Putting the band back together

Magic branding is a thing apparently. With all the writing and streaming and videos and stuff going on, your name is your brand. With this in mind, I've decided to restart my blog. I don't have any lofty goals for my brand. I'm not trying to make a living streaming. I'm not trying to get my name out there to one day get an R&D job. I'm not trying to become "Magic Famous". Now that I'm writing articles on a biweekly basis, and occasionally talking into the din of the twitter-verse hoping to be heard, I'm going to use the blog as an extension of my "brand" to bring you more!

What I envision this blog will contain:

Tournament reports from smaller tournaments or less important tournaments. I like to write these, but most people don't like reading them, so I want to avoid putting them into my "legit" articles.

Quick thoughts about decks in various degrees of testing and formats. See it here first, but don't expect an in depth look.

Humorous / Insightful stuff that's too long to go on twitter. I want to start answering the Quick Interview questions from the big tournaments over the weekend on a personal basis. I'll post that kind of stuff here.


It's going to be a work in progress. Let me know what you like and what you don't like.

Read my articles here: http://www.asgardgames.net/

Follow me on twitter: @ceciliajupe

Power and Consistency in Sealed Deck Construction

[Editor's Note: This was originally published on the Asgard Games website in September 2012. Sharing here for archival purposes.]

                Asgard Games is hosting a sealed deck Grand Prix Trial for GP San Jose on September 22. Included in the prize for the winner is a plane ticket to the Grand Prix itself! To get you ready for the tournament, I’m going to talk about how I approach sealed deck building. During Innistrad block, my sealed deck record over 80% at PTQs and Grand Prix, so I may know a thing or two.

                Many things change from set to set when it comes to sealed deck building. The number of lands to play, number of colors to play, and whether to play first or draw first are all dependent on the sealed environment. In Ravnica (and most likely in the upcoming Return to Ravnica), 3 color was the low number of colors played, but in Shadowmoor you could occasionally get a mono-colored deck. Zendikar block necessitated a play first strategy, and many old-timers can tell you about playing 16 or fewer lands in Mirrodin sealed. But since the upcoming GPT is M13, we will focus on that.

                Core set tempo has increased with the last few sets, but I still think the nature of sealed means you should be choosing to draw first. There are always exceptions to be mindful of, but as a general case I would say draw first. Land counts should be between 16-18 mana sources (usually 17). I also would almost always try to play two colors, and two colors only. I’ll go over the exceptions to these rules to help you better understand the reasoning behind the rules themselves, and give you the tools to identify times you shouldn’t be following the rules.

When should you play first?

·         Play first if your mana curve is very low AND aggressive. A low curve defensive strategy is always better on the draw, even in draft. When considering if it’s right to play first, be mindful of mulligans. If your deck can mulligan to six and still operate on only 2 or 3 lands, it’s probably ok to play first. The way I figure this is a simple count of cards that cost 4 or more mana. If over half my cards cost 4 or more, I’m more likely to want to be on the draw, but if it’s only four 4-drops and one or two 5-drops, I’d consider playing first.

·         Play first if you plan on casting Sign in Blood or Divination as your first spell. Two swamps and Sign in Blood is a really good opening hand, until you have to start discarding on turn 2. So in cases where I have multiples of these cards, I will choose to play first when I normally wouldn’t.

·         Play first if your opponent wants to play first AND you think they are right. Just because they are trying to be aggressive and even if they are successful game 1 still doesn’t mean it’s right for you to play first game 2. The quality of your opponent will factor in to your decision here.

·         When in doubt, choose to play first. This changes from set to set, but with M13 I think playing first if you aren’t sure is the safer play. That said, hopefully after reading this article you have less instances when you aren’t sure. The reason I say to play first is that I think you are more likely to lose a game by choosing to draw when you should have chosen play than vice versa.

 

When should you play 16 or 18 lands?

 

·         Play 16 lands when you have multiples of Arbor Elf and/or Farseek in your deck. The lowest I would consider playing is 15 if I was solid base green and had 3 Arbor Elves and at least 1 Farseek. In both of these instances, play an extra land if your mana curve is high, or the rules for playing 18 lands come up.

·         Play 16 lands when you are almost mono color and a lower curve. I won’t play 16 lands with more than two 5-drops, and having early drop creatures in both colors would also keep me at 17. But if you have a solid WW deck with multiple Ajani’s Sunstrikers and only splashing red for some Searing Spears, 16 lands might be the right call.

