I attribute it to a combination of lack of sleep and Venom.
Overall, I had a blast. I got some uninterrupted gaming time in, hung out with good friends, and I did way better than expected. Most satisfying to me was the fact that my doing well meant that Skribl's efforts were not a waste, and that his faith in me was well-founded, even when I didn't necessarily have that much faith in myself given the circumstances.
It was a good day, and it showed me that with support and love from my family and friends, I can abide just fine... =)
-- GopherDave
Team Gopher (L to R): HighSign, myself, Breyfunk, and Grumpy outside the doors of Gamers World in Schaumburg. We did okay... =) |
Just for kicks, here's my deck (based of a list HighSign pulled off of Star City Games)...
Maindeck
Creatures
4x Bloodghast
4x Gatekeeper of Malakir
4x Kalastria Highborn
4x Pulse Tracker
2x Vampire Hexmage
4x Vampire Lacerator
3x Viscera Seer
Enchantments
3x Dark Tutelage
Instants
2x Go For the Throat
4x Lightning Bolt
Sorceries
3x Arc Trail
Lands
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Lavaclaw Reaches
2x Marsh Flats
2x Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Vampire Nighthawk
2x Go For the Throat
3x Doom Blade
2x Mimic Vat
2x Mark of Mutiny
:-) Congrats!
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