Playing at Competitive REL – A Beginner's Guide

You've been playing at FNM's for a couple of months now, and you're starting to notice that you're winning more often than not. The same at your local shop's Tuesday standard.

You like your deck – no, actually, you love your deck. You built it yourself, and maybe it's not exactly a netdeck, but it has a solid game plan and you know how to pilot it against all the major decks in the format.

You're wondering if you should maybe take your game to the next level. You hear some guys at your shop talking about travel plans. You saunter over to them and ask them what they're talking about.

“Oh, dude, you didn't know? This weekend is the Grand Prix.”

“The Grand Prix?” you ask. You've heard some of the guys talk about how they went to Boston a few months ago, but you've never been to one. “What's that?”

“It's a huge tournament – usually more than a thousand people – over two days. There's one this weekend in Atlantic City! A bunch of us from the shop are going down there.”

“Wow, awesome.”

“One more thing – it's a competitive tournament, a little bit different from an FNM.”

“Oh?”

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It can be a little intimidating stepping into your first Competitive REL tournament. In fact, it can be downright terrifying. My first was a side event at Pro Tour Philadelphia (back when they were open to the public.) It was a big tournament for an iPad, and I got a game loss in my first game. Unfortunately, at the time, I had no idea that there was any difference between my local FNM and a tournament for $15,000. I assumed we were just playing Magic, and that was that.

The reality is a little different, and as a player who hates seeing people get screwed because they weren't aware of the difference, I'm going to be going into some detail about some of the things that you can expect at a Competitive event.

First off, what is Competitive REL? Because of the high prizes associated with them, some tournaments are run at a stricter level of rules enforcement than others. Notable events are the first day of a Grand Prix, TCGPlayer Max Events, Grand Prix Trials, Pro Tour Qualifiers, and Star City Games Opens, Invitational Qualifiers, and Invitationals

At these tournaments, there is some measure of high prizes at stake. It could be playmats, invites to other tournaments, byes, or large cash prizes. Regardless, because of the prizes being offered, the tournament is to be held in as skill-testing an environment as possible. That's where we hit the first major difference between Regular REL and Competitive REL.

During Regular REL tournaments, like FNM, the emphasis is on educating players. At Competitive REL, the emphasis is on an individual's play skill.

That might seem like a minor thing, but it really has a whole lot of implications. The most obvious way that you can see it is that at a Competitive REL tournament, there will be a judge who can hand out the penalties found in the Infraction Procedure Guide (or IPG, for short.) That's the document that all judges (and players, if they so choose) have access to, which tells about all the things that you can be penalized for at a Competitive tournament.

Some of these things are fairly simple. The IPG has a whole boatload of ways of saying simple things like “Don't Cheat”. Luckily, you're a good person, and you're not going to cheat. We don't have to worry about the vast majority of that section because it doesn't apply to you as long as you are being open and honest while playing.

That brings us to the first major rule that I'm going to give you if you've never played at Competitive REL. It's the first rule because I honestly believe that it is the most important.

Do not lie to the judge.

The judge does not exist to punish you. He exists to make sure that the game is being played by the rules, and to ensure an even playing field, and to make sure that everyone at the tournament is comfortable.

Sometimes, the judge will punish someone. That could very well mean anything from a verbal Caution (which means literally nothing as far as you playing the game goes) to a Disqualification (which is very bad.) For the record, receiving multiple instances of the same penalty does eventually lead to an upgrade in penalty to a more severe one. That said, lying to a tournament official is a one-way street to a disqualification. Period. End of Story. Just don't do it.

The IPG lists out a full treatment of everything you can get punished for. This is a good thing, because it means that judges can't just capriciously punish for anything, only things covered by the existing document. They can't 'go rogue' and just make things up. Please keep in mind that at larger events, you ALWAYS have the right to appeal a decision to the Head Judge of the tournament if you believe that your ruling was incorrect. For the majority of players in the majority of situations, none of that is important. In all my time playing competitively, I believe that I've received only a handful of warnings (and one game loss, as you'll see below).

How do you avoid such penalties? It's actually pretty simple. Play according to the rules, and be clear, open, and obvious about what you're doing. Below, I'm going to list what I consider to be the 5 most commonly given out errors and penalties, and how to avoid them:

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1) Tournament Error: Deck/Decklist Error

This one is the top of the list, and it isn't even close. In Round 2 of GP Boston-Worcester last year, over 100 of these were given out at the start of Round 4. This penalty refers to something fairly broad – there's a problem with your deck, or your decklist.

At Competitive REL, you will be responsible for filling out (either before the tournament begins for Constructed, or during deck constuction for a Limited Event) a deck list. Be very careful with this list, because as far as the tournament officials are concerned, that's what you're playing. In order to curb cheating and provide some measure of security for the integrity of the tournament, judges will be checking decks throughout the tournament. As long as what's in your deck matches what's on the sheet, there's likely to be no problem whatsoever. However, there's always a few things that can go wrong. Here's some of the common ways to earn yourself a Deck/Decklist Error:

-You made a last minute change to your deck, and forgot to update your decklist.

-You forgot to de-sideboard your deck after your last round

-You had a bunch of cards that aren't in your deck or sideboard in the same box as your deck and sideboard.

-You don't have at least 60 cards (or 40 for limited) in your main deck, and in Constructed tournaments, you have a number other than 0 or 15 in your sideboard.

-You are playing cards that aren't legal in the format that you are playing.

There are other ways to earn them, but those are what I'd consider the most common. The penalty for Deck/Decklist Error is usually a Game Loss – a steep penalty because the potential for abuse is so high. Be careful with this one, and when the judge tells everyone to take one last look over their decklists, I implore you to actually do it. Judges hate giving this one out, because it's usually so easily avoided.

My first infraction ever was a Deck/Decklist Problem. I didn't fill one out because I didn't know it was required. Whoops. By the time I was informed of this, round 1 was already well underway, and my opponent was happy to be cruising onto game 2.