·         Play 18 lands when the 23^rd spell is really bad. Sometimes there just isn’t enough cards in the two colors you want, but instead of playing a third color, splashing, or playing something really bad, you can just play the 18^th land. Playing 18 lands means you have to shift your mulligan decisions.  You should lean more towards mulliganing 5 land 2 spell hands, and lean more towards keeping 5 spell 2 land hands.

·         Play 18 lands if you have to cast a 5cc spell on turn 5. Sometimes you end up with a great deck, unfortunately the low curve was replaced with extra Turn to Slag and Essence Drains. Go ahead and play 18 lands. The last thing I want is to die with multiple 5cc removal in hand and stuck on 4 lands.

·         When playing with different land counts than you are used to, keep it in mind when making decisions. Lower land counts mean you should probably cast spells sooner rather than waiting. Extra lands in the deck require a more cautious approach to trading cards and using removal.

 

When should you play something other than 2 colors?

 

·         Play mono color if the gods smile on you and give you an amazing deck with enough playables in one color. You should still look at splashing a second color for extra removal or evasion creatures, if the colored mana requirements aren’t too harsh.

·         Do not play 3 evenly split colors ever. Even with “perfect mana”, it’s still not perfect mana.

·         Splashing is something I find many top players to have vastly different opinions about. Some will splash for removal almost every time, and look to find ways to splash bomb-type creatures. I am not one of these players. I almost never splash, and when I do, I want to have at least 2 “free” sources of the splash color. (A free source is something like Evolving Wilds or Glacial Fortress or Farseek). Splashing multiple colors is something that requires you to have free sources, or something like Gem of Becoming to get two of the splash lands. In general, I would rather play a couple of mediocre cards 21-23 and be two colors than to splash with no free sources.

·         Playing 1 main color and 2 splash colors is possible, but it usually requires your main color to be green.

 

 

What all of these points of advice allude to is the balance between power and consistency in sealed deck. These are not mutually exclusive things! Your deck can be powerful and consistent, if you’re lucky. Also beware of some traps. Making your deck more consistent and less powerful might be just making your deck consistently bad! Sometimes your best bet might just be to hope to get lucky, but hopefully it doesn’t have to be. I like to play weaker colors with less depth if they have very powerful cards rather than playing the deep colors and splashing the power cards.

 

I hope this advice helps you in your future sealed deck tournaments. Also, don’t forget to play in the GPT at Asgard Games on September 22 and win your plane ticket to California!

 

Later

Ty Thomason

@ceciliajupe on twitter

Developing Your Mana in Standard

 [Editor's Note: This was originally published on the Asgard Games website in August 2012. Sharing here for archival purposes.]

“[In Stage 1], you are basically mana screwed.” When Mike Flores said this, he introduced the concept of the 3 stages of Magic*. The article is one of his best, and covers all aspects of a game of Magic, but today I just want to focus on Stage 1. 

Looking at the current Standard metagame, I realized that almost all of the best decks share a common ability to control the way their mana develops. This means being able to play additional mana sources when you are light on lands, and also having something to do with your mana when you have excess lands sitting around. 

Look at this Yuuya-style Delver list that won the last PTQ on Magic Online:

4  Glacial Fortress

8  Island

2  Moorland Haunt

1  Plains

4  Seachrome Coast

4  Delver of Secrets

4  Geist of Saint Traft

3  Restoration Angel

4  Snapcaster Mage

4  Gitaxian Probe

4  Gut Shot

3  Mana Leak

4  Ponder

3  Runechanter's Pike

4  Thought Scour

4  Vapor Snag

This deck can run 19 lands because it plays 12 “cantrips” (Ponder, Thought Scour, and Gitaxian Probe) to search for mana in the early game. In the mid to late game once the mana has been set up, these same spells can be used to search for additional business spells, especially when combined with Snapcaster Mage. Combine that with the pseudo-man-land Moorland Haunt and you get a deck that does not get mana screwed as often as others, and can apply consistent pressure over almost the entire game.

Another deck that has been popular lately has been red-green aggro:

4  Copperline Gorge

10  Forest

4  Kessig Wolf Run

1  Mountain

4  Rootbound Crag

4  Birds of Paradise

3  Borderland Ranger

4  Huntmaster of the Fells

4  Llanowar Elves

2  Phyrexian Metamorph

4  Strangleroot Geist

1  Viridian Corrupter

2  Wolfir Silverheart

2  Arc Trail

4  Bonfire of the Damned

1  Dismember

4  Green Sun's Zenith

2  Sword of Feast and Famine

When Avacyn Restored first came out, these decks played Wolfir Avenger in the 3-drop slot. While it might be a better card than Borderland Ranger, it didn’t really fit in with the rest of the deck. The emphasis shifted more to Bonfire of the Damned and Wolfir Silverheart, both of which require extra mana to be effective. So Borderland Ranger is now the 3-drop of choice. Also note that the mana creatures (Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves) function in two ways: they help your mana during Stage 1, and during the later turns they can pick up a Sword of Feast and Famine or get pumped by Kessig Wolf Run to push through the last points of damage.

The current Birthing Pod lists also use the 1-drop mana creature into Borderland Ranger shell to get out of Stage 1 as fast as possible, but they have additional ways to take advantage in the late game, turning the mana creature into Elvish Visionary or Phantasmal Image with the namesake artifact.

A good way to see the consistency that these decks have is to compare them with other aggro decks that do not have the same mana principles in mind. Here is a typical blue-white Human list from earlier this year:

4  Glacial Fortress

12 Plains

3  Moorland Haunt

1  Island

4  Seachrome Coast

4  Champion of the Parish

4  Doomed Traveller

4  Grand Abolisher

3  Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

4  Mirran Crusader

4  Hero of Bladehold

2  Fiend Hunter

4  Honor of the Pure

2  Dismember

3  Oblivon Ring

2  Sword of War and Peace

At first glance, it looks similar to the Delver list earlier. Both are UW aggro decks with Moorland Haunt as the end game. But despite running 5 more lands than the Delver list, the Humans list is much more likely to be mana screwed. This is because it wants to reliably cast 3 and 4 mana spells, but it has no way to ensure it gets to those land drops. Also, keeping a hand with the land to cast Hero of Bladehold is risky, because if your Hero gets countered or killed, you now have a bunch of mana in play that doesn’t really do anything. As the format has gotten faster, missing land drops has a higher chance of costing you the game, and, as a result, this deck no longer sees significant play.

Another example of the “24 lands and pray” plan is actually one of my favorite decks in Standard right now: Goblins.

18 Mountain

2  Cavern of Souls

4 Hellion Crucible

4  Spikeshot Elder

4  Goblin Fireslinger

4  Goblin Arsonist

4  Goblin Wardriver

4  Mogg Flunkies

4  Krenko’s Command

4  Goblin Chieftan

4  Krenko, Mob Boss

2  Hellrider

2  Goblin Grenade

This deck is extremely powerful and lots of fun, but it still loses to the mana flood and mana screw much too often to be a Tier 1 strategy.

These are just a few decks that illustrate my point. I’m sure there are many others that exist in Standard, Modern, or even Legacy. Keeping these principles in mind when choosing a deck can lead to a much more pleasant tournament experience.

Later 

Ty Thomason

twitter.com/ceciliajupe

* He originally called them Phases, but changed his terminology later on to avoid confusion with the comprehensive rules definition of a phase. http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/15164_Michaelj_Monday_The_Breakdown_of_Theory.html

Fort Worth Standard PTQ Report

[Editor's Note: This was originally published on the Asgard Games website in August 2012. Sharing here for archival purposes.]

This past weekend I participated in a Pro Tour Qualifier tournament in Fort Worth. Over 230 people showed up, and after nine rounds of Swiss and a playoff that extended the total to almost sixteen hours of play, I finished in second place. This is what I played:

4 Rampant Growth

4 Farseek

4 Primeval Titan

4 Frost Titan

4 Temporal Mastery

4 Ponder

3Whipflare

3 Solemn Simulacrum

1 Karn Liberated

1 Garruk, Primal Hunter

2 Vapor Snag

2 Cavern of Souls

1 Inkmoth Nexus

1 Kessig Wolf Run

2 Sulfur Falls

7 Forest

4 Island

1 Mountain

4 Glimmerpost

4 Hinterland Harbor

Sideboard:

2 Green Sun’s Zenith

3 Blasphemous Act

2 Thragtusk

1 Ancient Grudge

2 Grafdigger’s Cage

1 Karn Liberated 

1 Garruk Relentless

1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast

1 Natural End

1 Huntmaster of the Fells

This deck has been gaining popularity, especially when Gerard Fabiano wrote about it last week. The idea of the deck is to play a titan, and then take an extra turn, which is usually enough to win the game. Playing a titan is still one of the most powerful things to do in standard, and I wanted to play them one more time before they rotate. Most of the lists are pretty similar, so I’ll just talk about the cards I played that were out of the norm.