2) Game Rule Violation

A Game Rule Violation is a general catchall category for an issue that takes place during the game, but doesn't fall into any of the other categories. Generally, it means that you did something that you shouldn't have done. At the moment, the most common one of these that comes to mind is putting a creature into the graveyard after it's been killed by a Pillar of Flame. There isn't much to say about this one except that you should make sure that you are doing your best to adhere to the text on cards.

3) Missed Trigger

Everyone take a deep breath, because I know that you've heard tons about this one. You've heard things about lapsing and nonlapsing triggers. You've heard tons about people getting disqualified for ignoring triggers, and abilities that don't happen when they should.

Relax. Take a deep breath. This one isn't that tricky.

First off, some info, and the largest change between Regular and Competitive REL. At Competitive REL, you are required to demonstrate awareness of each one of your triggers. If you (or your opponent) do not, then the trigger is considered missed, and a judge should be called.

Full stop.

When a judge is called, a couple of things will happen. First, the judge will establish if the trigger was actually missed. A trigger is considered missed if the player who's trigger it was has taken an action after the trigger would have resolved without indicating that they were aware of the trigger. Second, the judge will ask the opponent of the player if they would like to place the ability on the stack. (The answer will generally be no. Do I want my opponent to gain 2 life and a 2/2 wolf token – no, no I do not.) As far as the game goes, that's the end of it.

Then, based on if the ability is detrimental to the player, they may get a warning, but that's not generally something that players will need to worry about.

The penalty for a missed trigger is usually nothing, but is occasionally a Warning, however, you likely won't get your trigger unless it hurts you in some way. Failing to activate a trigger deliberately and pretending you missed it, by the way, is cheating, so don't do that.

If you have any more questions about missed triggers, I strongly suggest you read Level 5 Judge Toby Elliot's Blog on the Topic. It can be found HERE. There is additional commentary HERE as well.

4) Looking At Extra Cards

This one is actually remarkably common. Have you ever been shuffling your opponent's deck and accidentally spilled it all over the table? You looked at some extra cards. Ever try to draw a card and the top one flipped over onto the table? Looking at extra cards.

It generally takes place whenever someone looks at (but doesn't draw!) extra cards.

To avoid this one, just simply be deliberate with your actions. Be sure you've only picked up one card. Shuffle gently (but thoroughly!) with your opponent's deck. Doing this is a Warning.

5) Drawing Extra Cards

On the other hand, if instead of just looking at extra cards, you actually draw extra cards into your hand (indicated by the cards making contact with the rest of your hand) we've entered into a different penalty altogether. Drawing Extra Cards is one of the most extreme infractions that can be committed, because of how much potential for abuse there is, and how little an opponent could potentially do to stop it. Worse, because there's no easy fix, drawing extra cards is almost always a Game Loss.

There are some exceptions that you could look up, but those are extreme corner cases, and it's best to just simply be extra careful any time that you're drawing cards – this goes for drawing for turn, drawing dozens of cards in a single turn off a Glimpse of Nature, or casting a Sphinx's Revelation for a whole bunch. Count the cards before putting them into your hand, and we won't have an issue.

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There are a number of other infractions that can be given out for a variety of things, the vast majority won't actually apply in almost any situation. If you want to take a look at the entire list, the entire IPG is available for your perusal HERE.

I'd also like to point to a pair of articles that Jackie Lee, a notable professional player, has written on the topic of Competitive REL and Judges – Here and Here. They are both well-written, well-informed articles that I recommend to anyone looking to break into the competitive scene.

I want to take a couple of paragraphs at the end of this article to ease some concerns as well. If you're looking into starting at a Competitive tournament, you should consider the judge an ally. We exist to help you at all times, and make sure that the tournament is a fun experience for all. If someone at the venue, even another player or tournament official, is giving you a problem, please, speak to a judge about it. Likewise, if you are unsure of an interaction, or you think something has gone wrong in your game, call a judge. They will be more than happy to help you sort it out.

If, at any point, in any tournament, you ever need the assistance of a Judge, just raise your hand high (some of us have trouble seeing through all the spell-slinging, so clearer is better), and yell loudly “Judge!” One of us black-shirted folks will be by shortly to sort things out.

With that, may all your spells resolve, and good luck at any future events you take part in.

Bye Bye Bye - Why Planeswalker Points Are Important

Hey man! I haven't seen you around here in ages.

Yea, I've been pretty busy traveling.

So, you coming to Sunday drafts now?

Absolutely. I’m grinding for points. Didn’t you hear? There’s a GP in Philadelphia in October. Got to be ready.

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As some of you may know, this coming Sunday represents the end of the second Planeswalker Points season. For some of us, that makes this week a flurry of furious playing and grinding, with the hopes of gathering those last few points. For others, the entire idea of planeswalker points seems alien and obtuse.

Why are we seeking planeswalker points like they’re some finite resource? Why do some of us keep track of the number with post-its and bookmark the page in our browser to make sure that everything is up to date?

There’s a couple reasons for it, honestly, and to start, I’d like to tell you my story.

A few months ago, I decided that I was interested in joining the Magic Competitive Scene. Previously, this meant going to GP’s and PTQ’s, hoping to qualify and make it to the Pro Tour. Unfortunately, my level of skill at that point was nowhere near where it would need to be to have a chance at either of those events. I wasn’t thinking clearly about what I’d need to do to succeed. I was flush with success with a Top 8 at a 75 person GPT, and I thought I was one of the best players ever. Seriously. I actually thought that.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really have anything to work towards. There weren’t any GP’s in the area, so I just shrugged it  off and kept playing in GPT’s and SCG:IQ’s. The story could have ended here.

Then there was an announcement. A special tournament – held three places across America. The World Magic Cup Qualifier. All jokes about qualifying for a qualifier aside, I knew that this was an event I wanted to participate in – and it was fairly local: just past Baltimore, maybe a two hour drive. I checked the requirements and found that I needed 300 Planeswalker Points to get an invitation.

I fired up the handy website and took a look. The system is pretty simple – three points for a win, one for a draw, none for a loss, and then multiplied by the kind of event it was.

FNM – 7 points

FNM – 4 points

FNM – 7 points

This looked like it was going to take a while.

GPT Baltimore – 66 points.

Wait, what? Sixty six? Well, I suppose that the event was seven rounds of Swiss, where I went 6-1, and you get some points for participation…

 If you’re looking to grind points, events with a multiplier are where it’s at. There’s just no competition. You could win 9 rounds of FNM, and it’s likely worth less than winning three at a GPT – or just a little bit more than two at a PTQ. A single win at a GP is worth more than two flawless Friday victories at your local game shop.

But why do we want these points? Even ignoring the primal urge – present in every nerd – to make numbers go upwards. (Seriously, take a look at every RPG ever. That’s all we’re doing) Surely there are rewards for earning all these points! Well, luckily for us, there are – and the rewards are significant. Let’s take a look at some of the numbers to know for the current system.

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Byes:

By gaining planeswalker points in the current system, you can earn Byes at Grand Prix events. A bye is a free win in one of the early rounds, and any player can have up to three. Having them is an enormous advantage, and for many, these are the primary benefit of Planeswalker Points. These points accrue over the course of a season. The most recent season ran from April 2, 2012 – August 19, 2012. The next season, which begins on Monday, runs from August 20, 2012 – December 16, 2012. If you earn byes during a season, they will apply for the duration of that season and for the next one as well.

                -One Bye: 400 points

                -Two Byes: 750 points

                -Three Byes: 1500 points

Invitation to the World Magic Cup Qualifier:

 Where Grand Prix Byes count based on a single season, the World Magic Cup Qualifier tracks points over an entire year. The most recent World Magic Cup Qualifier season began on April 2, 2012, and will end on March 17, 2013. To be invited, you need to reach a threshold based on your country. These range from the USA – where you’d need 500 points within the year, to small countries like Peru, where the cutoff is a mere 100 points. You can find the list of thresholds HERE.

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For those of you wondering if a Bye is even worth anything to you, it’s a fairly simple question. If you are going to a GP, the bye is absolutely worth it. Compared to the FNM’s and other events that you’ve gone to, GP’s can be more likened to a marathon. With two days of play and thousands of dollars of prize on the line, you need to be at your best to have a chance, and that means giving yourself advantages before you walk in the door.

A normal GP plays 9 rounds on Day 1. To advance, you need to be 7-2 or better. Going 7-2 in a tournament is no mean feat, and even a single bad mulligan could spell the end of your tournament aspirations. With three byes under your belt, you mitigate that to a paltry 4-2 to make the second day of play (and put yourself in contention for a reasonable cash payout!) In addition, the three byes have the related side effect of making your tiebreakers markedly higher than those without byes. Because people playing since round one will have their tie breaks calculated off all their opponents, they account for the person who started off 0-1, 1-1, and 2-1. Your worst tiebreaker player is the person you hit in the fourth match, who (assuming you win) will be 3-1 at that point. This could buy you the crucial percentage points that elevate you into the “I won something!” arena.

This coming season, for example, I’m planning on attending two GP’s – one in Boston, and one in Philadelphia. Each Bye I earn puts me that much closer to Day 2. Because I played in GP Atlanta, as well as a number of other events, I’ve earned over 900 points, easily enough for my second bye, but still a far cry away from my third. With the addition of a second GP to my personal schedule in this coming season, it would be a reasonable thing for me to expect getting a third bye in the coming season. As my play gets more precise, I expect to earn more points for any given tournament. GP Atlanta earned me a cool 200 points, and I didn’t even make Day 2. If I had, it easily could have been a 350-400 point weekend.  I certainly wouldn’t have been as close as I was if not for the three byes I had.

This is more or less how GP Atlanta felt with three free wins..

This coming season, I’d encourage you to set yourself a goal – be it your first bye, in case you attend a GP early next year (the schedule should be announced soon!) or qualification for the World Magic Cup Qualifiers, or whatever you decide. Set yourself a goal, and then set out to attain it!

[Editor's Note: The Planeswalker Point website can be found HERE.]

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I hope that you guys enjoyed this look at the planeswalker point system, and what we can get out of it as a competitive player. Next post comes in Thursday, where I’ll talk a little bit about what I see in the format going forward.

PTQ 20th with BW Tokens, and WMCQ Tournament Report!

I woke up. It was dark, with the horizon just starting to gleam with the light of Saturday. The bed was warm, but I had miles to go before I could sleep again – literally. I got up, got dressed, gassed up the car and grabbed some food for the road.

Maryland, here we come.

Last weekend was the final qualifier in the USA for the World Magic Cup. Designed as a replacement for Nationals, the World Magic Cup is a team event with four players representing each country. Three of our champions had already been chosen: LSV, Brian Kibler, and Alex Binek. The fourth would be decided by morning. Frankly, I hoped that it would be me.

The drive was shorter than I anticipated, and upon arriving, I caught up with some of the other players. My list had changed subtly on the suggestion of Marshall, cutting a land and an Angel of Jubilation for a maindeck Timely Reinforcements. This more approximated the curve that a lot of MTGO Tokens results were using, and given the prevalence of Delver in the metagame at the moment, we figured that the Timely Reinforcements would play a good role in game 1.

Here’s the list for the WCMQ:

Don’t use this list. There’s going to be a better one later. I promise.