I chose to play Whipflare over Bonfire of the Damned because I wanted more early game presence. This deck doesn’t need any extra power for the late game; it needs to survive that long. Playing a ramp spell on turn 2 and then another on turn 3 along with Whipflare is a common play, and Bonfire doesn’t let you do that. Sometimes when you draw Bonfire, you would rather ramp than pay the miracle cost, and casting it from your hand isn’t always enough. Clearing out small blockers for your titans to get through is much easier with Whipflare, and it lets you cast additional spells after combat. Essentially I felt I was more likely to lose a game in the first 5 turns than the last 5 turns, so I chose the spell that did more during those turns.

Whipflare performed very well for me all day, doing serious work against Geist of Saint Traft and Delver of Secrets, along with various zombies and mana producers. The other card that was amazing throughout the day was Garruk, Primal Hunter. Drawing six cards from a titan was enough every time, especially when one of them is Temporal Mastery. It’s also a threat that cannot be targeted by spot removal and it lives through Day of Judgment effects.

The sideboard cards are mostly to help against aggro matchups since I didn’t expect much control. I didn’t include anything for the mirror match since I felt the deck was off the radar, but I would add two Phantasmal Images to the board for future tournaments. Every card was effective throughout the day, including the Melira. I was able to zenith for her in game 3 of my quarterfinal match against UG Infect, and my opponent had no outs.

 

This deck is actually fairly simple to play, the only real decisions being which lands to search out with your ramp spells and Primeval Titans, and whether or not to miracle Temporal Mastery. Many times it’s better to just draw the card and not cast it, saving it as a seven mana Time Warp for when you have a titan or planeswalker in play. Other times it lets you cast a titan one turn sooner. The deck mulligans a lot, but it mulligans well. I won several mull to 5, and even one mull to 4. 

I lost my first round of the Swiss, playing against the mirror. I then won seven matches in a row, beating various Naya, Delver, Zombie, and other decks. Naya is probably the easiest matchup, since they can’t really kill a titan ever. Delver is a coin flip but you are a slight favorite after board. Zombies can be a problem if they have a perfect draw, but usually Primeval Titan for Glimmerpost is enough to stay out of range. My top 8 matches were against Infect, Delver, and a UB Tezzeret deck that I lost to in the finals. The loss seemed more like my deck giving up and not drawing any ramp game 3, but it might be a bad matchup. 

If you are playing a standard tournament in the future, I would recommend playing this deck, or a deck that can actually beat this (i.e. don’t play Naya). I’m still deciding between playing this again at the Austin PTQ this weekend, or playing in the Magic Online M13 sealed PTQ. Good luck to you in your future tournaments!

Later 

Ty Thomason

twitter.com/ceciliajupe

2011 State Championship Report *1st Place*

editor's note: this was originally published on TCGPlayer.com where they would post reports from all of the winners of the states.

My name is Timothy Thomason. My friends call me “Ty.” You can call me “Champ.”

History

The state championships have always had a special appeal to me. I spent six years in the navy, and I traveled across the country. Due to my busy schedule, I could never get time off to go to big events like Pro Tours and Grand Prixs, and I was always finding myself in situations where I would concede to a friend in the top 8 of a PTQ since I couldn't go. Since states didn't qualify you for anything, it was one of the few big tournaments each year I could win outright, so I always tried hard.

The first states I played in were in 2003 and 2004, both in Texas. I played Goblins the first year and KCI the second year, putting up respectable finishes for me at the time, but no top 8s. In 2005, I was home on leave for the Texas states that year, and played a Searing Meditation deck I picked up the day of the event to a 2nd place finish. You can read more about the interesting finals matchup here.

After that, I took back to back two headed giant states titles, in two completely different states: 2006 in South Carolina with fellow multi-title holder AJ Fields, and 2007 in Hawaii. Still, the individual title has eluded me. An undefeated swiss record in the 2009s saw me lose in the quarterfinals. A couple of bad deck choices cost me at other times. I wanted this year to be different.