After catching up with some friends (Shoutout to Mark, who I’d played against in the Philly PTQ), we sat down for the players meeting – 186 players, which meant 8 rounds of Magic, followed by a Top 8. The World Magic Cup Qualifiers had been poorly attended all across the country, since the payout was just so small in comparison to some of the other events. Furthermore, there was almost no publicity at all. Frankly, it just seemed like a glorified PTQ with cash prizes instead of packs. After talking to the Tournament Organizer (who was spectacular all weekend. Seriously, someone should give this woman a prize for being so organized. I’ve never had rounds run that smoothly) and some other people, it became evident that they were expecting something in the way of twice as many people as actually arrived. I’m sure that was disappointing for her. Here’s hoping that Wizards does something to promote the events more like a GP and less like a GPT.

REL Competitive meant that all the general fudgeyness with Lapsing triggers was in effect. I should really do an article about the differences between Regular and Competitive REL some time, because it’s something that newer players to competition screw up pretty often, and I’ve watched enough judge calls that boiled down to “He didn’t make an angel, so I win!”

Regardless, the first round began right on time, and we were off to the presses.

Round 1: Ron with UW Delver

Ron seemed like an appropriate start to the tournament. We sat down and exchanged some pleasantries before drawing our opening seven. Sadly, with no lands, I was forced down to six, while he kept seven. We traded blows for a bit, eventually skewing the advantage towards him as he cast and equipped a Sword of War and Peace to start chunking my HP. I get Vault of the Archangel online a turn too late and he manages to kill me with War and Peace triggers just before I’m able to stabilize off of a Finest Hour Gather the Townsfolk. We move to game two.

I’m going to be pretty honest here, this wasn’t really a game. I drew three consecutive no-land-hands before drawing 4 that also had no lands, but a pair of one drops. Interestingly enough, this match came down to a single turn – with him on three and me on the same. I needed to draw one of seven remaining anthems to kill him. I didn’t, getting a land instead, but he gave me a second opening to draw one of a pair of Oblivion Rings to remove his Gideon and kill him anyway. Sadly, Lingering Souls can’t block something equipped with Sword of War and Peace, and I fell.

0-1   (0-2 in games)

Round 2 – Timothy with RG Aggro

Tim was using a newer RG brew that incorporated Bonfire of the Damned. I don’t know if you’ve ever played against a deck with 1-2 miracles in it, but let me tell you something, it’s terrifying. To know that with any draw step, you could just get blown out of the game is really nerve-wracking. It puts a lot of stress on an aggressive deck to be able to end the game quickly.

In game one, he got a Sword in play on the second turn after I mulliganed to five. Something with the deck just felt off, and I couldn’t draw a good opening hand no matter how much I shuffled, pile shuffled, and reshuffled. Maybe it was just unlucky, but I seemed completely incapable of finding a second land. I lost the first game in short order, despite holding on for a while due to Vault of the Archangel and beating him down to nine through him gaining 4-5 per turn off Sword.

Game two finally found me keeping a seven card hand, and I crushed him despite casting a pair of Bonfire of the Damned – one miracle, and one hardcast. I got a pair of anthems and just ran him over with tokens.

The third game saw him resolve a Turn 2 Sword as well, which killed me in short order. I texted Marshall, informing him what happened and he responded by saying that Gut Shots may not be a terrible sideboard idea against RG in the future. I’m inclined to agree.

0-2   (1-4 in games)

And just like that, I was out of the running. The rest of the day got significantly better, with the highlights being below:

Round 3 – Pedro with UW Midrange

2-0, I win with a Finest Hour Gather the Townsfolk that I orchestrated beautifully.

Round 4 – Peter with Almost Mono-Black Control

2-0 The deck was interesting, skewing very hard towards black control with just a splash of blue for Snapcaster Mage. Unfortunately, black spot removal is notoriously bad against Lingering Souls, and I ran him over.

Round 5 – Joe with Zombie Pod

2-0 I’ve got to give props to any deck that runs Gloom Surgeon. He probably would have won a game if he didn’t exile every Geralf Messenger in his deck. I suppose that happens sometimes  when you’re exiling your topdecks away.

Round 6 – Randy with Solar Flare

0-2 There isn’t a lot you can do to someone who plays T2 Ratchet Bomb, T3 Ratchet Bomb, and T5 Sun Titan off a Pristine Talisman. A similar line of play happened twice. I feel like I need a better way to answer Sun Titans in the future.

Round 7 -  Brendan on ???

2-0 I’d stopped taking notes at this point. I was getting hungry and tired, but I draw well both games and I roll him over in two quick games before dropping to enter the last draft of the day.

Final Record: 4-3 (9-6 in games)

Bonus Round – Draft!

I end up drafting an awesome UG Soulbond Deck with a pair of Druids’s Familiar and Mist Ravens. Unfortunately, the games go extremely long and his Yew Spirit ends up being too much for me to handle in both games. I do get an Entreat the Angels in my second pack though.

I head out from the tournament site, get Chipotle. (God, those burritos are gigantic, and their Guacamole is spectacular. Seriously, get Chipotle. It’s awesome.) I check into the hotel and barely get to turn on A Game of Thrones before I pass out until morning.

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I wake up in an ice cold room, beneath sheets that keep me warm despite. This is actually my favorite way to sleep, for some reason, but I fight out of the bed and head back down to the tournament center for the PTQ that they’re holding. I’m one of the first people there, and so I’ve got time to make some changes to the deck. The maindeck Timely Reinforcements was useless all day, so I take it out, and the Doomed Traveler turns back into a land. I’m holding the Angel of Jubilation, ready to put the miser’s copy back into my deck when I spot the Entreat the Angels I’d pulled in the draft the day before. Marshall had long been a proponant of adding the card, but I felt it was too expensive to cast reliably. I decided to give it a shot, and it paid huge dividends.

 Here’s what I register:

Somewhere in this, I get a text from Pop.

“Joe won the WCMQ?”

Joe was a guy from my first shop, back in New York (Shout out to Comic Book Depot, one of the best stores in NY. Keep putting those results up guys.) He’s a great player, but up until now, didn’t have a great finish to his name. I’d left just as he made Top 8. I had no idea that he’d won the whole thing.

Congrats to Joe Pennachio on the win. You deserve it man.

Then I got ready, because the room was packed for the Pro Tour Qualifier. 216 players gives us another 8 round day. This one went a little bit better for me.

Round 1 – Max with Jund Pod

My mana issues appear to have disappeared overnight, and I roll out in game one. He seems to be playing Mono-Green something that didn’t actually cast any reasonable number of spells in the first game. While sideboarding, we’re talking and he mentions that he had plenty of cards, but none of the right colors. He gives away that his deck contains black, and I balk on adding in Celestial Purges, figuring that he’s trying to trick me. Turns out that he’s not, and he’s on Jund Pod – with Glissa/Ratchet Bomb.

That combo is pretty brutal for me, and I lose the second game.

Game three, I Nihil Spellbomb his Ratchet Bomb away, and get out five (!) anthems. An end of turn Midnight Haunting blows him out for 10 damage from nowhere. Feels good to be able to put 10 vigilant P/T on the field for 3 mana.

1-0 (2-1 in games)

Round 2 – Paul with RG Aggro

Paul is an older gentleman, who came to the PTQ on Father’s Day with his son. They love playing together and competing together. Paul ended up 5-3 on the day, missing prize in his last round, but he was smiling the whole time. He’s one of those opponents that you remember for the rest of the day.

I win game one despite him casting a Wolfir Silverheart and a Sword of War and Peace. Go for the Throat provides the huge blowout and Hero of Bladehold takes him from 16 to 3 with the help of a few one drops and an anthem.

Game two, we both Mull to five, before he finds a reasonable hand. I didn’t until four. Keeping a slow draw, he curves out with Birds into Wolvir Avenger into Thrun into Sword of War and Peace. I didn’t have a prayer here.

Game three he gets a turn two sword and crushes me with it. I really need an answer to that thing. It hoses the deck more than anything else in the format.

1-1 (3-3 in games)

Round 3 – Mark with Esper Delver

Mark and I have a great time before the match, chatting and goofing off. He’s playing fairly aggressively with his Vapor Snags, and so he’s run out of them by the time that I drop my Hero of Bladehold, which takes him down in short order.

Game two we both drop to six, and it’s not close. He tries to buy time with a Feeling of Dread to tap down my team, but can’t find his answer.

2-1 (5-3 in games)

Round 4 – Rebecca with GW Aggro

I present my deck and before she’s able to touch it, the judge jumps in.

“Don’t touch that deck, ma’am! I’m here to perform a mandatory and extremely important deck check on you both!”

Understand that the Bolding and Italics are not exaggerations here. He actually talked like a superhero. Sometimes I love judges. We pass the time by playing a game called Petals on a Rose, which I am apparently horrible at. The deck check comes back fine, and we play two quick games involving me praying that she never peals the Revenge of the Hunted that she has to kill me at a bunch of different places. I manage to hardcast Entreat the Angels for the first time, getting a pair of Angels that win the round.

3-1 (7-3 in games)

Round 5 – Mike with Naya Run Ramp

I dislike the ramp matchup. My deck isn’t quite fast enough to beat their good hands, and it doesn’t have the answers to prolong the game and get them into a bad position. The Naya matchup is much worse than the conventional one because Day of Judgment sidesteps my usual sideboard plan.

Normally, I can just get enough Anthems and Angel of Jubilation into play, and be bigger than his Slagstorms can kill. Day of Judgment has no such restrictions though, and it usually poses a big problem. Add Elesh Norn to the mix, and the deck is more or less a nightmare.

In game one, he ramps quickly, but then fails to land a threat. Despite three Day of Judgments, I’m able to keep putting threats on the table and put him away with a Miracle Entreat for 5.

The second and third games both go similarly, with him casting Primeval Titan and then Poisoning me out Post-DoJ, or just casting a t5 Elesh Norn after a t4 Titan. There is not terribly much I can do about that, despite getting him low in both games. The deck just needs a little more speed or a little more disruption to handle the addition of white to the deck.

3-2 (8-5 in games)

As an aside, after this match, I’ve become more and more convinced that my currentl SB plan only really works against conventional Wolf Run, and that a better answer might be to side in appetite for brains or despise to remove their primary threats on turn 3-4.

Round 6 – Pedro with UW Midrange

I get matched against Pedro again, and he takes a long, drawn out game one where I can’t quite answer the amount of card advantage he musters with Blade Splicer, Snapcaster Mage, and Restoration Angel.

Game two, he takes a swing from my Hero of Bladehold, putting him to one. He casts a Tamiyo, tapping down the Hero and starts to take control while I draw blanks. He misplays though, casting a Gideon and taunting with him, so that he can Ultimate Tamiyo. Hero of Bladehold swings, and the tokens come into play – unaffected by Gideon’s Taunt. They poke him and kill him after the judge he called informs him that – sadly, yes, that works.

The final game was leaning in his favor until I Miracled an Entreat the Angels. Playing around mana leak, I put out a pair of 5/5 flying vigilant angels that killed 3 Gideon and a Tamiyo before they crashed into him for the victory. He flashed the mana leak that he’d been holding the whole game, unable to get value out of it.

4-2 (9-6 in games)

Round 7 – Will with Wolf Run Ramp

Now here’s the ramp matchup that I prepared for. I get a couple of quick creatures out and force him to Slagstorm my guys away. Lingering Souls into a couple of anthems puts him away in the first game.

In game two, I cast T2 anthem, T3 anthem, t4 Midnight Haunting, t5 Miracle Entreat the Angels for 2. He doesn’t come back from that.

5-2 (11-6 in games)

Round 8 – David with RG Aggro

David was tired. That’s all there was too this match. He kept a horrible seven card hand in which he ended up casting a Strangleroot Geist and a Huntmaster of the Fells, with no other action in six turns. I curved out and killed him.