The Called Shot

If you are a baseball fan, you know of Babe Ruth's “called shot” homerun in game 3 of the 1932 World Series. If not, you can read about it here. The magical ability to call your shot, or guarantee a win a la Joe Namath has a special appeal.

I found out about this year's state championships on September 12, when it was posted to the Texas Magic Zone bulletin boards. This is what I had to say:

“Don't bother showing up, I'm winning this.”

The Deck

Until FNM the night before states, I hadn't played any standard with Innistrad. I had mostly been focused on limited for the PTQ season, and grinding the local drafts to get those Planeswalker Points. The night before the tournament, I played a casual version of BantPod from TCGplayer columnist Zach Krizan's article to a 3-2 record. I learned a lot about the format, but was still undecided on what to play. I considered Solar Flare on David Thomas's recommendation, but Robert Berni was pushing for Wolf Run Ramp. I put my collection of Standard legal cards into my car, and went to sleep still undecided.

The morning of, I awoke and showered, then checked twitter. I saw GP Brisbane coverage was up and had decklists for the GPT winners. A couple of the decks were mono green splashing Kessig Wolf Run, to accommodate Dungrove Elder. Berni and I had been trying to work this card into the SB, and when I saw these lists I knew I wanted them main.

I drove to the site, and after circling forever for parking, I managed to get inside to get a deck registration sheet. As I ate breakfast at the donut shop next door, I started the list with things I wanted in my deck: 4 Dungrove Elder, 4 Beast Within, 4 Garruk, Primal Hunter, 4 Green Sun's Zenith. After a bit of tinkering, and making sure I had all the cards I was writing down, this is the final list I decided on:

Wolf Run Green by Timothy Thomason
Finished 1st Place at 2011 States - Texas



Main Deck

1 Acidic Slime
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Dungrove Elder
3 Primeval Titan
3 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Viridian Emissary
2 Wurmcoil Engine

4 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Batterskull
4 Beast Within
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Rampant Growth

18 Forest 
2 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Mountain 

Sideboard
3 Acidic Slime
3 Ancient Grudge
1 Batterskull
1 Birds of Paradise
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Tree of Redemption


The deck has been talked about elsewhere, but I'll Reiterate it here: Dungrove Elder is AMAZING. Aggro decks can't attack into him, Control decks have to wrath him or lose, and the other ramp decks can't compete with his size. I think Owen Turtenwald had a better version overall if you are looking to play it.

The Tournament

203 People showed up to a venue that can maybe hold 150 on a good day. Several matches happened outside behind the building. These were obviously the lower numbered tables, so it gave a good incentive to win! Many of the big names of Texas magic were there, including Nathan Zamora, Zach Krizan, David Thomas, and Robert Berni. Notably absent: defending champion David Cook, national team member Haibing Hu, GP finalist (and my roommate) William Lowry, and the infamous Phu Q. Dao.


Round 1 - Robert Gorke, RW Equipment, possibly Puresteel Paladin

I lose the first game to Mirran Crusader and multiple pro-green swords. The 2nd game I win because he mills an Ancient Grudge with his Sword of Body and Mind, and I get Batterskull onto Dungrove Elder. Game 3 I draw all three Ancient Grudges, so I still had all DeEz!
1-0


Round 2 - Chris Morris, Shape Anew

I know what he is playing, and I'm not too happy about it. Game 1 he goes for it turn 4 after turn 3 Blade Splicer, but I get him with Beast Within. He has ponder to find second Shape Anew on his Inkmoth Nexus, and then Day of Judgement to clear the way for Blightsteel Colossus. Game 2 is more of the same, this time he waits for Apostle's Blessing backup before going for it.
1-1


Round 3 - Timothy Ivey, Bant Pod

Once I figure out he's playing BantPod, I know he doesn't have many outs to Dungrove Elder. I just need to avoid getting locked by Venser and Stonehorn Dignitary, if he's even playing it. A couple of Elders each game make short work of him.
2-1


Round 4 - Simon Gilgenbach, Wolf Run Ramp

Simon is a good local player, but I've never played against him before. Here I get to see for the first time just how good Dungrove Elder is in the mirror. It was better than I thought!
3-1

After this round we found out it was only 1x PWP multiplier. With less on the line, it was time to have a couple shots in between rounds...

Round 5 - Will Sheeran

Maybe it was the shots, but I don't remember this round at all. Might have been another Wolf Run Ramp.
4-1

Round 6 - Kris Baxter, RW Control?