In the second game, I orchestrate a T3 Timely Reinforcements for full value after chump blocking his Geist with my Champion of the Parish. A second anthem (adding to the Honor that I cast on turn 2) puts the game well out of his reach. Vault seals the deal, though him missing a Huntmaster transformation trigger certainly didn’t help his case. He scoops  and I finish the tournament with an extremely nice...

Final Record: 6-2 (13-6 in games)

Place: 20th of 216

Current Seasonal Planeswalker Point Total: 527 (aiming for 750 before the end of August)

I took a look at the standing sheet. 6-2 comprised of 12th to 24th place, with around 6% Opponent’s Match Win separating the highest from the lowest. I could very easily have Top 16’d if my opponents had done better in their final round (all my former opponents lost in their last matches). I walked out with 9 packs, and the knowledge that the deck preformed more than admirably. I think that changing the sideboard to account for a t2 sword play, and being able to answer more than one type of Elesh Norn would make this deck a solid contender at any PTQ.

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With the lack of bans in Standard, it’ll be interesting to watch how the format develops in the coming weeks. As for myself – I’ve got this weekend off from tournaments, as I’ll be visiting the girlfriend during her summer break from school. The following weekend is GP Atlanta, and I hope to get some testing done and build a deck before I actually have to get on the flight next Friday.

Expect a report from that tournament – it’ll be my first GP, and I have reasonable hopes of doing well. I’ll tell you what I’m playing next Thursday, and why I think that it’s a well positioned deck for the tournament. This coming Tuesday, we’ll return to our deckbuilding series, with a discussion of Mulligans.

Until then, keep slinging spells the best way you know how.

-Andrew

Tales from My First PTQ

You never expect it to be different.

It's just another tournament, you tell yourself. Sure, there's more people – but not more than the M10 prerelease had two years ago at Connecticon. Let's ignore that you weren't playing seriously back then. It's still more or less the same situation.

You've got your deck, and you feel confident with it. You're running on an undefeated streak against Delver – 7 wins and no losses in competitive play against it. You've beaten just about every deck in the format before – and there's no reason to believe that today is going to be any different.

That's how I felt when I walked into the Convention Center last Saturday morning. It was my first Pro Tour Qualifier, and while I didn't have anticipation of winning, I thought that with good play and some reasonable luck, I could certainly make Top 8.

I knew my deck. It was the same that it had been for a while – Black/White Tokens. Still something that I loved playing. Base White aggro decks are really my forte. The give and play that comes from them really plays to my strengths, and I feel confident with the math. With a control deck, I find myself contemplating the angles too much, but aggro is straightforward enough that I know where my efforts need to be focused to avoid the tricky plays. I can next-level myself by just playing a deck that fits me.

After walking in and registering, I catch up with Barret. I'd met him at the SCG Invitational Qualifiers, held by Cyborg One. He used to play Tokens, but has since switched to Wolf Run White. He's contemplating the relative merits of Terminus vs Day of Judgment in the sideboard. Personally, I think that Terminus is generally the better card – especially in a ramp shell, but that's not really a discussion for right now – nor is it a subject I'm terribly qualified to speak about.

I lend him a Wurmcoil Engine, and he gives me a stack of prettily sleeved tokens because “If you're playing the deck, you might as well have tokens that look good.”

Fine with me. Mike Noss, our local level 2, gets on the microphone and announces that seatings are up, and everyone should take their seat. Mike's a great guy, and he's currently mentoring me for Level 1 judge status. Hopefully I'll be certified in a month or two, but we'll see.

Here’s what I register:

I sit down and pull out my playmat and deck. I start shuffling, and the kid sitting across from me looks a little confused. I'm polite, making small talk. Where are you from? Stuff like that. When I pull out a pair of dice, things swerve.

“High roll sound alright to you?”

“...This isn't round one.”

“What?”

“Player's meeting.”

I've never been to a tournament with one of those. I laugh and put the dice away, then politely wait to be informed about what's going to be going on at this tournament, because apparently, I don't have the slightest clue what I'm doing.

Don't worry kids, I'm trying to go Pro here.

Mike talks for a minute. There will be 8 rounds of Swiss, making this the longest tournament that I've ever participated in by a single round. A crowd of 187 players makes the room full, but not overly crowded. First round pairings go up, and we're off to the races.

Round 1 – Sunny with UR Delver

Sunny seems like a nice guy, and he sits down with a smile. He looks like he's been at events before, so we're pretty chatty before the round. I shuffle and present, shuffling his deck. Usually, I'll just cut, but since I'm told that a single cut isn't sufficient at higher level events, I'm trying to build up the habit since I'll be attending some other larger events in the near future. Some of you have seen my schedule – in my opinion, it's sufficiently nuts.

A guy sitting two seats down presents his deck and smiles. “May the odds be ever in your favor.”

I laughed at that. I love this community.

The match starts with him tossing down a Sulfur Falls – tapped, which lets me breathe a sigh of relief. I'd kept a slower hand involving three anthems and a pair of lingering souls. If he can't capitalize on the early game, the late game should almost certainly fall to me.

That's pretty much how it goes after he plays a second Sulfur Falls tapped on turn two, casting a Ponder and shuffling away the results. This is not the ideal start for a tempo deck. Seeing that he doesn't have a single viable threat on the board, I opt for playing out anthems early and then casting a couple of Spirits, followed by a Hero of Bladehold to quickly take game one.

As I’m shuffling for game two, a round a few seats over calls a judge. Being a prospective judge, I listened in on the call a bit, and frowned because I – sadly – knew the ruling. The active player had attacked with Geist of St. Traft, and didn’t explicitly mention creating an angel. The judge explained that he’d missed the trigger, although it’s mandatory, because it creates a wholly beneficial action – creating a creature under your control. The attacking player argued that he’d never heard that before, and that it had always been assumed to make an angel when it attacked. Turns out, after investigation, that it was his first Competitive REL event. My heart went out to the kid, and the ruling cost him the game.

You never expect things to be different, until they are.

Game two starts off poorly, with me quickly dropping to 8 life, but a rather Timely set of Reinforcements balanced out my life total and gave me enough board presence to crush the Delver deck's flimsy offense.

1-0 (2-0 in games)

Round 2 – Kyle with Esper Delver

I sit down for round two, already feeling good. It's strange how a round one win can really light the fire under you. All of a sudden, it's not a long eight round slog sitting before you – it's just five more wins, and then you can double draw into the Top 8 slot. I felt great. Barret and a couple of other people I knew all won their matches as well. Things were going great.

When I pulled my opening hand, seeing seven lands, I was less than thrilled though. I mulligan, with my opponent snap keeping his. I look at my hand and see a one-lander on the draw – worse, an Isolated Chapel. The rest of the cards? Hero of Bladehold – no help there. A midnight haunting, and three Champion of the Parish.

“Gonna keep?” Kyle asked.

“I don't know if this hand is insanely good, or absolutely terrible.”

I topdeck a Gather the Townsfolk, a second hero, and then a land. He's dead on turn 7, despite me never hitting my third land drop. I guess that is a very keep-able hand.

The second game starts of poorly, with him flipping a pair of Delvers and dropping me to five life. Fortunately for me, he misplays and swings into a Midnight Haunting that he'd forgotten was there. (He knew about it from a previous Gitaxian Probe that game, and just forgot to put two and two together.) Thanks to Honor of the Pure, my spirit generator buys both of his Delvers, and it's easy to regain life once Vault of the Archangel comes back online. I gain 24 life, winning the game on 15.

I'm feeling on top of the world. Two matches into the PTQ and I haven't dropped a game. I've not spotted any significant misplays on my part, and my tokens are feeling as powerful as they ever have before. I've crushed one of the best opening hands from the arguably best deck in the format, and I only need to go 4-0 from here to make Top 8.

2-0 (4-0 in games)

Round 3 – Barrett Goss with Wolf Run White

I see the matchup and I shake my head.

“The randomizer hates me.”

I’m shuffling at the table when Barrett comes over. He’s playing Wolf Run White or Naya Ramp, depending on his mood when you ask him. The deck is a horrible matchup for me – mostly because he’s ramping to Elesh Norn. It compounds the issues that I have with Wolf Run because once she hits the field, it’s very rare for my creatures to survive in a fit state to close out the game, and I have no non-creature source of reach.

He sits down and looks at me.

“Someone I know suggested that we could draw.”

“Would that help either of us?”

We talk it over for a bit. It wouldn’t hurt either of us, but it certainly wouldn’t help much either. The matchup is certainly favoring him, so I offer the draw.

He shakes his head. “Nah, we’ll just play it out.”

I shuffle my deck. I’ve beaten bad matchups before. This one should be no different.

Racing against an inevitable Elesh Norn, I manage to take game one by forcing him to cast Day of Judgment on turn 4 to avoid death by Hero of Bladehold. I probably overextended into it a little bit, but it doesn’t end up mattering. When he uses the board wipe, he kills his own Bird of Paradise, and locks himself off of a second white source. Even though I stumble on threats for a moment, I’m able to recover before he can cast Gideon, Elesh, or Terminus – all sitting in his hand, uncastable.

Games two and three go similar to each other. I come out of the gates slowly, and beat him for a few points before he gains a billion life between Huntmasters, Timely Reinforcements, and Glimmerposts. I actually deal him 20 in the second game, only to have him survive the game on 15. In the end, it doesn’t matter because he’s able to Terminus to wipe the board and infect me out with an Inkmoth/Wolf Run both times without issue.

2-1 (5-2 in games)

Losing to Barrett sucks, because I know he’s one of the better players in the room. Beating him would have given me more confidence in my ability to compete on this level, and while I don’t think he’s some juggernaut, it’s certainly a bad matchup for me. Still, I’m a little down while waiting for my next match.

Round 4 – Edgar Flores with UR Delver

“Watch his hands. Also, he’s on UR Delver.” ~Barrett

For those of you who don’t know, Edgar Flores is a pro in various CCG’s – YuGiOh, Magic, Pokemon, etc. He’s also been temporarily banned at one point or another from all of them for cheating and theft. Barrett’s advice was sound, but it ended up not mattering.

The idea of playing against a ‘pro’ was a little intimidating, but I tried to remember that he’s on a deck that I have a good matchup against. All I have to do is play reasonably, and I should be able to take things.

I try chatting with him before the match, and he’s pretty short and clipped with me. He’s clearly not here to have fun. I barely manage to find out that he lost to Humans the previous round.

The short form of this matchup is that he got Stalker + 2 pikes in the first game, and my Oblivion Ring was too slow to save me. The second game, he got Stalker + 1 pike, but I couldn’t find any artifact removal in time and died to him Thought Scouring a ton of gas into the graveyard. I didn’t get him below 10 in either match.

2-2 (5-4 in games)

Round 5 – Mark with UW Delver

I sit down across from my opponent this round and laugh. It’s the kid with the Geist of St. Traft ruling from before. Despite the round one loss, he’s fought back to even. We talk for a bit – he’s a great guy, and he lives near the World Cup Qualifier down in MD. I tell him that I’ll be there, and hope to see him competing.

We also have a good laugh that I’ve gotten four delver players in five rounds. At least it’s a good matchup, right?

The first game is pretty academic when he doesn’t play a Delver first turn, and I get a Vault + any number of creatures into play. I end the game on 25. I’d like to mention that I only lost one game the whole PTQ where I ever had Vault and a creature simultaneously active. Those are some pretty cool numbers.