He plays the following cards: Incinerate, Blade Splicer, Hero of Bladehold, and Karn Liberated. None of those could beat Dungrove Elder and Wurmcoil Engine. Game 2 I think he was manascrewed.
5-1

Round 7 - Orry Swift, Mono Red

This was my first real test against an aggro deck to see if cutting Slagstorm would come back to haunt me. An early Dungrove Elder allows me to chump his Stormblood Berserkers with Emissarys without fear of getting blown out. Garruk draws a bunch of cards and Wurmcoil puts the game out of reach. Game 2 he gets stuck on 2 lands with double Manabarbs in hand, and I get there with Batterskull and Dungrove.
6-1

Looking at the standings, I'm the last of the 18 pointers. There is 1 17 pointer, and a handful of 16 pointers, so most people have to play the final round.


Round 8 - Roy Xu, Solar Flare

Game 1 he plays Spellskite and follows up with turn 5 Jace, Memory Adept. He mills himself, but hits nothing. The next turn he mills himself again, and hits only Unburial Rites, but no creature. The third time he hits Sun Titan, getting back Oblivion Ring on my Garruk. He then starts milling me, but makes a mistake and taps out letting me Beast Within his Spellskite EOT, and kill him with Inkmoth Nexus in one shot. Game 2 he doesn't draw blue mana.
7-1, first after swiss


The top 8 looked favorable for me, I only wanted to dodge Nathan Zamora's UB Control deck, since he's a good player and has access to 4 Tribute to Hunger after SB. Also didn't want to play against Robert Toups's Human deck, since I didn't have access to Slagstorm.

Quarterfinals - Dominic Le, Mage Blade

Dominic makes the comment that he's never beaten me at a sanctioned tournament. This is a good sign, I think. I take a quick game 1 when he doesn't draw blue mana. Game 2 he Mana Leaks my first 3 plays, thanks to Snapcaster Mage, and then gets me with Gideon and Sword of Feast and Famine. Game 3 I play multiple Acidic Slimes to keep him off of Day of Judgement mana, and he doesn't draw out of it.
8-1


Semifinals - Jeffrey LaRue, Solar Flare

His deck almost seemed like Esper Planeswalkers. He had Karn and Elspeth to go with his Lilianas, as well as Jace in the SB I think. Game 1 I kept a hand of Rampant Growth, Inkmoth Nexus, Kessig Wolf Run, and 4 forests. Nexus allows me to pressure his Liliana, and he keeps having both players discard. Eventually I stick a Garruk, then GSZ for Acidic Slime on his O-Ring to get it back and take over the game. Game 2 I play 3 Garruks; the third one finally kills him.
9-1


Finals - Alex Fan, Wolf Run Ramp

Alex has been running hot lately, having finished 2nd place at the PTQ the week before. He's made comments that he didn't want to face me, but if you want to be the champion, you are going to have to beat the best.

I offer both boxes for the title and the plaque, but he doesn't accept. He claims he has no use for boxes.

Game 1 I have double Dungrove Elder and double Primeval Titan, so eventually my guys were too big for him to deal with. I skillfully assigned damage away from his Viridian Emissaries when he would double block, denying him the mana that is so important in the mirror.

After game 1 I offer the split again, and this time he wisely accepts. And now I'm the Heavyweight Texas State Champion Of The World.

Aftermath

My birthday was on the next Monday, so we went out for double celebrations. I made a single post to my facebook, announcing the win.

In US National Team member Haibing Hu's tournament report, he called me the best Magic player in Texas. Now I have the plaque to prove it.


Props:

Glen Goddard and Sunmesa Events for keeping states alive. 3 years and more popular than ever!
Juan Loya for repping Texas and sniping the Oklahoma States title with an almost identical deck!
Everyone that lent me cards, especially Casual Chad. Too bad you're still banned from the store!
Everyone that didn't play because they knew I would win!

Slops:

David Cook - I know I said I would win, but you can at least attempt to defend your title!
Andrew Krug - For never going to anything anymore ever.
EH Events / 3rd Coast Cards - Usually a good tournament from these guys, but having people play outside is kind of ridiculous.
Wizards of the Coast / DCI - Whoever decided that this couldn't be done with a higher PWP multiplier. I got 36 points from my 3-2 performance at FNM the night before, and 35 points from my 10-1 championship run.