The second game is a lot closer. He gets me to 2 life, but can’t quite finish me off before I draw the fifth land and gain 9 life while holding up a trio of vigilant 3/3’s. Vault of the Archangel, people. Tell your friends.

3-2 (6-4 in games)

Round 6 – Josh with (You Guessed It!) UW Delver!

The first game goes pretty much textbook – he gets an early delver and uses it to beat me down to 3 life, while I assemble my doomsday machine of creatures and anthems. At one point, he has a Geist of St. Traft, and I’m being beaten down pretty hard.

“Swing with Geist.”

“Just Geist?”

“Yes.”

I look at my life total. I’m on 7, and I have a single ground blocker. I bite my lip.

What do you do?

“I block here.”

“Take four from the angel?”

“…”

“…”

“Yea, take four from the angel.”

I’m not that guy – at least once we’re out of top 8 contention.

“Hey, just for the record, at Competitive REL, you need to mention the Angel coming into play or you don’t get the trigger. Someone got called on it before and lost the match because of it.”

“Oh shit, really?”

“Yea. I’ll take the four, but be careful about it. Some people will call you on that.”

“Thanks man.”

I hit my fifth land, and start to lean on Vault heavily while he’s gaining the same from a Sword of War and Peace. Unfortunately for him, Vault gets more powerful as I get more creatures, and Sword gets weaker when we both play spells. The game ends with me bouncing back up to 21. Sometimes, things just aren’t that close.

Like the second game! He casts T1 Delver, flipping a mana leak, then a T2 Delver, Delver. Both flip on turn 3, and I’m a little confused when he doesn’t Leak my Midnight Haunting.

“Before blocks?” he says, dropping a pair of Vapor Snags on the table.

“…that seems pretty good man.”

“First luck I’ve had all day,” he responds.

The third game is a long drawn out affair which heralds the only time that Vault + creature didn’t win me the game. By the time it went active, I only had one body in play, and despite being on 9 life, he was able to keep my lifegain to a minimum by snagging tokens and finally closed out the game with a late-game Delver that he blind flipped. I scooped it up and gave him a smile.

“Guess you’ve got some luck after all. You’d better win out now.”

“I’ll try to.”

“Triple delver, heh.”

“I’ll never see it again,” he agreed.

3-3 (7-6 in games)

Round 7 – Alvaro with (Seeing a Trend Yet?) UW Delver!

I plop down into the seat. I’m getting a headache, and I’m a little tired, but I told myself that I was playing all eight rounds. I’m hoping to just play out these last two and call it a day. At 5-3, I’d probably be out of the prizes, even if they are down to the top 32.

“Please don’t tell me you’re playing Delver.”

He looks guilty. Great. I wave nonchalantly.

“Sorry. I’m tired and I’ve gone against five Delver players already. I’m getting pretty sick of the matchup.”

Linda, who’s sitting in the chair next to me, laughs. I played against her in the Dark Ascension Prerelease in a win-and-in, beating her for a top-8 berth. She’s pretty cool.

“Isn’t your matchup really good against Delver though?”

“It’s…pretty good,” I admit. My opponent doesn’t look happy.

My notes for these games include one word. “Vault.” Based on the life totals, he was hitting me, then Vault went live, and despite him swinging for 9 each turn, it wasn’t even close. The second game has him mulligan to 5 and get stuck on two lands. His life went 20 – 10 – 1 - Game.

We were joking the whole time, and he smiled when he left. I walked to give in match slips with Linda, joking about how we both did pretty badly. A 4-3 record wasn’t exactly what either of us were hoping for when we showed up. The two of us talk with the Level 2 Judge for a while – she’s borrowing her deck from him.

The last round pairings go up and I mostly want to just get it over with and go get dinner with my girlfriend.

4-3 (9-6 in games)

Round 8 – Linda with RDW

Be careful what you wish for.

Neither match was close. She just absolutely steamrolled me because I don’t have any answer to that many Stromkirk Nobles backed up with burn and Lightning Maulers. She looks guilty about beating me the whole time, but we keep joking about how it’s payback from the pre-release. I’ll have to get her back for it next time we meet.

4-4 (9-8 in games)

Epilogue

Takeaways from this tournament were many and varied. The field was a lot more homogenous than I expected. Delver was literally everywhere, and while the matchup isn’t as invincible as I thought it was, I still managed a 4-2 record against some stiff Delver players. I don’t know what I can do to shore up the Wolf Run matchup, because it feels tough, but I’d like to get some work done on it before the World Cup Qualifiers on the 16th.

PTQ’s are long, by the way. Eleven rounds, if you include the Top 8. I’ve never gone past seven previously, and let me tell you, physical conditioning isn’t as easy as it seems. I felt like a zombie for the next 24 hours. I’m going to need to make sure I start working on that so I can play my best throughout the day – not just in the first three rounds.

I need to work on not tilting when I think I’m disadvantaged. I need to keep looking for my outs, and keep looking for the optimal line of play, rather than slipping into “Cast the biggest thing,” mode, which I’m prone to doing when tired.

Most of all, I learned that while Magic is Magic, it’s also got a different flavor in a competitive environment. It’s not a better or a worse one, just different. That said, it doesn’t mean I need to be a douche while playing. I’m going to continue to play my best – giving away nothing and being a solid player, but I’ll make sure to have fun while doing it.

After all, I’m not exactly a Pro, yet.

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This weekend, I’ll be attending a TCGPlayer Diamond Event for $5,000 in cash, plus a ton of various other prizes. It’s in Edison, NJ, and starts pretty early. After that, I’ll be headed on up to New York for my brother’s high school graduation. On Tuesday, you’ll get an article about Deckbuilding, and what to look for when evaluating if a card is good enough for a deck.

Next Thursday, we’ll have a tournament writeup for  the Diamond event, so here’s hoping that I did well.

As always, questions comments and ideas either here or on reddit.

Thanks for reading,

-Andrew